Nearly a dozen hours had passed since Esmond had asked Julius and Angela if they would stand beside him while he made the Trika Empire and the Church pay for the crimes.
At the time, Julius couldn't answer Esmond, torn by his allegiance to the Empire and his family or to stand on a stranger's side.
He thought it was an obvious decision, but before he answered Esmond, Angela got up from the bed and was about to kneel for Esmond.
Though she was stopped by an invisible force sent out by Esmond who didn't wish for such an action.
It was something in the depths of his heart and soul that was repulsed by people kneeling.
As such Angela placed her hand on her chest and bowed before saying, "We stand with you, Your Majesty, Zars…"
"Ohh right, I should make things clear, my name isnt Zars…"
Esmond casually conversed with Angela, explaining his reasoning for the name 'Zars' and his real name.
Julius was watching from the side couldn't believe what he saw, second after second.
From the moment his heart skipped a beat when his wife went to kneel, to the casual behaviour of Esmond, it all went everything he'd been taught and showed his whole life as a noble.
Even his wife was of noble birth and there was no doubt in Julius mind she wasn't just as gobsmacked by the whole situation but every time he looked in her direction Angela seemed much more composed with the series of events.
Eventually the two went for a walk while Esmond continued on doing as he pleased with upgrading the Lords Estate.
.
"My love, why would you dare go against the Empire and Church?"
"Julius… *sigh* it took a stranger… a complete fucking random to heal me of my pains… something the accursed Church wouldn't do!!"
Angela gave up her noble appearance and let out her real personality for once that'd held back all the emotion and pain she'd been experiencing ever since being forced out of their home and dukedom.
Even before that, things weren't looking good with many eyes always in their direction.
Out of all those who 'swore' they would help and be by their side, a stranger was willing to help who had power and strength.
Most of all he'd saved her and her precious family.
.
"*Sigh* Look he seemed powerful, I admit that but honestly, do you think he could go up against the Empire and the Church who have magical squadrons and legions who could wipe us all out!"
Just as Julius gave his opinion, Frigus waddled over in their direction, having jumped off Esmonds shoulder and decided to take a stroll since he was barred from flying for now.
Angela looked composed; however, she was screaming internally, similarly to Julius, who was close to pissing his pants.
Praise the Gods, Julius heard Esmonds voice, calling the dragon back, "Hey! Frigus! You're going to scare the shit out of them, get back here!"
Esmonds words couldn't be closer to the truth, with Julius struggling to keep control over his bowels.
.
Once Frigus had returned to Esmonds shoulder, deciding to nap until he was needed, Julius immediately sided with Esmond, completely agreeing with his wifes decision.
She was a little surprised at his flipped opinion on the matter, but she realised quickly that it had something to do with the Ice Dragon, which made her feel great for her choice.
From that point on, well… after Julius had cleaned up, he started using his administrative powers to employ the Sicarius Clan as guards and law enforcement for the town.
He'd also given the Clan some extra abilities and control which he could give them for now and quickly put up the notices around the town.
It was part of the administration job to inform the people who could then vote for or against the decision if they felt it wouldn't be helpful for them.
Because Julius was the Baron that wasn't in favour with the Church or Empire and with little authority, nobody ever paid attention to his notices.
On that basis Julius knew there would be no one who would come and oppose the decisions he'd made, especially within the 12-hour window.
.
As the note reached Esmond with his clan receiving quite the authority within the town, he had the droids training among themselves within the A.I World while waiting for a few more hours before they could head out into the town.
The Sicarius Clan symbol, which was etched into the armour Medieval-CE-01, resembling the Assassins emblem flipped coloured gold, with a black background, all covered by an Icy blue Dragon with its wings spread out.
Esmond handed his rough ideas on the design to Rosie who had some… creative thoughts…
"What kind of trash bag thought this was 'pretty' or presentable in any fashion!" Rosie screamed in Esmonds face who could only smile back sheepishly and say, "me…" before the door to her room was slammed in his face.
Feeling discouraged and a little hurt, Esmond sulked about the cabin at the time until she was begrudgingly improved upon Esmonds horrible design work.
In fact, Esmond could have done the work himself, but he enjoyed Rosies artistry, even going as far to possibly auction some of it so she could garner some fame.
It would be important when the Island nation of his would reveal itself to the world, but Rosie wasn't comfortable just yet, so he didn't push it further other than asking for personal work every so often.
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Esmond was currently underground within his underground base below the Lords Estate.
On the monitors in front of Esmonds eyes were satellite images of the town and surrounding areas.
Before Esmond threw the small rockets loaded with satellites into the air, he wondered if the Hunting Grounds had generated more land and space than just the town, leaving the rest to be filled in with time.
Fortunately, Esmonds mapping of Stovi continued to increase with every satellite in orbit, but going beyond that, Esmond found the world had some limits in place which wouldn't let him look out into the stars.
It didn't trouble him since he had no plans to go into Stovis outer space, so he was rather pleased his focus within Stovi could be left to trouble on the planet…
For now, anyway…
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Looking at the monitors, Esmond saw the layout of the city which Archie had designed and uploaded which saw the wonky circular border wall around the town to be removed and rebuilt.
However, it would be drawn further out and shaped much better while reenforcing it with cannons and modern weaponry.
Scout towers and other surveillance measures would be set up, but according to Archies plans, another wall a further 5 kms out before encircling the town again with the same upgrades as the first wall.
Two rivers would run through the outer walls, coming from the mountains further up near the wall that bordered the dangerous forest Esmond spawned in, which would also be receiving a massive upgrade.
