Chapter 45 Celebration （B1 END）
As soon as I walked downstairs, Magret and Sebastian scolded me. The latter came up running after I put a hole through the wall and simply shook his head after finding out what happened. Meanwhile, Magret just kept on scolding me while Sebastian nodded along.
"I would have won!" Magret yelled and pointed at me. "I was just about to win the game before you decided to punch a hole through the wall! Who punches a hole through a wall in the early morning?!"
I smiled bashfully. "Sorry?"
Magret simply harrumphed and went inside the kitchen. I looked at the board game she was playing. Indeed, she had been winning, but it looked like she sacked her most important piece at a crucial moment, allowing for the other side to turn the tides. Now I felt even worse.
Maybe I shouldn't have destroyed the wall?
"Interested in playing one round, Ivor?" Sebastian asked me.
I nodded enthusiastically. If he had almost lost against Magret, Sebastian would be an especially bad player. We both sat at the table and rearranged the pieces. I would play as the Greens.
Sebastian made the first move and I followed up quickly.
We went through the motions like we had done them thousands of times, but as time went on, my face darkened.
At the beginning, I had a slight advantage.
Wanting to capitalize on that, I played aggressively, and now ten moves later, I was in a pinch.
"Do you concede?" Sebastian asked.
I stayed silent and moved my piece forward. I lost three plays later.
"Again," I said. This time I started as the humans.
I lost again, and faster than before.
"Again," I said. I played as the humans and...lost. I lost so badly I couldn't help but blankly stare at the board for a few minutes. This time much more horribly than before. I had played all three housekeepers and lost a bunch of times. But this...this was on another level.
"You-" I started speaking, but Magret returned from the kitchen, steaming hot food in her hands. The smell of porridge and a faint scent of meat–not rat's ass–entered my nose. But all I could do was stare at Sebastian with a frown on my face.
The corners of his mouth ever so slightly turned upward and an almost invisible smirk formed on my butler's face. For anyone other than me, it was impossible to see. But I knew him. He was enjoying this.
I know what you did, you dirty bastard, I said inwardly, but kept my mouth shut.
Magret didn't need to know that Sebastian was letting her win. Instead, I thanked her and dug into my food. It was as tasty as porridge with meat could be. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it as the warm food traveled down my throat.
Once we were done with eating, I went back up and showered. Only now did I notice how much I stunk. I changed into a pair of fresh and presentable clothes before we went outside again.
The sunlight was blinding but pleasant on my skin. It was weird. For some reason, I thought it would still be night as if yesterday was not just a normal day, but the start of eternal darkness. Whatever, it was over.
I took a deep breath and...the smell of copper invaded my nose.
Right...the war might have been over, but so many people had been lost. It was a true shame.
"How are our casualties?" I asked Sebastian.
For a brief moment, he stayed still, then answered. "A little less than half of the combat Classes have died. But most of those that survived are at the Peak of Wood Rank, and a good chunk even advanced to Stone Rank."
I nodded, despite the insane casualty toll, our army was probably even stronger than before.
A Stone Rank could easily take care of two Wood Ranks if not more.
We had battled more than ten thousand animals.
This kind of growth was expected. The reason why it wasn't more was because most animals were low-level Wood Ranks.
So, even if we only had around 200 combat Classes, these folks would be able to take care of the Beast Wave even better.
But this also meant that around 150 people had lost their lives. 150 families were left without a mother or father, sisters or brothers, sons and daughters. Some families might even be completely gone now.
This reminded me of Anthony, his daughter Kayla, and wife Lisa. I had promised to deliver his last words. A wave of anxiety washed over me, but I pushed it away. I would do it anyway.
Sebastian and I stepped past the mansion walls. Most of the town was unaffected by the war that had happened on the outskirts of town. Despite that, we could still see the corpses hauled through the town.
