Chapter 91: Cleonte, you rat!
The autumn rain seemed to have grown a layer of fine rain hair on the round-brimmed helmet, and the rain turned into small streams, dripping down from the brim of the hat.

This type of hat is a relatively popular style among mercenaries and is popular among many veteran mercenaries.

It is so popular because it can block the sun and rain. The only drawback is that it will burn your head in the summer.

The Cleont station, with hundreds of mountain infantrymen in various uniforms, slowly moved forward along the narrow mountain road.

Although Argonne asked Cléante and Berarde to each split half to go to Roseval Pass and Ill Pass, they did not do so.

After all, it is a dual command system. Cléante and Bellard are both experienced in battles and have seen a lot. Of course, they will not act recklessly with Argon.

War still has to follow basic rules of war. Of course, Argan's opinion is also very important.

Therefore, the two commanders each sent fifty men to guard the Roseval Pass.

The remaining people set up two lines of defense at the Ir Pass and defended it strictly.

In fact, Cléante understood Argon's thoughts very well. After all, he was old and had little experience. There was no hope of promotion. It made no difference whether he did a good job or a bad job, so naturally he just gave up.

It's different for Cléante. He must catch Horn and get the 100-pound reward from Barnifors.

He owed Sanda, the royal agent of the Kingdom of Leia, 120 gold pounds. Although he was still short of 20 gold pounds, it could at least solve the urgent problem.

So he really didn't understand Bellard's mentality.

How old are you? You are a relative of the captain of the imperial command company. You have a bright future and many opportunities to make meritorious service. Why do you want to compete with me, an old senior?
He appears to be pretentious on the surface, but inwardly he is just greedy for money and fame.

The first rain after autumn could not extinguish Cléante's anxious heart.

The soldiers behind him were lazy and unorganized, but after all, they were from the mountainous county, so they could walk steadily on such slippery ground.

The raindrops fell obliquely on them, making them appear vague.

When will this group of short-haired thieves come?
While Cléante was still thinking about it, he turned a hill and saw the tents and huts standing on the flat ground in the valley.

The tents stood there crookedly, and the campfire that had just been extinguished was making popping sounds in the rain.

Short-haired thief!
Cléante almost shouted out, but he waved his hand and the 150 mountain infantrymen behind him immediately followed him and encircled the camp.

As Cleont got closer, he felt something was wrong. Why was the camp so quiet?

He has done this kind of bandit suppression work many times, and this kind of mob should always be noisy.

Could it be an ambush?

It's impossible. Those stupid country bumpkins can't think of such a plan, and even if they could, they can't do it.

The ambush tactic actually requires a very high level of technical skills.

He led a group of people closer and shot a few arrows into the inside, but still did not see any human figure, so Cléante led his men to rush in.

Walking on the road between the tents, the rain flowed freely on the ground, and the flags hanging on the tents in the camp were sticky to the flagpoles.

"Judging from the flags, it is indeed that group of short-haired thieves." Cleonte looked around, but all the tents were empty.

There is really no one in this camp.

Had the short-haired thieves left before he arrived?

"not good!"

It was as if his brain was struck by lightning, and Cleont broke out in a cold sweat.

He and Bellard formed two lines of defense. It wasn't that you defended one line and I defended one line, but that each of us set up two lines of defense.

Given the relationship between the two, they even had no communication with each other on patrol times and routes.

There is an abandoned camp here where the short-haired thieves left in a hurry. The people were not there and I didn't see them either.

So, either he was caught by Bellarde in advance, or he had already escaped by taking advantage of the time difference.

It happened to rain today, and all traces were washed away.

"Goat damn it, I knew that fake knight who deserves to go to hell would do something bad."

Without time to explain, Cléante directly ordered everyone to run back and chase the short-haired thief. They must not let Shorthair escape, and certainly not let him fall into Bellard's hands.

After regrouping into a small team, Cleont led the soldiers and ran down the mountain, not noticing that the bushes on the mountain wall were shaking unnaturally.

