Cleaning the battlefield was done mostly by Alina. She summoned a strong storm that buried everything under a mound of snow. The Thalmor camp was looted and every trace of their existence was erased.
"Alright, good job, everyone. Trudvar will oversee the rewards based on the merits of today. Also, those who are injured are going to receive an extra raise based on the injury."
"YEAH!"
"Sovngarde!"
"Boss! Boss! Boss! Boss!"
The men started cheering on their own once again.
"Thanks, thanks. I am happy that you are happy but remember, today never happened. If anyone asks then you know what to say…"
"""Bandits!"""
"That's right… which is not far from the truth anyway. If any tiny piece of rumor went out, I will figure out who said it, Capiche?"
"""Capiche."""
"Good men!"
My relationship with the troops of Winterhold was very good, I trained them many times and kept them close most of the time.
These troops are my important brothers and sisters after all. I had to keep them under the impression that their Boss is an approachable person who treats them fairly all the time. I can tell many of their names, with the help of the system of course, and offered them a lot of free education in Magic, I also helped them with their family and health matters and offered them the best of Winterhold's services.
Even though that was the case, I also added limitations to what the mercenaries can do and have to limit their greed, it was a very well-studied system to keep everyone in line.
After finishing with the general tasks, I went to the tent in the camp that is now ours. There were my top officers gathered alongside the two prisoners we had in our grasp, apparently, their names are Orenya for the female agent and Lenwe for the male agent.
"How is the loot?"
"Perfect, better than perfect. We took a lot of Elven gear this day to the point that it will sink me with work. Wulfur loves work though." Wulfur said with a pleased face.
"Okay, bro. I am happy for you. Smelt all of them and make us some good products."
"Noted! Hey, I was thinking…"
"That's dangerous!"
"... Very funny! Can you design me a Trident?"
This guy! What weird idea is he dragging me into this time?
"Jon, if you ever design something new for him, you won't hear the end of it." Bjorna came out of nowhere and threatened me with a dagger.
"Okay! Jeez! The hell is going on between you guys… I don't want to know but get a hold of yourself man, that hammer you made last time is very good."
"Well, it is too heavy."
"Just find yourself some good sword and use it as a secondary… I am making a big order in the coming days so make sure to be free."
"What? Want a new weapon?"
"Me? Nah, I will go look for a certain sword in a few days, you will tag along."
"Fine!"
***
The meeting in the tent was concluded fast. Cousin Brenda took her men and went back to the Moonblade Clan. We from the Dare Dragon company and the Firemanes rode in front of the troops back to Winterhold.
"That was one hell of a staff, kid." Jonrad was riding beside me on his Saber Cat.
"Dreadful, isn't it?"
"Just don't show it to your mother."
I called out the Skull of Corruption from the Haven Ring and showed it to him.
"Alina doesn't like it." I said.
"Poor child, her luck is as bad as your mother's."
"You mean because of us… born under the Serpent?"
Jonrad nodded.
"It is our fate that stinks, old man. These women are kind enough to us that they decided to stay in our lives, you and I both know we struck it the luckiest." I said what I firmly believed in.
For Hilda, Alina and Jullanar to follow men with broken fates like me and Jonrad, those women are the greatest no matter how I think about it. With the number of hardships in our lives, those women just withstood all the stupidity and pushed us forward. I can't help but admire them.
Jonrad himself went silent to what I said but I am sure his thoughts were exactly like mine.
"... WAHAHAHA! Kid, I admit it, truer words were never said."
It seemed he agreed with me completely for the first time, it was gross but I think we are both glad we agreed like that.
"Speaking of Mother, is she…"
"Yes, she is."
I smiled widely when Jonrad confirmed my thoughts.
"Why aren't you pleased? I thought you would be jumping around all over the place by now?"
"... To tell you the truth, a few months ago when you came to the Clan, I and your mother were ready to have another flock of children, but now as it happened…"
"You are chickening out."
"... well, I wouldn't put it that way but… fuck… sigh! We are chickening out."
It was obvious, their firstborn turned out to be a disaster child that almost destroyed a clan and made a lot of trouble throughout Hammerfell, Cyrodiil and Skyrim… now that I think of it this way, I am truly a disaster child.
"Look, it all will turn out just fine, the world can't endure two of me in the same era."
"Haha, I guess you are right."
Jonrad and I were really agreeing more and more this day.
"Okay, what are you still doing here?" I asked.
"Eh! What do you mean?"
"What do you mean what do I mean?"
"... Still, not getting you, son."
"Aren't you the one who has a pregnant wife? You and I both know how crazy can she get when she has one of 'em weird thoughts."
"..." Jonrad realized what I meant.
"Well?"
"I am heading back first."
Jonrad patted his Saber Cat and moved ahead as fast as he could.
"Damn, those Saber Cats are really fast!"
