Traveling back to the camp with the new loot was more challenge then you would think as most men had sustained some form of injury that hindered the trip back.

Many of them could even die because of the lack of understanding in treating wounds.

Some were even so badly wounded that they needed help to move.

This all created the trip back to be quite melancholic as some won't even be able to work in the fields anymore.

When we returned back to the camp we weren't given even the time to settle down as new commands were given.

"Squad leaders follow me into my tent!" five men including Zed followed the General into his tent.

"What can we do for you general?" A sly looking man asked wearing bloody leather armor with two daggers hanging at his waist.

"Good job out there men. I will be rewarding you with 5 gold each, disturb it to your squad as you fit.

He pulled out 5 sacks full of silver coins and gave them to each Squad leader.

"Thank you, General your glory shall be known true out the land!" The sly looking man was first to speak without missing the chance to flatter the boss.

"In 3 days we will be attacking a merchant that decided to betray our Kingdom and join the scum of Kron."

"Also while you are at it send the men that won't be able to fight back to their villages I will lend you one carriage for it."

"You are dismissed" With that, the 5 men left Generals tents.

Yet before they could go back to their squads the sly man stopped them.

"We should decide how we handle the money together."

"What do you mean?" As he spoke you could see his beer belly move.

"Well, shouldn't we each pay the same amount to our men so no misunderstandings happen? His eyes moved in a shady manner as he spoke of his suggestion.

"That does make sense, what do you suggest we pay?" His deep suited his physique well as clothes seem to barely hold on to his body due to his muscles.

"How about we give each man a silver coin?

"You want us to keep the four-plus gold for ourselves?" Zed was first to question the sly man.

"No no not keep as founds for our squad after all as the squad leaders we should take care of our men." He was starting to get nervous as Zed instantly spotted his motives.

"I will be giving six silver to my men you can do as you chose." With that Zed left he had no interest in bickering about these pointless things with the fellow squad captains.

"Hey wait!" The sly man yelled out but it was of no use as Zed left without even looking back.

A man whose head was almost completely covered by a helmet asked "So what should we do?"

"What else we give our men six silver." With that, the muscley man left followed by the rest leaving the sly man behind.

He clenched his fist in fury as he had just lost more than 3 gold in his mind.

"I will get you for this Zed." He swore to take his revenge under his breath as he left.

"Squad leader we made some jerky broth come join us!" Clark called out to zed.

He had lost his right eye in the battle as it now was covered by a torn off cloth.

"Everbody gather up."

Six silver would last these men at best for 3-5 months.

100 Copper was 1 Silver

100 Silver was 1 gold

With a couple of coppers, you could buy a meal for yourself and not much more.

"Those that can please go and look for these 3 plants." Zed instructed his men as he showed three plants that he had picked up as they had traveled.

With his alchemy knowledge, he knew that mixing these three plants together would create a paste that helped in treating wounds.

"Why do you need them?" One of the men couldn't help but ask.

"I will show you." He put his hand in a bag and took out a mortar and pestle.

Thanks to his Realm storage he could have some basic alchemy tools on hand at all times.

Before using them he had to separate some parts of it.

From the first plant, he had to remove everything expects the stem of the plant.

The second plant required only its leafs. While the third plant was only its flower.

Meshing it all together created a paste that had a sandy color to it.

Seeing this in action the men couldn't help but ask if he was an alchemist.

"No nothing like that It's just something I picked up since its useful in treating injuries." He didn't want to tell he was an alchemist in a time where the unknown was feared more.

"It's going to hurt when you apply it to your wound but that is why it works."

"If you bring me more of those plants I can make more." With that done he continued to eat his dinner.

At first, most men were not too trusting in this paste they saw him just whip up.

Making them miss the chance to use it on themselves.

Only 7 of the 44 men went to look for the plant and ask him to make more.

After a night of restless sleep, the effects of paste could be clearly seen on the men who used it.

Their wounds looked much better and had recovered to a much greater degree compared to those that didn't use the paste.

Seeing this they began to ask for more help in treating their wounds from Zed making him do even some rough stitches on some of their cuts.

In the three day rest period Zed had taken care of most of his men injuries raising his reputation greatly among them.

Any orders he gave as a squad leader were carried out with much more vigor compared to before and now with that vigor, they embarked into a new battle.

It was a simple mission they had to travel into enemy territory and assault a caravan with supplies.

