William’s heart was heavy from the loses of his people and father, yet he felt nothing for the mountains of bodies he made in the battle. It was a hard world, so the bandits wouldn’t be missed. His people would be missed by others in Greenwell though, and he would forever miss his father, especially after being at the start of a fresh relationship that would never fully blossom. William was driven from his thoughts as Wallace waved a hand in front of him to redraw William’s focus.
“Hey Lad, I think we should pile all the bandits up and burn ‘em. The afternoon heat is gonna to make them smell real bad otherwise. That’s our best step one I think. Your thoughts?” Wallace said, scratching his stubble.
William found no fault in that as the smell was already starting to faintly be noticeable but did want to add one thing as he said, “We burn the traitors too. The Duncans and Armine. We bury our dead only.”
Wallace took on a thoughtful look at that suggestion and nodded in agreement. William was about to suggest a spot for the bonfire when he noticed amiss.
“Where’s Noctis? I said he could be exiled from here after the battle but I hadn’t given him permission to leave yet,” William asked, concern growing.
The two men looked around them and at the spot where Noctis had been grieving. No Noctis to be seen anywhere. William had been considering just killing the guy but that would go back on his promise, and William needed to hang onto at least a couple of moral things.
William sighed then added, “Fine. He’s gone. If I see him near here again I’m killing him on sight as I promised. The event is over so I doubt he has bandit cronies to go back to and with no hostage to be used against him, maybe he can find a life not fucking others over. We should probably burn the bodies in a large pile outside Greenwell on the flat before the hills. No one wants to lug bodies uphill in the afternoon heat right?”
“Yeah Lad, all fair points, though Noctis does concern me given he knows our defenses.”
“To be fair, we haven’t got much of a defense right now anyway. He trained others here in building techniques and they have job skills right? We should be fine for basic repairs at least. We can probably go to one of the other settlements in the region and hire a crafter. After all, these bodies most likely have money. At least on the bandits proper. It’s a shame Darris was turned to ash as I bet he had some good stuff too.”
“I’ve got others stripping the bodies of gear and their coin pouches. We can pile it near the well for now and take inventory later.”
William nodded and looked over at some of the less battered looking people collecting weapons and other bits and worked out a system.
“Wallace, we should get some of the others to take the stripped bodies outside and make the pile to burn. The workflow in my head is one person strips kit, another takes the stripped body out and then the pair move on to the next body. We do this with several pairs and the body issue will sort itself.”
“That’s a sound Idea Lad. I know you aren’t religious, but even if there isn’t a god in the sense we understand in this world, our belief is comforting to some of us. As such, do you mind if we have crosses for grave markers and have Jeff say some words at the burial. He knows how to do it proper.”
William shrugged at that. It wasn’t his belief but if the others got some comfort from it, then more power to them. William nodded and started thinking about a burial place for his people.
“We should fence off one of the areas outside the eastern side of Greenwell and make it the cemetery. Others can then be added if they depart in the future,”
“Why the east, Lad?” Wallace asked with some confusion as to the specific place of suggestion.
“Because the sun rises in the east. Some romanticism or something like that seems like a good thing to do,” William replied, shrugging awkwardly.
Wallace patted William on the arm and smiled with an approving look. William decided he should probably help with carrying the bodies. He said as much to Wallace before going over and hefting a stripped body only to find the guy absurdly light. His Strength increase must have done good work for him. William asked a couple of the others who were moving bodies to pile some on top of his. They gave funny looks but complied. Those looks changed to wonderment as William started running bodies out of Greenwell five at a time.
William had to stop part way through as the others were still stripping the bandits and didn’t have any bodies left to carry out until that work was complete. William shortly after became the sole corpse bearing pack horse as everyone else on body detail was stripping them now for the sake of time. An hour of this passed until nearly all the bandits were piled up. He had carried the bodies of the Duncans out and felt a deep loathing as if touching them would be staining him with a filth that would never be cleaned.
The body after the Duncans was harder to feel one specific emotion for. He held Armine’s body, thinking to the look of anger and hate on her face when she heard the bad news, and the look of fear right before she died. The one that stuck the most was the soft smile she had the night before. The more he thought on that expression and the behavior the night before, the more it seemed like she was trying to distance herself from him to make it less painful if they lost the fight. Either that or she was a very good actress. He didn’t toss her onto the pile like the others. William lowered her down onto the pile gently and ran his hand down her long braid, now dried crimson in color more than blonde.
