------------------------------------Third Person POV----------------------------------------

*Boom!!*

A giant explosion set off in the outskirts of the capital. Shockwaves disturbed the air as it travelled through the lands.

As it shook the nearby lands, its sound alerted a nearby army group that had just finished responding to a call for help in a far away village as it was on its way back.

"Those who still have energy, follow me. The others take the injured and call for reinforcements. They have bombs, and no matter which group originally possessed those bombs, we need to be prepared for the worst case scenario."
"Yes, sir!"

The leader of said group is a retired veteran called in because of the upcoming event that would bring turmoil to the dwarf continent. He was raised with the mindset of being prepared for a day like the great war might happen again. He lived through every battle and incursion until they pushed most bandits to the dragon's road.

/To things would turn bad this fast. When the dwarf continent was just calming down from the time the hero created it, my father told me that rebels roamed the lands trying to continue the war. They became the first bandits and would amass materials and soldiers they needed to launch a force. However, no matter how badly the battle became, he never told me that they would resort to using bombs this close to the capital. They might just be remnants of the previous generation but the fact that they produced these mad leeches of society that wanted wealth not for some cause they saw back then but to live off the citizens' hardwork. Absolutely deplorable./ The retiree taught as he led his group towards the commotion.

As their iron rhinos galloped through the plains, they soon came across where the explosion came from. However, except for some wreckage of a wagon and pieces of unrecognizable bodies scattered around it.

"They shouldn't have gone far. Hurry forward!"
"Yes, sir!"

Following their leader's lead, the rest of the group charged forward chasing the traces left behind by the group that may or may not have used explosives.

After a few minutes of chasing, they soon came across a group of bandits chasing a convoy and their guards. It might have been from the first impression but the ragged clothing of the bandits along with their bloodthirsty expression in contrast to the clean yet battered look of the convoy gave them that feeling.

"Halt! In the name of the elders! Everyone is to stop at once!"

The army leader bellowed as they rushed towards the middle of the battle.

"We are the Blue Fin Mercenary group in charge of escorting a graduate of the mithril academy! These are bandits that have chased us from south eastern iron/copper town #18!"
"Tsk, it's the army. Everyone scatter!!"

Feeling relief that help is close at hand, the leader of the Blue Fin Mercenary group signalled his teammates to form a defensive wall around their client's carriage.

On the other end, the leader of the bandits expressed agony at the thought that there was no way to escape. A simple revenge chase extended too much, a single moment of advantage goaded her and her comrades to continue their pursuit even through the capital region. Right now, she is regretting her moment of carelessness as she frantically thinks of a way to escape here alive.

"Stay calm! Don't panic! We will all be killed no matter what we do! The only thing we can do now is take out as many as we can with us!! Make them regret clashing with us!! For our family! For our treasures!! For our freedom!!!!"

The bandit leader charged in after declaring that statement towards the mercenaries.

The rest of the bandits shocked by the suicidal charge shown by her all started to calm down. As they took in the moment, they too followed her towards the mercenaries. Maybe they were moved by her speech, maybe compelled by some sort of camaraderie, or maybe they realize that the only way to survive their current predicament is to attack the weakest direction they could take, which is the mercenaries.

"They are trying to make a run for it. We will not divide into four teams! I'll lead the first team to chase after them! You and you!! Take a team each and take a wide swing to their flanks on both sides!! The last one will take the widest detour behind the mercenary group and help them deal with those that escape the net! Go!!"
"Yes, sir!"

The leader of the army, realizing their aim, hurriedly shouted orders to his subordinates. They then quickly selected their chosen team and ran towards their assigned area.

Moments left before the charge and the mercenary team leader wholeheartedly abandoned his plan to attack the bandits while they were occupied with the army. He know fell back along with his teammates toward their client's carriage as they fortified their position to make sure no one among them died.

However, considering the amount of wagons they have, they are still considered a huge obstacle to the bandit group's escape. The bandit leader tried to charge the sides to escape but the mercenary leader shifts reinforcements toward places where the bandit 'elites' are heading towards.

/I at least need to take out their stronger members. The small fries won't bother us and can't influence other bandit groups with their strength but those stronger ones may affect other bandit groups, especially the leader. I can't let them escape no matter what./ The mercenary leader thought that as he himself heads toward the bandit leader while delegating his most powerful teammates towards others he deemed to be this bandit group's 'elite'.

Meanwhile, the army leader along with his group have already charged into the back of the bandits. After the initial charge they then dismounted and went into melee.

The fight went on one sidedly as the bandits were either too scared or too weak to properly put up a fight against the army. This in turn forced those near the mercenaries, those who could practically smell freedom, to become more frantic and reckless in their attack.

Soon, casualties appeared in the mercenaries ranks despite fully devoting themselves to defence. One turned into five, and five turned to 10, until the mercenaries started to condense their formation inwards giving space for the bandits to escape.

Seeing the opportunity present itself, the bandit leader smashed her axe towards everyone in her way and ran towards the opened up space to escape from this death trap.

Her fellow bandits saw this and charged out of the encirclement with her.

*Bonk*

"Tch, I thought that mercenary team would have held out more than this."

The army team leader complained as he brought down bandits left and right. Each swing of his hammer showcased a contest of defence against a solid hammer and the head of the bandits, which would result in the expected.

