I’m a Bastard But You’re Worse!

POV: Glen Boyle

The trumpet was the signal for the mercenaries to come out of the empty houses they had used to hide.

From under the floors, above the ceilings and inside storerooms, the mercenaries gathered to launch a surprise attack from behind the pirate forces.

I, Glen Boyle, leader of the mercenaries guild, led the charge against the pirates.

W-Who the hell are these people!?

Where did they come from!?

The palace was going to fall any moment nowat the peak of such excitement and expectation, the pirates were caught unaware and started falling one after the other.

that boys got a fearsome mind.

So I muttered to myself, as my battleaxe went through the torso of three pirates at once.

I was thinking about the young man dressed in foreign clothes who had come up with the plan.

He was probably a third of my age, yet the cunning plan he devised had drastically changed the flow of battle.

The plan consisted of using the palace and the towns guard as bait to draw the pirates into the heart of the city, for the mercenaries to ambush them from behind afterwards.

The pirates overwhelming advantage crumbled as the pincer attack nullified their superior numbers.

RRAAAHHH!! You better get out of the way if you dont wanna die!!

GWAAH!

AAAAAAHHH!!!

S-Stop!! Dont push!! AAAAH!!

My battleaxe swings down, cleaving another pirate in half.

Presented with their comrades gruesome end, the pirates around him scamper and flee.

Their only escape route, however, was blocked by the palaces barricades, where the guards waited with spears and bows.

Dont let the pirates escape!!

Kill every last one of them!!

The guards were on the brink of defeat just minutes before, but our reinforcements apparently gave them new life: they were now fighting like tigers against the invaders.

Struck down by spears and arrows, the pirates numbers decreased almost comically fast.

We got one devil of a commander, thats for sure! At least he wasnt useless!

Abandoning the port prevented the enemy from using their greatest weapon.

Leaving the houses open wide on purpose made them seem empty.

Defending the palace with small numbers lured the enemy towards an easy victory.

The plan worked perfectly, and the pirates crushing advantage had now been turned on its head.

Even in the eyes of a veteran of the battlefield such as myself, Dyngir was an impressive commander.

It wasnt rare for mercenaries to die like dogs because of poor orders from above: this time, however, we had hit the jackpot.

Dyngir, huhI doubt its the boys real name, butwho actually is he?

Dyngir Dyngir Maxwell was a pretty well known name among us mercenaries.

It was the name of the young hero who defended a fortress from the invasion of the Baal Empire, with forces numbering less than half of his enemies. It was a hot topic for a while, on every mercenarys lips.

Using that name as a pseudonym was proof of the boys confidence, perhaps.

Well, as long as hes valuable who cares about the rest! Better keep focused on the present!

Mr. Boyle! The pirates on the north side of the palace have been defeated! Should we chase them down?

Damn straight! Dont let even one escape!

I shouted back the order to my subordinate and clenched my battleaxe.

The battle in the town was smoothly leading to victory. That didnt mean everything was over, though.

(Once they realize theyre losing, the pirates will start doing whatever they can to make us paythe problem is, whether we can prevent that or not)

The main reason why we could take the advantage was that the pirates were not using gunpowder.

In other words, we took advantage of their plans to limit the damage on the towns structures, to use them after taking control.

We fed them the illusion that our forces were poor, so they would think they didnt need gunpowder to win.

Once the invading forces were beaten back, however, the pirates would start attacking with all they had.

Flaming arrows, explosives, and the mysterious weapon that destroyed half of the port.

What did the Dyngir boy plan to do to neutralize all of them?

The battles still far from over! Looking forward to what the boys got in store for us!

Eager to know the results of the upcoming conflict, I swung down my axe again.