“I… I can’t…”

“Emery, you can do this. We only have a few more miles before we rest.”

A girl turned and went to her friend as she kneeled, mud coating the pants around her knees.

Emery’s breaths were shuddering, a single tear falling down her cheek as she clutched her ankle within her boot. Once she stopped walking, it became clear she wouldn’t start again. Gentle Snow appeared next to her, putting her hand over Emery’s.

“What’s wrong?”

“M-My foot… It hurts so much.”

“Take your boot off. I’ll take a look.”

Emery sat down with a nod, gritting her teeth as she gently pulled the boot off.

Then, when she went to go take the sock off, she let out a whimper.

Gentle snow slipped her finger underneath, gently pulling and watching as some skin lifted with the sock.

Discolored, probably infected, with some blood dampening the sock. Gentle Snow realized that this girl was walking on a completely shredded sole. How she managed to last this much, she wasn’t sure.

Emery was only 19, yet could bear so much pain. There was only one reason she was being forced to though.

“What’s going on? Why are we lagging behind?”

Helva looked back from the front of the pack. She could see Gentle Snow’s eyes go deadpan when the two caught each other’s gaze.

“This girl can’t walk. We need to rest.”

“We rested yesterday, and thanks to you, we took far too long to even leave in the first place! The Months of Darkness are almost upon us, and demon beasts could start flooding down any day! We have no time to stop!”

“I delayed us because we needed to hunt for food! All the animals are disappearing! Do you expect us to relocate without anything to sustain us?!”

“I am not arguing with you about this, Snow! We are 5 miles from our next stop. Either keep up, or get left behind! The choice is yours!”

Helva snapped before turning and continuing to walk. After yelling some more, the rest of the sorcerers continued walking, only a few staying behind with Gentle Snow and Emery.

Gentle Snow gazed at Helva as she left. The summer was approaching, the air getting humid, the floors muddy in this mountain, and the trees becoming suffocating. Yet it was still generally cool because they were so far north.

Gentle Snow felt that chill when she watched Helva. She felt the blades across her body, feeling like she needed to act. Helva was nothing but poison for these girls. She would drive them to their deaths.

She had managed to delay the evacuation for over a month because not only did they need to stockpile food while animals still existed in these mountains, but she wanted to continue checking on Audius. She needed to see his progress. She had to know that he was still someone they could return to, that Northtown could protect them if they ever had to fall back.

And he didn’t disappoint. More than ever Gentle Snow wanted to return, to simply bring her girls to him for refuge. Someone as smart as he could surely find value in them, and would honor his promise regardless.

Simply gazing upon that wall instilled faith. It was surely unbreakable, and such things were what she and the other sorcerers needed.

But this foolish, venomous woman refused to see anything but her own position at the top of their militia. Anything that threatened her control was something she refused to stand for. The only reason Genelte Snow was still there was because both of them were exceedingly dangerous to one another, and neither wanted to test the other.

But day by day, Gentle Snow found herself questioning whether it would be worth it. Even if she died, if she could lead her militia down a better path, it would probably be worth it. But, if she were dead, could she make sure that they held the same faith she did? Having been oppressed by Helva for so long, did they have the same hope she had?

It was a dangerous chance to take. For now, she could only keep wrestling with herself. Perhaps one day she would find the chance, an opportunity to change things around.

Gentle Snow stayed behind with Emery, peeling off her sock and doing what she could to clean it up. It was surely infected, and would require a healer to fix. Otherwise she might have to lose the foot, or risk dying altogether.

About half an hour passed before Gentle Snow was able to wrap the foot with something dry and clean. Then, she gave Emery her back.

“Climb on.”

“I don’t want to burden you…”

“Don’t be silly. You’re our gardener. You’ve fed the entire militia for months on end, and I can’t even repay you by letting you ride my back? Climb on.”

“...”

Emery went quiet, sniffling one more time before climbing onto Gentle Snow’s back.

“Thank you, Snow.”

“We gotta stick together. I’m not leaving any of my girls behind.”

Gentle Snow smiled, waving the other couple girls along and beginning to walk again.

They didn’t last 5 minute though before something happened.

