Chapter 26: Aftermath

Tyler watched the town folks clean up the battlefield, they had all collapsed to the ground the moment the battle had ended. After a quick rest they moved the injured into a large building by the side, none of the dead had a clean death. They were either burnt alive or ripped to shreds, it wasn’t a pleasant sight but they held themselves together and gathered the bodies(what’s left of them), some also moved the bodies of the monsters and started to collect their cores and the 5 magic crystals from the magic beast, three of which were killed by him.

He had noticed that there were people hiding in the building at the center of the town, he figured those must’ve been civilians, this probably included kids, it explains why they were working so hard to clean up the gruesome sight.

It took quite a while to finish everything, there were very few people who could use magic left alive. From what he had seen so far, most of the residents of this settlement seemed to be ogres. He had heard a little about them and knew that they rarely possessed magic. Liz had gone to check up on the lady he had saved, according to one of the ogres that had approached them she was the only healer in the town, she had gotten impatient and decided to check up on her.

They hadn’t said much, they told him the chief of the settlement was unconscious along with the captain of the guards and the vice captain, he found it dumb that they didn’t have anyone else capable of taking charge standby in the shelter, but he guessed that was part of their nature.

There was someone taking the lead though, they said his name was Jarret and he was the leader of the hunting party Erin, the woman he saved was part of. He waited patiently and now it seemed like the sun was about to set. The chief was the first one to awaken, he was then briefed on what had transpired after he fell unconscious.

They soon brought Tyler and Liz to the chiefs house, it was quite large and could be considered a mansion, walking in the front door they saw a large muscular man, clad in armor only from the waist down, he had short white hair and a clean shaven face, standing at 7ft tall he looked like an intimidating half giant.

As soon as Tyler and Liz walked closer to him, he dropped to his knees and the guards behind him followed suit, Tyler was surprised by this, he was told this man was the leader of the settlement, he didn’t know if it was wise to do this, but seeing the guards followed suite he guessed that they must not have had a problem with it. “I don’t know who you are but you have my deepest gratitude, i cannot express enough how grateful i am that you saved my town, if it wasn’t for you, my young boy would be dead by now, thank you.” The guards echoed his last words as they kept their head lowered.

Tyler felt a bit awkward just standing there, he wanted to say something but didn’t want to sound ignorant, losing the respect he had just gained. “Please, feel free to request anything, as long as it is within our power, we will do everything possible to make sure you have it.” The chief said as he stood back up, Tyler just looked at Liz then nodded, she walked forward and spoke “My friend is badly injured, we are unable to move her here so i would like to request for your healer to escort us back to save her life.”

The chief looked at her strangely for a moment he then looked at Tyler and asked. “Is that all you require?” Tyler’s heart almost skipped a beat, he felt like he was back in school and the teacher just randomly picked him out to answer the most difficult question, he quickly calmed himself down and tried to speak in a dignified manner.

“Not quite, I would like some information myself, don’t worry it wouldn’t be anything too difficult.” The chief seemed a bit relieved, in this world, there was nothing more dangerous than a free gift, as everything always came with a price. “I was told you were the one who killed three of the five magic beast, please also allow us to return the three magic crystals to you, and accept the extra two as a show of our gratitude.”

Tyler didn’t say anything, he nodded his head as he received the five magic crystals from a guard, it looked and felt just like the previous one he had, only a little weaker. The chief continued “As you already know, we only have one healer here, she’s the most skilled healer I’ve ever seen so i am sure she would be able to help your friend, as i am aware you also saved her life. I’m sure she would be eager to repay her dept, as for your information, I would be happy to tell you anything you need to know.” Both Tyler and Liz nodded, she was a little relieved they had found an healer that was quite capable.

The chief led both of them to his office and offered them a seat, before they could start discussions though, a guard came in requesting to take a Mana potion to Erin, who had just woken up, she wanted to begin healing the injured but was short on mana. The chief had granted him permission almost instantly, Liz wanted to go and see the healer at work but decided against it, she didn’t want to be a distraction and she was quite curious about what the man besides her was interested in knowing.

The chief sat down in his chair and Tyler began, he had thought hard on what to say but nothing came to him, he decided he would just tell the truth but be a little vague about it. “You see, for reasons i cannot say I’ve been in state of deep sleep for a very long time, now that I’m back I almost can’t recognize anything around me because of the drastic change over the years. I would like you to give me as much information as you can on this area and what had been going on in the continent over the last few centuries.” Tyler said as he sat leisurely in his seat as he waited for their response.

The chief was a little confused, he knew demons had long lifespan and some could live for centuries but he didn’t understand why one would need the information about the demon continent from an ogre, a minority in the demon continent. Tyler could see the look on the chief’s face and had half expected it, he prepared something for this but in the end he didn’t need it. “Allow me to answer your question, my Lord.”

