Death isn't binary, you aren't simply "alive," and then, in the next moment, "dead." When you die, your body slowly shuts down its functions as your heart stops beating and your cells start to die from a lack of oxygen or nutrients, like a spinning wheel that's allowed to come to a stop on its own.

It's only when the body reaches an irreversible state that someone is considered truly "dead," like how an egg can't be uncooked. People whose heart has stopped haven't really "died," they've just reached a state of "clinical death," and that's something that used to be irreversible, but once Earthling medicine advanced enough to be able to reverse it, those who went through "clinical death" hadn't really "died." So, all those movies about people having near-death experiences where they see "angels" or some other supernatural thing is just total bullshit.

Death isn't binary, it's a fuzzy set where your "membership" to either the "alive" or "dead" groups is like a value between 1 and 0, and it slowly drifts towards zero until it reaches the "point of no return" for Earthling medicine.

Soul Info Name Lorena Botado Race Golden Elf Level 29 HP 0/100 MP 310 Magic Power 90 Strength 17 Endurance 18

But in Rupegia, once someone's HP reaches zero, they're dead, and no amount of [Light Magic] will bring them back. Once their Thread of Fate is cut, their soul "detaches" from their body, and the gates to Paradise or Hell open for them to spend their afterlife there before their soul is called back into the Spirit Cycle.

[Heal] merely channels divine power to bring about a miracle where the body "realigns" with its soul, but if the body has no soul attached to it anymore, then the healing doesn't happen.

[Regeneration] and other derivatives still draw upon information from the soul to heal someone, they just forgo using divine power to fuel it and instead use other, much more varied methods to heal someone.

Theoretically, I could, through Earthling surgery, "revive" someone's body after they've died since HP is an arbitrary number, but then the body would be alive without a soul, which is an abomination in the eyes of the temple, and the body wouldn't be able to cast magic.

A few seconds after Lorena was decapitated, she was dead, and there was nothing I could've done to save her at that point.

Perhaps HP could be a representation of how close one's Thread is to being cut. There might be a way to strengthen the Thread while the body gets ravaged, but that's going a bit too far out of my area of expertise for me to speculate.

Lorena's spirit kneels before me, and she lowers her head as she holds it in place to prevent it from falling off. "I beg forgiveness, your Highness, for my foolish mistake has caused you so much grief," she earnestly pleads.

I show her a pained smile as I shake my head. "You don't have to apologize for such a thing. You did your duty until the very end, and you deserve to be honored for it," I politely reply, doing my best to keep my tears at bay. "I also could've-…"

Could've what…? Scouted better? Fought more aggressively? Communicated better? Not abandoned the Lordsguard? Made better use of my powers? Let Roxanne get in closer to the Clones? Used Patrono from the very beginning…?

I forced us to charge in without a plan and instead just a lot of fucking hope that everything would work out. That was a massive blunder. I was so paranoid about the heretics that I couldn't think.

"Are you going to grieve for every one of our soldiers that dies?" Yunia sternly asks, her striking blue eyes narrowed in faint disapproval.

I glance at her as I nod slowly. "Yes. For as long as my heart can endure." Then Alissa squeezes my hand tighter to reassure me. As per our promise, she'll always be there to mend my wounded heart.

Lorena raises her head and mirrors my smile. "You honor me with your mourning," she whispers weakly.

I look at her youthful face and feel guilty that someone like her gave her life for someone like me. Through her transparent blue spirit, I can see her physical body which has been covered in my flag, and the sight of that gives me mixed feelings.

I hear footsteps coming closer, but I can't turn my head away from Lorena.

"It's not over yet," Hukarere suddenly interjects. "You can become like us and serve even in death."

Lorena's face slowly warps in realization, then she smiles brightly and lowers her head again. "If you'll have me, I'll gladly continue to serve for as long as my spirit holds," she boldly declares.

I'm a very pragmatic person, so I don't really understand honor that well, and I don't think I ever will. I shouldn't, I can't, and I won't stop them from serving me, so I have to make sure that I never misuse their loyalty because I'm walking blind here, which also means that I won't know if I've made a mistake until I see the bodies piling up.

