Chapter 75 Failing Tail

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Lhorne returned a week later, and we showed the soldiers how we cooperate. Lhorne, Nora, Mattheu, Alith, and Sana versus the 100 tailfolk soldiers. Mattheus and Nora might not be a graduate of the academy. Still, their experience was sufficient to bridge the gap between real soldiers.

"Maybe we could simply level them?" Mattheus suggested. "There are dungeons here, right?"

"Oh yeah! We could ask them to clear those spiders!" Lily said.

"Just don't destroy dungeon cores. We would be in trouble if humans attacked us." Lhorne answered.

"It is not set in stone that we would attack the undead yet. We could simply leave 1000 people here before we departed." Mattheus suggested. "Do we really have to send everyone?"

"The budget also allows hiring more for emergency purposes," Lhorne replied.

"Ugh…. but no matter how I see it, 100 of them could not defeat 20 of elven soldiers… I wonder if Master Ghander could give us some slack." Lily moaned

"We just have to roll with it. Let us go to Hoeth. I am sure he could see the potential these soldiers could bring." Lhorne answered.

After a few more training, we marched on to Hoeth at the end of the month. They still have a lot to learn, but we have done our best. The result will be left to Ghander.

"Hmm… these are the soldiers you speak of? They looked like a bunch of teenagers playing knights!" some central nobles laughed at our attire. They were interested when we said we would send five thousand people, but they utterly ridiculed us when we didn't deliver the soldiers they had hoped for.

"I have picked twenty regular elven troops. But before that, as a graduate from the academy yourself, did you think they are on par with elven soldiers?" Ghander asked me.

"No, sir. They can be used but are certainly not up to the standard soldiers from academies."

"I see. Honest answers. Let us begin. Don't worry. For your honesty, I will arrange so that our training will be in a closed space to preserve your honor." Ghander spoke out.

Ghander kicked everyone out except the soldiers he had picked. He ensured that nobody was in the area before starting the mock battle. Our soldiers performed as expected. I decided on Latine as a decarion for the 100 soldiers we brought. She seemed the smartest in the group. However, even though she utilized many tactics, including delaying tactics that Lily and I were talking about, the result was still in favor of the elves.

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The elves closed any gap they had, and with their shield, they blocked the spears we thrust into them. And when we failed to penetrate them, the elves walked forward, chasing them in an orderly manner. We switched on to flanking maneuver, but they quickly formed a circle and negated any attacks.

Even when we did manage to hit them, they didn't penetrate the thick breastplate and only defeated one of them when the tailfolk did a suicide charge and hit one of the elves with ten troops. Since we were all using training gears, Ghander called out whoever he judged unfit for battle.

"They are crazy. Even though they looked like they walked, it was the same speed as jogging." I spoke out. I didn't see their cooperation against numerous foes in Fort Soleil because they usually shot arrows or flanked a Vargmuth. Even when we used delaying tactics, they got tired about the same time we used lighter gear.

"Alith and Sana could do that?" Lily asked

"We will. When we join the official army in five years. Master Ghander didn't pull any punches selecting these soldiers." Alith spoke out," These are the cream of the crop."

"That's unfair. If it is the standard soldiers…." Lily complained.

"Nah, even if there were twenty Sana or Sarielle, we could still win against these 100 soldiers though we would have more casualties. Don't stray away from reality." Alith spoke out.

"But their equipment…."

"Hmm…. I wonder. It seems Ghander noticed it too."

"The match is over. Casualties expected for the elves seven, tailfolk seventy. The winner is the elven camp." Ghander declared. However, he didn't speak any further and seemed to contemplate something.

"Elven soldiers, switch gears with the tailfolk. This is an order." He spoke out. The soldiers turned to themselves and gave each other weird looks while the tailfolk looked the same. His order was strange as it was basically changing the elven soldiers into the attire of elven rangers.

"New match. 80 soldiers from tailfolk to twenty elven soldiers with the same equipment."

The elves then quickly abandoned their heavy armor, shields, and swords after they heard Ghander's speech. He basically wanted to see how we fare if our equipment matched. If this was the case, then I believe we could beat them.

The next match fared a little better. Due to their lower armor, we didn't have to do crazy charges against just one of them. However, the elves once again proved their training by wielding the spears as easily as a toothpick and stabbing ten times to the tailfolk before we slid one stab in. Their formation was in disarray, though, after the first ten minutes of hard battle, the elves abandoned their closed formation and did skirmishes instead. They deemed that this closed formation was difficult to maintain and abandoned it.

Using their light armor and weapons, they loosened up their formation but were still in range to not get surrounded and help each other. They wielded their spears with agility and struck down our tailfolk one after another. Even though we had the same equipment, they could charge and went back about three times faster than our tailfolk.

"Match finished. 80 casualties from tailfolk and twelve from elves." Ghander announced. Just like before, he didn't show any disappointment, nor did he reprimand us. He simply declared the result of the match and pondered to himself.

"Aww, we lost."

"They were perfect. Just like Lhorne and Lily said!"

"I don't want to face the army these guys had trouble with." The complaint came one after another after the elven team wiped the floor with our tailfolk team.

"Lord Lily, I needed to speak with you for a moment," Ghander asked for an audience in his chamber.

I wonder what did he think about our troops. We are certainly not up to his standards, but we didn't entirely lose, right? We managed to score a few points out of elven teams.