I spent these past two days exploring and studying on the World-Net, absorbing all the information available about raids. I knew that several people had already delved into these incursions, but I didn't realize just how many.
I discovered a few key things: raids occur every two days. In each of them, up to 15 people can be selected to participate as attackers, in addition to yourself if you decide to join. You can participate in up to 3 raids during these days without changing the selected group, regardless of success or failure. You only get 3 attempts.
With this information, I started choosing who would accompany me on the raids. I had to be cautious, as I could also be attacked just as I could attack. I needed to leave people to guard the camp. Unlike me, all standard camps participating in raids have 25 natives as subjects, so sending 15 would mean compromising more than half of the available personnel. Of course, this applies to camps without associated foreign competitors or those with a larger number of subjects for some reason.
Finally, the countdown reached zero, and a screen appeared before me, though it wasn't what I expected.
[Raids Begin]
[24:00→23:59...]
[From this moment, you can participate in raids, and your camp may be attacked]
[No camps of other competitors in "The Unknown Lands" have been found to include in raids]
[Random camps will be generated to make up for this shortage, but these cannot exceed the best camp of the competitors in "Unknown Lands"]
I knew something would happen due to the lack of real competitors, but I hoped camps from other countries would appear, as sometimes happens in raids—not this. Still, I was satisfied: I held the top spot among competitors in this land... because I was the only one. My camp is the maximum I can face in the raids, at least here.
Now I felt more confident about achieving it, and my fear diminished considerably. I looked at the group I had assembled and began considering who I would take with me.
In the end, the attack group consisted of two militia members, a thug, two hunters, and myself. The others would stay at the camp to protect it. As for weapons, we had the hunters' bows and arrows, which were more hunting tools than weapons of war. The militia carried sticks and clubs, while the thug had a small knife, though calling it a knife was a stretch—it was just a sharpened piece of metal. The hunter's knife was much more decent. Personally, I took the knife that came with the camp's tools.
At this point, we also brought along the cart and the donkey, which had served as a means of resource transport; now it would carry everything looted. After learning a bit more about civilizations that use slaves, I didn't forget to load several ropes onto the cart—not the best option, but I couldn't afford anything better at the moment.
With everything ready, I gave some final instructions for guarding the camp before beginning the raid.
[Available Raids: 3/3]
[Selected Subjects: 5/15]
[Personal Participation: 1/1]
[Searching for camp to raid...]
...
My men and I appeared in a place not too different from where we had been. The sky was gray, and the grass ranged from light to dark green. Trees surrounded us, though we weren't in what could be called a forest, luckily.
In local raids, the raiders are transported two to five kilometers from the target camp. Looking into the distance, I saw that we were fortunate: our target was easily recognizable. We were close; smoke from a fire and a tall tent were visible in the distance, along with silhouettes of people moving around.
"Gather around!" I said firmly enough for my men to approach. "There's the target. As we agreed: no mercy. We kill anyone who crosses our path; when their numbers are lower than ours, we finish off those who resist and subdue those who surrender," I ordered, though my voice trembled slightly.
I still couldn't accept the implications of my words. This would be a baptism for me, my first raid, and possibly the first time I'd shed blood. The truth is, I would have preferred this raid be aimed at another foreigner, someone from another world; that way, the weight of their death wouldn't fall on me. The natives can't resurrect like we can; their death would be final. I've lived among them, and they're people, like me. The idea of killing someone was eating away at me, but I knew it was necessary. This world tests us, and while there are peaceful ways to overcome these tests, I don't feel capable of passing them that way—I'm not that capable. Only the cruel path remains... I just hope that, if there's judgment after death, my reluctance is taken into account.
With knives and clubs in hand, and the bows ready to fire, we advanced slowly towards the small camp, while the donkey, tied to a rope, followed, dragging our cart behind.
As we got closer, we could see the camp more clearly. For now, we only spotted two people beside a pot over the fire. The tent was smaller than ours, and around it lay piles of chopped wood and other things. We hid among the trees and tall grass, although we weren't sure if we could get much closer without being seen. We remained hidden mainly due to the position of those two people and because they were engrossed in conversation with each other.
We observed that it was a man sitting on a log and a woman stirring the pot. Shortly after, another man appeared, carrying firewood in his arms and with an axe hanging from his waist.
Three people; we were six. We had the advantage. I whispered a few words, and we decided to act. I had decided that blood would have to be shed, and it was better to start with these few in case I couldn't handle it, so I wouldn't freeze up in a more dangerous situation.
The hunters slightly drew their bows, and when everyone seemed ready, we rushed toward the camp.
"AAAHHHHHHH!" Our war cry resounded, or perhaps it was just mine, seeking a way to conquer the fear that was consuming me.
