Reincarnated into a Game As the Hero’s Friend

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Even while moving, Granack, one of the bandits’ leaders, was still wondering if he should leave Anheim or attack the governor’s army.

Although they both were bandit leaders, Granack and Dagover were different. Because Granack knew that the army would attack him if he went too far, Granack mainly attacked villages’ livestock and he rarely attacked people. Even when he did attack people, Granack didn’t kill them, but captured them alive for a ransom.

Granack only began to kill people after he arrived in Bain Kingdom because the other bandits were also killing people.

Although Granack was strong and well-liked, he was also someone who was easily swayed by others. Granack was currently leading his men to move, but he still couldn’t decide whether to move far away from Anheim or to move to an advantageous place, so he could fight with the governor’s army. Unfortunately, things were proceeding faster than Granack’s prediction.

Granack was awakened from his sleep by the loud shouts of the night watch. The sky in the east was getting brighter, so it was not hard to make out the night watch’s face.

“Leader!”

“Why are you being so noisy!?”

Granack shouted at the man who had woken him up. Startled by the shout, the bandits around Granack also started to wake up.

Sleeping while wearing leather armor was difficult and uncomfortable. But recently, the number of demons who attacked people had increased because of the demon king’s resurrection, so regardless of discomfort, everyone forced themselves to sleep while still wearing their leather armor.

Just in case, Granack had also set up a night watch team, so it was rare for demons’ attack to cause damage to his group.

“Dagover, that bastard, he…”

“What happened to him?”

‘Does Dagover want to use the chaotic situation to attack us?’ That was what Granack initially thought, but he was immediately proven wrong. With a loud voice, one of his men said, “Dagover’s group lost in battle with the governor’s army! The survivors of his group came to us to ask for help!”

“Wa…Wait. What did you just say!?”

“Dagover’s group lost and the survivors…”

His subordinate thought Granack didn’t hear his earlier report. As such, he attempted to repeat his words, but it was soon cut off by Granack.

“You idiot!! Everyone, wake up!! Ready your weapons!!”

“Leader?”

“Don’t you realize it!? Dagover’s subordinates came to us, meaning that the governor’s army is near!! So hurry..”

“ENEMY ATTACK!!”

Before Granack finished his words, a loud shout resounded. The cavalry led by Sir Holzdeppe, who had been pursuing the remnants of the Dagover’s group, stormed in.

The survivors of the Dagover’s group didn’t run to the Granack’s group just to ask for help. Knowing that they were being pursued by the cavalry, they ran aimlessly among Granack’s subordinates in fear in an attempt to save themselves. They were unintentionally causing chaos.

Among Granack’s group, some ran aimlessly, while others searched for their weapons. But all in all, the entire group was not unified and was simply at the mercy of the situation. It was under that sort of situation that the cavalry rushed in, causing more confusion to spread amongst the group of bandits.

“Don’t panic! We outnumbered them!”

Granack yelled, but even he himself could no longer hear his yell clearly, let alone his subordinates. Screams of fear and confusion, the sound of footsteps, and the sounds of spluttering blood overwhelmed the surroundings. There were even some that aimlessly swung their weapons, causing their own allies to be injured.

The cavalry kept rushing inside until finally, they succeeded in breaking through to the middle of the bandit group. It was at that moment that infantry led by Welner arrived and they too rushed in.

“Kill them!”

Welner instructed sharply and several groups of three soldiers each rushed to kill the bandits. The soldiers, who had been pursuing the remnant of Dagover’s group without rest, abandoned their spears and switched to the swords. After all, the sword was lighter, so it was easier to pursue enemies using a sword rather than a spear. Welner was most likely the only person who still used a spear.

The soldiers swung their swords, breaking the half-repaired machete in a bandit’s hands in two, and in the end, that bandit was rendered into a corpse. On the other side, a bandit was trampled to death by a horse and there was also a bandit whose left hand that was holding a shield was cut off.

It was true that the bandits outnumbered the governor’s army, but they were confused and all they cared about was escaping. Although some of the bandits fought back, they were fighting individually, not fighting as an organized group. As Welner had noted during the Velitza Fortress rescue operation, no instruction would reach the ear of a confused group.

Gekke’s mercenaries, who arrived rather late, rushed to the biggest group among the bandits and killed them one by one. The entire Granack’s group was now running in all directions in an attempt to escape. The fact that the stunned Granack felt the killing intent and ducked was quite impressive.

“You bastard!!”

Granack, who had dodged the surprise attack, swung his sword toward his opponent, but his sword was deflected by the spear. Granack saw the face of his opponent. His opponent seemed to be young enough to be a student, yet his face was decorated with a fearless smile that didn’t suit his age.

Granack swung his sword once again, but Welner blocked him. Welner was using a spear, so in the first place, he was not in a sword’s striking range. When Granack tried to step forward, the tip of the spear attacked him from the side, forcing Granack to fall back.

“You coward!!”

“Funny. A bandit like you, calling me a coward?”

Welner responded sarcastically and thrusted his spear at Granack several times in quick succession. Welner played with Granack by subtly changing the speed of his spear every time he thrust.

Granack realized he could not escape. The second he turned his back to escape, the spear would pierce him.

When he saw Welner pull his spear, Granack charged at Welner furiously. If Granack was a bit calmer, he would not be tempted by such an obvious bait, but the current Granack was far from calm. He was forced to fight right after he had just woken up, his surroundings were filled with screams, and Granack himself was being cornered by this young man. Granack obviously could not keep his cool.

As he watched Granack try to close the distance, Welner grabbed his spear on the middle of its hilt and swung his spear upward, hitting Granack’s mandible. Granack fell.

Immediately after, Welner swung his spear from above with all his strength. A dull thud echoed as the spear hit Granack’s shoulder.

Unable to bear the intense pain in his shoulder, Granack collapsed. Neurath, who was guarding Welner’s surroundings to make sure that no enemy could come close, quickly swept in and captured Granack.

“It was a splendid battle, Welner-sama.”

“Nah, if we were fighting using a sword, I would have lost.”

Welner was not being modest. The surrounding war situation had made his opponent lose his composure. An opponent who had lost his cool couldn’t fight using all his power. As such, Welner was able to win quite easily.

“Welner-sama. Shall we continue pursuing the enemy?”

“No. We’ve been pursuing the enemies for almost the entire day, so everyone must be tired. Gather everyone first and treat the wounded.”

“Understood.”

The first training that soldiers did when they enrolled in the army was to run. Welner knew that in terms of stamina, the soldiers were far above the bandits. That was why Welner had ordered his army along with the mercenaries to keep pursuing the bandits this far.

Nevertheless, Welner couldn’t ignore his army’s fatigue. In the current situation, the bandits wouldn’t be able to survive even if they escaped. After all, the bandits were now scattered into small groups and they wouldn’t be able to survive demon attacks with just a small group. That was why Welner decided to stop pursuing the enemy. They still had to fight the demon army later, so Welner wanted to avoid any casualties.

Later on, Welner received the news that Baron Zebel’s army, whom he had contacted before, had almost exterminated the scattered remnant of the bandits.

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