Gentle Snow suddenly stopped her steps, eyes squinting before she bolted forward. She went around a few trees before finding one of her sorcerers.

She was missing an arm and was skewered through the chest, pinned against the ground.

“...No.”

Gentle Snow shuddered before setting Emery down nearby.

“Stay here.”

“That was Claudia…”

“Don’t move from here! Just stay quiet until I return.”

With that instruction, Gentle Snow vanished, turning to the rest of the forest.

All color faded from her view, the atmosphere turning into a fog that she jumped into. She rode its power, every step taking her several meters with lithe precision.

She jumped across slick boulders and thin branches, traversing more distance and seeing several of her girls dead along the way, the sources of their power reduced to nothing.

Her eyes glistened, but she continued until she reached a small clearing.

There, she found the rest of the militia, Helva at their helm fighting off towering humanoid beasts.

There was a barrier on the other side of the clearing where the fog became deathly black. From there, Gentle Snow could feel some other beasts stalking them, warrily circling the militia.

Demon beasts, and what she could only assume were demons. They held solid metal spears which they used to cut down any and all attacks and defenses mounted by the sorcerers.

It was only when another sorcerer was cut down that Gentle Snow shot in, drifting around and finding the tendon of one of the demons, slicing it with her knife.

Her blade glided through, but met with shocking resistance that dulled her blade. Still, the tendon was severed, the demon falling to a knee with a guttural roar. Helva yelled, her body bloody as poisonous whips lashed out from her hands.

“Snow! Kill them!”

“Retreat, Helva! We need to go back!”

“No! We can kill these beasts if you all just hurry up and do something! Are you sorcerers?! Or are you powers worth nothing?!”

Another whip lashed, skewering a beast which crumbled under the acidic, poisonous power that was infused directly into its bloodstream.

Gentle Snow gritted her teeth, dashing around and continued to do what she could to protect her sorcerers.

She used her full strength, killing several beasts by her lonesom as well as two demons. She disabled anything she couldn’t immediately kill, allowing her militia to clean up.

Occasionally, rocks jutted out from the ground, skewering beasts. That was Tessia. Sometimes, little rocks would zip past at sonic speeds, thrown from one girl named Garnet. Another girl, Innia, tended to the wounds of a few others in the backline.

They were using their powers, but Gentle Snow knew that their use was crude. None of these girls got many opportunities to utilize their powers beyond the labor Helva would occasionally have them do. They certainly didn’t have the experience Gentle Snow or Helva herself did.

But their combined powers, given their variety, were able to put up a fight against these demons.

The beasts were soon killed, and most of the demons fell to accumulating wounds. Only after many minutes did the survivors abandon everything and flee, though not before attempting to steal a few sorcerer corpses.

Gentle Snow tried to stop them, but she was tired. She finally allowed herself to manifest when all the enemies were gone. When she did, the smell of blood and iron stung her nose.

She looked around, seeing 18 sorcerer corpses. They were all her girls, her friends, and memories of them surfaced when she saw their bloody faces.

Her chest constricted, a few tears falling before she turned to the others.

“...We’re going back. Right now.”

“No we’re not!”

Helva yelled from the side, wounded and just as exhausted.

“We’ve come too far! We need to keep pushing on! This is a trial that we must conquer!”

“No! I’ve had enough of this, and I will not allow you to march my girls to their deaths any longer!”

Gentle Snow practically screamed, more tears falling with every second that she remembered her dead friends.

She pointed to Helva.

“You can either follow us, or get left behind. You are no longer our leader. If you wish to go out there and take more risks, then do so. But you will do it without the militia.”

“You bitch! I created this militia! You would be nothing without me!”

“I don’t give a damn anymore, Helva. I will not cast you out, but you will no longer lord over us. So fall into place, or leave us. Should you threaten any of my girls, I will personally put you down.”

“You fucking…”

Helva shuddered, the blood on her face painting a nightmare.

Gentle snow turned to go help those still alive, yet her senses remained primed.

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And sure enough, she saw one of Helva’s poisonous whips lash out, threatening to skewer her.

She dodged, her agility on full display before she vanished into the surroundings.

But someone as advanced as Helva could still sense her. She continued to lash out, Gentle Snow dodging for a few seconds before suddenly shooting forward.

