Chapter 53 – His 16th birthday

Third person POV

 Today is Lloyd's 16th birthday. It's been almost a year since he was banished, and now it seems time has passed so quickly. When he told his sister and subordinates about it, they were happy and gave him a greeting. Gretchel confirms it as well.

 "Thanks, guys," Lloyd replied. 

But, he was a bit down. "I had no idea what I wanted for my birthday.'

 "You don't know?" asked Zane. "What's wrong, my child?"

 "Well, I had everything I needed, but I don't think I would want something for today."

Lloyd then resumed eating.

Because of this, they were concerned.

Then, once Lloyd left the dining room to do some work, Gretchel and Zeke come up with a secret surprise plan for him, alongside Sati, Laura, Hale, Zane, Xerxes, and Marsa. Zeke and Marsa will keep Lloyd busy at work all day long, except at lunchtime, while Gretchel, Laura, and Hale will make meals, including a feast for dinner and a birthday cake. Sati and Zane will do the gifts, while Xerxes will do the decorations in the dining room in the afternoon. And so, they went into action with their plan. Zeke and Marsa kept Lloyd busy in his work all day long, accompanying him in travels across the country and helping with his paperwork.

 At lunchtime, they and the others acted as if nothing had happened. Luckily, Lloyd didn't suspect a thing at all and just went back to work after lunch with Marsa and Zeke. By 5 in the afternoon, Gretchel, Laura, and Hale made the huge birthday feast for Lloyd's birthday, with Gretchel introducing some new recipes for them to try making. While Hale is struggling to follow Gretchel's instructions, Laura does so easily. But Hale was determined to learn from her mistakes. Sati and Zane searched for gifts for their leader in the capital, selecting and considering each item. Xerxes, on the other hand, did the decorations in the dining room with Maria and Westlan, who both volunteered in the plan.

 And so, after dark, Lloyd left his office and went to the dining room with Zeke and Marsa. Upon arriving there, he saw that the room was partially dark, obscuring the decorations. "What the…?" But then, suddenly, his sister and the rest of his subordinates and friends came out, surprising him a lot while Zeke and Marsa were positively chilled. They also revealed everything in the room with a light bulb. Lloyd was surprised so suddenly. "Woah! What?"

 "Happy birthday, master," Marsa placed her right hand on his left shoulder.

 "Happy birthday, my child," Zane added.

 "Happy birthday, big brother," Gretchel happily greeted.

 "Wow, you guys…" her older brother responded back.

 "We actually planned this since this morning," Zeke revealed to him.

Lloyd then looked at him. "Zeke…"

 "We did this for you," Sati happily responded.

Because of this, Lloyd shed tears of happiness. "Thank you, all of you. You know, only me, my mother, Gretchel, Jan, and my two sympathetic maids celebrated my birthday everyone.

They get it, and Gretchel confirmed it with her experience.

 "Okay, let's eat, shall we?" Laura said to us delightfully.

 "Yay! Let's eat and drink and celebrate!" Lloyd agreed with her.

 And so, all of them ate, drank, chatted, and laughed for his birthday. The feast includes a lot of food as well. But, dessert will not be forgotten so they brought his cake to the table. The cake was a dark chocolate cake with vanilla icing and chocolate chip cookies. Lloyd couldn't believe his eyes because it was his favorite cake for his past birthdays. He was happy and made a wish for everyone's prosperity and well-being, before blowing the lonely, white, wax candle. After that, they divided the cake into equal portions for everyone to share, and they ate and drank with good and happy spirits.

 Once that was done, Lloyd was given his presents by Sati and Zane. He opened them one by one. One of them is a scale armor from Zeke's tribe and some clothes from Kalelis. Another is a ceramic mask with a traditional face painted in the front. He was so happy to have them, and he was grateful and thankful for them. He also planned to use the mask to mask his identity as the 'Necromancer'.

 "Thank you so much, guys," he said.

 "No problem," Sati responded.

 "We are here for you," Maria added.

Zeke nodded. "You did so much for us."

"You changed our lives, my child," Zane added as well.