After forming a temporary alliance, the three-person squad officially embarked on the long journey toward the inner gate of Wall Rose and after some friendly negotiation, the division of labor within the team was quickly clarified.
Reiner, who had the most robust physique and looked relatively reliable (cough), gloriously took over the job of leading the horse and walked at the very front.
While, Annie uncharacteristically took the initiative to walk on the outer side of the formation, occupying the most convenient position for observation and vigilance.
As the financier and local, Ellie naturally walked in the middle, responsible for guiding the route and keeping custody of the supplies.
“Ellie, Annie, don’t worry!”
Reiner forcefully patted his solid chest.
“If we encounter any danger, I will definitely rush to the front and protect both of you!
After all, I’m the only man here!”
“Hehe, that sounds completely unreliable.”
Annie, walking beside him, couldn’t be bothered to hide her disgust and directly gave Reiner a huge eye-roll.
Compared to Reiner, who acted foolishly from time to time, she cared more about Ellie walking in the middle.
This girl named Ellie had always behaved very calmly, on the surface, she looked like nothing more than a cute and frail orphan but whether it was the timing of taking the initiative to propose cooperation just now or the current task allocation, it all exuded a seasoned composure inconsistent with her age.
An ordinary girl who had just experienced the fall of the wall, even if she wasn’t scared into crying nonstop, should at least have panicked for a while, right?
Yet Ellie remained calm and collected all along, like a steady adult, just how much did this girl know?
Was she really just an ordinary orphan of the Church of the Walls?
Annie did not intend to trust Ellie so quickly, intuition told her that this girl harbored quite a few secrets.
So as the three of them continued on their journey like this, each of them harbored their own thoughts.
As they walked, they gradually deviated from the crowded main road and turned onto a secluded path closely adjacent to the woodland.
The reason Ellie chose this path was because she remembered that the patrol team of the Garrison Regiment often operated around here.
Logically speaking, this road should be safer than the chaotic main road, however, in this chaotic period, there were always some desperate fellows driven by hunger who liked to take risks.
“Stop!
Leave the horse and the food!”
The bushes by the roadside ahead suddenly shook violently!
Then, three ragged and fierce-looking adult men rushed out from inside!
They were holding rusted iron forks and wooden sticks in their hands, their greedy gazes closely locked onto the brown horse in Reiner’s hand and the supplies on the saddle.
“Bandits!”
Reiner’s expression changed, and he immediately spread his arms to block in front of the two girls.
Ellie’s sharp peripheral vision also caught sight of a dark shadow quietly moving along the edge of the woods on the right.
Besides the three refugees, there was a fourth person preparing to outflank them from behind!
“So they came prepared?”
She took two steps back unassumingly, the position where she stood happened to be close to the intersection of two patrol routes, so if they could stall for just a little longer, the nearby Garrison Regiment soldiers would likely notice this place.
“Brats, if you know what’s good for you, get lost quickly!
We only want the horse and food!”
The scar-faced leader grinned hideously and reached out in an attempt to snatch the reins in Reiner’s hand.
“Think again!”
With a loud bang, the adult man, who was a full head taller than Reiner, was actually sent flying off the ground directly from this impact!
Thud!
He crashed heavily onto the muddy ground two meters away!
The man, in pain, immediately clutched his chest and wailed!
“The kid’s weird!
Grab the girls first!”
Hearing this, the other two bandits raised their pitchforks and wooden sticks and pounced toward Reiner and Annie.
“Tch, in the way.”
Annie coldly spat out two words.
Facing the swinging wooden stick, instead of retreating, she advanced, moving her body flexibly to dodge the attack and at the same time, one of her feet had already hooked the opponent’s ankle.
“Snap.”
The second robber fell to the ground with a miserable scream and Annie pressed forward with the momentum and directly dislocated his arm with a vicious joint lock.
“Ah!” the robber screamed in pain.
Ellie stood behind the two, was appreciating the grand show while keeping an eye on the edge of the woods on the right and just as the frontal battlefield fell into chaos, the fourth robber responsible for the outflanking finally lunged out from the edge of the woods!
“Go to hell, little girl!”
Wielding a rusted firewood chopper, he dashed straight toward Ellie’s seemingly defenseless back!
“Oh my, I’ve been discovered.”
Ellie turned around, revealing a mischievous smile.
With a swish, she drew a short blade from beneath her skirt and cut the thick hemp rope used to secure the lumber on an abandoned freight wagon beside her!
“Rumble——!”
The heavy logs that lost their restraints instantly rolled down the slope!
These logs not only blocked the robber’s outflanking route but also forced him to scramble and retreat to the center of the road.
Taking advantage of the time when the robbers were sent spinning by the logs, Ellie immediately cupped her hands around her mouth, gathered her breath, raised her voice, and let out a scream
“Help——!!!”
“Members of the Garrison Regiment, there are bandits robbing here——!!!”
The leader, forced back by the logs, climbed up from the ground, clutched his chest, and cursed through gritted teeth.
“Don’t listen to this damn girl’s bluff!
Where would soldiers come from in this wilderness!
Hurry up and grab the horse!”
However, no sooner had his voice fallen than the sound of hooves came from the end of the forest path not far away, followed by the rough response of a Garrison Regiment soldier.
“What happened over there?!
Who is shouting for help?!”
The raiders were dumbfounded.
They had originally thought Ellie was just bluffing and it wasn’t until this moment, that they realized that these three seemingly frantic brats had purposefully been moving closer to the patrol route all along!
“Boss, the soldiers are coming, if we don’t leave now it’ll be too late!” Visit g.com for the full chapter.
Facing the incoming army, this mob no longer had their arrogant momentum from just now, they could only prop up the companion whose arm Annie had dislocated, scrambling and fleeing in panic deep into the dense forest.
“We’re saved!” Reiner let out a sigh of relief.
“Don’t just stand there, let’s get out of here!”
Ellie grabbed Reiner’s arm with one hand and pulled Annie with the other.
“We can’t let those members interrogate us, otherwise our identities will be exposed, run!”
The three immediately led the horse and plunged into a side path on the other side before the garrison soldiers could arrive, they began running in circles for a long distance, and they didn’t stop until they merged back into another stream of refugees.
After escaping danger, all three of them were panting.
Reiner leaned against a tree trunk, wiping the sweat from his forehead while looking at Ellie in surprise.
“Ellie…
could it be that you knew beforehand that garrison soldiers were patrolling nearby?”
“That’s right.”
Ellie generously admitted it.
“I knew the patrol routes of the regiment members, and just now I deliberately led you guys to retreat over there.”
Then she changed the subject and deliberately asked back, “But Reiner, you’re also amazing, right?”
“Huh?” Reiner asked in puzzlement.
“That uncle was so robust, you actually sent him flying with a single bump!
How come your so strong, do you work our or something?”
This seemingly innocent question made Reiner feel a bit embarrassed, he opened his mouth, his eyes dodging evasively as he stammered.
“Ah…
th-this…
because I…”
Annie, who was beside them, let out a cold hum and directly interrupted him.
“He’s just a brainless idiot with naturally great strength, as for you, your timing in cutting the rope just now was pretty good, blocking the robbers’ path.”
“But I must remind you, you were just lucky.”
“If that man had dodged the log, you would be a corpse right now.”
Annie paused and summarized, “Anyway, practice hand-to-hand combat more in the future, and stop always trying to take shortcuts.”
Ellie nodded.
“Annie is right!
From now on, I’ll count on you guys to teach me hand-to-hand combat!”
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She is not gonna enjoy the h2h traing :/ have a good one 🙂
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