Although not a single one of his soldiers died, Zaos noticed that some of them got some ugly wounds. Fortunately, Zaos had plenty of mana to use and much experience using healing magic, so he fixed pretty much everyone with a few uses of Heal.

  Once that was taken care of, Zaos headed toward the scouts. He wanted to see how the enemies would act with his own eyes once they noticed that they definitely lost almost five hundred soldiers. Unfortunately, the enemies acted in the worst way possible. They didn't do anything. They didn't send men to check the soldiers' progress, so Zaos and the scouts didn't have the chance to kill more of them.

"I suppose that was only obvious…" Zaos muttered.

  Whoever was commanding the mercenaries, they wouldn't make the same mistakes again. Right now, Zaos could imagine them thinking that despite the risks, the current commander was using a small force to cause some damage to the mercenaries. Still, in the grand schemes of things, it wasn't a real important force of soldiers. Even if it was, the mercenaries could just ignore them and wait for a few days where the real battle will take place, and a small number of enemies won't change anything.

"Things aren't looking good, huh, Captain," Cohnal said. "At this rate, all of our actions will be for naught."

"I am aware of that," Zaos said. "It isn't like I wasn't expecting this, but I imagined the deserter would come and try to deal with us by himself. After all, he isn't alone and whoever is working with him is probably investing a lot more in this campaign than him."

"Hmm… now that you mentioned, I could imagine the mercenaries doing that," Cohnal said. "They are trying to take things slowly since they can't afford to lose too many soldiers while taking the base. Otherwise, they won't be able to defend themselves at home."

"Still, even if that were to happen, he won't bring less than a few thousands of men with him," Melisse said. "We aren't equipped well enough to defeat a force five or six times larger. Not to mention, we don't have a good strategy for that."

  Zaos couldn't agree more, but winning a battle like that was what his unit needed. Even if they lose some of their soldiers, the unit as a whole will grow a lot more after winning such a battle. That was why Zaos was willing to bet his neck on it. He needed to show what he meant when he said he would lead his soldiers from the very front lines. Despite that, Zaos couldn't help but worry since he knew that many of his soldiers might die, and he already accepted that since the battle would be difficult and they decided to become soldiers knowing that they might lose their lives at any moment.

---- ----

  Inside the town of Toules, a middle-aged man was tapping on a table with his index finger while studying a map. The map hadn't been updated in weeks since he lost all contact from his scouts. That man was called Edwyrd. He was a former soldier of the Sairus kingdom. He deserted when he discovered that he would never rise in the ranks as fast as he wanted while working as a soldier who fights to protect the border. He had fine facial lines since he grew up in a family of merchants that was pretty well-off. With his light brown hair and eyes, he got the attention of many young ladies of noble families in his youth. Still, he didn't want to rise in life by marrying some spoiled girl from a noble family. So, when he heard about the mercenaries' country, he deserted without thinking twice.

  At first, Edwyrd had a hard time since he wasn't that strong, and his knowledge about tactics didn't make him a genius. The concurrence in mercenaries' country was big, so he only began to make a name for himself after ten years. Still, he enjoyed those ten years since he won his battles and did everything he wanted with the losers. It was a difficult life, but he appreciated that much freedom.

"What the hell is going on here… why didn't they return?" Edwyrd asked.

  Despite his experience, Edwyrd had a hard time capturing the Toules town. He only managed after losing a good number of men, even though he knew the place's defenses well since he guarded it many times in his youth. He was supposed to pave the path for his allies to come while they made sure things were well back home. A long campaign like that was the last thing that they wanted since the enemies around might attack their territories and make them homeless. His allies were coming for the final push since they were sure that they could leave their territories for a few weeks, but now he only had bad news to share with them.

  His allies would arrive in four days, so Zaos had two options. Wait for them and don't take any chances since he didn't know what was happening outside Toules, or take his four thousand men and make sure that their path will be wide open to take over the Western base. Truth to be told, there were twenty thousand men there, but they didn't follow Edwyrd's commands. They were his allies' soldiers. 

  It would be easy just to come up with an excuse to his allies and then receive whatever of the profits they decide to share with him. However, after waiting this long, Edwyrd didn't want to play safely and get the leftovers of others. Unless he is sure that the path to the western base is clear, he won't have the right to claim much over those lands. He wasn't getting younger, so he decided to take some risks in order to solidify his accomplishments. Edwyrd called a messenger and then got up from his chair.

"Inform all my soldiers that we are going to capture all towns between the base and here," Edwyrd said. "Not a single one can stay behind."