255: Chapter 131: Cleaning Up the Battlefield 255: Chapter 131: Cleaning Up the Battlefield Hearing the retreat bugle from the opposite bank, Knight Henkel looked at the nearly completed pontoon bridge and angrily clenched his fist.
If only they could have waited a little longer!
If the Young Master had taken his advice before the attack!
His resentment turned into a sigh.
The old knight didn’t understand how a battlefield where they had more than twice the enemy’s strength could be lost, but since the main force had already retreated, the two hundred Militia he led could no longer turn the tide.
Henkel ordered a halt to the bridge construction and turned to lead his troops away from the north bank.
As the army of the Wolf Family retreated farther and farther back along the way they had come, disappearing entirely from the battlefield, the Soldiers Mister Brian Sr.
had gathered only truly felt the advent of victory.
But after their cheers, people couldn’t rest immediately.
Some Soldiers remained on guard, while many more began searching for their wounded comrades on the battlefield, providing aid to any kinfolk who still had hope of surviving.
At the foot of the slope, Mister Brian Sr.
busied himself organizing a temporary camp and had men fetch makeshift stretchers from Longka Village, made of door panels and wooden planks, to transport the found wounded.
Leon didn’t want to be idle either, so he temporarily handed Canis over to Olivia, Sir Redo, and others to imprison in the camp, and he ran down the slope to search and rescue his Subjects with his Soldiers.
The medical standards of this era were worrying, and Longka didn’t have many treatment options.
Finding a wounded person a bit sooner, cleaning the wound properly, might save one more life.
Leon didn’t have the luxury to care for enemy Soldiers who had not been taken by their own army or died completely, but for those Soldiers fighting for themselves, saving one more was one more.
Especially the Selvians.
Many young and strong Selvians had yet to re-establish their families and leave behind offspring.
Should these people die in battle, it would truly mean complete extinction for them.
Running back and forth on the battlefield, Leon’s physical condition, which had seen rapid growth from the frenetic stimulation of the Magic Element, remained far superior to ordinary men even as the power of the Boiling Heart faded, so naturally, the efficiency with which he carried heavy objects was much higher than that of average young men.
The Soldiers who were busy at work glanced at the silver-armored figure who ran past them, turned around with surprised looks, and watched the Knight Master lift the wounded they found, moving swiftly and steadily back and forth among the corpses strewn across the battlefield, surprised that such a noble Knight Master would stoop to do such dirty work.
Not far away, Lokhak bandaged the wounded Azeryan and saw Leon’s hectic running; he thought for a moment, rubbed his palms, took off his Iron Gloves, and ran over to help his comrade.
The two of them, along with the warriors, worked together, and dozens of injured, with various degrees of severity, were temporarily taken to the medical camp for treatment.
Although Longka currently lacked an army doctor, fortunately, there was a young mage on-site whose “Medical Skill” was far superior to that of the majority of folk healers on the Western Continent.
And Duwana, a veteran under Sir Redo’s command, also had some experience in basic wound dressing and treatment.
Facing the anxious gratitude of lightly wounded Soldiers, Leon reassured everyone for a moment and then turned toward the nearby surgical tent, from which wails and screams continued to emanate.
Upon entering, the stench of blood filled his nostrils.
In front of the surgery table, which looked like a scene of slaughter, the youth, dressed in a simple robe, was stained crimson with blood on his clothes and hands.
“Hold him down!” Kovis’s voice, usually gentle and elegant, now resembled that of a calm butcher.
And indeed, what he was doing was quite similar to a butcher’s job.
Only, a butcher takes life, whereas the blond youth was trying his best to preserve life.
Leon sighed, stepped forward quickly, and helped hold down the struggling, screaming patient.
Without sedatives, those undergoing amputations naturally suffered as though enduring torture.
At this moment, Leon realized the immense value concealed within the sedative-like “Comforting Spirit Fragrance.”
Compared to using it for nefarious deeds, perhaps the incense should be rightly used in medical surgery.
While dealing with the continual arrival of severely injured patients in the medical camp, after performing surgery on over a dozen critically wounded Soldiers, the blond youth’s forehead quickly became covered with sweat.
Using a cloth that had been boiled in hot water for a short time to disinfect, Leon wiped his brow, feeling ashamed that he had only been an ordinary office worker in his previous life, without any medical skills, nor the ability like Kovis’s to transmit Magic Element and channel his own energy into another person.
He had to make do with the basic sanitary knowledge he had and help the young mage as much as he could.
Constantly passing him surgical tools that had been sterilized by fire, fortunately, they were well-prepared with ample medical equipment: stainless steel knives, tweezers, forceps, hammers, chisels, saws, needles, splints, bandages…
and so on, everything was readily available.
Inside the tent, the session was filled with the chilling sounds of cutting flesh and sawing bones or the sizzle of cauterizing wounds…
After an undetermined amount of time, the final stretch of the horrific surgery was at last nearing completion.
White flames rose in Kovis’s hands, and the flickering holy flame passed over the cauterized wound, eliminating all invisible impurities from the site.
Once it was dressed, the nearly exhausted young mage let out a long sigh of relief and nearly collapsed, his body going limp.
By his side, Duwana, who was feeling indescribably emotional, quickly caught hold of the beautiful little wizard, or little doctor?
He was well aware of how fortunate these Militia and comrades were to undergo this surgery, led by a Magician himself, a luxury usually reserved for nobles.