Chapter 126: Aftermath

Time quickly passed by.

Roderic briefly questioned Frederic about a few important matters regarding the aftermath.

Once he had received the answers he needed, he finally allowed himself to relax and drift back to sleep.

By the time he woke up again, the first rays of sunlight were already beginning to appear over the horizon.

’’Good morning, young master,’’ Frederic said with a smile, dark circles underneath his eyes. ’’We’ve arrived!’’

Roderic slowly pushed himself into a sitting position.

’’Urgh...’’

A sharp pain shot through his body, making him grit his teeth.

’Fuck,’ he cursed internally. ’Everything hurts.’

He glanced down at the bandages covering his chest and arms before carefully shifting his injured leg.

Fortunately, the pain was still bearable as long as he didn’t move too much.

’At least I’m still alive.’

Letting out a quiet sigh, he turned his attention towards the front of the wagon.

Familiar castle walls were already appearing in the distance, decorated by large banners holding their white horse insignia.

’’Finally,’’ he muttered. ’’Back home.’’

That’s when his gaze shifted to his surroundings.

Dozens of people were working in the surrounding fields.

Except... none were actually planting seeds or farming crops.

Some were digging long, narrow trenches, while others were carefully lowering thick metal chains into the ground.

Further ahead, several men were covering the freshly disturbed soil with grass and dirt, making it almost impossible to distinguish from the surrounding land.

A wide smile appeared on Roderic’s face.

’’Looks like they’ve been busy,’’ he muttered.

Leaning back slightly, his mind began churning.

With the advance force destroyed, they had gained precious time to finish their work.

’That’s not the only benefit, of course,’ he thought. ’But the others will show themselves soon enough.’

The wagon slowly continued moving forward.

Roderic watched for a moment longer before turning back to Frederic.

’’By the way, have the horses from Deres’ advance force been taken care of?’’

’’Of course, young master!’’ Frederic replied instantly. ’’We sent them ahead with a few soldiers. They should already be at the stables by now.’’

Roderic nodded in satisfaction.

A couple of minutes later, the wagon finally approached the castle gates.

Several familiar faces were already waiting for them there.

Amongst them stood his father, Arthur Whitemane.

And judging by the expression on his face, he’d already heard all about what had happened.

Roderic’s face fell slightly.

’Something tells me I’m not going to have a fun time...’

The wagon slowly came to a halt.

Arthur rushed over right away, Captain Harris, Edmund and several others following behind.

’’Roderic!’’ Arthur said, coming to a halt.

As he glanced inside the wagon, his expression immediately became complicated.

Roderic smiled and raised his bandaged hand.

’’Good morning, Baron,’’ he greeted cheerfully.

His gaze shifted past Arthur.

’’Edmund, Captain Harris,’’ he greeted with a nod. ’’Everyone.’’

Both stared at him for a moment, unsure what to say.

Eventually, they just nodded politely.

Arthur didn’t return the smile or nod.

Instead, his gaze swept across Roderic’s body, taking in the numerous bloodied bandages covering his chest, arms, and legs.

Then his eyes stopped at the side of his head.

’’You...’’ he began hesitantly, his brows furrowing. ’’Didn’t I tell you not to do anything reckless?’’

Roderic chuckled awkwardly.

’’There was a bit of an incident,’’ he said, scratching the back of his head. ’’Unfortunately, we were forced to deal with it.’’

He paused for a moment.

’’We’ll talk about it in detail once we’re inside.’’

Arthur immediately shook his head.

’’We aren’t discussing anything right now,’’ he corrected firmly. ’’You’ll be seeing a physician first.’’

Roderic’s expression changed slightly.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have time for that right now.

’’It can wait,’’ he said even more firmly. ’’There are much more pressing matters we need to discuss.’’

Arthur opened his mouth, clearly unhappy.

But he closed it just as quickly again as a complicated expression appeared on his face.

’’Fine,’’ he sighed, shaking his head dejectedly.

Roderic smiled.

’’Thank you, Baron.’’

Arthur glanced back at him once more.

But he said nothing.

A moment later, Roderic’s wagon began moving again, slowly passing through the gates.

Arthur and the others followed alongside them.

As they entered the estate, Roderic glanced around.

Soldiers and servants were moving about, carrying supplies and attending to their duties.

But as they noticed the returning wagon, they stopped what they were doing.

Their gazes quickly settled on Roderic.

Some whispered amongst themselves, while others simply stared at him with disbelief and awe.

Roderic turned to Frederic with a raised eyebrow.

’’Has news already spread?’’ he asked slowly.

Frederic tilted his head slightly.

