Two days after the discovery of the bandit villages and the Ghoul nest, the small Eldorin militia was now ready to advance. I had decided to wear simple chainmail as inside protection, I covered it with an embroidered tunic. Lucius suggested I wear my crown, but I decided against it as it was unconventional to wear during battle.

Out of all the two hundred and ten soldiers they have, the army was divided into three groups. The group led by Leif contained eighty five soldiers, with forty foot soldiers, thirty archers and five people holding the battering ram to open the gates. 

Eadic’s group also had the exact same amount with the same number of distributions. Meanwhile, Regulus’ group only had forty. Though they were small in numbers, they had the firepower to back it up. Filled with twenty five foot soldiers and fifteen archers, five of those foot soldiers are able to use mana. Putting that with Alicia and Regulus then you have a terrifying force. 

Each foot soldier was equipped with either a spear or a sword, a shield and leather tunics or thick fur was used for protection for the body. The archers on the other hand had fur and a hood to protect themselves. 

As they prepare to leave, Regulus gives the final instructions for the whole army. 

“Alright! Everyone lend your ears to me! All groups will have eight columns each, the spear men will be on the third column. Whenever archers will draw their bows, I want everyone to raise their shields. Do not break your formation, and absolutely don’t lower your shields!” Regulus screamed at everyone, making sure each one heard his orders.

“Leif’s group will advance to Harlet, Sir Eadic’s group will then head to Elise while my group will head to the castle. Once your groups have successfully conquered yours, your leaders will blow the horns I have given them, signaling your victory.”

As Regulus completed his speech, he got up his horse and started riding to his group.

“Good luck to you all! Let the Gods guide us to victory!” 

All the soldiers screamed a war cry as they marched to battle.

It took about twenty minutes for Regulus’ group to reach the castle, it wasn’t as fortified as they thought. Two watchtowers on each side of a shabby rotten wooden gate. So with the element of surprise in their hands they attacked.

Alicia sent a gush of wind at the gate. Breaking it open, startling the bandits inside. Regulus then raised his hand and casted [Summon Lightning], it devastated the ground and killed some of the bandits. As they were about to advance, Regulus noticed that the bandit archers had already appeared quicker than they thought and were about to fire at them.

“Fall back!” Regulus commanded as his troops fell back outside of the gate.

“Shield wall!” Regulus screamed, all the footsoldiers did as commanded, they raised their shields up above their heads, the archers moved inside the shield wall so they could avoid the arrows.

Regulus on the other hand rushed up towards the archers, reinforcing his body with mana and climbing the right wall with ease. Not expecting someone to climb up to them, the bandits did not have time to react as a surge of lightning struck them, immobilizing them all. 

REGULUS POV

After casting [Lightning Bolt], I instinctively sidestepped as an arrow flew to the spot where I previously was. Looking at who shot it, I was met with multiple archers who only had one motive, and that was to kill me.

As they drew their arrows I took the half second they needed to draw to cast a lightning bolt and strike two of the archers. I attempted to cast another but I was too slow as six arrows were now coming straight at me. Grabbing my spear from my back I swiped it across, deflecting all the arrows at once. 

I then charged, giving them no time to draw any more. With a thrust I impaled one bandit in the chest as he screamed in pain. Using my other hand I casted another lightning bolt, piercing through a bandit’s face and into another. Switching my spear to my other hand I quickly swung it to my right, severely wounding him. 

Seeing that I’ve cleared the two watchtowers, I ordered my troops who were still in the shield wall formation.

“The watchtowers are clear, everyone advance to the hall!!” I screamed at my troops as they broke the formation and charged in. 

As I was just about to leave I heard a faint cough, the bandit that I had wounded seemed to be still alive. He had already lost a lot of blood from a short amount of time, his face was becoming pale and coughs were growing weaker. Not wanting to see what would happen next I thrust my spear on his face.

Screams and shouts were now audible as my troops made contact with the bandits inside the castle. I jumped down, eager to enter the fray. Running towards the hall, spear in hand, eventually reaching the hall it was cramped with both bandits and my soldiers. We had both the advantage in equipment and numbers. 

In the middle of the chaos I noticed a young soldier losing his sword against a bandit. Just as death was about to take him, I conjured a lightning bolt which hit the bandit square in the jaw.

The young man looked at me in fear and relief as he nodded in thanks. I returned the nod and went on my way. Hacking and slashing, helping out anyone I could, the fight ended in minutes as the bandits were either killed or immobilized. Counting my men, there were no casualties, and only about seven people were injured.

As I looked around I discerned my surroundings I noticed Alicia staring blankly at the floor. She seemed to be deep in thought, my body moved on its own as I slowly approached her.

“You seem deep in thought, something in your mind that you can’t seem to shake off.” I said as she looked at me, giving me half of a smile.

“Today was the first time I’ve killed someone…. I knew that they were animals, and I knew they had to die. But what would happen to their families? What would they think when their son, daughter, sister, brother, husband, wife or parent died?” She said as her voice began cracking.

“That’s life….. It’s hard to explain but either be good or bad and kill or be killed. That’s the cycle of life, there’s nothing we can do about that.” I responded as I wanted to reassure her that everything is going to be okay.

But I was cut off by the sound of a horn in the distance. Not long after another horn was heard, indicating that all three battles were a success. Upon hearing this my men celebrated in victory as they sang songs of our battle, some even sang about me. Smiling, I sat down in relief that nothing went wrong. 

Just as everything unfolded, something didn’t feel right. I stood up and looked around, feeling the mana surrounding us. I could feel mine, Alicia’s and a few of my men’s mana. But I could also feel someone else’s mana. I focused on it and I found where it was, it was just outside the castle.

From the looks of it, she was someone I very much knew.