Zebul was a little confused. In his opinion, although the person opposite was strong, he and the Manticore should be enough to fight against him.
The remaining people have to be dealt with by Richard and the two vanguard knights. Their chances of winning are not low, so they should not let these sneak attackers go.
"not worth it."
Richard shook his head, and after confirming that the other party was gone, he put the angel necklace he was holding tightly back into his arms.
It's not worth him using the Angel Necklace, nor is it worth risking Zebul and the Manticore.
The situation at night is unknown, and Ridge Town is not their home field. It would be best if they can annihilate the invading enemies.
He didn't want to force the opponent to retreat if he had the ability to do so. If he caught up with him now, if the opponent had any back-up ambush, he would have to force him to use the Angel Necklace as his trump card.
Richard now feels a little insecure about the upcoming journey, and even about the royal capital.
Just be as cautious as possible.
Who knows, there will be an attack inside the kingdom or in the core area of the kingdom, and the force sent by the other party is not weaker than the power of the top nobles.
If Richard hadn't had so many trump cards, he might have been a corpse on the ground right now. The angel necklace was Richard's last trump card.
"Let's count the losses."
"yes!"
After a brief contact battle, Richard's side lost more than a dozen people.
The main loss was the two teams of Northland cavalry brought by Richard.
Although this group of cavalry is elite, they are only ordinary troops. The two captains have barely reached the level of quasi-cavaliers, and the rest are only elite soldiers.
When the proportion of the opponent's knights is so high, it is unusual for the losses to be small. If Richard's side had not occupied a certain advantage in high-end combat power and shared a lot of pressure, the casualties of these northern cavalry would have been even greater.
In addition, several sentries posted at night were also touched.
The overt and hidden sentries they set up were like a joke in the eyes of the opposite party. These people were so familiar with this place.
By accident, the sentry sent out by Richard was touched without any warning.
"Lord Richard, there is still one alive."
"Take it down and see if you can ask for anything."
"yes."
During the process of cleaning up the battlefield, it was discovered that several people who were injured but not dead were very normal.
If you meet one of your own, you will save him. If you can't save him, give him a quickie. When you meet someone from the other side, it depends on the situation. If the injury is too serious, just give him a quickie.
If you want to ask questions, try to treat him.
The opponent's retreat was a bit awkward, and naturally they had no time to take away their own wounded, so they fell into the hands of Richard.
Richard wanted to know the origins of this group of people. He still hadn't figured out which god he had offended by launching such a big battle against him.
"Master Richard, the other party committed suicide."
"Oh shit."
Obviously this group of people has a big problem. Such dead soldiers cannot be cultivated by ordinary forces.
Richard didn't bring any of the interrogation experts from Yusidu this time. The group of people he was leading now were good at fighting, but they were completely laymen in the interrogation, and they also gave the other party a chance to commit suicide.
Fortunately, Richard already had another guess in his mind...
The sky is slightly bright
Finally, someone observed the hotel where Richard and others were staying from a distance.
The sound of fighting in the middle of the night almost alarmed the entire town.
Except for the person who was staying in the same hotel as Richard who suffered an unexpected disaster in the middle of the night and was forced to flee the fire scene, the others were huddled in the house and did not dare to show their faces.
People in this era have no intention of watching the excitement, and are afraid of accidentally causing disaster to the fish in the pond.
"Master Richard, the matter you asked to be investigated has been investigated clearly."
Richard and others didn't fall asleep for the rest of the night.
After briefly collecting the corpses of his companions, Richard ordered people to go to the town and start investigating.
By the time it got light, it was clear that we had some clues.
"Those corpses last night were identified by several hotel owners, and many of them were members of the Rich Town garrison.
The garrison camp is now empty, and the group should have left directly in the evening."
There was no obvious change in Richard's expression, and this result was obviously what he expected.
The group of people who attacked him in the middle of the night were obviously very familiar with the town. They looked like local forces, and they carried a lot of military crossbows. In addition, from the end of their fighting to the present,
The town's garrison didn't even respond. No matter how hard the water was, they should be able to wash the floor. If it hasn't appeared yet, then the truth will be obvious.