They had to travel for two days straight before they reached their destination a mountain pass in a valley.

Based on the information that they knew the caravan would be passing through this valley in two days time.

So before it did travel this road they had to set up some traps for an ambush.

As they had to factor in that the men at their disposal were quite unskilled their traps needed to be equally simple.

2 days later.

A convoy of caravans was traversing through the harsh road accompanied by guards walking next to them.

"Sengo I still recommend that we don't take the route through the valley." A man wearing full leather armor with an unusually large sword strapped to his back advised a fat middle-aged man covered in expensive looking jewelry.

"I told you already there is no time to go around we need to take it.

"Leonard our families have worked together for such a long time I trust in your skills to take care of any problems that may I rise."

Leonard still looked reluctant to take this mountain road, but he still began to order his men to be more vigilant to potential danger.

Keeping a steady speed they entered the valley. Everything seemed normal as they traveled it, even the scouts that they sent didn't find anything strange up ahead.

But it all changed as they reached the midsection of the road, a giant boulder rolled down from the mountain blocking the road in front of them.

Before they could react group of men on top of hill showed up and started to stone them.

"Retreat!" A loud yell came from Leonard as he deflected a rock that was about to hit him.

Rocks fell down on the men like raindrops as blood started to flow like water from their injuries.

Due to the mercenaries coming from a clan that specialized in two-handed weapons they didn't carry any shields to protect themselves from the falling rocks.

The road wasn't big enough for the carriage to turn around so they either had to abandoned the merchants or try to protect them as they escape.

Both options had their benefits and downfalls making Leonard quickly take the route with less chance of them dying without even a fight.

Scraping together something to be used as a crude shield didn't take long for the men and with that additional protection together with their armor, they managed to escape the range of the thrown rocks.

If the situations weren't so chaotic due to all the screaming and yelling they might have noticed that the men didn't follow them.

As the attacks stopped the men's spirits rose as they thought they had just escaped an ambush.

'why does this uneasy feeling just keeps growing as we move forward?'

"Leonard what about my cargo!"

"Calm down, what is more, important to you your cargo or your life."

"My cargo is my life!" he was starting to get red due to all the running making him looked enraged.

"Don't worry we will get it back, we just need to escape the current danger."

'Damn so that was there plan." He could see a group of men blocking the road in front of them.

"Get in formation C!" With that order, the men dropped there makeshift shields and abanded the merchants they had protected.

Looking at the men in front him he couldn't quite tell which was the leader as the most likely one would be that big, tall guy, but he was wearing nothing but standard commoner clothes compared to the other men.

Still, it was his best bet as he didn't even know if they were attacked by bandits or someone else.

'But what is up with that creepy grin?' As he was about to clash with that big guy he couldn't help but notice that seemingly childish smile of excitement plastered on the man's face.

He was holding a two-handed sword in one hand without putting up any defense making Leonard put up his guard even more as he did a sideways swing with his blade.

The man raised his sword to parry the blow yet it wasn't enough to stop the blade heading into his chest it only hindered its attack power.

That smile of his widened even more as the blade struck him confusing Leonard for just a moment due to that unexpected response and the ever precedented feeling of danger.

Sadly that grin was the last thing he saw as a powder hit his face making his eyes water to near blindness as mucus started to hinder his breathing together with a very dry cough.

Leonard tried to retreat, but it was too late as a blade pierced through his hearth.

'Well, that worked better then I thought it would.' While they set up the traps on top of the mountain he found 2 plants that he thought could mix well and indeed they did.

Anakons bud Alchemy ingredient If inhaled causes strong irritation and burning in your lounges Seed of moko fruit Alchemy ingredient Has a potent ability to trigger an allergic reaction this effect is greatly increased if it enters the body.

Zed created a crude powder with these 2 plants that caused the following reaction in Leonard a veteran swords mans with 90 Health.

Silverhounds Greatsword Type Rare Damage 53-94 Aditional effect: Due to the amount of silver the sword was made out of it has the cleansing effect to it A Greatsword crafted with the technique of Silverhound clan.

Its made out of almost pure silver. Cleansing Attacks on beings of impurity take extra damage based on their impurity.

The blade's length was 160 centimeters by itself not even counting its hilt making it well over 2 meters.

It was about the right size for Zed to use with both hands.

With this new weapon and their leader being killed the following battle was nothing but a massacre.