53 Shuna's Aunt

Going outside Arthas was surprised by what he saw. There were countless carts containing food and materials, there were wooden logs and stone that were hauled by Red Horses.

He looked around and saw the village slowly picking itself back up, the houses were now fixed and a wall was now under construction surrounding the village.

He saw kids running with Maria as they played with her. People were laughing and smiling.

It had a peaceful atmosphere that made him smile, he wondered how they were able to quickly clean the village despite it being so ruined.

"Arthas! Hello, how are you? Did you sleep well? How is your body?"

A grown man wearing a dirty shirt and holding a sizeable intimidating spear. Wearing boots dark hair, and his signature sheepskin cloak, it was Moltar.

'It seemed that he has embraced the culture of being the chief again, I'm glad that's off my back.'

"Moltar, nice to meet you. How is everyone doing? The village has been through some renovations, I'm impressed."

Moltar laughed and gave a wide smile. "It wouldn't have been possible without your help, the contract has been very helpful, although I feel bad about it. That reminds me, let's eat first, come come. Let's go to the Great Hall."

He gestured to Arthas as he invited him to eat breakfast with him.

"You guys have a Great Hall? I didn't know you had one"

"We didn't, I aspired to have a Great Hall inside the village but never got the chance, now that blessings have arrived. I have finally achieved my dream, please join us as we dine."

Arthas smiled at a happy Moltar and followed the guy as he led the men toward his dream building.

He saw Noward with Moltar happily chatting with the others he watched from afar as he looked around, the mood was joyful as was its festive atmosphere.

Soon they arrived at a large building. It was a big building with an attractive design, its architecture was that of a modern-classic building with a generic military atmosphere.

It was colored white, and the great pillars supporting the structure were tantamount to what they were carrying. Its roof was still not finished but the base structure of the building was completed.

To cover themselves from the heat, they temporarily placed a large cloth that was able to substitute itself as a roof.

Shuna came over to Arthas as he observed the structure.

"It's wonderful isn't it, even though it started a few days ago. It looked amazing, Come Arthas let's go inside."

Shuna went ahead, while he slowed down thinking that, 'No matter how effective the contract is, this type of structure being made is just inhumanly fast.'

They were guided to the table where there was a variety of dishes being presented, fish, meat, vegetables, and rice were presented beautifully.

The table they ate on was a roundtable, there were multiple roundtables where others ate their food. For Arthas, he sat next to Shuna and Moltar.

They talked about how they were and what happened in the kingdom while he was away.

It was announced that a truce between kingdoms was made, afterward Moltar met up with Francis to coordinate the contract.

The mayor, Mayward accepted the contract, on the condition that he would have a chance to dine with Arthas. Knowing this was off, there was no threat, and if it was he was ready to guard him.

Arthas was happy about his choice and proceeded to talk about other topics.

Such as how the city was after being attacked, it took days for the city to have a proper system once more, and it might take months for it to properly operate as a city.

Alicia and the soldiers have significantly helped the city which allowed it to at least have a livable area.

The ashes and the burned down buildings were scrapped and were made as charcoal instead, for cooking meals and fire.

Everything went well, the contract was being followed, though Arthas was suspicious as to why it was proceeding ever so smoothly.

"Arthas, you didn't have a plan when you charged inside the city correct? I wanna know what was going through your mind and why you look like a maniac as you did so, I'm not mad just curious."

Arthas stopped eating and thought about his question, It took him a while to properly articulate his answer but he got there.

"Let's start with the throw, It was used to attract attention even with the minority of individuals on the battlefield, The madness, I make it seem like I was planning to kill everything and recklessly strike fear in the hearts of everyone, including allies."

Arthas ate as he explained, chewing on his meat as he was about to continue he was asked by Moltar.

"Okay, but I didn't understand why you have to do that can't you just do things in a much mild way?" Moltar asked gently.

"Oh, I can but what's important is that I don't have to. In reality, I can play as the goody two-shoe hero, but that City Mayor of yours doesn't give a damn if you're a good person. It's better to set an example first to send a message not to be a pushover." Arthas continued to eat.

"So you meant to say that you produced a gruesome, revolting, and maniacally displayed ferocious scene just to intimidate the mayor?" Moltar placed down the spoon as he filled it with the soup.

"Uh-uh, and not just that it would allow me to proceed with the conditions smoothly. I was thinking that even if I do get the most with playing that role, having an infamous background would allow me to exercise more freedom, much more than what the other option can."

"What do you mean by that?" Moltar replied as he drank the hot soup.