The people reacted as they heard and saw us. The lumberjack dropped the wood he was still holding and reached for his axe, while the other man, though he stood up abruptly, didn't do much else. The woman seemed frozen in fear; she stepped back a few paces, almost tripping over the hot pot.
We launched ourselves at them, though not literally, and what to my eyes seemed like a massacre began. The only armed man and the other, despite his bulky and intimidating appearance, were swiftly taken down by my soldiers, first with the hunters' arrows, then with clubs and knives.
I ran alongside them but, in the end, didn't do anything. Both men were attacked and defeated without my intervention. Even the woman was quickly subdued by the thug, who pinned her to the ground. I thought I'd have nothing to do here and sighed in relief, until, suddenly, a man emerged from the tent beside me. He looked alarmed, as if he'd just woken up.
Fear took hold of me; everything around me seemed to shift in size, and I felt a brief dizziness. I barely heard what the man was yelling in front of me. My reactions were almost automatic, driven by the adrenaline of the raid and the sudden fright. I lunged at him with the knife trembling in my hand, stabbing him in the stomach.
I felt him still trying to defend himself on the ground while I kept stabbing over and over as if it were the only thing that existed. I barely felt the pain from his hits; I was completely beside myself. I likely would've continued even after the man was already dead, but something hit my head, knocking me to the ground.
Dazed by the blow, the sounds around me turned distant and muffled. I remained on the ground for a while until my men helped me up, holding me while they splashed water on my face to bring me back. It took me several minutes, but eventually, I regained some composure. I looked around: there was blood on the ground, and three men's bodies lay there, along with the blood on my hands. I trembled, felt everything spinning around me, and vomited right there. If not for my men holding me up, I probably would've fallen into my own vomit.
They gave me more water to drink, to wash myself and cool off a bit. My first battle hadn't been glorious but rather disgusting and humiliating. There were three corpses and two women pinned to the ground. One of them, the one who'd been in the tent with the man I'd stabbed, was the one who hit me. It wasn't even me who finished him off; it was my soldiers, though my wounds would have killed him anyway.
"Tie them up..." I said with difficulty, still panting.
We stayed in that camp for maybe an hour more when we should've finished sooner, all due to my inability to face the situation with calm. It was the first time I'd seen death up close; these lifeless bodies, who had been as alive as my men and I, made me question whether this was really for me. But I also felt that, somehow, I could get used to it. Not because of any great adaptability, but because this strange place seemed to be slowly changing me, molding me to its image of death and violence.
After my men tied up the women tightly, who wouldn't stop crying, and moved the bodies out of my sight so I wouldn't vomit again, we proceeded to search the camp.
Outside, the most noticeable thing was the amount of firewood piled up. One man was a lumberjack and the other a carpenter, which explained it. Aside from a few scattered items, the only really notable thing was the pot of food they'd been cooking, from which my men ate while I took a moment to recover. They even offered me some, but I didn't want anything in my stomach. The tent was small and cone-shaped, different from ours, and its quality was significantly lower. Inside, there were various belongings piled up. I couldn't imagine how those five people lived together in such a cramped space.
We made an inventory of the belongings:
>2 silver coins,
>117 copper.
>Several hides and clothes.
>Rustic tools.
>A bit of food.
That was practically everything of value we could gather, along with some half-finished wooden crafts. I didn't know exactly what to expect from this camp, but it certainly wasn't anything like the camps of other foreigners like me.
I knew, from what I'd read, that the money found in these raids could only be what the inhabitants of the place had earned by their own efforts. The coins given to us initially, in the chest with the second group of subjects, couldn't be taken; it was a kind of regulation so no one could get excessively wealthy.
It was time to return. We loaded all useful items onto the cart, including the tent itself. As for the women, we tied their hands and secured their ropes to the cart so they'd follow us. Behind them were two of my militiamen, ready to hit them if they tried to resist.
To return to our camp, we had to go back to the exact spot where we initially appeared. Fortunately, the place is marked by a sort of virtual indicator; otherwise, I can't imagine how many people would've gotten lost, especially in this confusing terrain, surrounded by so much forest and the mist that emanates from it in certain spots.
Upon reaching the marker, after a few moments, we reappeared in our camp. Perhaps I should feel bathed in glory from the success of this raid, organize the spoils, decide what to do with the captured women, or plan the next raids of the day. However, I had neither the spirit nor the will for it.
I quickly ordered my people to fill the remaining slots of the necessary 15 for the raid and instructed them to carry out two additional raids if things didn't get more complicated than what we'd seen. We still had 30 people to defend the camp, so we were covered. Then, I withdrew to try to sleep… if I could manage it.