Ropes were bound to the larger animals as they were dragged across the plastered stone. Smaller animals were carried by soldiers or stronger men. By now, the whole road was already dyed in a dark crimson red. It was a group effort as everybody worked together.
Even though the war was just over, the beasts were still a great source of meat and protein. If we didn't process the animals now, the meat would go to waste. In addition to that, dead animals were great fertilizer.
We were supposed to be celebrating, but instead, the famine forced us to continue working. I hadn't even thought of it. But it looks like Samuel did, according to Sebastian.
It was a sad sight, yet I didn't see the expected hopelessness inside my people's eyes. Sure, they looked sad, but hopeless? No, they worked hard and with hurry.
Sebastian and I continued through town, the putrid smell making me want to throw up. Most workers had cloth tied around their faces. So did we, but the scent was still strong.
I hope we won't catch any disease, I thought, but realistically this was better than letting the corpses rot outside as the sun rose.
Eventually, we reached my goal for this little walk: the small bakery run by Magret's daughter and granddaughter.
To my dismay, it was actually closed. Looking at the scene outside, it made sense, however.
I doubted they had many customers, and it was very likely that the daughter and granddaughter duo were out helping.
So, with that, we went to find Anthony's house.
I had just remembered that I didn't ask where he lived before I stumbled into Gerald.
The man was just as surprised to see me as I was.
After exchanging a few pleasantries and making sure I was feeling good, the man pointed me in the direction of Anthony's home.
Turns out Gerald himself was walking from house to house, informing the families of their deceased ones.
Gerald knew each army member by face and name.
He had trained them, after all.
"I will inform Anthony's family myself," I said. Gerald and Sebastian seemed to be hesitant before I added, "I promised it to him."
Both men nodded, and I went alone. I reached the house with heavy steps and left a few minutes later with my heart aching. Behind me, the sobs of the grieving family followed, and I clenched my jaw.
The process of delivering the bad news went just as expected.
The hopeful eyes met me only to shatter into sadness as they realized that I wasn't Anthony.
The tears and cries that followed as I explained to them what had transpired before relaying the last words of the man who died protecting this town.
It was hard. And I was ashamed to admit that I went through the process faster than I probably should have. It made me feel a little guilty.
But it was my first time telling a family their husband and father died, okay?
I couldn't help but respect Gerald even more.
***
A week had passed quickly, mainly because we all were focused on work. Since the Beast Wave had transpired, most of the town was busy moving the bodies along and processing them.
The army, on the other hand, was either recuperating or guarding our town day and night.
Realistically, we were at our most vulnerable moment right now.
We all were afraid of an attack by the Nine Mountain Bandits, so we kept our guard as high as possible.
In fact, we didn't even give the Locusts problem a second thought this week.
With meat and poisonous weed, we had enough to survive the famine.
In addition to that, we didn't celebrate our wins until this evening.
And only because we felt that the Bandits should have attacked us by now if they were around. Since most of the injured soldiers recovered, we felt comfortable enough to finally celebrate and honor the dead with one big feast.
The addition of meat was, of course, a nice bonus.
Of course, I kept myself busy during that time.
Besides patrolling the forest in fear of Goblins attacking us, I also trained with the multitude of Stone Rank soldiers now in our ranks.
They were quite weak, if I was being honest. But that was to be expected.
Even if I only used my Mana to strengthen my body, they still had to team up before they even began to be an ounce of trouble.
In addition to that, one couldn't forget the passive effect of Unarmed Combat always being present.
Now, at Epic Grade, I could definitely feel the difference.
However, the weakness of my men was not a problem I had to be concerned about. Now that I had an Epic Grade Skill, I didn't need Unarmed Combat from my Minor Simulations anymore. Speaking of them, I of course wasn't being lazy with them. I ran ten Minor Simulations every day.
And honestly, the benefits I got were freaking awesome. First, I got another Unarmed Combat Skill. I tried to fuse it into Mana Body Arts but that didn't work. Secondly, I stopped running the Minor Simulations with that Skill.