Elf Tensei Kara no Cheat Kenkoku-ki

Volume 3 Epilogue Part 1: Triumphant Return

I finally returned to Erucy after nearly two months.

First I headed to the Chief House to receive any information I had missed in my absence. I had messaged that I would returned today, so I was frankly a little disappointed that no one came out to greet me.

I had received some information about the situation back home through letters, but there was plenty to worry about. Both I and Roleau had to leave the village for this plan, so I had chosen a secondary representative and trained them over the winter. They were fairly open and honest so I didnt think theyd do anything weird.

We were late coming back because we needed to thoroughly crush any supply lines that approached and it took 2 weeks for all of the soldiers to starve. After that it took us 3 weeks to empty out the base and gather refugees to live there.

As I had expected, the soldiers who escaped on the way, the soldiers from the supply base, and the soldiers that had arrived there all turned to banditry and went wild creating quite a large number of refugees.

Their evil deeds spread around and I managed to gather around 300 people who were willing to listen to me and come to the base to start a new life.

Some of the refugees food was covered by the things we robbed from the incoming supply chain. However, that wasnt enough and I had to use 1 ton of wheat that I had bought from the city Erin as emergency supplies.

After Kuu had burned the grain in the supply base, we divided the members of Nettle into two teams of 9 elves and 1 Fire Fox that took weekly shifts returning back home. They were all at their mental and physical limits so they had to rest.

Unfortunately, as I was the one negotiating and leading the refugees, I had been unable to go home even once.

The supply transports had no guards at first, but after the second time they started to have escorts. Thankfully there werent a large number so we could deal with them. Perhaps the status of the invasion force and the supply base hadnt been properly conveyed back to the Empire.

Ah I might cry, Im so happy. Its the same old Erucy, but after being away for so long it feels so heartwarming

Cyril, thank you for your efforts. You never returned even once did you

Lucy said as she walked beside me.

Its already spring huh

The weather had warmed and green returned to our lands. The hard long winter had finally passed.

Now well have to harvest the turnips planted by the Fire Foxes and replace them with potatoes and wheat.

I wonder if everyone at the base will be alright?

Kuu itll be fine. I left them enough food for two months and gave them seeds and potatoes for planting. That base was originally half military and half agricultural so they have the soil and water to maintain a farm. Its already spring so we can find even more things to eat in the forest so we can deal with it. Even those people have been living out in these lands for all their lives.

It was a secret to everyone, but the soldiers had purposefully ruined the farm land before they left so we couldnt use it. However, I turned into the dwarf Kuiro and used my earth magic to return it to the optimal planting condition. If they couldnt succeed after I made that much effort, then they were doomed to fail from the start.

It may be cold to say, but I could only go so far.

As expected Cyril-kun is amazing. You saved that many people and for free!? I respect you!

Its not for free though.

I smiled wryly at Kuu who was looking at me with reverence.

The potatoes and seeds will have to be returned two-fold after theyre harvested and the Supply Base goods left by the Empire are ours as well. Plus if the Empire attacks they will have to contact Erucy and hold out in a siege. I will be using those people as Erucys shield. This is simply the outcome of a fair deal.

Some of those people had experience from being conscripted in the army, so in between planting they would teach the others how to fight.

The Empire should have been dealt heavy damage in this invasion, so they couldnt put together a new army soon. They would have time to learn to fight.

A siege battle would favor the defenders unless an army several times as large attacked, even if they did manage to invade it would gain us enough time to formulate countermeasures.

The biggest thing is that they didnt have another supply point near Erucy. If they wanted to attack us again they would have to bring double the food supply and double the equipment.

Elves and Fire Foxes couldnt permanently man that supply base, it would be preferable for the refugees to stay there even if it cost food and money.

Mm, but Cyril is still kind. Those terms are fair and honest I think. Youre even giving them free food.

Its just like Lucy-chan says~ Theres lots of places that would have said give us 5 times the amount of food back!

Kuu and Lucy are well educated amongst the others in the village so they were probably right about that.

As they said, I could have definitely squeezed them for morebut

I needed to create a bond of gratitude. If I went this far, they are very unlikely to betray us..normally. Plus like this we can squeeze more money without actually squeezing them.

Exploit?

From who?

They didnt understand my intentions? I thought of the mark.

The one weve caused so much trouble for, the loser Empire of course.

But theres no way theyll ever pay us.

Certainly shes right. In order to get war reparations we would have had to take land from the Empire or set things up for a third partyboth of these were impossible for Erucy at the moment.

If theres collateral then theyll gladly pay for it. So well have them buy the things from the supply base.

Cyril are you talking about their equipment?

Thats exactly right. Their Iron equipment. Rather than making new equipment they would much rather purchase it back from us.