Free Web NovelChapter 342: One Chapter Ends
"After all that time and effort, we’re just going to let them go?" Bron stared in disbelief as the Saberclaw Raptor pack they had been chasing for the past month dove into the Lorren.
Standing a few hundred meters from the shore, at the treeline overlooking the river’s banks, Celestina remained silent, her eyes still fixed on the High Sixth Order Alpha, its hate-filled glare prickling her skin slightly.
It had been 6 days since the raptors were spotted moving into the Balfour March.
When she learned of this development, Celestina immediately ordered all available Aerial Knights to converge and harass the beasts to subtly push them towards the empty southern lands.
The Misty Bridge was built specifically in a location where the Lorren was narrower. This, of course, meant that the water was deeper and flowed faster, but like with all large infrastructure projects, everything was a compromise.
Just a few kilometres south of Misty City was an empty wilderness, where the Lorren became slightly calmer and wider.
The place where the Saberclaw Raptors were eventually driven to was a rocky beach, where the Lorren stretched nearly 8 km from shore-to-shore.
Celestina’s plan was simple, force the raptors into a dead-end.
Having reached the Lorren, these beasts now had a choice, either launch an attack on the heavily fortified Misty City, which would be a death sentence for the entire pack, or try to ford the river, which would be a death sentence for most, if not all of the beasts below the Fourth Order.
Regardless which choice these beasts made, Celestina was well prepared.
Now certain of the enemy’s location and back on her home turf, the red-headed General was able to mobilize much more of her forces, so upon landing in Misty City, she immediately organized 3 Regiments of the Raging River Legion to cordon off a wide area around the raptors while also bringing out another 30 Spirit Initiates to join her on the battlefield.
As for the Snow Spirit Foxes, Celestina only brought the Fifth and Sixth Order individuals along with her, leaving her subordinates to guide the rest of the pack to Misty City.
With its back to the river, and surrounded on all sides by an overwhelming force, the Saberclaw Alpha decided to risk the waters rather than fight to the death.
Whether it did this because it was the most logical course of action, or simply because it was following its survival instincts, Celestina didn’t know; nor did she care.
As soon as the raptors crossed the Lorren, they would be the Darr Kingdom’s problem, a result the Marquess was happy to accept.
Over the past few days, Celestina had received several reports from her subordinates of increased smuggling activity on the river and suspected it was coming from their unfriendly neighbours to the east. Smuggling had always been an issue along the Lorren, but it seemed the situation had dramatically worsened over the past couple of months.
If Celestina could cause some trouble for the Darr Kingdom without getting her hands dirty, she was willing to turn a blind eye to the escaping raptors.
Of course, if these Wild Beasts had shown a propensity to attack human settlements, Celestina would have directly exterminated them.
Even if the Darr Kingdom was an enemy nation, Celestina’s sense of honour wouldn’t have allowed her to let masses of innocent civilians die in the game of greed and politics the two kingdoms were playing; however, these Saberclaw Raptors so far had only attacked humans out of absolute necessity, avoiding them at all other times.
It seemed these beasts knew that the more humans they killed, the more doggedly they would be hunted.
How these raptors had developed an instinctual fear of humans, Celestina once again didn’t know, but since it worked out in her favour, she was willing to take advantage of it.
Still, just because she was willing to let the raptors go, didn’t mean Celestina could leave just yet.
Together with 4 other Spirit Adepts, 50 Spirit Initiates, and over a dozen Fifth and Sixth order Snow Spirit Foxes, Celestina monitored the beasts as they plunged into the cold waters of the Lorren.
If any of the beasts gave up and tried to return to the Rockwell Kingdom’s shores, they would be met with a torrent of blades and fangs.
As for the dissatisfaction amongst her new allies, Celestina wasn’t too worried about it. Lady Frey could be reasoned with, and Bron would follow her lead, so as long as she could convince the former, everything would work out.
If all else failed, Celestina figured she could simply bribe the foxes with extra resources.
