Chapter 17: The Start of a New Day

Seeing the wound on Craig’s lower leg, George’s hair stood on end. Someone in George’s situation would likely be suffering from trypophobia.

How should one even describe this injury! The tightly woven chainmail inside the riding boots had been completely shattered, with broken circular iron rings embedded deep in the flesh. The outer side of Craig’s lower leg, just above the left ankle, gave viewers an immediate feeling of the back of a postpartum pearl frog. Fortunately, judging by the amount of blood, no major blood vessels were hit.

As a doctor, Mr. Coke had seen many such cases and seemed unaffected. He stepped forward, lifted the injured leg, and examined the wound closely. Then he patted and pinched the ankle and other areas, causing Craig to twitch in pain again.

After the checkup, Mr. Coke sighed with relief and said, “There are no major problems. Although this wound looks scary, it is only a flesh wound. While the treatment is troublesome, I have handled similar cases before, so it is not a big issue. The ankle is dislocated, and we can fix it right away. There might be hairline fractures in the ankle joint and the shinbone, but we can only do emergency treatment for now. We will continue with further treatment tomorrow after Mr. Val and I use our Divine Arts to heal.”

Worried about his son, Sir Bart could not help but ask, “Daniel, give me a straight answer. About how long will it take for Craig to recover to his previous level?”

Mr. Coke looked down, thought for a moment, and answered, “It won’t take much time. With the help of Divine Arts, this injury will heal quickly. Besides, he cannot get out of bed for the first two days after treatment. After that, he still cannot do strenuous exercise for three to five more days. I will check his recovery condition regularly every day. After that, he should be back to normal.”

“Good, it won’t delay us for long,” Sir Bart sighed with relief. “Let’s start the treatment quickly.”

Sir Val patted Sir Bart on the shoulder and said, “Don’t worry. Craig is still young. Even if he is delayed a bit, he can catch up soon. Compared to this, the growth he gained from this battle is far greater than this loss.”

Hearing Sir Val’s words, Sir Bart seemed to feel a bit better.

Mr. Coke opened his medicine box and took out tools like pliers and small knives. He turned to the onlookers and said, “Now, a few of you please hold Craig down. Otherwise, if he moves around when we remove the iron rings, it will be troublesome. After all, the sleeping medicine we use won’t work well in such a situation.”

George was about to step forward to help, but Sir Val lifted Craig’s head slightly and tapped his neck twice. Then he turned and said, “This will do. However, he might sleep for the next one or two days. Since he cannot get out of bed anyway for these two days, it doesn’t matter much. Later, arrange someone to take care of him. Also, George, you should go back to sleep quickly. There will be many things to deal with tomorrow.”

George had not thought of this before. Hearing Sir Val mention it, he suddenly remembered, ‘The main battle is over, but the cleanup of this disaster probably won’t start until tomorrow. I wonder how deep we will get involved in this. After all, this is not our Territory. Getting too involved goes against the rules, but if we do nothing, many of the key members of the team will be unhappy.’

Forget it, let’s just sleep first. George went to the tent where he had changed clothes earlier, took off all his armor, and cleaned up his personal hygiene a bit.

“It would be nice to take a hot bath right now. It’s a pity that being out on the road always has its inconveniences,” Craig, now in his regular clothes, said while yawning.

Of course, they could not go to the Mayor’s guest room at this time. George walked to his carriage and asked, “Ilena, are you awake?”

Slam! The carriage door opened, and Ilena jumped out and hugged George. “Young Master, are you okay? It was chaotic outside just now. The Guards told me to be careful. You didn’t come back for a long time, and I was so worried!”

George remembered that after returning to the camp, he had changed clothes immediately and rushed to the battle without saying goodbye to Ilena. Besides, according to the views of this world, others did not take Ilena seriously. Even if they warned her of the danger, it was just routine business out of respect for George. No wonder Ilena, who didn’t know the news, was so worried.

“Okay, okay, I’m back safely, aren’t I?” George patted Ilena’s back to comfort her. “Cute Ilena, can you prepare my Sleeping Bag for me? I am very tired now.”

“Yes, Young Master, I’ll be right there,” Ilena said, leaving George’s embrace and getting into the carriage.

After a rustling sound, Ilena poked her head out. “Young Master, it is ready.”

After getting into the carriage, George immediately changed clothes and crawled into the Sleeping Bag on the folding cot. The whole night of trouble felt terrible. George had barely lain down for a moment when he fell asleep and met Mr. Zhou. When George was sound asleep, Ilena reached out and gently touched his face, then lay down beside him. In this restless night, there finally seemed to be a bit of the atmosphere of the night.

When the morning dawn shone into the deep alleys of Greywood Town, the survivors who had been hiding in various parts of the town began to cautiously poke their heads out one by one. At first, they appeared in small groups. But after the first group of people going out discovered that the danger had passed, various cheers and screams made more survivors leave their “safe houses.” The survivors ran back to their homes with all their might. Then, some cried loudly, some hugged each other in tears of joy, and others looked dazed and confused.

