Twelve soldiers, wearing half body armor, holding ordinary long spears.
Three hunters, including one young man and two middle-aged men.
Alyris, Blake and two others, the mayor—old knight Jonel, five knights in full body armor.
Including myself, there are a total of 21 combatants available.
Not to mention Alyris, Blake, and Jonel, all of whom are confirmed Level Three knights.
"Your Highness, are these people enough?" Blake asked.
Kana nodded without hesitation, "Enough, more than enough, those rats aren't that tough."
To be honest, this kind of force to encircle and annihilate the ratmen is a bit extravagant.
Those ratmen would probably turn and run away at the sight of us.
"The Safro Kingdom, on the corner of this continent under our feet, is such a remote place.
Logically, there shouldn't be ratmen. Based on the information collected from the villagers, it can be confirmed that the ratmen only started stealing things in the town this week.
We can basically confirm the merman prophet wasn't wrong in saying that these ratmen only arrived here in the past month or two.
They are still in an alert nest-building phase."
Soon, we will besiege the ratmen, so Kana briefed everyone with some basic knowledge.
Sharp-eared Rat People, in the game, are completely hostile wild monsters.
They are found on almost all continents and in various places.
But their main gathering point is not on the continent where Kana is located.
However, since not even Blake or the old knight Jonel knows about these creatures, it suggests that there are almost no ratmen in this country.
Otherwise, any intelligent race with towns would inevitably deal with them.
Thinking carefully, such monsters were rare in the early stages of the game. Even Cohen Kingdom didn't have many ratmen, so it's quite normal for Safro, which borders them and is at the continent's edge, to have none either.
"Let me tell you what our enemies are like."
As Kana said this, he measured against his thigh with his hand, "They're about this tall, like upright rats. Their fur is mostly black, and unsurprisingly, they usually speak the common language."
This statement surprised those in front of him.
"They can talk?" a young soldier asked in surprise.
"Yes, all ratmen have a very good language talent, capable of learning another race's language in a short time."
The reason for this is speculated to be due to their use of the Stone of Creation.
In this world, anything unreasonable is attributed to the Stone of Creation, which is about 95% accurate.
"They are small in stature, agile in movement, but not very powerful. However, be wary of their teeth, which are very sharp and carry some toxic bacteria.
Their weapons mostly consist of slingshots, wooden spears, and scavenged broken knives."
Upon hearing this from Kana, the soldiers in front of him looked somewhat relieved.
Hearing this, these rats seem very weak.
"But don't underestimate them. There are many of them and when the fight starts, each of you will likely have to face several at once."
As Kana finished speaking, the young hunter suddenly raised his hand.
"What's the matter?"
The young hunter nervously glanced at everyone, "Sir, I think, I might have seen these ratmen."
"What? Why didn't you report this?" Jonel asked angrily.
Jonel's fierce words clearly frightened the young hunter.
"I, I..."
"Don't be nervous, I won't blame you. If you perform outstandingly in this operation, I'm sure Jonel won't withhold his reward."
After Kana smoothed things over, Jonel calmed his emotions and stepped back.
He gave Kana a slight bow, "I apologize, Your Highness, I was impulsive."
"No harm, as the town's mayor, your anger is understandable."
The young man also settled down.
"Tell us the specifics of what you saw at that time."
The young man nodded, "At that time, I was setting up traps in the woods across the river, about two months ago.
I saw from a distance, a big rat quickly darting through the woods, I thought I was seeing things.
Later, there weren't many animals in those woods, I thought I had scared them off, so I never went back."
Kana nodded, "Alright, you'll lead the way in a moment."
Everybody prepared, Kana also took a round shield from Jonel.
Before this, with Alyris's help, they had already confirmed how these rats got there, clearly arriving by small boat.
After querying multiple sources, this small boat was likely stolen from the fishermen, as one fisherman had recently lost his fishing boat, initially blaming it on mermen.
They rowed to the opposite side.
This boat wasn't a fishing boat, but a medium-sized riverboat, given Riverbend Town's proximity to the large river, there's some demand for riverboats.
As they landed ashore,
the young man pointed to a distant wooded area.
"It's over there, that's where I saw the giant rat."
After saying that, Jonel looked towards Kana.
It was clear he was waiting for Kana's command.
Among them, undoubtedly, Kana was the most prestigious, and also the one most knowledgeable about ratmen.
Naturally, the command authority fell on his shoulders.
Leading a squad full of warriors and knights, to be honest, he had never led such a team before.
Kana quietly complained.
"Lead the way."
He then turned and said to Alyris, "Pay attention to sniff out the scent of ratmen blood in the air."
Alyris nodded, having already remembered the smell of ratmen blood.
They hadn't walked far,
when Alyris seemed to detect something, finding a bit of blood on a leaf.
"It's the same smell of blood as in that house, with a faint trace wafting from the woods."
Hearing this, Kana nodded, having formed a rough idea.
"Hey, you there." He pointed at the young man.
"George, sir, my name is George." The young hunter—George said hastily.
"Go into the woods, be careful, and pretend to hunt.
Scout inside to see if there are any ratmen. Once you spot one, you can come out."
Hearing this, George seemed a bit nervous, gulped, but nodded firmly.
Then ran into the woods.
While George scouted, Kana told the others,
"If those rats really are inside, later, old mayor, you will lead eight soldiers, along with those two hunters, and bring Blake's team.
Your task is to circle to the other side of the woods, and there form a slightly dispersed encirclement.
If any ratman runs over to you, kill them, kill as many as you can without chasing."
Blake seemed to have picked up on Kana's intentions, frowning, "Your Highness, are you planning to lead the remaining people to charge in?"
Kana nodded.
"No, it's too dangerous." Blake flatly refused.
His duty was to protect Kana, if Kana led a charge and something happened, he would bear a major responsibility.
"Don't worry, with Alyris around, if it comes to it, you can follow me in."
Upon hearing this, Blake pondered for a moment before nodding.
Soon after, George came running out of the woods.
"Sir, I saw it, a large rat standing there, holding a broken longspear.
But that rat saw me too, and once it did, it ran away."
Upon hearing this, Kana nodded and said directly, "Old Mayor, as previously mentioned, you take your people to encircle the back of the woods."
Thinking to prevent any accident, he added, "Once surrounded, send two hunters slightly inside, if we start fighting and no rats run out, you charge in."
The mayor nodded, taking his men around to the back of the woods at a quick pace.
"The rest of you, follow me."
Kana equipped himself with a shield, drew his longsword, and led the way in.
George looked a bit dazed but still followed behind Kana.