Free Web NovelChapter 505: Chapter 505
His voice broke. "I escaped with forty-three others. That’s all that survived from three hundred."
An orc in the refugee group stepped forward—female, tall even for an orc, with massive burn scars across her arms. freeωebnovēl.c૦m
"I’m Urgla. Chief of Riverside Camp. One hundred nineteen orcs before the humans came. We’d heard about Thornwood, tried to evacuate. They caught us on the march. Cavalry charge. We lost seventy-three in the first ten minutes. I got these burns from fire mages." She gestured at her scarred arms. "Twenty-six of us escaped."
A serpentfolk male slithered forward, his scales showing patches where they’d been torn away, slowly healing.
"Sss’thek of Eastern Hollows. Sixty-four serpentfolk. We tried to hide in the caverns below our settlement. They found us. Using explosion magic to force us out. Twenty-one escaped. The rest... we heard screams from the caverns for hours." ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
Vess’thara’s expression darkened at hearing another serpentfolk settlement had been massacred. Her tail coiled tightly with suppressed rage.
The testimonies continued. Settlement after settlement. Massacre after massacre. The Church army’s march to Satou’s settlement had left a trail of destroyed monster villages and hundreds of casualties.
Satou felt rage building—cold, controlled, but absolute. The humans hadn’t just come to destroy his settlement. They’d committed genocide across an entire region.
"How many settlements did they destroy?" he asked quietly.
"Seven that we know of," Vex replied. "Thornwood, Riverside, Eastern Hollows, Copper Ridge Mine, the Serpent Warrens, Orcish March, and Demon’s Rest. Approximately fifteen hundred casualties total across all settlements. These two hundred thirty-seven are everyone who managed to escape and survive the journey here."
Fifteen hundred dead. Entire communities exterminated. And Commander Elric had done it casually, as routine action while marching to what he considered the real target.
Satou’s clawed hands clenched, but he forced his voice to remain calm. "Why come here?"
Vex met his eye directly. "Because we heard stories. A settlement where goblins and orcs and serpentfolk and demons and even humans live together. Where strength doesn’t mean oppression. Where all races have value. We thought... we hoped... that if anywhere would accept us, it would be here."
He gestured at the desperate refugees behind him.
"We have wounded who need healing. Children who need shelter. Elderly who can barely walk. But we’re not beggars. Everyone who can work will work. Everyone who can fight will defend. We don’t ask for charity. We ask for chance to rebuild our lives."
Satou looked at Lyra. She nodded fractionally—her tactical assessment was that the refugees posed minimal threat and could provide valuable labor.
He looked at Jessica. She was already eyeing the wounded with healer’s professional assessment, calculating treatment needs.
He looked at Vess’thara. The serpentfolk commander’s expression was fierce. "More of our people survived than we knew," she said quietly. "We should help them."
Satou looked back at Vex and the desperate refugees.
"This settlement just survived five days of siege warfare," Satou said bluntly. "Five hundred fifty-nine of our people died. Four hundred more wounded. Our infrastructure is forty percent destroyed. Our food supplies are limited. Our medical resources are stretched thin. And the demon lord reinforcements that helped us win have returned to their own territory—we’re defending ourselves now with just the few of us who survived."
He saw hope dying in the refugees’ eyes, saw them preparing for rejection.
"But," Satou continued, "we’re also rebuilding. And rebuilding goes faster with more hands. You said everyone who can work will work?"
"Yes," Vex said immediately. "Everyone. We’ll do anything."
"Then you’re welcome here. On three conditions."
Relief flooded through the refugee group, but Satou raised a clawed hand.
"First condition: everyone who joins this settlement follows our laws. No violence against other residents. No theft. No exploitation. We protect each other regardless of race."
"Agreed," Vex said without hesitation.
"Second condition: everyone contributes according to ability. If you can work, you work. If you can fight, you train. If you have skills, you teach. No freeloaders."
"Agreed."
"Third condition: if another attack comes, you defend this settlement like it’s your home. Because it will be your home. We don’t run. We don’t abandon each other. We fight together or die together."
Vex’s remaining eye showed fierce determination. "After what we’ve seen, after what we’ve survived... Lord Satou, we’ll fight. We’ll work. We’ll do whatever it takes. You’re giving us a future when everyone else gave us death."
Satou nodded, then raised his voice to address all two hundred thirty-seven refugees:
"Welcome to the settlement. You’re home now."
The reaction was immediate—refugees breaking down in tears of relief, collapsing from exhaustion now that safety was reached, parents hugging children, the wounded sagging as tension finally released.
Satou turned to his waiting teams:
"Jessica, medical assessment. Treat the critically wounded first. Lyra, process them through security screening—be thorough but respectful. Kelvin, coordinate temporary housing. Gruk, identify anyone with construction skills and add them to work crews."
Orders given, organization emerging from chaos.
Vess’thara approached the serpentfolk refugees, speaking in their hissing language, offering comfort and solidarity to those who’d lost their settlement just as she’d lost Chief Skar.
As the refugees began moving into the settlement under guard supervision, Vex approached Satou again.
"Lord Satou... I need to tell you something. About the humans that attacked my territory"
Satou’s attention sharpened. "What about them?"
"When they attacked Thornwood, before the massacre started, he read a proclamation. Church official statement." Vex’s voice was bitter. "He declared that all monster settlements in the region were ’demonic corruption that threatens human civilization’ and would be ’cleansed by holy order.’"
"Meaning?"
"Meaning Thornwood wasn’t isolated incident. Riverside wasn’t just convenience. This was planned genocide. The Church sent four thousand soldiers to exterminate every non-human settlement in this entire region. Your settlement was the primary target, but we were all marked for death."
Satou absorbed that information with cold fury. "Did he say why?"
"Apparently Demon Lord Loki’s territory is too close to Church interests. They want a ’buffer zone’ of human-controlled land. Monster settlements are obstacle to that buffer. So they decided to eliminate us all."
