Chapter 71 Help

While it was a far cry from the house in the capital. It still was the largest building in the state. Having three floors and an area that was sixty meters long and double that wide, without counting the garden, he could do some basic training there. It was a pretty good house, and Aion got it for free…

"Mom, do you want to take a bath and have dinner?" Aion asked. "I am going to train a bit since those weeks are resting, and this trip is messing with my body."

"You should rest more, but I know that you are stubborn enough not to listen to me," Artemisia said.

When they reached the gate of the house, it didn't take long for the servants to show up and greet them all at the same time. Aion wasn't sure how his mother would be treated when he isn't around, but there was a way to learn, and it was called Furtivity improved up to level one hundred in power.

In any case, Aion was itching to do some training, so he carried the luggage, even though the head butler told him that it was his job. As if Aion would let an old man in his fifties do the heavy lifting for him. If he breaks a bone, Aion will feel bad later.

Aion put his things in his room, and his mother's in the room on the side. She went to take a bath while Aion headed to the garden and began his practice swings. Since he had changed to the samurai class, which was level one, Aion looked really slow, even with a training sword, so he could feel the stare of the head butler behind him, and it was clear that he didn't believe that Aion defeated Horis.

"Your name is?" Aion asked.

"Berthan, my lord," the head butter said.

"For the day you are dismissed, I will return to my room soon enough," Aion said.

"Understood," Berthan said.

Aion wanted to focus on his training, after all, and people that he barely knew watching him made it harder for him to focus. In any case, it didn't take long for Aion to make the class level up, it happened a lot faster than before… probably because he was practicing the right way and without wasted movements. That was good to know, but he will have to fight monsters or people to make real progress.

Since Aion was too into it, he ended up practicing until midnight. After cleaning himself in the bath, he went to sleep like a log, but he still woke up when the sun was rising and returned to his training montage. He trained with the sword until seven in the morning, and then he went to have breakfast. Artemisia still looked tired, so perhaps leaving her at home for the day would be a better idea.

"Mom, I am going to be working in the office the whole morning," Aion said. "You should rest a little more."

"I am good at managing things, so I can help you," Artemisia said. "I know that you are itching to explore the area by yourself. While you were on the same level as me, you never had much freedom in the capital."

'Hmm… is that so," Aion said.

"You probably will receive some weekly reports about the activities of numerous fields and workers, it will take a while to analyze all that, and the more hands you have the better," Artemisia said.

It looked like his mother wanted to help him… that was fine by Aion since Artemisia never had to do anything in the capital. When one can only do the same basic things over and over again for ten years, they would try to use their free time meaningfully once they have the chance.

In any case, after breakfast, they headed to the office of the previous rule. Which was essentially a room filled with books that he had never read before. There were a shit ton of reports written down there and organized on shelves. Aion could tell why no one would read the books given the number of reports… Regardless, Berthan went there as well and helped them find the most recent ones.

"It seems there are many reports about the attacks of monsters and bandits," Artemisia said.

"We suffered many losses during the previous invasion, my lady," Berthan said. "The guards are shorthanded, and that has been a problem for the last few years…"

"What about the cattle? We barely are selling any to other parts of the kingdom even though we have so much usable land," Artemisia said.

"When the cattle increase in number, it gets harder to protect them, and they become targets of monsters…" Berthan explained.

That continued for a while… All in all, the lack of manpower was the source of all problems. Berthan said that if they hid some mercenaries, that would help, but they would be using more money than producing it. Besides, few of them worked in that area due to the danger of invasion. They were used to fighting, but the risk of becoming a minion of Caelis was too much for them.

"Aion, the main problem here is security," Artemisia said. "I will read the last reports and then try to pinpoint where the monsters and bandits hide. You should check the villages in the meantime. After that, you should hunt them by yourself."

"As expected of mother, that will be fun," Aion said. "You are strong enough to deal with them, but bandits tend to use all sorts of poison, so don't drop your guard."

"I guess we need to make an example out of them," Aion rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Don't kill the bandits. Bring them and use them as a labor force; they need to pay for their crimes, and that will develop the territory," Artemisia said.

"Oh, I never expected for mom to be so wicked," Aion said.

"That is for the sake of the Future. Once we solve the problems here, you will have more time to find a girlfriend," Artemisia said.