Third person POV
[Back to the present]
Later, at 4:01 p.m., Lloyd woke up from his nap, feeling refreshed and renewed from it. Zeke was still working at his desk. Then, Zeke saw him waking up, and he interrupted his work. "Oh, master, good afternoon." Getting up and rolling his eyes, Lloyd turned to him while being a bit groggy. "Yeah, thanks, it's now afternoon?"
"Yes, it's now past 4."
Lloyd then looked at the grandfather clock next to the door, only to see that Zeke was correct. "Oh, that makes sense."
He then stood up and stretched a bit. "That sleep was good."
"It was," replied Zeke with agreement. "You slept good."
Lloyd then smiled at him. "Thanks a lot."
After that, Zeke stood up and left the desk so Lloyd would do the work. "So, where's my friends?" Lloyd asked.
"Oh, those humans from Langton?" answered Zeke as he fixed his outer clothing. "Laura said that they have been asleep at the living room since 9 this morning."
"Right…they didn't get any sleep last night, did they?"
"Yes, master, I saw it before the night of the raid."
"Is that so?"
"Yes, it seems that your former kingdom had camped east of the border of our country."
To that, Lloyd began to think about it.
He then began to ask one question, "Is that camp still there at that location east of the border?"
Hearing that, Zeke answered, "Not sure though, I'll send one of the dragon squads to scour that area."
Lloyd then looked at him. "Okay, that'll be good to make sure."
But before Zeke would leave the office, Lloyd asked him about the interrogations of their prisoners of war from Langton. In response to that, Zeke walked to the bookshelf, grabbed Xerxes' interrogation reports, and gave them to Lloyd. "The interrogation by Xerxes-kun is now done. Read these." Lloyd then grabbed it and read it, page by page every couple of seconds. 2 minutes later, he was particularly stressed out about Langton's motive for their raid on Bewote. With that, he dropped the papers on his desk and felt so stressed by their contents. "Man…these people are so greedy…"
"I know, master," Zeke replied back as he tried to calm his master down. "It seems that they wanted its resources, too. But luckily, the goods didn't get stolen by them."
Hearing that, Lloyd sighed in relief. "Thank goodness. Thanks for the report."
"No problem, Lloyd-sama."
"Okay, you may go now and do what you're supposed to do."
With that Zeke left the office to call one of his tribe's squads to do the job.
And that squad did so, flying east of the border towards Langton's territory to check for any remnant of its raiding camp.
While that happened, Camden and his friends woke up from their long sleep, feeling refreshed and energetic even though it was now the afternoon. "Man, that sleep felt good," Camden said as he stretched his arms a bit.
"Finally, we're good to go," Gaia added.
Their other two friends got up as well.
The four of them then stood up, and just in time, Hale, who came back from her border patrol duties, walked into the living room.
"Oh, hi guys," she greeted them nicely.
Her blue hair was long.
Camden and his friends then looked at her.
"Hale-chan…"
"Good afternoon!"
"Yup," Hale replied back brightly, "so, what you guys have been doing all day?"
"We slept here," Ivory replied as she grabbed her mage's staff.
"It's because we didn't get any sleep last night," Electra added.
"It's all thanks to our stupid former party leader!" Camden added while being irritated.
Hale then understood their reasons. "Oh, that's why…"
Laura was somewhere in the house cleaning at this time.
Then, Ivory looked at the grandfather clock and saw that it was now past 4 in the afternoon. "Wow, time does pass so quickly." Hale couldn't help that nod at her statement. And then, the four humans felt hungry since they slept without eating any lunch.
"Man, I'm hungry…" Camden said as he felt his stomach growl.
"It's been over 8 hours since we ate…" Gaia added.
"Don't worry," said Hale meekly, "we have leftover food from lunch time."
"Really?" Ivory asked while being a bit surprised.
"Yup, there's some roasted mutton and whole wheat bread there."
Because of that, the four humans from Langton walked up to the kitchen, only to see a woven food cover covering the leftovers. They had left their weapons, armor, and equipment behind in the living room. Camden then lifted it up, seeing the food Hale just mentioned moments ago. "Alright, let's eat!" exclaimed Electra. So, the four of them sat down and grabbed some food with their hands, before eating them. The food was good, even though it was from 4 hours ago.
Hale watches them from the living room with a smile.
A bit later, as Camden and his friends were now drinking water, Lloyd came downstairs. "Oh, master!" Hale said to him as soon as she saw him.
"Good afternoon, Hale-chan," greeted Lloyd back. "How's the borders?"
"It's fine. No threat so far."
"That's good to hear."
Lloyd then looked at his friends in the dining room.
"Hey, guys," he greeted with a smile.
Upon hearing that, his friends looked at him.
"Hey, Lloyd-kun!" Electra greeted back.
Lloyd then walked up to the dining room and grabbed an empty glass, before pouring some water into it.
"So, how's work?" Camden asked him.
Now taking a sip of his refreshing drink, Lloyd responded back, "It's fine, but I took a nap shortly after lunch."
"Oh, right…" Gaia replied back while realizing.
"You didn't get any sleep last night, right?" Ivory asked back.
Finishing his drink, Lloyd put down the glass. "Yup, and that raid happened exactly on my 16th birthday as well.
His friends then remembered his birthday being yesterday and felt a bit ashamed of their country's decision to choose that date for their night raid on Bewote.
"Yeah…sorry for ruining your birthday."
"Come on, guys, it wasn't your fault," Lloyd replied back, "they chose that day out of random, did they?"
"We think yeah," Electra responded back.
And then, Hale walked up to Lloyd and snuggled him a bit. "Aww, Lloyd-sama…"
While Lloyd was overwhelmed with shock, his female friends didn't like it because they loved him.
This adds Hale to their list of love rivals.
Camden was a bit distraught by this, knowing what would happen next.
Hale was then done snuggling on Lloyd and pulled back, before leaving the dining room.
Lloyd's female friends are still upset at her action on their friend, while Lloyd is a bit chagrined by his subordinate's action on him.