Road to the Crown

"Okay lads, line up."

After stripping the corpses of their arms and all valuables, those guys from the forward guard who didn't get to contribute anything to the fight tore were tasked with decapitating the bandits and wrapping the bloody packages into the clothes of those who dared to attack us. With just a few minutes of digging the ground with whatever my people could find around, we created a small hole beside the road, before ditching the corpses away.

While it pained me to do so, I had to accept the reality of the times. Instead of taking the corpse of the poor militiaman with us in order to let his family bury him his remains near his home, we had to settle with preparing a proper grave and decorating it with a simple cross made out of the branches taken from the nearby trees.

"Spill out. Who did something that I should know about?"

Looking at all my men formerly standing in the line in front of me, I couldn't help but let my eyes wander unconsciously towards Al. Both servants and the militia could be disregarded. None of them was capable of offending someone powerful enough to send a band of bandits after us, leaving only Elemo and Al. And honestly speaking… The introverted guy didn't look like someone eager to put his hand between the door and the doorstep!

Taking a deep sigh, I bluntly looked Al's in the eyes.

"Who did you seduce when we were in Krakow?"

Honestly, I couldn't care less about the bed adventures of my men, as long as they didn't brough the hammer of revenge on top of me! Even if they were poor, those two were still nobles! If they couldn't take care of their own problems causing the entire group to suffer because of their silly mistakes, I would have no other way than relieving either of them from my service!

"Sir… It was just a daughter of a small merchant… He couldn't possibly afford to rent a single henchman, not to speak about the entire group! And I don't want to brag, but she seemed to like the night we spent together…"

Blushing like a young man he was, Al seemed to be rather uncomfortable speaking about this matter. It surprised me since most of the literature I enjoyed about the period stated that nobility of this time was rather open about this side of life!

"Eh… Any ideas what could prompt those fuckers to attack us then?"

With the direct proximity of the two big towns right outside of the eyesight, there was no way it was a random group that wanted to risk their life both by fighting and alerting the guards for some measly loot!

Either someone targeted me directly, one of my direct subordinates or we were just unlucky enough to stumble upon a group of suicidal folks!

"Okay, guys. Let's move out. We won't get anything from waiting around here…"

Just as if the fate wanted to spit in my face before I managed to finish the sentence but after everyone could make a sense out of what I was going to say, a distant echo of horse step came to our ears.

What the hell is wrong with this timing?! Is it just me, or will my transmigration and possession of the system lead to all the possible cliche developments as if I was the main character of some kind of trashy novel?

"Prepare yourself."

With the sun already below the line of the horizon, the only light available for us was coming from the half-moon, brighter stars and several torches that we lit as we worked around the battlefield. Shining like a diamond illuminated by a powerful flashlight amongst the sea of darkness, the newcomers had to know about us, way sooner than we heard them!

With this simple order, even those whose ears weren't as keen as mine understood the gravitas of the situation. With how strange this attack was, the real deal was about to come out now.

"Lower your weapons, please. We do not seek harm."

Lacking any source of direct light that would allow the horse to see the road, the newcomers had to limit themselves to the slowest horse's gait, steppe. That's why whoever was coming in, had more than enough time to take stock of the situation after assessing the details visible in the light of our torches.

"Then get down from your horses, raise your hands high into the air and step into the light of torch one by one. As you can see, our humour got already soured, so I can't guarantee my men fingers won't slip on the triggers!"

Once again using the carriage as the barrier that could shield us from the gunfire of the potential opponent and block their charge, I didn't even attempt to hide my men lying behind the cover of the barrels filled with the wheat with their muskets cocked and ready to fire.

I didn't need to worry about the ambush from behind. In the silence of the night, we would easily hear the steps and I still delegated one of the militia to lay flat on the ground around a hundred meters behind us just to be sure. A single shout of his, and the people in front of us would get massacred before any footmen from behind could do shit about it, and there was simply no way to lead the cavalry offroad around us without a proper source of light!

That would be just the quickest way to make your horse break its legs, rendering it useless!

"Come on, noble knight! I'm sure you won't force the young mistress of the Pekta house to step down on the bloodied ground?"

Coming out of the shadow thrown by our torches, another mounted person showed up from behind the leader of the group. Surprisingly enough, after throwing her hood to the back, she pushed her face forward enough to let us recognise the delicate facial features of a young woman!

This night was turning more and more interesting with every minute!