Art picked up a short spear Odo had found, poking the stunned bandit leader a few times with the spear tip.
After confirming there was no danger, he walked over, took the bandit leader’s belt, and tightly bound his hands behind his back.
Then, he had Odo give Roan a quick bandage before going to guard the surroundings.
Art himself took off his waterskin, removed the bandit leader’s bucket helmet, and poured the water from the skin over the bandit leader’s head.
The bandit leader was roused by the cold water, groggily opened his eyes, and looked up to see a fellow holding a sword pointed at him.
Upon closer inspection, it was the same fellow he had been fighting at the Ars堡 gate just moments ago.
The bandit leader was startled and tried to retreat, wanting to get up and flee, but found his hands already tied behind his back.
He struggled a few times before giving up resistance.
Art pointed the tip of his sword at the bandit leader and said, “Don’t struggle, you can’t escape.”
The bandit leader glared fiercely at Art, his face filled with murderous intent.
Art didn’t waste words with the bandit leader; he simply sliced off the bandit leader’s left ear with one strike of his sword.
The bandit leader writhed on the ground in pain, the ferocity on his face instantly replaced by the fear of death, and he repeatedly begged for mercy: “My Lord~, please~ spare me~”
“Spare you? Do you know your head alone is worth at least five fenny?”
“My Lord~, I have money, I’ll give you money.” The bandit leader tried to cover his ear with his hands, but he couldn’t break free.
“I want your money, but I don’t need you to give it; we’ll take it ourselves.” Art said, making a gesture as if to cut off the bandit leader’s other ear.
The bandit leader pressed his head tightly against the Ars堡 wall, looking at Art’s blood-dripping sword with terror, and pleaded with a crying voice: “My Lord, I have more money~ a lot~ only I know where it’s hidden?”
Art stopped the sword he was about to bring down and asked sternly, “Where is it? Speak quickly.”
The bandit leader seized a glimmer of hope, the panic in his heart easing slightly, and some rationality returned.
He swallowed a mouthful of saliva, looked at the Ars堡 wall above him, and said, “My Lord, please let me climb over the Ars堡 wall first, and once I’m over, I’ll tell you; I can’t take that money with me anyway.”
Art, knowing the cunning of a fox, gave no answer to the bandit leader.
He directly plunged his sword into the bandit leader’s thigh, and with a twist of the hilt in his right hand, the bandit leader grimaced and his face contorted in pain.
“If you don’t speak now, you won’t have legs to escape with.”
“I’ll tell! I’ll tell! The treasure is buried under the stable next to the Lord’s wooden house, under the stable~”
Having gotten his answer, Art no longer twisted the longsword in the bandit leader’s thigh.
“I’ll ask you one more question, and once you answer, I’ll let you go.” Art pulled the longsword out of the bandit leader’s leg.
The bandit leader seemed to see a chance of survival in Art’s eyes and quickly replied, “My Lord, ask away, I’ll tell you everything I know.”
Art leaned his head close to the bandit leader’s and asked, “Why did you attack Ars堡? Don’t tell me you just wanted to plunder its wealth.”
“We~ we~ just coveted Ars堡’s wealth~” The bandit leader’s gaze was somewhat evasive.
Art pressed the longsword against the bandit leader’s head, his eyes showing murderous intent again: “I said, don’t tell me you dared to attack Ars堡 merely for wealth.”
Seeing that he couldn’t fool Art, the bandit leader had no choice but to reveal the ultimate purpose of attacking Ars堡.
The bandit leader was indeed a major mountain bandit in Bore Mountain.
In the early summer of last year, a fellow claiming to be a Court Guard Knight of the Grand Duchy of Swabia’s Court arrived at their bandit lair in the Bore Mountain area.
He brought a sealed letter from the Grand Duchy of Swabia’s Court…
It turned out that the Grand Duchy of Swabia, instigated by the Grand Duchy of Lombardy to the south, intended to expand its territory westward into Burgundy County.
However, the two nations had not been at war for many years, and Swabia needed to first test the reactions of Burgundy County and the powerful Grand Duchy of Burgundy behind it.
If they sent troops to invade, they worried that Burgundy County and the powerful Grand Duchy of Burgundy behind it would raise an army to attack.
Therefore, mountain bandits and brigands became the best choice for the Grand Duchy of Swabia to test Burgundy’s reaction.
Besides this group of mountain bandits in the Bore Mountain area, a number of mountain bandits and brigands in various northern regions had been bribed by the Grand Duchy of Swabia to attack some villages and outposts, both large and small.
