Claude didn't know how much of a commotion Major Ledefonk's report caused. He was even criticized by the staff of frontline command for making false claims.
He was both tired and busy at the moment. The only thing that comforted him was the time he spent with Sheerah every few days. That gave him a moment of peace and quiet.
Tiredness did not refer to physical exhaustion, but mental exhaustion.
Apart from Claude and Gum, who only knew how to fill her stomach, all the soldiers and officers who participated in the battle were more or less showing signs of mental abnormalities.
Even Makqi couldn't sleep for a few days straight. He said that every time he closed his eyes, he would hear cries and wails coming from Squirrel Village.
Even a veteran like Makqi was in such a state, let alone the other soldiers.
It was the same for Moriad and Dyavid. They told Claude in private that for some reason, dying in hand-to-hand combat on the battlefield was a very normal thing for both enemies and comrades. There was nothing to be sad about.
As soldiers, dying on the battlefield was a sort of final destination.
But for Claude, who burned so many enemies to death in one go, they felt that their deaths were a little too unjust.
They did not die face-to-face on the battlefield. Instead, they were killed by conspiracies and conspiracies. Especially when they were trapped in the fire and had no way to escape, their miserable cries for help and wails had a certain psychological impact on every soldier outside who heard them …
Fortunately, Claude had ordered the soldiers to splash water on the ground and buildings of the camp and prepare to attack the enemy camp. But even after the incident had passed and everything had calmed down, the mentality of the soldiers slowly changed. They couldn't help but recall the tragic cries for help they let out in the fire that night.
Makqi, Moriad and Dyavid's insomnia was considered minor. Myjack, on the other hand, had nightmares as soon as he fell asleep and woke up screaming in the middle of the fire.
Many of the soldiers were like Myjack. Not only were they unable to get a good night's rest, but the other soldiers were also woken up by the noise. By the end of the day, everyone had dark circles under their eyes and looked dispirited.
Moriad said that everyone suspected that the souls of the enemies who were burned to death in Squirrel Village could not return to the Kingdom of God of War to rest in eternal peace, so they could only wander around Squirrel Village and pester the people who killed them. This was the main reason why no one could relax and rest well.
What nonsense. He didn't believe it at all. If there really was a ghost, it would come to haunt him.
After all, he was the real mastermind behind the plan to burn the city. If he had to be punished, he should be the one responsible. What was the point of pestering the soldiers who obeyed his orders?
It could be seen that ghosts were also afraid of evil people …
These were all psychological factors.
He knew very well that at the last moment, the cries for help and cries for help had caused the soldiers to forget that the ones trapped in the fire were actually their enemies.
At that time, everyone had regained their humanity and rationality. All they had in their minds was the simple thought of saving the people next door when their neighbor's house was on fire.
It was just that the fire was burning too fiercely, and they couldn't get close to it. They could only watch helplessly as the people trapped inside were burned alive and suffocated to death. This made the soldiers feel very guilty. On one hand, they were powerless to help, and on the other hand, they were the accomplices who set up the fire and caused the tragedy in front of them. As a result, their sense of guilt deepened, allowing their conscience to take over, causing their psychological and mental problems to arise …
Since everyone believed in ghosts and gods, the matter was easy to solve. It was just a matter of spending some money to avoid disaster.
Claude took out a pouch of money and tossed it to Moriad. He told him to bring a few men to invite some priests from the war god's temple to hold a large ritual in Squirrel Village to let the souls of the burned enemies return to the Kingdom of God of War.
At the same time, they had to do a good job of educating the soldiers and emphasize that those who were burned to death were their enemies, not their neighbors. They had come to Squirrel Village to kill them and take their lives, not to celebrate with them …
After more than ten days, the matter was finally dealt with. Claude paid more than 20 gold crowns out of his own pocket, which he couldn't even claim from the battalion. The military didn't even have the funds to pay for the psychological treatment of the soldiers. For example, Mazik didn't have a high tolerance for alcohol because he was too stressed out on the battlefield and had no choice but to drink to relax.
