Despite his compulsion to loot whatever he could, he wasn't a greedy person… he had way too much money as is and every decision he made for the Empire ended up with even more money.
He let his men pick out any rings from the pillowcase and told them to head back home along the mountain range to avoid the marching army… if they saw anything along the way they were instructed to report it back to the Fortress. He had them take his horse back as well, he would be much faster and more nimble just flying around by himself.
As soon as his men headed back, he took off flying high and with the sun to his back so if anyone looked up at him, they would be blinded by the sun and not see his wings. He also flew extra high, he flew north to find their baggage train, completely unguarded… they were too confident… If only he had a bunch of flying mounts for his men… where were Griffons when you needed them…. Heck if he even had a mounted cavalry he could risk hitting the baggage train… the hundreds of thousands of soldiers would quickly dissolve and fight each other for food.
This idea was too fun to not entertain… how could he do it… if he did it by himself it would take him days to destroy all the wagons let alone loot them…that was if some troops didn't head back to stop him.
Maybe… just maybe…
He flew out of sight and landed ahead of the baggage train…
The lead wagons were run by Goblins… fucking idiots these guys were, how do you trust something so important to a Goblin.
Maro approached with haste, pretending to pant "Woah hold up, thankfully I found you guys"
"Who are you human?" The goblin manning the reigns stood up
"A messenger for the Stewards, I have already informed Steward Twinklehands and it is where I am coming from… spread the news, raiders have been hitting us from the West somehow, they have asked everyone to hug the Mountain range to the east and head down south from there to meet up with the army" Maro pretended to look worried
"Who dares attack us?" A fancier and smarter looking Goblin stepped out of the carriage
"A coalition of Elves and Humans, they never number more than 25, they have been hitting us during dusk and dawn… they fire some arrows, kill some men and steal some stuff and run off" Maro provided some details to keep them thinking
"Why East and why even let them push us back, we should send ten thousand men to clear the forest, we can spare it" The fancy goblin was staring at Maro, trying to figure him out
Maro had a smile on the inside. This was easy. "Apologies, I am not smart enough to understand grand strategy, they informed me that if we hug the mountain chain, we can focus all our guards along our western flank… I was notified this strategy was working no other details were given to me"
The Goblin smiled when the Human admitted he was dumb, he was sure it wasn't trouble and he nudged his wagon east… the rest started following.
The fancy Goblin took out a copper and threw it in the mud "For your troubles, lowly human messenger"
It was too easy, fucking idiots, 0 protocol in place for identifying messengers, 0 communication between sections of the army… this was hilarious, maybe he could get the Orcs to pillage their way north instead.
Keeping up with the act, Maro rushed and knelt in the mud to pick up the coin "Thank you my lord!"
Maro was curious to see what the baggage trains were hauling so he started jogging north, spreading his message to anyone that stopped him… but no one did… Maro wondered how many men he could walk with before arousing suspicion.
After a little while, Maro found nothing interesting that he could see and the train went on for kilometers, he didn't have the time to sneak and peak into wagons or traverse the entire train… he went off to hide and flew straight up into the sky and headed back towards The Fortress as fast as possible… he really wanted to get 100-200 men on horse to intercept the baggage train around the mountains but he also had another idea… a win-win idea
What would take the baggage train weeks to go across the rocky and hilly plains by the mountains, it took him hours to fly back while in top speed.
He got back way before his men did.