Elderwood Plains' Battle (4)

As soon as Freya fell, the elves' morale collapsed. It was already low to begin with, after they barely survived the two charges of the humans they considered weak. Rather than weak humans, what they were facing were iron monsters that were mercilessly killing them one by one.

John's charge had further strengthened the humans' morale, while crippling whatever resistance there was too.

Not even thirty minutes after the battle began, not a single elf was alive still.

While the soldiers were gathering the corpses to burn them, the three Landragon heirs had gathered. After hugging each other in satisfaction, the three brothers smiled.

"Good work, you two", John said, "You fulfilled your role better than I could have ever expected. I would have never imagined to see that my little brother Victor, once too afraid of picking a sword against a bandit, lead a fearless charge against monstrous elves. As for you Arthur, what was that? By the time I reached the battlefield, most druids were killed already, and you didn't sustain a single injury!"

Arthur revealed a smile: "I must say that I have gotten my hands on some fairly good equipment back at the Ivory Tower. Coupled with my knowledge and battle experience, elven druids who have been living in the wilderness and fantasizing about forests would not compare to the average [Ivory Tower] acolyte, not to mention me, who was one of the strongest in this place"

Victor smiled: "Brothers, I think I have gotten much stronger thanks to you two. Thank you for giving me the responsibility to lead the charge..."

John smiled: "I wish you had this mindset earlier on, but I will take it nonetheless. Congratulations, Victor. With this, you have proven to me, to the world, that you are a worthy Landragon heir! Bards will tell your story throughout hte Porfield Kingdom, mark my words!"

Arthur said: "We should give a proper ceremony to the fallen soldiers, and then rush to the elven village rather than joining Count Elderwood's main army. After all, we were just attacked by a huge army of 200 soldiers, and it would be strange for us to have only lost 23 men. We have the perfect alibi for not showing up in front of Count Elderwood and make our own plans. Otherwise, we will end up being used as a sacrificial pawn. If we possess our independance, we will be able to make more achievements and reap more benefits"

John nodded at this strategy: "I agree, brother. Count Elderwood had used our Father in the past to block an army of 200 with only 100 men. This time, we won't allow this to happen. We will only fight battles that we can completely overwhelm, like this one. What are we going to do with elves?"

Arthur smiled: "We will make a deal with them. Of course, we will kill those who oppose us, and spare the lives of innocent in exchange for their artefacts and treasures. I am very interested in the knowledge they possess. I do have a close friend, Evangeline Falister, who possess the same affinity as druids. If she were to possess a few druidic spells, then her strength would increase by leaps and bounds"

John squinted: "The elven village would be a nice way to earn slaves, don't you think? Our goal in the [Southern Gate] war is neither fame nor the overwhelming victory of Count Elderwood, who is growing old and weak. Our goal is the [Starlight Ore] mine, which you are very interested in. Father gave his approval, and I gave mine as well, since it would be extremely beneficial for our territory to possess a [Magical Tower]. Just the fact that we might be able to build one would be enough to deter any bandit from coming over to the Landragon Household. Our household would earn countless political alliances as well, and Southern Kingdoms would never dare to cross our territory"

Arthur sighed: "Slavery is not necessary. Elves will bear a deep rooted hatred towards us, but it does not matter either. They are not enemies that can touch us to begin with. It is much more beneficial to earn the knowledge they possess instead"

John smiled: "Mm...If you think that it benefits us more in the long term, then I can only yield. This battle would not have been so easy, if it weren't for you...No...When I am thinking of that bear druid that you obliterated, then I don't think we could have won to begin with, heavy-armoured cavalry or not"

Arthur shook his head: "We each had our role to fulfill. We did our best, and we couldn't have done much better. Let's just enjoy this victory like our soldiers"

John and Victor smiled.

Indeed, it had been an overwhelming victory.

200 vs 100, with an overwhelming difference in individual strength considering the high proportion of magic-wielding elves.

Yet, the elven army had not even one remaining elf to tell the tales.

As for the human army, only 23 had fallen.

Just as John started to give a speech, Arthur grinned as he looked at the four items he had gotten...