“Squad A, B, and C should be in position, Captain,” Lieutenant Letzel reported behind Fritz and Ludolph. “We can launch the assault at any point.”
“Good work. I wanna finish this crap and sleep,” Ludolph replied with a groan. “This day’s been tedious.”
Fritz lowered his spyglass, before turning to Ludolph. They were standing on top of a rooftop that overlooked a two-story building at the outer edges of the town. Right beside the parapet, two stinger crossbows belonging to Fritz and Ludolph were prepared, both of them loaded to the full.
“Have we confirmed that these guys are truly hostile?” Fritz asked.
“Yep,” Ludolph nodded. “We also expect them to have a ledger or a register about their operations here.”
Fritz took another look with his spyglass, noting the groups of thugs mindlessly cooking at a lane that led to a back entrance. They seemed entirely unaware of being watched by Fritz’s and Ludolph’s group.
Damn, I bet they’re not expecting the Queen’s force to send shit at them. Fritz lowered his spyglass, trying to gauge the distance between this rooftop and the building that they were targeting. I can probably support Ludolph’s guys from here. No need to endanger myself yet for this mission when I can coordinate it from the back.
“Do you have any guys capable of going one-to-one with a Tier III or IV bastard down there?” Fritz asked.
“In theory, everyone should be capable of that,” Ludolph replied. “The stinger crossbows we have are rated to kill someone at that range. Of course, if someone’s strong enough to be at that strength level, it might take a couple of extra bolts…”
“Quite risky then,” Fritz said. “I wouldn’t want to lose any of our men just yet, so we have to be ready to intervene quickly.”
“Respectfully, we are from the 1st Assault Brigade,” Lieutenant Letzel suddenly said from behind. Fritz turned back at him, and the officer stiffened his pose. “All of my men are trained and equipped to storm a fortified point, even buildings and houses. It shouldn’t be a problem.”
“They’d do that with those bulky stinger crossbows?”
“Why not?” the officer smirked. “It’s not like anyone over there has a magical weapon that can counter an entire platoon of guys wielding it. They cannot do anything. Not especially when they get a feel of our suppression tactics first.”
“Heh,” Fritz nodded, laughing. “Excellent then. We’ll commence the assault in eight minutes. Gentlemen, synchronize your watches.”
The trio all checked their respective pocket watches, setting the assault at right exactly eight minutes.
“I’ll go to my team, captain,” Lieutenant Letzel said when he was done.
“Do it cleanly, lieutenant,” Ludolph replied.
“Aye, sir.”
Lieutenant Letzel gave Ludolph a brief salute before heading downstairs. Fritz and Ludolph on the other hand settled to watch with quiet calmness, as the chilly air breezed through the town.
“Bastards are going to be awake after this,” Ludolph commented. “Think she’s going to get pissed by this?”
“This town is so close to her castle yet there’s a bandit base on it,” Fritz waved him off. “Look, if anything, her tongue will be twisted once we show her the results.”
“Making someone look incompetent can still backfire, you know?”
“Or it’ll give her a clear hint that someone working under her is being a little quack,” Fritz checked his pocket watch again. “Two minutes left. Are you a good shot at least, in real combat?”
“Average,” Ludolph shook his head. “I think I can hit someone’s torso decently half the time at this rate.”
“Ah, well, then you better prepare to deploy in melee down below later if things go south,” Fritz took his stinger crossbow, lying down on the parapet to ready himself. “Hey, can you spot an important bastard over there? I’d like a good opening for us.”
Ludolph raised his spyglass, while Fritz took a deep breath, straining his eyes while balancing the weapon in his hands. It was his father’s work, but Fritz felt a familiar connection to it that was more than just his admiration for his family’s intellectual design.
As he breathed out another stream of cold air from his nostrils, he remembered his first kill as a novice assassin. It was as if he was back on that tower, a single-shot heavy crossbow at hand, with an enchanted bolt on the ready.
The only difference now was that he didn’t have the powerful eyes that the Empress’ mad surgeries to improve her family’s powers gave. Still, with his duller senses, he listened intently to Ludolph’s directions, calmly aiming his crossbow at a window.
Half of it was blocked by a thin piece of wood, but the other half was wide open. Someone inside was sitting inside of that room, silently drinking from a mug as he wrote with a quill on paper. Fritz’s finger hovered on the trigger, as Ludolph’s final words filtered into his ears.
Ludolph was now only holding his pocket watch, counting down for Fritz.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“Three, two…”
Deep breaths.
A torrent of his memories, the images of those who he assassinated with this method flooded like a tsunami to remind him of one truth: he was the best sharpshooter of the Empire.
“One.”
He pulled the trigger and loosened the bolt. All but a tiny whiff came, but, blood flew out like a geyser when it struck his target on the shoulder. The force of a single stinger crossbow’s enchanted bolt at full power was unstoppable for a mere low-tier mortal.
Explosions suddenly rocked the building as Fritz placed his crossbow down. Using his spyglass, he observed as the members of Ludolph’s men executed the plan right after the exact second he murdered his target. They charged in with gusto, throwing explosive splash potions first, leaving violence that caused panic and death in the bandit’s ranks.
