With such setting, Galatin who was full ambition wanted to recapture the silver mine.
There was a mining town in halfway up the mountain, there were 30,000 residents who right now become a rebel.
Most of the men were miners, and the rest were mainly made up of blacksmiths, hunters and lumberjacks, around 5,000 of them had become rebel soldiers.
The miners were a hard worker and they had a st.u.r.dy strong body. And they were brave people who risked their lives to work in the dark mine tunnel. Unexpectedly they were good as being soldiers. Moreover, the hunters were always in contact with a bow, they were proficient in using it, which make it natural for them to be recruited as soldiers.
The news said that the first troops that were given the mission to subjugate them numbered around 2,000 men. It seems the commander also ended up dead.
For the path, there was only one path that leads toward the mine.
Surrounding the mountain was a dense forest, continue up to the middle of the mountain.
It was said the first recapture army was being attacked by the hunters en-route, they were being attacked by a rain of arrows making them fall into disorder.
It was easy to take on a force heading toward the top and the arrow being released from above ended up being stronger due to the position, furthermore, the recapture force could not use a cavalry charge from the mountain foot. It was a military strategy that even a child could understand.
Moreover, there was only one path that leads toward the miners" town. After all, it was the silver mine that everyone wants. Thus providing a method for defense takes a priority compared to the ease for transportation.
While that might be true, it was foolish for the second recapture troops who decided to aim at the miners" town via the forest at their individual own discretion.
In the end, each of them was killed by the hunters who view the forest as their own backyard. Such outrageous losing creates a question which side was actually had trained soldiers in their ranks. In the end, the second recapture commander was also ended up dead.
(In other words, the only way is to climb this road…)
Galatini concluded.
Looking from the mountain foot, the road looked like a snake. The wheel track created two lines that make it looked like a big monster snake.
Via such a road, a large number of soldiers were squeezed.
Galatini had sinister imagination as he ordered his soldiers to march. “Advance!”
Three thousand people climb the slope with a crawling speed.
A standing soldier was often strong in walking, but he had chosen the best among the imperial guard.
All of them were equipped with a large shield.
Galatini had forgotten how scary hunter arrows was.
If something like a shield could stop the arrows, it would be great.
“Proceed forward, fast!”
Galatini shouted in the middle of the troops, while also climbing with his own legs despite his old age.
Though usually, such work was the duty of the aides, due to his ambition, he feels excited and impatient.
— Then something cut Galatin"s voice.
He heard a sharp and high-pitched sound.
How many people know that it was a hawk cry sound?
Soon after that, Galatin received a small impact on his head. Suddenly his head becomes light.
It was the hawk which came and took away his helmet.
(There"s such a naughty hawk in the world huh?)
Such thought crossed Galatini mind.
That was the last thought that ever crossed his mind.
*Bash*, a wild sound resounded.
–
A long arrow had penetrated Galatini"s head from left to right.
“Ugh…?”
His large body turns a somersault.
“L-Lord Galatini?!” The deputy commander ran up to him, but it was useless.
Because the dead do not answer, and could not give any command anymore.
As if Galatin death was the signal, the hunters appeared from their hidings and rained the troops with arrows.
The archer was a man with a muscular appearance.
The man had a height of seven shaku (Around 210cm).
His muscle was like armor. Especially the muscle on his arms and chest were tremendous.
On the other hand, his eyes were round, with a babyface. His age was still 24 years old. He had a beard on his face to maintain dignity, but due to the unbalance appearance, he was often being teased for it instead.
His bow was set up across the tall Claude elm trees branches.
It was a six-feet longbow. Which uses a special arrow to use.
If he didn"t have such a big body, he won"t be able to draw the bowstring.
As his right eye gaze at the target, he closed the right eye as he aimed.
He looked like a one-eyed giant when aimed like that.
He looked down at the government forces from the top of the tree in the top of the slope. The distance was around 200 meters.
When the arrow was being released, it created a noise as it flies. It was flying almost a straight line. Fellow hunters have already begun a simultaneous attack, but their arrow was different in which fly a parabolically.
As he had aimed, his arrow penetrated the head of Galatini.
His precise shot killed the commander with the first shot and the deputy with the second shot.
Normally, even those who could shot from 100 meters would be called as a master bowman.
Which made him an extraordinary skilled one. He boasts not only strength.
And that man name was ‘Garai"
Among the thousand hunters who make a living in the mountain forest, his archery was outstanding.
During winter, his strong arms would wield a blacksmith hammer as he wipes away the sweat on his forehead.
“Thank you for your hard work.” A woman voice could be heard overhead.
She was like a nimble cat climbing the trees, as she hanging upside down.
In contrast to Garai, she was a pet.i.te woman. If they lined up, they looked like a parent and child.
Though the truth was she was Garai"s childhood friend, three years younger only. She had similar baby face appearance, but unlike Garai, she was in the realm of ‘cute", thus no action had been taken by her. She had a lax element to her.
She wore an easy to move hemp clothes, and her hair was being tied into a ponytail. Though barefoot was not suitable for climbing a tree, her tanned feet were free from wounds. It was evident that she was a skillful one.
“It"s not over yet you know, Tiki?”
“But, you win already, no?”
As Garai chide her softly, Tiki responded by pointing at the battlefield and laugh.
Even when she was in an upside-down posture, she had no fear to move her hand around.
In Garai"s eyes, he could see that the government troops had fallen into complete chaos.
It was normal to happen since they had lost their commander and deputy commander in a row.
And their great shield had become meaningless since such a shield could only be useful if being lined side by side.
the hunters of Line manage to shot them bypa.s.sing the shield.
Just like that, the troops of the government was beaten.
Garai as well begins to draw his bow once again. He slaughters one person with every arrow.
(Runaway… Hurry up… I beg of you, get away from here…)
Even though such words crossed his mind, he didn"t have any intention to show any mercy. Unless they want to get killed instead.
Eventually— Whether it was due to his prayer or not, the government forces started to retreat while taking their comrade corpses.
Seeing that, Garai sighed as he felt relief.
“See, you won. Garai is a worrywart after all…” Tiki said that proudly.
Now she changes her posture into sitting on the branch and let her legs sway around.
Then the sound of flapping could be heard, it was Tiki northern hawk had returned. The hawk stops and rests on her shoulder.
“You too, thank you for the hard work. You"ve done well…”
When Tiki praises the hawk, the hawk cried proudly as if he understood what she said.
Garai was able to know the location of the commander because of this smart bird.
Soon enough, they could hear their comrades shouted their victory cry.
“Let us go home. I want to enjoy some booze today…” No sooner than him saying that Tiki had already climbed down the tree at a tremendous speed.
When they got down, two wolves which had wandered around guarding their surrounding crawled on her feet.
Garai and Tiki.
It was due to these two extraordinary abilities that the Line miners could repel the government force three times.