Rebirth of the Phoenix God

"That's one nice campfire…"

In any normal situation, seeing a man covered from his feet to his forehead in blood, calmly commenting on the visual experiences he had while watching a huge stack of burning wood would at least make everyone else feel strange. Yet, in this particular situation, the atmosphere around was too jovial for anyone to care.

"But man, I gotta say this. I didn't expect for your plan to work so well!"

Pointing to the side with his chin, Victor accepted some kind of rag that one of the soldiers offered to him before cleaning at least his face from all the redness. 

"It worked out, quite a lot fewer people died than usual, we didn't really have to bother fighting with the other mercenaries all that much. So I would say, everything worked out exactly as I hoped it would."

In the end, the young man didn't really expect any additional rewards. This wasn't some kind of kindergarten when doing something exceptionally good would make the teacher give him better marks. 

"Eh… Given how tough they were starting to get... Just for the fact that they surrendered alone… Man, you will never be able to drink up all the booze that our team will offer you."

Shaking his head in amazement, Victor reached forth with his hand and patted Fen's shoulder.

"By the way, once they realised what was going on, the enemy mercenaries surrendered. Any ideas as to what to do with them?"

According to Victor's earlier recount, once the firest started to appear one by one behind the enemy lines, it took only a few moments for the first deserters to kill the officers trying to stop them before running away. For those common people, if the enemy was burning their homes behind them, what was the point of attempting to stop the advance of the enemy at that point?

Once the first few men started to escape, things quickly escalated. Before long, the entire frontline broke apart, leaving only a bunch of hardened veterans and mercenaries hired by the other side on the battlefield. While initially the serfs recruited by Fen's side jumped at the opportunity to clear those who gave them such a huge loses in such short amount of time, they were quickly pushed away by Fen's own teammates. 

While neither of the sides knew each other, just the professional courtesy was enough to give the other mercenary group a hand. After all, once their cannon fodder ran out, they wouldn't have any chance at changing the course of the battle. Due to how unorganised and panicked the retreat of Fen's enemies was, there wasn't any point in attempting to retreat either, so before any doubts could appear, the commander of the opposing group laid the fate of his team in Victor's hands.

"You are not making things easy for me, are you?"

Smiling at his commander, the young man took a seat at a random, huge piece of wood that failed to reach the still burning pile of broken parts of the nearby homes. What Victor just asked the young mercenary to do, wasn't as easy as it might sound to someone else. 

Up until now, there were no instances of entire mercenary group surrendering to their peers from the opposing side. After a battle, once the winner and loser were decided, the losing party would simply leave the battlefield, often banking on the courtesy of the other side to let them pick up their wounded. After all, there was no bad blood between the two sides and the only reason that they fought was a monetary one. 

Yet, with Fen's clever tactic, they now had this burning potato in their hands. Kill them all? That would be easiest to perform yet absolutely worst and unreasonable way out. Let them go just like that? That wasn't possible either. After all, some of their friends got injured while others got killed during that fight.

That meant, the solution lied somewhere in the middle ground. But just what they could demand from the other group in exchange for their freedom? Merging the ranks was a big no-no. Ever since the conception of the idea of mercenary groups, they were about people who knew each other joining hands to achieve a common purpose while equally sharing their earnings afterwards. 

While with time, the rules that worked for each mercenary company were adjusted to fit their organisation scheme, the general idea still remained. Forcing a sizeable party that they just fought with to join hands with them would only uproot the unity that each mercenary group could pride itself with!

"How about…"

Suddenly, Fen's face darkened. Even for him, it was rare to come up with an idea that was capable of scaring himself.

"What's wrong?"

After a moment of his friend and semi-subordinate not speaking anything, Victor clearly turned anxious. While in the normal military a commander wouldn't bother with the ideas of a common soldier, this was yet another privilege of the inclusivity that the mercenary groups could offer.

"I might have an idea… But it might make getting a job a little bit harder for us in short term, but might change how people think about mercenaries in the long term. I will leave the end decision to you, but for now, could you please lead me to where our defeated colleagues are?"

Clearly puzzled by Fen's uncommon attitude, Victor didn't even bother trying to sound out what his young friend had in mind. Just the last three months that they spent spilling blood and sharing drinks together made him learn that once this strange arcanist would set his mind on something, not even a hundred horses would be able to stop him from reaching towards it.

"Sure, follow me."

Clearly curious about the content of what was going through Fen's head, Victor quickly called for two horses before mounting one of them and ordering his subordinate to do the same.

"I know that you can fly, but I think all those poor people got enough of a scare for today. Not to speak about the horses… I will have to take some of your earnings out for the treatment for my horses! Do you even realise how terrified those cuties were with your fierce appearance in the skies?"

Victor's love for the animals of all sorts was commonly known enough for Fen to simply ignore his rant and obediently mount the horse. Given how big of a waste of time it was when compared to how quickly he could fly towards his target… He still couldn't do anything about it. After all, the ultimate decision whether to go through with the idea that was stuck in Fen's mind still belonged to his superior!

In just a few moments, the two of the men reached what used to be the camp of the defeated force. In one of its still remaining parts that their… allied forces have yet to rob and burn to the ground, a huge group of people was sitting directly on the ground, using various parts of their equipment to make their stay just a tiny bit more comfortable.