"It means that I can do what I want because of people letting me get away from this, I saved their lives, and might even destroy some but I did it. Here's the next part, if I didn't show a dominant performance I might become their errand boy and I don't like that one bit."

Arthas stabbed the meat with his fork with force piercing it as he consumed it.

Moltar saw a lot of things wrong with his plan but it was convincing enough to make him think that being infamous might be better than being famous, in some regards.

"And…" Arthas wasn't finished, he placed his fork down and looked at Moltar. "If I didn't do that I wouldn't be able to properly make an organization to protect the children once they are returned to the village."

Moltar then realized that all the weird things that he asked for in the contract were all for them.

"So you're saying—'' Moltar was cut off mid-sentence.

"Yes, it's better to have an organization that would provide protection and support for them." Arthas finished his meal and focused on speaking.

"But we need money, and right now we are running low, and I kind of feel guilty asking from the city, especially from the case they are in right now"

'Idiot, you already asked too much from building this great hall', Arthas thought as he listened to him.

"We don't need to go to the city anymore, if we feed off of them a little too much they might resent us, and if we don't get anything from them they will get suspicious so it's fine to build this hall, we can use this in the future anyway. The Leviathan was unprecedented so I had no plans."

"I see?" Moltar thought about how interesting and how erratic Arthas's plan was and somehow saw that it was quite farfetched in some ways but it seems to be working.

"By the way, where's Alicia? She's a crucial step that I have to take to make this plan successful."

"Is she really important?"

"Of course, we have the reputation, the actions, now we just need to crash out the consequences in which we would need her backing, I heard she's part of a rich noble family, and gaining her approval and trust in the organization would not only advertise it but stabilize it as well."

"Well…Arthas, you see…"

Moltar took his time explaining the situation.

"WHAT THE ACTUAL F—CK? What do you mean she went home?? Why? What happened? Seriously now??"

His voice echoed in the hall as everyone looked at Arthas. His voice jolted everyone's reaction and shocked them with its intensity.

"Yes, Arthas. Alicia returned to Lunaria to join the Academy at her family's request. Francis just told me this, that she went home this morning."

Arthas flopped down on his seat and sighed with expiration and exaltment.

'Well, I'm gonna go to the Academy anyways, so this plan might take a change of course.'

"Change of plans then, I will be leaving soon anyway. Moltar, I want you to accompany me later to the city, I'll be moving things a bit faster. Shuna, since you might know the people here better, I want you to organize the people here based on their strength, speed, and intelligence."

Moltar silently nodded while Shuna was flustered and confused.

"What? Hey, wait, what do you mean by that? So I have to gather people and divide them into these categories?"

"Yes, you can ask for help from others but I want it to be done as soon as possible, I am not expecting now but really the sooner the better." Arthas stood up and fixed his clothes which smelled like flames.

"What do we do in the city of Arthas? I thought we won't be going back there anymore?" Moltar stood up alongside him and asked.

"You said the City Mayor wanted to have a meal with me right? Guess what I'm free for tonight."

**********

They both arrived in the city, multiple projects were happening. Scaffolding, upon scaffolding, can be seen as people focusing on maintaining and building structures.

The sunshine was blazing hot with a course of strong wind and clouds hovering over the city.

There was a long line that was for food, a man got near to Arthas and he took a peek at what they were given.

It was soup with rice and meat, although they were in dire situations it was still good considering their predicament.

They continued walking towards the center of the city. The once beautiful large castle-like structure is now tattered and debris with ashes around.

"Hey, chief. If the capital is destroyed, where are we supposed to meet the guy?" Arthas asked.

"I've already sent word to them, I don't know how fast they would react but it would take a while before they do."

Moltar replied as he covered his face from the sun as he was blinded by its radiance.

Arthas was looking around when someone approached them. It was an old lady with a chubby physique carrying a basket full of bread.

"Molt, is that you?" The lady asked in a soft voice.

"Molt? There's only one person that calls me that. Duddly? Duddly is that you?" Moltar was joyful as he replied.

"Ohohoho, certainly so. Old not yet cold still as good as gold, it's nice to see you again. I heard the village was attacked how are Shuna and the others?"

The kind lady rummaged through her basket and gave both of them bread, Arthas was hesitant but seeing Moltar accepted it, he accepted the kind gesture.

"Everyone is fine, thanks to Arthas and his summons. Ah, let me introduce her Arthas, this is Duddly, the aunt of Shuna. She's a baker inside this city."

She wore a bright gentle smile that made her look young despite her age.