"Gallop! Gallop! Gallop!"
On an isolated merchant forest trail... several men on horseback were quickly making their way towards Ivonty City.
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It"s been a week and a half since their journey from the Coastal city had begun..... and now, they had finally reached the outskirts of their targeted City.
And unlike the other times where their journeys were peaceful, this time.... they had met with numerous bandits along the way.
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Landon raised his right hand in the hair, and instantly... the people right behind him stopped.
4 minutes later, the entire group of 801soldiers... quickly got off their horses at their Commander"s orders.
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It was only 5:53 P.M..... so they made camp and went over their plans again.
In summary, since there were 801 soldiers, 400 would rescue the women in the underground camps.... and the other half would focus on rescuing those at the training estates.
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"Warrant officer Beri, Private Nate, Private Priscillia....(kept calling out their names)
I"m sure you all know why your names have been called.
As was stated on your letters given to you during Briefing, all 30 or you have been split into groups of 6.... and are expected to go towards all 5 exit points for the underground camps that"re found within the city.
I want the perimeters scouted thoroughly... and I also want to know how many guards are there during every s.h.i.+ft.
Use your thermal/heat vision goggles to accurately spot them.
You"ll leave at 7 P.M and get back here at 10 P.M max.
Am I clear?"
"Yes Commander!" The group of 30 answered.
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Beri was amongst the group of 30.... and this was his first mission ever.
One should know that even though he used to be a Prince in the empire of Yodan.... he had never been given any missions by his father at all.
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In truth, his father, King Maclaine... only considered the first 5 princes when it concerned official duties.
And he as the 9th prince, did nothing at all.... except run the city which was given to him when he turned 15.
So this was his first time doing any official missions at all.
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Beri tingled from head to toe... as bundles of excitement continued to pulse throughout his entire body.
He felt himself vibrate slightly with antic.i.p.ation, as he listened to Landon"s every word.
This was it!!
This was a chance for him to prove himself capable.
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As a soldier, bettering himself so as to protect the people.... was all he truly cared about so knowing his battle weaknesses were very important to him.
And even though he had given his all during training, nothing could beat real life battles.
Hence, he saw this as an opportunity to improve himself.
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"Good!!!
Warrant officer Braxton, Private Chantelle, Private Apollo... .... Again, 23 of you will follow me and scout the perimeters and all 2 secret exits around the training estate.
You all already know your individual groups as well.
So team up quickly, and well head out at 7 P.M.
Remember, at 10 P.M max.... I expect everyone back immediately!
Is that understood?!!!"
"Yes Commander!!!"
"_"
"As for the rest of you, go over the plans for tomorrow night again.... and be on guard at all times.
Guard the perimeters of the camp, and make sure that no one finds out about our presence here.
Understand?"
"Yes Commander!" They answered in unison.
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As they waited for the time to pa.s.s by, Landon and the other chosen spies quickly took out several peasant clothes..... rubbed dirt on their faces as well.
And since there were also female soldiers in the mix, it was better for the women to cover up their beauty..... lest it got in the way of their mission.
Hence, they had made themselves look quite revolting and horrendous..... just for the mission"s success.
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After properly disguising themselves, they quickly went on to hunt several animals like rabbits... as well as pick up very popular herbs too.
They did all this, so as to blend in more with the people.... as well as to convince their enemies.
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For example, one of the secret pa.s.sages.... is by an apothecary"s medicine store.
So those that picked up herbs, would go there and try to trade in their herbs for money.... while secretly scouting the area.
Apothecaries were typically too busy to go about searching for herbs here and there, so they created such stores just for collecting.... as well as selling out these herbs to other apothecaries and healers too.
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Again... some of the other secret exits were closer to some hunter guilds as well.
There, hunters could grade their skills based on what prey they got.... and get ranked from "F" to "SSS".
What the guild wanted, was the skin of these animals.
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n.o.bility paid hefty sums just to wear Hangol-skinned jackets, and even have them as rugs and carpets.
The guilds paid the hunters whenever they got any animals who"s skin was valuable.... to some extent.
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And apparently, Rabbit fur was seen as an F rank task... as the n.o.bles only used it for good pillowcases to keep them warm during the cold seasons.
So since it was everywhere, almost every rich person had it.
Hence it wasn"t seen as very valuable.
It was an F-Rank task.
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7 P.M!!
Landon and his spies quickly headed towards the city.
From their camp, it took them 35 minutes on foot to get there.
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In front of the city gate, 12 guards were busy controlling and bullying those who came in or went out of the city.
Landon and his spies had been insulted and spat on.
In fact, some of them had even had their rabbits had been forcibly taken away by the guards.
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It wasn"t just them, but every other peasant as well.
The guards had those going on line up, and before stepping into the city.... they had to drop one item as bride, even if they lived in the city.
Hence everyone quickly did as they were told.
Who asked them to be poor?
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Landon"s team had decided to go in last.... as he wanted to make sure that all the spies successfully managed in before he did.
And currently... most of them had gone in already, and only 3 teams were left.
"So far so good." He thought, as he looked at the groups ahead of him.
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But suddenly, out of nowhere..... one of the guards loudly exclaimed.
"You there... Stop!!!"
"_"