"Clear it out," Thyra ordered. "Don't leave out any body part in the open, and bury all of them. Give the humans a proper burial.
'She knew.' Jana had no trouble comprehending that the girl was watching the beasts chase them from a distance.
"You were watching?" Just like Jana, a few others realised that Thyra was observing from a distance but didn't come forward to help them.
And the realisation hit harder for none other than those who had seen their loved one being beaten and stabbed to death by those goblins a moment ago.
"Why didn't you save them? You could have saved them if you had come out a moment ago. You… Ahhhhhh…" One grieving woman was about to hit Thyra, but she screamed and stepped back before she could.
"We are at war. We are here to fight a war." Thyra looked at the shocked woman and added, "We are not here to save you."
"How could you say that? People were dying. How can you not help them?"
Those who have lived through peaceful times don't know how brutal humans can be. It was more so for the people who had never left the village.
Jana was aware of this. Jana also knew that if these people could take care of those beasts, they would not be scared of people like them.
And if they could just stand there and watch a human die, Jana was sure there was nothing they would not do. He intervened, but it was already too late.
Jana couldn't see what it was, but he could feel something coming from Thyra. He wasn't sure what it was, but it made the hair on her skin stand up. Ignorant of what was happening, the people standing close to Thyra started to rub their skins.
"Wahhhhhh…" At that moment, her daughter, who was tied to his chest, started to cry. He felt Thyra's eyes on his body for a moment before the odd sensation vanished.
Thyra looked back at the protester in front of them, saying, "If you want, I can bury you with your relatives. If you don't want to do that, take the path behind me; you will reach Rasmos town in a day or two."
They wanted to argue with them more, but Jana quickly stepped forward and stopped them.
Thyra noticed he had said something to them. After which, they looked at Thyra with fearful eyes. As soon as their eyes met, they looked away in fear and didn't make any sound anymore.
Just as they were about to leave on their way, Thyra stopped Jana. Jana quickly hid Raya behind him before bowing and saying, "My lady?"
"Do you know who I am?"
"Sorry, my lady, I am unaware of how to address this noble lady."
"You are from Amber Village, right?"
Jana couldn't help but hide her surprise. He couldn't help asking, "How do you know?"
"I will be the one asking the questions."
"Sorry, my lady." Jana quickly turned his head down, adding, "Yes, my lady. I am from Amber Village. But it is gone now. The beasts have destroyed it."
"Have you sent a help request from the Digen?"
"They ran in that direction, but I don't think they will survive. The beasts would have killed them by now."
"They won't be killed. At least not until they had delivered the news."
"Sorry?"
"Don't worry about it." Thyra thought for a moment, saying, "You can leave."
After the group left, Selda and Ondor came closer and asked, "What should we do?"
Thyra thought for a moment. They were about one day's march away from Digen. They reached this area yesterday.
Fearing that they might have to get into a fight as soon as they reached Digen, Thyra ordered his men to rest for today.
However, the news the scout brought wasn't too hopeful. The outscouts, the first wave of scouts, had reached this area about two days ago. They had noticed that the beast attacked about four villages on the same night.
They followed the slave controller as long as they could and confirmed the general position of where the main body of the empire's army was hiding.
The outscouts were the scouts who travelled about or more than 50 kilometres in front of the army. They gather local news, get the general geography, position of roads, and water sources, and relay them to the midscouts.
In contrast, midscouts served as the link between the army's main body and the outscouts. They travel light and swiftly with horses, confirming the position of the water source and camping sights. They also actively look for enemies without alerting them.
The arrival of the midscouts the following morning confirmed the reports of the location of the enemy army. That gives Thyra a headache. Thyra had already sent a messenger to Digen, confirming the position of the enemy troop.
Now, leading the army to Digen would be idiotic. Other than making the enemy aware of her position, it won't do anything else. The course of action would be to wait for the main army to engage the enemies before encircling them from behind.
"We will wait for the order from the Digen." Thyra said, and the entire army again disappeared into the forest.
However, they didn't need to wait for too long. It hadn't even been two hours since she had sent the messenger. Thyra was sure it was the midscouts.
"My lady, the enemy army is moving."
"Moving? In which direction?"
"Towards Digen."
'That doesn't make sense.' The couple of supporters of Duke Dent inside the wall were aware that Thyra had yet to reach Digen.
Considering that the empire's army knew about her existence, still deciding to keep the back open to attack could mean a lot of things.
Either their army was too big to care about Thyra's small army, or there was a far more lucrative prize for them to grab. Thyra had no way to confirm that.
Their goal should not be to take over Digen before help arrives a month later. It also couldn't be the case. If that were the case, then the enemies had attacked a long time ago.
So that could only mean the army at Digen had taken the bait. The scout had confirmed that the prince's army was already at Digen.
So that means the enemies were attacking the villages around the city just to get the army outside the city wall. And if they are moving now, that means the main army or a good part of it has left the city.
Selda, Ondor, Rika and Nisa were waiting for Thyra's order. However, what they didn't expect was Thyra to wave her hand, saying, "Rest for now. We will start marching as soon as the sun goes down."
"My lady…" Selda called. And it wasn't just him; all the others were waiting for an answer.
"Seeing the position of the sun, I don't think they would come into contact today. Even if they did, the fight wouldn't last very long. So it is better to rest for now. Tell the scout to find a good camping spot about a couple of kilometres away from where the armies will make contact."