"It's possible that the destruction is a means to an end. The town and its people aren't necessary to their objective, or it could have been used as a way to keep anyone from resettling it in the future. That's what I suspect was happening in the woods near my birthplace actually: if humans are driven off then beasts and demons can act freely."

It still might happen. William thinks about the dragon he had been heading to meet. A defeat will mean the loss of the Beast Woods frontier. Although he of course intends to throw his all into the fight, the outcome is uncertain.