I breathe in and place my hand on top of her non-material head as I calmly reply, "I'm glad that you find me worthy of so much sacrifice, and I promise to do my utmost to provide you with your just rewards."

Ciel's mood is as gloomy as mine. She's just standing in place, staring at the destruction she wreaked upon the camp with conflicting emotions.

The entire shantytown was pulverized. Even if there were some imperials who surrendered, there's nobody left alive in there now. The werefoxes do have dozens of prisoners, so it's not like they were completely wiped out, but she wanted to give them the chance to finally surrender.

"Léonne gave them that chance, and they ignored her, so they got what they deserved," Lina coldly remarks.

"We should never wholly dismiss the chance of saving a life," Ciel quietly replies.

"It'd come at the expense of many werefox lives…" Lina mumbles as she buries her face into Ciel's breasts and hugs her tight. "We did everything we could, so please, don't be so sad."

Ciel sighs and pats Lina's head. "I just need a moment," she gently whispers, then she opens her "Status" and stares at the new entry in her "Titles."

"Blessed by the God of the Sun."

After the werefoxes finish the clean-up, not that there's too much for them to clean since Ciel pulverized almost everything here, we meet up with the other leaders in a tent to discuss what happened.

Nen stoically reads from a piece of paper, "First up, the death toll: twelve werefoxes, four from the mounted warriors and the rest from the footmen; one from the Ryder family Lordsguard; estimated nearly one hundred and fifty from the imperials, with nineteen of them captured. Since the enemy was hiding within the shacks, we couldn't get a proper count of their numbers."

"Better than what we had estimated if the bait caravan was to be attacked," Darcy impassively remarks.

"Indeed. All things considered, this operation was a resounding success," Jacques gives them mild approval.

Nen waits for a moment for any other comments before continuing, "Moving on… the survivors have all confessed to have been working for the mercenary company 'Praefortis,' which primarily operates in Mistcross, but they aren't known to come into the Misty Forest, and due to their relationship with heretics, the Punishers can handle the company's destruction on their own."

At least, for once, it wasn't Katasko.

Yunia frowns in displeasure as she points out, "If they sent reinforcements, then the main branch should already know what happened here. The heretics should already be untraceable for us by now."

And Nen grimly adds, "Not only that, but there is no conclusive evidence that they were being aided by the White Stalkers. The ones who had that information were apparently killed by the mysterious mage inside the main shack."

That mage used true heretical magic. A spell that neither Alissa nor Silvano could detect, and the mage didn't even chant. It was so terrifying that even Silvano's nonchalant mood has been disturbed, but Allura is the one who looks the most afraid. She's completely tensed up, her pale face even paler than normal as she quietly listens to all of this serious talk.

"It's unfortunate that the mage was killed, but I see no way for us to have safely captured someone as dangerous as him," Léonne regretfully asserts.

And Yunia bitterly adds, "There's also no response from his ashes, so I'm certain that he shattered his own spirit upon death, if he even had one to begin with."

We stay silent for a moment as we stew in the gravity of this situation.

Then Nen clears his throat and moves on to the next topic, "Now, regarding the matter of the undead soldiers, there are three headless corpses in good condition, and three more that were completely crushed by Jacques."

"One for me, one for the Verners, and one for the temple," I immediately suggest.

"I don't have use for such a heretical abomination," Léonne angrily replies, and I feel a shiver run down my spine, afraid that I've offended her.

"Give it to your mages and have them study it so that you'll know how to fight the undead in the future," Yunia immediately comes to my aid.

And I calmly point out, "The Clone Soldiers were lower undead, so only their brains were corrupted, which means that their bodies had been enhanced in some way to make them so resistant to wounds."

Léonne diverts her stern gaze as she carefully deliberates. "Hm… I understand," she quietly hums.

"'Clone' Soldiers? Is that what we're calling them, now?" Darcy curiously questions.

Right, they don't know what 'clone' means.

I glance at the golems behind me.

"It has the same meaning as 'copy,'" Ted begins, as always.

"But it's used for something biological," Suzy continues on cue.

