Seeing the village destroyed was a shock to many of us.
The guards and knights seemed to be sorry for the residents but many of them had seen similar things before so it didn't move them much.
Terra and Erik were more shocked. Seeing the home of their family and a place they have been charged to protect, ravaged and destroyed was a sight they were dreading but could never prepare enough.
The Princess was a close second. She never knew how much destruction and pain could be caused. It was clear that when she saw a body she would pass out.
I was the most shocked. I knew exactly how the village looked a week ago and seeing it like this made it worse than I originally thought.
When I ran, it was dark and the village was still in a stable condition so the damage didn't seem so bad but this was so much worse. Buildings torn apart, walls destroyed, many houses burnt down and...blood.
Blood was splattered everywhere, on the remaining walls on the pathways and in many other places.
I didn't see many bodies, according to the report we received the orcs didn't take the bodies for food just left them. It is an odd behaviour for orc raiders, but then again the Red Hand has never been an ordinary tribe.
As we got closer a camp on the eastern outskirts of the village was visible.
As we approached soldiers from the Rondo family came to greet us. They were the ones sent to the village after I told Miranda and Erik about the attack.
Erik talked to them and explained why royal knights were present and informed the ones who knew the truth about my cover story.
As they talked I just couldn't help but stare at the village. The village I grew up in, had so many memories, playing with friends, talking with people and so much more. It was so hard being here again but I had to do it.
Terra came up to me and hugged me from behind. I turned and hugged her back but didn't look away from the village.
"We will do what we can. You are not alone" she said hugging me tighter.
"Thank you," I said in a whisper while holding back tears.
Eventually, we rested for the night but I couldn't sleep. My mind kept going back to that night thinking about what I could have done differently what must have happened or what if the Orcs returned and attacked again.
...
...
I got very little sleep.
...
The next morning, everyone except for the princess who didn't feel well, gathered at the center of camp as we ate breakfast and went over the plan.
A soldier named Ronan, the head of the soldiers who have been here, stepped forward and explained "Today we will search the northern side of the village. Due to the damage to the village, we have been busy clearing out a path to access it safely. Hopefully, we can find some survivors and with the help of the knights it will be done faster than expected."
"Jackson you are a resident of the village, correct?" he asked me.
"yes I am, but I don't know any places in the northern part of Thronbranch where people could take refuge," I answered his question before he could ask.
"I lived on the west side and knew of places in the southwest half of the village but not the rest. Some places outside the village might have refugees as well."
He nodded and asked, "Not a problem if we finish the northern side before 3 PM can you lead us to places you do know?"
I nodded.
"good now what places outside the village do you know of."
"There is a mine to the northeast, about a 30-minute walk from here. To the south are some old ruins some teens like to hang around about 10 minutes away. Finally, to the west there recently have been rumours of a Druid living there but I am not sure."
"A Druid! Are you sure?" Ronan asked surprised.
"Like I said rumours and if they are real we don't know if they are friendly or not," I warned
"A good point, we will search outside the village tomorrow, for today we will check inside. Do you remember the population of the village?"
"A little over 2,300 I think," I said remembering the quest I received.
He nodded and said "We have just under 1,300 accounted for but haven't found any survivors hopefully with your help we can"
He stood up announcing to everyone "We leave in 20, everyone is ready!"
As walked closer to the village I could see several sheets laid on top of bodies and candles burning by each one.
"What is that sweet smell?" Terra asked hesitantly, fearing the answer
"The candles. they are enchanted to last very long and scented to ward off monsters and animals to prevent them from entering the village." Ronan said
"Adventurers use them all the time to ward off monsters while camping in the forest or to protect the body of a fallen friend until they can bring them home while on a quest" I added.
She nodded letting out a sigh of relief thankful that it wasn't something gross.
As we got closer I took out some rags, poured some water on them from my water skin and handed one to Terra "Tie this around your face to cover your mouth and nose. It will help with the smell." I said
she took it and did so without hesitation.
While walking through the village I could see so much more damage than I thought could be possible. Entire buildings were knocked over, carts and baskets strewn and smashed on the sides of the streets and the splatters of blood everywhere.
"what have you done with the bodies?" I asked Rondo
he gave me a sad look but answered "Same as what you saw before those were just the ones we found here, we used some magic to prevent them from decomposing. Hopefully, we can find some other survivors who can identify the people. Would be better than unmarked graves." he said, I could tell he didn't mince his words.
Eventually, we got to a part of the village with a wall of carts and stones piled up making a wall all around the northern part of the village. It does explain how they couldn't just get around all the streets leading here were blocked so they had to clear it.
Ronan led us to a cleared part of the blockage and we began our search.
We started by splitting into teams and going down each street and calling out while checking wreckage and buildings when we could.
It was hardest on me and terra as we found many bodies. Terra had a hard time as she had never seen anything like this and I did as I could recognize some of these people. I took out my notebook and started to write.
During the days going towards the village, I wrote down the names of people I could remember but I could only remember about 200 of the 2346 population.
I planned to find the population registry in the mayor's office, copy it down in my notebook and cross out names when I confirmed they were dead.
Hopefully, we can find some survivors so they can identify them rather than me guessing.
As we pass bodies we leave a red flag when we find someone who is dead but if we find a survivor we send out a green flair into the sky and a white one if assistance is needed.
As we got closer to the edge of the village we found no survivors just so many bodies and I was losing hope until...
*Whistle*
*Boom*
*Whistle*
*Boom*
A green and white flair shot into the sky.
When I saw it I felt immense relief and ran towards where the flair was sent off.
If someone just a single person was still alive I would be so happy. It would mean that the work of my parents and the other adventurers in the village didn't die for just one person. The more people we find, the more lives they save in their final hour.
As we turned a corner I could see them reapping the leg of a lizardman in a bandage, a lizardman I recognized.
"Rirki!?" I shouted with tears in my eyes recognizing him as my Spearfighting teacher and started running over to him.
Rirki turned towards me with shock and tried to stand up but failed.
"Jackie!" he said and opened his arms to me.
I jumped into his arms crying, relieved seeing him alive. He was always a close friend of my parents and a person I saw as an uncle.
We stayed there for a few minutes both of us relived seeing each other alive.
He pulled me off him and asked "How are you alive?! How did you get away?!" Holding back tears I explained, "I was on the other side of the village when the attack started. Mom and Dad went to help, so I hid at home. But an orc got by and tried to get me, so I ran, and Dad saved me when some other orcs found me."
"When I got out of the village I ran and ended up at the Rondo Mansion and they came to help." I finished with a constant stream of tears flowing down my face.
"That's good to know. So long as you alright, your parents must be worried do you know where they are?"
I looked down and didn't answer.
By this time Erik and some others had arrived and he heard the question.
"Are you a friend of his parents?" Erik asked
Rirki nodded
"I am sorry, we haven't 100% confirmed it but... we are pretty sure they they didn't make it," he said, lowering his head.
Rirki looked at me in disbelief but hugged me again to comfort me.