Heisen's Eye

Chapter 50

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Astrid's POV
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With the bodies and the injured soldiers, our trek back to camp was more arduous than the one into the forest.

What was a 20 minute walk to the Fenrir trap turned into a 2 hour hike back to the camp.

With the bodies and the injured slowing us down, as well as the consistent attacks from the forest's wildlife, most of the soldiers who could still walk were worn out.

Though the fight with the Fenrir was only a few minutes long at best, it had heavily weighed down on the hearts of who had survived, since it killed nearly a fifth of our subjugation squad in seconds.

As for the soldier that Ryu had saved, he was walking with his head held high, for some reason.

At some point, I had found the opportunity to talk to him, and had asked why, with him responding,
"I faced off against the S-Rank monster and survived, as well as killing some B-Rank fenrirs, what's not to be proud of?"

I couldn't even respond to the remark he made, since it left me utterly dumbfounded.

I later found out that he had only killed 2 firnirs, and some soldiers claim they saw him shaking while he stood against the Fenrir, but who knows...

When we reached the camp, the mood of the group didn't get any lighter, since they knew what they would have to do once everyone was healed.

But I didn't focus on that, and instead went straight to healing the wounds of the 14 soldiers who had been severely wounded.

Though, most of the severe wounds were things like broken bones, but I class them as severe since they can be deadly when gotten on a battlefield.

As for Ryu, we couldn't do much until the drawbacks of the enhancement magic had worn out, since he would probably die from healing magic, considering how weak his body already is.

For the moment, we had to give him a small restorative potion which, while not much, should bring back some strength to his body.

As for the walk back to Alzibria, it was a unanimous decision to wait until the soldiers were rested since it would probably take a full day to reach the town, and we don't have the ability to walk far right now.

With the camp, we had taken down most of the tents as we hadn't expected to have taken so many casualties from the subjugation, so we had to set the tents back up.

The bodies of the deceased were placed a little away from the camp, with a small barrier magic over it so that any animals or monsters in the area wouldn't eat them as well as a hint of ice magic, so we could take them back to their families.

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Morning came quickly, and the atmosphere of the group seemed lighter than yesterday, though not by much.

Everyone still understood that too many people had died during the fight, and that, as the survivors, they'd have to follow through with the concequences.

It also appears that some of the soldiers who had fought the firnirs and survived had taken some of the bodies with them, which meant that we had food for the morning.

I woke up to the smell of meat cooking in a small pot over a fire, as the sun washed over the grass plains around us.

The soldiers that were awake surrounded the fire that was under the pot, since it was still winter, and the mornings next to and in the forest were unbearably cold.

After I had woke up, it didn't take long for the meal to be dished out, and for the rest of the soldiers to wake up.

Many of them still looked tired, probably unable to sleep due to the events of yesterday.

It isn't hard to believe that some of them were probably hating themselves for not being able to save a soldier that was next to them.

Captain also seemed to understand this as he stood up while we were all eating around the fire, ready to make a speech.

"Listen up! The events of yesterday were... Undeniably awful. We lost too many men to the trap that we knew was nearby. We lost too many men to firnirs that had grouped up on them. As the leader of the subjugation squad, I'm ashamed of myself for allowing these men to die. I'm ashamed of myself for allowing the monsters to ambush us. But understand this! The men that died did so to save the town of Alzibria! And they did what they wanted! This was a voluntary mission, and you all still came with us! You should be proud of putting yourself on the line for that town! You should be proud of those who have fallen for putting their lives on the line for that town! Be proud! Live on, for the sake of those who couldn't! Those men were your comrades! So take the lives of your comrades in your heart and never forget what you all accomplished! No matter how big or small! You all accomplished something! Live on! Live on as soldiers who fought to protect each and every life in that town!" (Captain)

His voice echoed across the plains and into the forest, silencing everything around us.

Slowly, the soldiers around us seem to light up, cheering and clapping for the speech.

The atmosphere of the camp was significantly better than before, but it still held the dark under one of what had happened.

"Hey now, Astrid, don't make that face." (Airi)

"Huh? What face?" (Astrid)

"You know, the droopy face. The face you make when you're thinking something bad. Something like 'They're ignoring what just happened', or something." (Airi)

"... Airiri, you know what?" (Astrid)

"What is it?" (Airi)

"I'm absolutely terrified of your mind reading ability." (Astrid)

"Eeh? Mind reading? I don't have anything like that." (Airi)

"Are you sure? You practically guessed exactly what I was thinking." (Astrid)

"You should've seen the face you were making, anyone could have guessed." (Ryu)

From my left, Ryu makes a comment under his breath but I still caught it.

"I thought I could hide my emotions pretty well..." (Astrid)

"They're some good delusions." (Ryu)

With that remark, Ryu stands up and walks over to the edge of camp, out of my view.

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Author Notes
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New chapter, more self disappointment because I forgot to write and publish for an entire week.

Actually, I didn't forget, I actually published chapter 49 several times, but none of them seemed to work, so I guess it's just a Wattpad thing.

But anyway, this chapter took nearly 2 weeks to write and finish, because I couldn't think of anything to write for this. At all.

The speech was something that I wrote from the top of my head, although thos entire book is off the top of my head and is basically held together using tape that has already been stuck on several things and torn off. As of now, I can't even think of the plot of this book other than: Ryu just living.

But that's all I need to say, other than sorry for the block of text that speech made, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!