Edmund walked out of the building through the hole he made before. With Ethan’s help, looking around and seeing the number of monster corpses made him realize how many they were fighting. He hadn’t noticed before, but there was a central path from the gate to the central structure he came out of.

  ‘This was crazy, Edmund; if it weren’t for you drawing most of their attention, we would be dead.’ Ethan sigh.

  ‘But I think me being here also made things difficult for your man because you needed to follow my pace; it was like a suicidal charge.’ With Ethan’s help, he walked toward the gate.

  ‘Yeah, if you think about it, you are right? a lot of things could have happened, like running out of ammo or too many injured to fall back; it wasn’t bad for you to be here.’ The soldier looked around.

  Ethan saw the soldiers coming to the truck, carrying others who couldn’t move or needed help walking. Everyone, even the injured ones, a moment, and the villagers were right behind him; they were already. They walk one another. Asher was at the gate, using a belt in another soldier’s arm.

  ‘How is Samal doing?’ Ethan spoke, concerned.

  ‘If he doesn’t get Eliza to heal him, he doesn’t have five hours, and he is not the only one.’ Asher shook his head.

  ‘Patch Edmund up; he will drive the truck as fast as possible to get us there.’ Ethan came closer to the medic.

  ‘Be gentle; this is my first time.’ Edmund chuckled.

  Asher and the soldier he was treating laughed, and Ethan rolled his eyes. Egor was one of those leaning on the wall at the gate; he didn’t appear to have any injuries, so Ethan came closer.

  ‘Sarge, what happened?’ The corporal kneels next to Egor.

  ‘Some crazy ork threw a gigantic rock at me, and now I’m having difficulty breathing, but nothing too crazy; I think some broken ribs... argh…’ The sergeant spoke, gasping for air.

  ‘Rest some more.’ Ethan gave him a pat on the shoulder.

  Everyone was put in the truck individually, with the better-conditioned ones on the roof. Edmund walked to the driver’s side. The door was open, and one driver gave him a hand to get in and go to the side, letting Edmund feel comfortable in the driver's seat.

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  ‘One of you needs to pat my shoulder from time to time because I can pass out from the blood loss, and how tired am I? No one here wants to die, right?.’ He smiled.

  ‘Why are you like this?’ The one to his side spoke.

  ‘The duchess says something similar occasionally; I don’t quite understand.’ Edmund chuckled.

  The other driver next to the door started to sweat while holding the truck door. Edmund looked through the mirror by the side of the truck door and saw the villagers and the old sergeant staying behind with his squad. He raised his hand while looking at Edmund's reflection.

  Three bangs were coming from behind him, and a small window opened. Ethan, with his tired eyes, looked at Edmund’s neck.

  ‘We can go now; don’t pass out while driving this thing.’ Ethan looked concerned.

  ‘Don’t worry, this guy here to my side has all our fates in his hands.’ Edmund looked into the young corporal's eyes while smiling.

  Ethan looked to the side, and the soldier looked at him. He was nervous about the responsibility Edmund was putting on him. He couldn’t see the other one by the door, but he imagined his face, too, and it wasn’t good.

  ‘I’m just joking; I’m fi... Edmund closed his eyes for a moment.

  ‘Wow, did you just pass out?’ Ethan widens his eyes.

  ‘No, I’m just joking with you.’ The young, white-haired man took a deep breath and started to drive.

  In the city, specifically in the Duchess mansion, Captain Alon asked for a room to serve as the central command of communications for her military. Ariadne had no problem with that, as the mansion had too many empty rooms.

  Ariadne entered the room, followed by her maid, Alya. Everyone looked at the duchess and saluted her by putting their hands close to their mouths, lowering their heads, and closing their eyes for a moment. This practice became more common when people saw her; it started one day when she walked into the village.

  At first, she was taken aback by the salute. Alya said that some people even prayed to her in their spare time. This increased after Eliza became a healer and started treating people.

  Motherly love was the only way to describe the sensation; it was not natural but a connection between her and the people. She noticed that people she had never known before saluted her, and all she wanted to do was smile like a child doing something interesting to her. It was strange for the duchess.

  ‘How is the situation, Captain?’ Ariadne smiled.

  ‘Bartel’s platoon successfully killed the monsters and rescued the villagers with Edmund’s help.’ Alon bowed to her.

  ‘So... the peasant was useful... good.’ The duchess took out her fan.

  ‘Yes, the lieutenant said that if it weren’t for him, the platoon would have been wiped out trying to push inside the fortress.’ Alon put his hand behind his back.

  ‘But are they all fine? I’m worried about them.’ She showed a worried expression to the captain.

  ‘Well, the majority had injuries; to be honest, if it weren’t for the truck that Edmund built, half of the platoon would die on the way here.’ Alon turned to face the radio operators working on their desks.

  ‘What about the peasant? Is he injured?’ Ariadne tapped the palm of her other hand with the closed fan.

  ‘He got shot in the leg by an accident in the middle of the chaos.’ He looked at her with the corner of his eyes.

  Her expression was anger and concern. He observed as the duchess walked toward the radio operator who had talked to Edmund hours before.

  ‘Can you please connect me with the driver of the truck?’ She put her hand on the young lady's shoulder and gave her a tender smile.

  ‘Oh…ah… Of course, Goddess.’ The radio operator started to use the tablet on her side, which was connected to a radio.

  ‘Thanks.’ Ariadne squeezed her fan and took a deep breath.