Burning flaming was slowly covering Monk’s body, as if taking him in its embrace, finally taking his soul to his dear God. Both Lawrence and Robert were silently watching it, immersed in their thoughts. They had time to speak, while they were digging a hole in the ground outside of captured village. Using remnants of useless fortification made from furniture, they set a grand fire above the motionless body of their friend, before setting everything a flame.

“From the ground we came, to the ground we will return. We took some energy from nature, so we need to return some of it back. That is what Monk told me once. That’s why all priests are burned to ashes, before burying,” Wolf explained to Robert, when the latter stood before Monk, not knowing what to do.

So they did it. Others buried most of their fallen mates in group graves, rarely taking care only of their closest ones. The sergeant wanted to stop them, but after seeing it was for Paul, he just nodded, not trying to hide his sadness. Monk’s invaluable help in the treatment of wounded made him very popular among all militia. It wasn’t rare when another soldier came to him with advice to stop stomach pain or fewer. Unfortunately, knights and the Baron in particular didn’t appoint any dedicated medics for militia, treating the latter as expendable resources. Maybe at first, he indeed wanted to make a properly motivated force, but the war quickly made him abandon that thought, solely focusing on saving the most experienced elites and resources. However, that wish was met with a hard reality today.

Baron’s plan was predictable, and the enemy managed to get ready for it. That was the reason why Rob’s group broke through the fence without big problems and met only one knight. Others, with most of the warriors, waited for the main force to ambush them. All villagers were evacuated beforehand, giving the defenders no need to look after the local civilians. Still, that appeared to be not enough to stop the attack, as they all died. However, the enemy made the cost of this victory huge, almost unbearable, despite overwhelming superior forces in the end.

From all the personal guards and most skilled warriors, only less than ten left. Two-thirds of the knights died, leaving Baron with only three alive, while one of them even lost his leg in a fierce fight. Highmoon’s drake died, unexpectedly fulfilling Rob’s wish not to meet one in the battle. Even Baron’s own life was on the verge of death, being saved by William at the last moment. Robert was very surprised to hear it, as he personally missed all that, staying near the breach in the palisade. For him, everything ended when a few enemies tried to run away, but were met by Rob’s mace. After that he just stayed there, finding a proper reason not to participate in battle again as he was guarding a possible escape route. He even got two dead proofs beside him.

“Here, take it,” Wolf broke the silence, taking out a flask.

“What is it?” Rob asked, before thinking.

“Something strong,” Lawrence smirked, “Something that wouldn’t hurt right now.”

“Where did you get it?” Asked Robert, before making a sip. Burning liquid went through the throat, leading to a sudden cough, but at the same time slightly clearing his mind. He made a few more sips without pause, this time ready for the strength of the thing, “Nice drink you have.”

“Valenzo helped with that. His connections are literally everywhere, you just need money to use them. And before you ask where I got coins if we didn’t get any salary…” Wolf tried to continue but was interrupted.

“Nope, it’s easy to guess. Despite Baron’s effort to collect all valuables for himself, something is always slipping through his hands,” Robert pointed his figure to his own backpack, where “new” boots waited for him. The hole in the old one was too big right now for any possible fixes. He also had some plans for armor, but that was much harder to keep – Daniel would be forced to take it from him.

“Oh my. Stick-Boy is losing his innocence quickly,” smiled Lawrence.

“It's innocence versus common sense to increase my chance of survival. And I must tell you I am not dumb to trade my life for my pride or arrogance,” Robert shook his head.

“Aspen would disagree with you. He calls it honor, not pride.”

“While Monk might settle everything in between, proclaiming that in time of need God can allow some misdeeds for the greater goal of saving own life, but you would definitely need to repay the debt at least severalfold to restore the balance…”

“He was a great man,” sighed Wolf, looking at the slowly dying flame.

“Indeed he was,” nodded Robert, turning quiet again.

