Chương 34: Aftermath

I had been hoping to return to our tent and rest. I should have, given how exhausted I was. But I was also starving—only eating one meal around the fire wouldn't cut it. I rushed to Slowbend with the other soldiers, passing the heap of old armour Maurifus had been gathering, and passing civilians in the streets. They were cheering for us. I glanced back as we entered the village, because I noticed Sir Aldhelm sending a pair of messengers away on horseback.

Even if it felt like it was done, our troubles were far from over. Maybe more orcs were coming, but I pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind. A few Dupes volunteered as lookouts, and we hadn't seen any sign of orcs all afternoon. For now, I just needed to relax after the battle. I was still coming off my adrenaline high, but the cheers of the civilians brought it back. This time, however, it was a more whole feeling adrenaline. Not just the rush of survival, but the rush of joy.

We ran to the town plaza, where fiddlers and lute-strummers gathered around a brazier, and the tavern owners hauled barrels of ale and mead out into the street. A barmaid hopped on a table and began singing, and all around, the Dupes drank and ate. I stuffed my face with broiled pheasant and sausage and bread. Yeah, the tavern owners would probably charge the army for this, but it wasn't coming off my wage, and I couldn't deny the morale boost.

After an hour, the fiddlers synced up, and a middle-aged woman with a low-flute organized the musicians properly. There was plenty of dancing, and at first, I hung back, until I heard Romance call, "There he is! The man of the day!" he motioned toward me. It was then that I noticed he'd brought Hild's apprentice with him. She beamed.

"I'm told your name is Levi," she said. I nodded.

"That's correct."

"And that you were responsible for luring the orcs around to fight on a single front. That you were the one to skewer the orc shaman." I scratched the back of my head.

"Perhaps."

"Would the perhaps -hero care to dance with me?"

"I didn't catch your name, ma'am," I replied. Her face flushed red.

"Ma'am?" She put her hands on her hips. Romance leaned over and whispered, "Madame is the proper address for the wives of thegns and Ealdormen. But usually, ma'am is a term we use to refer to…uh, let's say female brothel owners." I gasped and my face heated up as well.

"Shit. I mean—""He's not from around here," Romance said, rushing to the apprentice.

"He's—" I knelt in front of the apprentice and said, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it like that. Would you tell me your name, miss?"

"Fleda." She giggled." You didn't give me an answer. Would you care to dance with me?"

"Of course, Fleda," I replied, then joined her in the center of the square. I didn't really know how to dance, but Romance helped out, quietly whispering instructions to me. After an hour, we were both exhausted. For a moment, we split apart, but in a moment, I returned to the edge of the plaza to find Fleda downing a mug of ale. She wiped the foam off her lips.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Not just here, but all you've done." She paused.

"Did you hear that Scar died?"

"N—no. I hadn't heard."

"Ms. Hild told me." Fleda stood up, burped, went beet-red again, then covered her mouth.

"It has been a pleasure, Sir Levi."

"Sir—now, I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to be called that." I swallowed.

"It has a nice ring to it," Romance said.

"Sir Levi…"

"Don't get used to it," Elf interjected.

"There's never been a Dupe who somehow became a thegn."

"I won't," I replied. They'd insisted that thegnage was impossible for a Dupe, and maybe they were right. It wouldn't stop me from trying. If I wanted to really change things, I'd need real power. I might need to become a thegn or higher. Fleda gave a quick bow and said, "See you later after the party?" then darted off into the crowd. I bowed my head to her, something between a nod and a gesture of respect. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Nice lass," Romance said.

"Lucky for you." I raised my eyebrows.

"It was just a dance. And thank you for the help with that."

"Yeah, yeah, you two," Elf said.

"Don't get too comfortable. You stay up too late, and the Commander will have our heads."

"You sound like my mother," I muttered.

"Wouldn't know," Elf replied.

"Never had a mum." I winced.

"Sorry."

"Besides, tomorrow, we'll be getting our Presences from the battle. I'm sure you earned yourself quite a few."

"Let's hope." ~ ~ ~ The next morning, Finger woke us up as the sun rose.

"Your Presences," he said.

"They're waiting in the center of the camp." I sat up, rubbing my forehead. I was slightly hung-over, but just hearing that we had Presences ready sharpened my focus. I jumped up to my feet. Romance rolled off his cot and landed on the floor, and Elf pushed himself up with a groan.

"So?" Elf asked me. I tilted my head. Romance pulled himself up, peering over the edge of his cot.

"You know, did you and Fleda…"

"Yeah, did you?" Elf asked.

