Chapter 220 Epilogue 2

Five days after the arrival of the reinforcements, Captain Petrae and his personal unit, along with Senior Lieutenant Caeso, Senior Lieutenant Scaevola, and Senior Lieutenant Torquatus, sat inside one of the rooms of the Roscoe mansion.

The atmosphere in the room was relaxed, almost as though a group of commoners were sitting together.

Senior Lieutenant Torquatus was bare-chested, applying one of the healing pastes Caeso had given him, while Senior Lieutenant Caeso rested his legs on the table. Beside his legs lay a thick stack of papers, one of which he was reading.

Senior Lieutenant Scaevola appeared to be dozing on the ground in one corner, with his back resting against the wall.

Captain Petrae was also going through a stack of papers and was the only one sitting with the straight posture expected of an army captain.

And while Senior Lieutenant Torquatus was the only one actively tending to his wounds, none of them were in good shape.

Almost all of Avalon’s Tier-4s had suffered varying degrees of injury, and the most severely injured among them was none other than Captain Petrae.

His obsidian armor had hidden the extent of the damage he had sustained during the battle, but when Senior Lieutenant Caeso finally had the opportunity to examine his injuries, even he was surprised that Captain Petrae was still standing.

Moreover, two of those wounds might have killed the Captain if their trajectories had differed by even an inch.

One lay just above his mana core.

The other was close to his throat.

Only after two days of rest had Captain Petrae been allowed to move freely.

Suddenly, one of the runes on the device resting on Senior Lieutenant Scaevola’s lap began to glow, drawing everyone’s attention.

Captain Petrae and Senior Lieutenant Torquatus almost stood up, as though preparing for another battle.

“Count Petrae broke through. Stonegate is secure,” a voice said through the rune device.

Everyone in the room relaxed.

“Oh, thank fucking God,” Senior Lieutenant Caeso commented.

Immediately afterward, a knock came from the door.

When it opened, one of House Roscoe’s servants stood there, still out of breath.

“Captain Petrae, Master asked me to inform you that the Frosthallow forces still stationed along the periphery are retreating. Master believes this is their final retreat.”

Captain Petrae nodded.

Then, for the first time in a long while, he smiled.

“Inform Captain Roscoe that the Count broke through, and tell him to declare a town-wide celebration.”

His smile widened slightly.

“Tonight, the whole town celebrates.”

When the reinforcements had entered Velkar, Frosthallow had called for a retreat, but it had not been a complete withdrawal.

The mercenaries had retreated toward Frosthallow, but Frosthallow’s main force had remained behind, stationed farther away while awaiting the outcome of the battle at Stonegate.

Now that Stonegate was secure, they had finally begun a complete retreat.

Once the servant left and the door closed behind him, all eyes turned to Captain Petrae with concern.

“Are you all right with the celebration? You just lost your father. No one would blame you if you did not join,” Senior Lieutenant Caeso said.

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“Yeah, you don’t have to go. We can handle the soldiers. Anyway, command will soon finalize the rewards for contributions to the battle, and that is something you will have to take care of,” Senior Lieutenant Scaevola added.

“No, I want to go. I have been moping in this room for the last twelve hours. Maybe going out and standing among the soldiers will make me feel better.”

Since the victory over Frosthallow’s forces, Captain Petrae had spent whatever time he could gathering reports about Stonegate and the members of his house.

Only yesterday, he had learned that his father had died alongside his partner beast at the hands of Frosthallow’s soldiers. If not for his injuries and the need to manage Velkar’s defenses against the remaining Frosthallow forces, he would have already left for Stonegate to be with his family.

Taking a deep breath, Captain Petrae looked at Senior Lieutenant Caeso.

“Instead of focusing on me, tell me about the condition of our soldiers. Now that the possibility of another battle is almost nonexistent, I would like to start organizing the troops and take them back to Stonegate once the rewards have been distributed.”

Senior Lieutenant Caeso picked up a paper from the bottom of the stack.

