Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem-Chapter 463: Next Stop

With the situation in Soku calmed down with the help of a little weather manipulation, Zach and Visla had successfully gotten two sieges to stop. Now they just had to deal with the rest.

But the two successes gave them confidence. A little persuasion, a little influence, and a little trickery would get them a long way, and a long way was all they needed. As long as the ball of peace started rolling, the flames of war wouldn’t be able to stop it.

Although they had only taken two out of many steps on their long journey, Zach and Visla were still happy and hopeful.

That changed when they arrived at their next destination, the siege of a small town by a group of smaller tribes deeper east. The town hadn’t been taken over yet because the more powerful tribes didn’t think it necessary. The smaller tribes also needed some scraps.

Zach and Visla first assumed that the smell of fire and ash was heavy in the air because the two sides were fighting fiercely or had just fought with everything they had. That might have been true, but that was not the reason for the thick smell filling the air before they could even see either side.

The barbarian encampment was in fiery ruins. The charcoal debris was still smoking and smoldering in places. Charred skeletons poked out of the occasional pile of ash and blacked tent remnants.

It was a massacre. It was…an overwhelming difference in strength.

"This is…" Zach’s gaze was heavy as he scanned the charred remains of the camp, hopelessly looking for traces of survivors.

Visla knelt, the strength leaving her legs. This was what they had been trying to prevent. This was why they were trying to stop the war. With how fresh the fires were, this had only happened just a few hours ago, at most half a day.

If they had been faster, they could have changed this—they could have stopped it.

Zach knew that as well. He felt the hope and excitement from before drain out of him like cold syrup.

He comfortingly put a hand on Visla’s shoulder.

"Come—" He was about to ask her to keep moving. Maybe they can track and catch whoever did this. But they shouldn’t stay here.

"Don’t touch me!" Visla shouted and smacked Zach’s hand off of her shoulder in a fit of rage.

She didn’t know the tribes or the barbarians who had been in the camp. She hadn’t lost any friends or acquaintances. But they were her people. And all the signs pointed toward one of Zach’s people being the cause for the tragedy in front of her.

Even if she knew in her head that Zach wasn’t involved and had nothing to do with it, her heart wasn’t as calm.

Zach took a step back with raised hands. He looked toward the western horizon with a frown.

"Let’s take a look at the town before either of us does something we might regret." With that, Zach turned and walked away before Visla could say anything. After a few steps, Nora gently pointed him in the direction of the town.

Visla looked at Zach’s back, a multitude of emotions swirling in her eyes. After a while, she sighed deeply.

She had been about to lay into Zach about what had happened and how he had no right to tell her what to do and so on. They were words she didn’t even know where they came from. The merciless slaughter of her people, which not even war could condone, had awoken something within her, a beast of rage.

It was good that Zach had calmly stepped away before she could point that beast at him.

Following behind him from a distance, Visla was a step later to see the sight on the other side of the hill. At first, she thought Zach stopped because he waited for her or didn’t want to get too close to the city since he was a traitor to the Empire.

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There was no reason to continue. He saw the town from his vantage point, and he saw its fate.

It was no different from the barbarian encampment. Reduced to ash, rubble, and bone.

This wasn’t a fight gone overboard. The Empire hadn’t decided to go nuts and burn the barbarians down to their last.

Someone else had intervened in the battle between the Empire and the Sesha.

Zach’s heart was heavy—stiff, as he looked at the scene, smoke still rising from the smoldering ruins of the town. He had a lump in his throat. He didn’t want to breathe anymore. He hadn’t wanted to ever since they first came upon the barbarian camp.

He was inhaling the smoke of people burned to ash and set into the air. It was different from the barbarian funeral. Those warriors had been guided to the stars.

The people, barbarians, kids, and unfortunate souls caught in the crossfire of the war and unable to evacuate behind the frontlines as well as all the soldiers, warriors, and fighters, had been turned into fiery resentful spirits sent to roam the land and haunt whoever was sensitive enough to feel their ghastly presence.

This wasn’t just a consequence of the war.

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War was war. People died, whether it be from weapons, starvation, or illness.

But this…What had happened to the town and the barbarians had nothing to do with the war between the Empire and the Sesha.

Zach closed his eyes and nodded toward the city, giving a silent prayer before turning away.

"Let’s go."

Once she saw the town share the fate of her people, Visla realized she had no reason to direct her anger toward Zach. He was just as affected as her, and neither was responsible for the other’s suffering. She followed him silently as they walked away from the smoldering town and camp. They walked into the night until they could no longer see the smoke or smell the burn.