"Like twins, but also artificial," and Jarn finishes.

"S-sounds appropriate…" Darcy murmurs as he stiffly nods.

Then Nen broaches the last topic, "The only significant spoils to divide up are the halberds enchanted with [Searing Blade]. They didn't have much gold since they hadn't attacked any caravans yet."

"We should just divide it equally," I kindly suggest.

Léonne nods and quickly replies, "Agreed. My share will go to the twenty-fourth as part of their compensation for their efforts." And Darcy smiles contentedly.

"That's all I have to report," Nen politely finishes.

After a few more quick exchanges, the table goes silent.

"I'd like a word with Lord Wolf," Léonne announces, and everyone immediately moves to leave, even Alissa. It's kind of useless to try to have a private talk with me, though, since I have eight peepers who enjoy listening to my every thought.

"Gih."

I just ignore Gify for now and meet Léonne's stare.

Her demeanor is very austere while mine is weary but stiff. She clearly has the advantage in any potential discussions, though the support from the girls will keep me from failing miserably in any exchange we might have.

"I now understand the sort of enemy you have to face…" She starts with a grim tone, her orange eyes looking rather lifeless for a moment. Then she takes a sip from her tea and continues, "And I know that you're all going to face this head-on like stubborn orcs."

I smile wryly and mumble, "I-I wouldn't say it like that."

"I won't go back on what I just said," she coldly replies, and I sigh in defeat. "But I'll still help you in whatever way I can, not just because you're married to Alissa, but because I believe in you."

I raise an eyebrow and stare at her curiously. "Oh…?"

Her stern look starts to wash away, replaced with a kind, wise smile. "Three Blessings, and two Divine Interventions. It'd be irresponsible of any humanoid for them to simply ignore your struggle."

I look down at my cup with a bitter smile as I start to confess, "I'm not sure why the heretics hate me so much, but I do wish to follow the teachings of the God of Change and bring progress to this world, though I feel as if I lack the support to go down this path." I lower my head respectfully. "So I thank you for your consideration from the bottom of my heart."

Her voice suddenly strikes at me with a seriousness that I haven't seen from her before. "I, Léonne Verner, Chieftess of the Misty Low Forest, shall give you my aid whenever you need it."

Oh, shit.

I straighten my back and respond in kind, "I, Wolf Ryder, Crown Lord of the Western High Forest, shall give you my aid whenever you need it."

She extends her hand, and I pad my claws before I also offer her mine, and then we shake hands to seal this informal alliance, and I feel a tightening in my heart as our vow is heard by the Gods.

I try to keep myself from savoring the feel of her hand, but it's so delicate and she's so beautiful that it's hard to keep those thoughts at bay, so I feel guilty about touching her. I'm a pervert through and through.

I release her hand before she does since I'm feeling conflicted, and I notice her flashing a subtle smirk at my brief awkwardness.

I clear my throat and politely confess, "It gives me great relief to gain your acceptance."

"You're someone who's worth listening to," she replies in kind.

After that, another Division arrives to escort the 24th back to Roubaix while we take a [Gate] directly to the Verners' home.

I [Equip] my formal clothes again and look back at the Lordsguard. Though they're still standing tall with pride, there's a bit of a gloomy air around them as they carry Lorena's corpse on a stretcher. Her spirit is still floating along beside it, so it's kind of an odd situation since Lorena is awfully cheery despite the fact that she's dead.

I look at my wives and quietly declare, "I wish to go back to Escanso and deliver Lorena…" -I hold myself back from frowning at the spirit's bright smile- "and I think we should hold a funeral for her."

"I'll go with you," Lina immediately replies.

"Same," Ciel glumly joins in.

"There's some business in Escanso that I wish to settle," Yunia shares.

Hana, and Aoi share a look. "Maybe we can spar some more with the werefoxes…?" Hana hesitantly asks.

Roxanne gives us a silly grin. "I'll… stay and watch… and gossip with the Elders," she embarrassedly adds.

I turn to Alissa and quietly assure her, "I'll be fine, so just stay here for the rest of the day with your parents. I'll get Osaria and Poosh to comfort me." Then I gently squeeze her hand and give her a peck on the lips.

