The Demon King's Hero Of Light 66 Chapter 66 Poor Scribe Girl

"How is everything going, Seifer?" she asked, sitting on the throne.

"Everyone has successfully been moved into the warehouse district, Your Majesty," he said, bowing to her.

He must be doing well in his studies with the tutors. She turned to Frederick who was watching her carefully.

"I may need to travel south at some point, to deal with business that has been brought to my attention. When I do, I will have you travel with me," Aella said.

"I thought you wouldn't take me, because you couldn't teleport with me?" he asked, confused but delighted at the same time.

"I may not be able to teleport with you, but your ability to fly may come in handy in the mountains."

She wanted him to know she couldn't teleport fast enough to use in a fight, but didn't want any of the Advisors to overhear and relay that information to the Church. Her enemies already had an advantage over her. As he bowed to her as well, she turned to the Advisors.

"Varnin, have you heard from the general in the north?"

"He reported today that the northern mountains have been secured against future monster attacks, but didn't give any specifics. He requested permission to remain in the north, to ensure it wasn't a false period of calm. I told him he could remain until I had a chance to speak with you. I fear that the troops up there will run out of food, if we leave them. Perhaps we should have them start moving south, to secure the fields as the harvest continues?"

"Any word from Cyran or Kieran? They were sent up there a week ago. They should have reached there by now."

"No, I am sorry Your Majesty. Shall I send runners along their path? They may have been delayed fighting monsters," said Varnin, looking concerned, which interested Aella.

"You are right. If they were delayed by monsters, it might take them another day. If you haven't heard anything from them by tomorrow, you can send runners. How are the repairs on the sewers going?"

Xathtak coughed before saying, "Some of the repairs needed are quite extensive, and some buildings have been destroyed when they collapsed. I think it may be spring before that entire section of the city will be available again. Having people in one area has been tremendously easier in keeping the sanitation contained. I have had a surplus of workers each day, volunteering to help clean up. My first concern was that they sought a way to steal and pillage, but it appears that the amount of crime has decreased immensely."

"What of the guards who have been imprisoned in the little cages?"

"Their families have stepped up to make them comfortable. One of them even has blankets and such for comfort," said Ernun.

"Have him whipped, everything taken from him, and any family that comes to visit him fined 5 silver each. If they can't afford the fines, they are welcome to join him on their own cages. This is a punishment, not an opportunity to laugh at me. If any others are treated as such by their families, see to it they receive the same punishments. How's the food situation?"

"We have families that have started coming into the city, starving and devoid of any belongings. Their homes and everything they owned was burned by the humans. I have started putting them up in a small section of the city, nearest to the warehouses, so as to keep the sanitation easy, but I'm not sure what to do about providing for them. You had said to house them in the palace, but I wasn't sure where," said Jirga.

"Alright, then let's go looking," said Aella, jumping up from her chair and heading for the door.

Everyone scrambled to follow her, still trying to catch up as she threw open the doors and stepped into the hall. She had already explored enough to have a good idea of where she wanted to start putting people, so it didn't take long to start pointing out whole wings of rooms, long emptied of anything but dust.

"Gather things from the town, such as from those n.o.ble slaves, and purchase whatever else we may need from the people. I have the coin now to do so. Put one family in each room, and make sure they understand they don't have free reign to wander my palace. a.s.sign someone to show them where the bathroom is, so they can bathe and relieve themselves, and make sure food is taken to them three times a day. If they have a skill that is useful, they can start paying back their debt to the crown by working. Each day a family stays in the palace will cost them one copper coin. If more than one person, per family works, then that shouldn't be a problem. The sooner they can move back to the section of the city that you have set aside for them, the better."

The scribe girl was frantically scribbling her directions down, as Aella continued.

"I fully expect more people to show up the longer this drought and famine continue. I'm working on trying to figure things out with the Heroes, but it's taking longer than I expected."

They returned to the throne room, where she sat through a 30-minute discussion between the Advisors about the various disputes between the n.o.bles. The townspeople seemed to be handling the new situation just fine, but the n.o.bles kept coming up with excuses for idiotic things, and requesting things they had already been told no on.

"Enough. I may start bringing humans as political prisoners over the next couple of weeks, depending on certain situations. The wing near my old bedroom will be reserved for them, and there will be servants required to feed them, when I bring them. I will notify you of their presence, so you can plan accordingly."

"Do you know when you might start bringing humans?" asked Rannaun, looking slightly disgusted at the thought.

"No. Did you not just hear me say I would tell you about them?" she glared at him, feeling too tired to put up with any more c.r.a.p. "I'm going. I shall be back tomorrow."

Grabbing a platter of food from the dining hall, she teleported back to the others.

"Oh! I am so glad you brought something to eat! I'm starving!" exclaimed Curt, grabbing a turkey leg off the platter and taking a big bite.

"You're dribbling," said Josephine, taking a handful of grapes and a hunk of ham.

Alfred shook his head as he took some food as well, sitting back against a tree to eat it.

"How much longer before we reach these training grounds?" asked Aella, picking up a leg of rabbit.

"Only a few days. If we didn't need to worry about being seen we could get there tomorrow, but word has spread by now to keep an eye out for us, if for no other reason than we haven't killed the king yet. So, we'll have to take a longer route to get there," explained Alfred.

"What should I be expecting to see at these training grounds?"
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"Well, they're where the Church sends the first age group of hero-possibles. When they reach around the age of 10, they are either released to the army, if the chance of them actually becoming the hero is too low, or they are moved to a different training facility based on their expertise. This is where the actual heroes are as well, unless they are out killing the Demon King, or fighting off monsters for the church," explained Josephine.

"How hard will it be to find the guy we're after?" asked Aella, taking a drink from the wine bottle she had grabbed, and handing it over to Alfred to pa.s.s around.

"Father Steven is well protected, in his own tower, but mostly near the bottom. With your teleport, and my speed, we should be able to get to the top of the tower and bypa.s.s all of the guards. We'll take Josephine with us, and leave Curt to watch over the horses. The man is very influential in the Church. We will probably need to kill him, after we are done with him, or he will have every troop the church has, after us," said Alfred.

"Or, I can imprison him in my dungeon?" offered Aella.

"No, the man's evil enough, we should just kill him," said Curt with a shake of his head. "He also has a strong desire for young boys. That alone is one of the main reasons I have such a problem with the church. Though, rumor has it, that's the reason he can't work his way up higher in the leaders.h.i.+p."

"I've heard the same rumor, but I didn't want to believe it," murmured Josephine.

"At least it means that your daughter wasn't harmed by him," said Alfred softly.

"I'm not thinking I will be able to sleep much tonight. I'm too worried about her," she said, glancing at them.

"We need a few hours of sleep at least, then we can be on our way again. It will probably be easier to evade the guards traveling at night, anyways," said Alfred.