When I Reincarnated I Was a Soldier?!
The Man Known as The Red Grim Reaper
15 – Disguise
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There were five wagons on a particular road.
The wagons were covered with canopies so that the cargo could not be seen.
But to the bandits, they looked like sitting ducks.
With five escorts per wagon, the tight security arrangements suggested that the cargo was very expensive.
Twenty-five escorts was a number that would normally dissuade anybody, but this band of bandits numbered 53 in total.
They outnumbered the escorts.
Moreover, the escorts would be fighting while protecting the wagons and merchants.
The leader of the bandits grinned at the lookouts' report.
"You bastards, let's get to work!"
He shouted.
The main road comes to a curve in the forest just before the Marquees territory.
It was a suitable place to hide, and the curve made it difficult to see ahead.
Then, it all started with a single arrow piercing the wagon.
"Enemy attack!!"
A shout came from the leading wagon.
The escorts that looked like adventurers, unsheathed their swords and scanned the area; those holding arrows, strained their eyes, trying to detect the enemy.
Arrows came flying one after the other, and the escorts' arrows flew in the direction of the incoming arrows.
There were cries of pain, and men came charging at the escorts with axes, shouting loudly, perhaps to inspire themselves.
The escort also swung their swords desperately, and one by one they collapsed to the ground.
Bandits, escorts, and others fell to the ground without distinction.
The leader of the bandits, with all his members there, thought it would be a good idea to finish the battle as soon as possible, so he started running while shouting loudly to scare the other group.
Just when the difference in numbers was about to double, the canvas at the back of the wagon was rolled up and new escorts poured out one after another.
"Wha-! What?"
Whether the leader was able to grasp the situation or not, he was waving his sword around without giving any orders. However, the sudden addition of ten more escorts at once brought confusion to the battle.
"Well then, we disguise ourselves as a merchant caravan, hide two of us in each of the wagons, put a lot of escorts around, and make them think we're carrying high-value goods, and wait for them to attack?"
"Ah, if there's too many of us, they might not attack, right? If we make them think we only have about half as many people as they do, they'll attack. If we get out of the wagon right away, they might retreat, so the group in the wagons will have to wait until we're halfway through the battle.
"Most of the thieves are either farmers or adventurers who can no longer feed themselves. They're probably not very skilled, so we'll just have to endure and when the enemy is almost completely immersed in battle, we'll counterattack and destroy them."
The number of bandits gradually decreased, and a single word came to the bandit's leader's mind: retreat.
At that moment, he felt a strange chill and looked back.
An unrefined-looking man with swaying black hair was wielding a one-handed sword with a crooked smile on his mouth.
It was the last thing that Kasila's eyes saw.
[1] TL Note: Here the original expression is “only 2 characters came to mind” which is because the word retreat in Japanese 退却 has two characters.