"Thank you," she whispers back and gives me a short hug.

We give our goodbyes to the Verners, and Allura becomes visibly heartbroken.

"For the good of our alliance, I hope that you aren't trying to add my daughter to your collection of wives…" Léonne coldly lashes at me.

"I'm not looking for any more wives," I reflexively reply and wave my hand dismissively, a bit uncomfortable with how intense her glare is.

Alissa smiles like a cunning fox and makes a stunning announcement, "Breeding Contracts are still possible, though, and we aren't going to negotiate too hard with you since we're not-blood family."

"Eh…?" I blurt out in surprise and jerk my head to look at her.

Jacques blinks blankly and reluctantly asks, "Didn't you already give your children to the dryads…?" And his mouth twitches since he just said some words that he would've preferred to not have had to say.

I scratch my head with my claws, and I'm thankful that I remembered to pad them before doing that. "Dryads can only use my seed to create more dryads, so this is… a bit different," I stiffly point out.

Alissa grabs my arm and happily explains, a perverted smile gracing her beautiful face, "It'll be quite a while before we're ready for children, though, so you have to start increasing the weredragon population as soon as you manage to create that racial skill you have planned."

Oh…

Lina's Trivia: children can inherit a few skills from their parents, and those skills are said to be a child's "talent," so nobles try to have children later than commoners do to help their offspring find their path earlier on in life. Though, the skills someone is born with don't always reveal every talent they have. Alissa wasn't born with [Bow Use], but it's clear to everyone how much of a talent she has for it.

Yunia raises one thin eyebrow in mild surprise. "You're always concerned about the oddest of things," she remarks offhandedly.

"I just… wanted to have children with my wives first…" I shyly mumble.

"Wow, I'm actually surprised…" Silvano whispers to the Lordsguard, his eyebrows raised high, and our soldiers flash a few wry smiles at each other.

"Awn…" Ciel moans weakly, then gives me a tight hug, squishing her jiggly bits against my back. "That's so sweet, but the survival of your race needs to come first."

I sigh and whine dramatically, "Alright, I'll make the sacrifice of impregnating as many women as I can the very moment I'm able to."

"Please, don't brag," Jacques quietly pleads, then ignores Léonne's and Ofilia's glares.

I grin cheekily and kiss Ciel's hand. "Alright, let's go…" Then I turn to Anton, who seems to have gone into a trance. "Sir Anton…?"

He blinks, then snaps out of it. "Uh…? Oh, right, yes, let's go."

I chuckle softly and wave goodbye to the Verners, then we enter the [Eternal Gate] Network.

"You're always welcome to visit," Léonne gently offers.

"We will!" I shout back.

Klein and half the Lordsguard will stay for a little longer with Alissa, but all the newbies come back with us.

When we arrive back home, Anton, Silvano, and I call the High Officers, and we give them an after-action report on the battle.

Poosh gives me such a concerned look that I actually feel a bit guilty about worrying her so much. She gets up and comes right over to me, then pulls my head in between her bouncy breasts and fluffy chest wool.

"I-I'm actually kind of alright, so you don't have to worry about me too much," I try to soothe her, my voice coming out quite muffled.

"It's my job to comfort you regardless, so please, allow me to do my duty," she tenderly replies as she runs her fingers through my hair, and I feel a shiver run down my spine because she's really good at her job.

"Your Highness…" Sandoro's impassive tone dampens my levity. "I shall shift the Lordsguard's training focus towards combating the undead. It seems that they already understand their roles in preventing assassination."

I turn my head to look at him and frown.

"You don't approve…?" He slowly questions, his aged face looking remarkably wise and rugged.

"No, I… I feel like I made a mistake in that battle," I guiltily confess.

"And so did I since I was supposed to be leading the Lordsguard," Anton immediately speaks out, sounding a bit stiff and nervous.

Sandoro wastes no time to reply to us, his tone as direct as a [Lightning Bolt], "Soldiers die for stupid reasons all the time. I'm not saying that Lorena's death was stupid, but the men were rather aggressive, perhaps a bit too zealous in their desire to serve."