A sharp whip stabbed through her arm, but in exchange, Gentle Snow drove a knife into Helva’s ribs.

Gentle Snow looked into her eyes for a split second before dodging another whip and planting another knife in Helva’s back.

She did this three more times, four blades stabbed into her chest before Gentle Snow arrived in front of Helva once more.

And then, she slashed her neck, blood flying, Helva’s eyes widening in shock as she collapsed.

Gentle Snow cried as the life faded from Helva’s eyes.

“May you be the first and last sister I ever kill. May you find peace, somewhere, you rotten woman.”

Gentle snow sheathed her blade, leaving the other knives behind as she collected the surviving sorcerers.

And they turned back with but one destination.

Northtown, what would be their one and only refuge.

……

…

.

It was but 3 days before the Months of Darkness began. Ironically, as the day approached, I got less and less busy.

We almost had enough flintlocks to arm every soldier. We also had more than enough spears to do the same just in case. The only issue was the amount of ammunition.

Lead was expensive, even more so when I had to pay to have most of the bullets shaped by a smith. I could do a lot by myself, but I still had to take precautions. Churning out so many flintlocks was already pushing it, and so I had to keep my smiths busy with bullet work instead.

As for black powder, we had plenty for our troops to be shooting all day, every day, for the next month. Sir Bollun was able to help us procure some, though only after I showed him our flintlock rifles.

That’s when I learned something interesting.

Flintlocks had already been invented.

They weren’t widespread by any means, and turns out, knowledge of them was being hidden by the Order. That meant that the Order had some, probably a lot, and were trying to hold a monopoly on them.

Whether their powders were as perfect as mine or not, the fact that black powder weapons had already been invented was a bit of a game changer. It hinted toward a lot of other technologies being available as well. But if the Order was using their influence to stifle the technology from spreading, then it was no wonder these people weren’t yet industrializing despite being primed for it.

It was quite malicious, though I couldn’t say it wasn’t effective. Firearms represented a monumental change in the dynamic of warfare. If someone could keep a monopoly on them, then they would dominate all battlefields. It was clear that the Order knew what they were doing. I wondered what other conspiracies they were behind, especially their hatred for sorcerers. I had a feeling there was much more behind that detail than most knew.

Well, that would be an issue for later.

Sir Bollun stayed for over a week. He apparently enjoyed the atmosphere of Northtown and given who he was, he was more than capable of ignoring work for that duration. Either way, every day he stayed was another point scored for me. Our relationship was growing, though it was unfortunate that I couldn’t spend as much time with him as I wanted. I was still busy with my own affairs, most of which were still a secret.

Northtown still had yet to know anything about the nearby Corrupt Rift. I had built a wall and trained an effective small army, but not even the soldiers knew we would be getting attacked very soon.

It was too late to back out now though. I was investing everything into this, and I wouldn’t fail, even if I was forced to act myself.

At some point, Sir Bollun left. I was honestly glad when he did because I was getting worried about the scrutiny regarding the sorcerers.

Tiya was getting more comfortable, and Rachel had no issues making herself at home. This was all fine except for the fact that both of them enjoyed being in my presence. This was a problem when many in the household were watching.

The Baron had to let go many people, including maids and guards. I also didn’t allow him to take any more risks by informing people of Rachel and Tiya’s identities, fidning out whether or not they sympathized. It only took one wrong chance to ruin everything, and I wasn’t keen on earning more enemies while we were battling demon beasts.

As for the Baron’s wife and sons, only the wife was informed while the sons were left in the dark. All they knew was that two very pretty girls were now lingering within the manor. They tried to seek them out frequently, but thankfully Tiya and Rachel knew how to make themselves scarce by sticking around my claimed spaces. Those sons weren’t keen on running into me.

Unfortunately for the girls though, I was being even more scarce than they were. I had too much to do and thus ended up neglecting them for up until now. Grace informed them of what was coming, so they understood why. Tiya could handle it, and I tried to talk to her whenever I could. But Rachel ended up hurting herself a few times, relapsing basically.

I did feel bad, but for now, I couldn’t be holding her hand.

And so a couple more days passed. Things were going good, and everything was in place.

