The aftermath
The news about what has happened has reached the baroness Amanda through Knight captain. She was furious but also relieved. She found that Ash and the siblings were the ones who killed Orion who is a Rifted. Amanda knew about the existence of "The Rifted" as she had heard tales during her teens from her grandmother.
There are very few who know that the Rifted are real and are a blight. If the Rifts open again then another disaster may appear again. The baroness said "Bow down Knight Captain" standing before him.
Knight captain bowed down keeping his hand on his left chest. She took a sword and put it on his shoulder and said "Knight captain Morgan, due to your contributions in protecting the barony and resolving the recent crisis you will be promoted to the position of Knight Commander. Will you serve your lord and people loyally?"
"I swear I will" replied Amanda. "I hereby declare you the Knight commander of the Hammerwald Barony" said Amanda.
For nearly 2 years there was no Knight commander to the barony and 3 Knight captains except Morgan were vying for the position. The reason Morgan did not aim for that position is because he was only interested in protecting his lord and people rather than competitions between knights to get knight commander position.
"Now bring me those 3 unlawful miscreants" said Amanda with a cruel smile. The Knight Commander had to hold his laughter due to the comment.
Morgan bowed and went to bring Ash and the siblings to the baroness.
In Rose's room....
It has nearly been a day and Ash along with Quinn slept on two sofas while Rose slept on her bed. "Excuse me" said Knight Commander and came inside.
He was happy to see all of them sleeping peacefully but he had an order to fulfill. "My Lord, Please wake up. The baroness wants to see you all" said Morgan waking up Quinn.
"Oh Is it already time?" asked Quinn. Morgan nodded and Quinn woke up both Rose and Ash. Ash stood up and saw the change in armor of Morgan and said "Congratulations on your promotion".
"Thank you" said Morgan little confused. "What? Morgan is Knight commander now?" said Rose surprised. Even Quinn did not observe the change in armor and only observed it now. "What a perceptive and smart child" pondered Morgan.
"I need to take all three of you to the baroness as you guys hid important things from the baroness and went to fight Orion without my orders" said Morgan.
Ash nodded his head in defeat while both Quinn and Rose smiled seeing each other.
They were taken to the baroness's room and Knight commander was sent outside.
In the baroness's room...
"Do you know the consequences of the things you have done?" asked the baroness seriously.
Ash knew that it would turn out like this, so that is the reason why he did not want to involve Quinn and Rose.
Ash replied "Yes, but before we get punished we would like to present the complete truth about this incident that even Knight Captain Morgan didn't know".
Baroness furrowed her brows and said "Go on".
Ash told her about how the dukes and his father Earl is involved in supplying materials to Orion for experimentation. Ash also took out the contracts Orion had with Dukes and the Earl and presented it to the baroness.
"The duke houses of Wendell, Gorgon, Jordan and Cristo along with Randell Earl were supplying materials for monster army to be prepared to carry out a revolt against the king" said Ash.
Quinn continued saying "Grandmother you may think that this might have nothing to do with us but he was going to test the strength of the monsters by releasing them into barony and destroying the barony".
Rose also spoke up saying "Sure we may have acted recklessly but it was out of necessity to protect our people and my step grand mother".
The Baroness after hearing this and seeing the evidence in front of them could now understand the reason behind those actions but the punishment will be given. Though it won't be big as they have protected the Barony.
Amanda thought for sometime and said "Okay then I commend you for saving this Barony from a crisis, Quinn and Rose will be receiving an increase in their pocket money they are going to receive. As for you Ash, I don't know what you desire but you can ask me what you want".
Ash looked at the smiling siblings and returned his attention to Baroness and said "I do not need something right now but when I reach 16 years of age I want to join the Saffron Night academy, so I need money to cover academy cost and other expenses".
The baroness smiled and said "Okay I will take care of your academy fees and expenses when you join that academy. But you do know that Saffron Knight academy's curriculum is very tough".
"Yes, but I don't fear that in fact it is exciting" said Ash. "Very well, now the punishments for three of you will be given by me".
"Quinn and Rose will be grounded for 1 month and are not supposed to go anywhere. The only exception is they can go to Ash's house and come back before night.
As for Ash your punishment will be to handle the logistics department of the barony for 1 month without any freedom to go outside" said Amanda.
Ash felt it too reasonable but he needs to start building a sewage treatment plant for the barony so he said "Madam may I propose something?"
"Your punishment-" was about to say Amanda when "I know but what I am going to propose is for the benefit to the entire barony".
Luckily in this world there are toilets and the sewage is sent out through underground sewers but it is inefficient and most dangerous thing too. It may cause diseases and also monsters can mutate due to the sewage.
Baroness narrowed her eyes and said "Continue". "Thank you for your kindness" said Ash and took out a blueprint and put it in front of her.
Even Quinn and Ash were curious and came to see what he is presenting to baroness. "What is this?" asked baroness astonished by the drawing.
"This is called a sewage treatment plant" said Ash. Everyone were stunned on hearing the words of Ash.
"What? Sewage can be removed from the water" exclaimed Quinn and Rose simultaneously. "Yes and it is helpful for people all over the barony and it will be helpful in decreasing the death due to contaminants in water" said Ash.
Baroness nodded and said "So you want to construct this plant for people of the Barony in compensation for your recklessness?"
"Yes, if I handle logistics it will only be day to day thing. If I do the service to the Barony by contributing something then it would be my true compensation for my reckless actions" said Ash.
Quinn, Rose and Amanda found something new from Ash. But for a person like Ash this is nothing new as many countries on Earth allowed prisoners to do "Community Service" during the prison time.
The Baroness thought for a while and asked "What about the funds for this project?"
"I have already brought 50 million gold after relinquishing my rights as a heir for Earl's position. This project will require 30 million gold to be finished" said Ash presenting the breakdown of the project in the form of a modern business proposal. He explained everything step by step for the baroness to understand.
"Excellent Ash" said Baroness after hearing the explanation. "Thank you madam" said Ash.
"I agree to your proposal and I am signing an approval for the project. Take Quinn and Rose with you as they will be working with you as punishment" said Amanda.
Quinn and Rose were happy and thankful to Ash because it is a torture to be detained in estate for one month.
The 3 of them bowed their heads and went out. The knight commander Morgan came in and asked "Is it alright to leave them with that?"
Baroness replied "That kid Ash is not an ordinary child. He is a genius. He developed a new method to develop magic power which doesn't involve mana and helped my grandson and my step grand daughter.
He foiled a plan to destroy the barony and also came up with new project to clean sewage which many mages have tried over generations to accomplish. My grandson and step grand daughter should be with him because they can learn a lot and grow. I want to see all 3 of them accomplish new things on their own and become a guiding light of this era and next generation before I die due to my age".
"Understood" said Knight Commander. "But keep an eye on them as many enemies might try to harm them. if anyone tries to harm them, don't hesitate just kill them".
Morgan bowed and said "Yes my lord" and went out leaving Baroness to her work.