“We brought seven hundred soldiers. Six hundred were still alive before the final assault. Most of them went out with us on the western side, which meant that our forces made up almost half of the fighters who took part in the final assault.”

He glanced at the paper before continuing.

“Currently, only three hundred of those six hundred are in good enough condition to walk back. We lost seventy-three soldiers in the assault. Roughly the same number are still fighting for their lives in the infirmary. After recovering my mana, I will visit the infirmary again and see how many I can save.”

Caeso placed the paper back on the stack.

“The remaining one hundred fifty will require more time before they can walk back or be transported in carriages.”

Captain Petrae shook his head.

He could not leave that many soldiers in a town already struggling with limited resources.

He would have to stay and make sure that his soldiers were cared for, and perhaps even persuade the nobles of nearby towns to provide resources.

Technically, that was the responsibility of House Roscoe or the town administration, but House Roscoe was a military house with limited political influence.

Moreover, they were only a knightly house.

There was a possibility that higher-ranking nobles would not even listen to their request.

Leaving the town in such a condition would not merely cost soldiers’ lives. It could also cost the lives of many civilians.

“What is the condition of the forces that were stationed in the town?” the Captain asked.

“The town guards suffered their greatest losses on the day the domain was created,” Caeso replied. “The Royal Army forces stationed in the town made up the majority of the soldiers who launched the assault from the southern gate, and they suffered heavier losses than we did. More than two hundred are dead, with another hundred still fighting for their lives in the infirmary.”

He paused.

“My estimate is that the Royal Army will have five hundred soldiers fit for duty, while the town guard will have around one hundred.

“Thankfully, more than five hundred militia members survived. While most of them will need to return home and farm their land, some of the younger militia members would make perfect recruits for the town guard and the Royal Army.”

As Captain Petrae listened to the reports, he realized that he had underestimated just how bad the situation was.

“Do we know where the noble in charge of this area is?” the Captain asked.

This time, Senior Lieutenant Caeso simply shrugged.

The answer came from Senior Lieutenant Scaevola.

“Viscount Bellgrave is dead. His viscounty included Velkar and three nearby towns, but he governed them from Stonegate and died there during the siege.”

The Captain sighed in resignation and closed his eyes, gathering his thoughts.

Then he looked at Senior Lieutenant Scaevola.

“Get ready. You, Onyx, and I will visit the neighboring towns. Our presence should compel them to provide resources more quickly.”

Senior Lieutenant Scaevola nodded.

The room fell silent once again.

Sometime later, Senior Lieutenant Caeso smirked and looked at Senior Lieutenant Torquatus.

“How is your troublesome squad doing?”

“They are under control now,” Torquatus replied. “They had some time to vent their anger, and I also sent the most troublesome ones, Barry and Varric, to scout the surrounding area with the militia. That calmed them down a little.”

He glanced at Caeso.

“And thanks to you delivering the news that Edward will wake up by tomorrow, they are behaving better now.”

From the side, Captain Petrae, who had been listening to the conversation, could not help but ask, “What was Edward’s squad doing to occupy the attention of two of my senior lieutenants?”

“Mostly letting out their anger in their own way,” Senior Lieutenant Torquatus replied. “Barry got almost four dozen militia members drunk and wasted, while Varric nearly started a fight between those militia members and the soldiers from the reinforcement battalion. If Caeso had not been present, things could have gotten bad.”

“Do you think they planned it?” the Captain asked.

Even though they no longer appeared to be criminals who would work against Avalon, Captain Petrae had learned that, when dealing with people like them, taking precautions was far better than simply trusting them.

Senior Lieutenant Caeso shook his head.

“No. Varric was taking the militia members to the infirmary, and soldiers from the reinforcement battalion stopped them because there were too many. Given the situation, I am surprised that Varric did not attack someone.”

Captain Petrae nodded.

Senior Lieutenant Caeso then looked at him and asked, “How do you think Edward will take the news?”

“Just like his squad did,” Captain Petrae replied. “Poorly.”

He paused for a moment.

“But like all of us here, he will recover.”

Then his expression softened slightly.

“And he might just become a better leader because of it.”