Although an unexpected situation arose, they were still able to mount a counterattack in a short ti by leveraging favorable conditions.
Using the farm owner as bait, they singled out a Crossbowman, and, to their delight, also lured out an ambushed Musketeer.
For the first ti, Lance felt that the things he had learned from years of imrsing himself in various gas were being applied in different ways. He had always just been working; he never knew he was capable of sothing like this.
After Reynard brought the man back to the manor, Lance looked at the person before him with so surprise, wondering if he had made a mistake.
He had not expected David, who had made so many arrangents and given him a sense of crisis, to be such a slightly sleazy-looking, skinny man with a Fu Manchu mustache and a mature-looking face that made him appear to be in his thirties or forties. Moreover, being petite, he looked comical with the breastplate on, as if wearing a turtle shell.
His right shoulder was bleeding, likely from the shot Dismas had just fired. He had aid for the head, but unfortunately, at a distance of over a hundred ters, the bullet drop and deviation were too significant.
It had to be said, appearance really did affect first impressions. Anyway, Lance imdiately thought this guy was no good.
"Are you David?"
"Sir, you must be mistaken. I’m not David; I am Sam."
The man tried to argue, but that only made Lance laugh.
"You’re the only person on the entire farm with a musket, and I don’t think you’d hand it over to those who don’t know how to use it."
David fell silent after hearing this, sizing up Lance before finally exhaling.
"When did you know I was here?"
"Those two teams of Guards are almost all your forces. If they’re out, it ans you must be nearby. Besides, without clear orders, I don’t think they’d choose to hold their ground instead of running away."
The quality of the Guards was well known to everyone. For them not to collapse after Dismas shot a squad leader, and instead organize an effective defense, ant there definitely had to be a higher command present. Otherwise, those Guards would have fled long ago.
Hearing Lance’s explanation, David couldn’t help but sigh.
"Seems I lost fairly."
Seeing David captured, the disheveled farm owner ran out furiously and swung two punches at him.
"I gave you my daughter in marriage, and you dare to imprison and shoot at ? I’ll kill you!"
"Old man, you have the nerve to say that? Without , where would you be today?"
David was not weak either and retaliated with a raised hand; the two imdiately grappled with each other.
Balistan tried to separate them but was stopped by Lance. "Don’t bother, let them fight."
Lance found this sort of dog-eat-dog scenario quite amusing and even had the leisure to make a comnt.
"Who do you think will win?"
The veteran soldier looked at the scene; it was difficult to say. One was old and frail with little combat ability, while the other had a background in street fighting, but one of his hands was injured, making the outco unpredictable.
And as they watched the spectacle, the TWANG of a bowstring sounded, and an arrow shot through the air, landing in the ground.
Dismas’s warning caught everyone’s attention. As they looked up, they saw several ard people approaching.
Balistan stood beside Lance, his sturdy shield held slightly raised, ready to protect Lance at the first sign of danger.
Reynard imdiately turned his horse around, confident that with a charge, he could scatter these people.
"Lord! Don’t shoot, it’s ."
The squad leader sensed that sothing was amiss. He quickly called out, halting the n behind him, and then moved forward alone.
Upon reaching Lance, he imdiately offered flattering words, his face wreathed in smiles.
"Congratulations, my Lord, on capturing the farm."
"Hmph! You almost ruined my plans," Lance did not appreciate the sentint and instead asked coldly, "Where were you just now? What happened to the task I assigned you!"
He hadn’t shown up when the battle was urgent, and now he popped up as soon as it was over. One didn’t need to guess that this coward must have been hiding sowhere, watching the battle. If David had won, he would have fled; if Lance had won, he would have co out to claim credit—a classic fence-sitter, deserving no kindness.
The squad leader, knowing he had not followed the original plan to provide support, could only offer a forced smile and a la excuse.
"My Lord, I was capturing a squad leader just now; he’s a die-hard David loyalist. It would have been troubleso if he had called for reinforcents."
Lance followed his pointing finger and saw that, indeed, among those people, a man wearing a breastplate was restrained.
"No matter how many co, they’d et the sa fate. Unless you wish to test if my Longsword is sharp?"
The squad leader understood implicitly. He had seen Reynard’s charge and knew his group stood no chance against them, so he dared not utter another word about rewards.
After the warning, Lance didn’t dwell on the matter any further and gestured dismissively.
"Let’s leave this matter here. Go inform those Guards to maintain stability. I want everything on the farm to continue as usual. Don’t cause any trouble, understand?"
"Yes!" The squad leader agreed promptly; he was very willing to undertake a task that didn’t require risking his neck.
"Also, find soone to bring the grain store owner to imdiately by carriage, and bring those Guards over as well."
Soon, the squad leader led the Guards away. Before leaving, he didn’t forget to glance one last ti at the quarreling farm owner and David. He knew these two were already complete failures.
"Separate these two n."
Reynard and Balistan each took one to separate them.
The farm owner had not yet realized the gravity of his situation and continued to shout at Lance and his n.
"What are you doing? Don’t you want money anymore?"
David, on the other hand, had recognized reality and mocked, "You still think you’re the master here? You’re just a loser like ."
"Impossible! They’ve co to save ."
As the farm owner shouted, Lance looked at the two n and laughed. "I forgot to introduce myself. I am the Lord of Hamlet, and you’ve made quite a ss of my territory."
Both n were taken aback by this. They had assud Lance and his n were rcenaries employed by the town mayor; they had never expected him to be the new Lord.
After a mont of silence, David actually laughed, saying scornfully,
"Hmph! Where were you when the bandits ca? Only showing up now."
"BANG!"
A gunshot rang out, a flash of fire erupted. As the gunsmoke cleared, a new hole had appeared in David’s forehead, a streak of blood trickling down his face.
"Don’t worry, none of you will get away," Lance slowly lowered his pistol, while David fell to the ground with a thud.
This David was sowhat clever, but being too clever was dangerous. Lance couldn’t afford to leave such a nace alive. He had to die!
The farm owner was scared senseless. He stood petrified, his eyes fixed on David’s corpse.
"Take him inside," Lance said, having no intention of wasting any more ti on the farm owner. He called Dismas down from the wall. "I want to know where the goods are stored."
Dismas naturally complied. After arrangents were made, Lance strode toward the farm. He was now the true master of this place.
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