22. A long walk

The guards who were carrying the injured and corrupted villagers started to unload the weight off their arms and place the people on the floor as they arrived at the village.

The guards were tired from the battle and although they could walk, they still needed rest to recover. The same was true for the prisoners who had limped their way back.

Kai saw Phillips untangling his arm off Zanma's shoulders and looking at his face. He looked too thin and he doubted the necromancer was feeding them beyond the minimum amount to keep them alive.

They needed to feed them first and Kai himself felt hungry. He turned back towards Killian, "Killian, we need to talk to Alden for lodging ton—"

Before Kai could finish talking, he heard footsteps and saw Zanma's mother running towards them.

She was closely followed by the rest of the village, including Alden and the guards he had left behind. They looked better now with bandages around their arms and legs.

It seemed like someone had seen them coming from the palisade and informed them.

"Lord Arzan, are you okay?" Alden asked, looking at the wounded guards before his eyes fell on the villagers who had disappeared. Their eyes widened in what Kai assumed to be shock.

The old woman looked in between the injured people, searching and finally met with a familiar pair of eyes.

"Zanma!" Her weary voice was loud enough to make Zanma look up.

He was touching his leg where the chain was tightened before. Seeing her mother, he stood up and walked towards her.

"Ma, I thought I would never see you again," he said, breaking into a sob and pushing his hands on her shoulders.

"I knew you were alive!" She hugged Zanma for over a minute and everyone gave them space.

As soon as her hands broke free, she looked at him closely. Her eyes examined him from head to toe, trying to take every detail in. "What did the monsters do to you? Your face…''

She looked at the blackened spots and the marks that chains had left behind. Kai sighed seeing his mother trying to touch the peeled skin.

Turning back towards Kai, she asked, "Lord Arzan, what happened to him?" Her voice layered thick with concern for her son.

"It was a necromancer we were going against. He mostly dealt with corrupted mana. I assume that he was trying to do experiments, and Zanma and the others were his victims. The loud cries you were all hearing were probably from them getting tortured."

The woman frowned deeply. She closed her mouth, unable to express how bad she felt. Alden and the others were the same, looking horrified to find out that something like that was going on in the Vasper forest.

While they were talking, a few others picked up the prisoners, being friends and family. No one came for the white-haired girl and she simply sat on the ground, exhausted.

"Lord Arzan, will he be o-okay?" She asked, looking at him, her voice quivering.

Kai nodded. "Don't worry. I will be able to help him and the others soon. I just need some time to recover my mana "

The woman looked at Kai with reverence and held her son's hands. "He will be okay," she whispered. "Please, do whatever you can. I'll do anything to save him."

"I will be okay, mother. Don't worry. You should get some rest. I need some rest too," Zanma finally said. He looked at Kai and mouthed a 'thank you'.

Kai left the prisoners to talk to their families and turned towards Alden who seemed to be waiting for him to talk.

"Alden, for now, I need a favour. The captives need to be kept away from the villagers. The corruption could easily spread. Although it's okay for a while, common people shouldn't come in close contact with corruption for prolonged hours. The guards, including me, need to stay here for the night to recover too. We lost more than a few people and the battle wasn't easy. Will it be arrangeable?" he asked, looking at the village chief who was staring straight at him.

Alden immediately nodded his head.

"Yes, I will make the arrangements."

"I can start to heal them tomorrow. Just make sure the guards and the prisoners get enough rest."

Alden walked away to arrange the lodgings after that and Kai turned towards Killian.

"We can move the dead bodies tomorrow morning. For now, let's rest."

"Yeah, the guards need it."

He looked back at the guards who were talking among themselves. They seemed to be discussing the day's events.

After ten minutes, Alden returned. "Lord Arzan, the place is ready, please come this way," he said and started leading the way.

"Everyone, we'll be staying here tonight! They've arranged a place for us! Let's get going," Killian shouted, gaining the attention of all the guards.

The guards whom Kai had left in the village before started helping the captives and the injured guards to walk. A few villagers also helped them.

Kai shifted his attention back to the village as they walked.

He could see the village in a broken state, but the villagers had tried to put things back in place. The ruined roofs were put back together or replaced by makeshift ones.

The corpses of the goblins were removed and the streets looked cleaned up.

The lingering scent of burnt wood and flesh was still in the air, but it didn't bother him anymore.

"The villagers worked hard to get things into place after you were gone," Alden said, noticing how Kai was observing the surroundings.

