Chapter 516: However Long It Took
"Ah, right," Christina immediately understood.
The standard armour for a soldier in the Raging River Legion came with metal boots that had smooth soles. Sometimes a few metal spikes were added to allow better traction, but it wasn’t the norm.
Christina’s boots, however, were very different.
At first glance, they looked pretty much the same as any other metal footwear, but underneath, instead of a flat metal plate, they had something Lucas called ’rubber treads’.
Christina recalled her eccentric Senior Brother being very excited when he introduced this latest invention of his to her, bragging that they were vastly superior when it came to grip and support.
Thinking back to how easily she had managed to traverse the forest without even the slightest worry about slipping, Christina reluctantly had to agree that Lucas had again created something useful.
That said, most of the things Lucas invented turned out to be useful, no matter how strange, awkward, or embarrassing they first appeared.
Shaking off these distracting thoughts, Christina motioned for the soldiers to follow her as they headed back towards the village.
Along the way, despite crossing some rather rough terrain, the little girl remained passed out, probably too exhausted after the ordeal she had been through last night to feel anything.
She would have to ask the girl to get the full story, but Christina could already imagine what had happened.
When the attack began, this child’s parents must have thrown the Aura Concealing Cloak onto their daughter and told her to run to the woods beyond the graveyard while they distracted the enemy.
In the middle of the night, under a mostly moonless sky, a small child wearing a black cloak that masked her Life Aura would be very easy to miss, especially if the ones searching were relying heavily on their Soul Senses to search for any survivors.
It was also clear that this girl was very familiar with the local forest, as she had nearly managed to lose Christina several times in their earlier chase.
Fortunately for the princess, her Master, Elders, and even her Senior Brother had repeatedly warned her to not just rely on her incredible raw strength but to also make use of her other senses and abilities.
She may not have been able to lock her Soul Sense onto this little girl thanks to the Aura Concealing Cloak, but using her Soul Qi to greatly enhance her vision and hearing to boost her tracking abilities was certainly possible.
Exiting the forest and arriving back at the local graveyard, Christina found that several of her fellow soldiers had already begun digging a large pit.
Ideally, each of the villages would be buried in a separate grave, but given the condition many of their remains were in, that would be... difficult.
As such, Captain Gage had decided to bury them all together in one long grave. It wasn’t the most dignified final resting arrangement, but neither was burying two halves of different bodies in a single grave after misidentifying what parts belonged to which corpse.
It was unpleasant work, for sure, but just as Christina had suspected, none of the Third Battalion’s soldiers, nor the members of the Fourth Battalion who had come ashore to assist, were complaining.
Everyone was working silently, with solemn expressions on their faces.
Spotting Captain Gage, who despite having no obligation to do so was also helping to dig the new grave, Christina walked over and attempted to salute, but with the little girl in her arms, found that to be impossible.
Seeing this, as well as small black-wrapped package Christina was carrying, Lana passed her shovel to a nearby subordinate and hopped out of the shallow pit, beckoning for the princess to follow her.
.....
With no intact homes, or structures of any kind for that matter, in the village, Lana and Christina had no choice but to carry the little girl back to the ship so she could be given a thorough check by their unit’s medic and so she could get some proper rest.
A full examination determined that the girl was exhausted and dehydrated, but other than a few cuts and scrapes, she was uninjured. This allowed Christina to finally breath a sigh of relief before she brought her to her own room and lay her down.
Once the little girl was tucked under the sheet, Captain Gage took the opportunity to ask the all-important questions, "Who is she, and how did you find her?"
"I have no idea who she is," Christina shook her head, "As for how I found her, that was more luck than anything else."
Christina then proceeded to explain what happened back at the cemetery, the subsequent chase through the forest, and what happened when she eventually caught the girl.
Frowning deeply, Lana glanced over at the sleeping child and sighed. She wasn’t married, and didn’t have kids of her own, but she came from a big family with many nephews and nieces who she adored. Thinking about what it must have been like to send such a young girl off on her own, not knowing if any of them would live or if they would all die a terrible death...
Turning back to Christina, Lana ordered, "Stay with her. You’re the only one among us who she is familiar with, and she’s going to need someone there when she wakes up."
Pursing her lips, Christina wanted to nod, but thinking about her Squad and her duties, she hesitated.
Seemingly understanding, Lana just smiled and patted her young friend on the shoulder, "It’s not all on you; there are others who can fill your role in the Battalion for now. Besides, this girl may be the key to us figuring out what the hell is going on here, which makes taking care of her just as important as any other duty you may have."
Taking a deep breath, Christina saluted, "Understood, Battalion Captain."
"Good," Lana nodded before leaving the room, planning to head back to shore to finish overseeing the cleanup operation.
As for Christina, she removed the metal layers of her armour and then took a seat next to the little girl’s bed, planning on waiting there however long it took for her to awake.