Portgreen prison, during the night.
Two guards were playing cards at a table in front of some prison cells.
Another guard came walking quickly. He saw his comrades playing cards and become furious. “You idiots! What are you doing?!”
One of the guards looked at the agitated man with a confused expression. “We are watching the cells. What’s going on?”
The nervous guard hit the table and knocked the cards on to the floor. “Fuck you!! Don’t you know the city is in chaos? You must be in high alert!!”
“I know. But who would dare to attack the prison and why?!” The guard doesn’t understand why his superior is so tense.
The tense guard spoke in a lower tone. “Think about it, of the six people who make up the city council, three are missing, one is traveling, and the other is arrested here.”
The guard looked at a cell where a big man stood in silence. “But what about Lord Larousse? Shouldn’t he be keeping things in control?”
“His only son disappeared with Olivia. Lord Larousse is furious at the Guild and totally focused on finding his son and the sister of his late wife.” The tense guard replied.
He then lowered his tone even more and whispered. “I heard that the mercenaries are wanting to use this opportunity to take control of the city. Do you know what they need for this?”
The two guards who were previously relaxed looked at the cell where the big man was again. This time the tense guard could see drops of sweat running down their foreheads.
“Do you think they will try to rescue him?” One of the guards asked.
The tense guard approached him to speak even quieter near his ear. “Yes, I came for that.”
“WHAT?!” The guard was surprised and tried to get away from his mate, but he was too slow.
*Thud*
The tense guard hit the other in the head with a club, knocking him out on the spot.
“YO-” The other guard tried to react, but he was also very close to the tense guard and was also hit on the head.
The tense guard then picked up the guard’s key from the floor and headed for the big man’s cell. “Boss, we need you.”
He opened the cell, and the big man spoke in a deep voice. “Report.”
The guard started reporting quickly. “Olivia, Red Lady, and Cornelius left for the forest a few days ago, but they did not return. The groups sent scouts to look for them, and they all returned with the same report.”
“They found evidence of a great battle in the forest and many adventurer and mercenarie bodies.”
“After the mages analyzed everything, Cornelius’ death was confirmed. But the bodies of Red Lady and Olivia were not found. Lord Larousse’s son and his sister-in-law are also missing.”
The big man thought for a few seconds before asking the guard. “What about Ivan?”
“As you know, Ivan left a few months ago and has not yet returned. But if the rumors are true, he and Olivia have a secret form of communication, so he must already know that something is wrong.”
The big man thought for a few more seconds before he starts to laugh. “This is the perfect opportunity for my Black Hand Party to take control of the city alone.”
The guard started to laugh too. “Yes, Boss. But we have to go now. Not all of the guards were bribed.”
Black Hand got up and prepared to leave the prison. “Call reinforcements. We need to get other people out of here, because we will need more people on our side.”
The guard made a confused expression. “But boss, they are real criminals.”
Black Hand punched the guard, making him fall to the floor. “Idiot! What do you think I am, a saint? We need to take control of the city before Ivan returns, and we will need all the help we can get.”
The guard did not want to go against his Boss’s orders, so he got up and prepared to call more Black Hand Party mercenaries to help them to free bandits out of prison.
But then Black Hand called him again. “Wait. Did you guys find Shadow?”
The guard couldn’t help but make a worried expression. “Boss… With all the chaos in the city… We didn’t think that would be a priority… But we-“
*Pah*
*Thud*
Black hand slapped the guard in the face and threw him to the floor again.
“She is my woman!! What would you do if someone stole your woman? Wouldn’t you want to get her back?!”
The guard tried to ignore the pain and stood up. “Yes, Boss, you are right. We will keep looking for her.”
“And find that bastard too!! I’m going to cut his balls off before I kill him in front of her.” Black Hand spoke and left the prison cell.
The guard couldn’t help but grumble to himself. “They could have gone anywhere in the world. How am I supposed to know where to look for them?!”
———————–
Bluewind Castle.
Neola sat at the table next to Alden. She was very embarrassed by the strange looks she was receiving from Lucien’s women.
Lucien was about to sit down at the table again when he heard Kara approaching. He approached her with a friendly smile on his face.
“Oh, Kara, is everything ok? How did the two behave?”
Kara understood that Lucien was asking about Olivia and Scarlett. “They did not leave the bedroom and they didn’t cause any problems either.”
Lucien could hear the sound of Olivia and Scarlett’s breathing if he focused his hearing. They were both lying in the new bedrooms he gave them and Kara escorted them to.
He thought about calling them to have dinner with them, but Scarlett needed more time to recover and maybe a night visit from him while Olivia needs more time to accept the situation.
“I’ll check on them later. Now come have dinner with us, Kara.” Lucien moved his hand to Kara’s lower back as he guided her to the table.
She didn’t think to refuse and sat down at the table to have dinner with them.
The food was served and everyone started eating together as one big family. The girls animatedly talked while Lucien talked to Alden and Neola about plans for their groups.