Jumping down from their horses once they got close enough, Fen and his leader approached the group. Still ignorant as to what was his young friend thinking, Victor simply waited for the situation to develop, while Fen walked towards the group of bloodied men and women alike, taking a short moment to calm himself down.

"Everyone! Before we begin, let me ask you a ques…"

"WHAT?!"

Before Fen could finish even a single sentence, a voice of surprise appeared from the depths of the group of prisoners. Directing his sight towards its source, Fen stood still for a moment before covering his face with his hands.

"I won't lie, I didn't expect to meet you here."

After taking a moment to calm himself down from the aftereffects of the sudden encounter, Fen once again raised his eyes, this time properly looking at Orsha's face.

"Neither did I expect to meet you again just like that."

Shaking her head in amazement at how their relationship continued to develop in quite the uncommon way, the girl quickly realised what she was supposed to do right now. While just from the first few actions of his it was clear that her acquaintance wanted to talk to everyone at once, having a spokesperson that he could direct his real question at was something obviously needed. 

And who could better secure the interests of her group, if not a girl that had quite the intimate history with the member of the group that won against them?

"Okay, come here. It will be actually quite helpful to have someone near. But going back to the topic."

Setting his arms on his sides, Fen noticed with the corner of his eyes that not only Victor but quite a huge number of their fellow mercenaries somehow found their way to the area, already uncorking more and more bottles of wine and booze, clearly preparing for the show.

"Everyone. I know that situation has put us on the other sides of this conflict, but let me ask you one thing. You fought, you lost… but you still fought! I should be safe to assume that you were paid in advance for your efforts, am I right?"

With just those few sentences, Fen managed to silence not only the small murmurs spreading around the group of the defeated mercenaries, but also all the resemblance of commotion amidst the ranks of his friends and even the few veterans serving directly and loyaly under the lord that hired them!

"No. We were going to receive a share of… we were going to be paid once we would do our duty. After all, how else would the man that hired us guarantee that we wouldn't escape if he were to pay us in advance?"

After the initial moment of shock passed, Orsha picked up her role as the spokesperson, quickly bringing up the most important point that regulated the current relationship between most of the mercenaries and their employers.

"But you did fight, didn't you? I can see that some of you are wounded, there are ever some bodies lying on the side, way too well-equipped to be a part of your employer's retinue, am I wrong?"

With the young man putting the matters in this perspective, Victor and Orsha changed the expression on their faces at the same time, indicating that the two of them were the first to understand the implications of what Fen was saying.

"While you can put the matter in this way… Well, it's the truth."

After a moment that she took to analyze what her past partner said, Orsha decisively confirmed his words. Even though there was a small bound that connected the two of them, she still had to act in the best interest of her group, forcing her to stop herself from simply agreeing to what Fen was saying, even if it seemed to be logical and obvious at the first thought.

"Then let me tell you what I would like to propose. Obviously, as I'm just a normal mercenary myself, this proposition will still have to be accepted by my leader, but I think I have a way to solve the problem of just what the heck are we supposed to do with you guys."

While those words sounded quite dangerous and important, the wide smile that appeared on Fen's face as soon as he uttered them broke the seriousness that appeared in the atmosphere. At least, the mood of the mercenaries relaxed at the expense of the calmness of the heart of those few veterans that were unlucky enough to be around at this unfortunate time.

"Won or lost, you guys still should be paid for your services accordingly. But we can't just let you guys go like that. What I would like to propose then…"

Taking a quick peek at the few veterans that stood in their places to listen to his words, feeling that something important was happening, Fen invoked his catalyst and rested his body weight on his fiery sword.

"Once our employer will finish the conquest or the raid, whatever irks his ire the most, all the money that you guys were supposed to be paid by your employer, will be deducted from our employer's spoils. Half of it will go to you, as your due payment, while the other half will go to my group, as the price of your freedom. What would you say to this way of solving our current quandary?"

Silence.

This was the only and the simplest way to describe the atmosphere of the camp when Fen finally revealed what idea was going through his head. 

Half of the promised payment… When put in these words, it sounded like a lot, but everyone in the area was perfectly aware of one thing. Up to this point, the losing side wouldn't receive any remuneration for their lives and fightings they did at all!

In other words, instead of putting them into an even worse situation, Fen proposed that all the costs of the loss of the other side would be taken by their employer instead!

"I think that's… quite a reasonable way of solving this situation."

In this moment of silence and hesitation, Victor proved why he was the leader of Fen's group. Before anyone would manage to overcome the shock and react to the young mercenary's words, he already appeared at his side and confirmed that this kind of deal was something he could agree to!

"Fen…"

Taking a look at the girl beside him, Fen couldn't help but notice the strange sparks that appeared in her eyes. Without any contribution on her part, this damned young man spared her entire group and even promised them the half of what they were supposed to earn if they were to win!

"Hey…"

With her face changing to a strange, tense expression, Orsha approached the young man, stopping only a single meter away from him. Even though her eyes were filled with intoxication, she was still aware of the situation well enough to not provoke any retaliation against her advance.

"... how about you take me to your tent right now? I think we have a looot to… talk about."