“Lord Est, it’s a pleasure to be of service to you,” Brendan pressed his closed fist over his chest as he bowed respectfully. “Lord William had already told me the details. I will do my best to serve you faithfully in the absence of the Royal Family.”
“T-Thank you,” Est stuttered as he looked at the son of the Prime Minister.
He and William had only talked about this very same person a few hours ago, and now, Brendan was standing in front of him acting all servile.
“Can I ask you a question?” Est asked. His curiosity had gotten the better of him as he looked at the average looking man with short blonde hair and blue eyes.
“Of course,” Brendan replied.
“How did William convince you to work for me?”
“He introduced me to someone.”
Est tilted his head in confusion. “Introduced you to someone?”
Est’s curiosity grew as he looked at the Prime Minister’s son with a serious expression. He wondered just what kind of person William introduced to Brendan in order to make him act this way.
“A very amazing person.” Brendan smiled. When he saw the man that William had introduced to him a few hours ago, an electrical shock passed over his body. It was as if he was meant to meet that person.
Like the last piece of the puzzle falling into place, Brendan knew then and there that he had found his true calling. He was already looking forward to studying under that man’s tutelage, and the condition for that to happen was to serve Est as his right hand man.
“Lord Est, I know that you have a few more questions, but Lord William has left me with some orders,” Brendan said as he opened a scroll in his hands. “For now, it would be best if we gathered the survivors on the outskirts of the Hellan Kingdom and bring them to the capital.”
“Understood.” Est snapped to attention as soon as he heard that they needed to rescue the survivors in the towns that were the farthest from the capital.
“I suggest that we send some representatives to these areas and have them evacuate to the capital,” Brendan explained. “Right now, we have enough grain to last us fifteen years. All of them are magically preserved in the granary of the Royal Warehouse. Even if we bring in ten million more mouths to feed, it will only shorten our reserves to four years.
“Aside from that, every Duchy has their own granaries. If we can get in touch with the local nobles, we could ask them to coordinate with us when it comes to sharing resources.”
Est nodded. This was the first time that he was hearing these kinds of things and his impression of Brendan grew by the minute.
“The most pressing matter right now is the threat on our borders.” Brendan frowned. “Lord William told me that he would handle this matter, so we should just focus on rescuing more survivors, and finding ways to gather food and other resources. Also, we should build a local knight force that will ensure that no crimes will be committed in the capital.”
Brendan gave Est a serious gaze as he continued his explanation.
“Even though the majority of the survivors are children, some of them are also in their late teens. Their age might make them bully the younger kids and take advantage of them. This is something that we should prevent at all costs in order to gain peace within the City of Gladiolus.”
“Understood.” Est nodded. “Is there anything else that we should do for the children?”
“One step at a time, Lord Est. If you focus on everything,” Brendan replied. “You will not be able to accomplish anything. Let’s rescue the survivors first, and form a Knight Unit that will patrol the city. This will give the survivors a sense of security if they see that there are uniformed officers upholding the law.”
The two finished their meeting in half an hour and immediately went to action. Their role was to maintain the stability of the Kingdom.
The first thing Est did was order Dave to travel to the Armstrong Duchy where Spencer and Wendy were located. Among the heirs of the high-ranking nobles, Wendy was someone that he could count on when it came to accomplishing the things that William wanted to have happen.
Although he still felt conflicted about Wendy being William’s first girlfriend, there was nothing he could do about it. He could only blame the curse that was placed on his body because he had met William as a boy, and not as a girl.
Brendan also sent some of his trusted subordinates, whom William had beaten up earlier, to use their manpower to reach out to the survivors on the edges of the Hellan Kingdom. Although they were still reluctant about Brendan becoming someone else’s subordinate, they still decided to follow him.
Afterall, as long as the one they were following was the person that was calling the shots, they would definitely get an opportunity to make a good impression, and show Est how capable they truly were.
As for William…
He had already left the Capital in order to gather forces to fight against The Organization and the Elven Army.
The two were riding on the back of a Lamassu as they headed towards the Forest where William was planning to meet someone.
“Are you sure that leaving without telling the Young Master is a good idea?” Ian asked while hugging William from behind.
“It will be fine,” William replied. “Est will understand because both of us have responsibilities now. Also, time waits for no one. Every second counts.”
What William didn’t tell Ian was that he was still not used to suddenly being intimate with Est, even while she was in her girl from, inside his Sea of Consciousness. The transition from becoming his best friend to a lover was so sudden that William struggled to accept it right away.
For now, he planned to take his time to nurture their feelings for each other so things wouldn’t become awkward for the two of them.
Still, the night that Est had spent with William inside his Spiritual World was not in vain.
‘Her real name is Estelle. If I’m not mistaken, her name means Star,’ William mused as they neared their destination. ‘It’s a very good name.’
Estelle had taken the initiative to tell William her real name, because she was jealous of Ashe. She also wanted the boy she liked to call her by her real name and not the fake name that she had to use because of the curse placed on her body.
“You’re thinking about her, right?” Ian asked.
William didn’t need to turn around to know Ian’s current expression. “Jealous?”
Instead of answering him, Ian asked him another question. Ian already knew Est’s feelings for Wiliam and had long accepted it in her heart. Since that was the case, why should she make things difficult for the boy she liked?
“Do you think the Lord of the Forest will accept your invitation?” Ian asked.
William quieted down as he pondered the answer to this question. After arriving at the capital, the first Beast he wanted to invite was the Diabolical Hell Ape that ruled the forest near the Hellan Royal Academy.
He was Psoglav’s Sovereign and a very powerful Beast that would definitely bolster William’s forces if it were to agree to his request.
“We’ll know soon enough,” William said softly as he guided the Lamassu to where the most powerful Aura was located.
William had already communicated with Psoglav and asked him to relay a message to his Sovereign. The Demonic Dog agreed because it had already planned to hug William’s thigh until it reached the Millennial Rank.
Soon, a wide clearing appeared in their vision
Waiting for him in the wide clearing was the Diabolical Hell Ape. However it was not alone. Gathered around it were the other rulers of the forest. All of them were expecting William’s arrival, and they were very curious whether their Sovereign would accept his proposal or not.