With the mountains Esmond thought about using the Ark Points to help him create large wells within the mountain which would flow out like a spring, though monitored and controlled, down a river stream made by the drones.
Eventually it would connect with a river further away from the town and down steam, where a dried riverbed could be found which stretched down to the Capital of the Empire from satellite images.
Esmond planned to eventually use that same river for his invasion into the Capital later, but for now it would be great lifeline to the people living along the river.
Of course, he first had to remove the Bishop of the Church and the Emperors men, and peacefully.
Fortunately, Esmond knew the Guild would be able to help indirectly, so he'd left for the Adventurer Guild as the sun was beginning to settle, which also meant his drones would soon start work on the Clans site.
Once he entered the Guild, he noticed it was beginning to get noisy as more and more adventurers returned to the city.
Seeing Lela free at the counter, Esmond went straight over to her.
"Hi Lela."
"Hey Mister Zars!!
How can I help you today?" her bright and cheerful attitude was infectious, bringing a smile to Esmond face.
"Is it ok if I can connect with the Guild network?" Levas and Julius had told Esmond about the continent-wide system which gave access to Adventurers to purchase and sell their goods across the land.
Though it still required them to transport the materials in carriages and so on, there was a way to pay extra for delivery through the network though it was quite costly.
Using a similar crystal ball to the one that register Esmond earlier, by placing his hand on the crystal, it was like a hologram screen popping up which showed the various categories of what was on offer.
Esmond selected the magic tab and started looking at the countless books, skills, and abilities on offer.
From what he could see, nothing caught his attention since everything he could afford was level 1.
.
Checking the number of gold coins he had from the sale of beasts earlier, Esmond had roughly 100 or so coins with him and based on the costs, he could purchase the Basic Heal, Fireball and Water ball.
Each costed roughly 33 coins, with Esmond leaving the Guild with only 1 gold coin left.
Lela brought out the single pages of paper, totalling three, handing them over to Esmond who stored them immediately within his Inventory.
He planned to check the pages later, currently focused on returning back to the Lords Estate, but as Esmond stepped out of the Guild, he saw some armed knights in his way.
Examining their armour, Esmond noticed they were members of the Alnwick noble family who served the Trika Empire and rivals of the Mercer family.
Knowing full well, not a single one of the knights could stop him, Esmond continued walking, much to the confusion of the knights who looked at Esmond like he was some fool.
Only when they tried to stop Esmond, he slipped through a small gap created by the knights stepping forward to deal with Esmond.
They were utterly shocked, as was the nobleman currently sitting in his carriage with a scornful eye in Esmond direction.
The bulky nobleman, who tried to cover his body weight behind the exotic clothing as he stepped down from the carriage.
"You there!
Stop!
In the name of the Emperor of the Trika Empire, you must stop!"
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Seeing Esmond stop walking away, the Alnwick nobleman have a sly grin across his face, thinking of himself as untouchable since he was sent here on the Emperors orders.
Even the knights that accompanied him, beside the Alnwick family knights was also provided with some Royal guards for his own protection.
Seeing the bulky, overweight noble throw around the Emperors name like it was nothing, really began to irk them since he trash bag of a noble would use it to get anything he desired.
When they saw Esmond had stopped, they thought he was another fool who would be taken advantage of by the noble, but they weren't expecting what Esmond said next.
"… Your Emperor is no Lord of mine…" with that Esmond continued walking, infuriating the nobleman and his knights.
Only the Royal Knights were trying to keep their laughter in, beside their commander, who all felt the Adventurer might have been disrespectful, but it was for the best.
Their commander on the other hand started moving in Esmonds direction, commanding the Royal Knights to follow.
Very quickly they were all surrounding Esmond who continued to walk until he noticed the knights bring forth their shields to stop him from slipping through.
.
Esmond looked around at the knights with a look of pity for them, knowing full well they would fall to his blade.
"I suggest you back off and get out of my way…" Esmond said, though his words weren't heard by anyone beside the Royal kngihts closest to him, only for his voice to be drowned out by the commander.
"For disregarding the Emperors call, even if his authority lies with another, you must be punished!" the commander of the Royal Knights, with his armour flushed with gold and jewels, looking in Esmonds direction as he spoke.
The plum nobleman of the Alnwick family continued to watch everything go down with his smile growing by the second.
Not waiting for Esmonds reply or anything of the sort, the nobleman spoke loud enough for his knights and those in his control to hear as well as the citizens of the town.
"Make him pay for ignoring the Emperors call!!" he shouted, with his knights moving forward to attack Esmond.
.
He, on the other hand, just looked up at the plum noble with a wicked smile across his face, alarming the Alnwick nobleman that he might have fallen instead into the stranger's trap.
Before he could tell his men to escape, he looked up, further away from the encirclement around Esmond and noticed platinum steel with the emblem of the Sicarius Clan.
It was the emblem he'd been shown by his spies who would be taking over security and law enforcement within the town.
Determined to have them under his control, the Alnwick nobleman decided to find the one who registered the clan, therefore racing over to the Guild with his forces to capture Esmond.
But seeing the shinning steel further down the stretch of road down the main street of the town, the plum nobleman was beginning to feel uncomfortable.
"QUICKLY CAPTURE HIM ALREADY!!!" he screamed at his knights and the Royal knights, who were carefully assessing Esmond, but seeing their commander charge ahead, they all did the same.
'*Sigh*Esy… show them what it means… to fight against the Aeternus Swordsmanship…'
"Hehe… My pleasure…."