Setting Off

William and Edmund spent the rest of the day experimenting with soap making, as well as planning for the amount of manpower they would need and how to divide it so that each group can focus on only one task and so on.

They even spoke about hiring a few guards, making sure to rotate them night and day so that nothing can be stolen or sabotaged, either by the staff or someone from the outside.

William also instructed Edmund to find someone trustworthy to be responsible for the final mixing of the ingredients as that would be the most likely way for the recipe to leak into the public.

After covering as many things as they could in their plan, William passed Edmund twenty gold coins as funds, which left him with barely any wealth anymore.

After that, they parted ways as William headed back to the castle.

As usual, he met his father at supper time, being one of the few occasions that would bring the father and son duo together.

After the usual greetings, Lord Ulric opened the conversation by stating.

"I have done as you have suggested and planned for a few repair projects for our city wall."

" I am glad you did father, this should buy us more than enough time to deal with the bandit problem" William responded with a smile though he thought internally.

'I guess a military man would always think like a soldier, why spend so much on the walls? You should have gone for roads and ports, the economy first, the military second, always.'

" Any more news about my brother and his situation?"

The marquess sighed at the question some visible disappointment visible on his face. "The situation is still the same, there has been a small raid on a merchant transport yesterday, thankfully casualties were minimal." Lord Ulric paused to sigh once more.

"I can understand that Marek could not completely take care of the problem at hand, these bandits are troublesome and tricky. But for him to not even be able to catch a single one of their members nor gain any reliable intel about their location is..... just disappointing."

The marquess clenched his fists hard, frustrated at his son's lack of competence.

"Just look at the positive side father, this could have been way worst if you had sent him to war, instead it was just bandits he has to deal with. Now you know that he lacks leadership skills and needs to be educated more on them. Failure is not a problem, as long as he recognizes his shortcomings and works to improve himself."

William explained, he did not say this to defend his brother since their relationship was not that close in the first place. He said it to reassure his father, not to mention that what he said was not entirely wrong either.

"Maybe, but still he has to be better than this, he is supposed to act as a leader, to look a the big picture and plan, anticipate and eventually trap and destroy his enemies. Instead, he runs around after them like a pothead, being led around as if he were a child being tricked by an adult."

The marquess responded, his frustration slightly lowered but still present.

Willam tried to get his father to look at the glass being half full instead of half empty when it came to Marek's situation for the rest of their super time to no avail.

After William had returned to his room he went to the balcony and looked at the city below. It looked peaceful, calm and quiet; he looked at the main street that was lit by the torches running along its length admiring the senary in front of his eyes.

" I wonder why am I here? Is this just some coincidence or is there a higher power at play?"

He spoke to himself as he continued gazing at the darkness, lit only by the few lit streets, like arteries running through the city below.

"You know what William? It's not that bad, even if you were to spend the rest of your life here, you at least got to confirm that there is life out there, human life no less. If this is earth in the far future, you got to know that the human race will live on; If this is another planet, then that's even better, this could be just a long-forgotten colony that has regressed back in technology and has forgotten its origins." He sighed as he said to himself.

The fear and panic he had felt when he had gotten here, has lessened substantially, yet never completely dissipated. He tried to ignore it by making himself busy, by only looking at the brighter side, yet all he did was just that, ignore it and nothing more.

The worst thing for him was that he had no purpose or goal so far, no direction to head for. Should he explore the world? Try to become a rich and successful businessman? Perhaps become an adventurer? Or rather convince his father to make him his successor and one day become a marquess himself?

For now, he simply did not know, he was directionless and maybe that was something he should change soon.

He observed the city for a while longer before exhaustion overcame him and he finally retired to his bed.

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The next morning William woke up very early, as usual, this time however there was no training waiting for him. Today was the day that they would set off towards the north along the river Fabious to deal with the bandit infestation that had recently plagued the northern region of the marquisate.

After breakfast, the father-son duo headed to the stables in which a hundred guards were already waiting for them, by this time William was already able to ride a horse proficiently as long as there was no fighting involved and he was only going in a straight line.

After meeting the men, they double-checked their supplies and equipment and exited the city through the western gate, they switched their direction to the river as they followed it towards the north.

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In an undisclosed location in the northern part of the Blackwell marquisate, at the base of the western Dragontooth mountains.

A man was sitting in a room containing a large table and a few chairs around it, on top of the table was a well-made map of the Blackwell marquisate.

He looked at a man and a woman in front of him as he said.

" We just got news!!! The marquess has ordered a shipment from the north."

The man that was sitting across from him who had a very large build smiled as he asked.

"Finally something worth taking, So what's in the cargo?"

"We don't know, but whatever it is, it's very valuable since he had tasked his eldest son to escort it back to Landow." the first man answered.

"WHAT? that useless fool? How can he trust him after we've been leading him by the nose since he went after us?" The large man spoke, surprised at the marquess's decision.

"Normally he would not, the marquess is many things but a blind fool he is not" the first man answered once more.

"Something is very fishy here, I sense a trap, I say we let it go" the blonde woman spoke this time.

" Maybe, maybe not. whatever it may be, I received orders from the boss to take care of it. So we don't have a choice in the matter at hand." the first man responded.

At the mention of the "Boss" the woman spoke no more, Knowing that any further arguing was useless.