They stayed until the fire disappeared completely without speaking anymore. They silently buried the ashes that left, before leaving the place. They didn’t out any tombstone or any sign, but Rob was sure that the shy smile of Monk was forever engraved in his memory together with others – Captains, James, Leo, Marg, Brad… The list was long enough to feel a dull pain in the heart, but not to put him in depression. His own goal hadn’t changed – he wanted to survive to experience all sorts of things in life, and not just to struggle through hardship all the time. It could take him time to be strong enough for that, so what? He would achieve that, despite unfavorable odds.

Now that I think, I must admit that my experience in Iseskai adventure so far was pure disaster. All I saw were training camps, fields, and burned villages… Oh, and the brothel – that was at least a pleasant experience. No pubs or taverns. Where is my adventure guild? Where are my auctions? Where is my magic academy? Where is my harem? Not that I want one – never was a fan of multiple girlfriends simultaneously. It is more unreal than damned magic. And magic – where is my incomparable magic power? Oh, at least the nature here is indeed outstanding…

Two moons, shining from above onto cloudless sky together with blooming flowers across a grassy green field looked quite stunning, despite the attempt of darkness to cover everything. The surroundings never really went black, but with this unknown to Robert flower, it looked like hundreds of fireflies were everywhere around, glowing with different shades of blue and purple. With the addition of a weak breeze, insect chirping, and overall calmness, it created impressive scenery in Rob’s eyes. He didn’t have enough words to describe the beauty of simplicity in nature, that was pictured before him, but he didn’t have to – only to enjoy it to fullness.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

The following part of the night was spent in an attempt to fix his damaged armor. Firstly Robert changed his boots to new ones, praying his luck, that despite his lower heights in comparison to natives, his foot size was quite average. On Earth, he often was called a flippers-wielder because of that, making it hard to find his boots from standard options. Here, fortunately, it was not the case. However, the need to repair everything by himself compensated for that by a good margin, not in a good way. He had to save some metal plates or get new ones from the enemy’s bodies, while not being captured by Baron’s knights, just to keep his defense on the proper level. At least the main damage went not to steel but to leather, straps, or cloth – the things, which could be fixed without having a blacksmith. Still, he noticed some problems in local armor that probably didn’t exist on Earth or were less crucial.

The armor was always meant for protection. Therefore, if it couldn’t do the thing as it was often shown in movies, it was completely useless. The proper medieval chest plate could handle even low-caliber bullets from some distance. Robert read the military history books and knew that it was not the guns that killed knighthood, but the economy. Canons were created before full plate armor by at least a full century. The problem was the cost of armor. The owners, who could possibly afford it, had to use it for themselves. However, it was cheaper and much safer for them to recruit a hundred low-armored soldiers and send them to the battlefield, while personally staying at the back. Moreover, it was safer – you didn’t need armor against anything if you didn’t fight personally, right? Therefore, the armor was always good protection, which started to be outbalanced by the cost in later history, when the life cost less than the means to save it in most cases.

Therefore, the armor could protect even against direct hits. You couldn’t just pierce the chest plate with one hit. It wasn’t just for decorations or looks as it was in movies, looking paper-thin. It was made for a purpose and fulfilled it. However, here, in this world, two additional factors made it less useful than it might be. At least that was what Robert’s observations told him. The first one was the physique of locals. The bigger bodies indeed had more strength, but because of their sizes, the armor had to be also bigger, which meant heavier. However, they still used around the same thickness of steel to make it wearable in the fight, but it had to be put against higher force because of heavier weapons and stronger muscles. The second reason was in the steel itself. The mages made it possible to mass produce protection gear in mass, but somehow quality of the material was not on a good level. Maybe it was something with the properties of steel itself, he didn’t know.

Together, that made armor able to handle some hits before breaking, but it was definitely not on the level, where the opponents had to aim into joint points to hurt each other. With enough force behind strikes, warriors could literally break through the protection. That was the main reason of often need for repair of Robert’s equipment and the cause of his unslept night. Not speaking that his pants were torn. Again.

“Oh, finally found you. What are you doing?” asked William, walking into the abandoned house, which was temporarily occupied by Robert. Most of the soldiers were gathered in a few houses nearby, but Rob was sent out not to disturb other's rest. He was the only one who didn’t want to put off repair of equipment, just in case of emergency. Others were not so diligent or were sure that everything would be ok.

