Chapter 1467 Strange MarkingsBam.
The numb hidden guard was thrown ruthlessly before Henry.
And with one knee to the ground, the other men in black bowed without saying a thing.
”Go.”
Whoosh.
In a blink of an eye, they had vanished from the tent, leaving just Dan, Elroy, and Henry.
Dan quickly searched the bastard, finding the hidden more on him.
”Here, your majesty.”
Henry unfolded the rolled-up paper, looking grim.
”It’s as we expected. Our ‘plans’ and location have all been noted down… But what do you think?”
Elroy squinted his eyes, starting at the numb guard below. “His employer is indeed a ruthless man. Not only does he want to kill us, but he also wants to take out the spoon that fed him.”
Pah!!
Elroy plunged a fierce kick to his belly.
Mmmh!–
The numb guard wanted to spit out blood, but the gag in his mouth prevented it.
Everyone looked at the guard with frosty eyes. If not that they couldn’t afford to startle the enemy, they would’ve long tortured him clean.
”It’s safe to assume that from the start of our journey, the enemy might’ve long known of our coming. These tractors should’ve been sending letters to the enemy weekly or monthly during our travels.” Dan stated.
”Hmmm….” Elroy crossed his arms and tapped his fingers on his chin thoughtfully. “From the note, they still don’t know of our arrival today. So we have an edge over them!”
Yes!
Because travels could take months and weeks, with inevitable delays or unforeseen circumstances, the enemy would only have a rough destination of when they should be arriving.
The enemy might dedicate an entire month to be on high alert on the kook out for them.
They could’ve arrived last week, this week, next week, or even 3 weeks later.
When on horseback or in carriages pulled by horses, the journey would definitely take LONG compared to the Baymardian vehicles.
What’s more, along their journey, they had stopped in various places and waited to regroup with the various Commanders and a few of their legions.
So things had indeed been delayed by quite a bit.
This was also why in these times, one could dedicate a month or 2 as a procrastinated battle time against a certain enemy since they wouldn’t know the exact date the enemy would arrive.
Of course, from the looks of things, the enemy should also have a large number of scouts scattered about the perimeters too.
Fortunately for them, though this massive forest zone was still taken as part of Whitepold city’s, the place they were currently at would take several hours to get to the city’s ‘real’ perimeters.
They reckoned that the scouts should all be around those regions.
.
Plop~
4 other enemy hidden guards were also dropped in the room by others.
What?
Did you think the enemy had but 1 spy in their entire camp?
”Your majesty, 6 others died during the chase.”
”What of the bodies?”
”Discarded… All traces cleared… But just as requested, we have the heads here.” The men in black replied while handing over all the items they could on the dead, as well as the heads.
The heads were what they would use to find the spy’s employer in their camp.
Additionally, they also took note of all body marks and tattoos.
Why? Because most hidden guards were rightly owned, trained, or sponsored by Deifer nobles, all bore almost non-visible marks similar to some ‘pass’ their employer might have.
A ‘pass’ was a large carved circular golden block with a symbol.
For example, the owner of a pass could control a certain army.
Passes could be inherited and passed down from generation to generation.
Like Commander Ferguson, who had the Tongshi pass, controlling the mighty Tongshi Army, a strong force with a mighty reputation in war and history.
The men quickly found various markings on the bodies, peeling off the skin bearing the marks and taking them to Henry.
Of course, if not for their trained eyes, finding these marks would be near impossible.
Believe it or not, some even dared to mark themselves… ‘Down there’… Allowing the bushes of nature to cover the spots. Some marked their little men in the most inconspicuous ways ever.
For some, it was between their butt cheeks, under their armpits, on their chests, the back of their ears, and even under their feet.
(-_-)
In the end, the guards in black had served every nuke and cranny with expressionless places, neither in disdain nor joy.
In their line of work, touching dead bodies was but ordinary.
.
Dan quickly took the bloody black sacs filled with body parts. “Your majesty, we have to deal with this majesty fast before the stench of the dead gets discovered.”
”I know. To make things faster, you both will assist me.”
They didn’t have much time on their hands.
Like so, the trio checked the contents of all letters gathered, seeing them be more or less the same.
Tonight, 11 people were sent out by various people in his camp to deliver the same message.
If one of these people had succeeded, maybe 6~9 hours later, they would find themselves subordinated first thing to more morning.
Out of the 11 sent out to deliver the message, 6 died in the hands of their men, and the other 5 were now numbly tied up and gagged before them.
The trio worked fast. And soon, they were able to pinpoint quite a few matters at hand.
The atmosphere quickly became serious the more they discovered.
At least, what made them let out a collective sigh was that from the notes sent out by all 11 spies, they could rest assured that none of their Commanders were involved with the enemy.
Why?
Because not only were the writers of the letters vicious, but they were also greedy.
Though discrete, each letter vaguely spoke of taking down the commander above them.
They wanted the enemy to kill the commanders no matter what.
Who were the commanders?
They were legends that amassed great wealth and prestige.
And underneath them were their many generals. Though each general had their forces, they worked under one COMMANDER!
If the commander told them to go east, they would go east. If said to move in circles, they would have to do just that!
Of course, all commanders also had their separate private armies too.
Who wouldn’t want to be a commander?
.
It should also be said that the temptation was quite high in this matter.
But what was very enticing was that the Commanders were akin to emperors to the generals.
Yes. The generals may all have their individual passes and armies they looked after. But once the Commander issued his orders, their army would do the walking.
That said, Deiferus had a unique rule like none other in Pyno.
If a Commander dies, his seat can be inherited not by his family or something else with merits… but by one of the Generals beneath him.
No one else from anywhere or any other camp could take this position unless they were once a general under the deceased commander.
From there on, the newly appointed Commander would also enjoy all perks that came with being a Commander.
At the moment, though the enemy seemed strong, they still didn’t have enough forces when compared to Henry.
Thus, they had to push their men up in ranks from the shadows.
But even if Henry dies, his supporters would still go against the enemy. So they might’ve thought of this as a long-term plan.
Henry’s expression turned chilly. “It looks like they’ve decided to start assassinating all Commanders.”
”Meaning the generals are the most suspicious!”
With that, the trio looked at the tied-up men beneath them.
How cruel.
”Even though we don’t recognize the Symbols on the bodies, these commanders should.”
”Hmmm…” Both Elroy and Dan nodded.
These commanders were people who oversaw all their generals did. So how can they not know the passes?
Marking was normal and seen as an honorary thing. Even the Witches in Tenola marked themselves.
In armies or groups that had tens and hundreds of thousands of them, how can one distinguish their brother from another?
Some organizations were scattered in various empires. So when meeting a foreign ‘brother,’ the symbol would show their friendliness. Some tattooed their inner lip, others in places where they would be ready to pull their pants down and show.
All in all, marking was a normal thing in medieval times, with at least 70% of the population doing so… Especially the assassins who belonged to various organizations.
There was an uncountable number of symbols across the entire world.
And only those in direct contact with these bearers of the marks would know a thing or 2 about them.
In all his youthful life, Henry had seen over 200 different markings and could remember them all.
Medieval people survived by acquiring knowledge and avoiding danger. So how could he forget all the markings he had seen?
Searching his brain, this was the first time he saw these strange markings.
”Send for the Commanders… Only they will know who these marks belong to”