I tore down the camp, which was mostly made of wood, and walked away with a heap of usable materials. I also managed to recover most of the stuff the bandits had taken from the pioneers and their equipment as well. The bodies? Grande incinerated them. No point dragging corpses back to Merinesburg; the Holy Kingdom would just shrug and deny any recollection of these people and that’d be it.
“So…this is the first thing you decided to build, huh?”
“I figured they’d want to wash up and get clean before anything else, you know?”
After leveling the camp, I built a raised base on stilts and set it down. The first thing I made after that was a large bath, big enough for around twenty people in it at once. And get this—I even attached a water-heating magicite-powered tool to the large tank on the roof. Endless hot water! Pretty luxurious, right?
“Um… Thank you very much,” said a female beastman standing next to Shemel.
Honestly, it was more like she was hiding behind her.
She bowed her head toward me.
Was she a cat? No, perhaps a dog or wolf beastman? Her hood was pulled low, so I couldn’t tell for sure, but I could see slight bumps where her ears were, signaling to me that she was some sort of animal. She appeared to be the kind of beastman who looked mostly human except for her ears and tail.
“Don’t overthink things,” I told her gently. “Wash up, and relax. Once you’re done bathing, I’ll feed you, so eat as much as you like and rest up. You’re safe here. Shemel, ladies, please look after them.”
“Aye, Boss!”
“You got it.”
“Understood.”
I watched the ogre girls and harpies guide the women toward the baths, then headed back to my private room with Grande padding along behind me.
“Not gonna take a bath with them?” I asked.
“I shall bathe with you later,” she said. “I worked hard today. Surely you will forgive this indulgence?”
“Okay. When everyone else gets out, we’ll enjoy a nice long bath together.”
“Mm.”
Grande nodded, satisfied with my answer, and gave the floor a firm thunk with her heavy tail, still wrapped in its slime cover. Without it, another innocent floorboard would’ve met an untimely end.
Once I was back in my room, I piled up a mountain of cushions for Grande, placed a desktop golem communicator on my table, and got to work. I’d already set up a signal booster and antenna on the base, so I could reach the folks back in Museburg.
“This is Kousuke. Calling the Western Merinard Military Command. Please respond.”
Not long after—
“This is Western Merinard Military Command. I hope you are well, Your Majesty. Commander Zamil is on her way.”
“Cool. Let me know when she arrives. I’ll be waiting.”
Less than a minute later, Madame Zamil buzzed the golem communicator.
“I apologize for the wait, Your Majesty. Has something happened?”
“Yeah. Actually…”
I gave her the full rundown. I explained how the group of pioneers we were scheduled to meet had been slaughtered by bandits, how I pursued the culprits and wiped them out, how we rescued eight women they’d taken prisoner, and how I disposed of the bandits’ remains, dismantled their base, and flattened the area.
“And so we took care of the bandits on our end. If you happen to get any reports about similar incidents in the region, I think it’s safe to say we’ve solved the problem. They had a lot of cavalry, so their range of operations was probably wide.”
Actually…what happened to their horses? We hadn’t killed them, so they had to be okay, but they’d vanished somewhere.
“Understood. I will check later to see if we’ve received any damage reports.”
“Please do. I plan on staying here today and tomorrow to make sure the victims are okay. If possible, I’d like you to get in touch with Viscount Travis.”
“As you wish. I will inform him from my end.”
“Thanks. For now, I’ll take care of the survivors and see what they plan to do next. ”
“Understood. Please contact me if there is anything I can do to assist.”
“Cheers, will do. Over and out.”
After ending the communication, I stretched my back and let out a long sigh.
I was wiped out—mentally more than physically after all the blood spilled today. I really wanted to hear Sylphy’s voice, but I also didn’t want to worry her. I’d probably be home in a few days anyway, so I decided not to call her.
“All done? Then come here and dote upon me.”
“As you wish.”
Grand reached her hand out to me from within the mountain of cushions and invited me over, so I did just that.
I decided to relax with her until the ladies finished bathing.