"Look, you guys won't make it out alive, so let's just say I am giving you a chance to leave quietly."

"Really..." replied the man glaringly. These soldiers were very low in numbers compared to them & the fighting would be one sided to begin with. Still, this guy was talking like he owned this place & could single-handedly defeat them.

"Yeah, kind-of" said Hansh, still holding his sword loosely.

Was it a bluff? Sure it was. He could be one of the best swordsman in the entire empire, still handling 10 of these guys was not something he could do at once. There were other people to help him, but what if there were more?

These mercenaries were standing before him knowing that they would win, otherwise there was no match between fully trained 20 soldiers & them.

"Like you said, we don't have time for this, so let's end this quickly." Replied the tall man in an eerie tone with a whistle and soon many more of his friend started appearing out of the bushes and nearby woods with wide grins plastered on their faces carrying swords & other weapons.

"See, there is no chance for you or your people to win, so give us that guy & you can go on your merry way & we can go on our own." added the spokesman of the mercenaries. He now had a total of 50 men surrounding the carriage & there were only 20 soldiers to defend.

This fight already had been woned before it even began. Sure, he could lose some of his man but that was their risk for getting involved in this mess & asking for money.

"Is that all you got?" exclaimed the captain, but this time gripping his weapon more firmly. He had successfully lured out all the enemies in the open only if there was no one left hiding.

"What? You need more."

"Well, I thought there will be more. Then we may call it a fair fight."

"You can joke all you want, but this is what you have to deal with & frankly, do you think you will be able to win?" said the bearded man, spreading his hands to show off his entire army of mercenaries.

To his words, Hans didn't respond but looked at the entire group with a stoic expression. If what this dude said was right, then his team had to deal with 50 of these guys who were not so great at fighting or well-disciplined but were really strong.

The nearest check point was not so far from here but was also not so close. If he signalled now, then it would at least take them some time to arrive, which could be a problem if they had to defend & attack at once.

Also, these guys had already surrounded from every side so there was no possible way to even fall back. With having both outnumbered & outmatched he had to do something quickly, before this whole damn war happens where the chance of Leon survival was low if they lost.

"We can win, but you know... it won't be easy." said the captain, swinging his longsword slowly.

"Easy.... easy my ass. You don't even stand a chance against me, let alone all of us." replied the man heavily stomping his foot on the ground & soon all the mercenary were in battle ready pose tightly gripping their weapons & putting it forward.

"Well, it is what it is then." said Hansh, taking a couple of steps back without averting his gaze from the enemey. He knew they were not attacking from the very moment they saw each other because everyone wanted to avoid losing their comrades. Talking was not an option, still they chose to do it just cause they won't fight unless it was imminent.

"So... What now?" asked another soldier, looking at the captain's stoic expression. They had trained for exact days like this, so there was no fear in them, but was obvious uncertainty as to how to save the Lord or get him out of here with no harm. Things could sideways at any moment & just one mistake could lead to a monumental disaster.

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"Just like before." replied Hansh twisting his head a little. If peace was not an option, then it was right time to turn to the last of his book where the word Violence was written. They were going to fight them with everything they have got, the end. No turning back, no running away.

"Signal!" shouted the captain & soon a loud ear piercing noise followed by the war cries of the mercenaries & his soldiers were heard.

But there was a twist.

With the loud noise banging in everyone's ear, the carriage also started moving as the driver, who was also a trained soldier & had practiced this scenario hundreds of times, knew what to do.

He followed one strategy & that was 'You can be sure of succeeding in your attacks if you only attack places which are undefended.'.

The frontal flank where only 10 of the mercenaries stood was undefended not in literal meaning, but there were fewer people before the carriage than beside it. When they started their attack, they moved forward, everyone at once & in that exact moment the carriage moved as the driver whipped the horses with everything he had got.

It had to been done at the exact moment where everyone was distracted with blood pumping through their heads.

The plan was to get the passengers into the safety by escaping most attacks which were defended by the soldiers. And it was achieved by cutting through the first line of the enemy, which was the weakest compared to others.

The enemy tried to charge; soldiers tried to defend as they had no offensive capabilities & unbeknownst to everyone; the carriage moved with a sudden acceleration, throwing the passengers on to the floor, as the horses tried their best to pull it.

And within seconds, it had successfully cut through the first line with no injury to anyone. But someone was crushed, as he wasn't able to avoid the sudden impact from the horse & fell on the ground where the wheel went over his legs, breaking it in the process.

"Follow it..." shouted one of the attacker as they hadn't anticipated the carriage to move & soon the fighting stopped before any swords could clash. The tall bearded man was the first to act as he left his fight & ran towards the nearest horse to chase the carriage, which was running away at a rapid pace.

He had not thought about any possibility of anything like this happening. He just had to get there, kill everyone & then torture the man named Leonhart to his death, but that didn't happen and now he was chasing that damned carriage.

Why didn't he think about killing those horses at first? Well, obviously he could have sold those to earn some hard cash after finishing this job, but what done was done. There was no point in thinking about it.

Following him, others, including Hansh & his team did the same as it was their job to protect the Lord from these assailants.

So the chase was on, with the tall guy getting closer & closer to the carriage with each passing moment with a ferocious face. But the captain was not someone who would let him do that, as he was also getting closer to him.

And within moments, they were riding side by side chasing the same thing, but that assailant was not interested in fighting him. He had been paid half the agreed amount which had been spent on buying a house & weaponries, giving nothing to his team which could lead to chaos if he didn't get remaining amount to pay them.

So, the primary target was Leon & judging by the circumstances, this captain of a guy was going to be a pain in the ass if he tried to fight him. Giving no mind to him, he increased his pace by hitting his horse even more with his boots.

And once again, he was ahead of Hansh, who was in no mind on agreeing to this, so he also increased his pace, but it was too late as the tall guy was already beside the carriage unsheathing his weapon, trying to kill the driver.

The driver responded to the assailants' repeated attacks by moving himself to the very end of his seat, which was to the extreme right as the attacker was on the left. It was a terrible idea because one sudden bump could throw him out.

Still, he did it, making the bearded guy even more angry. Nothing was going according to the plan. First, he had to convince most of his members to join because the employer had asked him to bring just 20 people, but suddenly it changed to 50, which was not a simple task as he had to pay them some money before they agreed.

Second, the captain had to be a weak one who should have surrendered after seeing the huge gathering, but despite odds not being in his favour, he chose to fight. Still, it was acceptable & he could have finished the job, but he never expected that mere driver to run away with his target.

It was just not on the fuckin list. How could he know that? There had been no assassination attempt done on Espers on this scale, so there was no report on how to deal with their tactics and this lead him to vastly underestimating each & everyone of his opponent which was the biggest mistake he had ever done.

Still, he was not going to back down, as he had come too far. He would kill this guy & claim his prize. It had to be done, no matter the cost.