It is not easy to be a count

Mortis took Helga in his arms and noticed how she calmed down. With the calm, her eyes fell closed and she fell asleep. He picked her up and laid her on the bed before going to the window and looking out. "This is my kingdom as well. It will be hard for me to reconcile everything, but luckily there is Jochen and my wives. However, I need more allies if I really want to succeed in building a country where many live happily. Yes, this is truly a land of beginnings, and it's time I start rising above and doing more for myself and everyone I care about," Mortis thought to himself, pondering how he could accomplish this so as to never again see a city like this trial.

After some time, there was a knock and his two wives came into the room with the girls. Mortis did not notice it immediately, for he was lost in thought. Even though he would normally be ashamed to cry like a child, he felt relieved of a burden he had carried with him for years since his old life.

A small hand tugged at his shirt, and Mortis turned around. He saw Zara, who grinned kindly at him and said, "Look, Uncle, Auntie gave me and Nora some nice clothes and something to drink, too, and now I feel much better." Mortis bent down and said, "You and Nora look adorable. Besides, I'm Mortis' little girl." Zara looked at him with wide eyes, nodded and said, "Thank you, Uncle Mortis."

Lumina wondered a little. Mortis seemed composed and very calm. His gaze had no sharpness in it right now, he seemed very relaxed. This made her curious, so she asked him right away if anything interesting had happened and why he was looking out the window so thoughtfully.

Mortis smiled at her and said, "I've been thinking about how to rule. Everyone wants it, but I have to say it's really hard work. Every decision I make can have severe consequences, and even the barons who could do what they wanted must learn to serve one again. There's a lot coming up, but I'm going to create a great country. But planning now won't do any good if I don't have enough info to understand how everything works. So it's time to go to Bamberg so Helga can rest and you can meet the others. Then I almost have to go too, after all, there's still a battlefield waiting for me."

Jochen knocked on the door at that moment and went straight to Mortis. As he did so, he wondered where the two children were coming from, but he ignored them for now. Then he whispered in Mortis' ear, "Boy, we don't have a wet nurse yet. We need milk for the children. That's important, but I don't want to ask more of Helga than is necessary."

Mortis raised an eyebrow and said, "Fine, we'll milk her and give you the milk in a bowl. She'll have to keep giving milk for the next few months anyway. Maybe you should send a servant with a ring room to pick up the milk. And remember, Fiora gave birth to the children, and Helga supposedly lost hers."

Jochen nodded in agreement and said, "I also have a portal to your castle downstairs. After all, you're supposed to be the count, so you should have portals to every baron. But knowing you, you haven't even explored your own castle properly except for what we've shown you. So are you going to send a servant through the portal every day?"

Mortis agreed, saying that it was perfect, so he could soon leave with his wives and the girls. Jürgen walked out of the room, and Mortis looked sheepishly at Lumina, but she immediately turned away. She could hear everything, as could everyone else, because they didn't really know a whisper. "You're just supposed to hold the bowl," Mortis said with a wry grin.After Mortis had taken some milk from Helga, which was not difficult since her clothes were already soaked anyway, he handed the breast milk to a servant. He then picked up Helga and went with her and the girls to the cellar, where Jürgen was waiting to show them the portal.

As Mortis stepped through the portal with the women, a soldier suddenly stood before them. Mortis realized that he still had a lot to learn about his kingdom and especially his city, if there was even a soldier in his castle cellar that he knew nothing about.

The soldier immediately recognized his master and led Mortis upstairs. On the way, servants came running to take care of Helga. They brought towels and water to the room where Mortis laid her down. Mortis then set out to find Marina, Leonie and Kathrin. Marina and Leonie were working in a large room filled with documents and paper. They did the tasks that were usually Mortis', but they didn't complain. On the contrary, they found it exciting and it made them proud that Mortis entrusted them with these tasks. There were many who would have preferred to choose another baron or servant for this.

When they saw Mortis, the women were happy to see him, as they had not expected him at all. After a short greeting, Mortis asked them to go to the dining room as he had something to tell them. He also asked where Kathrin was and Marina replied that she was with her sister.

A servant was sent to fetch Kathrin. At that moment, Mortis remembered that he had forgotten about Jasmine. He asked if she was still in Bamberg or had gone back to Bayreuth. Marina explained that Jasmin had gone to Bayreuth for another two months until the city was further developed. Then she would come to Bamberg with her family.

Mortis could understand that and realized that he could not do everything by himself. It would be enough for today to introduce all the women to each other, assign them their rooms and check the situation.

In the dining room, Leonie, Marina and the arrived Kathrin met Valeria and Lumina. The shock effect that the two new women had on the other three women was enormous. Although they all came from good homes or were successful adventurers, they almost got a feeling of inferiority because the two new women were in a completely different league when it came to physical appearance.

After his wives got over the shock, they all slowly approached each other, with Valeria having the most problems. Lumina, on the other hand, was open, taking the three women in her arms and starting to talk to them as if they had been best friends since childhood. The liveliness of Lumina spilled over to the others and quickly they agreed that it was all Mortis' fault, because he is simply a wolf who goes on behind such beautiful women without stopping.

When Mortis realized that the women's conversation was going in a direction he didn't like at all, he brought the two girls into the dining room with him. This caused confusion at first, but the girls clung to Valeria and Lumina as if these women were the holy patron saints.Marina and Leonie nervously asked, "Are these your sisters you brought here?" Lumina and Valeria shook their heads and Lumina explained to them how Mortis disappeared from their sight and reappeared two minutes later with these children in her arms. Now everyone's curiosity was piqued, they took the children and asked them out right away. A huge chatter went off, which became too much for Mortis, so he very slowly and stealthily disappeared from the room and made his way to Daniel to discuss something with him. As he did so, he looked around at how everything was progressing, and he was surprised at the pace at which everyone was stepping on the gas.

Pleased with his people and his soldiers, he looked around and committed some conversation, giving a lot of praise to keep them motivated. Mortis also asked what happened to the village he had sent here, and he was told by a knight that they had dispersed the inhabitants to other villages where there was space or where more fields could be tilled. Mortis was very pleased with how his people had handled it, and now he almost felt guilty for not offering them anything. But then he remembered that Tenebris was supposed to have sent potions, so he was off the hook as far as that was concerned.

At the church, Mortis first gave the women in the kitchen wild animals that he had killed on the way, so that the women and children who were staying here would not go hungry. Then Mortis went to Daniel's study, but found only Sophia, who had her baby in her arms.

"Sophia, what am I looking at? Is that yours?" asked Mortis, as if he didn't realize it.

"Yes, look, this is my Simon. Come closer and look at him," Sophia said proudly.

Mortis approached and saw a beautiful, healthy baby who was sleeping. Mortis congratulated Sophia on her offspring and wondered where Daniel was.

"Daniel is on his way to other areas. Since you and the others have cleared so many areas, Mortis must now visit every temple where there is a statue of your goddess," Sophia explained.

"I understand," Mortis replied, leaving the happy mother alone again.

Back at the castle, his wives were waiting for an explanation of where he was, because just running off was something his first wives, at least, had had enough of. Mortis didn't know what was going on, but one thing he felt and that was the thick air that slowly took his breath away as his wives glared at him.