According to the bandit leader’s confession, that Knight told him that if he could lead his subordinates to capture and hold Ars堡 at the foot of Bore Mountain, the Grand Duchy of Swabia would confer upon the bandit leader a lifetime knighthood and grant him Ars堡 as a fief.
Thereafter, that Knight also brought weapons and supplies to the bandit lair multiple times and even helped train the mountain bandits.
In early autumn last year, under the command of that Knight, the bandit leader successfully captured Ars堡.
After they had been burning, killing, and looting in the Ars堡 for some time, that Knight strictly ordered them not to plunder or destroy the village Ars堡 any further.
So, they then began to repair and reinforce the Ars堡 walls, and deliberately let some fleeing farmers go, so that the Burgundy Court would learn of Ars堡’s fall as soon as possible.
However, a long time passed, and they only waited for Baron Antayas to arrive with a few city guards and twenty or so peasant Soldiers.
They repelled the enemies who came to retake the Ars堡 several times, and that Knight also returned to Swabia with the conclusion that Burgundy did not pay much attention to the border.
At the beginning of the year, after learning that Baron Antayas was successively assembling the territory’s army, the bandit leader continuously recruited Soldiers and horses in the large and small bandit lairs in the Bore Mountain area.
His subordinates reached nearly fifty men.
He also moved his bandit lair to Ars堡 and resolved to defend “his territory” to the death, then quietly awaited the promised enfeoffment from the Grand Duchy of Swabia’s Court.
However, he didn’t expect that Art’s Patrol Team would actually infiltrate the Ars堡…
“So, you are just a chess piece laid by the Grand Duchy of Swabia on the border of Burgundy County?” Art listened, astonished.
“Yes, yes, My Lord, that Knight said this would be their outpost for attacking Burgundy County~” Facing survival, the bandit leader no longer cared about keeping secrets.
“Hmm~~” Art nodded in thought.
“Do you have any other valuables?” Art recovered from his thoughts and asked the bandit leader with a smile.
The bandit leader was confused, “My Lord, what do you mean?”
“I agreed to let you go, but there are two subordinates over there who haven’t agreed yet; you’ll have to pay them to spare your life~”
“Bastard, you soulless devil…” The bandit leader, realizing he had been tricked, suddenly became enraged.
Art called Roan, who was guarding nearby, and commanded: “Make this fellow shut up forever before the others arrive.”
After speaking, he walked towards the battlefield at the Ars堡 gate, completely ignoring the curses and screams coming from behind him…
During the time Art was interrogating the bandit leader, the battle at the Ars堡 gate was already nearing its end.
Baron Antayas personally led his Soldiers up the Ars堡 wall and, following the Ars堡 wall’s battlements, surrounded the mountain bandits inside the Ars堡.
The leaderless mountain bandits quickly gave up resistance.
When the battle completely ended at noon, besides those killed in action and those slaughtered by Soldiers venting their anger, twenty-odd mountain bandits remained in Ars堡.
After capturing Ars堡, Baron Antayas dispatched the city guards to patrol everywhere and severely punished several peasant Soldiers who were causing trouble and looting property.
It wasn’t until the afternoon that the bloodthirsty Soldiers regained some sanity and composure.
Ars堡, where the sounds of fighting had echoed all morning, finally fell silent.
Next came treating the wounded and handling the aftermath.
After a swift and intense siege and capture of the Ars堡, the attacking force led by Baron Antayas suffered heavy casualties: fifteen killed, ten seriously wounded, and over thirty lightly wounded.
More than half of the dead and wounded were temporarily conscripted peasant Soldiers.
The defending side, however, only had thirty-two killed, which included nine captives executed by Soldiers venting their anger after the battle.
Judging solely from the casualties on both sides, it was almost two and a half attacking Soldiers for every mountain bandit.
This casualty ratio occurred even with the mountain bandits being attacked from both inside and outside.
If it had been a direct assault on the Ars堡, it’s estimated that half of the Soldiers’ lives would have been permanently left before the Ars堡 wall.
The Patrol Team, as the main meritorious unit in this battle, benefited from the leather armor allocated by Baron Antayas before the battle and their own round shield protection.
After the count, only two Soldiers who participated in the stealth attack were killed, but the number of wounded reached nine.
Seven of them were Soldiers who seized the Ars堡 gate from inside, and the other two were injured by stones and boiling water while covering the ascent of the Ars堡 wall from outside.
