Dark Moon Second Arc (His Art of War) -122. Ecrin Village II (Patreon)

Second Arc (His Art of War) -122. Ecrin Village II

-Klah-tch !! -Klah-tch !!

The sound of the whip could still be heard but the sound of the man's scream was getting weaker, he didn't even make a sound anymore as the clothes on his body were torn by the whip and soaked with his blood. While his son continued to call out to his father in frustration.

"Stop it!" the leader ordered. It had been almost half an hour that he had heard these two's screams and shouts. Although he usually felt comforted by these kinds of things, since he was feeling restless because he was still waiting for the princess to arrive, it made his mood even worse.

The rebels that tormented the man stopped. The leader took out his sword and aimed it at the man's neck to raise his limp head. Then he laughed evilly after seeing that man's dying face. He pulled his sword away and raised it to cut off that hostage head. While the boy was screaming for mercy for his father.

But suddenly one of the rebels who was on guard at the tower near the entrance yelled at him.
"The princess has arrived sir!"

The leader stopped his movements and turned around in shock. He didn't expect Rose to be able to get through it all, alive.
"Did she come alone?"

"No sir. Our man caught her!" answered the rebel.

"Catch her?" The leader grinned Evilly. This was even better than he thought. He could kill the princess with his own hands and become a 'hero'. He turned around and quickly climbed up one of the towers to check it out.

"Sir, I've caught the princess!" shouted Angel. He rode his horse while he placed Rose who was unconscious in front of him with her hands tied. Angel's hands that held the reins supporting her body so she wouldn't fall. Rose's head that rested on his shoulder looked up, showing her face clearly to the rebels.

Seeing his target in plain sight, the leader grinned evilly. Even though he realized the member who brought the princess was wearing a mask, he didn't care about it, because he couldn't remember all of his members. Since they accepted everyone who wanted to join them, including the mountain bandits who usually wore masks.
"Good!" Then he took a bow and an arrow from the person next to him and aimed it at Rose.
"Now, put her down!" He intended to kill her outside the gate, that way he could complete the mission easily.

Angel realized the leader's intentions and quickly looked for a way out. While Rose gripped her knives that were hidden under a layer of her dress tightly, ready to attack if things got worse.

An idea crossed his head, but this would be the most disgraceful thing in his life.
"Your Highness, please don't be angry with anything I say after this," he whispered in a low voice.

'What is he planning?' thought Rose. Despite her curiosity, she decided to believe him.

"Put her down!" the leader ordered him once more.

"Sir, are you sure you want to kill her right away?" said Angel.

"What do you mean?" asked the leader.

"She is the princess! She has a beautiful face and many princes want to have her! I mean ---" Secretly, Angel took a quick breath to shake off his nervousness.
"Why don't we enjoy her body first before killing her? As a royal family member, I'm sure she will suffer even more because of that!" Angel's heart was pounding and his face was burning with shame, luckily his mask hid it. It never occurred to him that he would say something immoral like this in his life, but he couldn't see any other way. Only with this, he could make them open the gate and let him in.

The leader lowered his bow as his evil grin widened.
"That's a good idea!" Angel's idea was also welcomed by other rebels. They didn't expect to be able to get a better target than an ordinary villager girl.
"Open the gate!" the leader ordered. The other rebels immediately opened the gate with enthusiasm.

Meanwhile, although Rose knew Angel was doing this to get the rebels to open the gate, she could not deny her anger.
"How dare you." Though she only whispered in a low voice, her anger was clear from her tone.

"Forgive me," whispered Angel as he kicked the side of his horse. Angel's eyes swiftly observed the surroundings. He realized the rebels had put his hostages in the middle of the village so they could use them to threaten Rose. He also noticed a father and son who were tied to poles near the hostage crowd and one of them was seriously injured. Apart from that he also checked the archers' sniping place and luckily the village only had two towers near the main gate. Meanwhile, the residents' roofs were not strong enough to hold an adult human body for too long. He was also looking for a hiding place for the hostages and a small house near the hostages caught his attention. Shifted to the front, he saw four men guarding the front and back of the crowd.
"Your Highness can you kill those two people who are standing in front?" whispered Angel. If he used his Demonic Arrow, he could take care of them in one hit. But since Rose was with him, he had to use a bow and he could only shoot two arrows at the same time, because he wasn't as skilled as Gale.

Rose peeked and realized what Angel's meant.
"Leave it to me," she whispered, her lips barely moving.

"Hey! What are you doing?" said the leader as he got down from the tower and approached them since Angel did not stop his horse though he had entered.

Angel turned to the leader.
"I want to take her to a wider place!" He had to make sure Rose's targets were within her range. Then he waved his hand, inviting the archers to come down from the towers.
"C'mon! Why are you still there? Do you want to miss this rare opportunity?"

Without thinking twice, the archers who were there quickly got down. While others began to impatiently approach his horse.

Seeing that they had taken his trap, Angel smirked.