Chapter 47 - 47. Massacre
The caravan began to move in the direction of Lansay mansion.
Their speed was slow due to the high number of people moving by foot around the carriages.
The caravan had four carriages and the men that had passed the elimination process of the selection amounted to forty, so it was impossible for all of them to find a sitting spot.
Coupled with the ten soldiers belonging to the Lansay family, their appearance resembled a small troop going to war.
With their speed, it would take them about a month to reach their destination.
Noah was sitting on top of the roof of the second carriage, but whenever he looked at the group below him he would just shake his head.
'Do they even realize in what mess they got themselves into? We will have to fight against the guards of the inner circle of a noble family. The Lansay family might have declined but their sheer number of cultivators still surpasses ours. They will be just used as cannon fodder.'
Before he accepted, Noah stormed Kevin with questions about the plan to be sure that it was actually feasible.
When he heard about the quantity of the cultivators under Tobias Lansay, he was about to give up on the mission uncaring of the promised rewards.
'Twenty-five cultivators against ten of them and a bunch of meat shields, it would be impossible to do if not for the fact that we only have to get Basil inside the mansion for the mission to succeed.'
If the two groups were to fight, the only outcome would be a total defeat.
However, Kevin revealed to him that once Basil entered the gates of the mansion he could already take control of the formation.
With the resources accumulated by the Lansay family for years at stake, Tobias would either have to abandon his plan to become the patriarch and run away or forsake his status as a noble.
After all, nobility was about wealth and techniques.
'If we use the non-cultivators as a shield and run straight to the middle of their defense, we might actually do it.'
That's why Noah decided to stay, he was sure that with Kevin's frame, breaking through a line of defense was a feasible task.
The first week of travel passed with nothing out of the ordinary happening, the caravan had moved smoothly, but then trouble appeared.
Noah was the first to sense an unusual amount of people on their road and when the caravan stopped the blockage was clearly visible.
Fifty or so men were blocking their path, yet there were no cultivators among them.
They were dressed in commoner's clothes or rusty armors but their weapons seemed newly made and of good workmanship.
Noah jumped off the roof of the carriage and walked in the direction of Kevin that was already staring at the group with a bit of anger in his eyes.
When he sensed Noah next to him, he spoke.
"They must have been hired by the young master's uncle from nearby villages. He wants to probe us.
If I send my men to fight them we will reveal most of our abilities, but if I send the non-cultivators their numbers will decrease endangering the plan. I never thought that Tobias would be so ruthless to actually send people to die just to investigate us."
Noah was looking at the troop of commoners but internally he was sneering.
'Aren't you doing the same? It's not like most of your newly recruited men will survive anyway.'
He sighed a little and then replied.
"Then we just have to be more ruthless."
Noah unsheathed his sabers and walked toward the enemy troop.
"If I take care of them we will reveal almost no information and we will keep uninjured your precious meat shields."
Kevin felt a bit of shame from Noah's comment but did not reply, he just watched the kid getting near the group of commoners.
When Noah was at twenty meters from them he stopped and then spoke loudly.
"Anyone that still wants to live will better step away from this path. After I count to three, all those still in front of me will die."
A kid was threatening fifty or so grown-up men.
However, before they had any chance to laugh, a chill ran through them as they saw the kid's eyes emitting a suffocating coldness.
"One!"
All these commoners were recruited from villages that suffered from the Lansay family's punishment, they were poor beyond reason.
"Two!"
Since the Lansay family had to pay a huge fee to the Shosti family, they heavily raised the taxes on the people in their domain, bringing them on the verge of starvation.
"Three!"
Because of that, not one of the villagers stepped back in front of the dreadful kid, they had already taken part of the payment from Tobias and if they managed to survive, that sum would duplicate.
What followed was a massacre.
From the point of view of the weak soldiers around the caravan, Noah was just walking between the enemy lines.
However, anyone he passed near to would just fall on the ground with their throats sliced or their chests pierced.
Blood was flowing on the ground filling it with red puddles.
No one noticed that some of the best weapons of the villagers disappeared before touching the ground and were sucked in a spot on Noah's waist.
When Noah came back to the caravan, his leather shoes were drenched in blood and were leaving vivid red marks on the ground where he walked.
An indifferent expression was on his face, like he had just come back from a simple walk.
'The stronger I become, the less I consider weak people as humans. I guess that the emotional detachment from normal humans is just a natural cause of my power rising.'
The soldiers moved away from his path and left a road for him to go back on the roof of the carriage.
Noah casually jumped on it and threw away the dirty shoes, leaving his bare feet in the air hanging from the roof.
BLEGHH
Basil was outside his carriage puking on the ground.
He had secretly watched Noah's battle and could not hold back the retches he was feeling.
Kevin hurriedly went next to him and brought him back to the carriage under the disappointed gaze of his soldiers.
They were comparing internally this young noble with the ruthless kid on top of a carriage and could not help to shake their heads concerned about the future of the Lansay family.