The sky was overcast and a drizzle was falling, making a crisp sound as the raindrops hit their helmets.

The water splashed, reflecting the surrounding rocks into a blurry gray. Halfway through the journey, we turned a mountain road and met Bellard coming down another mountain road.

When the two met here, naturally they didn't look happy.

"Cléonte, how are you going back?"

"I'm done with the patrol. It's raining so hard. I'm going to go back and take shelter."

"Oh, so our Mr. Cléante is afraid of even this little rain. If we really go to the battlefield, the rain of arrows will be much more terrifying than rain. What should we do?"

"You won't have to worry about that." Cléonte coughed, "Mr. Bellard, you look so confident, I'm sure you will be able to find the short-haired thief."

"You don't need to tell me. Just look at the way you guys are hiding when it rains. It's only right that I catch this short-haired thief."

Fortunately, Shorthair didn't fall into Bellard's hands, he just ran away.

"Hmph." Cléante snorted coldly without refutation. After learning that Bellard had not found Horn yet, he was extremely anxious.

Without waiting for much communication with Bellard, he led his troops towards the mountain pass.

You know, once they get out of the Il Pass, the short-haired people have many directions to escape.

Although they have set up checkpoints at all the key roads and bridges, who knows what hidden paths they have?
"You rat." Looking at Cléante's departing back, Bellard snorted coldly, "Let's go and check this mountain road. That old man has patrolled before. I'm worried."

Although Cléante is an old mercenary manager, Bellard comes from an imperial knight family. They are professional mercenaries and are much more professional than old Cléante.

However, compared to those mountain soldiers, most of the soldiers in the White Maple Mercenary Group where Bellard was located were recruited from the Great Golden Plains.

They were somewhat uncomfortable with the slippery and muddy mountain terrain.

The mercenaries took every step very heavily and steadily, but they still slipped from time to time.

Among Bellard's many team leaders, only the old mercenary Hakuto was slightly better.

After walking along this mountain path in silence, just when Bellard felt that he had gained nothing and was about to return, a flash of darkness in the corner of his eye caught his attention.

"Captain, look, what is that?"

Bellard looked in the direction of the finger and saw a camp standing beside the road in the valley between the mountains.

The fluttering Holy Grail flag in the camp undoubtedly proved their identity.

"Quick, surround them quickly, we can't let them get away." Bellard's breathing became rapid. That flag must be the short-haired thieves, it must be the short-haired thieves.

"Captain." Hakuto looked around for a few seconds and said tactfully, "There should be no one in the camp. If there is someone, it shouldn't be like this."

Bellard frowned and gave a wink, and several gray-clad scouts bent over and headed towards the camp to investigate.

Two minutes later, they waved their flags openly from the camp gate.

Bellard approached with more than 200 people, but found that the camp was indeed empty.

"Lord Bellard, we have searched." The gray-robed scout said solemnly, "Judging from the flags and features, this is indeed the camp of the short-haired people."

"What about them?"

"I don't know." The gray scout approached Bellard, "Sir, I have to tell you that this camp has been searched before."

Bellard was stunned for a moment, then his face turned red at a speed visible to the naked eye: "Cleonte! Rat! Rat!"

Bellard kicked a tent over and walked outside, the rain running down the lines of his armor.

"Everyone turn around, the short-haired thief was let go by that rat Cléante, follow me to chase him!" Bellard growled with gritted teeth.

"Captain, Captain." The same Hakuto stepped forward again and held Bellard's arm. "It doesn't feel right. Even though our patrols are not connected, there shouldn't be no trace at all. There are more than a thousand of them."

"Then what do you say we should do?" Bellard impatiently shook off Hakuto's hand.

Hakuto hesitated for two seconds and said, "First, send someone to follow Cleonte, and then send out scouts to explore the surrounding area."

"Okay, take fifty people and explore around here."

Without waiting for Hakuto to say anything else, Bellard shouted directly to the other team leaders.

"The rest of you, follow me."

　p.s. there's another chapter coming soon

　　
　
(End of this chapter)