The Knight's Mysterious Maid-Chapter 300: Unwelcomed arrival (2)

"You just got here and already you want to have your knights march out tomorrow to pick a fight? If this is to prove that you are big dog-"

"You said there was unusual movement before we arrived, like they were preparing to attack. We should move out to be one step ahead of them. What sense does it make to sit here and wait for a sighting of them to move out?" Rafael asked.

Rafael sat in a tent with Martin, border guards chosen by Martin to be present, and a few of his knights.

"My knights will lead while your guards follow behind us. We plan to sneak a group behind them for a surprise attack. I need any paths you think we can take to get there unnoticed," Rafael said, placing stones he gathered on the map provided by Martin to show where they needed to be.

"If we had a path to get to them, we wouldn’t have called for help. They always spot us each time we try to get to them. We’re trying to find the paths they use to enter the kingdom and return home. If you want to take a risk, your best bet is here," Martin said, picking up one of the stones to place it where they had the most success.

"I will send ten of my knights and ten of your guards. Pick your best men who can be silent and take on a lot of their warriors. This is a possible death mission so be sure to warn them they might not see another day if they mess up," Rafael said.

"I don’t need to tell men that. We don’t make mistakes since we all want to live. Tell me about this plan you have to attack them first. I heard you were asking for our drawings of their leader. Do you plan to take him out? He’s no easy man to defeat even at his age," Martin said, picking up a bottle of wine to pour into his glass. "Wine?" He offered Rafael.

"I don’t drink and I am not a fool to drink the day before I am heading out to war," Rafael answered, hoping his words would convince Martin to not drink, but they did not.

"I will be fine when morning comes. It’s a little tradition for me to have a nice glass of wine before I run right into danger. It might be my last so I want to savour the taste. It used to be a little glass of something strong, but now I am sticking to wine. You should try it. It will help calm your nerves," said Martin as he grabbed another glass to pour wine for Rafael.

Rafael and Christian shared a look. It was quite unbelievable that Martin was still a captain when he was so foolish.

They’d heard of men taking small bottles of alcohol to drink should they be wounded and wanted to have a last drink, but not drinking when they were soon going off to face a dangerous enemy. Neither would take the chance to drink even a drop of wine.

"I can feel the two of you judging me. This has always worked for me," Martin further explained, putting the glass to his lips and drowning the red wine. He will do better than most of Rafael’s knights tomorrow after a glass or two of wine.

"And yet you have never been successful in taking over the border as the king wanted," Christian retorted.

’Enough. If drinking is what you want to do, fine, but don’t expect my knights to come to your aid if you act as a drunkard tomorrow. I won’t have them lose focus to help you. Better yet," Rafael paused to lean forward and drag the bottle away from Martin’s side. "I am going to confiscate all alcohol. Anyone found drunk tomorrow morning will stay behind. Anyone found hiding a bottle will be included in my report."

Rafael was yet to understand if Martin was just an idiot or if he didn’t believe there would be a fight tomorrow. There were always small fights at the border where the border guards ended up retreating to gather themselves and come up with a new plan of how to attack.

As far as Rafael was concerned, there wasn’t a big war with no retreating quickly since his father led knights straight into a battle and fought with the leader.

Martin wasn’t bothered by Rafael’s threat. Rafael had a connection to the king, but Martin had ties in the court thanks to his father. He didn’t think anyone would care about him having a little wine to prepare for tomorrow and it wouldn’t be hard to get his name out of Rafael’s report.

"Fine. I will follow your rules and tell the men not to drink even though some find it necessary since it helps them pick up their swords and run into a fight. Oh! That reminds me. I have something that might be of interest," Martin said, snapping his fingers. "It’s something I thought would give us the advantage in this war. I don’t know why the king didn’t think of it."

Rafael watched as a box was brought into the room by two guards and placed on the table, moving the stones he had placed on the map. The second Rafael had a clear view of what was inside he said, "We will not use a gun. Unless there was an official order from the palace that guns are allowed to be used throughout the kingdom, anyone using this tomorrow would be carrying out a crime."

"That is why I thought you could use your connections to the king to ask that we be free to use guns and send us a few of them. We can take down the front line of those savages with them. Hunt them down like the animals they are and back them away into their houses so we can take the lands. This war will be easy if we just-"

"We are not using guns," Rafael repeated.

It was up to Tobias to decide when guns were to be used. Rafael wasn’t going to send any message to the king to ask that he change his mind. Unless the border guards had been secretly using guns, they were all not fit to pick up one. Not when they didn’t know how to properly aim or use one.

"Close it," Martin ordered his guards. "Take it to my tent."

"No. I will also be confiscating your gun so it does not magically appear tomorrow. I advise you to stop acting like an idiot to get under my skin and focus. Whether you believe it or not, we are going out there tomorrow. It wouldn’t hurt me to see you go, but I am trying to have little deaths on our side," Rafael said as he pulled the box with the gun to his side.

Martin shrugged his shoulders. "It was merely a suggestion since you seemed interested in the leader. This would have helped us take him down quickly, but let’s do things your way."

Martin didn’t mind his gun being taken since he had a smaller one he received during his travel to Rafael’s competition. He was not ready to die so he had it as a second plan to keep himself alive.

Also, if he had a clear shot of the leader, he was going to take it. The king’s anger wouldn’t last long when the land was finally given back to him.

If not for the fact he needed Martin to make some of the stubborn guards listen, Rafael would have sent the man packing instead of dealing with his antics.

"I am going over the full plan once. Try not to interrupt," Rafael replied, gathering the stones so he could put them back in place. "We are going to raise a flag for me to go out alone to speak with the leader. If he does not wish to speak, we attack."