"What now, Master?" Lucas, who was standing beside Celestina, asked calmly.
"Now, we wait," Celestina replied without turning her head.
The river convoy had arrived in Misty City yesterday afternoon, but before any of them could get some rest, Celestina had called for her adjutant and her 3 Disciples to meet up with her.
Without any choice in the matter, Lucas, Eris, Christina, and Allina all hopped onto Cloud Treading Colts and rode south to rendezvous with the assembling army.
Sasha also wanted to accompany them, but someone needed to remain behind to organize the refugees, so she reluctantly stayed in Misty City to supervise the offloading of the migrants from the South-West Province.
Upon reuniting, Celestina and her Disciples all had a great many stories to share with one another, but that would have to wait until the Saberclaw Raptor threat was dealt with.
Now, standing here, watching as the raptors awkwardly swam away, everyone could only wait patiently, their weapons at their sides, ready for any unexpected developments.
However, half-an-hour later, everything went exactly as everyone had expected.
By now, the raptors were far enough out that it was fairly obvious they wouldn’t be turning back.
The Sixth Order Alpha and its Fifth Order subordinates were already half-way across the river, while the Fourth Order individuals were lagging somewhat behind, having some difficulty fighting against the currents.
As for the raptors at or below the Third Order, they were clearly struggling.
Whether drowning in the river or being exterminated by the humans was a worse way to die was debatable, but at least they had a chance to survive by fording the waters, so they forged onwards.
Celestina felt no pity for these beasts. They had already caused significant damage to the Rockwell Kingdom, so not attacking them as they fled across the Lorren was already the greatest mercy she would show.
More than an hour later, the final surviving Saberclaw Raptor set foot on the other shore of the river.
When the pack first appeared outside Redwood Town, they had numbered somewhere north of 80, but now there were less than 30 of them left.
Most of the raptors appeared to be sprawled out and resting on the opposite shore, but Celestina and the other powerful masters around her could still sense the sharp gaze of the Alpha sweeping over them, like it was trying to memorize the faces of its hated enemies.
None of them were worried, though.
This beast was smart enough to know when to advance and when to retreat. The chances it would return one day to seek revenge were basically non-existent.
It was a rather anti-climactic end to the month-long hunt, but Celestina wasn’t going to complain. She wasn’t some hot-blooded youth hopped up on ideas of justice and vengeance.
These raptors weren’t evil; they had simply killed to survive.
Killing them wouldn’t bring back those who died, nor would it benefit any of the victims who had suffered at their claws.
Since these raptors could still be useful to Celestina and the Rockwell Kingdom, she had no qualms about letting them go.
The problem had been dealt with, and her hunting party only received a few minor injuries in the process. All that was lost was some time and effort, so as far as Celestina was concerned, this was an ideal outcome.
Finally looking away from the raptor Alpha, Celestina turned to her troops and ordered, "Return to the city!"
With the command given, the soldiers of the Raging River Legion, as well as the Adepts and Initiates who had come to aid Celestina in the hunt, began packing up and preparing to depart.
Frey also signaled to her packmates to form up.
Their first joint mission together with their human allies was officially over, so all that remained now was to collect their promised reward and then to settle into their new home.
As for Lucas, he would be lying if he said he didn’t think anything of letting the Saberclaw Raptors go. They had, after all, attacked his home and injured people he knew and cared about; however, he also understood his Master’s intentions, so he didn’t raise a fuss.
Eris and Christina similarly didn’t say anything. If their Master and Senior Brother felt this was an appropriate solution, neither of them was going to argue.
Besides, they already had more than enough work to keep them busy for the foreseeable future. Why worry about something that ultimately didn’t matter when they were drowning in problems which deeply affected the lives of everyone they cared about?
With the departure of the Saberclaw Raptors, one Chapter in all of their lives had finally come to an end, but another was just about to begin.
Thinking so, Lucas and his group set off for Misty City, ready to face the next set of challenges waiting there for them.
