The Bandits all stopped to watch their comrade who was sent flying with Duke's swing. But to their surprise, this time, unlike in their last encounter, the Bandit's hit by Duke's swings no longer came back up.
Duke's swings were no longer just for show as he attacked the Bandits in his mismatched set of Armor.
The moment duke shouted out "Counter-attack" groups of Skirmishers consisting of local hunters led by Rudon rained down arrows on the attacking group of Bandits, dealing 10-15 kills and many more wounded.
[A trap! I knew it...] "Everyone! Retreat to fort!" Waxer, realizing it was a trap urged his men to retreat. But, he realized too late.
"CAVALRY CHARGE!!!" Duke shouted with much vigor. Waxer's response was a big mistake for the Bandits and ideal for Duke and his Knights.
Waxer became too careful when handling Duke that his retreat only made the Knight's charge even more effective.
As the Bandits were about to retreat, sounds of hooves rumbling the earth shook them to their core.
The great Pendragon Knight Dragoons, or at least what's left of them roared through the battlefield with Byran at its helm, like a scythe cutting through wheat.
The 50 disorganized Bandits who were just commanded to retreat from the hail of arrows were now facing fifteen 500 kilograms of meat and leather charging right at them.
Although Maine's Knights no longer had the money nor the prestige to wear full plates of Armor, their special breed of warhorses and wooden lances were still the same. That along with the old Knight's vast history of training and accurate lancing made them extremely deadly despite being few in numbers and the lack of plate armor that normally protected Lancers from getting lanced themselves.
The Bandits scattered from the Knight's charge allowing the 19 Knights on foot accompanying Duke the opportunity to fully counter-attack picking off the Bandits one by one.
"DAMN KNIGHTS! GRAH!" Waxer shouted as he swung his large Axe back and forth.
Waxer tried to fight back, even injuring two of the Knights by himself, but it was all futile.
Today was undoubtedly Duke's victory.
Seeing the 35 remaining Bandits surrender and get captured, Duke finally had the chance to catch his breath and shout:
"We-WE WON!!! WE WON!!!"
Duke loudly proclaimed as everyone roared in Victory and delight. Even the hunters made wolf-noises to proclaim the success of the hunt, an offering-prayer to Hiertyr Wolf-God of the Hunt.
"""WE WON!""" The Knights shouted.
While the hunters howled *AWOOO!!!*
Looking around him, seeing the smiles and victorious faces of everyone around him, for the first time in Duke's life it was as if he wasn't a failure.
For the first time in his life, he won.
Now Duke was:
A winner...
And his victory wasn't an empty one too. 45 vs 60, heavily out geared and disadvantaged thanks to the fort, but Duke still managed to beat the odds and win.
Siege battles normally only happened when the enemy was outnumbered and decided to hole themselves up in walls to counter the disadvantage of numbers. It was quite rare for anyone to beat foes numbering more than them.
Duke knew the fort would be an automatic loss for them if they've decided to fight the bandits there. And so he drew the bandits out into the flat meadow where Calvalry could be used effectively. By pretending to be beaten in the first fight before counter-attacking with bows of their own and a fatal cavalry charge, Duke managed to win an astoundingly overwhelming victory. Waxer's misjudgment of retreating also helped in Duke's flawless victory. If not for Waxer's series of misjudgments such as leaving the fort and ordering a retreat, Duke would've been forced into a battle of attrition where Duke planned to do hit and run guerilla tactics. But luckily for Duke, it was an easy victory, and Duke was superior to Waxer in terms of tactics.
Duke won, and with his own abilities too. Sure Byran helped advise him here and there, but it was all Duke's ideas and plans that shaped this operation.
The thing with tactics is, you don't need to be the smartest nor the wittiest to have the greatest tactics. The greatest tactics always came from the use of already known knowledge in a slightly creative way. In other words, the most effective tactics were simple yet creative.
Byran provided Duke with the knowledge, and with his innate curiosity and creativity, today, Duke was finally given the right tools to express them with.
"You did it, lad!" Byran happily patted Duke on the shoulder.
"Yes... I did" Duke was happy, but it was still a little bit hard for him to accept the bandit subjugation went as planned on the first time. He felt all his hard planning went to waste with how easily the bandits fell.
But that night, the hardest thing for Duke wasn't relishing in their Victory against the bandits, no...
It was the punishment he was supposed to bestow them.
In front of the 35 captured bandits surrounding a large bonfire burning into the night, the Knights along with Duke planned on what to do with the heinous criminals...
"Execute them all!" Rudon wrathfully shouted as he swung his fists up and down.
"C-Calm down Rudon!" Byran tried to calm the disgruntled father down, but it was of no use as Rudon couldn't help but release a barrage of curses towards the Bandits.
"You Lazy good for nothing scum of the Earth!" Rudon shouted with grief.
While this was happening, Duke was seriously silent as he observed the Bandits and Rudon. This time, Duke truly had the air of a dignified commander.
"Rudon, sir... I don't think it's fair to just kill them off like that... I mean, if they were forced into banditry, some of them must've had their circumstances..." Duke looked at the group of Bandits and then looked at Waxer who silently and stoically stared back at him.
The Bandits all made different and strange faces...
[Are we being set free?] All of them wondered.