Neither Victor nor Marquis Stanley knew what had happened in the enemy camp.
During their retreat, Victor and Marquis Stanley met Duke Barick, who had come to meet them.
Ever since the armistice had been reached, Duke Barick had been busy organizing the withdrawal and had not met either of them. Even during the negotiations, they had exchanged their views by letter.
After all, in the first half of the previous year, the kingdom had won a great victory against the Central City-State Alliance and reaped considerable gains.
Not only had it occupied more than 200,000 square kilometers of land, but it had also acquired vast quantities of supplies and valuables.
That victory had been possible thanks both to the kingdom's military prowess and to the efforts of its intelligence services, which had persuaded many insiders within the Central City-State Alliance to defect and serve as guides.
As a result, the kingdom had an enormous number of noncombatants to evacuate: the relatives and subordinates of those collaborators.
The kingdom had spent a considerable amount of time evacuating these supplies and people.
Fortunately, the frontline troops' great victory had bought ample time for the withdrawal.
Although Duke Barick had been run off his feet, he was in excellent spirits now, and his face was wreathed in smiles when he saw Victor and his teacher.
"Teacher, Duke Victor, thank you for everything you've done. This time, at least we haven't lost everything the kingdom worked so hard to gain.
Now I can give the officers and soldiers who followed us into this campaign something to show for their efforts."
Duke Barick knew how much this victory meant. Without the Armistice Agreement, the kingdom could never have brought these spoils home. In that case, it might not even have been able to provide