"Should we rush over to cover the gap?"
"No, it's fine. The flanking team should be arriving shortly. They would plug up that hole nicely. It's too bad for the team encircling towards the back though. Half of those who leaked out should escape, depending which way the encircling team went. It's a shame that we won't get them all but removing as much as possible is good. You all shape up! We will finish this shortly!"

*Bang!*

As told by the army team leader, the flanking force arrived and mowed down every bandit in their path as they quickly spread out to not only contain the bandits but also assist the mercenaries.

A few moments after that, A thundering rumble came from the side as the encircling team finally managed to show it's presence.

Intercepting every bandit that escaped the encirclement from the side, they did a perfect clean-up. However, they let a few tens of bandits escape as it took too long to circle around to the back.

"That was close! I got lucky and escaped to a direction away from that backstabbing army group. Don't think that this is the end of this! I will get revenge for my husband and my subordinates!!" Exclaimed the bandit team leader as she dragged her ragged and tired body away from the place before the army scout out the surrounding for stragglers like her.

However, after they showed up, not a single bandit escaped from their spiked club.

The encircling team soon moved towards the encirclement and replaced the side the mercenary team was previously occupying.

As soon as they were in position, when all four sides of the trapped bandits were filled with nothing but fully armoured, well trained army soldiers, the army soldiers proceeded to do a slow march as they slowly but surely marched towards the centre while killing every bandit on their path.

The walls of army soldiers began to squeeze, condense, close in towards the bandits as their numbers went down from every step the army soldiers made.

*Bang* *Crush*

Until at the very end, the last bandit in the place has been killed.

"Those who are injured stay here and heal up! You, you, you and You! Take a few uninjured soldiers and scout around the place for those who escaped! Everyone else is to clean up here! When the reinforcement comes, the injured will be replaced by them as a group escorts them back!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Alright, You! Come with me and talk to these convoys. I want to get the full story about what happened!"
"Yes, sir!"

-----------------------------------------------First Person POV----------------------------------------

The battle ended? It sounded chaotic for some time now. I didn't even know what was happening until I heard casualties started appearing in the mercenaries.

I have good hearing but hearing anything within this battle where almost everyone is using impact weapons. It's like trying to listen to a call in the midst of a percussion concert.

The leader isn't broadcasting order's just outside the carriage, so I'm not sure how things went. The best I can tell is that we are now safe and that the army is here, which is a bit of a problem since I still have bombs installed in all of the cargo.

I can explain it as a security measure but if the mercenaries learn about how all of the wagons they are protecting could explode if handled wrongly, it might cause unnecessary friction between all of us.

"Haa...Haaa...Haaa, Are...you...alright..haah"
"Compose yourself first. I'm fine. I assume that you already ordered the others to tend to the wounded and deceased."
"Haaa...yes..."
"Ok, then just focus on regaining your breath. The army should be coming over to talk to us about what happened while I go check my cargo."
"Hmmmmmm haaaaaa...Alright, I shall inform the army on what happened. The guards I assigned to you when we stopped at the town still have energy to spare, so they will escort you as you ascertain your cargo."

As expected of someone who spends most of his life in the midst of danger. He regained his breath quickly. Even if he is still tired, he can still calmly think.

"Alright. If they need the client to be present, just send someone to call for me."
"Yes, sir."

Now, time for me to remove most of the bombs. I need to do this quickly since the army will surely call for me. I'm the one who installed the bombs that alerted them of this whole fight, after all. Well, I'm not sure if they already know about the fight from the sounds of fighting but they will surely know about the bombs!

"I want to do this quickly since the army may call for me soon. Keep up with me and we can finish this inventory check before I am interrupted."
"We were on the inner circle during the fight and only switched to the front from time to time. We still have more than enough energy for this. You can count on us, sir!"

Hmm? Is this also part of the mercenary leader's plan? In case we stop again, will they be my personal guards? I guess it is good since I am already familiar with them.

How thoughtful, I might remember to ask his name next time. I planned to skip knowing his name though. In case I ever come across their mercenary group again, I don't want to step on a landmine by asking where he is only to end up knowing he is dead and there is a new leader. That is very possible in their line of work after all.

Ok, Take a quick look at the cargo and remove the bomb here.

I'll leave this bomb here.

And! I'll remove this bomb on this cargo!

This should be fine. All of the wagons have the cargo in them intact. There are a couple of rough damages here and there but it never destroyed the protective box, which means no explosion.

I already removed the bombs from the boxes that had the most damages and some from those without any damages. This should make it as though I only installed very few bombs amongst the cargo.

"Is it done, sir?"

Yeah it is done, I did it very well. Even with your group behind me, I hid it very well that I was removing bombs. Don't underestimate a butler's nimbleness!!

"Yeah, it looks like none of the cargo leaked out during the chase. Good work, all of you."
"It is our duty."

They are polite enough. I'll give them a bit of a bonus when we reach the village.

"Sir! The army leader has called for you."
"Hm? Ok, I'll meet with them."
"This way sir."

As expected, they called for me. They will probably ask about where I got the bombs and how many I have, next they will search the cargo and every magic bag I have.

Too bad that the only magic bag I have is carrying my tools. This should satisfy their cautiousness and the worry of the mercenary leader.