Everyone in the room turned around toward the voice that spoke, Albert had just entered the room, he had already changed out of his armor and wore a complete set of an early western styled suit, his hair neatly comb back. He had a noble air around him, and commanded a certain level of authority.

‘My Lord?’ Tyler thought as he remembered who this man was, he had gone back and reluctantly returned his sword, so he had gotten a better look at his face. “This is the Darknar region my Lord, the formal Demon King’s region, and as of 5 years ago there are only 77 regions in the demon continent including this one, originally there were over 900 regions, this was during the demon King’s rule.”

He walked to the side of the desk and stood by the Chief’s side, looking at Tyler he continued. “After the death of the Demon king, the entirety of the Demon continent entered into a time of chaos, we lost some of our land to the humans and were in a constant state of a civil war. That was untill five families formed from the formal demon generals took charge, they expanded their reach and absorbed the other regions belonging to the weakest nobles as well as the strength of those nobles unto their families.”

“The other families tried to do the same but only succeed in staying relevant, the civil war ended over 5 centuries ago and now only 77 families and some high level demons were able to retain their regions. Through out this time none of the other families had succeeded in taking over this region, there was an unwritten rule that whoever claims this land would be crown the new demon King, although some had manage to expand into it a little, they would be interfered with by the others.”

Tyler felt a serious headache by all this, in the end it sounded like he was trapped in a box, before he could think any further though Albert continued. “This region is divided into three main parts, the ever expanding Darknar forest, the Darkin mountain range, and the Greyad fields. There were a few cities in this region but they were all abandoned centuries ago. Recently settlements like this one can be found scattered all around this region.

Without an army or hunters to routinely clear out the monsters, this place immediately became the most dangerous region in the entire continent, with various legendary beasts taking residence in various locations in the region.

Anyone that was willing to move here had no choice, it was their only option, there are also scouts from each of the five great families stationed in safe zones near the demon king’s castle. I am unsure of their true intentions but i heard the castle had a series of complex seals and concealment placed on it by the demon King himself and even with centuries of effort, they are still only able to partially access the castle.”

Before Albert could continue a knock came from the door, after receiving permission a guard entered the room, “Chief, we’re ready for the cremation, everyone is gathered at the gate.” “Alright.” the chief answered and the guard hurriedly left, please excuse us for a moment, we must attend the cremation ceremony, it’s our way of honoring the dead”

“of course.” Tyler replied, Liz seemed a little uncomfortable, it was obvious she was getting impatient, her fried was still in a critical condition after all.

Tyler felt a little bad that he had almost forgotten about that. They were invited to watch the ceremony and Tyler accepted, he didn’t want to be stuck in an awkward atmosphere with Liz, she also accepted and they both left with the chief and Albert.

Getting to the gate Tyler finally noticed something, it was the aftermath of the battle, most of the population in the town now were children, the elderly a few pregnant women with only about 40 or so fighters. With this ratio and in a dangerous place like this, there was no way they would survive the next monster raid. He felt bad for them, if nothing was done they might not even survive a week.

The ceremony wasn’t that long, the chief gave a short speech, the smaller kids cried and even some of the pregnant women, the pile of bodies had been covered with some kind of tarp to prevent the kids from seeing such gruesome sight, the bodies were set ablaze and burnt quickly, they all showed their respects and left.

Tyler and Liz watched this from a distance, Liz was a little upset, seeing this scene made her think of Rain and if she would survive, it was almost dark now and the last rays of sunshine was about to be gone. She knew they could no longer return back to the castle today, all she could think about was the worst case. Tyler could feel the emotions coming off her, he placed his right hand on her shoulder and said “Don’t worry, she was stable when we left, in that state she would be able to last a week, two days is nothing.”

He had no idea what he was talking about but it seemed to work, she had calmed down a bit, as the ceremony ended the chief and Albert walked back to Tyler and Liz, they were accompanied by someone else this time, it was the lady he had saved at the gate, she saw his gaze aimed at her and her cheeks heated up a bit and she avoided making eye contact.

“This is Erin, she’s the only healer in our town and has agreed to escort you back to heal your friend… we would also like to escort you back as well, we can no longer stay here and although you have already done so much for us, we would appreciate and of course compensate you if you can escort us out of this region, of course after your friend is healed.”

‘Escort you— I’m the one that needs an escort!’ before Tyler could say anything Albert interjected. “Forgive me Azar, I failed to mention this, i have already offered my Lord my life in other to save Erin and i will now be serving under him until the day i die.”

“HUH!!!” Both Azar and Tyler echoed each other’s surprise.

“Cough cough… My apologies, I hadn’t realized something like that happened, we can talk more about it on the way to… by the way young miss, where is your friend?”

“She’s resting at the demon king’s castle.”

“WHAT!!!”