Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem-Chapter 447: Scouting
The period in time leading up to the founding of the Empire and the first few centuries of the Empire’s history were chaotic. The current war in the east was a calm day of the week in comparison.
Wars, destruction, and natural disasters ravaged the land. It was an era fraught with battle and blood-thirsty warlords and generals.
A significant portion of that was related to the expansion of the Empire’s borders and the successive conqueror-emperors’ greed for more. They wouldn’t be satisfied until they had the continent in the palm of their hands.
And to the relief of everyone on the continent, they were finally satisfied when they had everything from the southern sea to the northern mountains and the western forest to the eastern wastelands. Thus, the Empire entered an era of peace, stability, and prosperity.
Garad was suggesting that the barbarians were in a situation similar to the Empire’s early history. They were on a mission of conquest and expansion to strengthen their nation and bolster the riches of their leaders.
There was no special reason behind the barbarians’ invasion unless the base instinct of all humans, greed, could be called special.
The barbarians lived by taking from the land. They persistently harassed the Eastern border of the Empire, and they grew up and lived with battles and fighting in a way that the Empire’s citizens didn’t.
Why shouldn’t they invade the Empire?
That was what Garad was saying. And he was making a good point.
Other than the losses they would take and the overwhelming might of the Empire, why shouldn’t the barbarians try and increase the size of their territory? It wasn’t like it could come back and bite them in the ass or something, right?
Zach wasn’t convinced. Yan was also on the fence.
But neither of them knew as much about the East and the barbarians as Garad, so they were silent as Garad took them off the path cleared by the barbarians.
They had followed it long enough for Garad to know where the barbarians had set up camp. Now, they had to get there without being discovered. Garad could lead the way, and Zach’s familiars and Lahso would handle discovering barbarians before the barbarians discovered them.
First, they had to get the lay of the land and figure out what they were dealing with.
Hundreds of barbarians had tried to attack Rittel last night, and they had continuously sent dozens of light barbarians into the city every night for a couple of weeks. That could be the scope of the barbarians gathered in the vicinity. Or it could be less than half.
For a handful of people such as Zach’s group, the difference between the remnants of last night’s army and one three times the size of the original one was too large for them to ignore.
If they were only dealing with the remnants, they could go wild and not even bother sneaking around the vegetation like shy snakes. But if they were dealing with not only many but also strong barbarians, they would have to make the most of Garad’s experience and cover themselves in mud and grass to hide their scent and camouflage themselves.
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It would be two entirely different ways of doing things.
The sun had almost set once they arrived at the river bend where the barbarians had pitched camp. Zach and the others hid behind a bushy hill with the wind blowing from the barbarians to them.
The hill was small enough that the barbarians hadn’t bothered posting a lookout as they had done with a slightly taller hill to the side. A good lookout would have seen them from that lookout if not for Mandra’s spell. By not being the best hiding spot, their chosen hiding spot became the best, and they could see the size of the camp and count their troops.
There were three different colors to the tents and different flags at the different colors. Three tribes were cooperating here.
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That could be both a good and a bad sign. If the tribes were close, their cooperation would be impossible to break up. If the tribes weren’t close, Zach and the others could use that against them.
Unfortunately, Garad wasn’t familiar with these tribes, much less their relationship.
But that was a good sign. That meant the were smaller tribes that usually didn’t come close to the Empire’s border. If they called for stronger warriors after losing the ones they lost last night, they probably wouldn’t be able to call for much stronger ones. At best, it would be the tribal chiefs and the shamans that would pose a threat to Zach and the others.
So far, it was looking good for Zach and the others, even if the size of the camp was bigger than they had expected.
At least nine hundred barbarians could be fit into that camp.
That explained why the forest and wilderness Zach and the others had gone through to reach their current hill had seemed so barren.
A thousand people needed a lot of food, especially during war. It wouldn’t be easy for the barbarians to transport supplies this deep into the Empire, even if they had an abundance of supplies back home.
They were picking the dusty clean to feed their warriors.
Zach’s expression darkened as he looked at the barbarian camp. But then he looked closer. He didn’t just look at and count the tents.
His eyes weren’t as good as a hawk’s, but with the Eyes of Truth from his contract with Mandra, his eyes were pretty sharp, even when he didn’t use the skill, and when he used the skill just a little, he could see further.
He turned to Mandra just to confirm what he was seeing.
"Those aren’t just warriors, right…?" He asked.
He had seen children running around. Where there were children, there were caretakers, caretakers who wouldn’t be risking their lives fighting the imperial troops.
Mandra nodded.
"Yes, Master. There appear to be many non-combatants in the camp."