“Repairing my armor. It took some hits, saving me in the process, but I want it to keep protecting me further. And our dear Baron doesn’t want to spend money on proper artisans in his force for organized process… He only gathers trophies…”

“Stop it. Don’t insult Baron Highmoon!” William hastily interrupted Rob, making the latter one to sigh.

“I got it… You saved his life and now with him being grateful, he can become your ticket to go up.”

“Indeed, Baron Highmoon was thankful for my assistance and is willing to grant me a knighthood. And about his not being willing to spend resources – it’s simply not true. He just wants to sell everything together through his own means to get better value, so each family with a fallen guard or knight under his service could get proper monetary help!” Aspen really believed in what he was saying, and Rob didn’t see any chance to convince him, despite having enough arguments. William was clearly raised in a noble-naive way and sincerely failed to notice a lot of dirt behind this self-set veil.

Only knights and guards… but what about ordinary militia? Or those coachmen from the first ambush? Will they be forgotten? Moreover, we didn’t get our salary in the first place and now Baron is speaking about some compensation for loss. It even sounds ridiculous!

“Monk has died. He also saved me right before his own death. We buried him outside in the field….” Robert changed the topic after some heavy silence.

“I heard it from Lawrence. Such a pity. He was an excellent warrior and had a vast knowledge of wound treatment, helping many soldiers, easing their pain, and putting them back on their feet in no time. Also, he was a good friend. Slightly shy, but with noble and grand goals. It is a real tragedy.”

“It would be great speech before his burial over his body,” nodded Robert. “But you missed it.”

“Indeed. Unfortunately, Baron insisted on my presence, and I couldn’t ignore it. He was making new plans and wanted to listen to my opinion on possible next steps.” Explained William with a mixture of clear sadness and pride.

“What new steps? Almost all his force is dead or injured. It would be suicide to continue advances right now. Tell me that he does understand it, right?” Robert asked in disbelief.

“Baron Highmoon thinks that after the loss of enemy Baron Silverfield and even Count Greywolf in this village, their defense is emptied. They had gathered more knights than we had, but still failed, dying in the process. I tend to agree with it – strategically it has a good reason to strike the enemy before he can recover. Don’t think they have any knights left at all. This huge weakness can be used right now. We just need to be careful in further advances.” William’s words made Robert curse inwardly. Everyone was sure that they would head back tomorrow – such losses couldn’t be ignored, but what he was hearing was completely the opposite.

“Do you know that it is us who are in a weak position, not our enemy? Even if they have no knights left, but what about other soldiers?”

“It is not a problem. The knights are the ones who decide the outcome of the battle!” These words were said with clear pride and admiration. William’s eyes were almost shining.

“Do you know that no one from your squad survived?” Rob made another attempt to probe Aspen’s reaction.

“Yes, it was the first thing I checked. An unfortunate outcome, but I remembered the locations of everyone’s families, so after I become a knight, I can make sure they will get the reward they deserve! I won’t forget anyone! However, it is a battle, and it happens. We can both die too. Such is a life of the warrior, which they willed to become.”

Robert was at a loss after hearing it. Only a small part of the militia went willingly, while the biggest was recruited forcefully, having no real choice in such a matter. The medieval ages didn’t leave any possibility to protest against such treatment. Moreover, they were not knights with their rules and search for glory on the battlefield. Aspen in his own manner tried to put his vision of life onto everyone. His righteousness, his willingness to treat everyone as equal, and his trust in people met with his naivety and unconscious idealization of reality. After adding his goal of reaching a knighthood and raising a rank, it set his eyes too high. So high that he didn’t notice anything beyond some level.

“I congratulate you for your achievement then. How many was that? Around six months from entering training camp to getting needed merits for your advancement. You will soon abandon your call sign, but it surprisingly still fits you, Aspen. Not because you are mute and blonde, but because as any tree, you aim high...” Robert said, before inwardly finishing the sentence.

…ignoring everything beneath you…