The World Dragon's Heir
Chapter 169: Raid Failed

Chapter 169: Raid Failed

Dominic handed the princess the badge of office that he had gathered from the trucks.

"This was in the Commander’s gear. It looks like they diverted one of their Nobles, who was returning with his retinue. Or private army, whatever you want to call a travelling military force of this size." He explained.

Five hundred men was not a small force, any way that you looked at it.

"The badge is a Dagos Royal Commission. It doesn’t tell us who the Noble was, only that they were acting under Royal protection and approval.

But that is a valuable item to find. Normally, they are intended to self-destruct when the person wearing them or the Storage item they are in dies." She explained.

"It wasn’t in his storage item. It was in a trunk in the vehicle he was riding in."

Alexis nodded. "Good news for us. Now we’ve got a Royal Commission to flash at people when we run into a tight situation. We surely will one day when we don’t make a smooth escape after an ambush."

"Lady A, we’re bringing the vehicles forward, to make it appear that they were ambushed here, and not away from their vehicles. That should sell the appearance that it was bandits or deserters who attacked them.

Once that is done, we will move out. What is our next target?" Commander Dax asked.

"Theton Springs, as the headwater of Theton River. Our last update says that there are five small armies headed toward Cygnia from that direction. Each is fewer than two thousand men. If we can hit them, we can cut down on the number of raiding armies that will threaten our border Barons." Alexis explained.

"Understood. We will send out scouts right away. If they’ve been moving for two days, some of their mechanized forces might be close to us by now." Dax agreed.

It was about five hundred kilometres to the town of Theton River, with very minimally maintained farm roads. Plus, they were in the rainy season, so moving across open country in the less capable Dagos designed trucks wouldn’t be easy.

The Cygnia designed trucks would be a warning to anyone who saw their convoy that they weren’t locals, but they couldn’t afford to swap them for trucks that would constantly get stuck and break down.

In the distance, Dominic heard the sound of vehicles, and sighed.

"You had to go and say it. We’ve got mechanized forces to the north, we need to move now." He explained.

"Everyone, into the woods. Pack everything, leave no sign we were here." Dax shouted.

The Dagos trucks were just dropped off as the rest of the unit started moving east, hiding on the far side of a small patch of trees.

"If that force is small, should we try to hit it?" Dax asked.

Dominic shook his head. "Only if we get the perfect opportunity. We aren’t going to get supplies or reinforcements, so we can’t afford to lose anyone on the first day."

They rushed away, unable to hide their tracks across the grasslands.

If the army wanted to find them, it would. But the woods were only fifty metres deep, just enough to hide them from sight. If they stayed near the back side of them, they could fire mortars over until they ran out, then deal with the survivors when they came through or around the trees.

The scouts spread out, keeping watch for the approach of the enemy.

They were coming, but they were following a road further west of where the destroyed village had been.

Two tense hours later, the all clear signal was given. The army hadn’t stopped to check out the parked vehicles, and had simply assumed that the Dagos heraldry on the sides meant that they were friendly.

They might have reported it to someone else, but the army was under orders to advance, and they weren’t going to go off course just to check out such a small group of vehicles.

There was no way that they could know that hundreds of infantrymen had been accompanying them the day before.

"Let’s head north. Get behind the army’s movement if we can, and find a good spot to set up ambushes when we spot more units on the move." Alexis directed.

They might have the edge with their new artillery, but most of the military units that they were going to encounter would be much larger than their own, and they couldn’t afford to make mistakes while they were in enemy territory.

It didn’t take them long to find both the perfect spot, and a Dagos Army unit to ambush in it.

"Scouts report that they have eliminated six enemy forward observers. There is a defensible position within the trees to the east, an old keep wall still standing." Dax reported.

"Alright, alter course, let’s get into cover and lure in the enemy." Dominic agreed.

"They’re already on it."

Getting the trucks through the overgrown area and into the ruins of the keep was not easy, but Cygnia had adapted their trucks from either mail carriages or farm tractors. Both of which were exceptionally capable on rough terrain.

In this case, they were all based on tractors, and as long as a single wheel could find traction, they would keep moving.

Blankets were tossed over the boilers to silence them and keep the heat in while they rested, reducing the mana needed to get them back up to temperature when it was time to leave.

"They have spotted the scouts, and they’re in pursuit. Two thousand metres and closing fast." Commander Dax reported.

"Riflemen to the tree line, lay flat in cover. Wait for the signal to shoot. Mortars, set up on the wall. I have munitions for you all." Dominic instructed.

The wall was sixty metres from the tree line, well short of where the closest of misfired mortars had landed last time. But with that incident for practice, the riflemen would be better this time.

"They’re stopping short of the trees. Four hundred metres. They are deploying archers with the infantry." The observer reported.

Dominic quickly altered a fresh batch of the mortars for a longer fuse and more propellant.

"Use only these until they get closer. They’re set for three to four hundred metres." Dominic explained.

"They’re forming Ranks. Phalanx formation in front of the archers."

{Fire.}

The mortars whistled, and the launchers thumped down into the dirt as they fired, while the twenty men began loading them every few seconds, letting the mortars fly and praying that the distances were correct.

Explosions shook the battlefield, small at first, then a chain of larger detonations.

"Direct mortar strike on a powder wagon. Seventy percent accuracy on the archer ranks. Ninety percent of mortars are on target to the unit.

The infantry is charging the trees."

"Switch rounds. Shell the infantry and break the phalanx." Alexis ordered as Dominic made and passed out more rounds.

Now that the infantry was moving, the rifles were working overtime, cutting down as many as they could. Then, the first few mortars bounced off shields and fell among the infantry before detonating.

The Phalanx crumbled from within, and the front rank collapsed to the rifles as the Mortars continued to fire.

"They are retreating." The observer reported.

The rifles continued to fire for a few more minutes, and then a triple tone whistle from the tree line stopped the fire.

"Revolvers out, get what we can, and let’s get out of here." Commander Dax ordered.