Farewell

Everyone stayed silent with that question. No matter how greedy they were, they did have some sort of guilt within their heart. What if that was their daughters, or their sisters, wives or even mothers. Amadeus stayed silent to let his previous words sink in as he dropped another question,

"How many boy's lives have been ruined?"

Unconsciously, many of the males there clenched their behinds as sweat dripped down their foreheads. Some shivered at the thought and crossed their legs. What's to say that there weren't any goblins with unique tastes. Naturally, Amadeus never meant it that way, unlike the stories from his previous world, there were both male and female goblins that existed here.

One of the minor officials came forward,

"Please guide us, your majesty."

If Amadeus brought it up, it was natural to think that he had come up with a solution.

"I won't say that we have to annihilate them, because that would frankly be impossible. However, we could whittle down their numbers."

The officials nodded but they wondered how it would be done.

"As for how, we would discuss it tomorrow, the royal court will continue tomorrow."

The officials were left surprised, but they didn't question Amadeus' motives as he left first. While the officials were leaving, a bat demi-human that looked similar to Henrik questioned,

"Father, why didn't the Emperor just tell us the solution?"

"I don't know. Maybe he wants us to think of one and it is a sort of test to see if we are useful or not, maybe there is another reason. Don't bog your mind with these thoughts, no one can predict what the emperor is thinking."

With that, he nodded to the other ministers and left the royal court. As for Amadeus, he was still wearing his crown emperor's overcoat as he gave a letter to Eras.

"See this letter delivered."

Eras bowed and immediately left while his group of maids came behind him. Amadeus' overcoat disappeared as he stretched slightly and walked towards the dining room. Before entering he turned back to the four maids and gave each of them a pouch,

"You four, take a break and visit the capital for some time off."

"But-"

"It's an order."

Leaving them no room to refuse, he saw them leave like little kittens abandoned by their mother. The smile never left Amadeus' face as he waved them goodbye as he knew that it was just an act for him to take back his orders. He then turned to Irene who just stood there and looked back at him. The two stayed like that as Amadeus gave out a despondent sigh,

"No wonder you haven't found a partner yet."

"Y-y-your highness why the sudden…"

Amadeus laughed as he grasped her shoulder,

"I'm rooting for you."

"W-what?"

Without paying attention to Irene's sudden collapse of character, Amadeus walked through the doors for the dining room,

"Maybe it was father's lack of education…"

Irene just watched her new master leave her confused as the door closed. She couldn't enter as only members of the royal family could and just stood there. Slowly coming back to her calm self, she sighed and straightened herself but behind the mask a small blush was left, not out of affection but embarrassment.

Walking through the door he saw his mother making the table while Baldrik was on the edge reading a newspaper.

"You haven't returned to the clan yet?"

Baldrik didn't turn his head as he answered,

"It said that I have to return, it didn't say when I had to."

Amadeus just shrugged at this and sat down in his spot.

'It seems father has forgotten about grandmother.'

As the food was put down, Lily also sat down and the three waited.

"It seems that Arius isn't coming again today."

With Amadeus' words his parents gave out a sigh.

"We can't control his actions; he will come once he's hungry."

Baldrik started eating as the two followed. Amadeus saw the look in his mother's eyes and returned to eating.

- Unknown Location -

Within a dark room, a voice was heard,

"If I do have to say, I am quite proud of myself. I haven't walked into anything today."

"Yeah, we got tired of your idiocy, so we cleared out the whole room."

"Oh."

The voice's previous excitement died down as silence ensued. This went on for quite a while until the female voice suddenly shouted.

"Will you shut up!"

"But I didn't say anything."

"Its your breathing. Are you an animal, breathing from your mouth? Breath from your nose."

"But-"

"Huh?!"

To the female's anger, the first voice shut his mouth and started breathing from his nose but realised that his nose was blocked.

'Aw crap'

With only one partially blocked nose, the sound of his breathing was even louder as the female voice lost it.

"Like I said-"

"Shut up you two!"

The voice filled with authority returned shutting the two up. Silence returned as the third voice continued,

"Now, as the crown price has now become the emperor, it will be harder to get to him so focus your attention on the second prince."

"Yes!"

The first voice then hesitantly spoke,

"What happened to taking care of him before?"

