Chapter 25: The Beginning

After meeting up, Neo and Mahh gathered information, and some basic details came to light. In Watzburg, there were no fewer than 1,700 Red Ghosts. These Cordim who came to Edrith to plunder and spend the winter were all skilled warriors. Just thinking about their destructive power was enough to cause headaches.
“Should we capture that envoy? His guards aren’t very skilled. Even the two of us have a high chance of success.”
Facing Mahh’s tempting suggestion, Neo considered it seriously for a moment before looking at the sky and saying, “I actually prefer to capture an interpreter. The envoy gives off too much ‘offense’.”
“That’s quite difficult. Without special treatment, it’s hard to confirm.”
Neo waved his hand. “That’s just a wish. We’re here purely to gather intelligence. For now, the value of these underwater passages far exceeds that of an interpreter or envoy. It’s getting late; let’s go back!”
“Hmm!” Mahh replied, saying nothing more, but her opinion of Neo rose even further. “It seems my earlier worry that Neo was too young to know how to prioritize was unnecessary…”
When the two returned to the camp, they found the team members taking ice baths. With a mutual understanding, they smiled at each other, and Neo and Mahh joined in.
“This material is indeed great for hiding, but its breathability is terrible!” Mahh said as she took off her tight suit, showing it to Neo. Not only were the undergarments soaked, but even the rubber armor became frosty as soon as it was exposed to cold air.
“I can’t think of a good solution for now,” Neo agreed. The amount of exercise during reconnaissance had indeed been high, leaving their clothes dripping wet. “By the way, remember to wash the tight suits in medicinal water later.”
“Oh.” …
During the mission, the team members exercised heavily every day, so no physical training was scheduled. After the ice baths, they would undergo about half an hour of drill training to improve discipline and coordination, followed by breakfast.
After breakfast, as usual, there was a 15-minute rest. During this time, Neo talked to the team members about Watzburg.
Hearing the number of enemies, most of them looked grim.
“That’s too many! It’s almost equal to the size of our migration group!”
Neo said, “Indeed, numbers are the Red Ghosts’ advantage. So, let’s discuss their weaknesses and our strengths.”
“The Annuel Mountains aren’t like the Monstoke Wasteland. Humans and beasts can’t move freely in these jungles.”
“The Red Ghosts don’t know about us yet. We have at least one chance to strike them by surprise.”
“The captain said last time that Red Ghosts are brave but not very smart, and they can’t sustain battles…”
The team members spoke one after another, listing over a dozen weaknesses.
“Good summary. They have numbers on their side, while we’re few but agile. To fight them, we must use our strengths to strike at their weaknesses. We need to outsmart them, not outmuscle them. Besides, we’re not fighting alone. With proper use of reinforcements from the migration group, it’s entirely possible to catch them off guard.”

Encouraged by Nio’s motivation, the team members regained some confidence. One of them asked, “Captain, should we set traps for them?”
“Smart! When fighting the Red Ghosts, we’ll start with forest traps.” ……
Around 8 a.m., Nio led everyone out, and they eventually found an ideal ambush location—half-sloped woodland just south of Wurtzburg.
The woodland resembled a slope heavily struck by a giant hammer, with concave earthen walls on three sides, leaving a flat, treeless area that made it a pretty good campsite.
“Alright, this is it. Build a temporary camp following our usual standards—pay attention to the details!”
Under Barret’s command, the team members got to work, while Nio took Mah and Boglem to scout the surrounding terrain and arrange ambush points and traps.
“This is a good spot for tripwires. Look on both sides—the trees are dense, so humans and beasts can’t pass through; they’ll have to come this way. Watch out above—humans and beasts can jump well, so we need to think about how to deal with that… That branch over there is perfect for hiding people. Mah, climb up and see if it’s easy to spot…”
As time passed, the trap area gradually took shape through everyone’s hard work.
It was a typical day of winter haze. Even though it was already noon, the sun still appeared like an unextinguishable flame ball behind a curtain, its light and heat making people too lazy to pay attention. The wind, however, blew strongly, producing a continuous rustling sound.
A group of Red Ghost scouts, on a routine patrol, wandered by listlessly but soon became excited when they saw smoke rising from the woodland, blown around by the wind and mixed with snowflakes.
“It’s humans! They overestimate the power of the wind!” The Red Ghost who spotted them was quite pleased.
“Hey! What a great surprise, guys! We have extra meat slaves to share!” The lead scout happily announced this news to his 10 subordinates.
“I hope there are children. Last time I saw them eating chilled raw meat, it made me hungry!”
“I hope I can get a skilled female slave, like Monto’s one. Five ordinary ones aren’t worth it!”
“Whatever. I like hunting those guys!”
“Leader, what should we do?”
“Don’t rush. Go scout first.” As a squad leader, this Red Ghost chief was somewhat resourceful.
The cleverest Red Ghost went to investigate first and soon brought back news: over a dozen human men and women were eating, with no sentries in sight.
The Red Ghosts were very satisfied with this situation. Eager to act, they stared at their leader, waiting for the order.
Hunting was as common for the Cordim as breathing. They usually didn’t have any overly complicated plans—surround, attack together, drive them away—that was about it. Everything else depended on individual skills and mutual coordination.
“Surround them and launch a counterattack from inside, driving those humans out of the forest,” the chief said, excitedly gesturing as he spoke. After a sudden attack, people would instinctively run in the opposite direction, and the Red Ghost chief’s plan took advantage of this simple psychological tactic.

