[h2]Saria[/h2]

With the enemy now retreating, Saria was content to try to answer the question of [i]why[/i] they were here. There was no guarantee that the retreating enemy--given the ease with which they had been fought off--would be willing to chance another encounter with any possibility of resistance until they got their bearings. Yet there was some risk that the soldiers would head straight for the village. To kill two birds with one stone, it would be better if their group were to seek answers [i]there[/i] rather than in a ruined building like this one.

The vouivre voiced her assent, and was about to leave when she caught one of the girls--Rayne, she believed?--asking about the death. A look that seemed to be echoed on some of the others' faces. That... would be a problem, it was odd that these people could actually [i]fight[/i] enough to have been pulled out, yet were soft enough to be put off by the outcome of combat. But she couldn't be [i]too[/i] blunt.

Yet nor was there time to spare anyone's feelings.

"Keeping an enemy alive when they want to kill you is a luxury. You need enough of a strength advantage to go for a less-lethal option, [i]access[/i] to such an option, an awareness of how resilient your enemy is, and either an assurance that they won't come back as soon as they can or somewhere to keep them," Saria stated, looking around to emphasise how little that last one applied. "Soldiers will either return to their duties or become bandits on defeat. Incapacitating them would be to ask the locals to repeat our fight again and again.

"I admit to using more force than needed, but humans in my own world display a large degree of variance in their endurance and protection. It was safest to work from a worst-case scenario."