"I have got plans."

"Y-yes!"

How can the leader say that he had forgotten. Anyway, with the leader leaving the two also tried to leave.

* Thump *

This time the first voice was heard,

"Tsss, haaaa, tssss, haaaaaa."

"What now?"

"Wall."

"Can't you just leave like a normal person?"

"Well a normal person would have lights. So which way was the exit?"

"That way."

"huh, which way?"

Hearing no reply, the figure put his hands up and tried to leave that way. He felt like he grabbed a string and gave it a strong tug,

'Maybe this is the light?'

Happy with himself, the light didn't turn on but rather,

* Slap *

"Damn Idiot, nearly undressed me."

The females' voice was heard as her hurried footsteps left the place. As for the first voice, a groan was heard from him a couple minutes later as his body was dragged outside.

- Emerald Place -

Amadeus was lying down looking at the stars in the palace garden when the four maids returned from their endeavours. From the smiles in their face, one could tell that they had enjoyed the little break they had.

"Had fun?"

Amadeus' voice jolted the four as they jumped back and turned towards Amadeus' voice.

Eriko was the first to return to composure due to being the most experienced.

"Your highness."

The others followed suit as they all bowed.

"Relax, it's just the five of us."

The four visibly relaxed as they sat near Amadeus. They all looked up to see what Amadeus was looking at only to see the boundless stars littering the sky. There was a moment of peace while Amadeus broke it,

"So, Eriko, you found anyone then?"

Eriko had a blush creep up as Irene stumbled on her spot but quickly returned to her stance, vigilantly looking around. Giving out a slight giggle, Eriko let the blush recede from her face and moved to give him a lap pillow and started massaging Amadeus' head.

"His highness knows full well that there is only one being in my heart."

A smile crept onto Amadeus face as Velia suddenly spoke up,

"Me too."

Emily gave a nod,

"Mm."

Ariadne gave out a giggle at the actions of the other two.

"So, Ariadne, how goes your training."

"A bit of my vision has come back and I can now see colours, but everything is still a heavy blur."

"What about you two?"

Velia went first,

"Well, I've had a lot of tasty food and have made all sorts of friends, but Eriko, Emily and Ariadne are my best friends…"

A smile surfaced on the rest as the Tengu childishly spoke. Although she looked around their age, she was still the youngest. Velia went on for quite some time until she felt tired of speaking. Emily just said,

"The blood is delicious."

Amadeus nodded and was relieved seeing that Emily wasn't much of a talker. In the group of four, Eriko was the second eldest and was more of a teacher figure to the three. Ariadne was right after her in age but was the elder sister figure to the two. Emily was the eldest but didn't speak much and only kept to herself, only opening to the four surrounding her.

As for Velia, being the youngest and the most hyper individual she was the group's sun, always being a smile to them. However, the four were extremely meticulous in their jobs and did everything to perfection.

Amadeus suddenly felt someone entering the nearby area as he turned his head to look. Looking at the intruder, Amadeus questioned,

"It seems Grandmother is here to pick you up."

Baldrik nodded as he held a bruise on his head.

"Well, all I've come to say is…"

The two looked at each other as many emotions flashed through their eyes. It was hard for the two father and to speak out their emotions willingly because if Baldrik gave out favouritism to his son then who knows what would have happened. Looking at his son, Baldrik felt pride fill his heart as Amadeus had taken over all his work properly and at such a young age. Being in that position, he knew how hard the responsibility was and the mental strain it had, but seeing Amadeus take it all without so much of a complain, he felt relieved. If worst comes to worse, he would just take over and take that burden off his shoulders. Giving a smile, Baldrik just said,

"…take care of your health."

Amadeus nodded as he got up and walked towards Baldrik. Baldrik ruffled his son's hair as Lily came from behind and bent down. Bringing him into a hug, Lily held back her tears. It was also time for her to go.

Leaning back a bit, Lily held his head a gave a kiss to his forehead.

"Take care of yourself…"

Lily went on to give out a list of dos and don'ts and all Amadeus said was,

"Yes, mum."

With a helpless smile. Baldrik also had the same smile as he watched his wife go on and on. The four maids had left the scene when they saw the previous Emperor and Empress.