Women and alcohol were the best relaxing agents for soldiers in this era.
When Claude spent some time with Sheerah, she asked him curiously, "Why didn't you have that problem? Don't you feel guilty for burning so many people to death?
Looks like you're a magus after all. Magi treat commoners with such cold-blooded coldness. Not a single magus cares about the lives of commoners. "
Sheerah answered her own question, but Claude knew very well that as the mastermind behind the burning of so many enemies, he didn't feel anything at all. Apart from the few times he felt disgusted by the smell of roasted human flesh that night and the next day, he was really at peace. He didn't feel the slightest bit of guilt or unease.
He could eat and sleep well without feeling the slightest bit of guilt.
It wasn't a matter of whether he was a magus or not. Rather, as a transmigrator, even though he tried his best to blend in with this foreign world, apart from his family and a few good friends, he didn't feel anything for the kingdom or anyone else.
Even though he was participating in this battle, he felt like he was playing a more realistic game in his heart.
Be it his soldiers or his enemies, Claude would unconsciously treat them as NPCs.
Apart from Moriad, Myjack, and a few others who were closer to him, he didn't see anyone as different from them.
Under such circumstances, no matter how many people died, they were nothing more than statistics to Claude.
The only thing he had to ensure was whether he could survive the battle. He didn't know if he would have a chance to be revived, so he couldn't sacrifice himself so easily.
So, he had to use all sorts of methods to deal with the enemy. There was no need for regret. Whoever wants my life, I'll take their life first. It was that simple.
The villagers of Squirrel Village had also returned. They still had to sow seeds in the fields to avoid missing the farming season. Otherwise, they would have to starve for the rest of the winter.
Now that the battle was over, they couldn't stay in Blackrock Village any longer and ran back. However, Squirrel Village had already been burned to the ground and their shabby homes had been reduced to ashes.
Claude was willing to help them build a new village. That was something he was willing to do.
Since he wouldn't be the one doing the work, the 130 captives left in the camp became the main labor force for the construction of the new village.
All Claude had to do was to unify the village and build more orderly houses for the villagers.
That didn't require much money. There were all sorts of construction materials in the mountains. What they lacked were young laborers.
Now that the captives had filled the gap, all Claude had to do was use some of the rough rations he got from the nobles' camps as rations and he would be done with it.
Claude encouraged the villagers to expand their farming industry. He believed that given Squirrel Village's geographical location, it would become an important military base at the border in the future.
Even if they left, the higher-ups would send other troops to guard the place to control the mountain path.
So, if Squirrel Village focused on farming livestock, they wouldn't have to worry about selling them at all.
The troops stationed there would buy them from the local market. That way, they wouldn't have to worry about transportation costs and the villagers would have more income. It was a win-win situation.
Maqic, on the other hand, listened to Claude's words and secretly tried to persuade the village elder to build a tavern while the captives were still around. That way, the soldiers stationed there would have a place to spend their time and the village elder would be able to make a fortune. So, the village elder was tempted and really came to Claude to ask him to build a tavern for the village. Claude didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but he eventually agreed to the elder's request.
Design was Claude's specialty, but he didn't plan to build tall and fashionable houses for the villagers.
He only planned to redesign the layout of the village so that the villagers would have a better place to live than their shabby shacks. Also, he would arrange for a courtyard of similar size for the villagers to live in. That would be more than enough to satisfy the villagers.
Claude planned to build mud houses for the villagers this time. He first dried the logs and built the frame of the house. Then, he dug out the foundation and used stones to build a foot high.
Then, he dug out mud, clay, and lime from the mountains.
After they were crushed, they were mixed and filled with wooden frames to form mud bricks. After they were dried, the clay and lime were used to build the walls. In half a month or so, a villager's house could be built. Claude didn't have to care about how the interior was decorated and left it up to the villagers.
