The remaining night was a blur. While I managed to walk back to our camp without collapsing I was too tired to process most of what happened after the battle. Hatsumi took proper care of the undead and even cleaned our sleeping bags. Sarah told me to get some rest and I fell asleep quickly.

The next morning I felt a lot better. We did not get that much sleep but my body had recovered from all the mana I had used. When I left our tent I saw that the camp had been cleaned up. I did not spot any corpses, or blood. The heavy rain last night likely helped with that.

The sun was shining again, it felt nice. Hatsumi appeared next to me with two steaming mugs of coffee.

"Morning." She said and handed me one.

"Uh, coffee." Helena said, as she emerged from the tent. Hatsumi handed her the second mug.

"Did I miss anything last night?" I asked.

"Not really. The soldiers cleaned the camp with some undead help. Sarah informed the other commanders of our success and we will have a meeting this morning. I suppose she is going to fetch us soon after breakfast." Helena replied.

"I have the undead stationed around the camp. You have 66 goblin zombies, 6 hobgoblin zombies, one human zombie, 12 skeletons and one magical skeleton. Of course the ibex, Frank, Chariot and my undead are still here as well." Hatsumi reported.

"Maybe I should release the human one and we bury the corpse." I suggested.

"It would likely help with morale. People are a bit uneasy around that many undead, although a lot of them are grateful for their help last night. I think most are aware that it would have ended badly otherwise." Hatsumi said.

"Imagine if we had brought the Iron Beaks. It would have been glorious…" Helena mused.

I had to agree. Especially during the storm we could have used explosions inside the forest without starting a large fire. We really should have brought some.

After serving us coffee Hatsumi began to cook. She even brought her own frying pan!

"Since when does she have a frying pan?" I asked Helena.

"I think she is getting more into the maid thing." Helena replied.

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"Campfire cooking is not that much of a maid thing. You would bring a chef for that and have the maid serve the food. The maid would also prepare a table, if you brought one." I pointed out.

Helena shrugged. "You are the expert. But I think we have complained so much about crackers that Hatsumi has decided she needs to protect us from such food."

Hatsumi had some form of dough, made from flour, water and salt. She fried it in oil to create a very thin sort of bread. Then she fried some bacon, used the fat for scrambled eggs, added some beans and placed everything on her flat bread. She even had a jar with some sauce. Then she rolled it into a handheld thing.

Hatsumi served us her creation, it was delicious.

"What is that?" I asked.

"Something I came across when preparing for the trip." She replied.

"It's delicious!" Helena agreed.

While we enjoyed our food Hatsumi started washing the dishes. I felt slightly bad since she was doing all the work but she had a smile on her face and did it voluntarily. At some point Yoru and Nyx emerged from the tent, only to curl up next to the fire.

Once we were done eating Sarah called all squad commanders for a meeting.

"Morning." She greeted everyone. "Last night was a mess but you all handled it well. Our casualties are minimal although we have a few wounded. Thankfully, Koyuki's undead will make our mission a lot easier."

"I would like to release the zombie soldier and have him buried." I offered.

Melvin looked rather grateful at that. Maybe it was one of his men?

"Good." Sarah replied. "Although we won't do a burial, we will burn them. With the amount of necromancy you have performed we are not taking any chances. Especially not so close to the road. All corpses will be burned but we will have a small ceremony for the fallen."

Sarah paused and pulled a small sheet of paper from her pocket. "I found something on the shaman's corpse. It's a crude map specifying this area. Someone gave them that information. Who? I have no idea. Sadly we have not found anything else."

"You think someone worked with the goblins?" Karl sneered.

"They can be bribed, or manipulated. Maybe someone fed them a village to get their cooperation? Or lured them here with false promises?" Sarah suggested.

"Disgusting." Melvin added.

"We will have to report this. I will send a messenger. I will also keep four guards here to watch the area until an investigator arrives." Sarah said.

"We are already understaffed." Karl complained.

"We have the undead. They will help with our actual mission. Koyuki will have to do most of the work." Sarah said. "Actually, speaking of undead, Hatsumi asked me to preserve the corpse of the shaman. Can you get information out of it?"

"Didn't you decapitate it?" I asked. I remembered something like that.

Sarah nodded. "I did."

"Hatsumi had some ideas so we froze it." Helena added.

I scratched my head. "I have never created a tier three with the actual soul of the corpse. I am afraid I can't help there. I am not even sure if I can animate a headless corpse. It is possible but having missing parts makes it harder. Usually it's just not worth it. And tier three's in general take a lot of preparation and a good corpse."

"You have tier three cats." Melvin pointed out.

"Cats are special." I replied.

They looked at me strangely while Helena giggled.

"Ok. The corpse is frozen, you can have it. If it just becomes another undead I am ok with it. Karl, make sure the wounded have a place on a wagon. Melvin, you will handle the ceremony for the fallen. Have the soldiers build a pyre. Koyuki, we have some corpses stacked in a pile close to the camp. Use what you can, burn the rest. Dismissed."

As we walked back to fire I wondered what Hatsumi had planned for the shaman corpse. Did she think we could just reattach the head? Actually, if it was a clean cut, that might be possible…

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