All nine who participated in the stealth attack to seize the gate were wounded: Kazak had half a finger sliced off, Bas’s calf was nearly bone-deep from an axe wound, Roan took a sword to the chest that cut through his leather armor, and even Art himself had his arm cut by a short spear at the Ars堡 gate.
Fortunately, the remaining seven in the stealth attack had no fatal injuries, though one fellow outside the Ars堡 who was scalded by boiling feces while covering the ascent was in critical condition.
Art looked at the wounded Soldiers and corpses scattered on the ground and instructed the few people accompanying him: “Kazak, you are responsible for dealing with the dead and seriously wounded Soldiers.
Find a quiet place to bandage them up, and you should get yourself bandaged too.”
“Roan, go gather all the lightly wounded who can move and the uninjured Soldiers.
Those Bastard are surely dividing the spoils privately; if you go late, there’ll be nothing left.”
After saying that, he walked towards the two-story Lord’s wooden house in the center of Ars堡.
Roan selected five Soldiers and quickly followed him…
In a dry wooden house in front of Ars堡’s main gate, two Ars堡 villagers rescued by Baron Antayas were caring for the wounded Soldiers who had received basic bandaging.
A ground hearth bonfire burned in the house, and a pot of thick soup was boiling over it.
Tuba took off his thick leather armor and sat by the wooden house wall, wetting a small whetstone with clear water to sharpen his notched battle axe.
His movements while sharpening the axe were a bit too large, causing his bandaged leg wound to slightly reopen.
He hissed in pain and quickly adjusted his posture.
Next to Tuba lay a Soldier whose head was thickly wrapped in linen, with fresh blood having already seeped through, congealing into dark black stains and scabs.
The wounded Soldier had just woken up and struggled to get up and drink water.
“Colin, you Bastard, you’re really damn lucky; you got hit in the head with a heavy hammer and didn’t even die.”
Tuba put down his longsword and battle axe, half-helped Colin up with his left hand, and with his right hand, picked up a bowl of warm meat soup from the ground and brought it to Colin’s lips.
Colin gently opened his mouth and took a sip, then turned his head to look around, and softly asked, “Where did the short fellow go?”
Tuba put down the wooden bowl, picked up his battle axe again, and resumed sharpening.
After a moment, he replied in a low voice, “The short fellow has been called by God.”
Colin felt a pang of sadness.
During the most critical moment of the gate-seizing battle that morning, he was struck by a heavy hammer.
If not for the short fellow beside him who blocked the successive heavy blows for him, he would be lying in a different place now.
Listening to the groaning and wailing of the wounded Soldiers in the wooden house, Colin for the first time felt how incredibly fortunate it was to be alive, followed by the lingering shock of surviving a disaster.
The wooden house door was pushed open, and a limping Soldier walked in, carrying several fermented wheat breads mixed with hops.
He placed one next to each wounded Soldier, saying, “These are fine wheat breads My Lord found for you.
Eat something good first; My Lord will come see you later.”
Tuba and Colin were familiar with this somewhat simple-minded Soldier.
Seeing him hobbling, Tuba stopped his work, looked up, and asked, “Jason, you idiot, you were just holding the wooden ladder outside the Ars堡, and you still managed to hurt your leg?”
Jason turned his head to look at Tuba sitting by the wall, then walked over with a silly grin, giving all three remaining breads in his hand to Tuba and Colin.
Then, scratching his head, he chuckled foolishly, “Indeed, I got my foot smashed by a stone thrown from the Ars堡 wall~ No~ no worries, no bones broken.”
“My Lord told me to tell you to rest well and recover; he will surely heal you.
Well, I’ll be going now.” After saying that, he smiled at Tuba and Colin again and turned to leave.
Looking at Jason’s retreating back, Tuba mumbled, “He can still smile like that, being a fool must be great~”
“These Bastard really think we’re idiots; this place has become a bandit lair, how could there be so little wealth?” Odo said indignantly.
After the battle ended, when Art, Roan, and a few Soldiers arrived at the two-story wooden house in the Ars堡, which served as the bandits’ main base, a large crowd was already fighting over the spoils inside.
Baron Antayas personally brought guards to mediate and promised to fairly distribute the captured wealth, which finally stabilized the situation.
After a subsequent inventory, the valuables found in the two-story wooden house were not even enough to cover the expenses of this military expedition.
Odo suspected that Baron Antayas or the Knights who arrived first had hidden most of the gold and silver.
Art walked out of the wooden house and went to the stable next to it, lifted his leather armor skirt, and urinated.
Then he said to Odo, who had followed him, “Odo, I’ll tell you a secret.”