The attack began. The Red Ghost scouts crouched low, moving silently toward the camp. After confirming the situation of their target, the Red Ghost leader gave the order for his subordinates to take flanking positions. It didn’t take long before those on the east and west sides were in combat positions. The Red Ghosts communicated using a guttural sound that could easily be mistaken for whistling to outsiders. The scouts continued to wait for the three members responsible for the northern attack to arrive and launch their assault. Yet nothing happened. Seeing the humans laughing and moving around inside the tents, the Red Ghost leader decided not to wait any longer. The three tents were all close to several-meter-high earthen walls; they just needed to rush over and block the entrances, leaving the humans trapped with no chance of escape. Seizing this opportunity, the leader gave a whistle and rushed into the camp with two other Red Ghosts. With pressure from three sides, it took only a dozen seconds to encircle the camp’s exits. The leader was somewhat satisfied with his team’s performance, but the absence of the three northern attackers made him suspicious. “Take care of these humans first!” he thought. What needed to be done now was simply to pack up and leave—cutting the ropes, with the tent cloths serving as bags. The humans wouldn’t even be able to fight properly. “Ah!” A roar suddenly came from one of the tents, only for an arrow to fly out! Bang! The leader managed to block it with his shield. “As expected, cowardly good-for-nothings! Charge!” he shouted, charging forward with his shield. Bang! Another arrow was shot. The leader thought, “Stupid tactic!” He instinctively raised his shield in front of him—and died. This time, two arrows flew at him, with the truly deadly one coming from behind, a masterpiece by Mah, named “Hidden Arrow.” To deal with this Red Ghost scout, Neo, Mah, Barret, and Witz formed the first ambush team, all wearing form-fitting suits. The four of them successfully eliminated the three Red Ghosts who had circled around from the north, then quickly reversed their route to the south side of the camp and launched a counterattack. Almost simultaneously, after Mah killed the Red Ghost leader, Neo also killed another one with a double shot from behind. Barret and Witz fared less well; their slower speed and greater shooting distance meant they only managed to wound one Red Ghost. Despite losing their leader and having one dead and one wounded, the remaining Red Ghosts didn’t scatter. Besides those who gathered together to defend, two of them chose to continue attacking the tents, no longer aiming to capture but to kill. Neo’s team had anticipated this. In fact, the tents were designed like typical “rabbit holes”—with multiple hiding places. Boglem and the others, acting as bait, entered the tents and immediately escaped through the pre-dug tunnels. Of the three tents, only the middle one had someone inside: Edward, the team’s third-best archer, the one who fired the deadly arrows. By now, only six Red Ghosts remained, one of them injured by an arrow. When they realized the tents were empty, the Gale Team members, who had been hiding in the snow for over an hour, completed the encirclement and began shooting arrows at them.

