CHAPTER 488: CHAPTER 488 - CATCHING UP WITH MY PEOPLE (PART 2)

After spending an evening and almost the whole day after with Dimitri, I bid him a "see you next time" with a promise to visit him weekly again since I am back in Hoffen City. He looked really reluctant and looked like he wanted to follow me but he knew that his safety and that of the children are the most important right now. He clearly knew that there are certain sacrifices that we both needed to do after we decided to have our babies and this is one of them.

My next stop would be a quick visit to Sklavryet. I did not waste any time as I teleported straight inside my personal villa in the Noir headquarters. As if there was some kind of a sensor, the whole headquarters immediately detected my arrival. The three brothers, Richard, Chandler and Wylden together with the people from fallen kingdom of Crimson as well as the elders of Noir appeared on the front yard of my villa within five minutes.

I went out of the villa leisurely and greeted everyone as usual. They all greeted me politely and invited me to the conference room instead so we can discuss things more thoroughly especially now that the free trade city is now officially open for business. It has been baptized as the Sohmiren City.

We went to the conference room and for some reason, the place is much more crowded than usual. There were both familiar and also new faces in the crowd that weren’t included in previous meetings. I couldn’t help but look at each of them for a few seconds. I made sure not to stare too much though to avoid any misunderstandings.

Once everyone is inside the conference room, the meeting officially started. My main role is simply to listen to the reports most of the time, answer questions if there are any and suggest possible solutions to issues if they need me to. The meeting lasted for almost three hours and most of the people in the room reported something about the area they are currently taking care of.

It turns out that the new faces were people currently managing some businesses and residential communities in Sohmiren. I have not visited the area ever since I left after helping out in building the wall and clear up the ground so it has really been quite a while if you think about it. I think visiting the place is a must before I leave Sklavryet.

After the meeting, I left the conference room and talked with Richard and his gang to also check on their well-being and the progress of their cause. According to him, they mostly trained in fighting and weapon use as part of Noir. Their personal missions to rescue and bring in people from their fallen country has also continued seamlessly. They proudly said that they have rescued a dozen more people or so and brought them back here for their safety.

As for the living arrangements, Richard, Chandler and Wylden are still living in my villa. The rest of their people have moved to Sohmiren to go undercover, posing as stall owners, landlords, farmers and even taking up guard duty and such. It is their means to help my project and also earn money. As for the previous queen of Viridis and her constituents, they all chose to stay in Sklavryet and Sohmiren where each of them found jobs and roles in the governments and business sectors that fit their capabilities.

My next stop was Sohmiren City itself. I made sure to change my clothes so I can blend in the crowd more easily. As I entered the gates, I noticed how different the interior has become. It has been built the way I drew and envisioned it to be but I still feel pleasantly surprised seeing the final results.

Most of the stalls have been filled out with renters, the farms have been fully planted with different crops and the trees have been planted just the way I wanted them to be. It was a fully functioning city if you look at it closely. The security was tight and all the people are fully registered whenever they go in and out of the walls. The only thing that was missing is some semblance of a central government and of course, to provide permanent residency.

I may need to have this discussed with my people so as to look for ones who are best fit for the jobs needed in management. As for the permanent residency, that should be easy. I bought the land anyways so I am technically an official landlord that can make that happen.

After enjoying the sights of my new city, I went back inside Sklavryet to visit Kama and my people that I have missed a lot. My arrival was quite sudden and I actually timed it during the peak business hours. I can see the surprised faces of the staff but since they were all still at work, they can’t really great me openly.

I went straight to the kitchen to check on their food storage levels and also what food I can prepare with the ingredients available for my little gluttons. Before I could even start the preparations to cook, I was enveloped by a tight hug from behind. I looked back and saw a familiar head of hair snuggling on my shoulder. It was Galen.

After a few minutes, the owner of Kama, Kyros arrived inside the kitchen as well much to the disappointment of Galen who thought that he can keep me to himself. Another person appeared after a few more minutes who was Arsenti who is now carrying a child in his arms.

It suddenly became a mini-family reunion inside Kama. The three of them quietly sat on the chairs around one of the dining tables nearest the kitchen and just watched me cooking from afar. I couldn’t help but chuckle on their actions earlier.

While busying myself with cooking, I tried to see if I could telepathically communicate with the child in Arsenti’s arms. This is the child I adopted and converted to become my own when his father was already in his second trimester of pregnancy. This is a test to see if what I did before actually worked. If I counted right, this child should now be around 4 to 5 months old in human years.

I sincerely hope that my telepathic messages that I have been constantly sending to all of my children, both born and those that are still developing in the womb have reached this little one too. I sent a rather simple message using a soft voice so as not to startle the child, "Hi, my little one. Have you heard my voice before? Do you know me?"

As the message was sent, the child behind me started babbling nonstop as if trying to tell me a story. Too bad, baby gibberish is not one of the languages I was given the skill to understand.

I looked back out of curiosity and saw the infant looking at me eagerly. He even started reaching out his chubby little arms and hands towards me as if asking me to approach him. I smiled at the child and telepathically send another message. This time in was a condition that I will pick him up and hug him if he calls me "Mama".

I am not trying to be mean here or intending to make the child cry. I just want to test how intelligent in terms of mind capacity and emotions does the child have. I fully understand that speaking word clearly as well as understanding instructions and following them to a tee is something normal 4 or 5 months old are too early to do. Let us just say that I trust in my genes and my bloodline.

The infant looked at me with wide innocent eyes as if he was trying to fully comprehend what I just said. I saw the child’s face scrunch up as if he was about to cry but then he became calm. I can then see some determination in his small but expressive eyes which means that my cute son fully understood my condition and instructions.

He looked up towards Arsenti as if trying to pull strength from his father for his difficult task ahead. Without warning, the infant started babbling with different syllables as if practicing hard how to talk. Arsenti gasped at the sudden change in his son who was usually quiet and easy to take care of.

Arsenti tried to tell the child to not be too noisy so as not to disturb me, "Zen, my dearest, don’t be too loud. Mama is busy so do not disturb her, okay?" Upon hearing his father not supporting what he was doing, little Zen started crying. Arsenti panicked and calmed the child telling him that he can babble again but not too loud.

I chuckled at the conversation between the father and son. I looked back and saw a variety of facial reactions. Kyros is looking at the interaction between Arsenti and Zen in a doting and fatherly manner but somehow, I can feel some envy mixed in it. Galen looked shocked and somewhat angered while looking at Arsenti which maybe due to the fact that the guy told his own son that I was his "mama".

Having more people in the kitchen, made my cooking time more enjoyable. My time in the kitchen was filled with the sounds of sizzling food in pans, the bubbling of soup from the pots, the sound of the knife hitting the chopping board as I was cutting something mixed in with something unusual which is the cute babbling noises of my newest child, Zen.