The wreck of the villa stayed behind Ludwig like a bad smell that refused to leave clothes. Even with his back turned, he could still hear it, not the building itself, but what replaced it.
The scrape of feet over broken stone, the excited mutter of hungry voices, the first crash of someone forcing open a door that used to be forbidden, and then the sound that followed every fallen house in every fallen city: people taking what they could before someone stronger arrived to take it from them.
"Is it safe to leave him there?" the Knight King's voice echoed inside Ludwig's head.
"Yes, it's fine, they'll be too busy looting, stealing, and probably throw rocks and rotten shit at him to care about dark magic. Once the Empire comes to investigate, they'll find traces of dark magic, and that creature. I don't have to worry about this. Anyway, it's time to get some power ups. Been a while since I last upgraded."
