Let's start over, Your Majesty.

Chapter 191 Extra: Greta, First Encounter [Bonus Chapter, Requesting Monthly Tickets at the Beginning of the Month!]

As the sun set and the sound of horses' hooves rang out, a small mercenary squad of about ten men rode past.

Rean pulled on the reins, walking slowly along the muddy road.

The road was difficult to travel because there were corpses lying on the ground and luggage and debris scattered everywhere, and the air was filled with the stench of burning and decay.

“These are all refugees from Tromadin. They probably ran into the Iron Fang Legion’s pursuers after only a few steps,” Sothos said as he rode past him, looking at the devastation around him.

Last month, Tromadin was attacked by the Iron Teeth Legion of Fonse Territory. After defending for more than a month, it still fell. When the enemy was about to launch the final offensive and shouted the massacre outside the city, the residents inside the city discovered that their city lord had already run away with all the gold in the city.

The Iron Teeth Legion burned and killed in the city for three days. Only a few managed to escape, and they were intercepted on their way out.

The journey was horrific. All the men were killed, the older women were kidnapped, and even the children were drowned in the swamp. As for valuables, they were all looted, and anything that couldn't be taken was burned.

“A pack of wild beasts,” Rean said coldly.

“This is war, boss. Whatever the winner does is right,” Sothos said. “Without the guarantee of post-victory debauchery, how can you expect your soldiers to fight to the death for you?”

Rean knew that this was the rule of this world. In this era, barbarity was the dominant theme, and even someone like Sothos, who possessed a chivalrous spirit, was considered a saint.

Even after twenty years in the past, he still harbors a primal aversion to this world.

"Hey, there's something going on over there."

Galicia stepped forward from behind and said in a low voice.

They looked ahead into a patch of wild woods, where large swathes of trees were charred, with several obvious signs of explosion, clearly indicating a magical attack.
However, in the epicenter of the explosion, there was still a richly decorated carriage parked.

The carriage seemed to be protected by some kind of protective spell. Half of the roof had been destroyed by a bombardment spell, but it was still relatively new overall. In front of the carriage were the mangled corpses of three horses, and the surrounding area was filled with the corpses of guards, servants, and Iron Fang soldiers, indicating that it had been through a chaotic battle.

“Rean, we might find something here,” Sothos suggested.

Rean agreed, and the group took the reins and dismounted.

Upon arriving at the carriage, they found a fat corpse lying inside, dressed in a maid's uniform, its expression contorted, covered in large patches of blood, and swarming with flies.

"Hmm, this should be the carriage of the city lord of Tromadin. Even if it doesn't belong to him, it should belong to someone in his family."

Sothos deduced this from seeing their family crest in a trunk inside the car.

"However, I didn't see any bodies of noblemen or ladies. They must have all been captured by the Iron Fang Army. Judging from the scene, they probably went through a fierce battle. There weren't many Iron Fang Army soldiers left. They only captured the city lord and his party. Moreover, they left in a hurry and didn't have time to destroy the carriages."

“What a mess,” Fanit complained from the back of the crowd, having no interest in searching for treasure among the corpses.

“Let’s look around. There might still be some useful things left here. I saw a few sorcerer corpses over there earlier; maybe we can find some potions or something,” Sothos said.

The group wandered around, finding little of value inside the carriage. Judging from the state of the corpses' decomposition, they estimated they hadn't been dead for more than a few days. This place wasn't too far from Tromadin, and being intercepted in such a location meant they were probably not part of the city lord's family.

"Hey guys! Look what I found!"

Meyeris's excited voice rang out, and the group went over to find a hidden compartment at the bottom of the carriage. From there, he pulled out two large chests, broke open the iron locks, and found two large chests of fine silk fabrics, and a small chest full of gold and silver jewelry.

"Oh? This looks like a noblewoman's carriage, filled with these dowry-like valuables." Sothos weighed a gold necklace in his hand and deduced.

“Who cares whose it is, isn’t this also a spoil of war? Let’s split it!” Fanit immediately stepped forward and said, his eyes fixed on the box of gold.

"What's the rush?" Rean glanced at him. "The value of these can't be estimated right now. We'll exchange them for gold coins when we get to town."

Fanit shut up, but he soon became interested in the carriage, circling it to see if there were any other hidden doors.

Unfortunately, they only found these two boxes in the entire carriage. However, if they were converted into gold coins, it would be roughly equivalent to a generous reward for their job. They carried the two large boxes out, filled several empty saddlebags with them, and then continued searching the surrounding area to see if they could find anything useful on the corpses.

Soon, they found some silver coins on the corpses, several unopened bottles of magic potions on the sorcerer, and a decent sword blade that could be repaired at the blacksmith's shop and still be used.

Rean wandered into the charred forest, pulled a helmet out of the mud, wiped off the mud, and discovered that it had obvious cracks and was unusable.

He tossed it aside and was about to continue walking when he suddenly heard a noise.

The sound came from the bushes not far away, where half of the area had already been burned, and even animals wouldn't go there to forage.

He drew his sword and cast a power spell on himself before slowly walking over.

He walked up to the bushes, raised his sword and slashed it open. Through the soft rustling sound, he saw a small, huddled body curled up beside a tree stump.

If the other person wasn't a dwarf, they were probably under ten years old, dressed in servant's clothes, all dirty, with long, loose brown hair.

His sword tip was pointed directly at the other man's forehead. Through the disheveled hair, Rean saw a pair of large, bloodshot eyes that were using their last strength to raise their heads and look up at him with trembling eyes filled with pure fear.

Rean stared at the beggar-like girl for a few seconds, then sheathed his longsword.

He could tell that the other person was on the verge of death, and judging from their clothes, they were just a maid who had accompanied the carriage. She was probably a stray from the Iron Fang Army. In the chaos, no one would care about such a small child.

He looked like he still had a breath left, but that was about it.

He took a bag of dry food from his pocket, threw it in front of her, and then turned and left.

The girl's terrified eyes froze when she saw the food. She looked at the tall figure and, seeing that he didn't intend to harm her, she struggled to move and picked up the bag of dry rations.

"Rean, what were you doing just now?" Sothos asked when he returned.

"A child, probably missed by the Iron Fang Army, but he won't survive long there," Rean said calmly.

"Ah, what a chaotic world," Sothos sighed, shaking his head, before continuing with his own business, while no one else paid any attention.

Rean glanced at the girl out of the corner of his eye and saw her carefully eating the dry food he had given her.

After they finished packing, they remounted their horses and set off onto the main road.

But after walking for a short while, they heard Sothos's voice behind them.

"Rean, is that the child you mentioned earlier who's following behind?"

Rean turned around and saw that the little beggar-like girl was staggering behind their group. When she saw his gaze, she stopped awkwardly.

"The recovery is pretty fast," Rean snorted.

"Don't worry about her, just give her some food, she'll run away on her own in a bit."

He pulled on the reins, took out a large bag of dry rations from his saddlebag, tossed it at the other man, and continued on his way.

"Sigh, you really are a great philanthropist," Sothos said helplessly.

The girl followed behind, gazing at the tall figure riding on horseback, then at the bag of dry rations tossed at her feet.

She picked it up, carried it on her back, and continued chasing after him.

(End of this chapter)