Chapter 156: Lucian Has Changed
Half a day later.
The sun had shifted west, washing the dirt road between the hills in a low, dusty yellow. Out on the distant horizon, a few vultures were still circling — drawn by the smell of blood, then frightened off by the approaching column.
Lucian pulled his reins and raised a hand.
"Halt."
The two hundred cavalrymen behind him stopped at the same moment. The horses stepped in place a few times, kicking up a small cloud of dust.
What lay ahead made several of the younger soldiers in the front row draw a sharp breath.
Bodies. Everywhere.
Dark brown bear-beastman warriors lay across the dirt road in a continuous spread, running from the center of the road up along the gentle slopes of the hills on either side, as though some invisible giant hand had dragged a plow across the earth.
Their limbs were twisted at impossible angles, piled one over another, impossible to untangle.
Murmuring broke out along the column — but it was kept instinctively low, as though everyone was afraid of disturbing something.
"This... Sebas-sama did all of this alone?"
"This many bear-beastmen... alone..."
"I can't even imagine it."
"He didn't even look that built, the old — "
"Watch your mouth. That's Sebas-sama you're talking about."
"Right, right — Sebas-sama."
The veterans didn't join the murmuring. They looked at the scene in silence, and the hands holding their reins tightened slightly without their noticing.
The adjutant led a few soldiers forward to begin the count.
Lucian's gaze moved over the carnage.
Sebas was already gone.
From the state of the site, the fighting had ended some time ago.
Lucian dismounted and walked toward the nearest body.
It was a powerfully built bear-beastman warrior. His chest had collapsed inward, caved in from a single direct punch.
The look frozen in his bear eyes was one of complete disbelief.
Lucian looked at it for only a moment, then turned away.
"My lord." The adjutant came back at a quick walk, his expression carrying something that didn't quite have a name. "Count is complete."
"How many?"
"Survivors — two hundred and sixty-three." The adjutant paused, then added, "A portion are injured. Most are unconscious and their condition can't be fully assessed yet."
Lucian nodded.
"And the dead?"
"Rough estimate — over three thousand." The adjutant's voice had a slight tightness to it. "We're still counting the exact figure, but... at minimum, three thousand."
Several soldiers nearby who caught the number went quiet without thinking about it.
Three thousand bear-beastman warriors.
If the Kingdom's own forces were the ones facing a beastman force of that size, they would need to field at least thirty thousand soldiers just to hold the line.
And Sebas had done it alone.
"Confiscate the survivors' weapons." Lucian gave the order. "Fold them into the column with the tiger-beastman prisoners."
The column already had roughly a hundred tiger-beastman warrior prisoners — the ones left alive from the raids on the Steel Fang Tribe's villages. Lucian had kept his promise to Sebas. None of them had been killed.
The adjutant hesitated.
"My lord, do you mean... all of them?"
"All of them."
The adjutant's brow drew together. He glanced at Lucian, clearly wanting to say something.
"My lord." He chose his words carefully. "Including this group... our total beastman prisoner count will be over three hundred."
The concern was not unreasonable.
Over three hundred beastman prisoners.
The Aindra cavalry numbered two hundred in total.
Even without weapons, even with a good portion of them wounded, the moment the prisoners outnumbered the guards, the whole situation became a lit fuse.
Lucian looked at the adjutant's face full of worry and said nothing to explain himself.
"Do it." He said.
The adjutant set his jaw and lowered his head.
"Yes, my lord."
He turned and began directing the soldiers to carry out the order.
Germann had been standing nearby the whole time, and his expression showed considerably more worry than the adjutant's.
"My lord."
"Mm."
"There are too many of these animals." Germann's tone was restless. "If they decide to —"
"They won't." Lucian knew what Germann was going to say, but cut him off anyway.
A silence.
Germann spoke again, his voice lower than before.
"My lord. Should we just... kill them."
Lucian turned to look at him.
"What did you just say?"
Germann had felt something in the way Lucian looked at him, but he held his ground and repeated himself:
"I said kill them. These animals are nothing but trouble if we keep them. Better to do it now while we have the chance. I'll make it clean."
"I gave Sebas my word that I wouldn't do that."
The steadiness in Lucian's answer was enough to lock the rest of Germann's words in his throat.
"My lord." There was a frustration in Germann's voice now. "You've changed. Ever since you got to know that man..."
"Germann."
Lucian's voice dropped half a note.
Germann looked at those calm, untroubled eyes. He could see that Lucian was not going to move on this, not even slightly. In the end he let out a dull sound of acknowledgment and said nothing more.
Lucian looked at that aggrieved expression and felt the corner of his mouth twitch without quite meaning to.
"That's enough. Fall back."
Germann raised his head and shot Lucian one last look — a look full of things that couldn't be put into words — then turned and walked back toward the column. His footsteps were heavier than usual.
Lucian looked out toward the distance again.
The horizon was a flat grey smear. Nothing to see.
He turned things over quietly in his mind.
From what he knew of the beastman king, the man would not surrender easily — not even knowing what Sebas was capable of. He would likely mobilize more forces and try to overwhelm Sebas through sheer numbers.
But no matter what the beastman king attempted, the result could only go one way. He had no chance of defeating Sebas.
So when every direct attempt had failed...
Lucian's gaze came back down to the battlefield at his feet.
This stretch of ground covered in bodies. The bear-beastman prisoners. And behind him, his own cavalry column — the one that made no effort at all to conceal its movements.
Something faintly bitter showed in Lucian's expression.
This unit, moving slowly along behind Sebas while escorting beastman prisoners.
What an obvious vulnerability.
The beastman king would see it immediately. He would absolutely use it as leverage against the terrifying old man — a way to hold him in check.
And when the beastman king came for them...
Lucian looked, with something that was not quite comfortable, at Touch Me in the column.
Although — if the beastman king lost his nerve and surrendered outright from fear of Sebas, then Lucian would move to the backup plan: push the beastman prisoners into a revolt.
Right now, the prisoners stumbled forward under cavalry escort. Occasionally one of them raised their head, took in the sight of the fully armed riders around them, and quickly looked back down.
If several hundred beastman prisoners rose up at once, the Aindra cavalry would be pulled into the chaos just the same.
Either way, the result was the same.
Lucian pulled his gaze back and lowered his eyes.
Touch Me will just have to suffer for it. The guilt is mine to carry.