CHAPTER 68: SWEET HOME

Inside the massive stone castle, in the spacious reception hall, Arthur sat on his simple throne, a small, satisfied smile on his face.

In front of him had gathered all his loyal and important followers, including Novarian and even Orin. At his side stood his faithful maid Octavia, who kept staring at his face.

He noticed her strange looks toward him, but he didn’t pay them any mind. Calmly, he thought, ’The place is livelier than usual, but it’s good to be home.’

He stared at his followers for a brief moment, then said,

"As you know, I left the barony for a few days for some personal matters, and I hope my absence did not make you lazy. If I learn that any of you failed in the task I assigned, I will punish you."

He removed his satisfied smile and looked at them sternly.

"Is what I’m saying clear?"

Everyone quickly responded at the same time,

"Yes, my lord."

"Good," he nodded, then asked,

"Octavia, tell me what happened during my absence."

Octavia was surprised to hear her name. Her face turned slightly red, and she felt a bit embarrassed and nervous, then replied,

"Y... Yes, my lord. The report..."

But she fell silent, trying to organize her scattered thoughts.

Arthur was surprised by her behavior.

’What’s wrong with her today? She’s acting strange.’

But he didn’t give it much attention and waited silently for her to deliver her report.

After a few seconds, she regained her composure and continued,

"My lord, following your orders, the construction of the woodworking workshop and the soap workshop has been completed. Both workshops have been equipped with most of the necessary tools.

Also, five public toilets have been built in five different areas, and we’ve assigned a qualified person to explain their benefits to the public."

Upon hearing the phrase "a qualified person," Orin cried inside,

"Is this what I’m qualified to do?’

But no one cared about his feelings.

Octavia continued,

"And also, my lord, the census data has been sorted and organized. As for the barony’s affairs, the situation is calm, and there are no disturbances—just some builders are annoyed because they worked for several days without any compensation. That is all, my lord."

Arthur listened to her attentively, and as soon as she finished, he said,

"That’s good. Well done."

Everyone in the room felt happy upon hearing his praise and looked at each other with small smiles.

"Alright, now that things have calmed down a bit, I will make some changes."

Everyone tensed, and their smiles vanished. They listened with great focus, having realized that they were the ones these changes concerned.

"Brock, since you did your job well, you will keep your position as captain of the guards until I decide otherwise."

Brock exhaled in relief and knelt on one knee.

"Thank you, my lord. I will not disappoint you."

"As for you, Chadwick, I have decided to make you the war commander, as the previous war commander has perished."

Chadwick felt overwhelming joy but kept his composure and bowed respectfully as well.

"This is an honor, my lord."

Without caring about their emotions, Arthur gestured to Thorne, who stood nearby, and said,

"Everyone, I present to you Thorne. You don’t know him, but he is a strong man who serves me as a knight. Therefore, I would like to inform you that starting today, he will become the leader of a new military unit I will be forming—the Reconnaissance and Surveillance Unit."

Everyone was surprised and stared at Thorne, the mysterious man who had returned with their lord. Even though they now had a general idea of who he was, most of them could not accept that a stranger would become their leader—especially the recruits. However, they could not defy Arthur’s orders.

As for Thorne and his sister Thalia, they were observing the situation with a kind of tension. In truth, they did not understand what was going on. They kept casting bewildered glances at each other, both thinking in disbelief,

’What’s going on? This person isn’t Arvan Ravenshade, so why is everyone treating him like he is?’

They shook their heads simultaneously as if they could hear each other’s thoughts. Then Thorne, hiding his confusion, responded,

"Thank you, my lord, for your trust. I will work hard to prove my competence."

Arthur then appointed more people to specific positions. For example, he appointed Otieno as the deputy war commander and Brent as the deputy captain of the guards. He changed the position of the general scribe and made him the treasurer, ordering him to pay two silver coins to each builder and craftsman who participated in building his projects.

As for Novarian, he had no involvement in any of this but observed and listened to everything with great interest.

