The Martial Unity

The supply dispatch had exited borders of the town of Hajin just under two hours. The Apprentices in the carriage had already perked up, growing more and more alert. They had decided that at the very least a minimum of three of them ought to keep a lookout at any given point in time.

Although the dispatch naturally had guards on horses forming something of a perimeter around the dispatch team, surveilling their surroundings, Martial Apprentices were still better. The Foundational Stage of the Academy carefully trained sensory awareness as well as their kinetic vision well beyond the norm. And the discovery of the Martial Path further raised those attributes and parameters above the conventional limit.

Three Martial Apprentices keeping an eye from within a carriage were better sources of surveillance than all the guards on horses outside.

Rui was currently off-surveillance duty along with Dalen. He used this time to gather his thoughts.

('According to the intel provided by the Martial Union, the bandits likely operate by incapacitating the dispatch convoy by crippling their means of transport.') Rui mused. ('In most cases that involves damaging the carriages sufficiently enough and slaughtering the horses.')

The reason the bandits did this was because the chances of survival of any travelling convoy was minimal if they could not maintain a high mode of transport.

Thus, even in the unlikely situation that a travelling transport or supplies dispatch convoy had the means to counter them, they would not be able to escape their predicament easily at all. The bandits could simply retreat and wait until for the right moment to launch an ambush.

Of course, thus far not a single travelling convoy had been able to successfully resist the bandit ambushes.

('Yet despite this, they continue with the norms of crippling the means of transportation in their initial strike.') Rui thought. ('That sounds uncharacteristically careful for bandits.')

chaotic unorganized groups of low lives who banded together to rob travellers. They were not careful and methodic like an organized strike force. Yet all the data that Rui had gone through indicated that this bandit group was more akin

of criminals, that was much scarier than messing with a

unlikely that this bandit group was formed in a

in the black market was much more likely, this would explain the sense of order that Rui got from them. Perhaps they were formed by some behemoth in

that if they were targeting means of transport then the

others, knowing about their modus operandi did not mean they would be able to counter it. In their current circumstances, knowing this did not particularly allow them

at the end of the day was to defend, protect and eliminate threats. That did not change regardless of what intel they possessed. At most they

of the nature of an ambush. The element of surprise in the hands of the enemy Martial Apprentices could not be mitigated easily, and some loss of life as well as material loss

the measure they could take to mitigate

of the convoy and focus on the most important and vital parts of the dispatch, as

act as a shield for the inner portion of the convoy, where the valuable high-grade esoteric

ambush commenced, Rui and the others of the Martial Quint would immediately focus on ensuring the inner circles

town of Hajin, and the mountains that were on the horizon at the distance had grown

Trails is only half an hour away from

since I came

come here before?"