In contrast, the wealthy area near the Mayor’s house in the inner circle of the town seemed much calmer. Most people there had chosen to stay at home last night, hoping to escape the disaster by relying on the relatively sturdy stone walls, iron-reinforced wooden doors, and hidden basements. Fortunately, they had won this bet. Except for a few families who were killed, most of them survived. Of course, they had to thank George and his group for quickly eliminating this group of invading Goblins. When the news that the threat was gone reached the Mayor, he immediately organized and led the relatively orderly residents of the wealthy area to fight the fires. Having been busy for almost the entire second half of the night, they were now resting.

Sunlight filtered through the decorative glass on the carriage door. The morning air washed away some of the stale smell from the camp overnight, but unfortunately, the smell of blood in the town would probably not dissipate in a short time.

The colorful light shining on her body woke Ilena. She took a copper basin from a compartment in the carriage and got out.

The sound of Ilena getting off the carriage woke George. Not sensing any danger instinctively, he turned over and continued his chess game with Mr. Zhou.

By the time the sun was high in the sky, George finally woke up properly. Climbing out of his Sleeping Bag, he stretched and began his morning lesson at this high noon. Although he was outside, fortunately, the carriage provided cover, so he was not greatly affected.

“Rumble, rumble,” George’s stomach kept protesting after finishing everything. He patted his stomach and looked through the window at the sun, realizing he had missed both breakfast and lunch. Dressed neatly, he prepared to go into the camp to find something to eat.

As soon as he opened the carriage door, George found Ilena standing by the carriage holding a copper basin. George asked in confusion, “Ilena, what are you doing?”

“Young Master, you finally woke up. I am getting washing water for you right now,” Ilena said hurriedly, startled by George’s sudden appearance.

Looking at Ilena’s hair plastered with glistening sweat and her clothes clinging tightly to her body because they were wet, George felt a warm feeling in his heart. This little girl must have been holding the basin here waiting for him to wake up since morning.

He walked down from the carriage, reached out to pat Ilena’s head, and said softly, “You silly girl, look at all this sweat. Why didn’t you find a shady place to hide for a while? Or you could have come into the carriage.”

“I wanted to see the Young Master as soon as possible. If I got into the carriage, I might disturb your rest,” Ilena said seriously.

George was speechless for a moment after hearing this, and after a while, he said, “Ilena, aren’t you going to get washing water for me? I will wait for you inside the carriage. By the way, please bring me some lunch as well. I am really starving.”

Ilena hurriedly said, “Yes, Young Master, you will have it soon.” Then she ran off with the copper basin.

George shook his head with a smile and went back into the carriage. Soon, Ilena returned with food and washing water. After washing his face, George started to notice the food: roasted meat, Black Bread, and Cheese from last night. Hey! There is no way that the leather bag contains water, right? George took it and took a sip. It had a slightly spicy and sweet-and-sour taste. There was also a slight bitterness and the scent of apples, but unfortunately, there were too many impurities.

George shook the leather bag in his hand and asked Ilena, “What is this?”

“It is Cider, Young Master. The Mayor sent someone to deliver it this morning, saying it is a reward for everyone. After Mr. Val tried it, he said the alcohol taste is not strong, so drinking a little bit won’t cause any harm. He let everyone share it,” Ilena said with a smile, licking her lips. “Young Master, how does it taste?”

“It’s quite good,” George answered absent-mindedly, but in fact, he was thinking that it might be time to quickly take care of this girl.

After a satisfying meal, George left the carriage and prepared to look around the camp.

“Hey, isn’t that Hiren?” George had not walked a few steps when he saw Hiren practicing swordplay alone. From the expression on his face, it seemed that he had recovered.

“Oh! Hiren, have you figured it out?” George greeted him.

Hiren stopped his sword and turned around. “Don’t treat me like a stone, okay? If I still couldn’t figure out such a thing after a whole night, then I would really be an idiot.”

George thought to himself, I was afraid you would get stuck in a dead end. But he still asked out loud, “What did you figure out?”

“That everything must be obtained by oneself,” Hiren said, clenching his fist with what seemed like fire burning in his eyes.

Seeing this scene, George could not help but feel speechless for a moment. How did this guy suddenly turn into a style like a Japanese shonen manga? Did I open the world in the wrong way?

George asked with concern, “It is great that you think this way. I don’t know how the team led by Sergeant Major Anson last night is doing?”

“Six of the mercenary guards died, and two others are missing. The Guard did not suffer any casualties on the spot, but one soldier might not be able to fight on the front line in the future. Seacom suffered severe internal organ shock, which will greatly affect his endurance in the future,” Hiren said, sounding heavy when talking about this topic.

“As long as they are alive! If they cannot fight on the front line in the future, let them transfer to become instructors or small squad leaders in the Defense Squad,” George said, feeling a stone lift from his heart upon hearing that no members of the Guard had died. After all, talented people are hard to come by.

“By the way, Hiren, have we appraised all the Loot we got from that Priest yesterday?” George changed the subject, asking the question that might be the most concerning to Hiren.

“Not yet. I don’t understand this kind of thing. By the way, does anyone in our camp know how to appraise these things?” Hiren looked very confused.

George rubbed his head and said, “Hurry up and bring the items. Let’s go find Thomas together. I really don’t get you. We have been together for so long, and you still don’t know that Thomas is good at these things.”

“Hehehe, as long as you know, isn’t that enough?” Hiren replied with a silly laugh.