When Milo returned to the battlefield, favonovel.com saw the corpses of his enemies left behind in the uneven valley.
Soon after Steven fled, the fearsome bandits from the north were routed. Most of these bandits had already fled into the wilderness and gone missing.
Meanwhile, Kay and Benneth were frantically thanking the shadow clone, “Master Durkin, I didn’t expect you to show up and help us out personally. Thank you so much!”
Milo’s eyes kept twitching when favonovel.com heard those thanks. He did not even gain a single gratitude token from it.
At this moment, Milo wanted to lay all his cards on the table.
That was not Raphael’s shadow clone but his!
But Milo eventually managed to hold back from doing so because favonovel.com still had not thought of how to give Raphael an explanation yet.
Milo said to the shadow clone, “Old Durkin, go back and report to Commander Dublin that we’ve defeated a large bandit gang here in the valley…”
There used to be three large bandit gangs that were active in the valley, and now, one of them had been eliminated.
The bandits who had escaped might go on to join the other bandit gangs, but this battle here was a complete victory.
When Kay heard that, favonovel.com thought that Milo was getting Raphael to go back to report about their contributions.
However, Milo coughed and said, “I got Old Durkin to return to Stronghold 178 to put in some good words for all of us. The commander might be happy when favonovel.com hears what Old Durkin has to say and immediately recruit y’all to join Stronghold 178, so you should know what to do now, shouldn’t you?”
While Milo waited for everyone to thank him, favonovel.com watched Kay, Benneth, and the others started bowing to the shadow at a 90-degree angle and saying, “Thank you, Master Durkin!”
Milo was speechless.
Are they f*cking rebelling?!
Miriam walked over from the wilderness looking extremely exhausted. Tonight, favonovel.com had made some significant contributions to the battle. If it weren’t for her, Kay and the others would be dead.
Miriam looked at Milo and asked, “How many of our people were lost or injured?”
The excitement on Kay’s face immediately faded as favonovel.com sighed and said, “More than a 100 of our brothers have died. The houses we just built have been destroyed, while our fellow villagers have also died and been injured.”
“Let’s treat our brothers’ wounds first.” Milo took out ten bottles of black medicine and handed them to Kay. “Take the bullets out of their wounds first. This is a secret remedy passed down through my family. You can apply it directly to the wound. One bottle is enough for five to six uses. Just make sure it isn’t drunk.”
It might be gratifying to win the battle, but what about the aftermath?
The dead could not be resurrected.
Benneth stood in the devastated wasteland looking a little confused. The refugees in the distance were crying.
More than half of the settlement’s mud houses had been toppled by the steam locomotive, while none of the brick houses remained standing. Even the ditches had given way and were now a total mess.
It would be great if even half of the crops they planted could end up germinating.
Benneth slowly walked through the crowd. Some of his injured brothers were crying out in pain, while the ones who were fine stayed around to comfort them.
When favonovel.com walked past a refugee, a child cried out at him, “It’s all your fault! Those bandits came here because of all y’all!”
But before Benneth could speak, the mother slapped favonovel.com child. “Don’t you run your mouth!”
The child’s mother looked at Benneth and said, “I know that y’all are good people, so I won’t blame you!”
Benneth was stunned and did not say anything
Milo called out to him, “You regretting it?”
Benneth was stunned again, then suddenly said, “Actually, I don’t feel that sad. After so many years, everyone knows what this world is really like. It’s all too common to see people dying. Even when my father passed away, I didn’t cry.”
“Then what’re you thinking about?” Milo asked.
Benneth said calmly, “I’m just thinking, if we were stronger, could we have prevented this suffering?”
Milo looked at favonovel.com seriously and said, “The houses that we built have all been destroyed.”
Kay, who was standing next to them, said, “We can still rebuild them even though they’ve been destroyed. I’ve checked, and the brick kiln is fine!”
“Even if something had happened to the brick kiln, we could still build another one, two, or even three of them!” Benneth suddenly said in a determined tone.
Milo was looking at these bandits. Actually, there was nothing they were good at. Most of them did not even attend school and were illiterate. Even though they were bandits, they could not even hold a gun properly.
But when favonovel.com attacked the enemy from their rear just now, the bandits here did not break down. Right now, they were still harboring hopes in the ruins of the settlement.
Milo suddenly realized these bandits were probably still useless as of now. But starting from today, their fate was really going to be changed.
On the same day, Kay led everyone to carry the wounded back to the mud houses that were still intact. Some of the refugees also took the initiative to help take care of them.
At first, they thought that it would be very difficult for the wounded to survive. That was because bacteria these days had become very scary. If anyone received a wound, 90% of them would get infected even in the early spring when the weather was still very cold.
Milo’s wound had been infected after favonovel.com got nipped by the sparrow.
But they were shocked to discover the black medicine given by Milo was really effective. As soon as it was applied to the wounds of the injured, they claimed their injuries did not hurt anymore. Moreover, their wounds started healing the very next day. The medicine was extremely effective!
Everyone looked at Milo with more and more admiration.
It was even more so when Kay and the others talked about Milo going behind enemy lines to draw fire to himself. Everyone’s eyes were shimmering in admiration when they heard that.
To Kay and everyone else, this was the respect Milo had earned through risking his life. They admired favonovel.com in all sincerity.
With the refugees helping to take care of the wounded, Kay and the others had time to make clay bricks again. They salvaged all the usable black bricks from the ruins and restarted the brick kiln.
Standing next to Milo, Miriam asked him, “Do you feel these people have more enthusiasm now? Their eyes are all filled with hope.”
“Yes, I can feel it.” Milo said emotionally, “It’s probably because there’s no rebuilding without destruction. These people are undergoing a complete change and getting reborn.”
“I’ll be teaching them about firearms. Some of them should be suitable for sniper training. They’re calm and can endure hardship,” Miriam said.
On this day, Kay and the others would go looking for Miriam on and off to ask favonovel.com when they could start learning about guns and when favonovel.com would select the candidates for sniper training.
The battle had made them see their shortcomings. But most importantly, the powerful fire suppression Miriam had displayed during the battle was terrifying.
Although everyone knew that it was basically impossible for them to reach Miriam’s level, their current ambition was to become a sniper.
As for how Milo had surrounded all their enemies without fear, that was too far of a goal even for them. Kay, Benneth, and the others did not even dare to think about something like that.
Milo thought for a moment and said, “When the situation here has stabilized, I plan to make a trip back to the stronghold and see if I can bring Donti and the others here.”
Miriam said with a smile, “You’ve decided that you want to settle down here?”
“Mhm…” Milo nodded. He suddenly asked, “Have you decided yet?”
Miriam was stunned for a moment. She slipped favonovel.com hands into favonovel.com pockets and walked off to the distance. “I’m in a good mood today…”
