"They're...humans?" Neityr muttered first as the figures start rolling in.
What we saw was a large group of humans entering the gate. The humans themselves number around two hundred. However, it did not seem as if they all belonged to the same faction.
"Most of them are wearing shining knight armors but why are some of them also wearing shabby leather clothing?" Alisia also chimed in.
That was correct. Around fifty of the two hundred humans looked as if they were lower in status than their knight-looking counterparts. The knights felt to us like they were calling the shots while the fifty ragged bronze skin humans appeared as their servants if we characterize them by how they were carrying all of their heavy bags and supplies.
"Interesting. It seems that they are either the knights' slaves or subordinates. But look at those cages they are pulling with their horses"
As the humans start to enter the wooden fortress with their horses, various cages were also brought in. What truly shocked us was that they were not carrying monsters like owlbears as we expected but rather...
"Elves! They're elves!" Rob raised his voice quite loud as he exclaimed his utter surprise.
"Ssshhh!" Neityr tried to shut Rob up.
"But they're elves! They're us! We gotta free em!" Rob replied as he tried to charge forward with recklessness.
"Shut it. We must assess the situation further before we do anything. " I scolded him as the voice of reason.
The elves in the group all look flustered as they witnessed their own kind being brought in cages. There were a lot of cages being brought in. The elves number to an incredible one hundred or so. The elves themselves were wearing clothes made out of various dried plants to cover their vital parts. They all looked scared as the children were crying and the parents even more frightened as they personally knew what humans do to elven slaves.
"These human bastards! They're capturing the elves! Are they selling them as slaves?" Rob exclaimed.
"Perhaps. But the elves seem to be another subrace of your elven species. They look to be wood elves. Also, look at the last cage behind them."
I pointed at the last lone cages following behind the rows of elves.
"Dwarves? No...gnomes?" Neityr muttered.
That was correct. Gnomes. A small race of pointed eared humanoids known for their vibrancy and creativity. Such races that I knew to be quite the innovative and intelligent one in the past...I cannot believe they are captured in that undignified manner. The gnomes itself number around thirty from what I could count and their small statures allow only one cage to fit all of them in a very dense pack. The gnomes all looked desperate and terrified, nothing like the philosophers and geniuses I met in the past.
"Keee!" The baby owlbear shrieked seeing the creatures brought in by cages. It was as if it sympathize with their circumstances quite a bit.
"What the hell is this? Are these human filths going to enslave them? Or perhaps even consume them?" Rob voiced out his concern.
"I am also truly at a loss of words."
"Then what are we doing? We should free all of them!" Rob was about to push forward when I pulled him back with force behind the tent again.
"What are you thinking? Do you think we are able to handle two hundred men at once?" I scolded him.
"But...those are our people! We must free them."
"I...agree." Alisia also interjected. "I think....this will also bring Lord Tiven a great power boost and leverage as well. Not only will they worship you and thus increase your number of followers, but they will also bring us valuable information on the current state of the surrounding area. And those bronze skin individuals" Alisia pointed at the people carrying the luggage and supplies.
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"I believe that they may not be voluntarily doing this. If we get them to our side perhaps we can also find out who those knights are." She continued.
I stared at Alisia with awe. Her deduction skill was better than I thought. She was as quiet as the morning's mist but when the situation calls for it, Alisia was the one you look for if you are looking for a last-minute strategy.
"That is correct, Alisia. Nice work. I fully agree with what you said. I have some rough plans in my head to set them free, but I think we should the first rendezvous with the people above before coming back here with more force."
"But how are we going to get out of here?" Alisia asked.
"Well. That's the easy part." I pulled out Icarus with a large smile on my face. "Remember this? If it could cut through the owlbear's cage, then it could certainly cut through the wood. However, we have very limited time to plan and act before they notice this gaping hole in the back of their fortress and start to strengthen their defense. Now, let's go."
I made a square-shaped incision on the wooden walls behind us—small enough to not be seen from afar but big enough to fit all of us. What's left for us now is to plan our strike.
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It took us just another thirty minutes to get as far as we could so we were not spotted while we took my small cloud platform into the settlement above. We were currently at my tent with Elder Havies, Alisia, Neityr, and Rob. I was sitting at my bed while the rest were standing.
"One hundred wood elves!? And thirty gnomes?" Elder Havies exclaimed in surprise as he heard my explanations.
"That is right."
"But...fighting a force of two hundred fully armed men while we have no proper equipment ourselves is a bit..."
"Then what do you currently have as far as battle supplies, Elder Havies?"
"I believe we have enough arrows and bows for our archers as they are relatively easy to make. But as for our warriors...We only have enough for perhaps ten warriors. We are currently still trying to train the warriors so we only currently have five combat experts, six if you are including Neityr."
"Alright. Give me the full statistics of relatively combat-ready citizens." I put my hand on my chin as I waited for the answer.
"Well...Including the experts and the people currently in training relatively fit for combat, we have around forty warriors, twenty archers, and around ten mages. But out of all of them, the mages are still quite undependable as the training to be a full-fledged mage takes far longer than the rest." Elder Havies explained.
"Hmmm..." I stroke my chin to think. The situation was not looking good again. If the numbers we have are all full of experts, then with clever planning we could definitely take the knights on even with the numerical disadvantage. But the current condition of the soldiers will never allow them to defeat two hundred fully armed men. Even if we do not need to fight the fifty bronze skin men, the one hundred fifty knights still possess a serious threat as we have not fully assessed their threat level yet.
"Perhaps...we don't need people to fight a frontal assault?" Alisia chimed in.
I raised my head with curiosity. Alisia was quite dependable in times of trouble like this.
"Elaborate." I replied simply.
"Well...It's not really an honorable way to fight..." Alisia seemed hesitant to voice out her plan.
"I don't care. Honor? In whose standard? I am your current god and gets the final say in that concept. I decide what is honorable or not. If we could rescue the people in those cages then I am allowing even so-called dirty methods for the freedom and liberation of those individuals. Won't that be honorable as well? " I replied firmly with conviction.
"That is very well-put, Lord Tiven. Ummm...If we strike tonight when they are asleep, we can certainly catch them off guard. I am sure that they will have guards stationed around the perimeter but some of the experts we have, if they are careful, could perhaps handle the stationed guards. After that, we should free the people in cages first and lead them outside the fortress before beginning our assault. It would also be better if we could strike them when they are asleep so they don't even get the chance to put on their suit of armor while we give them the longest sleep of their lives." Alisia explained with a terrifying yet charming smile.
Everyone in the room was surprised to hear her plan. I was surprised that she could come up with a comprehensive plan while the rest was surprised Alisia the innocent mage could conjure up such a dirty plan.
"Ah!" Elder Havies interjected with excitement. "Our botanist currently possess the herbs required to create Nightvision potions. I am sure that consuming it would help our warriors to be able to be more stealthy under the veil of darkness."
"Indeed. That shall be a great boost to our troops" I replied to Elder Havies.
"What about the bronze-skinned servants? Will we try to rescue them as well?" Neityr asked.
"No. We have too many things already in our hands. If some of them survive then that's good but I am not jeopardizing the plan just to rescue another fifty individuals that may or may not be loyal to those knights."
I stood up from my bed.
"Alright. I also just came up with a plan on how to strike after we get the caged elves and gnomes out of the fortress. However, it will take up the vast majority of my power. If I do this, I shall be at a weakened state for months but we will certainly win." I smiled in excitement for what was about to come.