One hour ago.
Inside of the cramped cave, there were five people huddled into a group hiding in the corner. Their clothes were in tatters, their faces covered with dirt and their bodies riddled with wounds, it was like they just had an intense battle.
The five person group was strange, there were four men and one woman, around 20-30 years old. They didn’t seem like mercenaries or adventurers.
Even though it was the middle of the day, the inside of the cave was rather dark and the enclosed cave gave off an intangible pressure that made it hard to breathe.
The first person to break the silence was a man.
“Second lieutenant Shelly, what… what should we do?”
He sat on the floor and clenched onto his sword on his lap, he wanted to try and give himself courage, but he couldn’t stop trembling.
“Don’t worry! Trust me, we’ll surely complete the mission!”
Shelley could see how anxious he was and even though she was also terrified, she still forced a smile and tried consoling him. In times like this, the team members could be afraid and be anxious, but she couldn’t, as the leader, if she panicked, then it would really be over!
She was only a bit over 20, but she was already a second lieutenant. She was undoubtedly an outstanding warrior, and the reason she rose through the ranks so quickly was due to her ability and her leadership skills.
She may be young, but she has proven herself through completing multiple important missions, so the army trusted her and she has never let them down, this time, she also got a similarly important mission.
Delivering a letter.
Apparently, princess Claire already selected the negotiation squad and they would soon head out to the front lines for negotiation. The letter she had was personally written by the princess for the Grand Marshall, and it detailed the deployment arrangements and was encrypted so it was rather important.
Although she had no idea what the letter said, she knew that she couldn’t lose it. Even if she had to risk her life, she had to personally hand it over to Grand Marshall Barrett.
But… something unfortunate still happened.
“Where the hell did they come from? Are they really the rebels?”
They never expected to be ambushed on the way. At first they thought it was bandits, but after crossing swords, the opponents were organized and trained and completely overpowered them.
In order to complete the mission, Shelley could only order them to retreat and try shaking them off, but they wouldn’t stop until they were dead!
And so, they were entangled for a full three days before she found the chance to hide in this hidden cave to get some rest.
“I’m not sure if they’re the rebels, but it’s definitely premeditated!”
“Oh? Why do you say so?”
“Second lieutenant Shelly, we didn’t notice at the time, but now I remember… they must have tampered with the signs!”
“Signs?”
“That’s right! We were heading to the front lines by following the map and signs, but we ended up in this forest for some reason and got ambushed… the reason we got lost must have been part of their plot!”
“… Damn, I was too careless!” Shelley clenched her fist and hit the ground.
No wonder they ended up in this forest, they fell into a trap!
At this time, she could only afford to think about their current situation and didn’t even consider that after 3 days, the negotiation team should also have arrived and possibly fell for the same fake signs.
That’s right, Lin Xiao also ended up in the forest after seeing their fake sings, but they weren’t part of any plans, the rebels never even thought about intercepting them. The rebels’ goals were clear from the start, and that was to take Shelley’s letter!
The rebels knew that they were going to enter negotiations, but they didn’t know who they were going to send, so they could only send a small squad to intercept the kings letter.
They knew that if they could get the letter, they could see through Claire’s schemes!
So they had a small squad laying in ambush here and changed the signs so that they could trap the messengers in the forest.
“Damn! Those bastards are after me… I won’t hand over the letter even if I die!”
“You’re right, the mission is important, but the situation is unfavorable, we… we really can’t beat them!”
“Yes, even if they don’t find us, we can’t hide here forever, we have to think of something.”
“…”
If they suddenly left the cave and tried to escape the forest, they would die if caught! If they didn’t leave, then they couldn’t complete the mission and also would just be waiting to die.
They were dead either way, what should they do?
Would they have to hand over the letter and beg for mercy?
Impossible!
“Calm down… I have an idea!” When they were in a dire situation, she demonstrated her capabilities and thought of a way to survive.
“Really? Tell us, we’ll listen to you!”
“Why didn’t you tell us you had an idea?”
“Hehe, it’s still not too late.” Shelly took out the thick letter and handed it over.
“T-this…”
Why was she handing over the letter to them? Could she be planning to…
“This is the only way.”
Shelley smiled and explained her plan.
“I’ll take care of the bag holding the letters and one of you hide the letter and then rush out with me.”
“What? W-what do you mean!?”
“You should understand… if the five of us moved together, we’ll surely be caught and none of us will escape, if we split up, we still have a chance!”
Shelley’s plan was very simple…
The enemies may be strong, but if they split up, they might not all be caught. Then when they head out, she’ll still be carrying the letter bag and make them think that she still had the letters. Then the other four would take the chance to slip away in different directions.
They might not be as strong as the enemies and it will still be a death sentence after being caught, but they had four people, so they have a one in four chance of surviving!
“How about it? A one in four chance, do you want to gamble on it!?”
“We may be scared, but we already resolved ourselves before leaving… a one in four chance is already fortunate.”
“No!” Another member suddenly shook their head and stared at Shelley, “If we have a one in four chance, then what about you?”
“Me?”
“Don’t take us for idiots… if you go out there to draw their attention while we split up and run… hah! We may have a chance to survive, but what about you? They would surely send at least half of their people after you, there’s no way you’ll escape!”
After saying that, they all clenched their teeth and trembled.
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