When Alyon went outside the tent with his guests, the tribe was in a state of war readiness. The Spokesperson of the bandits shouted again to deliver his final warning, as they sat down in the places prepared for them.
"This is your final warning! Throw down your weapons and kneel, or we will riddle your corpses with holes!"
Dimitri, startled by the bandits' threats, made an offer to Chief Alyon. "Chief, allow me to speak with these bandits. Our Guild is under the protection of mercenaries; I can prevent this incident from escalating." Alyon said nothing in response to Dimitri's suggestion, simply gesturing with his hand for him to proceed.
"Red Storm's Spokesperson, I am Dimitri the merchant from the Golden-Leaf Trade Guild. I am here to conclude a commercial agreement in this tribe. Don't you know that if something happens to me, you won't be able to get away with this?" When Dimitri finished his words, he thought he had no reason left to fear the bandits. Although bandit groups frequently robbed travelers, very few had dared to do so to merchants until now. The fate of these brave individuals had been the massacre of their entire families, including third-degree relatives.
"Mr. Merchant, this issue is a problem between the orc tribe and our Brotherhood. Your presence here is an entirely unforeseen misfortune." The Spokesperson paused, acting as if he had suddenly remembered something: "If I recall correctly, they told you when leaving Nikonya that the orc tribes were dangerous lately. In the images I viewed, it was clear that you didn't pay much attention to this warning!"
Dimitri was shocked by what he heard; he had never imagined that the bandits could infiltrate spies among the city guards. Worse, these bandits had evidence that he had been warned. He knew very well that under these circumstances, his Guild won't lift a finger for a second-class merchant.
Dimitri, reviewing the possibilities in a short time, turned to Chief Alyon and said, "Great Chief, my locomotive can take two more people. Together with you and the female orc beside you, we can breach the encirclement in defense mode." Alyon stood up and walked toward Dimitri. He patted the merchant, who had gone pale with fear, on the shoulder and handed him a cup of water to calm him down.
"My dear friend, calm down. Here, your goods and your life are entirely under my guarantee. Come and sit down; what you are about to see will interest you greatly, I am certain of it!" The Chief's relaxed demeanor caused the merchant's nerves to fray even more.
"Chief Alyon, these bandits have spies within the city guards. If we die, no one will call them to account for what happened. We must escape from here as quickly as possible." As Dimitrisweated cold profusely, Alyon, contrary to the demeanor he had maintained all day, began speaking with a very stern expression on his face.
"If you ask me, the situation might be even more serious than you think, my dear friend. I presume you haven't witnessed a real orc war on these steppes where you have traded for many years. Please calm down and watch intently the events that are about to unfold." The Chief's extremely serious tone brought the merchant back to his senses. With the guarantee that he could escape if things didn't go as predicted, he sat down next to his assistant Sasha.
Meanwhile, the bandits' Spokesperson grew enraged because he received no answer and spoke completely losing control of himself. "I accept that your final word is no; we will not leave a single one of you alive here today."
Before the Spokesperson finished speaking, a whistling arrow struck his throat. "What audacity allows a handful of bandits to threaten our tribe! If you have the courage, stop talking and come to your death!" Sangre, raising his bow to the air, roared with fury. The shouts of the warriors accompanied the end of his speech; the earth and sky were shaking.
Sangre, discovering the unique sensitivity his senses gained after the Blood Baptism, decided to train himself in archery. His current ability was at a level where he could shoot a flying bird through the eye from a distance of three hundred paces. Kızılkuyruk grew quite delighted when he saw the Spokesperson was killed. Now no one is in a position to question me; I have a very strong reason for revenge. That was precisely the thought echoing in his head.
"Brothers, today is the day to shed rivers of blood. It is time to take the miserable lives of these savage creatures!" "Attack!" A force of one thousand men from the bandit group launched a savage attack toward the orc tribe. Although the Chief and his close associates would take the valuable spoils among the bandits, those who charged first could also loot a few things. For this reason, the first wave of attack was quite numerous.
The orcs, facing the enemy charging madly toward them behind a simple wooden fence, were quite calm. No one questioned this situation until the bandits saw the ground disappear from beneath their feet when they were ten paces from the fence. The bandits running at the front of the first wave would be the most unfortunate people in this battle. Even if they didn't die instantly when they fell into the trench, impaled on the stakes inside, they would die in agony due to those who lost momentum and fell on top of them.
The trenches filled up halfway before the fiercely charging bandits saw that their path was covered by a deep pit. While the bandits trapped in the deep pits were trying to climb out by stepping on each other, Domuzkuyruk gave his command: "Attack! Fill the trenches!"
Some of the orcs in the front line of defense, hearing the command, tore up the fences and started a rain of stakes down onto the survivors inside the trench. With their superior physical strength, the orcs were hurling the thick tree trunks as if they were throwing light javelins. While many bandits died from the attack coming from above, some escaped the stakes by pressing themselves against the wall of the trench closest to the orc tribe.
As these smart bandits thought they had gotten away with it, they began to scream from the heat that struck their brains. Alyon had ordered the internal organs of wild creatures and tree resin to be boiled in large cauldrons. These cauldrons, hidden behind the fences during the attack, were making the surviving bandits in the trench experience an early hell with the mixture of boiling liquid inside.
"Warriors, take defensive positions! Archers, free fire!" Domuzkuyruk commanded the warriors whose defensive fences were gone to raise their shields and form a wall. The archery unit behind this wall began raining death down upon the first wave of bandits who hadn't fallen into the trench, without worrying about their safety.
"Show no mercy to this horde of monkeys who dared to attack our tribe! I want to see that every arrow you fire takes a life!" Sangre, displaying his superior abilities, was leading the archery unit. After his speech encouraging his unit, he began the attack with three arrows loaded onto his bow. Although the archery unit consisted of people who had only been training for a month, the crowd running in astonishment before them was an easy target even for them.
When those who started running backward in shock exposed their backs to the archers and gave up their lives, the first wave of the bandits' attack was killed to the last man. Dimitri, watching everything unfold from a dominant position in front of the Chief's tent, was extremely astonished by what was happening.
"Chief Alyon, completing so much preparation in a month is truly unbelievable, but how were you able to predict such an event would occur?" When the merchant asked the Chief the question on his mind, Sasha was waiting intently for the answer.
"Dimitri, this region is the most remote point on the orc steppes, and you come here regularly for trade. Based on these two criteria, I can tell you that you are at most a second-class merchant." Alyon met Dimitri's eyes as he finished speaking. Seeing the merchant nod his head in confirmation of what he said, he continued his words.
"The list we gave you contained materials that are rare in this region or that the locals here haven't even heard the name of. I assume that a second-class merchant purchasing and ordering such materials has caught the attention of many people." Dimitri realized that no matter how cautious he was while procuring the orders, it was impossible for the order itself not to attract attention. These bandits must have been following him the entire time. Dimitri turned back to take stock of the events, he was forced to turn his attention to the noise generated by the tribe's mechanical vehicles.