658 Aftermath of the battle Part 1 (2/2)

After removing all the bodies, the battlefield still had to be tidied. The city had won the battle this time around, so the magic stone cannons outside the city had to be retrieved. By getting the mages to refine the cannons, Saleen could save a lot of money on manufacturing new ones. The tens of thousands of alchemical arrows outside the city also could save money. The arrowheads of those arrows were crafted from the thorns of red krill.

These things were aplenty in the Frozen Sea, but Saleen could not afford using them as disposable items. Saleen would face many battles in the future, he could not be prodigal.

After this battle all the alchemical crossbows and magic trebuchets required repair. The equipment of the warriors was greatly damaged. A significant reason as to why Saleen's soldiers could duel with the high morale expeditionary army and only sustained a casualty ratio of one to three, was because of the they equipment used.

Saleen's six camps were fitted with finely crafted armor. Even though the commanders were the only ones wearing authentic magic armor, the armor plates donned by the normal soldiers were also produced by mages.

These armor pieces were extremely tough. Their magic defense was not high, but their physical defense was very high. The most important aspect of this armor piece was its ability to resist penetration. Armor pieces which had been magically reinforced were made up of at least three interlaced layers. Feather arrows could not pierce through them at all, they also defended against powerful crossbows very well.

In a war between two armies, which weapon was the most fatal? It was not a gigantic poleaxe, it was a spear, or the triangular sword.

These two long and thin weapons possessed powerful penetrative abilities. No matter how thick one's armor was, they would still face the risk of being stabbed when struck by these two weapons.

Many warriors who participated in the battle faced the possibility of being crippled, so Daniel ordered the mages to render treatment to all injured personnel. Unlike divine spells, magic could not resurrect the dead, but it could still repair damage to the limbs. Before the war, Saleen had prepared huge amounts of magic medicine. At this moment the medicine came into play.

Besides Saleen's six camps, the other soldiers in the city included the private soldiers serving the nobles, Caucasus people, barbarians, mercenaries, and the slaves from the eastern sea. Originally, there were around ten-thousand slaves, but after the war, this number dwindled to around three-thousand. The number of fatalities suffered by the slaves was the worst because their equipment was inferior.

These over three-thousand slaves had fought until the very end, each of them had killed at least one enemy. Around three-hundred of them killed more than three enemies. If it was not for these slaves, Saleen would have lost even more soldiers.

The slaves who killed more than three enemies would regain their freedom and they could join Metatrin City's army. Donning only normal armor, these over three-hundred people could kill more than three expeditionary troops, this meant that their fundamental ability was good. Daniel transferred these people into the army. One of the slaves who killed the most enemies even became a brigade commander.

A brigade commander led two-hundred men and had a monthly salary of five gold coins. Saleen was paying for all the expenses incurred by the army. Within a year, if there were no wars, a brigade commander could amass sixty gold coins. This was purely remuneration and if there were battles they could still receive rewards.

The battles at the city entrance were recorded using magic, no one could falsify the records. As the mercenaries were more valiant, they were also absorbed into the regular army.

Settling all these matters, the fortune Saleen had painstakingly accumulated was almost gone. Fortunately, the city still contained huge amounts of reserve rations, while the islands at sea were stocked with substantial livestock.

As for the shortage of gold coins, Daniel had an idea. By selling the magic nuclei which had been saved for the battle and refining all the broken armor and equipment left behind by the enemy, the city could still earn a sum of money. The Holy See had abandoned more than eighty-thousand bodies and each body carried at least three weapons. That meant that there were over two-hundred-thousand pieces of weapons.

Hundreds of low grade mages and disciples calculated for three days before finally determining the outcome of the battle. This time around, Saleen had sold all the collected loot from the war, fetching about one-million gold coins. Saleen had spent more than four-million gold coins in this war.

An invasion which lasted less than two days had caused Saleen to lose more than four-million gold coins. The cruelty of war was not just confined to the deaths of humans, it also entailed meaningless consumption of resources.

This four-million figure did not include the magic scrolls Saleen had contributed. If they were included into the calculations, everyone would be deeply astounded.

Saleen had reaped the body of a grade-10 lightning dragon and the three kings' materials and equipment. To Saleen himself, he did not make a loss. One spirit pool made from chlorite alone would allow Saleen to earn a fortune. The harvest from the three kings was an accident. Saleen had a figure in his heart, in the future, wars could not be fought in this manner.

If the offensive party could not achieve victory the losses would be greater. Saleen could not keep fighting in Metatrin City, his army had to go out and fight thousands of miles away. By then, if he did not have the best army and equipment, his losses would dwarf the current figures.

Because of this logic, Saleen was even more determined to establish a demonic army. A demonic army did not require any pensions.

After Saleen's body recovered a little he met with the sixteen nobles who had received rewards. He then returned to the underground space in order to undergo three months of nonstop training. In three months' time, his left hand would at least recover slightly.

Magic training required the coordination of hand gestures. Now that Saleen was left with one hand, he could not learn any new spells. To Saleen who had just been promoted to grade-6 not long ago, this was a huge problem.

In the practice of new spells, hand gestures and mantras could not be absent.

Saleen was frustrated, but Archbishop Nicholas was even more vexed. The army that he led, containing more than ten-thousand troops, suddenly ran into serious problems.