Claude came over and explained, "Rest assured, my lord. Attendant Bain is not in any serious danger, just a sword wound to his arm. We’ve already disinfected it with some clear coastal liquor and bandaged it up. He’ll be as good as new after a while."
One of the well-trained physicians said, "Rest assured, Lord Knight. Based on my years of experience, this Warrior is not in any serious danger."
Hearing this, Henry finally felt relieved.
’There wasn’t much he could do. At most, if Bain’s wound became infected and he died from it, he would just send these two physicians to accompany him.’
"That’s good, but you still need to be more careful in the future."
Henry looked at the injured Bain, a trace of concern in his eyes. This was his Attendant, an Attendant who had sworn an oath of loyalty to him.
Perhaps nobles with many attendants wouldn’t be so concerned about their subordinates, but Henry was different.
Henry was grooming Bain to be someone who could stand on his own!
At this moment, Bain weakly opened his eyes. Seeing Henry and Claude gathered around him, he smiled faintly. "I’m fine. Thank you, my lord. Thank you, steward."
Henry walked over and squatted down. He wanted to gently pat Bain’s shoulder, but thought better of it. Instead, he said comfortingly, "Rest well and recover quickly. I am your lord, and I need your protection and service. In your current state, you’re failing to measure up."
"Ha, of course. I will die before you do... My lord’s bravery is unmatched in the east. I can only help out from the sidelines."
Henry dragged his exhausted body back to his tent, collapsed onto the bed, and fell into a deep sleep.
In his dreams, Henry returned to the battlefield and once again began to slaughter the Half-Beastmen. He seemed to feel no fatigue, his weapon and armor never took any damage, and the Half-Beastmen appeared endlessly, as if he could never kill them all.
Henry turned and cut down a Fox Person. In a daze, he saw a towering figure sitting on a throne. It seemed... it seemed...
HUFF! HUFF!
Henry suddenly woke with a start, sitting bolt upright.
"Hmm?" Henry felt his body and found it was sticky, as if he had been sweating profusely.
’What was I just dreaming about? I think I saw...’
[Battle Summary
Battle Rating: Plains Engagement
Difficulty: Medium
Evaluation: Decisive Victory
Reward: 7 Overlord Training points]
[Your proficiency has increased, activating a new Two-Handed Passive Skill: ④ Bloodthirsty Butcher (Your strength increases when you are engaged in a bloody battle)]
[You have activated a new One-Handed Passive Skill: ⑤ Skillful and Confident (Your blade can more easily exploit an enemy’s weak points)]
[You have activated a new Command Passive Skill: ② High Morale (Your army can withstand greater casualties)]
[You have activated a new Command Passive Skill: ③ Old Bringing New (Your veterans will train new recruits)]
[You have activated a new Command Passive Skill: ④ Love Soldiers as Sons (Your soldiers will respect you more)]
[You have leveled up. Please allocate your free points.]
Henry, who was trying to recall his dream, had his train of thought broken by a series of panels that suddenly popped up. He immediately began to check them.
’The difficulties are ranked Trivial, Simple, Normal, Medium, Hard, Epic, and Legendary. This battle was rated Medium... is that because there were so many allied troops present? The system really doesn’t cut you any slack, huh.’
’But seven points is plenty. It makes fighting to the point of exhaustion worthwhile. I have eighteen points in total now. When I get back, I’m going on a major troop-building spree! ...Wait, these kill counts? The New Recruit Team was surprisingly effective.’
Henry fiddled with the panels as if he were playing a game, continuously checking the records.
When he saw his personal kill count, he was shocked himself!
’My heavens! I killed twenty-seven Centaurs, one Tiger-man, sixty-seven Gnolls, and forty-eight goat-men? Good grief, am I a Gundam or something?’
Henry nodded to himself and looked at his Personal Panel again.
However, after a closer look, he realized the Command Skills were rather useless to him. His future army was destined to undergo "Loyalty" training anyway.
Unless the Command Skill tree offered something special later on, it was completely useless.
"This is a no-brainer. I’ll add three points to my Vitality Attribute, bringing it straight to nine. As long as I keep on fighting, activating ten skills won’t be just a dream.
"As for my Personal Attributes, I’ll definitely put the points into Strength. Things like Wisdom and Charm? I don’t need them."
Just like that, Henry quickly allocated his special rewards, then lay back down, planning to get some more sleep.
He felt like he hadn’t slept well at all...
"My lord, are you awake?"
Henry rubbed his eyes in resignation and said, "Ailia, as your punishment, you’re not allowed to eat any meat today!"
Looking aggrieved, Ailia entered the tent and attended to Henry’s morning routine—washing, dressing, and eating—in one seamless process.
After Ailia had cleared the empty plates and left, Claude, who had been waiting outside, walked in holding several sheets of paper densely covered in text.
"My lord, the spoils from the Seventh Legion’s right flank and our own have all been tallied. Everything we could take... we took."
"The bounties for the Half-Beastman heads come to a full seven thousand Dinars. There’s also a great deal of armor and weapons that can be used after some repairs—enough to arm over a thousand men. I picked out only the best."
There was something else Claude didn’t say: he felt they could have taken even more!
He hadn’t taken any of the Cloth Armor, Cotton Armor, wooden shields, ordinary iron swords, or iron-tipped spears. His focus was fixed on the better and more expensive equipment.
Unfortunately, they were too short-handed. Besides, much of the gear belonged to the Seventh Legion’s arsenal, and taking too much would have been too conspicuous!
Henry nodded with satisfaction. In a war like this, a noble’s Private Army received no official bounty. How much you earned was entirely up to you.
Henry was very satisfied with this income; it met his expectations.
"What is it? Just say it."
After Claude voiced his thoughts, Henry clapped his hands. "Have all our soldiers re-equip with the better gear! Won’t that free up another hundred-plus sets of their old equipment?"
It was a sudden realization for Claude. "That’s right! I’ll get on it right away."
He’d been so busy lately that his head was spinning. Ever since Henry had arrived at his fief, he hadn’t had a moment’s rest. Back when he was with Henry’s father’s family, he’d never done this much work!
Now, things were just too damn fulfilling!
"Mm, I can rest easy when you’re in charge. By the way, what were our casualties?"
Henry’s head throbbed as he looked at the papers. They were densely packed with all sorts of numbers, making his eyes swim.
"We lost six Heavy Cavalrymen, and all the spearmen are gone. We lost two Skilled Scouts, and the rest are injured. The Crossbowmen are fine, mostly just bruises.
"The New Recruit Team lost twenty-one men, with over thirty injured. The casualties were very light."
Henry nodded. Those losses weren’t high, considering their enemies were Half-Beastmen.
Henry sent Claude out to handle his tasks while he personally went to gather intelligence on the overall battle. This was the kind of information that Claude and his men couldn’t easily obtain.
Henry spent the morning mingling and gathering information, and by noon, he had a general understanding of the situation.