Chapter 100: Chapter 96: After the Battle

Once again, the aftermath of a battle seemed to take longer than the actual battle itself. After its conclusion, Regina rested, trying to recover her mana, and healed as many of her drones and allies as she could. Several of them had died. Not her sapient drones, thankfully, but a few humans. Meanwhile, the other drones and humans dealt with the remnant of the enemy army. They were particularly interested in the enemy leadership.

“Several of them fled, unfortunately,” Baron Neralt reported when Regina finally joined him on the field outside the village. He looked a bit harried, but also satisfied. She hadn’t seen him smile this much in a while.

“Are we pursuing them?” she asked, looking from him to Ada. She and the other senior drones had come to escort her, except for Mia, who was coordinating the rest of the drones.

“Of course,” he replied with a nod toward Ada. “However, the knights and nobles I am concerned about have high levels, and I doubt we will be able to catch them.” He still smiled. “That is not going to matter as much as it might have, however, since we have the earl himself!”

Regina raised an eyebrow. “I thought Earl Whitor was in the third Tier,” she said uncertainly. They hadn’t even been sure whether he was with the army.

“He is,” Neralt confirmed. “But it seems he was taken out quite early in the attack. Apparently, he was caught in an explosion. He must have been wounded quite severely, in any case, he has still not regained consciousness.”

Regina frowned. “I’ll take a look myself later. I’m afraid I’m basically dry on mana right now.”

“Of course, Milady. In the meantime, I do think we have everything handled. Commander Anuis has been as efficient as always. I believe we haven’t found anything else to be concerned about, right, Ada?”

The scout shook her head. “Like Neralt said, many of them are fleeing. We’re catching some of them, but there’s no way we’re getting all of the common soldiers, never mind the leaders.”

“Alright,” Regina said. “I guess trying to overpower them with the Winged Drones wouldn’t be a good idea.” They, unfortunately, had few of them left, after the battle. At least without counting those still with the others further south.

“You should rest and recover your strength, Regina,” Max advised. “As soon as this is sorted out, there will be lots of things to do.”

She shot him a look, but didn’t argue. Even if she would prefer him not to put it like that in front of others, he wasn’t wrong. “Okay, I’ll let you get back to it. Update me on your progress, please.” Then something else occurred to her and she smiled. “Actually, that might get easier soon.”

They looked a bit confused, but no one asked what she meant. Instead, the meeting broke up. Regina walked to the edge of the village. Gazing out at the ruins of the defenses they had planned and built, she sighed.

The sun had risen at some point. The battle must have taken longer than it felt like, or maybe they really had waited for hours before the assault. She’d also lost track of time when she was trying to heal the injured in and around the castle, but it could easily have been several hours. In the morning’s light, she got a good look at the village. Its houses were definitely worse for wear after the last few months they’d had.

Regina shook her head and sat on the remains of a section of the palisade, a post at a convenient height for sitting. Then she focused on the System and the notification she’d been waiting to read.

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