It turned out that after those two lackeys were scared off by Henry Clark just now, they were still angry and doubled back to the village. They told the villagers, “Wright has hired a thug outside and even threatened to wipe out Zouma Village. If this gets to the chief’s ears, the chief himself will surely lead his men here and slaughter every man, woman, and child in this village. If you know what’s good for you, tie up Wright and that thug by this time tomorrow, and bring them along with compensation in money and grain to the village entrance. Otherwise, tomorrow will be the day your entire village dies.”

After saying this, the two of them returned to the bandit stronghold, and as soon as they got back, they exaggerated today’s events to the chief, speaking ill of both Henry Clark and the villagers. As for bandits, they usually have nothing better to do—their main job is to rob men, seize women, and plunder money and grain—so naturally, the chief didn’t mind leading his men to the village the next day.

On the other side, the villagers were dumbfounded...

Some of the braver villagers quietly suggested capturing those two bandits and silencing them for good, but others talked them out of it. After all, if they did that, the result would be the same: once Zouma Village found out their men had disappeared in the village, they’d still come to seek revenge, and things would only get worse.

So, after the two bandits left, the villagers gathered for an emergency discussion and decided to wait for Wright to return, ask for the full story, and then decide what to do.

That’s how the current situation came about.

Of course, these villagers weren’t unreasonable. After Wright explained what had happened, they dropped their hostile stance.

After all, Henry Clark and Samuel Bennett were doing a chivalrous deed. Even if the villagers weren’t grateful, they weren’t shameless enough to want to harm them. Besides, the fear and hatred the bandits of Zouma Village had brought upon the villagers had been building up for a long time. Many in the village had already resolved to risk everything and fight Zouma Village to the bitter end.

After Clark and Bennett exchanged a few words with the villagers and learned more about the situation, Samuel Bennett quickly came up with an idea.

He pulled Henry Clark aside and whispered, “Brother Clark, I’ve got a plan.”

“Oh? Let’s hear it,” said Henry Clark.

“You know I’m skilled with poison, right?” Samuel Bennett asked.

“Of course I know,” said Henry Clark. “But I heard from the villagers that there are at least fifty bandits in Zouma Village. The little stash you carry probably isn’t enough to take out all of them, is it?”

“Brother Clark, you’re overthinking it,” said Samuel Bennett. “The poisons and antidotes I carry are all high-grade stuff, made from expensive ingredients. I keep them for self-defense in critical moments. Not only do I not carry much, even if I did, I wouldn’t waste them on an AOE attack against bandits.”

“Then why are you telling me about your poison skills?” asked Henry Clark.

“I can use the materials from the village pharmacy to make some cheap, mass-produced poison for traps and ambushes,” said Samuel Bennett.

“Oh?” Henry Clark suddenly understood. “Nice! So the enemy will be wiped out before they even enter the village? Hahaha!”

“Don’t get too happy just yet,” said Samuel Bennett. “I just talked to the pharmacy owner. In a small village like this, the types and quantities of medicinal herbs are limited. There’s no way to make a poison that can kill just by being dispersed in the air. Besides, once the poison is made into traps, it’s hard to say how many will actually inhale enough to be lethal. So at best, the traps can weaken their fighting strength. Poisoning them all to death is impossible.”

“So how useful will this be?” Henry Clark asked.

Samuel Bennett thought for a moment and replied, “I’ve asked around. Except for the chief, the bandits’ martial arts are pretty average. Basically, they’re just small fry who know a few moves but have no inner strength…”

“Wait… what do you mean by ‘also’ small fry?” Henry Clark interrupted.

“Oh, don’t sweat the details,” Samuel Bennett waved his hand impatiently, signaling Brother Clark not to interrupt, and continued, “From my experience, in a one-on-one fight with a farmer wielding a tool, these small fry have about a seventy percent chance of winning… As for this village, there are over a hundred people in total. Excluding the elderly, weak, women, and children, there should be about forty able-bodied men left. If they fight to the death, it won’t be easy to wipe them all out.

“The bandits of Zouma Village surely know this, so I estimate they’ll bring no fewer than forty men tomorrow, to ensure enough intimidation and fighting power.

“But they won’t expect to run into my poison traps on the way. By then, at least twenty of them will be poisoned… And those poisoned small fry won’t even be able to stand, let alone swing a blade. Any grown man could take them down easily.”

Hearing this, Henry Clark understood: “Oh, so when they arrive tomorrow, you’ll take care of the chief, and I’ll lead the strong men to charge in. At the very least, we’ll have a fighting chance.”

“You got it,” said Samuel Bennett. “So, what do you think? Not a bad plan, right?”

“Not bad, not bad. Brother Bennett, you’ve got some skills,” Henry Clark praised his buddy at just the right moment.

“Alright, if you think there’s no problem or flaw, I’ll go tell them the plan,” said Samuel Bennett.