On the next day, they confirmed that the survivors of the three enemy camps were moving away. So, the survivors had to work on dealing with the aftermath of the war. They couldn't leave the corpses as they were, and they didn't have time to bury all of them, so cremating was the only option. The fact that the enemy didn't even care about their fallen was irritating, but that was just how things were. Even if the bodies of the enemies deserved some respect. Besides, leaving them to rot wouldn't help anyone. Things finally were coming to an end, and Billy was relieved, but the real issue wasn't over yet, Billy had to get the head of Neles state.
"Maybe this isn't the time to do that, but aren't you going to explain how you used so much magic yesterday?" Kate asked while they carried the corpses to the numerous fires.
"I can do better and tell you how to achieve the same thing, but you will need to recover your mana first," Billy replied.
Natalie and Alexander barely had enough mana to create their cores, but they should be able to do it. Besides, Billy was pretty sure he couldn't use his mana to do that. Also, he couldn't say what that skill could do out loud. It was another trick up their sleeve that they need to keep quiet for a while.
"What do you think is going to happen next?" Alexander asked.
That was the question that has been bothering everyone. The usual answer would be to counterattack, but they didn't have the manpower to do so. So, Jean didn't even raise the possibility of one. They couldn't let the masterminds of that war go unpunished, but there was nothing they could do for now.
In the end, it took a full week for all the corpses to be cremated. In the meantime, Jean and Aura sent some of their men to keep an eye on the borders to see if the enemies would try to do something again. Still, after such crushing defeat, it would be hard for them to raise another army and attack, at least for a while.
"We won, but I feel so crappy about this…: Marie said while she was heading to the guild with the others.
"We lost too many people, again," Gerald said. "No one feels much happy about this. We only don't feel worse because we accomplished our goal. Despite that, I feel like there is something off… Like something was missed in this war."
"It is the enemies' adventurers… They didn't join the war," Billy said.
"Ah… You are right," Gerald said. "It doesn't make sense, they shouldn't be the ones guarding their borders. We aren't suited for that."
Billy couldn't agree more. Marie was a fine example of an adventurer. Too impatient and too harsh when it comes to things that aren't related to dungeons and their usual work. Nevertheless, not even the spies informed them properly why the adventurers didn't join the war, so it will be hard to find the answer.
"Thank you for coming, everyone," Jean said when the final members appeared in the guild. "Take a seat."
Jean had prepared a big ass round table and many chairs around. Several people were already sitting in it. So, Billy and the others took their seat.
"It is finally time to go home, but there are a few things we need to address first," Jean said. "For now… We don't have the resources or the manpower to make our enemies pay for the results of this war, so I will put the thogut aside for the time being. However, I believe that we will recover a lot faster that them, so the next time… We will start the war and it will only end once the mastermind that instigated all this is dead."
As expected, Jean was angry, but he couldn't show more than that since he had to set an example to the others. As for the people involved and currently in the room, they weren't displeased with that decision. After all, they knew how weak their state was when it came to military strength after this.
"We only have two other topics to discuss, the first is that after talking with Aura, she decided join our alliance formally," Jean said. "It is obvious that her people will be targeted in the future and after helping us for a while, it is more than fitting for her and her people to become allies in all senses."
"We didn't help much this time, but we will try harder and keep working with you all to build a peaceful future for us all," Aura said.
Everyone nodded. While the Riormi state didn't have a strong military, they had many resources. The use of their dungeons will also come in handy. Besides, after this war, Billy knew that Aura and the other merchant leaders would want to approach them in order to learn magic as well. They would need that kind of power to strengthen their military. Besides, with magic, even people not suited for combat could become a force to be recognized on the battlefield. His friends liked teaching, and since they will be paid to do so a lot, they won't have any reasons to refuse.
"As for the last topic… After talking with many soldiers and watching the battle unfold myself, I came to understand that the guild masters and Billy's party played an important role in this victory, so we need to reward them properly," Jean said. "All of them will receive fifty gold coins. However, upon mentioning this to the guild masters before hand, they were unsatisfied since they felt that they did less than them. Thus Billy's party deserved more than them. As such, I decided to grant them the power to rule over certain regions.. Young you all may be, but you will find the support of qualified people in those lands."