"Yeah, I hope the guards were of help. Also, we need food for the night, Alden. The captives didn't look like they had a proper meal in weeks. The guards are hungry too, including me."

"I'll arrange that and send it to your room. Let me show you the place first," Alden said and walked down a small narrow street before they saw houses lined up. "It used to be an inn, but it's not been functional for a year. I talked to the owner and you can use it for as long as you like."

They stopped in front of a stone house which was lit up with a fireplace from inside. It seemed big enough for all the guards and himself.

"Thank you, this would be enough."

All of them made their way inside and a few guards sat down on the chairs laid out while the others walked towards the hearth.

"There are enough rooms for all of you. I have prepared one specifically for you and Knight Killian," Alden said before leading him towards the first floor.

The rooms weren't big, but the bed was good enough for him to rest without any back pain. Kai wasn't one to complain about it since unlike the guards, he didn't have to share his room with anyone.

After thanking Alden and distributing the rooms among the guards, Kai decided to finally rest.

He sighed and walked inside.

The exhaustion from the day had finally caught up to him as he sprawled on the bed, wanting to sleep, but he knew he needed to work on restoring his mana and eat something before sleeping.

Therefore, he sat in the corner area that had a window opened to let the ambient mana come into the room.

Taking a breath, he crossed his legs and started focusing on restoring his body and replenishing his mana.

He inhaled the mana and moved it inside his Mana Heart in a circle before moving to every corner of his body. He felt a warm feeling as he continued to do so.

With each breath, he felt the familiar surge of energy coursing through him, his muscles tightening as strength returned to his weary limbs.

While circling his mana, the memories of the necromancer and the recent events flooded his mind.

He closed his eyes to concentrate.

The images of the necromancer's sinister presence still danced behind his eyelids. Maybe it was because of how tired he was. Or maybe the events had gone to his subconscious mind— he could still hear the necromancer's voice.

Kai let the feeling hang over him for quite some time. The only way to get over it was to go through it. He knew it by heart.

His jaw tightened as he remembered how the guards had died. His hands formed into fists as the images of the battle passed through.

In all honesty, the necromancer was weak and only knew how to raise the undead and hide behind his fog. He was clearly not experienced with battles and had even tried to go through a lich transformation which had been his last futile attempt.

With better planning, fewer guards would have died and their deaths wouldn't be on his conscience.

He should have been more vigilant, and more prepared. He should have taken better measures.

With the raging thoughts, he let the mana flow through him.

Within minutes, he worked to heal the bruises on his face and regained enough mana to feel a bit better.

I could still do more.

He thought to himself and started meditating more. He couldn't feel the time pass as his focus intensified inside his body. Suddenly, a knock on the door disturbed him.

He opened his eyes. "Come in."

The door opened and Killian walked in. After closing the door, he stared at him like he wanted to say something.

Kai waited for him to talk and Killian finally asked, "Lord Arzan, do you mind taking a walk?

***

It was late at night and the guards seemed to be all in their room. A few were resting while others were mourning for their comrades' death.

It hadn't been easy on them.

Both Kai and Killian walked with a heavy silence in between them. The streets were empty and all the villagers were in their homes, probably discussing the things that had happened today.

Killian's voice broke the quietude, looking at him. "Lord Arzan, I saw your expressions earlier when the battle ended. I believe you have things on your mind. I know it was your first battle, so if you have things to talk about, I would like to hear them."

It was not his first battle, but Killian didn't know that. Still, he had hit the mark with some of his words.

"I can't help but feel responsible for the deaths that happened on my watch," Kai confessed, his gaze fixed on the ground beneath his feet. "I should have been more vigilant, more prepared." He spoke his mind.

Killian cast a sidelong glance at him. "Lord Arzan, you did everything you could," he reassured, his tone gentle but firm. "Your strength is commendable. It saved lives today, including mine."

"But people still died," he murmured, a note of anguish creeping into his voice.

Kai sighed, the burden of guilt still weighing heavily on his shoulders. He wasn't someone in his previous life who lingered over a few guards' deaths. He had fought countless battles where a lot of lives were lost.

This was different.

He wondered if it was simply a part of Arzan who had stayed behind in the subconscious of his mind. Or he actually was becoming more of a lord.

