Carey stood on the hill, looking at the sunset in the west, his face as grave as it looked like a rock carving. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Behind him, a large pile of bonfires had been lit, and under the light of the fire, more than a hundred people in the caravan were busy nervously. A large number of goods were unloaded, then covered with felt, covered with earth, and formed the shape of a city wall, with dozens of carts, to form a simple city. Various weapons were also carried out and distributed to individuals, and some people set traps inside and outside the camp, and the air was filled with an atmosphere of impending mountain rain.

Since yesterday, the caravan scouts found the traces of the Ash Thieves, and the scout spies on both sides have been constantly clashing. However, the strength of the caravan is limited after all, even if the scouts equipped with it have been systematically trained by the military and can be called elite, they still can't completely block the snooping of the caravan by the Ash Thieves.

As an experienced caravan leader, Carey understands that such intensive spying means that the Ash Thieves have made up their minds to take action against the caravan. And the location where the caravan is located now is the area where Blackstone County and Huangyan County meet, on the edge of the Black Forest, and there is nothing to defend the caravan. So Carey made a quick decision, and before dusk, he chose a hill with decent terrain and gave the order to camp in advance.

"Captain Carey, I've found the location of the main force of the Ash Thieves, in the woods about two miles to the southwest. Dick, the leader of the Ash Thieves, led the team, numbering more than three hundred, and was already preparing for the attack. A young figure emerged from the shadows, bowed slightly to Carey, and reported with a solemn expression.

"Well done, little Carl, worthy of being the proud disciple of Chief Barrett. Patting the young man in front of him on the shoulder, Carey smiled and complimented.

The young man in front of him was named Carl, who was taught by Barrett, and at the age of twenty-one, he was already a sixth-level thief, and he was one of the best people in the new generation of Cook Castle.

Carl traveled with the caravan this time, on the one hand, to receive experience, and on the other hand, to act as the eyes of the caravan. After all, thieves have a unique advantage when it comes to detecting hidden information. And it turned out that Karl did live up to expectations, and among the several scouts sent by Carey, he was the first to accurately find the location of the enemy's main force and brought back first-hand information.

"Dick actually brought more than 300 people, and it seems that the Ash Thieves are out of the nest this time. But such a small number of people want to eat us, and they underestimate the Cook family. Do they think we are ordinary caravanserais? We are the caravan of the Cook family, a team that can trade bandit heads for military merit!"

Hearing Kaili's words, everyone in the busy caravan was stunned for a moment, and then suddenly agreed, and the atmosphere suddenly became warm. While everyone quickened up their work, a fighting spirit rose throughout the camp.

Although there were only a hundred people in the caravan, and the guards composed of professionals were only a dozen or so, unlike other ordinary caravans, the members of the Cook family caravan were professionally trained in military affairs. Each of them is proficient in the use of weapons and even has considerable combat experience. Even from a more rigorous point of view, this caravan can be regarded as a qualified aristocratic private army, so it is not afraid of fighting with bandits, but because of the importance that the Cook family attaches to military merits, there is a faint feeling of excitement.

"Carl, can you determine the approximate number of their professionals?" After briefing the caravan on the information and boosting morale, Carey turned around and asked Carl with a solemn expression.

There is nothing wrong with boosting morale with rhetoric, but to despise the enemy for this is a real fool. In any case, the caravan is at an absolute disadvantage in numbers, and the Ash Thieves have a reputation and are certainly not a rabble. In this case, it is important to try to understand the real strength of the other party and make a reasonable arrangement.

"If I'm not mistaken, there should be more than forty professionals in the ranks. Karl replied with a bitter face: "There are at least six masters of the bronze rank. ”

"So much? It seems that Chief Barrett guessed correctly, someone is really going to attack our Cook family!" said Carey, who was shocked when he heard this, and then gritted his teeth.

As the director of a trade route, Carey is quite responsible, so he has learned about the Ash Thieves Band's range of activities that intersect with the trade route and belong to the forces of potential enemies.

According to the information provided by the mercenary union, there are indeed more than 300 members of the Ash Thieves Regiment, but the number of professionals among them is only twenty, and there are only two bronze level masters: one is the regiment leader Dick, a ninth-level flame warrior, and one is the deputy head Jeff, an eighth-level thief. There is also an alchemist rumored to be, but the exact circumstances are uncertain.

Although this kind of strength is stronger than that of ordinary mercenary groups, it is still within the range that the caravan can deal with. After all, the more than ten professionals of the caravan were once elites in the army, and their combat effectiveness was much stronger than that of ordinary professionals. Coupled with the well-trained caravan members, they are not afraid of the threat of the Ash Thieves. In a real fight, the caravan may be able to defeat a loose group of thieves.