"Dude." I rolled my eyes.

"No, not after accidentally calling her a pimp. It wouldn't have been…proper. I walked her back to the camp, as is the gentlemanly thing to do. And we chatted a bit, nothing much."

"You're going to have to explain those words you just said," Elf mumbled."

'Dude' and 'pimp.'

" I sighed. It probably wasn't translating perfectly, and they were hearing something nonsensical in their language.

"Yeah, maybe after we get our Presences," I said.

"Come on." I ran out of the tent to the center of the camp, where a distribution of Presences lay in the mud in neat piles. Finger brought me to mine, which wasn't the largest by number, but certainly had the most large Presences in it. A few belonged to trolls, and the largest, to the orc shaman.

"Lucky that the Shaman dropped one," I said.

"Perhaps," Romance replied, taking hold of his pile.

"But the higher tier the foe, the more likely they are to leave behind a Presence."

"Hm," was all I could muster in response. It felt weird to not have Shave explaining something about magic to me. I took a deep breath and forced myself not to dwell on it too much. I knew it was probably a bad idea to use all these Presences at once, but I also hadn't experienced any problems with doing so yet—save for some minor internal discomfort. Which was probably a sign from my body, but I could take it. These Presences weren't too much more than my haul from the Labyrinth.

So, with that in mind, I crushed them all between my fingers and accepted the swell of power—all while Romance and Elf stared at me like I'd grown a third arm. While my body processed it, I casually reached for the Presence I'd taken from Scar, too, and used it when no one was watching. After a few seconds, I regretted using so many Presences at once. I fell forward on all fours, gasping. For a few seconds, I clenched my eyes shut, until finally the rush faded to a dull thump in my chest.

I wanted nothing more than to assess my new stats to see if I'd gained any Presence, but I'd need to use a slate to check. While I was still recovering, Finger's voice rang out from behind me, "All squad sergeants are requested at the Commander's tent for an emergency meeting." I turned and looked up at Finger.

"Is he alright?" Finger asked.

"It looks like he's dying."

"I'm fine," I croaked.

"He used too many Presences at once," Elf said.

"Either way, we don't have a sergeant," I added.

"Our squad's sergeant is dead."

"Correct," Finger said.

"Given how few men are left in your squad, we are treating you as a temporary sergeant. This isn't an official promotion, so you won't see your rank change in the System, but for the time being—and I imagine it will be short—we'll call you sergeant. That means you're with us." I blinked, coughed, then stood up. Brushing my palms together, I said, "Yes, sir."

"Don't get used to it. I don't imagine it'll last long. And…by the pillar, do you call everyone 'sir'?"

"Don't get used to it?" I gulped, ignoring his comment about my use of 'sir'.

"What does that mean?"

"You'll see," Finger replied.

"Oh god…" But Finger was already walking away, and I jogged to catch up with him as he walked to the Commander's tent. There, Sir Aldhelm stood behind the table, flanked by his guards. Beside him stood Commander Galliard. The tent was packed with the surviving sergeants, and I felt entirely out of place. But still, I rose up on my tip-toes, trying to see the table. There was a map of the countryside on it—of South Gate—and tiny figurines stood atop it.

The black-painted figures represented orcs, and orange were for Dupe battalions. When I saw the state of the map, my eyes widened. Pretty much everywhere I looked, there were now black figurines on our side of the Thelea River.

"My messengers returned," Sir Aldhelm began.

"It's true. The orcs made a massive push yesterday. They overran eleven different battalions, wiping them out almost entirely and routing what they couldn't kill." He pointed his sheathed sword at a single orange figurine.

"The 294th is the only battalion that held its ground yesterday." I drew in a slow breath through my nose. That wasn't good at all.

"The Ealdormen of the south are returning to their Domains with reinforcements, but it will be a month, perhaps, before they arrive," Galliard said.

"In the meanwhile, we're drawing reinforcements from the surrounding battalions to hold our position while the others fortify and dig in, preparing for invasion and inland fighting." Eraen-Kalora, the capital, where the Ealdormen would have been, wasn't even on this map. It was farther north than I thought.

"Sergeants, keep your squads in good spirits," Aldhelm said.

"We alone staved off this attack, and that is something we should be proud of. It will hamper the orcs' efforts, at least for the time-being. Our orders are to stay put and hold this spoke of the line. We are to use it as a bastion for counter-attacks. Await your Lieutenants' commands. You are all dismissed." We all began to scatter, but as I left the tent, Commander Galliard said, "Levi. Just a moment, please."