Herald of Steel

When Grahtos had first launched his attack, the man was super confident that the offensive would be an instant grand slam.

And it was reasonable to assume so given that he had caught the enemy completely unaware, with many of the mercenaries caught literally out of their pants.

Hence Grahtos was of the mind that he would have to 'just kick in the door and the whole thing would come tumbling down.'

Thus it was very frustrating for him to find himself bogged down right at the start of the offensive, unable to proceed further.

And when inquired about it, the reason quickly revealed itself as retold by a runner,

"Commander, the troops at the front are refusing to advance! No matter how much we try to urge them they are like mules, refusing to budge!"

Yes.

Despite the forceful urging and even screeching shouts of the officers on the frontlines, the low quality troops at the vanguard refused to charge and push the enemy back, instead being content to simply stand still and turtle like a coward.

The darkness of the night, the inexperience, and lastly the loud cries from the fearless mercenaries opposing them all worked to make these novice soldiers shake in their boots despite their overwhelming numbers, and some of the units were even pushed back.

And this result was not because of a lack of trying on the officers' part, who had shouted fiercely things such as,

"You maggots! Advance!"

"Move forward or I will skin each and every one of you."

"One month! All of you will have one month of your pay docked."

"Go men! Just one push. Push them once and they will crumble."

But nothing moved them.

Threats of punishments, beatings, and pay cuts all proved ineffective as one would have to live first to experience them.

While glory and honor meant nothing to the dead.

Hence for a time the battle appeared struck at a deadlock.

Hearing the situation, Grahtos was at first infuriated.

And for a moment, he even wished that these low quality expendable troops that he had sent forward had 'expended' themselves so that they could have made way for better ones.

However now that he was in this situation, there was little more that could be done.

At least that was what it seemed like to Grahtos who could only grind his teeth and wait for the cowardly peasants to make their move when they felt like it.

Or so it appeared, until suddenly, Papando, who was accompanying him proposed to him in a very enthusiastic voice, "Lord Grahtos! There are still other ways into the city! Like the eastern gate overlooking the river. I can go open it for you."

The man revealed with a flushed face, before pointing to the opposite side of the city,

"The streets there also lead to the marketplace. But from the opposite direction. If you attack from there, you can catch the enemy in a pincer attack!"

Papando seemed very excited by the possibility.

"That?" And at being pointed in this new direction, Grahtos initially widened his eyes in shock and surprise.

If he could truly do it, that really might end the war in one swift move.

So Grahtos was certainly moved.

However, thinking for a second, something then popped up in his mind.

"The eastern gate should be all the way out on the other side. Won't you get caught trying to do this?" He posed to Papando with a slightly worried face, understanding that since Papando claimed his plan was to open the gates, naturally he would have to be inside the city.

And who knew if the defenses around the gates had been strengthened following Grahtos's invasion?

"Don't worry Commander!" But Papando was hungry to prove his worth to Grahtos and by relation to Alexander.

So brushing away Grahtos's concerns, he proclaimed, "They have not yet found out that it was me who opened the gates."

"So I can easily disguise myself as being reinforcements from the mansion. No one will suspect a thing."

Grahtos found that Papando had at least given some thought to the move and was not simply rushing blindly suicidally.

"Hmmm!" Hence Grahtos hummed a bit to himself, tracing his chin as he thought about what Papando said, finding that since the man put it like that, it did not seem like such a bad plan.

"It's so dark here. How will you be able to distinguish yourself so that my men don't attack you while you move? Or Perseus's men for that matter?"

However, he still had this one last thing to pit-nick here.

"....." And regarding this Papando had no foolproof method to guarantee his safety.

Because the darkness really made it hard for him to avoid these obstacles with certainty.

"We will keep to the alleyways. Your men have not spread to those parts Commander Grahtos and given the armor we are wearing, men from our side will not attack once we have shown ourselves or even just heard our call." So Papando proposed this.

And this could indeed work, as the legionaries and Papando wore very distinct garb.

Not to mention the very clearly different languages they spoke.

Also as a side note, the entire discussion between Papando and Grahtos also occurred mostly through translators given the language barrier.

All this meant that it would not be hard to distinguish Papando once he identified himself.

However the antithesis to all these plans was that a sneak attack from the dark might take the man out before he could even do such a thing.

So although all this sounded good on paper, all of it really meant only minimizing the possibility.

Thus even Papando himself was not sure how efficacious he could be with his words.

"...*Nod*....." However Grahtos, since the man was offering, and knowing the prize at hand, did not try to change Papando's mind.

After all he had met the man not even for half a day and really had only a fleeting feeling for the man's life.

And if Grahtos could exchange his life for a win here, he would absolutely agree to it over a hundred times.

Thus he agreed to let the man try and open the other gates.

And Papando happily accepted the permission, and he started to hastily make his way toward the gate.

While Grahtos, after seeing Papando disappear into the inky darkness of the night, decided to carry out an independent move of his own.

Understanding what was at stake, and what would happen if he failed to escape Perseus when given such a golden opportunity, he prudently decided to shed his pride and sent riders asking for help to Alexander.

And that was the messenger the young lord of Zanzan got, who came to his camp, pleading to help and save their city!

And hearing it, Alexander did indeed quickly react, leaving a third of his men behind, he took around 20,000 men and started a rapid march towards the city.

For Papando, the journey towards the eastern gate actually proved surprisingly uneventful, despite all the assumed dangers, as Papando and his small group were able to fortunately blend themselves right into the night, their diminutive size proving a boon here.

Even the place they were most afraid of- the marketplace, which they found had by now turned into the most 'hot' place in the city, its vicinity turning nearly into a full blown raging battlefield did not pose any difficulty for them.

It could even be said ironically that the fierce tempo of the fight actually played to Papando's advantage as the mercenaries and the small garrison facing the Grahtos's immense force appeared extremely disinterested in trying to pick fights with anyone else.

So Papando was able to quickly get access to the mercenaries' flanks, who gave him no mind once they saw his armor, only occasionally giving out some shouts to call and haul at him, which of course Papando either ignored or pretended not to notice.

Thus almost like a repeat of last time, Papando found himself once again standing in front of another gate, and wouldn't you know it, this place too was deserted.

Although that might not have been that much of a surprise if one thought about it, since all the available men had called up to help defend the marketplace.

Such a huge flaw might not have opened up if Perseus or the city lord had more time to organize their defenses, but given the complete suddenness of the attack, they were simply not able to institute such precautions.

Which worked perfectly fine for Papando, who got to work almost like clockwork, and within minutes the large contingent of 2,000 men that Grahtos had sent to circle around the city and take position around the eastern gates were let in.

"Haaahhhaaa!" And the men entered the place with a huge rumbling cheer, although the sheer clamor and din already present worked to mute a lot of that.

However the men did not care much about that, as with the vanguard now being led by Grahtos's personal men, they were able to scythe through the darkness like it did not exist, covering the relatively short distance quickly as they beelined for that juicy exposed nape that the defending mercenaries were showing.

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