City Of Sin

151-160

Spoils Of War

Although the battle had already ended, they still needed to spend some time cleaning up. There was some small conflict with the new Baron’s subordinates over the spoils of war, stemming from Richard’s request for all the dead bearguard knights.

Of course, the dispute was apparently over the thick, sturdy armour and weaponry. However, the equipment wasn’t really Richard’s goal. Just like when his team had come over, transferring magic equipment required a huge price. Thus, the bearguard knights’ armour was merely tough and nothing more. However, he couldn’t make the fact that he needed the corpses more than their equipment known.

Ultimately, this small conflict was resolved by Richard paying the Fontaine Family some gold. He managed to retrieve about 50 runes from the bodies, able to be used again after some slight repairs. This was a huge amount of wealth, and the gold he had paid was nothing in comparison. If not for the conflict, he had originally considered leaving a few runes behind for Fontaine’s family, but the increased hostility before the man’s body was even cold meant he couldn’t arm a potential enemy himself.

This was normal in Faelor; those who worshipped their ancestors and those who worshipped gods were like fire and ice.

Many attempts had told Zendrall that he couldn’t convert the bearguard knights into warriors of darkness. The knights had been bred so thoroughly they didn’t even have complete souls left. More than being sorry for the loss, this information left Richard even more wary of the Schumpeters. Breeding a being with an incomplete soul was extremely time-consuming, requiring at least several hundred years. The Schumpeters likely had many more secrets than they let on.

Ultimately, the corpses of the knights and their mounts were handed over to the broodmother. Even though she hadn’t yet finished digesting Sinclair’s body, she still asked for these corpses all the same. By this point, Richard already knew that any creature with formidable power was beneficial for her evolution and growth.

Under Gangdor’s command, the strong barbarian warriors had carried the corpses over, throwing them one by one into the broodmother’s acidic fog. Nobody could see what was happening within.

By the time the sky was completely bright, the losses had been counted. The combined defense originally had about 1500 people, and now there were less than 400 left. He only had a hundred or so desert warriors and barbarians under him. However, what pained him most was that all the footsoldiers had met their end, and only two of the knights had survived. Over 400 wind wolves had been reduced to 111, more than half of the casualties coming at the manticore’s claws.

The battle was a pyrrhic victory. Had their luck been even slightly worse, he would have lost Waterflower or Gangdor. No amount of gains could make up for such a loss.

Once the aftermath had been analysed, Richard realised that he had suffered very serious losses. If he wanted to replenish his strength quickly, he would need to depend on the broodmother evolving.

Once they finished cleaning up the battlefield, Richard allowed all his soldiers to withdraw from Twilight Castle and settle down at the nearby barracks, even bringing out their injured warriors.

Kars shared much of Flowsand’s burden; although his healing ability as a fallen cleric was greatly limited he could still use divine scrolls. Flowsand seemingly had a premonition of the tragic battle, and she had stored up a batch of lesser heal scrolls. They may seem weak, only able to treat minor injuries, but when used on a large group this was much better than slowly recuperating over time. It was a good method to allow the army to retain as much of its strength as possible.