Ch.187187. Cleaning Up After the Battle (2)

In truth, I hadn’t completely neglected equipping my animal friends.

Take Lancelot, for instance—he was armed with full mythril armor and a fine sword crafted with divine technology. Even for those who didn’t need such elaborate equipment, I had provided at least basic enhancement accessories to everyone.

However, there were cases where full-fledged armor wasn’t distributed due to individual circumstances.

Corin, who fights by transforming his body into electrical energy, would find armor cumbersome. Robo, whose specialty was agility, would be hindered by armor, not to mention his own durability was already quite substantial.

Mary, who once tried wearing magical armor but had to wait for heat-resistant materials since her body temperature rose too high during combat. Hydra, whose priority was lowered after being classified as non-combat due to childcare responsibilities.

Astra, who couldn’t wear metal armor because her buff magic was fundamentally similar to my druid magic.

Then there were others like Cretinus, who didn’t particularly need anything beyond his original equipment due to bodily adaptations for marine environments, or the Squeakers, who functioned perfectly fine without equipment due to their specialization in stealth operations.

Thus, most of my animal friends didn’t require equipment for various reasons, but Gretel the griffin was definitely different.

These days, she had been training extensively with Rabbit Knight Lancelot as his mount, while also developing her own skills as an aura user.

Given her dedication and the fact that there was no reason she shouldn’t have armor, I needed to provide her with some eventually…

And now, wasn’t this situation just perfect?

“What I’d like to request is a griffin breastplate. Would that be possible?”

“Of course, of course! Absolutely possible! Where should we start?”

“Then… I’d also like to request additional parts.”

“Understood!”

Dwarf Joseph accepted my request with great enthusiasm, a smile spreading across his face. I too smiled with joy at the prospect of acquiring a rare griffin armor set, especially since there weren’t many craftsmen who knew how to make such things.

Griffin-specific armor is a masterpiece that consolidates the experience accumulated by the Holy Empire through years of operating griffin and hippogriff knights.

Since griffins as a species can already achieve high defense by surrounding their leather and feathers with aura, clumsily wrapping them in metal plates would only be a hindrance rather than helpful.

Therefore, this armor consisted only of a few parts where defensive reinforcement was necessary.

Parts like the breastplate that protects the heart and chest muscles essential for flight, components that shield what would be the calf area on humans, and headgear similar to a helmet.

Naturally, poorly made armor would be more cumbersome than beneficial compared to their tough hide, so unless it was properly crafted griffin-specific armor, it would be better not to equip any at all…

“I’ll even incorporate runes into the armor!”

“…! In that case, I gratefully accept your kindness.”

An armor crafted by a dwarf artisan with their runes would certainly be worth it.

※ ※ ※

After completely finishing the processing of my personal spoils, my guerrilla unit members and I began collecting loot from the encampment.

The value of the plunder held by the orc raider warband—goods that appeared to have been looted from others—was considerable. According to the authority granted to the guerrilla unit, such “spoils” could legitimately be handled independently by us.

Of course, I couldn’t prevent individual soldiers from quietly pocketing valuables from the orcs, so I tacitly allowed this much.

But my leniency ended there. I couldn’t tolerate anything beyond that.

Since the original owners were likely no longer alive, and those owners had probably looted from someone else anyway, recovery was impossible.

Therefore, I used my authority to distribute the goods plundered from the orc warband’s encampment.

In reality, though, it was more like disposing of leftovers.

The total amount of clearly valuable items like gold and silver coins, precious metals, and jeweled accessories that the orcs had looted and accumulated wasn’t that substantial.

Rather, most of what we found in the orc encampment was food, furs, weapons, and miscellaneous goods… which honestly didn’t mean much to me.

The dripping meat, so chaotically mixed that it was impossible to identify what was what, was completely disposed of due to concerns about possible human flesh being mixed in.

The thought did cross my mind that orcs might not do such things since they technically belong to humanity, but after hearing that orcs commonly practice cannibalism, I couldn’t deny the possibility.

Meanwhile, dealing with the furs, which were second in quantity to the unidentifiable meat, was rather straightforward.

Monster furs are excellent materials for leather equipment and expensive luxury items. Even if they aren’t from rare monsters, furs themselves have high demand and fetch decent prices.

Especially in cold regions like this great plain, people need to wrap themselves in fur to avoid freezing to death, and even well-tanned leather eventually wears out and loses its value.

This means that even poorly tanned and terribly preserved furs can still have considerable demand and value.

Well, there were plenty of other miscellaneous items too.

Oil, a cold climate essential with high caloric content and taste that also serves as fuel. Fabric made from cotton or flax fibers. Other items like wooden or metal household goods.

We discarded things that were difficult to transport or of too little value, and arranged for the rest to be taken by those who needed them…

“What do we do with these?”

“That’s a good question…”

Now we had to decide what to do with the most difficult spoils to dispose of.

Namely, the orc prisoners, the orcs’ slaves, and even the livestock they were raising.

While we could release the monstrous wolves called wargs that we couldn’t properly control anyway, the real problem was the livestock called “manmadons” that they were raising.

If wargs were to orcs what horses and hunting dogs combined are to nomads, then these giant herbivorous monsters called manmadons were more like sheep.

Their growing fur is sheared to make clothes, their milk and blood substitute for precious drinking water, and when necessary, they’re slaughtered for meat, their skin used for clothing, and their bones processed into tools.

They were the “stock” in the nomadic lifestyle of these orcs.

Of course, despite being nomads, orcs are essentially raider bands. So the ones actually raising these manmadons were the orcs’ slaves.

Since warrior orcs don’t have much aptitude for craftsmanship or non-combat fields, they use enslaved demi-humans and humans to raise their livestock.

“I-I’m alive! Thanks to you, I’m alive! Thank you, thank you so much!”

While the enslaved humans and demi-humans could be rescued and taken away…

The problem was what to do with the remaining goblin slaves, livestock, and orc prisoners.

“What if we distribute the manmadons to the people who were held captive here?”

“…! That’s an excellent idea, Lady Dorthea!”

Following Lady Dorthea’s suggestion, we decided to fairly distribute livestock like manmadons to the formerly captive humans as a form of compensation, but the real problem remained the goblin slaves and orc prisoners.

The goblin slaves, whose racial deity originated from a cult with deep connections to outer gods…

Though they might appear pitiful and wretched, they’re essentially cult members in waiting. They’re even more vicious than orcs.

Therefore, even someone like me, with a slightly softer heart than the average person in this world, could dispose of goblins without guilt… but orcs were somewhat different.

To be frank, the orc prisoners we’ve captured now aren’t truly evil entities, but rather more like ordinary nomads of a lower status.

Of course, considering these orcs’ battle-frenzied behavior, that would be quite disrespectful to actual nomads, but the real issue is that these orcs surrendered voluntarily.

Throughout history, killing surrendered troops has been considered an evil act regardless of the degree, and these creatures probably deliberately surrendered to stay alive, counting on this principle.

‘What should I do with them…’

As I sat in the encampment, pondering this dilemma over and over…

“Um, Commander?”

“…Ah. Lady Dorthea, you’re here.”

“Yes. I mentioned earlier that I had something to tell you, remember?”

“You did. So, what is it?”

Lady Dorthea, who had previously said she had something to tell me and now came in person, looked straight at my face and then…

“Among the non-human slaves, there’s one you should see for yourself.”

“Me, personally?”

“Yes. —There’s a monkey with stone skin.”

“…Huh?”

Hearing that description, which gave me a strange sense of déjà vu, I simply couldn’t ignore or dismiss it.

A stone-monkey? That sounded remarkably like the legendary monkey from my memories.