Mila was surprised by his orders, "I don't think this decision will please the noble families... They are impatiently waiting for the talismans at the monthly auctions in Jura and are already demanding to increase the numbers of auctions and selling points, they will certainly become angry after such a decision, and also.. for what will you need all these talismans? Your mission here is over.
My father and Duke Raymond already keeping two of the three enemy duchies busy, and we just smashed the main forces of the Duchy of Harris to pieces... It is impossible for one of the three Duchies of the Lying Water Kingdom to send an army like this one again in the near future."
"The nobles wouldn't be pleased? what the hell are those? Let them go and fvck themselves if they don't like it, I will sell what I want whenever I want WHEREVER I WANT! if they have a problem with that then they should go argue with the Burton family's army!" Robin waved as if he hadn't heard anything
After he finished his words, a smile automatically appeared on his face for the first time in hours...
All he was doing for the sake of the family whether strengthening the upper icons, training the new generation, supporting and financing, literally everything... was in order to openly say these words.
Today's battle had finally proven to him that he no longer had to fear or put anyone into consideration again when taking his decision, finally, he can do what he wants in his lands and spread whatever he wants to spread of his knowledge with out thinking about the consequences of his neighbors
Finally reached a degree of freedom that he was looking for from the beginning, after the news of today's battle spread, everyone will know who the Burton family is, no one will try to provoke them again!
...Except...
When Robin got to this point and thought of the Royal family, he shook his head and wiped the smile, then continued to Mila, "What did you mean my task is over? Who will pay for the blood of the family members who died today?! what do I tell the thousands of wives, sisters, and children that are waiting for their provider at home? They died protecting the Altons lands?!"
"This..." Mila looked with the side of her eyes at Saint David, who in turn shrugged, also not knowing what Robin was talking about.
"We will get on with this subject at the right time, as for now just send the orders as I told you..." Robin waved and then looked at Saint David, "We will wait here for a few days so starts making preparations for it and settle everyone down...
in the meantime, you send should the war prisoners to Jura to be sold there as slaves, if we kept them here they screw up our rations."
"No problem." David nodded with a smile, he was the appointed General for this army, but he didn't feel anything strange as he took orders from Robin
"Good! I will leave you to your new tasks then." Robin stood up and headed toward the exit, "When news comes from the patriarch, let me know."
------------------------
Three days later - the commander's tent
"Why was I summoned? Is there anything new...?" Robin walked in and asked straight away
Saint Davido nodded and motioned to Robin to be seated, "We have received news that the Patriarch fought with the hostile army 100 miles east of Bradley's Pearl, the battle started about two hours ago and we think the results will be transmitted shortly."
"Oh? That is actually pretty fast, I was expecting he would need at least another day before the battle begins, I think his enemy increased his speed to try to catch him off guard?" Robin sat down and spoke with interest, " well, I think we will know soon enough! Is there any news of what we agreed upon last time? The subject about the talismans, war prisoners, etc.."
"Everything is done, the auction house in Jura is closed and currently 480 Rune masters are all working on the production of the fire explosion talismans only, the war prisoners are on their way to Jura City with a small troop of out forces and knights to escort them, I think Jura City market will be refreshed when they arrive haha"
"Good.. very good..." Robin replied, then fell into a long silence
*buzzes*
Everyone could feel that a message was delivered to Saint David ring, and they all looked at him anxiously
After a few seconds of closing his eyes, he opened them wide and declared, "We are victorious."
"This is normal! what kind of a report is this?!" Robin interrupted the shout of joy that was about to resound from those present, and then continued, "Ask him about the losses."
"...." The saint fell silent for another minute, then opened his eyes again, this time not very happy...
"The enemy army was annihilated except for a few saints and knights that managed to flee, but as for us.. 30 thousand soldiers were killed, 100 knights of the Fire and Wind Legion combined, and all of their 20,000 Fire Explosion talismans were used in the battle..."
"This…" Everyone was shocked to hear the full report, no wonder the patriarch just said that he won at the beginning...
The patriarch faced an army close in size to his own, with his army of 100,000- strong and his opponent is about 120,000... but the losses are catastrophic! it can be compared to their own losses even though they faced two armies that are combined three times larger than the patriarch's!
Then they all returned to look at Robin, certainly, without his ruthless instructions at the battle, their losses would not have been limited to what had occurred...
"damn it..." Robin clenched both hands, he was trying to deal with the fact that his orders has got more than 25,000 men and women killed, and now many more were added to the list!
He might not be the one who lead that army and caused their death, he is the one who sent them there and assigned them the limited amount of talismans and knights, maybe if he assigned more talismans for them...
20,000 fire explosion talismans were already too much in his estimation when he allotted them to the patriarch, he just couldn't imagine that the modern war strategies would use that much!
"Robin…" Mila took a few tense steps and placed her hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry too much about the losses, my father and Duke Alton will surely compensate the Burtons properly for it When they come back victorious…"
"compensate us for the losses? Those two will compensate us for the losses? don't make me laugh!!" Robin exploded, " Can't you understand what our losses mean? Our army is superior to your father's in terms of armaments, the number of knights, and the number of talismans yet we have tasted all these heavy losses while we fought on our own lands,
so what do you think happens there when they are on a hostile territory with no supply chain and one army after another keeps showing to them? If your father were in control, would he have allowed For an army of 120,000 soldiers to slip from under his nose to attack the capital of his lands? He and Raymond Alton won't be compensating me... I'm afraid they need someone to compensate THEM in the near future!"
Mila tilted her head and took a step back, it was unknown if she became worried about her father now she started thinking about the situation there, or it was because of Robin yelling at her...
A moment of silence eclipsed the huge tent, that was what was really in their heads, the war in the lands of Lying Water must be witnessing massacres for the Altons and the Bradleys... At the very least, their conquest would never be an easy one as everyone thought
"Sigh~ what do we do now?" Saint David asked gloomily, maybe after all these sacrifices the two dukes will return defeated and all will go in vain, by then they might refuse to give the lands they promised before to Robin, much less give them any new compensations!
Robin rubbed his forehead for a few seconds and then spoke, "Let's go step by step.. as long as the external threat to the lands of the Black Sun kingdom is over and we proved to everyone that the Burton family is loyal to the kingdom and shown how we protected its honor and people... now is the time to put an end to the internal conflict."
"You mean…" The saint narrowed his eyes
Robin finally got his hands off his forehead and spoke with a serious tone, " Yes, It's time to finish what we left Jura City originally for, it's time to take the family's revenge, and mine too..."