District 42-Chapter 323: The boss arrives

Rurik lasted some minutes to straighten up and say something. Before Vick’s pleading voice, it was difficult to give bad news, but he needed to do it. For now, she was in denial, but soon she would figure it out alone.

After all, she herself should be feeling that excruciating pain in her back. She wasn’t a naive little girl. Rurik gave her classes of medicine. Almost all Aesirs had their share of Vick’s apprenticeship. She was intelligent, so she would connect the points and come to the right conclusion soon.

Rurik preferred to say to her the truth and help her beforehand to deal with it, though.

"I am sorry, Your Honor. If you had come here some minutes before, then I probably would be able to do it just right. But, when you were here, it was all messed already. It is difficult to heal this specific part of the body because it’s too complex. Our medicine isn’t miraculous, after all."

Vick got silent for a moment, forcing her confused mind to reason properly. However, Rurik was too vague in his explanation.

"What are you saying, Rurik? What’s it? Be straightforward, that’s an order!"

Rurik bit his lip, closing his eyes and rubbing his red hair.

"I am sorry. I don’t know what they did with you but... this wound that you have on your back, affected your spine, therefore your neural system. We could recover numerous motors problems that would be an issue for you. We thought that we could recover it all, but there was an affected part that was the worst one. We were uncertain if our techniques would be enough to heal it..."

Vick’s eyes got lost into space, filled with tears. She pinched her arm, even though she was too weak to make it painful. For a moment, the young Princess thought that she was just dreaming. For her, something like that couldn’t be happening. Not with her. Not when she had so many responsibilities.

"I am sorry, my Princess, but your body from the waist down is unable to make any movement or feel anything by now..." Before even finishing his statement, his voice got choked, and Rurik was already crying.

He kneeled on the ground, bowing.

"Please, forgive your faulty servant, Your Highness. I couldn’t do anything to overcome my limits this time. I am ashamed."

Casper and Freygar couldn’t find anything to say, not even empty words of comfort for Vick. They stayed quiet.

’Sometimes, words aren’t needed. Everyone in this place knows very well that no words will be enough to change anything that happened.’ Casper thought, closing his eyes as a painful feeling crossed his body and a bitter taste filled his mouth.

Soon, the other Aesirs began to wake up as well.

The first one was Ari, followed by Canute, then Ivar. Brenna was the exception. Her eyes were opened, but her mind was still broken.

Ari was very debilitated as if he was more than a week without eating. He was just as weak as Vick, even breathing was hard for him.

Canute was still feeling the effects of the beaten that he got, but now it was added to the exhaustion of trying so hard even though he was recovering from that harm.

Ivar was now aware of his situation. They could communicate with him through tact and using his vision a bit. His vision was completely gone by now, just 25% of his hearing was recovered, his tact still wasn’t 100% recovered but was healing slowly. He was getting better quickly, but the best that the healers could do was just that.

Besides those issues, the Fenrir had his body completely destroyed because of the level he put on the exoskeleton and all the previous harm that he got, so he was temporarily paralyzed.

After everyone heard the bad news, and also took note of their conditions, a minute of silence befell that tent. They were absorbing their defeat. After three days without thinking about it, since more than half of the Aesirs were unconscious, now was the time for them to reflect on that matter.

For the second consecutive time, they failed. Even when acting together, they weren’t strong enough, not anymore.

"We were completely defeated, huh?" Canute murmured, feeling dejected. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"No," Casper stated without hesitation.

Everyone looked at him.

"Did you forget already? I planned to defend the Castle at first, particularly the cities, so we would have enough range of action to stop the Frelsis, also as evacuating the citizens not to have many casualties.

"However, there was a high chance that we would lose like this, that’s why our objective wasn’t just to defend..." He explained, making everyone remember again what they conversed in the meeting they made before.

"The real deal here was to make the Frelsis think they won, but then deliver the ultimate counterattack. And now that we are sure that they need Casper to continue their plan, then they are dancing on the palm of our hands. We know the enemy, we know how they act, and the level of their strength. We paid the price, but got the chance to retaliate." Ivar said. It wasn’t that difficult for him to talk, but the rest of his body didn’t move an inch.

"This plan is very good in theory. Actually, the only choice we have. But with almost all the Aesirs incapable, half of Ridires dead, and citizens to take care of, how can we hit them back?" Rurik asked.

"Pessimist as always, huh? You never change, Rurik." They heard the voice of someone echoing through that place.

They looked everywhere, trying to identify from where the voice was coming.

’Hey... I know this voice... Where? Where is he?’ Casper looked to all sides, frowning hard.

"You don’t know what to do right now? Don’t worry, though. Now that I am here, we have a 100% chance of winning."

That cold and indifferent voice was getting near.

The group looked to one of the entrances of the tent and spotted someone walking hastily toward that place.

"B-Boss!" Vick exclaimed.