"What?" the empire's third Aura User was shocked when his attack was parried. Another sword came in between as it was about to slice the young officer's neck. At the same time, the young officer made his throw when the blade's trajectory was moved aside.
(I did it!)
Hespar was breathing heavily as he stood in between them.
[Fonterra's Sword Style, Air Splitter!]
A hint of happiness came to his mind as he instinctively executed one of the proud sword techniques that belonged to the Fonterra's Household. Of course, nobody noticed his style due to all the mess around them.
Meanwhile, the young officer collapsed on the ground after throwing the projectile out. He no longer had any extra stamina to speak, let alone move. Apparently, the posture to keep the Iron Spike active took out quite a sum of his mental and physical strength.
The empire's third Aura User had the urge to curse after he did processing what was happening. But as he was going to attack again, the others were already here to stop him from keeping running amok.
It took them some effort, but he was eventually taken down and arrested.
**CRACK!**
As for the Iron Spike, the projectile struck the target accurately. But the attack could not overcome the defenses of Eidos Luther's opponent due to the differences in their strength.
Still, there's no doubt the attack takes him some effort to defend against. It was no longer the same, even if he's at an advantage earlier in the one-on-one fight.
"Did the attack catch you by surprise? Tired?" Eidos Luther seems broader than a few minutes ago. His strength also seemed heavier as he swung his blade down at the Aura User.
"What the!" the Aura User wished he could have more time to loudly curse. Eidos Luther's attack was much stronger than before as it instantly pulverized his opponent.
To make it worse, he abandoned his weapon after the swing and resorted to a fistfight. While the Aura User was still in the middle of shifting his strength from that defensive posture, Eidos Luther was ready to punch his opponent into a pulp.
"Aargh!" fist after fist came raining on the Aura User's face. He's almost unrecognizable after Eidos Luther stopped to take a breather.
[Mortal's Authority!]
Hespar quickly releases his influence for the third time for the third and final time today. In his rough estimation, five minutes was all he could do before collapsing the mental stress.
But these five minutes were all everyone needed to change the flow of this battle. Even Eidos Luther was included in the third release's lucky pick. Right before Hespar fainted from exhaustion, the war was won.
It was too late for the Fennis Empire's remnant to realize that Hespar was the main threat to them in this battle, not Eidos Luther and his veteran subordinates.
Half of the forty-eight Fennis Empire soldiers were killed in this battle, while the remaining were captured. There were three Aura Users amongst them, one unfortunately killed.
This arrest can be considered an excellent result because Aura Slaves are always in high demand as prisoners of war. They can be regarded as a high-quality workforce due to their better physique and longer lifespan.
And out of the one hundred and twenty people here, two graduates and a soldier unluckily fell to their enemy's blade. Over half of the surviving graduates managed to keep their life but were battered with all degrees of wounds.
The most serious amongst them was someone who lost a limb.
A little later, the other half of the convoy finally arrived at their location. More people, especially the survivors, started to flock around their rescuers after the flames were put out.
With no problem with manpower, a temporary camp was built where the battle happened earlier.
Hespar did wake up not long after the camp was built but fell back to sleep after taking a bite from what Paul brought over. He was out for the entire night from exhaustion, mentally and physically.
Around the afternoon the next day, a squadron of cavalry with carriages following in their back came into sight.
Eidos Luther was very cautious at first but quickly relaxed after noticing the emblem on the flags the squadron and vehicles were carrying. A smile also came to his expression.
Apparently, this group was the people the other half of the convoy went to get. Their arrival here means the situation had been safely reported to the Fonterra's eleventh camp.
"Everyone! I want you to dress formally and gather at the camp's entrance. We will be welcoming an important VIP from the eleventh camp very soon." Eidos Luther said.
His order made everyone try to dress to impress. Everyone immediately put an effort to appear in their best appearance around the camp entrance as the VIP entourage got closer.
