The battle of Ins river had ended. In all in all, a thousand soldiers and grey skin warriors had perished mainly in the frontlines.

Around ten thousand soldiers had died on the royal army side. Most of them had died while fleeing from the enemy. Around half of the knights of the black sun were able to flee with Joan. The rest of the knights were lying dead on the battlefield among the other soldiers.

Close to two thousand royal soldiers had surrendered and had been captured. All of them were terrified and thought that the grey skins would execute them.

Rufus walked in front of the miserable captives. They looked at the person who had with just one move of his hand killed hundreds of their men. Behind Rufus stood Edward the man who had single-handedly killed Rikard. They looked at the two of them. They looked like two monsters to them who would kill all of them without a heartbeat for fighting against them.

"Go home!" Rufus yelled.

The soldiers looked confused.

"Go home! Go back to your families and loved ones. Go and work in your farms and factories. Leave all your weapons behind and don't come back.

"You did not want this war, and neither should you be punished for it. If your nobles still insist on fighting me remember what happened here!" Rufus proclaimed to everyone.

The soldiers were all let go. They marched away with no weapons. They all were relieved and did not know why they were released. They did know though that Rufus was the one who released them and would remember it for a long time.

"You sure about this Rufus?" Edward asked.

"Yeah, unlike the soldiers at the Heinfel castle these were forcibly conscripted. They do not have any loyalty toward the king and most of their nobles are littered dead on the battlefield or heading back to the royal capital. These released captives shouldn't cause us any harm," Rufus explained.

They walked past a small group of nobles that had surrendered. They were tied and were on their knees with a small detachment of grey skin warriors standing behind them. Rufus walked away.

"Kill them."

The grey skin warriors decapitated the soldiers in an instant.

~ ~

Rufus and Edward came back to the camp. Doreen walked towards them.

"You released the captives?!" Doreen yelled.

Rufus and Edward just stood there not knowing what to say to the extremely mad Doreen.

"You know what might happen since you released them!" Doreen yelled at Rufus.

"They were all just conscripted soldiers with little to no loyalty to the king. Just relax Doreen," Edward said.

Doreen also realized most likely the freed captives wouldn't cause anymore afterward. She gave in and stopped yelling at the two of them.

They walked to Haley who sat a still bit dazed on a wooden box with Amala near her. Haley smiled when she saw Rufus. He then walked and sat next to Haley and allowed her to put her forehead on his shoulder.

"How are you feeling?" Rufus asked.

"Still a bit dizzy, but other than that I'm fine," Haley said back with a low voice.

"You are not going to ask about what happened?" Edward asked who could not read the mood at all.

Both Amala and Doreen looked mad at him and Pema facepalmed himself.

"I always say to you to be quiet, but now I actually mean it," Doreen said to Edward.

Edward realized he was out of line.

"It's okay Doreen. I bet you all have a lot of questions, but I also have a lot of also," Haley explained.

"Take your time. For now, take care of yourself first," Rufus said.

Count Hunyadi joined in on the group.

"I am sorry to break the conversation, but I think we should start to get going. It will be most likely some weeks before we can reach the capital. The sooner we arrive their the fewer soldiers they have been able to forcibly recruit for the defense of the capital," the count said and explained.

"He is right. We should just gather and tend to all the wounded. They will be delivered to castle Heinfel while all the rest of the soldiers and warriors will march with us to the capital. One more push is needed, and we will have won this war," Doreen explained.

"How do you believe the taking of the city would go?" Amala asked.

"Hard to say. Jacobsadt is not actually known for its defenses, but it is a large city with a population nearing a hundred thousand. If they are able to recruit its citizens, it might make take taking the city hard. The siege would be bloody with our warriors and soldiers fighting through masses of civilian militia," Doreen explained.

"Didn't the people of the capital adore Rufus like the villagers did who willing gave away their food and provisions?" Amala asked.

"Yeah, they even helped us escape when our gang was being massacred on the streets. Unfortunately, the nobles of the city would force them to fight under threat of death," Doreen explained.

Amala looked confused.

"Most likely most of the capital's nobles are on the other side of that hill laying dead on the wet ground rotting away," Amala said and pointed at the hill.