— Raid expedition casualty report —
[Herdial royal army: 350 deaths, 95 injuries] Every man sent to the Wyvern Peaks was dead
[Slayer guild wizards: 250 deaths, 50 injured] Every wizard sent to the Wyvern Peaks was dead.
[Slayer legion: 200 dead/berserk] Someone poisoned everyone of the slayers]
[RazenHeir scouts: 2 dead, 1 injured] A slayer charged into the RazenHeir camp while Hikari was busy dealing with the rest. Fortunately, her lady had been evacuated beforehand.
"What the fuck is going on in there?" The slayer master bellowed.
None of the wizards could answer him.
They felt quite lucky just to be alive.
"The Lodestones! "
"All dead. They all went dark at the same time."
"How the fuck is that possible? Did you imbeciles stick my Lodestones up the goddess's arse!?"
Hikari helped to pile the slay's bodies.
Normally, the fellow slayers handled this task.
But she was the only one with the physical strength to do that work right now.
Once she dropped the last body onto the pile, the wizard tossed her a coin pouch.
The clinking sound of Herdial gold inside.
It was way more than what she used to make doing random labor tasks in her spare time to buy some meat.
She gingerly kept the pouch and made her way back to the RazenHeir camp.
Behind her, the wizards torched the pile of bodies with flamethrowers.
All their usual methods of keeping the beasts they raised under control had failed, so they had to destroy them to stay safe.
Hikari sat in the broken camp.
Even through the damaged walls, she heard the slayer master bellowing.
"You! What's the result of the blood tests?"
"All normal, slayer master… I…"
"Normal!? Were you taking a sh*t when the slayers all went bonkers!? How many times did you take the measurement!?"
"Ten vials from each body, slayer master…?"
"Why didn't you take twenty!? Who the f*ck told you ten is enough!?"
The slayer master took a deep breath and paced anxiously.
The circle of surviving wizards watched in silence.
"Not a word to anyone. We'll report a simple defeat at the jaws of the wyvern queen. Understand?"
The wizards nodded awkwardly.
He rushed past them.
His horse and escort were ready.
Without another word, he mounted his horse and rode toward Fortress Escher.
The wizards were left behind, looking at each other in confusion.
Meanwhile, the surviving soldiers were working hard.
Some loaded whatever they could salvage onto the train.
Some loaded coal into the train's steam engine.
Some cleared rubble off the train tracks.
The rest stood guard around their last ticket home.
No one was resting.
Everyone worked, their faces anxious.
After the slayers went berserk, they all just wanted to go home.
The wizards approached them and asked for a ride.
The sergeant began swearing at them, telling them to piss off.
The wizard threatened to report him.
Their bickering got louder and louder until Hikari could hear them over the bubbling of her cauldron.
"Ah…"
She took a deep breath.
It felt good to take a break after another intense battle.
The slayers actually offered her a decent amount of practice.
Sturdy targets that required at least a full sword thrust to take down.
At a glance, their gear seemed designed for a more tactical formation meant to take down a foe stronger than any one of them.
But some unknown effect made them charge at her mindlessly, letting her pick them off one by one with her superior strength.
Hikari felt a little disappointed.
She could have learned much from fighting such a foe.
But at least she got a decent meal.
Before heading back, she looted the forward camp at the ravine's mouth.
Gunpowder and muskets would sell decently.
But a good meal right now does wonders for her.
If she left it there, the sandworms and rodents would take it anyway.
She poured the crate's contents into her cauldron.
It was the same grain, dried meat, and vegetables she had been having.
Possibly sourced from the same supplier.
The miners and soldiers hadn't been eating any better than she was.
She can cook several cauldronfuls, more than enough for her to march to Escher on foot.
She blows off the steam from her ladle and stuffs it into her mouth.
Pretty good, she thought.
Fortunately, the slavers didn't smash the food crates and mix sand into the grain.
Before long, she was scratching the barrel.
She remembered something.
"Ivory berries."
Cursing under her breath, she scraped the last bits and poured them into a normal-sized bowl.
She crawled back into her tent.
There was a little guest.
Rey lay back on the ground sheet, staring blankly at the tent ceiling.
"Eat."
Hikari nudged the bowl close to him.
Her booming voice jolted him, and he sprang up.
"Ow… my head… your voice is loud."
Hikari nudged the bowl closer with her finger, careful not to spill the stew.
Rey hungrily dug into the stew.
Like Ria, his appetite normally matches his small frame.
He managed to finish more than half before putting his spoon down.
"Eat."
Hikari pushed him.
"No, no thanks. I'm completely stuffed."
He covered his mouth and shook his head.
Hikari picked up the bowl and scooped up the leftovers with the tip of her tongue.
She checks on Rey, who's recovering from the battle with the slayers and surviving a top-speed ride between her blossoms inside her stuffy wyvern skin.
"What now?"
Rey looks up at her with dead eyes.
"What now? Nothing. The raids busted. My men are dead. The Slayers have gone off the rails. As for the queen wyvern, who knows. At least I can get a vacation at the Heartstone estate now."
He lay back down, staring at the ceiling in deep contemplation.