I was left back but I was not alone. I turned around my Flame Atronach Horse and waited for Alina and Jull to catch up.
""Jon."" "Hooman."
"Ladies."
"What's with father?" Jull asked.
"He remembered something and went ahead first."
Alina rode on my right and Jull rode on my left. Nefertiti was lazing on Jull's Atronach Horse and Alina was looking into a note.
"What is that?"
"This is the initial report from what Ongeim could make our prisoners spit out."
"I see, what does it say?"
"You see, Ongeim used or rather abused your name with the elf male which turned out to be really useful, the mer pissed himself and spat out all what he knows."
"Good."
"Apparently, the first purpose is to assess the threat of Winterhold's new government, that's us, and to get a list of names and details about the important people inside Winterhold. It seems that the female prisoner has infiltrated Winterhold and gained the names of some senior employees in the company alongside some information about their personalities and weaknesses, stuff like their relatives outside Winterhold and those with families in places the Thalmor can reach."
"Haha! I saw that one coming." I said with a wide grin.
"Seriously, how low can they get? They would go as far as kidnapping the relatives of our people to force them into their side?" Jullanar seemed upset about it.
"Of course, it is how low people are. That is why I made the background form in the employment papers a must, those who are going to be promoted to high places were mostly people from Winterhold or those with no origins that we trust."
"I see, the Natives and the Dunmer, that's why you always preferred the Dark Elves and Nords."
"True, I have a high opinion in Dark Elves as I was raised by one and I also like them. They are really down to earth and humble folk as long as they are not nobles."
"True." Jullanar buffed her chest. She is a half Dark Elf but her appearance is very much influenced by them so in public, she can be counted as a Dark Elf with some Human ancestry.
"Anyway, that's not all. Rather than sorting us out, they were to assassinate any threat that is not connected to any large force and figure out the relationship between the Dare Dragon Company and the Clans of Skyrim." Alina kept going.
"That far? How dirty!" Jull said.
"Heh heh, it gets better. They are also to try and frame us with anything that would make the Empire move against us, they wanted to frame some of us to be a Talos Cultists or related to the Blades, but their plans have failed with the emergence of the Temple of Kyne. Their next move seemed to be luring us on a fight then capture some of us to prove that we are a danger to the White-Gold Concordat."
"Dirty!" Jull was still displeased.
"... Not impressive." I said my opinion.
"How would you have done it then?" Alina asked.
"Well, if I am the enemy of Winterhold, I would attack its economy by trying to influence the naval trades and make it hard for the company to operate outside Winterhold, my next step would be spreading rumors around the citizens about the company to worsen its image, the third move would be spreading an epidemic or any kind of poison around the population then offer the cure in exchange for the most important resources in Winterhold, this would prevent any economical stand up in the hold once again. That's how I weaken the entity, break it from inside and destroy its infrastructure." I said with a proud tone.
The girls, however, were looking at me with pale faces.
"I am going to spread the news around my friends from the other clans to never piss you off." Alina said.
"I think you are the most suitable person to face the Thalmor after all, they wouldn't have a chance against you." Jull said.
Well, it is not my fault that I was reincarnated from a shitty world that would trade people lives' for Oil. Unless you control their greed, mankind is a lost cause in my opinion.
"Still, do you have any preparations if someone as scary as you appeared on the side of the enemy?" Alina asked.
"Sure, to prevent any of that from happening, I gathered a lot of information about our important trading partners and their weaknesses to find all leverages on them, the second thing I did was to control the news flow in the hold by controlling the rumors and recruiting eyes and ears around the town, the last thing was hiring a lot of healers for the Temple of Kyne and also by luring a Master Alchemist like Master Nurelion to come to Winterhold, now there will be no possible way to strike us from inside as long as we keep our security up all the time."
The girls started thinking about what I said and nodded in the end.
"Well, carry on with the report." I said.
"Ehem, this is how they were planning to deal with us overall, that High Elf female agent is apparently a very diligent one, she showed a lot of resistance during the interrogation and wouldn't speak a word. Also, her work showed that she has a talent that the Thalmor failed to employ in the right place."
"One less threat to worry about."
"I agree. The last piece of information, however, is interesting, it seemed that there is something very important that the Thalmor suspect they would find in Japhet's Folly."
"What is that?"
"No idea, the Elf didn't know. All what we could tell that it is something of value to the Elves that they lost to pirates six years ago and they want it back."
"Hmmm, is that all?"
"Yes."
"If the Elves were after something that much then it would bring me great pleasure to take it away from their hands. It seems that we should power up the fleet and its firepower as fast as possible, we have two months until Summer and the sea is still frozen now so it is dangerous to sail with a lot of ships. Still, we have to risk it and go to that place."
"That place?"
"Yes, you should pack your things, we are going to Solstheim."