Then, like wolves from the dark, they descended with their stinger crossbows. The thugs tried to form a shoddy defense line, holding a hodgepodge of swords and machetes, only to receive bolts that sliced and pierced their bodies like knives on butter.
He watched as two soldiers advanced on one darkened lane, facing off against twelve panicked foes, both of them dispatching bolt after bolt and wiping out the group six times their size within seconds.
Fritz lowered his spyglass as the first soldiers entered the compound, straight either at the doorway or through the windows where they initially threw their explosive splash potions in.
“Good effect on target?” Ludolph cheekily asked from behind. Fritz could only breathe out a laugh.
“Damn good effect indeed,” Fritz replied.
More minor explosions tore through the building, but in just thirty seconds, a white flag was raised on the second floor’s window.
The quick raid was an efficient success.
+++
Shocked town folks watched as Ludolph’s men roughened up the surrendered bandits. Arms tied, the bandits were lined against the wall of the compound while they were checked one by one by two privates. Behind them, four soldiers watched with stinger crossbows on the ready, the threat of the bandits being executed by arrows while facing the wall made clear.
Fritz and Ludolph made it pass through the crowd of onlookers. Lieutenant Letzel was still arguing with a high-ranked town’s guard when Fritz made his presence known.
“Alright everyone, what’s the big deal out here?” Fritz asked. Both Lieutenant Letzel and the guard turned to Fritz. The difference between the two was massive. Lieutenant Letzel only wore a simple cuirass and steel helmet, the guard however wore a full armor set, armed with what appeared to be a heavy broadsword.
Yet, it was the guard sweating bullets, and Lieutenant Letzel standing with boredom.
“Who in the goddess’ name organized this nonsense?” the guard asked with his brash voice. “I have not been informed that there would be such a massive ruckus from the Army tonight. The Duchess will know of this!”
“Yeah, that’s not the threat you think it is, buddy,” Ludolph replied before Fritz showed a paper that revealed their identity and the seal of the Royal Messenger.
“I am Fritz Rolentz, head of the Decree Bureau,” Fritz said. “This anti-bandit mission was organized by the Queen herself, and the Duchess has given us permission to operate and investigate in her lands.”
“I…” the guard’s voice became muted. He looked down, defeated. “I see.”
Fritz turned to Lieutenant Letzel.
“Find their leader or whoever’s important,” Fritz said. “Oh, and did you retrieve what I was asking for?”
“We did retrieve it. I’ll pass it on to you later, Mr. Rolentz,” the officer replied, before turning to his men. “Men, make it clear that if they don’t give up their leader, it’s over for them.”
“Aye, Lieutenant!” the soldiers replied in unison.
The group of bandits gritted their teeth, resisting hard even when the two privates asking questions angrily punched them or bashed their heads on the wall. Fritz and Ludolph watched from the sidelines, Ludolph himself yawning a bit while Fritz lit up his pipe.
When two minutes passed and no one answered, it further escalated.
“Still nothing?!” the private who interrogated the bandits from behind asked. No one still answered him. The private grabbed one of the bandits at the edge of their group and pushed him slightly away from the nearest bandit. “Alright, make an example of this one!”
One of the soldiers raised his crossbow and gave a neutral nod.
For a second, all the noise stopped as they all waited for the crossbowman to take his shot.
Then, the soldier finally opened fire. A reddish hue of light came out of his bolt, striking one of the bandits and setting him up on fire. His clothes and flesh burned brutally, and the thug screamed madly in agony while the other bandits panicked at the display.
Fritz tiredly puffed out a smoke as one of the bandits gave up.
“It’s him! It’s him!” shouted one of them with tears as he looked at the man beside him. “He’s the leader of our group! He knows everything!”
“W-what, you damned—” their leader was about to deny it before he was bagged away by the two privates, practically being dragged on his knees. The townsfolk parted on the side of the street to make way while the bandit leader screamed. “You can’t take me away!”
Within seconds, he disappeared into the lane that led to the building’s back entrance.
“Well, that’s that then,” Fritz smiled, turning to the guard beside Lieutenant Letzel. “Get the townsfolk back to their homes. They don’t need to be out and about when they should sleep.”
The guard turned to his men, before shouting orders to push the civilians out of the incident area. Meanwhile, the rest of Ludolph’s men continued their clean-up, dragging more prisoners to face the wall. When they were done, there were a total of sixteen men left standing, all of them shivering as they begged for mercy.
“Hey, you know how to interrogate someone?” Fritz asked Ludolph, who nodded.
“Gustav is best at it, but I think I can emulate his methods, somewhat…”
“Gustav?”
“Yeah…he’s still busy doing priestly duties, so whatever. It’s up to us for now. Shame, that priest has a lot of spells that get fools talking fast.”
Fritz nodded.
“We’ll do it the messy way then if that guy doesn’t speak up quickly. Let’s go.”
“Aight.”
Before the two could go inside the bandit’s building, a group of people on horseback rushed from the street behind them. Fritz and Ludolph looked at the leading figure until her face became apparent.
It’s Lady Alexandra. Oh…she doesn’t look amused by our clownery.