While everyone was marveling at this, a pair of eyes were watching them from afar.
He hid very well, blending seamlessly into his surroundings, and no one noticed his presence. Once Ed and the others were out of sight, the man quickly emerged and ran off in another direction.
"How's the situation?" The speaker was a very burly, muscular man.
(Imagine what the mourners look like.)
"There are about a dozen people in this group, including one woman. Everyone has a bow and wears leather armor. Some of them have longswords. The leader looks like a fallen nobleman. Only two of them look like they are not easy to deal with."
Even the local lord couldn't do anything to these robbers, so they must be quite capable.
After listening to the scout's words, the muscular man looked around, his meaning clear: he was asking everyone if they had any good ideas.
At this moment, a fat man stepped forward:
"Boss, we'll just block their way and yell 'Robbery!' They'll see we outnumber them and hand over their valuables and food without hesitation." The fat man finished speaking and gave the muscular man a fawning look.
The muscular man kicked him to the ground.
"idiot"
Seeing the fat man get kicked, a show-off guy quickly came to his rescue:
"Chief, since the enemy has weapons, we cannot attack head-on; we must outsmart them."
The muscular man glanced at the show-off man: "How do we outsmart him?"
"Chief, since they have a woman, all we need to do is capture her and then threaten them."
"How do we catch him?" the muscular man pressed.
"Chief, I think I still have some charm, and I'm willing to make a sacrifice." The flamboyant man finished speaking and even struck a pose.
"Ah!" The show-off guy's rescue attempt failed.
The muscular man kicked him back, then roared:
"roll!"
Seeing the leader's anger, a man who appeared to be very wise stepped forward:
"Chief, the enemy has weapons, and so do we, and they don't outnumber us. We have no reason to fear them. If we are worried about casualties, we can simply send men with wooden shields to feign an attack, let them run out of arrows, and then we can charge in. That way, we can take them down with minimal losses."
The muscular man looked down, seemingly deep in thought.
"Chief, if we're afraid of those two tough guys, we should wait until they run out of arrows, then we can fire our own arrows. Once we've dealt with the others, we can charge in together. That way, no matter how powerful they are, they won't be of any use."
The muscular man remained silent.
"Chief, if there are still concerns, we can choose an open area, so they won't even have a place to hide from the arrows, while we have wooden shields."
The muscular man finally spoke: "We can't ambush them in open ground either."
Judging from his words, he had clearly agreed with the wise man's words, but still had some minor concerns.
"Chief, there's no need for an ambush. We'll just wait for them openly," the wise man said confidently.
"Okay, that's settled. If anything goes wrong, I'll kick your ass until it's bruised." The muscular man glared menacingly at the intelligent man.
"No, Chief, that's not a good idea." The wise man was so frightened that he quickly covered his buttocks.
During this period, Ed had a feeling that something was about to happen.
"Andrew, tell everyone to be careful. We're about to leave the jungle. We'll rest there."
"Yes, my lord, I will remind everyone."
However, as soon as they emerged from the jungle, they were dumbfounded:
Dozens of men with weapons were waiting for them in the open area ahead.
The people in the front row were carrying wooden shields, the people behind them were carrying bows and arrows, and many people were carrying longswords and some wooden spears.
The terrain here is also excellent; there are no roads except for retreating or advancing.
The distance to the opponent was also perfectly timed, keeping them out of reach of ordinary arrows.
The two groups stood facing each other, with only the sound of the wind echoing in the open space.
Seeing that Ed and his men didn't move, the impatient robber spoke first:
"Leave your things behind, and you can leave."