The smell was coming from the large pile of bodies on the side. Most of it had been turned to charcoal black, but there was just so much that it wouldn’t go away for a few more days. Cessilia couldn’t bear to look at the calcined human remains. They had been gathered a bit away from what was left of the Muram Village. It was really just a village like any other. A handful of roads came to a group of modest houses, and there were only two shops, both closed. In fact, all buildings bore traces of damage of some sort. Some had holes in the walls, others their door ripped off, and one even seemed to have completely collapsed from the inside. Those weren’t new, however. A lot of the damage had clearly been done over a few years. Only the large red stains on the walls and ground seemed to be fairly new...

Cessilia kept looking around the streets, ignoring all the stares she could feel on her from behind the closed doors and drawn curtains.

“Some of the Royal Guards came here just a few days ago with the King,” said Sabael, “to help gather the bodies, and try to help with the damages, but... many villagers don’t trust soldiers anymore, since what happened with the previous King. They were asked to leave by the remaining locals.”

Tessandra crouched down, her eyes on the ground. She was scrutinizing all the footprints left on the soil, and behind her, Cessilia was standing but staring at them too.

“How many soldiers came to fight?” Tessandra asked.

“I’m not sure... Maybe about twenty or thirty?” Sabael shrugged. “...Why?”

“It d-doesn’t look like th-there was much of a f-fight,” Cessilia said.

Even if the battle had ended a week ago, there weren’t many people there, and the houses were rather far from one another since this place was meant for farming. From her experience, there should have been much more traces of the fight than this.

“His Majesty arrived first and did most of the work,” explained Sabael. “His abilities are... godly. When the Royal Soldiers arrive, there usually isn’t much more to do about the pillagers. We come to pacify the people, help with the damage, and make sure the place will remain peaceful...”

“Peaceful, it is,” scoffed Tessandra.

Indeed, there was a terrible silence reigning. A silence of death.

Cessilia’s eyes turned to the houses. Most of them had found people to come back and live in them. These lands were obviously meant to be farmed, but it would take months before people could do anything with them again... The soil hadn’t been cultivated for far too long, and all the animals had fled. The only well was probably dry too. She sighed, a bit depressed. The aftermath of a battle never had a taste of victory...

“What now, Cessi? What did we come here for?”

“I want t-to know how the K-King did it,” she said.

She turned around and began walking to the pile of bodies. Her eyes were going to the damaged walls, analyzing everything she saw. She knew the survivors would probably not talk to a foreign woman who had just landed on a dragon’s back, and she couldn’t blame them for being terrified. They were probably terrorized already...

Behind her, Nana was following like a shadow. From a dream-like flight, her mood had sunk with the heavy atmosphere in this place, and she didn’t really dare leave the Princess’ side. She was also curious to understand why Cessilia had wanted to come here. Meanwhile, Tessandra stayed behind, observing the traces of the fight. Between the two, Sabael, visibly lost, crossed his arms.

“I told you, the King came first!”

Seeing that Cessilia didn’t seem to listen, he ran to catch up to her.

“I’ve seen him in action,” he continued. “The King has unbelievable fighting skills, the best in our entire Kingdom, and he’s as fast as lightning! Behind him, all soldiers become braver just from seeing him in action. We all dream to achieve a tenth of his talent one day. His white hair is proof he is out of this world, and his combat skills too. It’s inhuman. I really believe his sword is blessed by the gods of war!”

“Your K-King only had one God of War t-training him,” retorted Cessilia, sounding pissed, “and he did not t-teach him this.”

She stopped in front of the pile of bodies, a dejected expression on her face. Somewhere behind her, Nana hadn’t followed her all the way and was covering her nose with her sleeve, looking like she was going to be sick. Sabael only dared to go a couple of steps farther than his sister, but before he added anything, Cessilia’s hand suddenly grabbed a limb from one of the bodies and pulled it to take it out of the pile.

He gasped in shock, not only because of the visual of the burnt bodies falling down one after another but because she had fearlessly grabbed a still-smoking corpse. So much of the flesh was already burnt that it looked like Cessilia had dragged a skeleton away from the pile in front of the siblings’ shocked eyes. Her dark reptilian hand was protecting her from the heat, but there was nothing to prevent the smell. Naptunie coughed a bit but didn’t dare try to get closer. Tessandra was the one to join her cousin, glaring at the body beneath them.

“This guy was killed in one blow,” she said, tilting her head. “The way his neck bones are still bent means the sword was stopped halfway, probably by some armor. A grown adult, I’d say...”

Cessilia seemed to be scrutinizing the body from even closer. She didn’t shy away from getting down on her knees next to it or manipulating it, although she was visibly being as respectful as possible. She used her scaled hand to check the body’s mouth and its head, although there wasn’t much left but a few holes and the vague shape of a skull.

“He was drugged,” she whispered.

“What?”

“His t-tongue and gums b-burned faster than th-they should have, c-compared to the rest of his b-body. There was something that accelerated the p-process in his mouth.”

“...Alcohol?”

“He d-doesn’t smell like alcohol.”

Tessa leaned over, and despite grimacing, took a whiff of the body, before nodding.

“You’re right... Alcohol would still leave a smell, I can even smell some of his sweat.”

“What kind of nose have you got?!” exclaimed Sabael, stunned.

“A dragon’s,” the girls answered simultaneously.

Somewhere behind them, Krai let out a short growl, as if to concur. Sabael was speechless. The Princess could tell the person was drugged simply after observing their burnt body? Before he could even ask anything, she and Tessandra began pulling two more bodies out and observing them the same way. The two cousins were quickly drawing conclusions between themselves, agreeing those people had been killed way too swiftly.

“Someone drugged these people before they fought,” mumbled Tessandra. “That guy looked like he had plenty of muscle, but he was killed with one blow... They probably all were! There are, what, fifty bodies here?”

“Sixty-six, my lady.”

They turned around.

A very old woman, who only stood with the help of a cane, had come out of one of the houses to talk to them. She was wearing a bandage with blood on it over her small head and looked like she had been through hell. As if her body moved automatically, Cessilia walked up to her, gently pulling the bandage to see the wound beneath.

“I c-can treat this,” she offered.

“I am fine, young lady,” the old woman shook her head, “but thank you. I’m at the age where I don’t care about these little things anymore. I heard you ladies from my house, the one over there. You were right. All these men were drugged before His Majesty arrived. We did it.”

“What the heck?” Tessandra frowned. “Why?”

“To help His Majesty!” exclaimed the old lady. “This village was my ancestors’ home long before those bandits came here. I had to watch again and again as they robbed, killed, and raped every single person I have known. They killed my sons who tried to save me, and they raped my daughter-in-law and grandchild before murdering them! Each time more men came here, it wasn’t to save us, it was more bandits coming to take whatever was left!”

The old lady looked exhausted just from saying all that. In fact, she seemed to be out of energy overall. She was old, injured, and clearly very upset too. Her wrinkled hand was shaking on her cane, and tears were appearing in her small eyes. Cessilia felt her own throat tighten listening to all this. She could imagine that pain was the pain of each person hiding inside the houses. No wonder they had been terrified of them and their dragon now...

“Granny, I’m so sorry...” Nana cried, upset as well.

“I can’t take any more pity, young lady,” said the old woman. “Those men got what they deserved! They weren’t humans! I don’t know what you came here for, but the King served justice for my family!”

“Did you see the fight, old lady?” asked Tessandra, her hands on her hips.

“...From behind my window,” she nodded. “I would have helped, even!”

“There were sixty-six bandits here?”

“That’s what I said!”

“And you drugged them all to help the King?”