I finally found some time to relax, lounging back into my chair in the study.

I wondered where Gentle Snow was, how the sorcerers militia was doing.

“How are you feeling?”

I heard Grace’s voice as she walked in. Thankfully she was alone, because I’d prefer not to put on a face for Tiya or Rachel at the moment.

“I’m feeling alright. Perhaps a bit tired. I might sleep for a few more hours tomorrow.”

“I think you should. You’ve done more than enough to earn it.”

“I’ll have earned laziness when I solve the issues threatening to wipe us out. Including the Order.”

“That would be many years from now at best.”

“Then I’ve got my work cut out for me.”

“Jeez. If you’re not careful then you’ll be the one vomiting from stress.”

Grace walked around to my side, looking at the papers on the desk.

“More academic material?”

“Something like that. Sometime after the Months of Darkness, I want to reformat the local school. Education standards need to rise, and it starts with the younger generation. We’ll need more skilled labor in the future if we wish to generate a great economy.”

“That would also take many years, if not decades to realize.”

“It all starts somewhere. What’s that saying? The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

“Hm.”

Grace hummed, pondering, eventually shrugging.

Then, the door in front of us flew open.

The Baron stepped inside, a girl I had never met before with him. She was dirty and a bit bloodied.

My face sharpened.

“Lord Audius-”

“Take me there.”

“Y-Yes sir.”

I stood and ran out with Grace. We left the Manor, getting graced with the cool night air.

From there we went and found a local stable, the Baron taking some horses which we rode to the walls.

I had yet to establish patrols, though I’d be doing just that soon. Either way, there were no soldiers manning the walls, so nobdy was there to see the sight.

A militia of sorcerers, much smaller than what I was told, and most of them ding in some way.

I spotted Gentle snow, who came running over with blood across her clothes.

“Audius!”

“Snow, what happened?”

“We were attacked by demons and demon beasts in the mountains. Over half of us were wiped out…”

Tears threatened to fall. She was physically and mentally exhausted, her short white hair dissheveled and speaking to the battle she went through, not to mentio the mounds on the rest of the sorcerers.

After taking a glance back at her dying militia, she looked toward me, practically begging me with her eyes.

“Hey, it’s alright.”

I put a hand up to her face, wiping her grimy cheek with my thumb.

“You made it, Snow. Let me help you now. I’m going to take care of you all, like I promised.”

“...Thank you…”

More tears fell as she tried her best to pull herself together. Then, I walked over to the other sorcerers.

There were 8 of them, as well as 3 corpses. They had been dragging along a cart with some food scraps in it to carry the injured.

I went to them before subtly touching my left hand to their bodies, having my Tool scan them one by one.

[Subject 1: Evisceration across the lower left quadrant of the abdomen. Kidney contusion and intestinal laceration. Infection.

Subject 2: Degenerative Trench Foot. Infection. Early signs of septic shock.

Subject 3: Major blood loss. Stab wound through the right quadricep. Femur fracture. Internal bleeding.

Subject 4: Linear skull fracture. Cerebral Spinal Fluid leakage. Concussion. Blunt trauma to the left chest and lung.

Subject 5: Extreme fatigue.

Subject 6…]

The Tool listed out all the life threatening injuries of each girl. Some were okay, many were not. It was clear that all those wounded needed advanced treatment, and fast. How they made it this far and still managed to live, I had no idea. They should’ve died a while ago.

Well, although I couldn’t just fix them up like I normally would, I could at least keep some of the from getting worse.

I went over to those with infections, subtly activating the Tool once more.

“Atomize.”

[Atomizing infections…]

The Tool used radiation to target the infected material and bacteria within their bodies. Because organic material was much easier to atomize than pure iron was, the process was quick.

I spent no more than a minute or so both diagnosing them and ridding them of the infection. Even the girl who was about to enter septic shock was stabilized. Now we just had to keep them from dying any more than they had.

“Baron!”

“My Lord!”

“Hitch the cart to a horse, and let’s get them all to the manor. These girls are dying, and if we don’t treat them fast, most won't survive past the night.”

“Understood! Pointe, help me!”

The Baron brought Sir Pointe with him. The man had been brought along for this very erason.

