The group checked the houses in the town, but they didn't find anything that valuable… The elementalists were as poor as the other tribes. No wonder since they lived in such a dry place. Aside from their dark cloak, some rudimentary underwear, and meat of the monsters that they had killed in the area, they didn't have much. Everything else was made of earth magic, tables, chairs, tableware, pots… everything else was made of earth magic.
While Drew was unconscious, Billy tried to see if he could learn by himself how to heal wounds with magic, but he couldn't control his mana unless he used it alongside Earth Manipulation. Leveling up his father would be pretty hard since he was at a high level, so that wouldn't help either. Billy checked the skill shop for anything that could, but he found nothing…
"Shit…" Billy thought.
Returning by himself while carrying his father wasn't an option since there were no carts around. The technology of that world truly sucked… Billy wondered if he should force one of the elementalists to teach him how they control mana, and then he would try to heal the wounds, but would things be that smooth. If that were something simple to do, they would have such power. Billy had some medical knowledge… very basic knowledge, but those applications would be useless since he would have to rely on mana, and that wasn't something that existed on Earth. Some rules must be the same, but most of the others probably aren't.
Fortunately, Billy wasn't the only one with a brain in that place. The leaders of the other tribes knew that they couldn't stay in that place for long. The wounded wouldn't recover fast enough, and they had to bury their fallen comrades. So, they gave the order to the elementalists to make some stone carts, but since they weren't that usable, the elementalists would make them move with their magic. With those, they would be able to move the wounded and the deceased. At first, Drew refused that idea, but in the end, while he was the leader of his tribe, he still had to follow the orders of the leader of the hammersmiths.
"There are a lot more prisoners than I thought…" Alexander said when they began to leave the town.
The number of soldiers that attacked the town was around two hundred, but thirty had fallen. As for the enemies, around two hundred had been killed, but the number of prisoners was higher than three hundred.
"I can understand why you aren't happy, but you achieved a lot in this fight," Lily said. "If you don't feel proud of that, you will only make your father feel miserable."
Billy knew that, but he couldn't help it. He had heard that the kid he killed was the most talented elementalists their tribe had produced in decades. Someone that was bound to become their leader in the future, but all he could think now that he had cooled down was that he had taken many lives, and his reward was the possibility that his father would never be able to walk normally.
Although Billy was in the group that was walking behind the prisoners, he still could feel some glares coming from them. It wasn't surprising, given how many he had killed. Still, he wasn't in the mood to be lenient enough not to care about that. When he glared back, most of them looked away, but a few didn't get intimidated over it. Even though they were too tired to fight and all their magic was being used to push forward the stone carts.
Since they hurried and only took breaks for light meals and to drink water, the group shorted the trip back to half. Instead of four days, they were back in two. The recruits that stayed behind celebrated it a lot on their return, and those who had lost friends and family glared at the prisoners.
"I wonder what the lord is thinking of doing with them… we can't keep so many guards keeping their eyes on those guys forever," Natalie said.
That was something that Billy would usually consider, but right now, he was more worried about hurrying to his grandmother and helping her treat the wounds of his father. In the end, the prisoners were put under the watch of a few dozen guards in the training grounds that the kids usually used. Since the prisoners were exhausted and didn't have much food for them on the way, the idea of fighting back wasn't even crossing their minds.
"What happened to you…" Anna opened her eyes widely when she saw Drew's feet damaged.
"... I was careless… I am sorry," Drew said while forcing a smile.
Fortunately, Anna wasn't the only healer in the town. Otherwise, the wounded wouldn't have time to be treated, and many would have to endure permanent damage, if not death. Anna looked nervous, but at least she didn't look like she was treating something beyond her. In the end, Billy only had the chance to help with some basic things. After Anna made Drew drink some kind of tear, he fell asleep, and then she put some thick ointment on both sides of the wounds.
"This will be enough for the time being… you should go home and talk to your mother," Anna said.
"Will he be okay?" Billy asked.
"He still is young… he can heal and recover from wounds like that," Anna said. "He will probably stay out of combat for six months, but he will be back."
Billy wondered if his grandmother was lying just to comfort him or if it was indeed the truth. In the end, she was a healer, and her job was to prevent deaths.. Drew's life wasn't at risk, and it was evident that she would feel more relieved if her son-in-law didn't have to risk his life anymore… in any case, Billy headed home while hoping that Drew would be able to recover completely.