But after getting the results, Richard's doubts became even greater.
This small garrison was obviously assigned by someone to join forces with other forces to attack him.
Even this garrison no longer officially belongs to the kingdom. It has been in a low-key dormant state before, and now it was suddenly activated to deal with him.
"Sir Richard, the mayor of Rich Town has brought you here."
"Sir, I don't know anything!"
The mayor of Rich Town immediately knelt down in front of Richard as soon as he entered the door. Through various understandings, he already had a rough idea of what happened last night.
He also understood the identity of the person in front of him. Whether he was an earl or a newly promoted marquis, he was a high-ranking figure to a small town mayor.
This big shot was assassinated in the town last night, and he didn't want to have anything to do with such a thing.
It's not like he has never seen how dark these nobles are. If he meets a more violent master, he can peel off a layer of his skin if he has even the slightest suspicion.
He couldn't help but be careless.
Richard followed the sound and looked,
The mayor is a bald man about fifty years old, with a fat head and big ears. He has obviously made a lot of money from this position.
However, Richard is not interested in whether he can make money or not. This town is not his territory and he cannot control it so far.
He just wanted to get more information from the mayor.
But looking at him like this, Richard didn't have much hope anymore, he was probably just a fool.
"Okay, I'll ask you something, and you just need to answer truthfully."
"Yes, sir, please ask."
"First tell me about the situation of the garrison."
"Our town's garrison has a hundred people, and they are all fully staffed, and there is no vacancy."
"Why?"
Although Richard's words about asking the opponent's defense team why there are no vacancies may sound strange at first,
But in reality this is the normal state of the kingdom,
A local garrison officer who takes one-third to one-fourth of his quota is considered conscientious.
In a place like Rich Town, there is basically no war, and there are no powerful bandits in the hinterland of the kingdom.
Although there are 100 garrison troops, they will basically not encounter any battles.
It is normal to take half of the vacancies, but the mayor said that there is not even a vacancy. There is obviously something wrong.
"Well, it's not like that guy John is pretending to be noble. When I first took office, I discussed with him to take some slack. I would split the extra money with him half and half, but he refused.
He came earlier than me, and the garrison is all his, but he really doesn't want to, and I, the mayor, can't do anything to him."
The mayor's attitude towards free money is so arrogant. If he were under Richard's rule, he would be able to draw his sword and kill him right now.
"Then where is John now?"
"I don't know. I don't know where he ate the leopard and dared to attack you."
In fact, the mayor is not stupid. From the corpses of these guards and the empty guard camp today, he has already guessed that last night's attack was related to the town's guards.
He also really felt that he was wronged. He didn't get a penny of free pay, and he had to take a big pot for nothing.
"Has there been any action or strange behavior by the town's garrison recently?"
"No, except that they don't get paid, the garrison in our town is no different from the garrison in other places. They only train a few times a year to deal with the errands of the royal capital.
If it’s really abnormal, wouldn’t it be better for our town’s defense team to train more frequently?”
If Richard had heard this before the attack, he would have thought that the captain of the garrison was an upright officer who had grown up in the mud.
Now it sounds like, damn, there's a big problem.
"Oh, by the way, the garrison team was recently ordered by the superiors to go out to track down the remnants of the Rising Sun Cult, and it seems to have been quite fruitful."
Obviously, the original garrison captain managed the army very solidly.
The mayor seems completely out of his depth and only has a superficial understanding of many things.
"The Cult of the Rising Sun?"
When he heard the name again, Richard almost immediately confirmed that this matter had something to do with the church.
Well-trained soldiers, strong men of unknown origin, and determined warriors.
Nowadays, apart from the official forces of the kingdom, there are not many forces that can meet these conditions at the same time.
And the kingdom official has no possibility of targeting him.
Although there was no direct evidence, Richard had almost determined the attacker's power.