Chapter 41: After the battle
Darkness.
Then slowly—
I opened my eyes.
For several long seconds, I simply stared upward at the ceiling above me.
My room.
The Aldric manor.
Sunlight poured softly through the windows while the quiet chirping of birds drifted in from outside.
Everything was calm.
Peaceful.
I slowly sat up while trying process my thoughts.
The battlefield.
The mage.
The explosion.
The pain—
Then suddenly realization hit me.
"...A dream?"
I immediately looked around the room again.
Everything was normal.
No battlefield.
No fire.
No blood.
I let out a relieved breath before quickly throwing the blanket aside and stepping out of bed.
Then instantly—
I crashed into the floor.
Pain shot through my body.
The door burst open.
"LEON!"
Mother rushed into the room immediately.
"It’s alright," I said quickly while trying stand back up. "I just tripped—"
I pushed myself upward using my left leg.
And collapsed sideways again instantly.
My breath caught.
Mother reached me immediately before pulling me tightly into her arms.
"You brave boy..."
Her voice trembled while tears streamed down her face.
I frowned slightly before finally looking downward.
And froze.
Everything below my left knee was gone.
For several seconds—
My mind completely blanked.
The battlefield instantly replayed within my head.
The blade of wind.
The pain.
The mage.
"...Oh."
The room suddenly felt very quiet.
Then footsteps approached from the doorway.
Alex entered first.
Bandages still covered portions of his body while scars stretched across his face and arms from the battle.
And behind him—
Stood Rosthwall Nightbane.
The Duke of the Nightbane territory himself.
Alex immediately moved beside Mother before pulling me into another hug.
"You absolute idiot..."
Despite his words, his voice shook slightly.
Meanwhile Rosthwall slowly approached the bed.
His expression looked unusually serious.
"I owe you an apology."
That immediately surprised me.
"If I had not been summoned to the royal capital for the war council," he continued quietly, "I could have mobilized reinforcements toward the Aldric territory far sooner."
The fact someone like him was apologizing at all felt surreal.
Then suddenly another thought hit me.
"Finn."
I immediately looked toward Alex.
"Where’s Finn?"
Alex relaxed slightly.
"He’s alive."
The tension in my chest immediately eased.
"He’s in one of the guest rooms," Alex continued. "Still recovering, but he’ll be alright."
Thank god.
After a little more talking, Alex carefully helped lift me up while supporting my side.
Walking with the prosthetic still felt incredibly awkward.
Every step felt wrong.
Unnatural.
Together, the four of us slowly headed toward Finn’s room.
When Alex finally opened the door—
I saw Finn buried almost entirely beneath several blankets.
The moment he noticed me, he slowly leaned upward.
"...Leon?"
"You alright?"
Finn blinked once before nodding slowly.
"...Mostly."
Then after a pause—
He grinned.
"You look shorter."
I immediately grabbed the nearest pillow and threw it at him.
Rosthwall actually let out a small laugh before stepping forward slightly.
"Both of your actions during the battle have been formally recognized."
Finn immediately looked confused.
"...Recognized?"
"You helped secure the border during a critical battle."
The Duke’s gaze moved between us.
"You will both be rewarded appropriately."
That probably meant money.
A lot of money.
Though before we could ask further questions, Rosthwall straightened slightly.
"Unfortunately, I cannot remain."
His expression hardened again.
"I must inspect the other border territories personally."
Then he looked toward Mother.
"I have also stationed several of my own knights within the Aldric territory under the command of a B-rank general of mine whom I trust very much."
Mother immediately bowed her head repeatedly.
"Thank you, Duke Nightbane."
Rosthwall simply nodded once before departing shortly afterward.
A few minutes later—
The door suddenly swung open again.
Father entered the room supported by a crutch.
The moment I saw him standing there alive—
Something inside me broke slightly.
Without thinking, I immediately hopped forward on one foot before throwing my arms around him.
Father froze briefly before tightly hugging me back.
"...Leon."
His voice cracked slightly.
"I’m proud of you."
Hearing that somehow hit harder than the battlefield itself.
Then his eyes moved toward Finn.
"And thank you."
Finn awkwardly scratched the back of his head while smiling weakly.