"That flag... I think it belongs to the Due of Fonterra's private army..." Paul whispered beside Hespar as they stood straight with the right fist around their left chest.
This was the basic etiquette of welcoming a VIP with a noble position.
'Duke of Fonterra...' Hespar had a mixture of emotions as the entourage got closer to them. When Paul mentioned the name Fonterra, Hespar remembered his promises to his parents before leaving Lavos Village.
He promised them before that he would try to have no contact with anyone from the Fonterra Household nor get involved with what they're doing.
"First-Class Leading Officer, Eidos Luther, greets the Commander!" Luther took the lead and greeted the VIP that made his way into the camp. Out of all the horse riders, the VIP was the only one who remained on his horse. All the others were on their foot as they surrounded the VIP.
"I've rushed here after listening to what the carriage driver had to say. But you once again outdo my expectation, Luther. No wonder you're one of my best Leading Officers in the eleventh camp." the commander praised Eidos Luther.
"Is everything alright here? What are casualties from our side?" the commander asked. His eloquent and considerate speech was quite charismatic as it touched the soldiers and people with the care present in his words.
From his choice of words, it seems that this commander is not only a military expert but politics too.
(What a choice of words... A simple sentence from him was enough to make the curiosity turn into reverence. I wonder if all the people from the Duke's Household are groomed this way...)
Hespar blankly looks at the commander while his mind wanders around. His attention soon landed on the knights around him. To his surprise, all of them were Aura Users, with an Aura thicker than Eidos Luther, Hector, and himself.
This means every single follower of this commander is an expert above the level Eidos Luther and Hespar himself can handle. If he's not mistaken, these people should be at the level of Intermediate-Rank Aura User, at least. (Note: We're mentioning those in Bronze Grade for now)
"Reporting to the commander, we had two casualties amongst the graduates and one soldier. No other deaths were reported so far, but the village here... Couldn't survive the attack. Out of the six hundred people in this settlement, only thirty-five children, twenty women, and fifteen elderly successfully hid themselves." Eidos Luther honestly answered.
"I see... What was the nearest townlet around this area? Is it still the Mayflower Town?" the commander asked after nodding twice at Eidos Luther's reply.
"Yes, milord. The nearest townlets around here are either the Mayflower Town or Sunflower Town. But the latter had a higher population density and not suitable for immediate relocation." answered one of the knights.
"In that case, note down my order. The survivors of this village shall be escorted to Mayflower Town to be relocated there. Each family shall receive five gold coin pieces as their war compensation. Suppose anyone finds themselves unable to fit into the town. In that case, we can make further arrangements to relocate to one of the five townlets in this Eastern District."
"As for the graduates, you have my utmost thanks for protecting these innocent people. At the same time, please accept my condolence for losing two of your friends here. I want you to always remember that no matter how small the hope is, we must protect the people who keep our kingdom running." said the commander.
"Luther, have you retrieved the resident's record from the chief's office?" the commander changed the topic after finishing what he had to say to everyone.
"Yes, commander." Eidos Luther nodded and took two golden scrolls out of his pocket.
"Good. I'll take possession of these two rolls of scrolls. I'll be relying on you to bring these people to relocate to Mayflower Town. As for the graduates, just leave them to my squadron." the commander said to Eidos Luther.
"Yes, commander. Please leave the survivors to me. I'll ensure they'll settle down at the town properly before returning to the eleventh camp." Eidos Luther nodded and acknowledged that he had accepted his next mission.
"Graduates. If you have nothing else to be done here, get on the carriages, and we'll return to the eleventh camp. After running a few evaluation tests, you'll be further briefed and allocated to the department that fits you best."
"That would be all from me. For anything else, refer to your superior when we return to the camp." the commander turned his horse around after finishing what he had to say.
"Alright! Pack up, get ready, and board the carriages. As for the villagers, you've heard what the commander said. Get into the vehicle over here, and we'll take you to the Mayflower Town!"