“My fuck up caused all of your pain and suffering up to your death. I am truly sorry for that, Armine. You didn’t deserve to suffer the way you did. At least you can be reunited with your family now. I’ll do better. Be better. As a guardian, and one day, possibly a leader. I’ll always remember you.”
William truthfully didn’t want to burn her body and instead bury her. The issue was that he couldn’t pick favorites here. Only members of Greenwell would be buried in Greenwell. Traitors, no matter the reason were not members of Greenwell and would be burned. His heart was even heavier after he stood up and walked back to the last few bandits. The large pyre lit up not long after that, no one but William sparing a glance at the bodies. William watched with some sorrow as the flames took Armine before he turned and walked away with the others.
Wallace had been busy with the other survivors that weren’t shifting or stripping bodies and had marked an area with wooden stakes in a large, thirty meter by thirty meter square for the cemetery and had started work with some of the others on digging graves. William grabbed a shovel and joined in, his strength once again doing stupidly good work. Devlin had also been busy and was already over halfway through making the wooden crosses and putting names into them with his tools.
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It was early evening when the burial happened. William had been the one to carry his father’s remains with Jane and his mother following behind him as he placed the remains into the grave. It was difficult emotionally and logistically. Carrying half a person wrapped in now reddened, cloth tunics wasn’t easy. Keeping all the parts together was toughest and it was a feeling William would have seared into his brain for the rest of his life. Every step he took felt heavy spiritually. His father had been living and breathing like the rest of them at the start of the day, capable of laughter, happiness, and love. Now he was gone. A shell, or what was left of one, devoid of life and warmth.
William used [Flash Stride] to appear in the six foot hole and lay his father down gently before a quick leap out of it. Everyone bowed their heads in silence as the last of their casualties were laid inside their graves. A few moments later, everyone opened their eyes and listened to Jeff give a short and what William could only summarize as a reservedly devout speech. Those moments past like a blur, with William’s mother and sister both breaking down into tears again. William looked around and saw a lot of lost expressions, some even appeared forlorn. He had to say something to spur the others on. “When did I start caring so much?” William asked himself mentally as he considered ways to bring the mood up.
After a few moments of deliberation, William decided on a course of action, but was rather nervous about it. He fought his inner anxieties down though and for the moment could push through. William walked up to Jeff and nodded for the man to join the others. The man did so with no quarrel or concern and took a spot near the open space William had been standing in. William did a final scan and noticed that only his friends and family looked at him, with everyone else lost in thought or sorrow.
“Welp, Here goes.” William thought as he drew his sword and held it high, reflecting sunlight down the side of the blade. Confusion spread as William flipped the sword downward, holding it in a reverse grip and dropped to one knee, planting the blade into the ground, the dregs of accumulated sheath Mana causing a loud boom of impact, but not enough to destroy the cemetery terrain.
The confused murmuring died as William spoke up, “The people buried here died for us. They fought, struggled, and gave their very lives in the hope that we would survive and continue forwards. The people here are our friends, and our family, but above that, in this world they are warriors. To fight and die is the way of a Warrior, and to do so while ensuring those closest to them lived on is an even greater honor. This new world is hard, and those who don’t fight will need to be protected by others that do. This is not a flaw, but a different kind of strength. Our friends resting here chose to fight. For us. They were valiant and brave, in-”
William choked up a bit, his father flashing in his mind.
He fought through the feeling and continued, “-In the face of death. We have to fight on. To live. To protect our own. We have to do this because of what our friends and family resting here did for us. I swear on my sword, on my honor, as a warrior, I will decimate any foe who would harm my own, or die trying.”
William scanned the crowd and saw most of the sorrow had changed to stoicism and determination. Some still looked lost, but that was natural given the circumstances. He got up to his feet, taking his sword with him and wiped it on his sleeve before sheathing it. He wasn’t sure what else to say as a lot of it had been completely plagiarized, with his own spin and some of his own words thrown in. “Can’t argue with results.” William mused, not needing to speak as Wallace took the proverbial stage.
