CHAPTER 133: AFTERMATH

The morning was spent going over reports, ordering repairs to the portions of the city that had been bombarded and burned, and cleaning the remainder of the battlefield after the Dagos troops were long gone.

There was a surprising amount of military equipment simply abandoned on the battlefield. The artillery had destroyed the transport vehicles, and many of them had never even been opened, with whole loads of supplies still inside when the Burton defence force went to collect them for parts.

Over a hundred vehicles were pulled into the city the first day, all staged near the gates for inspection.

Loose supplies, weapons, and the storage devices of the fallen officers were all taken by the survivors. But spare uniforms, blankets, camp supplies, enlisted men’s weapons, and much more were discarded as too heavy to carry, or too hard to sell once they got home.

The uniforms could be stripped of badging and reused in the city, or cut for bandages and rags by the city’s residents.

The quality was decent, though. So, the consensus was that it would be better to simply dye the blue and yellow uniforms into something more suitable and keep them until they were worn out.

The process continued for the next three days, until everything was finished, and the city could send out a Magitech dozer to create a deep mass grave to put the now cooled remains of the Dagos Soldiers in, well past artillery range.

In case someone wanted to come visit the grave of their lost family members.

"We have a message from the Capital." Princess Alexis informed Dominic the morning after the last of the battlefield cleanup was finished.

"Oh, only good news, I hope?"

Princess Alexis unrolled the message scroll.

{Strategic update for the Royal Emplacements.

After the crushing defeat at Burton, the First, Second, and Fifth armoured Regiments of the Dagos army are now considered disbanded. Airborne artillery has been deemed a hard counter to armoured convoys, and His Majesty is altering our own tactics to prevent a reversal of these events.

The Dagos Airborne Special Forces were engaged by the airborne battleships at Burton City, and crashed before they could reach their target at the Capital.

Dropping outside a major target centre rendered their primary invasion tactics ineffective, and the implementation of magitech in the defence of Burton broke the siege lines in only one month.

The Cygnia Royal Army has pushed back the invaders, and peace talks are currently underway between the Second Prince and the Regent of Dagos.

King Conrad was felled in single combat with Prince Alex.

Long Live Cygnia}

Dominic read the message three times before he was sure that it had really sunk in.

"The King of Dagos is dead? Their most powerful Duke lost all his sons here, and the army has been driven back across the border? Well, it looks like they were waiting for something worth writing a message about." He joked.

"I guess that means we just have to wait for deployment orders to see where we go next." Princess Alexis agreed.

"Then, I should probably go fix all the rifles from the Noble Sons’ Regiment. I made them, and I’ve got the spare parts with me." Dominic suggested.

The new Marquis Burton frowned. "You are a gunsmith? Were you not a Royal Advisor before the war?"

Dominic nodded. "I was. But I am also an apprentice under the Royal Master Smith. I excel in the gunsmiths’ forges. The Royal Guards are quite fond of my pistols, and those are second rate items that were intended for retail sale, not military use."

The mana pistols now hung on the hips of every Royal Guard member, opposite their sword.

The blade was still the primary defensive weapon if they were engaged as a group. But if they needed to clear enemies quickly, the pistol was the way to go.

James smiled. "Some people have all the spotlight on them in life. Others do not, no matter how hard they try. Like my brother Dax. He was always in the shadow of his two older brothers, and now that he’s injured, General Merlot has taken over his Command duties."

Dominic hummed curiously. "I didn’t know that the General was with the Regiment. I had assumed that it would be in a command role, but Commander Dax has been our liaison."

The Marquis nodded. "General Merlot was their training officer, and he wasn’t put in a command position when they were deployed. Instead, he was placed as the King’s Regimental Overseer. Somewhat akin to a Royal Advisor, while the younger generation ran things on a day-to-day basis."

That made sense to Dominic. The General certainly had the rank to put himself in place as a Regimental Commander and still consider it a demotion.

So, having him embedded as an Advisor appointed by the King made a lot of sense.

"I will go see the General after our meeting, then. Keeping the Regiment properly armed while they are deployed here is of paramount importance, and there simply isn’t a better choice."

Princess Alexis looked at the stack of paperwork.

"Advisor, you can go take care of the Regiment. I suspect that we might not have long before another Dagos attack begins, and there is no guarantee that they won’t target us again.

We need those Rifles in peak form." She instructed.

"Understood. I will see you at dinner."

Dominic missed the look that the new Marquis gave him as he was leaving, but not the amused clank of metal on metal as the Royal Guards nudged each other.

He gave them a ’what?’ look as he passed, and the guards chuckled.

He could try to play innocent, but how many times in the last few weeks had they come in to the princess laying on his lap? How many times had she attacked him for trying to feed her pineapple?

Come to think of it, why did the kitchen keep agreeing to give Dominic more of the sour fruit, knowing exactly what was going to happen?