I sigh and bury my head in Poosh's bosom again. I know that it wasn't really my fault, but… I'm just so conflicted.

Then Sandoro adds on, another strike against my stubborn guilt, "We don't have that many veterans, and the newcomers haven't finished their training, but neither will they truly ever finish it before they die of old age. Still, it's the leader's job to make the best out of what they have."

And Alcander joins in, his cheery bluntness making him sound quite fatherly, "People came to serve you because of your power, not your military prowess, so mistakes are expected and accepted so long as the men continue to see you shining beside them."

"Literally shine in the case of Lord Ciel," Silvano cheekily jokes.

"At this point, we're expecting every last Ryder to be Blessed," Almaria comments, sounding like she doesn't completely believe her own words.

"It'd be unfair of us to expect that from all of them in case one of them never receives a Blessing," Poosh points out concernedly and hugs my head a bit tighter.

Sandoro clears his throat, and the chatter dies down. "We need to deal with the… binding of Lorena's spirit to the land."

All eyes turn to Sai, and the cute halfling proudly puffs out her flat, little chest. "I can cast [Trap Soul], so I'll do it as soon as possible!" She proudly announces.

I fondle Poosh's breasts just a bit, then regretfully depart from their warmth and order, "Then let's do it now. I'm uncomfortable with leaving her as a wandering spirit for any longer than necessary."

We board a few gondolas, and our Lordsguard [Weaverism] mages drive it towards a High Tree near the edge of Escanso's lake. The High Tree in the center is for the Lords, the closest ring around it is for our servants so that they may rest close to their Lords, the next ring out is for the nobles, and the outermost ring is for the commoners.

This sacred lake is a rather beautiful place, and my mind drifts towards thoughts of fucking my wives in it, or at least while riding in a gondola. I just need to get a mage from the Companions to drive it for me.

My gondola stops near the chosen High Tree, then I stand up and turn around. The only people present are Sai, Sandoro, Anton, a temple priest, a few Chimera, Lorena's spirit herself, her Lordsguard comrades, and also her handful of commoner friends. She doesn't have any family, which is why she was so happy in the Lordsguard; the comradery runs pretty deep among them.

I clear my throat and start giving the speech we quickly prepared for this, "High Officers, Knights, Lordsguard, and common folk of the High Forest. Today, we bury Single-Petal Foot Soldier Lorena Botado. She died bravely fighting against an abomination, an undead soldier, but unfortunately, a single precise strike is all it takes to end a humanoid's fragile life."

I notice that her friends are shaking, both in fear and awe. My presence is having a bit of an unwanted effect on them since they definitely see me as some sort of holy person.

"Even though she has paid the ultimate price and fulfilled her duty by giving her life for the Lordship, it's still not enough for her. She has chosen to also serve me in death, and I shall honor her by fulfilling her sincere wish. I shall bind her spirit to the land and give her the chance to find glory once more."

The priest frowns and looks around concernedly. I called for him to join us to give Teresina some reassurance that we're not doing anything heretical, but it's still pushing against the limits of what the temple would normally be comfortable with.

Lorena stands up and proudly walks up to me, still holding her head to keep it from falling, then we stare each other in the eye, though she has to look down a little to meet mine. She has a bit of a dreamy and tomboyish look to her with her wide eyes and short hair, making my heart beat faster from having a beauty like her staring so intensely at me.

Sandoro hands me a small red gem, and Sai starts chanting, then I continue on to the final part of my speech, "Your old vow of serving me until death has been fulfilled, so I require a new one. Do you pledge to give me your time as a spirit, to serve me while your spirit still wishes to roam the land, to linger on my branches in exchange for more of my protection, even though it failed? For our resources to help you grow? For another opportunity to achieve glory?"

Lorena kneels and lowers her head submissively while holding it in place. "I do, your Highness," she declares out loud.

And finally, I announce with a solemn tone, "Then rise again to serve me, for your second life begins now."

Sai's spirit-hand grabs Lorena, and her real hand touches the gem. "[Trap Soul]," she quietly finishes casting, and Lorena disappears as she's forced into her new home.