But after the Ash Mercenary Group suddenly doubled the number of professionals, the situation changed substantially. In the continent of Ymir, the professional is the core of power. A well-trained caravan should be able to fight against ordinary bandits of three hundred men, but a dozen or so professional guards can hardly withstand more than forty professional level enemies. As for the bronze rank, the power ratio is even more disparity. In the caravan, except for Kairi, who was a ninth-level warrior, only Karl, a thief who was just a sixth-level thief, could not fight against the six bronze-level masters at all.

Once defeated at the professional level, a one-sided slaughter awaits the caravan. After all, no matter how well-trained an ordinary army is, it is difficult to fight against the ranks of professionals, especially those who have stepped into the bronze rank and initially have extraordinary strength, and they can even defeat a hundred when fighting against ordinary armies.

Aware of the change in the balance of power, combined with the news he received from Barrett, Carey knew that the caravan was really dangerous this time. There are suddenly so many more professionals in the Ash Thieves Group, of course, it can't be that the Ash Mercenary Group has suddenly expanded its recruitment and increased its strength. The biggest possibility is that there are other forces that want to attack the Cook family with the help of the shell of the Ash Thieves.

And in order to conceal the news, the other party will not care about its own casualties like ordinary thieves, weigh risks and benefits, and even spend money to buy safety. The other party will not even give the caravan a chance to negotiate, but will only try their best to completely wipe out the caravan. So this battle is inevitable.

"Sure enough, other forces are involved, but whoever wants to deal with the Cook family must be prepared to shed blood, the Cook family is not so easy to bully!" Karl said firmly.

As an elite cultivated in Cook Castle since childhood, and a disciple of Barrett, Carl has a high degree of identification with the Cook family. Even in an extremely unfavorable situation, Carl still maintained a strong fighting spirit and was even ready to sacrifice.

"Rest assured, it's not as bad as you think. Carey patted Karl on the shoulder, and Carey turned his head again and said loudly to the people in the camp, "I already briefed Chief Barrett yesterday, and his old man is coming with reinforcements. As long as we resist the enemy's attack, we can cooperate with the inside and the outside, and completely annihilate this gang of bandits. ”

"Is the teacher coming? Like everyone in the camp who was in high spirits, Carl was greatly relieved to hear that Barrett personally brought people to help.

Barrett's team is the most elite force of the Cook family except for the Baron's personal guard. Even though the number of people is a little smaller than that of the Ash Thieves, the combat power is definitely much higher. Moreover, Barrett himself is also a legend of Cook Collar, even if he falls into the bronze rank, his strength is still amazing, and the idle bronze professional can't make a few moves in front of Barrett. With this group of reinforcements joining, it should be possible to win the victory over the Ash Thieves.

Seeing that the morale of the caravan was greatly boosted, Carey nodded with satisfaction and pulled Carl out of the camp. After a dozen steps from the camp, Carey took out a gray bag with a solemn expression and handed it to Carl.

"What do you mean, Captain?" Carl asked in amazement, taking the bag and glancing at it.

In the continent of Ymir, storage bags are quite expensive as a type of magical equipment. Even the most ordinary storage bag, the kind with a volume of only three or four cubic meters, requires thousands of gold scales. For those with larger volumes, the price is basically tens of thousands. As for the rarer storage rings, the value is unimaginably high. Therefore, even one of the three major caravans of the Cook family has only one storage bag in the team, which is used to store the golden scale and various valuables - such as magic materials, magic equipment, potions, scrolls, etc.

In fact, the trade carried out by the Cook caravans was roughly divided into two main parts. Some of them were ordinary bulk goods, which they carried with them furs, herbs, and other specialties from the Cook Collar when they set out, and returned with food, cloth, and some other bulk goods needed by the territory.

The other part is the transaction of magic items with relatively high value. All kinds of magical herbs produced in the Black Forest, as well as materials on various magical beasts, are collected and purchased by Cook Castle, and then sold to other places through caravans, and then buy some magical items needed in the territory. This part of the transaction is usually directly handled by the caravan leader, and the items traded are also in the storage bag.

Since he was not the caravan leader, Karl did not know the exact ratio of the two transactions, but Karl knew that this storage bag contained at least more than half of the wealth of the entire caravan. Now that Carey is suddenly handing this thing over to himself, it obviously means that the situation is not as favorable as Carey said.

"Don't worry, I'm just in case. Seeing Karl's persistent and inquiring eyes, Carey thought of the news that Barrett had sent through the magic communication crystal, and couldn't help but sigh: "This time the matter is not simple, the enemy's strength may be even stronger than what we see." In case we really can't stand it, you're a thief and it's easier to get out. Take away the storage bag, at least let the family lose less. ”

"Don't talk about that, the enemy is already coming, you go and rest, the battle is about to begin. Tat Karl on the shoulder again, Carey looked at the approaching dark shadow in the distance, and turned and walked towards the camp.

"Prepare for battle!"