The Battle of Sélestat had ended far more abruptly than Franz had expected. Still, the supplies the army had brought should just about last the nearby residents through the winter.
Until the fighting was over, Franz had assumed Duchess Fanny Cotte would most likely die in some alley. The remaining Orléans Army would either scatter or fight on in a burst of inspiration, then return with the duchess's corpse.
Franz had even prepared a eulogy and a fine coffin for the occasion.
Yet Fanny Cotte had survived—and won. Postwar tallies showed that the Allied Forces had lost no senior officers, so the coffin was suddenly of no use.
Coffins came in different grades. Using one inappropriately could spark needless arguments, or even pointless one-upmanship.
There were certainly fallen heroes. Even if there weren't any, Franz would invent some. But they were even less suited to being buried with honors beyond their rank.
The heroes sent home should have only their ashes, uniforms, and medals of merit. It was a regrettable necessity, meant to prevent the enemy or some third party from holding their corpses for ransom.
The European battlefield had never been short of corpse thieves and tooth hunters. Both professions had been explained before, so there was no need to go into detail.
But as long as a corpse was valuable enough, someone would always risk their neck for it. During the War of the Sixth Coalition, opposing sides often fought by day, then joined forces as fellow corpse thieves by night.
Even the harshest penalties imposed by various nations couldn't put an end to this lucrative trade.
Aside from the gold, silver, and jewelry on a corpse, its clothes, weapons, hair, teeth, rotting flesh, and even bones could all be sold.
Wigs and false beards had always been