Although the battle was won, the work was far from over in the region. Dealing with the dead bodies was a top priority since even in cold regions like that, the disease could spread quite fast. Fortunately, cremating the mercenaries' bodies was relatively easy. The only problem was offering a proper burial to the fallen soldiers and recognizing them before that.

Although they didn't have to, the region's civilians helped with that, and thanks to it, all that task had been finished in just a single week. Once that happened, they returned to their villages and towns while being escorted by soldiers who would stay with them for the next months helping repair what had been destroyed. Life had to continue in one way or the other, after all. 

Fortunately, it was confirmed that all the mercenaries were moving to leave the region. There were several reasons for that. The fact that they didn't have siege towers, the fact that they lost three of their five generals, and the fact that, in the end, the followers of the demon god didn't join the last battle for some reason. That was the main thing that made all the soldiers worry. If they had participated, perhaps things could have ended in a very different way.

Speaking of the generals, the soldiers who pursued the party that escaped toward the East revealed that Elmar lost both his arms due to the burns caused by Zaos's attacks. He will never swing a weapon again. When Zaos heard that, he had some mixed feelings about it. He wanted to kill the man, but he failed, but it seemed that he ended up doing something worse than killing the bastard…

Regardless, Zaos had forgotten, but he finally copied the technique used by the followers of the demon god. That ability to fire multiple projectiles at the same time was really simple… They just had to draw the symbols on their heads. Before activating the spell, they had to pass their mana through the symbols several times… it wasn't so simple as Zaos assumed. Still, it was something easy for him since he had a good foundation. For example, to use a spell like Earth Bullet five times in quick succession, he had to draw each symbol ten times before going to the next. Even master wizards will have a hard time doing that, but thanks to his mental training, Zaos could easily do that at the same speed he uses any spell.

When Zaos had the chance and his mood improved after the burial of his squadmates, he had a lot of fun using Earth Bullet alongside that technique. In any case, things got really quiet in Zaos's sector without his squadmates. As if that wasn't enough, his usual cold attitude didn't let him approach other squads. A few days later, Elius talked with him about the future of the squad.

"This kind of thing never happened before, but the commander says that you can join another squad if you want to," Elius said. "It is not like it never happens, but the chances to work with other squads is rare, so if you refuse it, you will have a lot of work on your hands."

"I am fine, I don't want to join another squad," Zaos said. "We are alive, so the squad still lives. Besides, I would feel bad in abandoning this squad when the others only left by dying following their duty. It is the least I can do."

"That is what I thought…" Elius said and then sighed. "In the end, this is for the best. You are far beyond even the level of the third years, so we can work together in special jobs. This should also work to keep the name of your squad alive."

Zaos began to work with Elius, but what they mostly did was just to move around in the region and then look for troublemakers. Since they had the experience of doing that, whenever people found traces of the followers of the demon god, they would investigate and kill them.

In one of those missions, Zaos found Tyra working on managing her shop and cultivating plants. She asked him when she could teach her some spells that could work well with archery, and Zaos said that once she has enough potion to exchange for the lessons, but the truth was that he was just buying time to develop those skills. As it turns out, he could do the same thing with arrows, envelope them with elemental energy and give them extra and powerful effects.

Your Magic Archery has reached level 01

"If you are looking for students, you might become rich by teaching what you know," Elius said. "Oh, wait. Your family is already rich."

"I doubt that I have that option," Zaos said. "Besides, I am not patient enough to be a teacher. Speaking of patience… What is the Commander going to give us the month off he promised?"

"Who knows?" Elius shrugged. "He promised a month off, but he didn't when we would have it."

"That seems like the excuse someone cheap would use," Zaos frowned.

Elius laughed after that. In the end, Zaos could easily imagine himself working like a dog without a break for another year. It was even more likely that will happen now since his squad only had him and Elius, who was supposed to look after the squad. Still, not even that made him consider the idea of disbanding the squad.

One month after the battle, things got quiet enough for Zaos to have the chance to write a letter to his mother. So many things happened, but he couldn't tell her most of them since she would be worried sick if Zaos decides to do it. After staring at the paper for quite a while, Zaos finally knew what to write. Those were some simple sentences, but they carried many meanings in them…

"I am well, mom. And I am doing my best."