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During the battle earlier, the female Werecats who hurriedly fled were forced to escape to the northern side.
Some Werecats had evacuated in that direction, so if they went in the right direction, they would surely meet up with the others, but if they were lost, then we had to find them.
We could not deny the possibility that they might have momentarily hidden themselves during the battle, so we headed back to Lucua village while thinking about the events that had recently unfolded.
The fallen Werecats’ bodies were still there, and the parts where the Goblins had nibbled on added to their gruesome appearance. Including one warrior who had fallen in the battle earlier, the Werecats lost a total of 12 men to the Goblin attack.
“… It’s unbearable, isn’t it, Liz?”
“Yes. We might have won, but this makes me sad…”
“Dammit!!”
“…”
Many of the bodies belonged to the warriors of Lucua village who were probably friends who trained with them. The Werecat warriors mourned for the dead in their own ways.
“First, let’s gather all the bodies in one place first…”
Under Wallace’s instructions, the bodies were moved from the places where they had met their end and placed inside burlap bags that were brought from the village warehouse.
In the middle of the process, we joined up with the Werecats who returned to check the situation.
Since the Werecats who evacuated to the Sherna river on the northern side of the village yesterday were given strict orders by Wallace to stand by, it was likely that these were the ones who fled in the opposite direction and returned after one night.
“…Sir Wallace, is there anything we could do to help?”
“Thank you. Then please clean up the remains of the Goblins’ campfires.”
“Alright, we’re on it.”
While everyone was busy dealing with the aftermath, I pulled Liz’s sleeve and wrote on the ground.
“What’s wrong?”
“Tell them to check all the well water in the village too, they might have thrown something in it.”
“That’s scary…”
“Just to be safe, let’s give it to a small, harmless animal to drink and see what happens after a few hours.”
“Okay, got it. Dad, do you have a minute?”
It may seem like I’m nervous, but… During my mercenary days, I’ve seen towns planted with slow-acting poison which, along with the raids, wiped out entire populations.
After a while, when various things had been dealt with to a certain extent, we left some of the Werecat warriors behind and headed to the vicinity of Sherna River. The purpose of this was to look for the Werecat women who fled earlier and to call back the other villagers who evacuated.
“Aavaa, waonh.” (Archer, over there!)
Lancer, who focused her attention on her sense of smell, caught the Werecat’s scent in the air. The act itself was part of the hunt, so her tail wagged as if she had found her prey.
Similarly, my sister and Buster, who had also focused their attention on their sense of smell, also showed expressions that were also reminiscent of the times we hunted…
Big brother, I’m going for a bit.
“Auuh.” (No, you can’t)
I stopped my sister who sent me a hand sign and happily wagged her tail while erasing her presence. I then sent a hand sign to Liz to go instead.
“Sure, leave it to me.”
Deliberately making noise by rusting the leaves, she slowly approached and called out to the others to alert them of her presence.
“It’s fine, you can go out now.”
“Huh… Liz?”
A young Werecat female emerged from the bushes. She seemed to be acquainted with Liz, but her clothes were torn off when the Goblins touched her, so it was pretty hard to look at her…
“Liz, take this…”
“Thanks, dad.”
Averting his gaze, Wallace approached the two and handed his cloak to Liz, who slung it over the girl’s shoulder.
“Thank you, Liz. And to Liz’s father too.”
“Ah, don’t mind it. It’s hard to look if you’re dressed like that, so it’s the least I could do.”
“Geez, dad! You’re the one looking at Amelia!! I’ll tell mom, you know?”
“…Give me a break, Liz.”
No matter what species, it seems like the father’s position is always difficult…
Anyway, we continued with that pace, and by the time we had found four of the female Werecats, we had already arrived at Sherna river.
We also picked up 2 more girls who were loitering in the river shallows, and as we made our way upstream, the other werecats who were in the riverbank loudly cheered when they saw us.
As we gradually got closer, we saw two more of the girls who escaped amongst the other villagers. Apparently, the villagers had partially heard about the battle situation from them. From among the dozens of Werecats, Liz’s mother, who seemed somewhat calm, emerged from the crowd.
“Welcome home, dear.”
“I’m home, Ermina.”
She greeted them warmly as if her husband had returned after going out for a bit and proceeded to call out to her daughter as well.
“Liz, you’re not hurt anywhere?”
“I’m fine, mother.”
“But you’re covered in scratches.”
Around the mother who was concerned for her daughter were the other Werecat warriors who also checked if their families were safe, but… the problem is, they were one person short.
“Excuse me, Sir Wallace, but where is Gene?”
“… I’m sorry, Annie. I couldn’t bring your husband back with us.”
“N-no that’s impossible!! You’re lying, right!?”
“…You know I won’t lie about such things.”
“Waaaaaaaaaaaah!!”
“Annie!”
The young woman broke down in tears, and her relatives went to comfort her. Their expressions also showed they were suffering, but they could not leave the distraught woman alone.
For a while, only the sound of sobbing could be heard in the otherwise quiet place…
After we waited for the Werecat woman called Anne to calm down, we headed back to Lucua village where the same scene was repeated among the Werecat families whose loved ones were killed.