Despite having the upper hand, the members of the Gale Squad’s long-range shooting skills were rather mediocre, allowing the 6 Red Ghosts to still have a chance to break through in a southwest direction amidst an arrow rain. With a whistle fromNeo, as agreed beforehand, the arrow fire stopped. Витц and Баррит charged forward and together tackled one Red Ghost, while Мах and Нио each took on one. As for the remaining 3, Дик dealt with the injured one, while the other two faced tripwires, nets, and pursuit by 20 men. Surrounded and trapped, the Red Ghost scout squad was completely annihilated within 11 minutes since the attack began. It must be said that this result wasn’t great, but for a newly formed civilian team, Нио was quite satisfied. Moreover, during the battle, he had also exploited a few Red Ghosts’ life forces and gained some new inspiration for spells. Now, Нио’s “life absorption” skill had become quite proficient. Especially after his strength attribute turned dark, he found that the speed and sensitivity of spellcasting had improved significantly. As a result, during the recent battle, he came up with a makeshift version of a skill that wasn’t as cumbersome as “life absorption,” which he named “life theft.” Clearly, there were still many details to address with this skill, but the ability to gain life force simply by “touching” it made Нио very optimistic about its future. After all, he could multitask, and as long as he had enough mental energy, it was entirely possible to maintain the state of theft for a while. That way, every encounter with his opponents would deal additional damage. “Is anyone injured?” “I twisted my ankle!” “My arm was scratched!” “My leg was cut by tree stumps!” “Anyone else?” “Good, no casualties. We’ve achieved a complete victory this time.” Нио called to his team, “But now isn’t the time to celebrate. We can set another ambush. For now, clean up the battlefield and restore it to its original state. Боглем, take a few people to handle the west side. Бичер, you take care of the east side… Pay attention to the details. I’ll check later. Those who are injured, follow me now.” Although the injuries were minor, Нио wasn’t stingy with healing spells. Three uses of the Pearl of Life solved the problem. Нио himself breathed a sigh of relief. He had previously worried that the change in his strength attribute might affect his spellcasting. But from the performance and effects of the spells, it was clear that there was no impact. After arranging everything properly in the forest, Нио led his team to set up a fake battlefield right at the edge of the forest. He defined this fake battlefield as a crime scene that had undergone some unprofessional cleanup. While doing this, Нио emphasized again the importance of “using your brain and paying attention to details.” To make it more realistic, Нио even sent someone to prop up Витц and use the Red Ghosts’ weapons to leave cuts on the trees. Витц’s strength was similar to that of a Red Ghost, and only by propping him up could his height match that of a Red Ghost. While they were busy setting it up, Валентина arrived. Нио had sent a message through Белые Чулки earlier, and after learning about the situation, Валентина rushed over. “How’s things with the migration team?”

“Some are grateful, some are in tears. The two hottest words today are ‘miracle’ and ‘proxy lord’. I guess even if Dave says he can restore Edrith with a stick and an axe, people would still be willing to follow him. You haven’t seen that scene; it’s simply fanaticism.”
Nio said half-jokingly, “I just fear seeing such cheesy scenes, that’s why I left early. And you? Are you jealous of Dave’s popularity?”
“A little,” Valentina replied, giving Nio a glare. “You’re a scoundrel. I originally wanted to become an excellent lord!”
Nio continued, “So this incident made you realize that doing well isn’t as important as performing well?”
“Is that really the case?” Though not as exaggerated as Nio described, Valentina’s mind was indeed shaken.
“I personally think that in the long run, practical action comes first. This incident mainly highlighted the importance of ‘propaganda’. Also, doing more isn’t as good as doing it cleverly. People want good food; even if you replace their shacks with mansions, you can’t get full marks.”
Valentina nodded thoughtfully. “Applying this to our Mathuya means solving the problem of poverty.”
“That’s right. But among all the policies, the one implemented best is the military, which is your strength. In the end, it results in a country that’s both poor and tyrannical.”
Valentina punched Nio. “My family is already working hard to solve this problem. But Mathuya lacks resources…”
Nio interrupted, “In my opinion, having land and people is enough. The key is here.” He pointed to his head and continued, “If you can’t do it yourself, you can hire others. Mathuya’s cavalry can become infantry. If money is still insufficient, you can take out loans. If you can’t trust others, learn by yourself. If you lack knowledge, travel abroad. From the history books I’ve read, it seems none of the famous knights became experts within their own territories.”
“Is reading ten thousand books not as good as traveling ten thousand miles?”
“No, it’s reading ten thousand books and traveling ten thousand miles. Books don’t make you stupid, and traveling isn’t just about seeing scenery.”
Valentina laughed. “Then you’ve really troubled Priest Norlund. He planned to return to the seminary for further studies after everything was done.”
Nio was surprised and shrugged. “That’s quite unexpected. I thought he’d choose the path of a warrior monk; I didn’t expect him to go back to studying…”
Their conversation soon shifted to the present, focusing on military matters, where Valentina’s excellent skills were quickly displayed.
“I think we should arrange things like this!” Valentina proposed a series of combat plans that also involved using the armed forces from the migration group. Nio nodded frequently as he listened, then said with a smile, “I hope those Red Devils are truly as brave and vengeful as bulls.”
“I’m looking forward to it too!” Valentina gazed in the direction of Wurtzburg, her eyes shining with eagerness.