The very next day William woke up, as usual, he freshened up a bit, got himself a change of clothes, and went to get his breakfast with his father.
After their usual small talk, he made his way to the training field and spent the rest of the morning torturing his body with the help of Oswin who William sometimes thought was more than happy to oblige.
After that, it was shower time, a nap, after which he went to have lunch with his father. At this point, this has become William's routine for the first half of the day, rarely will it ever get disrupted, unless if something like the hunting trip came up.
As he made his way to the dining room for lunch, William's heart was heavy and his expression a bit more serious than usual.
As soon as he sat down and was done with the greetings he asked his father.
"The bodies should have been back today right?"
At the mention of the bodies, lord Ulric sighed.
"Indeed, they have been brought back yesterday evening and buried in the castle cemetery."
He looked at his son for a while and continued.
"You don't have to do this if you are not up to it; I can always summon their families here and tell them myself."
"No need, I will do it. They died for me, it is my responsibility to tell their families, to look at their grief, I need to burn that image deep in my mind, to always remember that when one of our soldiers dies, it's a whole family that will suffer the consequences."
The marquess looked at his son in the eyes and felt a sense of pride as he thought.
"My child, may you never change this attitude of yours, may you always cherish those around you while facing your responsibilities head-on. May you grow to be a good man, with a good heart, one that strives for good but not naively so."
After a moment of silence that outstayed its welcome, the marquess finally broke the silence.
" What do you need, son?"
William thought about it for a bit before he answered.
"I just need some flowers to be prepared, their swords, and a guard to show me where their families live."
Lord Ulric simply nodded.
"All shall be waiting for you at the castle gates."
After William finished eating what little he could, he simply took his leave and headed towards the castle gates. once he reached it, there was a guard waiting for him with two swords held in his hands.
William greeted the guard before he asked him.
" Did you know them? were you close?"
"Yes my lord, we often sparred and drank with each other when we were off duty."
" I am sorry for your loss, Goerge and Sedric shall be missed." William consoled. Though he did not really know them he at least asked about their names.
" They had done nothing but their duty, as we have all sworn before."
William simply nodded as he took the 'guide' and went ahead to look for the usual five guards he always dragged with him on his city outings.
Once he did, they made their way to the upper-middle-class district.
Most of the lord's personal guards who also protected the castle were in fact nobility. the structure of the system of the nobility was composed of many ranks, going from Duke/Duchess at the top all the way to Baron/Baroness at the bottom, all possessing land according to their titles.
Yet there exist sometimes knights who are barons, that only possessed honorary titles with no territory bestowed upon them whatsoever.
Since these individuals were technically nobles yet had no attachment to a territory, they made for perfect personal guards to high-ranking nobles, as they could just live in the city and be available throughout the year for their duties as guards.
On top of that, since they had no external income from their territories, they had to rely on whichever lord they served for their livelihoods.
Landow was no different, in the sense that most of the castle guards were landless barons whose families lived with them inside of the city, usually in the upper-middle-class district with the wealthy merchants, but not in the nobles /'wealthy' district as they were not considered equals to the higher nobility.
So William and his group made their way to the middle-class district, as that was where the recently deceased guard's families lived.
Once they reached the district William allowed their "guide" to take the lead as they followed him to a house that was about 150 square meters in diameter and two-story high.
"This is George's house my lord, he lives with his wife and two children." The guard that showed them the place pointed out.
As they reached the entrance, William took a deep breath and knocked on the door. Shortly after, a woman that looked to be in her twenties opened it; she was holding a child that should not be older than five in her hand.
She was met by a young man, as well as six guards fully clad in their armor. This time William made no attempt to disguise himself.
Since her husband was one of the lord's personal guards, she immediately recognized them and asked.
"Is this about my husband?"
William tried his best to not make her nervous giving a weak smile.
"May we come in? I have something very important to discuss relating to Goerge with you."
Despite his "best" efforts, she still got nervous when her husband was mentioned.
" Yes, come in." she opened the door wider and let William in as well as the guards that were with him.
She led them inside to a room that had a large table and four chairs.
William asked her to sit down and did so himself opposite to her.
" May I know who you are? and what is all this about my husband?" she asked.
" My name... my name is William Black well, son of lord Ulric Blackwell." he had difficulty saying his name, as for the first time he felt a heavyweight push down on his shoulder.
" Forgive me, my lord, I had not recognized you." she quickly stood up and tried to bow to him, to which William stopped her and mentioned for her to sit down.
After a few moments of silence, he finally said it.
" I am sorry to inform you that Goerge has passed away."
As to be expected, that sentence felt like lightning striking her from the sky. To him, it seemed like she spaced out a bit, maybe unable to process the information.
"What?... how?.... when?... why?" she kept going on for a while, his face almost blank.
William sighed deeply as he explained. " It happed about a week ago during our hunting trip, a large beast was about to pounce on me, and he and another guard jumped in to protect me i....." he found it hard to continue.
By this point she was in a complete breakdown, crying unending tears as she kept mentioning his name over and over.
William had already told the guards as they entered to keep the kids "busy" to let the mother grieve alone as well as spare them the scene playing out in front of him.
He stood up, walked until he stood near her, and put his hand on her shoulder.
" I must say, I have never seen a man as brave as your husband was, what he had done I shall never forget. I owe my life to him, and now I do so to you."
He paused to collect his emotions before he continued with a voice so resolute, so serious he never imagined he was even capable of producing.
" Though it does not mean much nor will it bring him back. I promise... NO I swear upon my name that should you need, anything and I mean ANYTHING, I would put every effort, every resource, my very will as fuel to make it happen. All you need to do is asked, I OWE you now and by god, I will pay what I am due."
He put the sword and the flowers he had brought with him on the table. he leaned down to reached her same high level while she was setting and sobbing.
"Here." he gave her a small medal.
He slowly raised her head until their eyes met. tears still streaming down her cheeks.
" Your husband did his duty, now it is time to do ours. With this seal you may meet me or my father whenever you have trouble, your children shall be cared for as well as yourself."
William stayed with her for an hour more, trying to console her as much as he could before he moved on to the next family.
There, the situation was more or less the same, except Sedric only had one child. once more William stayed with them for some time, gave them the token the flowers as well as the sword before he left making sure to remember their expressions and emotions, burning them deep into his mind.
After he was done he went back to the castle, went straight to his room, and laid on his bed. Though it was still some time before nightfall, he was mentally exhausted.
He simply laid there until sleep overcame him and drifted into slumber.