"Slayer."
"Yeah, those giants that the Slayer Guild raised. Take a man, put him through physical training so brutal that he almost goes mad. And then shot him full of drugs that make him even madder. What can I say?"
"Battle."
"He. I fought them alright. Never trusted those Slayer Guild guys. Their black robes and skull masks don't exactly let them pretend to be good guys. Either they intentionally want to backstab me, or they are just too incompetent to keep their beasts under wraps."
"Nice."
"You should have been there to watch. My best defense so far. Trapping them in steel wires. Blasting bolter rounds through the seams in their armor. They're mass-produced anyway, so it's not like the slayer guild bothered to make their armor waterproof."
"He."
"Or never mind, if you were there, you would have just smashed them like nothing before I could fire a shot. You fought through them to get to me, didn't you? Were they any challenge at all to you?"
"Zombie."
"Yeah, something strange got into them. If they weren't like zombies and fought in a tactical formation just like what the reports suggest, I would have been toast."
"Yes."
Rey sat back up.
"The raid is over. Once you're done enjoying the scenery, you can join your Lady. I'm guessing she's probably evacuated to Escher by now. Or you could loot around the wyvern peaks. Mana crystals and wyvern parts are fine. The muskets I gave the miners are fine too, but they don't sell for much. Just don't loot the slayer weapons and try and fence them; everyone in Herdial recognizes them."
"Train."
"I can hear the train engine from here. My men must have been anxious to get back. The train compartment used to transport the slayers might be big enough for you. Though I imagine you would rather walk than squeeze into that enclosed space."
"Yes."
Rey got up.
He paced around in front of Hikari.
"Rey?'
He shook his head and looked around Hikari's tent aimlessly.
"Hikari, could you do me a favor?"
"Hm?"
Rey looked up at her dead in the eye.
Hikari tilted her head slightly.
"Put me in your sock."
"Sock?"
Rey nodded sternly.
"Yes. I'll buy you several pairs once we reach Escher."
He maintained a straight face as he made the request.
But his pants nonetheless bulged from the lack of Hortifern.
Hikari thought for a bit.
"Sock?"
"Yes. You see, after being the only one to return alive, I don't want my men to see me."
She reached out her arm.
The crate containing a fresh pair slides over to her.
The last train currently docked at the station arrived with it.
She had to part with it, but trading it for extra socks seemed worth it.
"The pair that you're wearing."
Hikari stopped.
She looked at Rey, who stared back at her with dead eyes.
He maintained a straight face while his pants were bulging harder.
"My sock?"
"Yes, put my supply cache in there with me. It's the barrel-shaped thing that you brought to me."
Hikari paused.
The general looked dead serious.
She pulled the general's supply cache over and set it down in front of him.
"The dirty one?"
She asked if the general really wanted to take the pair that soaked up a training session followed by a sprint back and forth the sandworm pass.
Not to mention the skirmishes with the slayers on the way.
"Yes. I need something strong to drown away my sorrows. Your strong-smelling sock will do."
The general looked her dead in the eye.
His bulging pants appeared just as serious as his expression.
"More sock?"
"Yes, at least a dozen fresh pairs of your choice. I swear on my honor as a scion of the Hearthstone house and a general of the Herdial royal army."
The general kept a straight face throughout, despite his bulging pants.
Moved by his resolve, Hikari peeled off one of her socks with her finger.
Hikari lifted the sock opening.
"It has been a pleasure working with you, Hikari. Hope we'll have the chance to work together again some time."
Rey wrapped one arm around his supply cache and crawled into Hikari's sock.
Hikari lifted her sock by the tip, leaving the mouth open so he could breathe.
She felt the general squirming in her sock.
Time to get him to the train station.
She took off her other sock and put on the foot bindings the general's sister had given her.
As she emerged from her tent, she noticed the crate used to transport her king salamander armor.
The crate's porous holes, designed to transport a living creature, would be perfect for shipping the general on the train.
She made her way to the train station, carrying the crate with her sock inside.
The troops were almost loaded and ready to go.
It seems the slayer guild wizards had managed to get a seat on the train, too.
Whether by bribery or by winning the argument, she was too busy talking to Rey to notice.
"Any signs of the general?"
The sergeant, the highest surviving member of the command chain, asked her.
"Dead."
Hikari lies.
"Shame. He was actually a decent general."
The sergeant shakes his head.
"You can put that crate in the back carriage with the rest of the stores."
"Hearthstone."
"What's that? You need this delivered to the hearthstone house? No problem, just put it back there. I'll inform the sandbenders once we arrive."
Hikari strides to the back carriage and slots the crate into the hold.
A short trip to Escher shouldn't suffocate the stowaway she was loading inside.
"Madam Knight. Is it time to retire?"
The surviving RazenHeir scouts gather around her.
Hikari nods.
"Would you join us on the train?
"I walk."
The scouts looked at each other.
It was a fair point.
"Please do make it back to Escher as soon as you can. Her ladyship will have our heads if you fail to return."
"I will."
The scouts board the train.
She watches the train carrying the last survivors leave the station.