According to the village elder's wishes, the tavern in the village was the first to be completed.
After that, the village chief led a few villagers through the mountains and across the ridges. They went to a few villages in this mountainous region and found four young widows to be their maids. They also bought a lot of fruit wine and wild game that the villagers brewed themselves. After a simple set up, they opened the shop.
Claude didn't go to the opening day and instead went to Witch Forest to have a rendezvous with the magus.
When he returned at noon the next day, he found that the tavern was already closed. Puzzled, he returned to the camp and asked around. Only then did he find out that the tavern had been doing very well the previous night. Almost all the soldiers who weren't on duty went to the tavern.
The soldiers stationed there had nowhere to spend their money. How could they not be happy when they finally managed to build a tavern here? Then, they finished all the wine and game in the tavern.
The village elder, his wife, and a few other villagers who helped out at the tavern didn't even have dinner. In the end, they had no choice but to get some cornbread from the other villagers to fill their stomachs.
The ones who earned the most were the four young widows who worked as maidservants. They didn't even get out of bed from the time they opened at four in the afternoon until they closed at two in the evening.
Soldiers lined up one after another and it was said that each maidservant served around twenty soldiers. They wouldn't be able to recover without three to four days of rest.
Damn it!
Claude really wanted to curse. Were they really that thirsty?
Apart from the injured, there were only around 130 people stationed in the camp. Two-thirds of the soldiers went to the four widows, which was rather embarrassing.
Dyavid knocked on the door and entered with the signalman behind him. The two of them talked about the wonders of the four maidservants as they walked.
As the sergeant major, Dyavid, Moriad, Mazik, and the others were the first customers the maidservants served. The signalman behind them didn't go to the tavern because he was on duty the previous night. He was salivating as he listened to Dyavid brag about how he had a great fight with the maidservants.
Claude ordered Dyavid to shut up with a dark expression and took the messenger pigeon from the signalman.
It was an order from headquarters. Major Ledefonk was going to send Dyavid's company back to quell the riot.
A month had already passed and Claude didn't make any moves. There was no news of the nobles from the two duchies gathering their forces for revenge. The battalion didn't think there was a need to leave three companies in Squirrel Village, so they called back Dyavid's company.
After signing the order and sending the signalman out, Claude gave Dyavid a good scolding and told him not to brag about the matters between men and women for no reason. It wasn't something to be proud of, it was something to be ashamed of.
Also, he had to go back to quell the riot and be careful not to go to the tavern to look for women for no reason. Otherwise, people might find out about your lecherous habits and set up a trap for you.
After Claude went on and on, he noticed that Dyavid was grumbling at him. "Boss, you got yourself a pretty girl to be your girlfriend. How would you know how hungry we are?
By the way, I heard there's a baroness who's a beauty. She's been locked up here for a long time. We aren't as capable as you, Boss, so we can only vent on the maidservants in the tavern. "
Claude was speechless and could only tell Dyavid and his company to scram.
For Claude, the two months after the defeat of the two duchies was a rare period of leisure.
Even though there were all sorts of things that he had to make decisions on, he was the only official in Squirrel Village and didn't need to discuss matters with others. All he had to do was make decisions and his subordinates would carry them out.
Be it the reconstruction of Squirrel Village or the daily patrols and training of the soldiers, Maqic, Moriad, Myjack and the others were in charge of everything. So, he had plenty of free time to go to Witch's Grove to meet his lover, Sheila.
Apart from Dyavid being summoned to quell the riot, he didn't pay much attention to the outside world.
Instead, the battalion commander, Major Ledefonk, sent quite a number of messenger pigeons to Claude.
At the very least, Claude was informed that the temporary passage to Pikleit Mountain had been reopened and that two more second-line corps had entered the three southern prefectures to reinforce the two frontline defenses.
Ten days later, Major Ledefonk arrived at Squirrel Village with a large group of men. He told Claude that they were from the staff and discipline department of frontline command and were there to verify the contributions of Claude and his men.