79. Homeward Bound
Edmund returned to Natar after the event, where both Aida and Erenia awaited.
"Welcome back, Count." Both ladies curtseyed as he appeared in the hall. She wore a gown with a deep cleavage that flaunted her soft bosoms. Aida wore a fairly light robe commonly used by nuns and priestesses. The chest area would normally be pinned together, but Aida, feeling a little competitive, decided to let it loose.
"It's a pleasure to see my two beauties once more." Edmund said with a smile, as he walked into a cozy lounge area. He sat on a long sofa, and then motioned the two ladies to sit next to him. They both obeyed. "What has happened since I've been gone?"
Lady Erenia started first. "The reconstruction of the Kenarias land is proceeding smoothly. Crime is down 90%, thanks to the presence of your guards. Some of the farms and mines have restarted work. But we will still continue to require your assistance."
Edmund nodded, and then looked at Aida.
"What have you been up to, Aida? I smell a whiff of medicine on you."
Aida smirked. "I've been experimenting on erectile drugs, it should be helpful for your- targets."
"Ah. That would be helpful indeed. Show it to me later." Edmund stood, as he held both their hands. "Come with me to my room."
They both nodded. Their face were blushing, but they've really, really missed the Count that their bodies have been itching since he returned. In the room, Edmund touched both of their waists, and ordered. "Undress."
Those words were like magic, and their clothes fell to the floor. That day and night, Edmund made love to the two ladies until they collapsed in exhaustion, and slept in his bed.
***
Edmund found himself invigorated after his day long frolicking with the two ladies, and decided to move to the next phase of his plan.
Two of his agents came to his War Room. These were two of his demonic servants.
"Milord. We have the reports on the various individuals you requested."
Edmund sat and reviewed the first report. It was an extensive study into the family of Aman. His parents were normal people. The father was a lumberjack, and the mother was a regular housewife. Aman also has a younger brother. The family of four were now special protected individuals of the state, as they are now family of the hero. The King, under the Imperial Budget, has granted them residence in a special housing.
In a way, he fucked up. "I should've acted sooner on them."
The agent kneeled. "We have failed you, milord. But- But we have other things we can show you!"
Edmund looked at the agent. "Very well. Show me."
The two agents placed a large stack of documents in front of him. "These are all the individuals you asked us to find."
"Good. You may continue your tasks." Edmund sent them away, and began to look at all the documents.
Edmund wasn't sure he remembered all the individuals in the game. After all, the game had many playable characters, and it wasn't realistic for a single person to remember every little tidbit about the game. He looked at the files, and it also included dossiers on Bianca, Wynn, Hannah.
The 5-star units that he loved using was Athena, the strongest of the knight class. But she is frozen in the depths of the ancient dungeon, and that dungeon could only be accessed using a powerful melting spell that the hero and a few others mages unlock. Functionally, there was no way he could access that dungeon himself. Not unless he had a strong mage-
Wait- He flicked through the dossiers again. Wynn wasn't the only mage. For 5 star tier units, mages and soldiers both had the most, followed by princesses, who were in their own category. There's the Ice Mage Irina, and then there's the Fire Mage Fiore. They were pretty much on the other side of the world, and they wouldn't join the party unless the hero managed to find special items for them.
Both of those items were in the depths of the Northern Territories, in the land of frost and ice dragons.
Then there's the Light Mage Lynn, the megane-mage who's pretty much always in the capitol studying magic unless forced out of her library.
For healers, Aida was pretty much the most powerful healer. That said, in terms of tier, there were one other. There was another 5-star healer plus enchanter called Candice, a healer that had a stronger support and buff-debuff skill, with a weaker healing ability.
He thought about the more exotic classes. The exotic classes, such as witches, enchanters, alchemists, paladins, snipers, golem-masters, swordmasters, spearmasters, summoners, martial artists, ninjas, monks and thieves were rare, but there were a few of them around. Then again, he couldn't operate on the assumption everything would be the same. There clearly were deviations from the game, and it wouldn't be a surprise if the goddesses 'create' new units out of thin air.
He frowned. What he needed now was a mage on his side. He looked at the stack, and then down to the 4-star tier mages. These were in the same tier as Wynn.
Was there a unit that he could easily capture? A prisoner or a slave-
Then he remembered one.
A political prisoner. Not a proper princess, because she was a bastard of the King. Back when the King was young and still a prince, he once was a knight. On the day before he ascended to the throne, and married the current queen, the King made love with another female companion in the army.
Yulia, The Princess of Magic.
A woman born out of wedlock, the Queen hated her and her mother, and had them imprisoned in an old chamber.
In the original game, the hero would discover the prison and broke them out. Yulia, thankful for the hero's help, joined the party. The quest to win her over, was all about restoring their place in society. Her mother just wanted a normal life, so it involved removing criminal records, buying favors from dukes, and all that.
The Queen was suspicious of her, naturally, because she had a claim on the throne, and the Queen wanted her daughters to be the next Queen. But it was a claim Yulia didn't care about.
He could free her, but that would entangle himself in the complex court politics of the Kings, and the various other forces.
The King's rule is secure, but the noble houses are maneuvering themselves towards the most likely future Queen. Simply because, the royal family has no male heirs, and so, the Queen has four direct princesses, all born just a year part. There was no seniority rule for the Queen, and instead, it went by the King's appointment of the future crown princess, and also the relative power of their future husbands. If the future husband was a nobody, that princess had no chance to be Queen.
As a wealthy noble house himself, he wasn't interested in taking sides of that conflict. Not yet, anyway. Edmund Natar would normally watch where the wind blows, discreetly provide funds through backchannels to win favors with all the interested parties, and then join the winning team at the last moment.
That was how the unaligned houses usually operated, much to the annoyance of the more principled houses.
Could he free Yulia indirectly, and win her into custody?
No. He had to position it as a win-win for the Royal house as well. Take the problem off their hands. But Yulia needed a mate. Someone that he could use to tell the Queen that Yulia's taken and because her partner is a nobody, there is no issue with the throne.
After thinking about it for a while, he still couldn't form a good plan. Edmund decided he'll figure it out later, and then descended into his secret dungeon, where there were prisoners awaiting.
Sacrifices for his clone.