Seeing Arthur’s firmness and decisiveness, he felt a kind of awe and automatically began to respect him. He no longer doubted his identity and was finally convinced that he was a strong noble leading his people.

At the same time, he scanned everyone around him with his sharp, hawk-like eyes, trying to assess their strength. His gaze first paused on Orin for a moment, and he smirked mockingly. Then he looked at Chadwick strangely, remembering the incident that happened about an hour ago.

He clenched his fist tightly and sighed,

’I underestimated that person before. He’s skilled—but not as skilled as those two.’

He calmly turned and looked at Thalia and Thorne with eyes full of suspicion.

’There’s something unnatural about them.’

Unfortunately, Novarian did not possess the Appraisal Skill, and everything he said was based on intuition alone, so he didn’t realize they weren’t human.

After a few more minutes, Arthur ended the meeting and dismissed everyone except Thalia and Thorne. Calmly, he said to them,

"Bring our honored guest."

"Yes, my lord."

The siblings quickly left, and a few minutes later, they returned carrying a large locked box. Without hesitation, Arthur stood and gestured to them,

"Follow me."

Cautiously, he made his way to the castle’s underground cellar, walking through dark, cold tunnels deep underground for several minutes. He passed by prison cells filled with prisoners but continued toward the deepest depths, where neither daylight nor the night breeze reached. There lay an old, dark, forgotten cell that no one ever visited, filled only with decaying bones, insects, and repulsive rats.

He placed his torch in a designated slot and gestured to the box.

Thalia understood his intent and quickly opened the large box. Inside appeared the real Arvan, bound and gagged, unable to move or speak. His eyes were swollen from crying, and his body was full of scratches and bruises.

Without a shred of mercy, Arthur ordered,

"Throw him in the cell. From this day forward, you will take turns guarding him. No one is allowed to approach this place under any circumstances. If anyone disobeys this order and sees Arvan’s face, kill them immediately and without hesitation."

He would not accept any discussion regarding this matter. To him, it was a matter of life or death.

"Yes, my lord."

After that, he left for his room. On the way out of the basement, he found Octavia standing and waiting for him. He looked at her and noticed that her gaze toward him was still strange. Suspiciously, he asked,

"Did something happen? You’re acting strange."

Her face turned slightly red, and she replied nervously,

"No, no, my lord. Nothing happened. I’m just... a little sick."

"Alright. You may go rest. It’s fine if you don’t accompany me today."

Upon hearing that, she quickly shook her head.

"It’s fine, my lord. I wish to accompany you."

He furrowed his brows.

’Why doesn’t the system tell me what she’s feeling? Unfortunately, this ability is useless when it comes to characters who haven’t appeared much in the novel.’

He found thinking about it annoying, so he stopped caring and said,

"Let’s go."

When he reached his room, he found it packed full of wooden crates and leather bags. He smiled happily and stared greedily at his loot.

He quickly headed to the nearest crate and said to Octavia,

"Help me sort these things."

Then he opened the crate and looked at its contents—a set of men’s silk underwear. His smile widened.

"This is useful."

Then he opened another crate, which was also full of underwear.

His smile faded, and he quickly opened another crate—also full of underwear. He frowned and sighed.

’Damn that bastard’s taste. But thinking about it, this is expected. That degenerate spends most of his time in his underwear or sleepwear.’

His spirits didn’t drop. Calmly, he pulled out Arvan’s magical storage ring. He knew it was full of valuable items but couldn’t open it because it was bound to Arvan by a blood link similar to the link between him and the Thorns Castle Bracelet. The only way to break that bond was to use the "Break" spell. Unfortunately, he couldn’t use magic and had no magical affinity.

Even so, he didn’t feel annoyed. On the contrary, he smiled lightly and put the ring in his pocket. Calmly, he sighed,

’Alright, now that I’ve gotten rid of all my problems, I can focus on strengthening myself. The first thing I’ll do is solve the issue of not having any magical affinity.’

After organizing his thoughts, he went back to examining Arvan’s belongings. Fortunately, he found some good and valuable items that lifted his mood.

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Volume 1: The True and the Impostor has reached its end.