Pharis managed to rank up to bottom titanium-level after the battle ended and she relaxed. Now she will have to focus on filling her astral horizon with starts before the next level up; which will take a long while at her rate. Now that the sun has risen, all the destruction was in plain sight. Most of the buildings were terribly damaged. The buildings closest to the wall were completely destroyed. The ground was stained with blood and the dead oversaturated the streets.
Fallen defenders had been trampled by orcs as well as ripped apart. Their guts and organs dangling and spilled out. Orc dead all had egregious disgusting injuries. The defenders pulled no punches against them and their fellow orcs didn't mind stepping on them. Dead flesh is bad enough a smell, but burning dead flesh is even worse, and the whole of Kesh was covered in it. No one seemed to care though. Their noses had gone numb from all the fighting. The civilians as well could not smell it after the terror they experienced and things they survived.
Many civilians fell prey to the orcs. Their weak bodies blown apart by the orc strikes scattered the streets. Children were simply squashed or had their heads bitten off in one go. This could be seen because an orc had its belly cut open and a child's head fell out. Needless to say, the adventurer was traumatized from that and declared himself unlucky to survive afterward. Even if only a few, a few too many human females were nabbed by the orcs. Usually, they would be brought back to the horde, but they could sense the death of their leader and become feral. The same thing happened to the few remaining chieftains. None could retain their minds during the battle anymore, their bloodlust and base instincts took over. The result was the human females being raped to death, and the orcs did not discriminate by age, as long as they were female. All in all, the whole experience was a glimpse of hell to everyone that lived.
Everyone was deeply affected. This is why there was no victory cry, no celebration, and barely anyone said a word. Everyone was just sitting or standing and staring off somewhere blankly. The three leaders were trying to compose themselves and calm their hearts. Pharis had succeeded in protecting her small group of civilians. After seeing the bodies of those that couldn't be protected, she too went silent. She was only twelve and despite Sargon training her mind, it was of barely any help.
As for Sargon, he was silent too. He has seen bloody battlefields and devilish enemies before doing things like this before. Although, nothing was as bad as this. He said a prayer to help the dead find peace and started walking towards Pharis. She was sitting with her knees to her chest with a sad expression. He reached and lowered himself to one knee in front of her and lifted his visor. He clearly but softly says, "How are you doing Pharis?"
After a few moments, she said even softer, "I don't know. I never expected this. I knew being a knight would be hard, but never like this. I just feel numb, glad I saved some people, but stunned about the ones that couldn't be saved. We won, but the victory feels empty Master. Where is the glory?" Sargon gently placed his armored hand on Pharis's head. "Dear Little Pharis, the glory is in the fact we didn't run and fought until the end to protect all that we could. This battle is something that does not happen often. This level of carnage happened because Kesh was weak and its lord is a moron. I agree that the victory feels empty and the city is one big nasty scene. This is the reason knights exist Pharis. We make it our lifelong mission to fight against the evils and horrors of the world. I have experienced battles like this already, so I can cope much better. But you are still a young girl, it will take time to sort your feelings. Do not forget who you are now."
Pharis finally looked up to her Master, who had a gentle smile and an understanding gaze. Looking at her master calmed her inner turmoil seeing his strong figure not being depressed by the aftermath. He still had a strong posture, clear eyes, and a noble aura about him. the only one still shining after the night. "Thank you Master, I know I will be now after a little bit of time.", She managed with a small smile. Sargon patted her head, "You can rest here now, I still have one more bastard to kill." Sargon then went to the lord's mansion.
Viscount Quisaman was that last bastard. Sargon made it to the mansion and found that the orcs had ruined the place. Walking through the building, he tracking the Viscount Quisaman's astral signature. While traversing the mansion, he could see the bodies of many servants and members of Quisaman's harem. He two harems of large size, one made up of slaves, the others were wives and concubines. Most if not all women acquired dishonestly. Sargon pitied their fate, but he understood the world was often cruel long ago. He could only do the best he could. He found himself going to an underground level of the mansion. He was led to a marge metal door with a very strong lock. the door also had magical defense properties from what he could see. Outside the door were more harem members who had died horrible deaths and dead orcs that were cut down by defenders.
The door was completely sealed and it seems Quisaman never came out. "Well, the bastard is coming out now.", Sargon readied his sword. He cut through the door that wasn't made to withstand malachite-level strength, only titanium. The viscount was naked inside with about 20 harem members naked with him. Apparently, they were fucking while Kesh was getting ravaged. Sargon did a deep inhale-exhale to contain his anger so he wouldn't kill him on the spot. His death needed to be witnessed and publicly justified. He paid no attention to the girls and dragged the middle-aged man by the hair. He dragged him all the way to where the defenders and survivors were gathered. The Viscount was shouting all the way there.
He threw the Viscount in the middle of everyone. He then declared loudly, "I will be killing this inept moron right now for being a neglectful lord, a tyrannical lord, an uncaring lord, and a lord that was fucking his harem in his bunker room with enough food for ten years while we all in hell! Do any of you object to me using my status as a knight errant to carry out this deed?" None came to the defense of Quisaman. Even people he has had amiable and profitable dealings only sneered at him. Even they couldn't stand for the tragedy that has happened. While Quisaman began pleading pathetically for his life, Sargon grabbed his head and crushed his skull with his grip. No one said a word, they only nodded and went back to what they were doing.
Everyone began to clean up and layout the plans for rebuilding after a few hours. The three leaders were in charge of Kesh now. The inn was no longer standing and all the staff was dead except a few lucky people; the owner not one of them. Sargon brought Pharis to makeshift housing/shelters that were put together where all the most intact buildings were. He told her to rest in a bed and sleep. He had unequipped his armor and sat at her bedside. He held her hand to send his astra to her to soothe her body and mind so she could get a good rest. After he made sure she was resting peacefully, he got up and began thinking about his next move. Even he did not expect the outcome to be this bad.