They tied the cart to a horse, which was easy since the cart was built for that in the first place. And before long, we were riding back to the manor. Thankfully it was night, otherwise we’d be attracting a lot of eyes.

We rolled straight to the front doors before stopping the cart and offloading the girls. Those who were able started picking them up and carrying them to my room, which was the biggest room in the manor.

I shoved the bed out of the way and made mats with blankets before starting to triage each girl as they were brought in. None of them were actively dying. With me having killed all infections on the atomic level, so long as we could get them any half decent treatment, they’d recover given time.

The issue was that I didn’t have the tools for half decent treatment. I had no surgical supplies to repair internal organs, nothing to clean them properly, nothing that could numb their pain.

I received scans of each girl, quickly figuring out who needed treatment first. Then, I asked the Baron.

“Is there a doctor somewhere in this city?”

“There is. Should I bring them here?”

“No. Take me there. I need supplies if I’m going to treat them.”

I stood and started walking out, giving one last order.

“Grace.”

“Yes?”

“Start cleaning them. Wipe down the wounds, get their clothes out of the way. And Rachel.”

“Hm?”

I looked toward Rachel, who stood in the corner of the room watching.

“Can you heal them?”

“I guess.”

“Then do so. These girls need your help. Do what you can until I get back.”

I left with that, running out of the manor before jumping on the horse. The Baron was right behind me as we started galloping down the streets.

He led me to the doctor. Once there, I didn’t politely enter like I should have. Instead, I atomized the lock and threw open the door.

“Stay out here.”

“Yes…”

The Baron remained outside as I went through the place. There was nobody home, so I was able to use my Tool to identify every item within the shop, from herbal remedies to more proper medicines and medical equipment.

I grabbed everything useful, snatching a box and filling it before running back out and closing the door behind me.

“Let’s go.”

“Right.”

The two of us hurried back. Once we made it, I had the Baron clear out the horses and cart with Sir Pointe before I went in.

I got back to the room, seeing Rachel kneeling over one of the girls. She had her hands hovering over an abdominal wound, but there was nothing happening.

Rachel looked at me with a small frown.

“It’s taking me longer than normal to heal them.”

“Probably because the wounds are bad. Thank you though. Now…”

I kneeled down beside her and looked at the girl. Then, I brought out some sutures and a mild numbing agent.

I looked around, seeing everyone working except Gentle Snow. She paced anxiously.

“Snow.”

“Hm?”

“Come here.”

I waved her over, letting her kneel down beside me before speaking softly.

“The numbing agent isn’t strong, so this is going to hurt. I need you to hold her.”

“...I understand.”

“Thank you. Grace, once you’re done, I need some water over here.”

“Got it.”

“Then let’s start.”

I looked at the girl’s abdominal wound in front of me. The dirt and blood was cleaned away, so I could clearly make out the flesh wound. The Tool also gave me a full scan, allowing me to see the internal laceration. I had to repair that first.

So I applied some of the numbing agent around the area before opening up the wound a bit, taking a look inside. It wasn’t pretty, but it was fixable. The weapon that inflicted this was just a spear, nothing like the wounds caused by the advanced weaponry I was used to.

Memories of pulverized flesh and ground organs surfaced in my mind while I hooked one of the lacerated intestines with my suture needle. With some atomizing, I sharpened the needle on a molecular level, allowing it to pierce flesh with buttery ease. It still caused the girl pain though, and she started groaning after waking up.

I sutured quickly. The most pain was coming from me opening up the abdominal wound. I needed to get in and out.

Before long, the intestine was sewn up. I got some water from grace and washed out the area. Definitely not sterile, but that’s what atomization was for.

After that, I simply sewed together the muscle and flesh. Soon, the girl was fixed up, though not after plenty of pain. It was a good thing Gentle Snow was there to hold her.

“Just one more bad night. Everything’s going to be fine after this.”

I muttered while moving on to the girl with the broken femur. While the girl with the skull fracture wasn’t doing well, the fracture wasn’t bad, and thus didn’t need my immediate treatment. There wasn’t much I could do to fuse a broken bone anyway.

So I fixed what I could. Once these girls were repaired and set up right, it would just take some time to heal. Perhaps later I could find a healer to take care of them.