A few minutes later, Ron arrived. He didn’t want to disturb their dinner, but Lucien heard him and asked him to join them at the table.
So Ron joined them for dinner. He was thrilled to see Kara having fun while talking to the girls.
She looked depressed before Lucien’s group arrived, but for the past few days, she has been very happy. He of course, knew the cause of her happiness.
Lucien introduced Neola and Alden to Ron. He couldn’t help praising Lucien. “Turning bandits into soldiers is a better plan than I could have thought of. Well, only someone like you could make it work.”
“Cassidy, Astrid and I will train the women, but I would like you to train the men,” Lucien suggested.
Ron could understand why Lucien is very suited to training women. “I am pleased to have your trust, Lucien. I will not disappoint you.”
Lucien had nothing to dislike about Ron. “Now that we have resolved this issue, I have another request. I got a lot of weapons and armor from the Light Empire army.”
“I also have others from the battle between the mercenaries and adventurers, but most need repairs. Do you know a reliable blacksmith here?”
Ron thought for a second. “We had an excellent blacksmith, but she went to Portgreen City a few months ago. The other blacksmiths in town are average, so I don’t know if they can handle high-quality armor very well.”
As Lucien and Ron were talking at the table, everyone could hear everything, and Marie couldn’t help but comment. “He’s talking about Rebecca, the smith I introduced you to in Portgreen.”
“Oh, Rebecca? I made some equipment requests for her. They will probably be ready in a few weeks, so I have to figure out how to get them.” Lucien knew he would be easily recognized in Portgreen.
“Ron, I’m going to need your help with this issue. Can you use some of your guys to send her a message?”
“Of course, Lucien. This will not be a problem.” Ron smiled.
Lucien thought about writing a letter to Rebecca. He will ask her to give the equipment to Ron’s people and he will invite her to return to Bluewind.
Bluewind is a small Kingdom and was going through difficult times before, but now, with him here, everything is getting better. He also has a lot of gold and loot, so he could pay her well for her services.
“Ron… I would like to talk to you about another matter.” Lucien spoke in a lower tone and looked at Kara.
Ron understood his intention and smiled. “Come on into the hall. I want to give you a special drink.”
Lucien and Ron left the table and went into the hall while the girls were talking. In order to not leave Alden alone, Lucien invited him too.
Ron poured a glass of wine for each of them. “This wine is nothing special, but it is the best I have.”
Alden laughed as he looked excitedly at the wine glass. “In that shitty forest, we only had water. This wine is perfect!”
“Cheers!” x3
*Clang*
The trio toasted and drank the wine. Lucien had not tasted many drinks as he and his sisters only had moments like this at events like anniversaries, holidays and small parties that they kept hidden from their father.
Although the company of Ron and Alden was fun, Lucien got to the point. “Ron, I want to talk about Kara. You must know what is going on.”
Ron was also direct. “Yes, she gets so excited when she’s around you. I think all women are excited around you.”
Before Lucien could answer, Ron continued. “You don’t have to feel obligated to anything, Lucien. But I want you to know that before you arrived, she was very depressed. Now she is very happy…”
“Can you tell me about her parents? If it’s not too rude for me to ask.”
“Well, her mother, my sister, died giving birth to her. After that, his father became depressed…”
“He tried to be strong to raise her, but in the end, he did not get over my sister’s death and died due to neglecting his health.”
Lucien couldn’t help feeling sad for Ron. “Ron, I’m so sorry… It must have been hard for you.”
Ron smiled. “It was difficult, but these things are not under our control. Kara is a good girl, and I have always loved her very much.”
“Marie and Lena have always been very nice to Kara, but she has always put a lot of effort into housework. I think she tries to work hard to keep herself distracted from thinking about her parents.”
“Still, I never saw her truly happy… Not like now. I can hear her laughing when she talks to your women. She seems to feel very happy around your group.”
Lucien could feel Ron’s sincerity. He knew that Ron was not just forcing Kara on him. “Ron, if you have nothing against… She gets along with my women, and I like her too.”
“I don’t want to force you into anything, Lucien. Her happiness is not your obligation. I know you already have a lot of people to care for.” Ron spoke sincerely.
Lucien put his hand on Ron’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Ron, Kara is a lovely girl. My family always has room for growing bigger. This is actually good.”
“So, does that mean?” Ron understood Lucien’s intention, but he wanted to be sure because they were talking about the happiness of his beloved niece.
Lucien spoke with a sincere expression. “As long as she really wants it, I’ll take care of her. I will take her with me and make her part of my family.”
Ron knew that Kara wanted this, as it is evident. He also knows that Lucien is a responsible person who would take care of her, so he could only smile happily.
“Let’s toast one more time then… I think I can call you son-in-law now, right?”
“I think so.” Lucien raised his glass. He, Ron, and Alden toasted one more time.
“Cheers!” x3
*Clang*
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