William had temporarily taken the children of the town to the Hellan Royal Academy.
The sudden arrival of hundreds of children in the capital had caused a disturbance among the local kids who were being managed by the sons of the Prime Minister of the Kingdom.
When the Crown Prince was taken to prison, Conner decided to temporarily assign the Prime Minister’s nineteen-year-old son to handle the affairs of the kingdom. To his surprise, the candidate he chose was quite capable and used his circle of friends, who had also grown up in the capital, to handle the needs of the survivors.
Brendan Schwartz, the Prime Minister’s son, was groomed to take his father’s place as soon as he retired from his position.
He had single-handedly kept the capital of Gladiolus afloat amidst the chaos that had descended among the children within the capital of the Hellan Kingdom.
Naturally, there were also members of The Organization inside the capital, but none of them paid attention to the sudden appearance of more children in the city.
Conner had ordered them to take the treasures of the Kingdom and evacuate the city as soon as possible. As his last act of kindness, Conner left the granaries of the kingdom untouched, which Brendan used to help feed the survivors.
The leader of The Organization was still on the fence about what he should do with Crown Prince Lionel and his brother, Prince Rufus. Calum proposed that they take the two Princes’ to be used as hostages, if ever an opportunity arose.
Conner thought that this was a sound proposal because even though the two Princes’ had betrayed their Kingdom, they were still the Princes of the nation. They hadn’t lost their value and could be used as bargaining chips in the future.
Aside from the remaining members of The Organization who were tasked with disabling the traps and protection of the treasury, the rest had already moved to their headquarters where the statues of King Noah and the important nobles of the kingdom were stored for safekeeping.
Conner was using this brief moment of peace to use all the manpower in his disposal to search for the monument that had disappeared from under his grasp.
——
The corner of Dave’s and Conrad’s lips twitched when they saw Erchitu mixing the rice gruel in the three-meter wide Yin-Yang cauldron using a giant ladle that William had just crafted using alchemy.
Earlier, William asked Dave and Conrad to grab the giant pots that were in the kitchen to cook rice gruel for the children that they had brought with them. Since it was already evening, he asked the kids, who knew how to cook, to help with the food preparations as well.
After securing several pots and pans from the kitchen of the Royal Academy, the cooking process began. Just like the City of Gladiolus, the Royal Academy had its own food reserves that it used to feed the children who were studying inside their institution.
When Erchitu saw the Yin Yang Cauldron, it mentioned something in passing that piqued William’s interest.
“I wonder what rice gruel would taste like if it was cooked using the Yin Yang Cauldron?”
That was what Erchitu had muttered when William was about to put it away. After hearing this casual question, William also became curious. He even wondered what a rice gruel would taste like if it was cooked using the Yin Yang Cauldron and the Flames of Purification?
Because of this, the two decided to conduct an experiment. The one who would cook the rice gruel would be Erchitu, while William focused on controlling the flames using the Flames of Purification.
Ian didn’t do anything and simply watched from the side. He didn’t specialize in cooking because that task was left to his twin, Isaac.
Mohawk, the leader of the Giant Apes, was busy throwing in some pieces of meat, and other seasonings, per Wiliam’s instructions.
The three were so focused on their task that they didn’t notice Dave’s and Conrad’s presence. Both boys were already holding a bowl of rice porridge each and looking at this scene with dumbfounded expressions.
Naturally, it didn’t take long before William noticed them and invited the two to join them for dinner.
“How are the children?” William asked while he decreased the power of the flames.
“They’re currently eating,” Dave answered. “So far, the Commander’s threat worked and none of them are causing trouble.”
William nodded. The reason he had summoned Erchitu in front of the kids was to scare them and prevent them from doing anything bad. This deterrence worked and all of them were behaving properly.
“After they finish eating, bring them to the public pool,” William commented after pondering for a while. “Separate them by genders. I will have the Angray Birds and the Cercopes Monkeys guard the girl’s area to prevent any boys from causing mischief.”
Dave and Conrad nodded their heads in agreement. The children who had been left behind were like homeless people who hadn’t bathed for days. Naturally, there were those who cared about hygiene, but since the town was located in the countryside, not everyone prioritized cleanliness over food.
