The giant pyre burned intensely, the darkening sky only served to make its flame shine brighter.
Lieutenant Dinara had taken a little over an hour to gather every corpse at the pile of firewood. When the cremation was about to start, the entire unit - from the two sent to calm the locals to the small scouting party outside - had gathered to watch the final steps of the impromptu funeral.
They watched solemnly for an entire hour, unbothered by the smell of charred flesh that spread as the bodies of acquaintances and strangers alike were reduced to ashes, the Honkai Energy that plagued their corpses finally dissipating in the air.
Eventually, almost everyone returned to work, with Lucius, the Lieutenant, and one other female soldier standing still for another hour or so. The villagers were finally allowed outside the church and back to their homes, for the most part.
A few families had to seek refuge back in the church or the houses of other family members, their previous homes had been too close to the battle zone and thus carried a risk of infection.
Eventually, the Lieutenant snapped out of her thoughts and turned her head towards the two figures that also stayed behind.
"Hey Sasha, me and our guest of honor here helped ourselves to some cheese in your house, hope you don't mind."
Sasha looked at her superior, her hazel eyes carried a deep trace of exhaustion, a strand of her dirty blonde hair had fallen from within her helmet to cover the right side of her face, the smile she put for Dinara was somewhat strained.
"I suppose that is fine," she said slowly, not quite focused on the conversation. "I grabbed that from my uncle anyways."
"So... I'm free to nab some more later?"
"If you're paying for it."
Silence ensued after that short banter, Lucius was still staring at the burning fire, showing no intention of intruding in the duo's conversation, the atmosphere felt a little suffocating.
"Say..." After a minute, Sasha spoke out hesitantly. "Was Ivan... in there?"
"... Yes, he was."
Dinara's answer somehow brought a smile to Sasha's face, and as she turned to leave, her back as straight as all the other soldiers of the PMC, her departing words reached the ears of the two who were left.
"I'm glad I could see him off."
Left with a silent Lucius, the commander could only sigh and watch as the vapor of her breath escaped her. Once she turned back to Lucius, she showed no sign of the effects that conversation had on her.
"In case you're wondering, Ivan was her cousin. But anyways, let's get you settled down in my place, I'm going to sleep in Sasha's house in the meanwhile."
Dinara's house hadn't been much different than Sasha's, and despite living alone, she still had an extra bedroom for Lucius' use.
With the issue of his housing dealt with, the Lieutenant stayed for a while to get everything she needed before heading back to Sasha's place, where she would spend the next few days.
From then on, things were rather leisurely, Lucius took the initiative during the mornings to help the evicted with settling down in other parts of the village, which mostly involved moving things around.
Since entire houses were warded off, the locals took the initiative to send some gifts to help out those in need, be it new furniture, clothing, or foodstuff, all of those who were left homeless thankfully managed to receive enough support to hang on until backup arrived to check radiation levels.
According to Mischa, whom the Watcher managed to meet a few times during the morning and later on in the evening when he would help the Red Dawn to keep watch for another invasion, the PMC had developed their own way of detecting Honkai Radiation.
The problem was that the devices used for such were intensely used in the Northern Tundras, as they had to make sure that the Honkai Beasts residing there wouldn't come down South, which left few of the instruments to be used in their own territory.
Not to mention that they also had to sell the machinery to the Russian Army, as well as some other PMCs that could afford it. As a company, they had to make a profit whenever they could, after all.
In any case, this meant they had to wait for a period of 3 days before any action could be done about this.
The time felt short to Lucius, but the Watcher observed that the days felt stretched and tense for most of the soldiers. With the knowledge that their neighboring unit was most probably annihilated overnight, and that they could still be attacked by the Honkai at any given time, even their apparent experience on the battlefield failed to protect them from the pessimism that cut at their morale.
The mood of the 37th unit was reflected onto the locals, who, according to Dinara, stayed indoors even more than usual. Lucius didn't know what the village used to look like before the attempted invasion of the Honkai, but the sight of children longingly looking at the outside world from the windows of their houses indeed hinted at livelier times.
Soon, however, the three days wait was over, and the roaring of helicopter rotors echoed throughout the village by the end of the morning of the third day.
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Rapidly approaching the village and greeting everyone's sights were two massive VSTOL aircrafts colored an imposing black with red outlines, the logo of a beautiful crimson snowflake on the sides. The aircrafts were designed to look like planes, with tiltrotors by the end of the two pairs of wings, alongside some kind of propulsor attached to the other end of the rotor engines, allowing the airplanes to reach even greater speeds.
Lucius was standing close to the 37th unit, which had gathered to welcome the reinforcements that came to help deal with the Honkai problem. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Dinara had been on the radio with the pilots for some time now, going over the landing space and future deployment of the extra personnel.
