Arcadia's Ignoble Knight: Dark Elf Arc

Chapter 90

Elincia and Caspian stood in front of a grave. It was a simply made grave created stone that Caspian had carved out using Halkaista. Etched into the stele were two names: Alexander and Cleopatra.

After the battle, the two of them had dug this grave for the young-looking sorceress and her knight. They had just finished burying the two this morning.

Behind them was Maddison and Valen. Neither of them spoke, which Caspian was incredibly thankful for. He glanced at his sorceress, who was staring at the gravestone with a forlorn expression, lips trembling as though she might start crying again. Her hand was already in his, holding it tightly like she was afraid to let go.

"Caspian?" she said softly.

"Yes?"

"The ones who caused Lady Cleopatra to suffer like this are the dark elves, right?"

Caspian nodded. "I would wager so."

Elincia nodded once even as she reached up with her free hand and wiped her red rimmed eyes. "I don't think I like them very much."

"I don't think I like them" was about as vicious as Elincia ever got. The young elf was incredibly mild-mannered and extremely compassionate, to the point where she wouldn't say a bad thing about anyone even if they personally hurt her. She was too good for this world. For someone like Elincia to say she didn't like someone was the same as admitting she hated them.

"I'm not very fond of them either," Caspian said.

"I want to stop them from hurting any more people."

"Me too."

They remained there for several more minutes, but they couldn't stay there forever. Their forces were moving out soon.

Leaving the grave and following behind Maddison and Valen, they arrived at the campsite, where their forces had already finished cleaning up the corpses and machines from the battle. They had been very fortunate that only a few people had lost their lives during last night's surprise attack. Caspian didn't know the numbers, but Valen had said it was relatively small and didn't even reach into the 1,000s.

Caspian felt like even 100 deaths was too much, but he understood that this was war.

"Valen and I can handle the preparing our forces and moving out," Maddison said. "Why don't the two of you use one of the carts that are no longer filled with supplies to sleep in. You've been up all night and did more than anyone else. You deserve to rest."

"I think we will take you up on that." Elincia gave the pink-haired woman with dark skin a grateful smile. "Thank you."

Elincia led Caspian to one of the carts no longer being used to carry supplies. A few of the men there saluted her and Caspian, but she wasn't paying much attention as she asked someone to find them a spare blanket and a pillow, then climbed onto the cart and crawled inside.

The cart was large enough to fit several people, so he and Elincia had no trouble setting themselves up in the middle of the floor. They wrapped the blanket around themselves and wrapped themselves around each other.

Elincia was out the moment her head touched the pillow. She must have been exhausted. Caspian stayed awake for a little while longer, just watching her as she slept, but even he eventually closed his eyes and let sleep take him. The last thing he felt was the slight rumbling of the cart as it began moving.

***

After heading south, the group finally left the Atlantia Province and entered the Ruudon Province, which was well-known as the croplands. Among the four provinces of Arcadia, the Ruudon Province had the most fertile soil, making it the largest province in the nation for producing crops. Caspian couldn't remember his lessons, but he believed it was something like 60% of the crops produced by Arcadia came from the Ruudon Province.