CH224 Reclaimed City

***

Although the presence of minor desert beasts had made the fighting appear more chaotic, the true number of Wildkin occupying Cowle City had not exceeded two thousand.

Even more telling was the absence of the major races—the Orcs, Mantisari, Taurus, and Goatmen.

Given that disparity in numbers and combat strength, it was little surprise that once the men of the Exercitus Alexii Division forced their way into the city, the tide quickly shifted. The Wildkin resistance crumbled, and by late morning, the city was firmly back under human control.

Almost every Wildkin had been eliminated.

In battles between humans and Wildkin, mercy was rare and prisoners were almost never taken.

The one exception on the human side was the capture of the major Wildkin races—those of the Mantisari, Orcs, Taurus, and Goatmen. These were spared only to be sold into slavery: a deliberate humiliation meant to dissuade further raids, as well as the simple truth that they made for exceptionally useful slaves.

The Taurus and Goatmen were little more than humanoid bulls and goats, strong beasts of burden who could be worked to exhaustion for all they were worth.

The Orcs and Mantisari, meanwhile, were natural-born warriors.

Give the Orcs a battle, and they would fight it—loyal and unyielding, at least most of the time.

The Mantisari, however, respected strength and skill above all else. Place them beneath a strong leader and they would fight with unwavering loyalty… until the moment they smelt weakness. Then, without hesitation, they would strike to overthrow that very leader.

As for the Wildkin themselves, the fate of their captives was far darker. Prisoners were reduced to meat for later feasts, or—particularly in the case of females—used as breeding stock to increase the numbers of their captor's race.

The cruelty of war was ever present, and no one raised naive ideals of human or Wildkin "rights". This was a conflict of survival between races, and both sides knew it.

Once the last of the Wildkin had been driven out, the soldiers of Exercitus Alexii began releasing the surviving civilians.

Freed at last, the people dispersed into the ruined streets—some desperately searching for loved ones, others for their corpses, and still others clinging to the hope of salvaging what little remained of their homes.

While the soldiers tactfully celebrated their first major victory of the campaign and aided the civilians, their General lay unconscious inside the command tent in the backline, outside the city.

At last, Alex stirred.

His eyes flashed open, and the first thing he saw was a familiar armored figure—Jared's adjutant, standing guard at the entrance.

For a fleeting moment, Alex thought he was hallucinating. Perhaps his mind was still reeling from the strain of overextending himself. Yet even after regaining clarity, that strange familiarity remained vivid.

A smirk curved across his lips as he slowly pushed himself upright.

"Are you alright, Master?"

Udara's worried voice reached him from the bedside.

"I'm fine. I just took a little nap, that's all." He joked lightly.

But Udara's expression did not soften. She clearly did not find his humor amusing.

Alex gave a wry chuckle, swinging his legs off the bed to sit at the bedside. Udara rose from her stool to help him, but he waved her back with a shake of his head.

Thanks to the Everspring Rune and his body's own natural recovery, his condition had already improved greatly.

Turning his gaze toward the tent's entrance, Alex called out, "Please, come in."

Jared's adjutant stiffened, surprised that the General had called to him so directly. After a brief pause, he gave a sharp nod and stepped inside.

"Sir!" his gruff voice rang out.

"Hahahaha!"

Alex burst into laughter so hard that tears welled at the corners of his eyes.

Udara blinked in confusion, while the adjutant frowned deeply.

Alex tried—he really did—but he couldn't stop himself. His laughter kept bubbling out.

It took him a while before he finally calmed down enough to speak through his grin.

"Drop the act. I know it's you."

The adjutant stiffened. "I don't know what you mean, youn—"

"Oh, please, old man. You're killing me here." Alex almost broke into laughter again. "I know you used to be a mercenary, but you're a noble now. There should still be a limit to your madness."

The adjutant let out a long sigh. Without another word, he stepped over to a wooden chair and sat on it with casual ease.

"…How did you know?" he asked at last.

"How could I not recognize my own father?" Alex shot back without hesitation.

The adjutant sighed again. Then, with deliberate motion, he reached up and removed his helm.

The face revealed beneath was unmistakable.

The Mad Earl—Earl Drake Fury himself.

Udara tilted her head, her brows knitting in confusion. His body didn't match the Earl's imposing figure, even if his face did.

As though answering her unspoken doubts, Drake's frame twitched and expanded. His body swelled and in the blink of an eye his body returned to its towering, familiar form.

"A body manipulation technique?" Alex asked, eyes gleaming with curiosity. "Can I learn it?"

Drake smirked faintly. "I do have similar techniques you could study. But what I just pulled off is a… slight manipulation of my Legendary right." He left it at that, offering no further detail.

But Alex already understood the gist.

Legends were energy beings whose egos anchored them into physical form. That process was normally instinctive and difficult to changeable—but under certain conditions, perhaps it could be influenced, at the very least.

"Seems Merlin turned you into a more competent mage than I expected," Drake commented.

Alex shrugged. "Well, you did pay a fortune to get me under his tutelage. And that performance of yours before shipping me off to the Enclave? Let's just say I couldn't exactly rest easy after that. Nor did Master take things easy on me."

Drake snorted. "Hah. That money-grubbing old fox would never go to such lengths just because of my payment. I'm sure others have offered him more, and yet… I don't see their offspring achieving what you have."

Then, a mischievous glint flashed in his eyes. "Perhaps your secret is that you managed to snag his darling daughter?"

Alex didn't take the bait. He simply leaned forward and brought the conversation back to the point.

"So… why are you here, father? Worried about your son?"

***

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