A few minutes later, the giant behemoths were landing a few hundred meters away from the settlement, their cargo hatches opening and revealing the insides of the aircrafts.
From within the expansive cargo bays of the aircrafts came the soldiers of the 15th, 17th, and 20th units. The 15th and 17th units were on the smaller side, the former having twenty seven members, while the latter had exactly fifty soldiers. Meanwhile, the 20th unit was composed of a whopping one hundred and twelve infantrymen.
The last Red Dawn contractor stepped out of the plane in a few minutes. The commanders of each unit stepped forward to speak with Lieutenant Dinara, while the rest of the reinforcements took on a number of different duties.
Once the four commanders had gathered, Dinara spoke out in a salute.
"Lieutenant Dinara, of the 37th unit. I would like to thank you for your assistance."
"Captain Davis, from the 15th. Likewise." Answered a short man in his forties, a thick beard hiding most of his mouth.
"Captain Lewis, from the 17th unit! Nice seeing you again, kid!" Bellowed a tall and stout man in his thirties, the well-kept goatee on his chin made him appear elegant even as he smiled like a fool.
"Major Helena Vasquez, 20th unit. We've come to help deal with the local Honkai threat, and prepare for the ensuing investigation." Stated a tall, lithe woman who seemed ten years younger than her actual forty years of age. Her red eyes glared at the Lieutenant like a hawk staring at prey, although they held no I'll intention.
With introductions finished, Helena continued to lead the conversation. "As you may expect, HQ suspects that the Honkai came from a breach in the lines of defense against the Tundra, the Marshal is waiting to pass a detailed briefing back in the Pelicans." She pointed at the VSTOLs with her thumb. "Furthermore, she has asked for the presence of the supposed Knight you have met with."
Lucius, noticing that the Major was referring to him, stepped forward from the midst of the soldiers from the 37th unit and approached the commanders.
"Then," the Watcher spoke, attracting the attention of the four. "I shall join you."
...
The briefing room aboard the Pelican was spacious, much like the rest of the aircraft. Soft white light rained down from the ceiling and created a calming ambiance. Digital screens lined the walls, showing maps of the region of Siberia, detailed lists of resources and their spending plans, images of Honkai Beasts and details on their fighting styles, and many other kinds of information.
In the center, several benches faced the podium on the other end of the room, behind which awaited the holographic projection of the Red Dawn's Marshal.
A beautiful young woman in her early twenties, reddish-brown hair messily fell behind her neck, sharp eyebrows seemingly locked in an eternal frown, bright-blue eyes narrowed in contemplation, somewhat sharp button nose, small lips slightly puckered into a pout, her round chin was lifted ever so slightly as she looked down at the group of five that have entered the room.
"It's good to see you in good health, Lieutenant Dinara." Said the Marshal, allowing a small smile to form on her face.
"Thanks for your concern, Marshal. As we have reported, the 37th unit is in good condition and ready to partake in the ensuing operation." Dinara saluted, her eyes starting to blaze with hatred that wasn't shown on the rest of her face.
"And you will," the Marshal nodded, her voice laced with venom at the thought of having lost an entire unit just like this. "Major Helena has agreed to your participation in this mission, the 15th unit will guard the local village in your stead, they will be responsible for building a temporary grid with Honkai Detectors and deployable turrets."
After saying that, the leader of Red Dawn shook her head to clear her thoughts, then turned towards Lucius.
"Before we continue the briefing, I believe introductions are in order. I am Agatha George Westinghouse, Marshal of Red Dawn Private Military. Currently, we are guarding this part of the Siberian territory against Honkai attacks and armed marauders."
"Lucius, no affiliation." Was the Warden's response, which earned him a raised brow from Agatha.
"I see..." She mumbled, looking pensive for a moment before sighing and focusing back on him. "Regarding your origins, we can only leave that for another time, the threat of the current situation is unknown, and despite our current forces being rather sizeable for a PMC, none of our soldiers are capable of facing those monsters head-on. We would like to extend an invitation for you to join us in this expedition, and - if our goals and methods align - offer you a place in Red Dawn's corps."
"The current situation is that the Honkai can spread out and attack other places, is that right?"
"That is indeed the case. Russia is a massive country, and there are never enough troops to protect all of it. If the situation is left as is, the only possible result is massive casualties."
The Warden simply nodded before giving his answer. "Then we are in agreement, I will aid Red Dawn for the duration of the following mission."
The Marshal smiled at his words, the ever-present frown on her brows subsiding ever so slightly as she took a breath of relief.
"That settles that then." She said and turned to address everyone in the room. "Now, let us start with the mission briefing. The following campaign might just decide the future of our company."