Killian spoke before another silence could linger, "As I said, Lord Arzan… You saved lives. For the people who died— we can't bring them back. Every battle has casualties." He paused. A faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "You know, knights have a saying," he continued. "Every fallen comrade remains alive as long as their companions who survived carry on the fight in their name. Right now, you can only honour the dead, Lord Arzan. And be a respectful lord to us."

Kai's brows furrowed. He thought about his words and being a lord. Honouring the dead… Being a respectful lord to them. He had taken it as a position of privilege which it was, but the responsibilities associated with it were heavy.

Still, he knew he couldn't run away from them.

"Killian, that's a nice saying."

"Yeah. I've had countless times when I had to remind myself that I should honour the dead instead of looming over their death. It saved me a lot of time," Killian said while looking at the dual moons that shone over.

Both of them kept walking for a while longer, simply talking about the battle. Killian shared a few of his experiences with being a knight and although Kai took on the role of a listener, it helped distract him from the deaths of the guards.

They only returned once Alden called them out for dinner.

***

It was a few hours past morning breakfast.

After getting his fill and a night's rest, he felt much better and got to work.

His mana was filled back, and he could finally help the captives with the corruption. Unlike the weaver, their bodies hadn't mutated and it was going to be a simple process.

One by one, he tended to the captives, his touch easing their pain and restoring their strength. He continued to send surges of mana through their veins, trying to destroy any sort of corruption inside.

It was similar to the process he did with Palman. He worked slowly, healing the less corrupted first and making his way to the people who needed far more attention.

He looked at the healing wounds of the old woman. Finally, when the skin started showing its natural colour, Kai asked, "How are you feeling now?"

The latter looked at her hands, and then back at Kai. She moved her fingers, clenching and unclenching the fist.

"I feel much better now, t-thank you," she said and bowed.

Kai smiled at the old woman whose lips quivered as she talked. It was going to take a while to get better, but she was already on her way to recovery.

"It's alright," Kai muttered and shifted his attention to everyone else.

He slowly moved to heal others. Zanma took less time since other than the peeled skin and black spots, his body seemed more or less fine.

That wasn't the case with the others.

They had spots all over their bodies and one of them had his whole arm corrupted. Kai did his best to give them some respite, but it was going to take time for them to recover.

After ensuring that the captives were stable, Kai sought out the village chief who was talking with a few guards about the necromancer.

"Alden, I'm taking the ones who need more extensive healing with me. We'll continue their treatment in the city," Kai said, pointing to the house the captives were in.

"Are you taking all of them?" He asked.

"No, two of them including Zanma are okay now. Just needs to rest for a month to return to his old self. He still might have trauma, but magic can't do anything about it. The rest, I'm taking with me."

"Thank you for your help, Lord Arzan. Without you, the necromancer would have just grown in strength and devoured this village," Alden said and bowed in gratitude. "When I first heard of the new lord of the territory, I didn't know how it was going to be, but now, I believe prosperous days will be back."

They talked a bit more and Kai asked more about the village and decided to let them take care of the goblin corpses. Although the common goblins were more or less useless, the goblin lord was a valuable monster whose parts could easily be sold.

Hagmons Keep anyway needed money.

Once everything was done, he walked up to the guards and Killian. They had worked all morning to retrieve the dead bodies and they would be carrying them back to the city to give them a proper funeral.

"What happened to the woman we found? The one who showed no corruption?" Kai asked Killian as he got on his horse.

"Oh, her. She keeps falling into unconsciousness. Alden said they kept giving her water from time and time. But, she couldn't even open her eyes. I told the guards to get her in the carriage since she doesn't seem to know anyone in the village."

"Good. I will talk to her once we reach home."

He said, looking towards the hills and hoping the journey back home would be far less daunting.

***

Kai and the rest of the troupe entered through the familiar gates of the city.

Behind them, the bodies of the guards who were dead and the captives who needed more healing were in different carriages. One of them they had taken with them and the other they had found in Hagmons Keep.

The streets were busy with the people who had come down from their houses to witness Kai's return. They were in small groups as they started talking amongst themselves and looking at their carriages, trying to glimpse what they brought back.

As they made their way through the streets, Kai leaned in closer to Killian, his voice just barely above a whisper.

"Send a guard and fetch clerics from the church."

Killian knit his brows in confusion.

"Why do we need the cleric?" he asked quietly.

Kai's gaze darkened and he sighed. "I want to get the funeral started. It's already been over a day since their death and it's disrespectful to keep them waiting for longer. Inform their families and call the clerics."

-

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