’’It would seem so,’’ he replied with a chuckle. ’’I suppose the soldiers we sent ahead couldn’t keep their mouths shut.’’

For a moment, silence fell between them.

Roderic turned back towards the streets, observing the expressions of the soldiers around him.

At the same time, their whispers slowly entered his ears.

’’That’s the young master...’’

’’Did he really win that battle?’’

’’With only thirty men? How is that possible?’’

’’I don’t know, but apparently the young master personally killed a hundred of them!’’

As Frederic had assumed, the news had spread like wildfire.

Every single soldier and knight knew about the miraculous battle they’d won.

Thirty men had annihilated two hundred.

Naturally, most people had found the news difficult to believe at first.

But now, seeing Roderic returning covered in bloodied bandages, those doubts were beginning to disappear.

And with those doubts disappearing, confidence, hope and excitement began spreading amongst the soldiers.

Roderic slowly began nodding.

’’Good... very good,’’ he muttered. ’’The effect on morale is even greater than I expected.’’

A few minutes later, the wagon finally arrived at the main residence.

With Frederic’s assistance, Roderic carefully climbed down and followed Arthur inside.

Before long, they reached his father’s study.

Arthur settled behind his desk, his expression serious.

’’Now then,’’ he began, looking directly at Roderic. ’’Tell me exactly what happened on Riverwood Road and our plan going forward.’’

Roderic nodded with a calm smile.

’’Gladly, because we’ll soon need to be in action once more.’’

...

Meanwhile, several miles away from Whitemane territory, a massive army was slowly making its way along the main road.

Thousands of soldiers marched beneath the banners of House Deres, accompanied by hundreds of horses and dozens of supply wagons.

At the center of the army, Baron Aldric Deres sat atop his warhorse, listening to one of his commanders.

’’My lord, at our current pace, we should reach Whitemane territory within two days.’’

’’Good,’’ Baron Aldric replied. ’’And the advance force?’’

The commander hesitated for a moment.

’’We... we haven’t received any reports from them yet.’’

A deep frown appeared on Aldric’s face.

The advance force’s task had been very simple.

Check whether Baron Whitemane had stationed any troops to defend the village.

If that wasn’t the case, they were to plunder the city’s supplies and round up as many prisoners as possible.

Regardless of what they encountered, however, they were supposed to report back.

’Were they delayed by something? Or did those fools get carried away with plundering?’

Aldric’s expression changed.

That didn’t make any sense as it’d just delay the main army.

’Cedric would never be that careless,’ he thought. ’He’s far too experienced for that.’

For several years, Cedric had served under him faithfully, proving himself capable on numerous occasions.

If something had delayed him, there was probably a good reason for it.

Still, Aldric wasn’t particularly pleased.

’’Send a group of mounted scouts to investigate,’’ he ordered. ’’Have them follow the same route as the advance force.’’

’’Understood, my lord!’’

The commander bowed before riding off to carry out his orders.

Aldric watched him leave with a serious expression.

But the man didn’t get much more time to think.

’’See?’’ a voice rang out behind him. ’’I told you I should’ve gone with that old bat.’’

Aldric turned his head, his expression darkening.

An extremely muscular knight rode up beside him, the insignia of House Deres carelessly draped over his armor, barely concealing the insignia of House Ironhart beneath it.

As one of the Third-Seal Knights supplied by the Ironhart Viscounty, he held an untouchable position.

A fact he was very well aware of.

’’If I’d been there, we wouldn’t be wasting our time wondering what happened,’’ the knight continued with a confident grin.

Aldric’s expression darkened even further.

’’Enough,’’ he said coldly. ’’You were brought here for a specific purpose. I suggest you remember what that is.’’

The knight’s grin faded slightly.

’’Hmph. Fine. I’ll leave the boring work to your men, then.’’

He turned his horse around, riding back towards the other Ironhart knights.

Aldric watched him leave, his expression remaining cold.

’Arrogant bastards,’ he thought, shaking his head.

Unfortunately, their strength would be essential in this war.

He’d simply have to tolerate their attitude.

’Let’s see if you can maintain that behavior once the Whitemane territory is mine!’

Turning his attention back towards the road ahead, Aldric urged his horse forward.

Unfortunately for him, his troubles were only just beginning.

Not even an hour later, a lone rider came galloping towards the army.

The rider slowed down as he approached one of the commanders, hurriedly explaining something while pointing back in the direction he’d come from.

At first, the commander appeared confused.

But as the scout continued speaking, his face quickly turned pale.

Without wasting another second, he turned his horse around and walked towards Aldric.

’’My lord...’’ he began hesitantly. ’’There’s been some bad news.’’