This was very true during these dark and difficult times.
“It’s done,” Erchitu said after stirring the ladle one last time. It then proceeded to grab the bowls that William had prepared beforehand and started to pour rice gruel into them.
The first bowl he handed to William, the second it handed to Mohawk, the third it gave it to itself.
The three ate at almost the same time and their expressions changed drastically.
“D-Delicious!” William stuttered as he ate more of the rice gruel that they had just cooked.
‘It seems that our experiment is a success,’ Erchitu agreed as he ate from the Big Bowl that William had made for him.
Dave and Conrad ate their rice gruel hurriedly. After emptying their bowls, they asked if they could try some of the porridge that their comrades had cooked.
“Go ahead,” William said with confidence. ‘Dang, I should really get a Chef Job Class. Maybe it will taste even better if I equip that profession while cooking.’
If the God of Alchemists saw that his precious Ying Yang Cauldron (Replica) was being used to cook rice gruel, he would definitely throw a tantrum and whack William’s head in anger.
Lily, Issei, and David were already laughing in the Temple of the Gods when they saw this scene. The Alchemist God was also a member of the Neutral Faction and one of the richest Gods in the Temple.
All of his pills would be auctioned in the God Shop and the chosen candidates of the Gods would bid, using their hard earned God Points, to get his miraculous pills that would give them power beyond their wildest imaginations.
After William and the rest finished eating, he cleaned his Yin Yang cauldron using his water magic and stored it back inside his storage ring.
He was just about to go to his room in the Solaris Dormitory with Ian when he saw a familiar face walking towards him.
“You sure know how to create a ruckus,” Est said as he looked at William with a fed up expression. “Instead of seeing me first, you brought these kids to the academy without saying a word. If not for the fact that Isaac was scouting the city for news, I wouldn’t have known that you had arrived in the capital.”
William scratched his head as he walked towards the handsome boy who was giving him the “You’re gonna sleep on the floor tonight” glare.
The Half-Elf lightly cleared his throat as he gave his explanation.
“Actually, I planned to see you first, but the circumstances didn’t give me the opportunity to do that.” William sighed. “The evacuation of the town took a lot of time. I planned to look for you tomorrow, but who would have thought that you missed me so much that you came here personally?”
William flicked his hair in arrogance as he gave Est a dazzling smile.
“By the way, have you seen Wendy?” William asked. “I’ve missed her, too, and, if possible, I want to sleep with her toni–aahhh!”
Ian who was standing beside him pinched his waist in irritation, while Est stepped forward and pulled on his ears.
Clearly, both of them were very dissatisfied with William’s choice of words. How could he possibly look for Wendy when the two of them were already here in front of him.
The pitiful Half-Elf had been dragged away by the two jealous boys, leaving the dumbfounded Isaac, Dave, Conrad, Erchitu, and Mohawk, behind.
That night, William understood what jealousy truly was. Inside his Spiritual World, two beautiful girls made sure that the red-headed boy wouldn’t commit the same mistake again in the future as they performed the Union of Souls, to help the annoying Half-Elf speed up the recovery of his Sea of Consciousness.
—–
Meanwhile, in the Armstrong Duchy…
“Wendy, what’s wrong?” Spencer asked when he saw his twin sister suddenly look in the direction of the City of Gladiolus.
Wendy frowned as if deep in thought. She didn’t understand how or why, but somehow, she thought that she heard William’s voice call out her name.
“Nothing, Big Brother,” Wendy replied as she returned to the task of reading the documents that were submitted by the retainers of their Duchy. She thought that she was imagining things because she wanted to see William so badly.
Every night, Wendy dreamed of the place called Asgard where her adult self lived together with her husband, Will.
Wendy was very jealous of her adult self. Not only did the Valkyrie Wendy look mature and charming, she was also someone that took the initiative. The Will in her dreams would sometimes resist her advances, but her overwhelming strength would render him helpless.
Wendy would often wake up hot and bothered in the morning after the husband and wife had shared a steamy night together. Deep inside, she wished that there would come a time when William and her would really, truly, be married. Not solely in her dreams, but in reality as well.
