I only wanted to retire, but I ended up becoming an extremely popular character.

Although Zod's conjecture made a lot of sense, Cassius could not completely trust it.

After all, it was in the middle of nowhere, and the crime was committed at dusk; it's entirely possible that the perpetrator forgot to erase their footprints in their haste.

Therefore, Cassius came up with a compromise: "Warrant Lieutenant, I completely agree with your point of view, but we cannot completely rule out the possibility that the criminals neglected to erase their tracks. How about we split up into two groups..."

Upon hearing that the plan was to split into two groups, Zod immediately interrupted Cassius: "Excuse me, Cassius, but I don't agree with your opinion!"

If they split into two groups, their chances of catching the criminals would greatly increase.

This is completely contrary to his plan.

He went on to explain, "Dividing our forces is not a good option when we are unsure of the enemy's strength. I can't risk my soldiers' lives."

Zod himself thought the reasoning was absolutely flawless.

"But……"

"Enough, Cassius, I trust my own judgment!" Zod straightened his collar and said solemnly, "I will lead the team. We will search in the opposite direction of the footprints and make sure to bring the murderer to justice."

"I still..."

"Execute the order, Sergeant Major!"

Cassius's expression clearly showed resentment, but he still had to obey orders: "Yes, Warrant Officer!"

Led by Zod, his twenty-odd men began a search in a desolate, uninhabited mountain forest.

At first, no soldiers questioned Zod's orders.

However, as the search continued, no trace of the perpetrators was found, which shook the confidence of many soldiers.

The search for the criminals should have been conducted methodically by following the footprints. Instead, they went in the opposite direction to search in a remote mountain valley, which was like trying to catch fish by climbing a tree.

They increasingly felt that the operation was meaningless and increasingly questioned Zod's decision.

Cassius, in particular, though he didn't utter a single complaint, made no attempt to hide his disapproval of the search operation.

Zod, however, became happier and more joyful the less trace of the criminals he could find.

In times of war, nothing is more valuable than doing safe and meaningless work while earning a salary from the empire, rather than going to the battlefield.

We crossed one mountain after another.

Cassius's patience finally reached its limit: "Warrant officer, how much further do we have to go? We haven't found any trace of the villains along the way."

Zod, panting, pointed to the mountaintop ahead. He was about to say that if they reached the top and found nothing, they would head straight back to the camp.

Today's task is complete.

Anyway, it'll be late when we get back, and we'll have to wait until tomorrow to continue the search.

Just as Zod was about to speak, a soldier suddenly jogged over and stood in front of him: "Reporting, Warrant Officer, just as you predicted, our left flank search team has discovered a bandit camp."

"Huh?" Zod initially feigned surprise and disbelief, but quickly regained his composure. "Where?"

"It's in the direction you just pointed out, near the mountaintop. Everything is just as you predicted." The soldier's bright eyes revealed admiration.

Cassius, who was standing nearby, did not seem to believe the soldier's report either, and he quickly ran towards the direction of the bandit camp.

……

It's in a ravine near the summit.

A campfire was slowly burning, with a pot on top of it roasting meat. Three simple tents were set up not far away, and a hunter's hut was behind the tents.

Various types of goods were piled up near the camp, including the goods that the murdered merchant had lost yesterday evening.

A group of bandits, carrying various weapons, sat around a campfire, raising their glasses in a joyful celebration.

"As expected of the captain, every move he makes yields a full harvest."

"Those imperial lackeys will definitely follow our footsteps, thinking we ran in the other direction! Little did they know we would run in the opposite direction."

"Hahaha, all of this is due to the commander's brilliant strategies. Those good-for-nothings will probably never be as wise as the leader's toe."

"With our leader here, our Grizzly Bear Bandit Gang will definitely grow bigger and stronger."

"Come on, let's all raise a glass to our leader, and to the Grizzly Bear Bandits as we grow stronger and bigger!"

All the bandits, a total of 13 people, raised their glasses high to pay tribute to their beloved leader, Iruk, the leader of the Grizzly Bear Bandits.

Iruk, shirtless and draped in a grizzly bear skin, raised his glass: "To the Grizzly Bear Bandits, drink!"

The group raised their cups and drank them down in one gulp. As they were enjoying their drinks, one of the bandits asked Iruk, "Captain, what's our next target?"

Iruk took a big gulp of wine: "We have to leave after we rest tonight, in case the Empire's lackeys discover that the footprints at the scene were left intentionally and suddenly come back to kill us."

Tonight is the time for a party; let's drink and eat to our hearts' content.

The life of a bandit is so monotonous and simple: rob, party, drink and eat meat, escape, then rob again, party again...

They were celebrating with great revelry, unaware that Zod had already ordered his soldiers to quietly surround the entire camp from the flank.

After all, even if Zod was slacking off, he wouldn't dare to make his perfunctory attitude too obvious.

At Zod's command, all the Imperial soldiers charged forward, launching a surprise attack on the bandit camp.

The long-range firepower of the rifles poured down, and before the bandits could react, more than half of them had been killed or wounded.

Enraged, the regimental commander Iruk immediately led his remaining troops in a counter-charge against the Imperial soldiers.

He swung his black iron hammer and with one sweeping motion, sent three soldiers who were fighting in front of him flying several meters away.

Iruk was like a mad beast, rampaging and crashing through the crowd as if it were nothing.

Ordinary Imperial soldiers were like a group of children who had no ability to resist in front of Iruk.

They couldn't stop Iruk in the slightest.

It seemed that Iruk was about to break through the encirclement of the Imperial soldiers.

"Who is that man in the grizzly bear skin, so brave?" Zod asked Cassius.

"That's the leader of a bandit group called the Grizzly Bear Mountain Bandits, a bounty hunter with a 20 crown reward!" Cassius explained, looking eager to try. "They're no match for him, Warrant Officer, let me handle this!"

At this moment, Cassius wanted to make up for his guilt over his initial distrust of Zod, and also wanted to take revenge on the bandits who had insulted him.

"Sergeant Major, I know you're furious about those bandits who insulted Imperial soldiers, and so am I." Zod drew his Imperial sword. "But let me handle this!"

This is Zod's last chance.

He never imagined that his fabricated words would become a self-fulfilling prophecy; it was only a matter of time before the gang of robbers were caught.

Although the leader of the Grizzly Mountain Bandit Gang was very powerful, he was no match for Cassius, who had undergone professional training and had risen from an ordinary imperial soldier to a sergeant through sheer strength.

Therefore, Zod had no choice but to begin implementing Plan B.