Alice nodded and began walking in the direction of the camp’s washing area.

Zilu followed at her side, taking small, slow steps, glancing back to look at Mark before disappearing among the remains of the tents.

Mark stood watching as Alice and Zilu disappeared among the tent remains.

"Well, Master," Rose’s voice said with a clear mocking tone. "You really don’t let any opportunity go to waste." 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Mark didn’t turn around.

"You even made us look like the good guys," Rose added, stopping beside him. "Pretty convenient, don’t you think, Master?"

Mark let out a sigh and then turned to look at her.

"None of that would have been necessary if you hadn’t destroyed the other cages."

Rose was quiet for a moment.

"Master, I had absolutely no idea there were kidnapped demi-humans in there," Rose said with a shrug. "To me they just looked like a bunch of supply crates or something."

"..."

Mark stared at her for a couple of seconds.

He wasn’t sure whether Rose was being completely honest or simply saying what she needed to say so he’d stop pressing the issue.

But in the end he decided it didn’t matter, because what was done was done and there was no point fighting over it.

Mark let out a heavy sigh.

"At least we managed to make a good impression on the one who survived..." Mark said, looking away from Rose. "I’m hoping that’s enough for her to agree to give us information willingly."

"Don’t worry too much about that, Master, I’m sure she’ll tell you everything you want to know," Rose said with a mischievous smile.

"I hope you’re right..." Mark said, running a hand over the back of his neck. "Because right now the only thing we know about the south of the continent is what you’ve told us, and your information is fifty years old."

"Forty-eight, Master, forty-eight," Rose corrected.

"Rose..."

"Alright, alright, I’m sorry."

Mark stopped looking at Rose and lowered his gaze to the corpse of the blonde officer still lying on the ground a few meters away.

Or what was left of him.

The man’s face was completely destroyed.

Zilu had caved it in with her fists to the point where you could no longer tell where the nose ended and the jaw began.

’Even if I revive him to get information out of him... I seriously doubt he can tell me anything without a mouth,’ Mark thought, looking at the man’s corpse.

Because his necromancer ability could reanimate corpses, yes, but it couldn’t reconstruct what was no longer there.

If the body had no head or tongue, the undead logically wouldn’t be able to speak.

’Well... I suppose that source of information is gone,’ he thought, running a hand over his face.

Mark was still looking at the corpse when Ely’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Master," she said, approaching. "What are you planning to do now?"

He raised his eyes and slowly looked around at the destroyed camp stretching in every direction.

Burned tents, shattered carts, weapons scattered across the ground, and above all, bodies.

Hundreds of bodies piled on top of each other by Ely and Alice.

"The first thing is to make all of that disappear," Mark said, pointing to the enormous pile of corpses in the center of the camp.

Mark paused and then looked at them again.

"We don’t know if more of them could show up," Mark said, gesturing toward the stacked bodies. "And I’d rather not cause any more of a scene than we already have."

"Do you want us to take care of the bodies?" Aria asked, gesturing to Ely and herself.

"No, Rose will handle that," Mark said, turning toward the vampire. "Rose, you can get rid of the corpses and all the camp materials without leaving a trace, right?"

The vampire surveyed the surroundings for a couple of seconds, mentally counting the amount of work ahead of her.

"Obviously I can, Master," she said, nodding. "But... with this many corpses it’s going to take me at least two hours."

"That’s fine, just try to do it as quickly as possible."

"Understood, Master."

Rose turned and began walking toward the pile of bodies, already extending her hands as a reddish glow began forming in her palms.

Mark watched her go, then looked at Yuki, who was standing a few meters away in complete silence.

"Yuki."

"Yes, Master?"

"I want you to watch the surroundings," Mark ordered. "If you see any sign of someone approaching, I want you to warn us immediately so we can leave before they arrive."

"As you command, Master," Yuki said, nodding.

And then she vanished.

Mark was left alone with Ely and Aria on each side.

"You two," Mark said, looking at them. "Come with me."

"May we ask where, Master?" Ely asked curiously.

"To the main tent, I want to go through everything inside," Mark explained, starting to walk. "Besides, we need to wait for Alice to come back so we can get whatever useful information we can out of Zilu, and then figure out what to do with her."

"Weren’t you planning to free her, Master?" Ely asked, tilting her head.

"Honestly... I’d rather not leave any loose ends," Mark said in a serious tone. "She’s already seen us, and leaving her free means she could tell others about what happened here or about us."

"I see..." Ely said thoughtfully.

"Either way, I’ll decide what to do with her after I’ve questioned her," Mark said in his usual tone. "For now let’s focus on trying to find some kind of map."

"It’ll be my pleasure to help you, Master!" Ely said, moving to his side and taking his arm.

"Me too!" Aria added, stepping to his other side and mirroring Ely’s gesture with Mark’s other arm. "Although I’m not sure I’ll be much help looking for maps, I’ve never been great with small print."

"Just look for papers with drawings on them, Aria," Mark said. "If it has lines and shapes that look like terrain, it’s probably a map."

"That I can do!"

Mark let out a short laugh under his breath and the three of them began walking back toward the officer’s tent.

When they went in, the first thing Mark saw again was the table with the food and wine.

’I’m definitely taking this with me,’ Mark thought, eyeing the remaining wine bottles.