“Well said William, your words are very much in the spirit of a warrior. I must also add to his own words. Thank you, all of you. We survived and won against an overwhelming force thanks to you and them,” Wallace said, pointing to the fresh graves, before continuing, “We won. No more bandits to plague us in our survival here. We can and will rebuild Greenwell, and we will thrive. For tonight, we will have a large fire, toasting some extra meat and rations in victory and in memory.”
William felt the atmosphere shift to a calmer one for the most part, with some of the still deeply sorrowful people becoming more cognizant. William was a little jealous of Wallace’s ability and aptitude for public speaking. He bet Wallace didn’t use any movie or game quotes as inspiration. Maybe he would have some profound change when his Charisma passed a hundred points. That would be a way off yet, though a few levels of dumping into Charisma would confirm or deny his theory. He shook the idea away as devoting that much in points so early on would be dangerous in higher level regions, provided his video game logic held.
William spotted most of the others departing, his family and a handful of others including Miss Jones and Jeff. He partially wanted to interact and ask how they were doing, but letting them all grieve however they felt best was the right thing to do here. Wallace approached him and patted William on the shoulder.
“Good work Lad. Public speaking is tough at the best of times, and these weren’t those sorta times,” The old man said, with a warm smile present.
“I did what I could. You seemed to cinch the deal though for lack of better words.”
“Experience, Lad. You’ll get there and become the best of ‘em I’m sure.”
William had his doubts, but he had noticed that he could control his anxieties a lot better already with his current bump to charisma. That was a positive start at least.
“So what now?” William asked, curious if Wallace had already worked out next steps.
The older man looked around seeming to consider something before he said, “Let’s go for a walk a couple hills away. I don’t want to risk anymore leaks.”
William nodded and the pair walked for five minutes northward until they were atop a small hill where they could see anyone approaching.
“Okay Lad, losing Noctis is a set back. The others who learned under him probably can be trusted as they were fighting for their lives too, but we need a proper builder to lead our projects. I’m hoping that we can use some of the collected money from the bandits to hire someone else to fill the role. Once we have proper defenses again, we’ll need to work out trade or some other arrangement as our supplies are somewhat limited. After that...improvement and growth? I don’t know off the top of my head.”
William nodded along for most of it as it seemed like the logical plan of action and not far removed from what they had originally intended. William was concerned about beyond that point though. The concern must have shown as Wallace chuckled at his expression.
“Lad, My leadership and planning extends to military operations and arranging logistics and troop movements. As far as city planning goes, I’m stumped.”
William considered the idea for himself to do, but playing a city builder and actually expanding a real town were two completely separate things. He did have an idea spring to mind though.
“Wallace, could we just hire a city planner? If we can get a builder, maybe a package deal is possible.”
The eyebrows on the older man lifted with some initial surprise but he thought on it for a moment before nodding sagely.
“You definitely have good leadership qualities Lad. Keep ‘em growing.”
“Shall I take our party and check out one of the other settlements in the region? After a day or two of respite I mean.”
“Good idea Lad, I can look after things here and keep an eye on your mother, though I have a feeling that she’s going to be taking a more active position with teaching archery and possibly training her class, hopefully.”
William’s brows furrowed at that.
He was surprised at the possibility and asked, “How do you know? Dad’s not long in the ground and she’s still grieving.”
“I saw the look in her eyes as we watched you give that speech. The eyes were ones I’ve seen many times on determined troops. Most of the casualties of the battle on our side were Mages and Scouts. The Scouts over extended for too long when they breached the gate and the Mages were targeted by enemy ranged attacks, overwhelming most of their shields they conjured up. Our archers were phenomenal, however, and were a linchpin in the successful defense on our end. Your mother trained them so my hopes are high.”
William hadn’t noticed who exactly they lost class wise and what they did lose made sense. He felt something poetic in his mother who came from England training capable archers in English style archery. Who knows, maybe their Archers will be as good as ye old English archer troops used to be. The prospect was interesting to say the least.
William drew his attention back to the matter at hand and said, “Hopefully it’ll all pan out well. We can get what we need sorted out. I’ll think on which settlement to travel to and ask Devlin and Frenn about them.”
Wallace nodded and the two walked back to Greenwell, making idle conversation as they returned. William spotted Jane, John, and Stacey together talking.
It was time to give them the good news and see some more of the world.