The mercenaries were still cleaning the battlefield when sudden noises in the corner of the battlefield drew Anfey and Suzanna’s attention. Anfey looked over and saw Ye hurrying over to them.
"What’s going on over there?" Anfey asked.
"Nothing much," Ye said with a sigh. "Everyone’s angry over what happened to General Kumaraghosha’s family."
"Why were they talking about Kumaraghosha?"
"He was a stubborn one," Ye said. "After I asked everything I needed to ask, I asked him why he wanted to die. We could have let him go. He told us that the only way to save his family is for him to die." Ye paused as if he was still trying to process the general’s words. "Then he told us what happened to General Kumaraghosha’s family."
"What happened?" Suzanna asked.
"Edward VIII condemned all of them to death," Ye said, shaking his head. "It is a cruel, cruel thing he did. He executed Kumaraghosha’s wife and daughters and fed their bodies to griffins. Kumaraghosha’s daughter was engaged to a viscount, and that viscount’s family is in jail now as well."
"What else did he say?"
"That’s it about Kumaraghosha’s family. The other things mostly involve military information."
"Tell me about it later," Anfey said. "Don’t kill the man yet."
"But he’s no use to us anymore."
"Something is better coming from him," Anfey said with a sigh. "He knows exactly what happened. I want him to talk to Kumaraghosha."
"I see," Ye said. "But…he wants to die and he’s injured. I needed get the information out of him, you know." Ye pursed his lips and lowered his head. "I…might have cut his hand off."
Anfey sighed. "Go find Warner. See if he can do anything. And tell him that no matter what happens to him, his family is still in danger. Tell him that Kumaraghosha is working for me now and eager to avenge his family. If the general dies now, Kumaraghosha would give up the opportunity to avenge his family.
"But should he come to us if he wants revenge?"
"He’s a soldier," Anfey said. "He should know that he must be ready to be killed when he kills another. Plus, he attacked us first. Tell him everything I just said, and if he still wants to die, let him."
"Yes, sir," Ye said and left.
Blavi landed next to Anfey and said, "I just counted. There’s a huge amount of supplies. I don’t think we can take this much."
"Take everything you can and burn the rest."
Blavi sighed. "That’s such a waste."
"I wish I could take these and send it back to Maho Empire," Anfey said, "but we can’t. It’s better to burn it than to let Scarlet take it back."
"What about the armor and the weapons?"
"Find a secluded location and bury them," Anfey said. "Remember where you buried them. Who knows when we will need them? Orsie, you’ll take care of the weapons. Make it quick."
Orsie nodded and hurried off with his men.
"What should we do with the magic crystals?" Ozzic finally asked hesitantly.
The mercenary commanders all paused. Even Orsie stopped and moved back to hear Anfey’s decision. They had sworn loyalty to Anfey, but they were still individuals. The mercenaries were working for Anfey because they trusted Anfey’s ability to lead them out of despair and give them more benefits in the future.
What banded them together was the promise of wealth and future benefits. They were all experienced mercenaries and knew how to judge a situation without being too emotional about it.
These mercenaries were different from Christian, Blavi, and Riska. The latter had been friends with Anfey before, and even though they had their conflicts, they still wanted to band together because of their common experiences. They were young still and believed in friendship, and were willing to give everything for their friends. After they began trusting Anfey, they no longer cared about benefits.
For the mercenaries, however, friendship was not enough.
"What do you think?" Anfey asked. He knew that this was a problem he had to deal with sooner or later. He knew what kind of man Ozzic was, but he still trusted him and did not doubt his loyalty.
If the magic crystals weren’t there, this situation would have been much easier. Now that they found crystals, how to distribute these crystals became an important question. To the mercenaries, the largest number of crystals should go to the person that had lost the most men.
"Sir, I think Lord Ozzic meant that it is going to be hard transporting these crystals," Ye suddenly said. He had returned and, sensing the tension, inserted himself between Ozzic and Anfey. "It’s going to be a problem."
"I have a dimensional ring," Joseph suggested. "Can’t carry much, though."
"That’s not going to work," Ye said, shaking his head. "I’m not doubting your honesty, sir, but these crystals are worth too much. I trust you, but do you trust me? If I run with these crystals, what can you do? Even if you kill me, as long as the crystal is in my ring, you cannot retrieve it."
"Why wouldn’t I trust you?" Joseph muttered but did not say anything else.
"Do you trust me?" Ye said, turning to Thompson. "Do you?" he asked Shinbella.
"I don’t," Shinbella said. "I don’t trust anyone."
"Ye’s right," Orsie said. "We can’t divide up these crystals. It would lead to chaos!"
"He’s right, he’s right," Ozzic hurriedly agreed. He wasn’t the only one who was eyeing the crystals, but he was the only one who was talking about it.
"Let’s just take the cart," Anfey said. "Blavi, mark the cart. I trust you to protect these crystals. If anything happens, I’ll hold you accountable."
Blavi nodded. "Trust me," he said, "I’m keep my eyes on it." Blavi was ambitious, but he was still very trusting. He had always thought the mercenaries were his friends, but clearly the mercenaries cared more about wealth.
"Alright, then," Anfey said. "Let’s go."
Ye left with the rest of the mercenaries, but Ozzic waited until most people were gone before hurrying off to follow Ye.
"Wait!" Ozzic called after Ye. "Wait!"
Ye stopped and turned to Ozzic. "I have a question for you, Ozzic," Ye said with a sigh.
"What is it?"
"Out of all the commanders, who does Lord Anfey trust the most?"
"Me," Ozzic said, his eyes on the ground.
"You’re the most trustworthy. You should know that no matter what, you will get a share of those crystals. Why did you just do that?"
"I know, I made a mistake," Ozzic said. "You don’t think…you don’t think that Lord Anfey is angry with me, do you?"
"No," Ye said, shaking his head, "or else he won’t have you guard the crystals with Blavi."
"Good," Ozzic said, relieved. "Come on, let’s go. I’m going to buy you a drink."
Ye smiled. "Let’s wait," he said. "We need to take care of everything else first."