บท 60: Chapter 60 - What a Sorry Sight

A gentle breeze blew across my face, bringing with it the dreadful scent of death. The battlefield was mostly quiet now, a few groans and whimpers could be heard but not many. They would die if left alone though I would have my riders check since I was going to be sending out people to collect anything of value that could be used like armour, weapons, coin. Money made the world go round and I would need a lot of it to improve this kingdom, my kingdom

"What a sorry sight you are," I said, glancing down at the man that had started all of this. The Duke Biroth that I had heard so much about, the man who had started a war over a twisted form of sick puppy love for a sadistic princess. He had plunged a healing kingdom back into war for such a petty reason and had threatened the lives of many innocents.

He was underwhelming, to say the least, but that wasn't a surprise. He had been built up so much that by the end I had expected some deformed man with a sick grin on his face, but in the end, he looked like any other. A plain fair-skinned face, light blue eyes, and a mop of dark hair. His eyes were full of shock as if he couldn't comprehend the fact that he'd just lost, though I shouldn't have been surprised at that. Anyone would be shocked at what had just happened.

His army which had been quite large had been decimated easily, like wheat to a scythe they had been cut from the world without mercy. The only living was me and my summons and the captured people they had brought to me. I could see Danzo shadow clones surrounding all of them apart from Biroth who was on the ground before me.

"No."

The word was so quiet I only barely managed to hear it. I glanced down to see Biroth shaking his head, clearly still unable to accept what had happened. There were tears falling from his eyes and his head was moving from side to side.

I ignored him for now since talking to him as he was would get me nowhere. I would have plenty of time to talk and interrogate him later with help from Esdeath who was... skilled when it came to... interrogation. I almost felt pity for the poor fool.

I looked around as I sent a mental command for everyone to return to me. It looked even worse than the aftermath of the fort, especially the east side. It was a forest of bodies without legs rising into the sky, pierced by hundreds of small blades of ice. What was even more disturbing was the fact that many of them were still alive though the cold stopped them from being able to do much more than try and let out screams or intelligible mutters. It was a sickening sight but one that I expected from a person like Esdeath. Her view of the world was cold and barbaric, to say the least. I was glad my summons were utterly loyal to me and would do anything I said.

The ground rumbled as Oars quickly made his way to me, only needing to take a few steps due to his size. He knelt and looked down at me with a smile.

"I did good captain?"

His voice boomed out, and I nodded.

"You did damn good, Oars."

He smiled at my words.

Eventually, after a few minutes, all my summons made it back to me, and I noticed with a frown that Leone and Esdeath were eyeing each other the way two predators might. I doubted they would start a fight but I would need to sort them out.

"This battle is done," I said. "Great work to all of you, especially you Danzo, I noticed your clones and I'm assuming you located Biroth?"

He nodded and bowed. "Yes, he was in a foolish position at the center of the army. It was child play to capture him, even a genin could have probably accomplished it without too much trouble."

"Good, I'm glad you're with us, and the rest of you," I said, nodding at Esdeath. "Your skills will be very helpful and I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do. For now, I'm going to send most of you to storage then summon you back when I'm at the palace. There is much work to be done. This war is over, but now I must stabilize this kingdom and improve it."

"I'm glad to be of help, my love," Esdeath said, and I held back the urge to sigh at her words. It wasn't surprising. Esdeath was drawn to power and potential and I have a lot of both, especially potential. I wasn't going to complain though, I was well past the idiotic mc phase.

I felt Asia move her head from my chest to look at the others while keeping her eyes away from everything else.

"Are any of you hurt?" Asia asked softly.

Everyone shook their heads, and Asia smiled hesitantly. "Good if any of you ever need healing please don't hesitate to ask me."

"You're a healer?" Leone asked

"Yes," Asia replied.

"She's not just a healer," I said. "She also has powerful magic and a powerful summon of her own. You can all introduce yourself to each other later though, for now, I need to check over some things then get going. I'll see you all later."

They nodded and Esdeath quickly hopped forward to give me a light kiss which caused Leone to frown before I sent everyone except Danzo and Domino back to storage. I waited for a moment before resummoing Leone and giving her a kiss.

"I understand how you feel," I said. "But she's on our side now and will be fighting for me, not some evil minister. I don't expect you to start getting along immediately but I will be asking both of you to try. People can change Leone, you're how you are because of your past just as she is how she is because of her past."

I didn't wait for a response, instead, I sent her back to storage, leaving me alone with Domino and Danzo.