Re:Monster Vol.2 (Day 61 - Day 90)

Day 86

In the morning, there were several things I needed to address. The first was offering anyone that wished to leave the group a chance to depart with enough to cover their traveling expenses. I took measures to ensure there was no information leakage if they wanted to live out their lives in safety.

After seeing them off, I selected 36 of the prisoners of war who stood out as men of nobility to send home. It's not that keeping them here would cause any trouble for my conscience.

Though today the human army is making a full withdrawal from the forest, it's the perfect opportunity for me. I had Dhammi brainwash them with her [Eyes of Bewitchment]. I plan to use them as spies to collect and send me information regarding the human Empire and Kingdom.

It's not like I'm all too keen to oppose either country particularly, but in any case, right now I'm sorely lacking information about this world. Given that my connections to people of importance currently are also quite limited as well. Even though we have won this time, by taking these extra steps, this will ensure that there won't be any hidden failures in the future.

After releasing the brainwashed nobles, I returned to oversee a special training session with my subordinates. Then, training went on as usual.

By the afternoon, the human forces had withdrawn completely. After confirming that our spies had safely infiltrated the enemy ranks, I contacted Father Elf with the communication tool.

After I received the full reward for the proper execution of our contract, we had a little chat.

After that, I received an invitation to the [Feast of Sotomash], a festival held by the Elves in memory of their fallen friends and family. This is done so that the dead are free to pass on from this world without regrets.

That evening, I brought a decent number of my Elven followers to the ceremony, while they may be a part of my settlement now, the fact remains that some of the Elves that perished may have been their close relatives. At the very least, I can allow this much. I altered their appearances using [Conceal] so that they wouldn't be identified by the Elves in the village.

By the time I returned with my Elf followers, the feast had already begun.

Ignoring the number of various emotions from both the Elves of the village and my own followers, we entered the venue and passed tens of cows worth of meat, all presented elegantly upon a long table. It was there that I was greeted by Father Elf.

I had left Redhead behind to look over the settlement while I headed out. Both the Rusty Iron Knight and the Female Knight came with me, it appears they wanted to pay their respects to those they had a hand in leading to their demise.

After we exchanged greetings, my party disbanded among the crowd and we all took our seats around the table to engage in light talk. The food looked fantastic, and I could not wait to dig in.

Just then Maiden Elf walked up to me and poured an expensive Elven wine for me, the mood around the table was in fine spirits.

Around the end of the feast, we all gathered around a massive bonfire that had been created in the center of the venue. It was in the shape of a large white ball. According to Father Elf, it is to symbolize the spirits of the fallen and their ancestors, and that by burning it, they may pass in to heaven.

I once had a discussion with one of the Hobgoblin shamans before, he claimed that when you perform funeral rites, that he can confirm the lingering spirits move on.

It was a nice day. With this, the Elves within my settlement should have no more regrets.