"...Yeah well. Someone had to save your suicidal children."
——————-
The following weeks passed slowly.
Eventually both me and Finn recovered enough move around normally again.
Well—
Mostly normally.
I still hadn’t fully adjusted to the new prosthetic leg.
Some days walking felt manageable.
Other days I nearly fell over every few minutes.
Finn eventually returned to the workshop despite Mother repeatedly offering to let him remain within the manor.
He refused every single time.
"Softer beds make me uncomfortable," he claimed.
Which sounded completely insane.
Father and Alex soon returned toward the border once things stabilized further.
Thankfully, the situation there had improved massively thanks to the reinforcements sent by Rosthwall Nightbane.
For the first time in weeks—
Things finally felt calm again.
One afternoon, I stood near the manor windows quietly staring outside.
Bright sunlight covered the territory while warm winds drifted through the open fields.
Summer had arrived.
And then suddenly—
I remembered something.
Or rather—
Someone.
A troublesome girl with long black hair and deep purple eyes was probably head on her way here soon.
————
The next morning, me and Finn stood overlooking the future site of our expansion project.
Or more specifically—
The future birthplace of mass steel production within the Aldric territory.
Even Finn had to admit the sight was exciting.
The area had already been flattened and cleared completely while a river streamed steadily along the edge of the land exactly where I had requested.
Water access was essential.
Without it, cooling systems became harder,transportation slowed and most importantly
The waterwheels wouldn’t function.
Finn looked far more excited than I expected.
"This is going be massive."
"It needs to be."
The war had made one thing painfully clear.
Steel production wasn’t simply profitable anymore.
It was necessary.
I crouched down near several sheets of parchment before beginning to sketch scaled-up versions of our original bloomeries.
Larger furnaces.
Larger airflow systems.
Better material flow.
And eventually—
A proper blast furnace system far beyond the crude workshop hidden within the forest.
The possibilities alone were enough make my mind race.
With enough steel production:better tools, improved infrastructure, large-scale machinery and eventually engines.
Everything became possible.
I was halfway through redesigning part of the furnace structure when I noticed Finn sitting off to the side strangely focused on something.
A newspaper.
I stared at him.
"...Why are you reading newspapers?"
Finn didn’t even look up.
"My near-death experience matured me."
I immediately went back to sketching.
Finn continued anyway.
"Apparently we’re famous now."
That finally made me pause.
"...What?"
Finn grinned slightly before reading aloud dramatically.
"’Two mysterious figures appeared during a recent border battle and assisted in slaying an enemy mage through unknown means possibly involving rare smoke-based magic.’"
I immediately laughed.
"Smoke magic?"
"To be fair," Finn said while shrugging, "the explosions and smoke probably looked magical."
"That is both hilarious and deeply concerning."
Finn kept reading casually.
Apparently nobody actually understood what happened during the battle.
Most soldiers only heard, strange thunder, explosions, and then watched a B-rank mage suddenly die.
The rifles themselves apparently confused everyone even more.
Honestly, that uncertainty was probably for the best.
Then suddenly Finn’s expression shifted slightly while reading further down the page.
"Oh."
I glanced up again.
"What?"
"Something happened in the royal capital."
That immediately got my attention.
Finn skimmed the paper briefly before speaking again.
"Supposedly there was some kind of attack near the central districts."
I frowned slightly.
"Magneto?"
"That’s what the reports say."
Apparently several city blocks near the capital had been completly levelled during the incident before the attackers were stopped.
But what caught my attention most—
Was the next part.
"Rosthwall Nightbane personally intervened."
I looked up immediately.
"...The Duke himself?"
Finn nodded.
Now that was strange.
Someone like Rosthwall moving personally was very unusual.
For a brief moment, I considered digging deeper into it.
But eventually I shook the thought away.
Right now, I had more immediate priorities.
War.
Steel.
Production.
Industrialization.
I looked back down toward the furnace sketches again before continuing my work.
Though somewhere in the back of my mind—
A strange feeling remained.
Because if Rosthwall Nightbane himself had moved personally—
Then whatever happened in the capital was probably far more serious than the newspapers were admitting.
But I had shaken it off as my new problem was the steel.
