The Castle in the middle of nowhere.

"I think you are the only person I know in possession of the teleportation skill, my King," she added quickly after seeing my expression.

"My Instant Transportation skill?" That made sense. After all, I could teleport to various places in Avalon, as well as some of the conquered areas.

"No... That skill is not a type of teleport magic. But your other skill, Blink, is," she clarified.

"So why Instant Transportation...?" I couldn't formulate a good question.

"Instant Transportation is not a normal skill, my King, it's like… a dungeon-specific skill. You don't use mana to cast it and you can't use it if hostiles are nearby," she replied.

"That..." I wanted to disagree, but I recalled the situation when I couldn't use this skill during the battle in the Shadow Realm. "...would be correct, Stella. So how could I help you?"

"I'm afraid this would take us some time... I have to analyse and crack down on the way this skill works. This will be a first step towards developing a real teleportation skill." She looked tired, but I saw a new hope in her eyes. "May I ask you, my King, for you to just use it a few times? I will see if this is helpful at all. But at this point, observing someone's teleportation is the only thing that comes to my mind about how to deal with the problem."

"All right then. Where should we test your idea?" I asked, happy that I actually could help with magic research.

•••

Knys was just glossing over the papers he had been pulling from the same stack for the past twelve hours. He wasn't even reading them anymore. His arm was hurting, his eyes were hurting, and even his ass became chair-shaped after twelve hours of constantly reviewing and accepting new guild members. He actually was in shock that his guild stamp still had enough ink in the ink sponge to press on the next piece of paperwork. The evening was here, and it seemed that the pile of papers hadn’t shrunk at all. He sighed heavily and put his stamp on the table before glancing once again at the pile. Ultimately, he decided that was enough for today. He hid his seal in his pocket dimension and went towards the doors. Lately, the guild hall was never silent, but Knys liked it that way.

"Guild Master!" Idna spotted him immediately after he left his office. "I need your permission to..."

"Permission granted!" He quickly responded in the vain hope she would just go away.

"I will also need new..." she added without even looking at him.

"Allowed!" He interrupted her quickly.

She finally looked up at him and realised how late it was. "We need more staff members..." Idna sighed, exhausted.

"Definitely. Hire as many receptionists as you want. You are now responsible for the entirety of the guild's administration."

"What? Why me?!" She looked at the big orc angrily.

"Because you are the only one qualified to do so." He tried to reply with a grin, but it quickly turned into a yawn. "Sorry, Idna. I have to take a rest..."

Idna watched him through narrowed eyes as he slowly made his way down the stairs. She was standing still in silence, but her eyes cast angry lightning at her surroundings. She started laughing menacingly as soon as she heard the bell sound over the guild doors.

"All right guild master..." She slowly went towards one of the big, unused offices with a lovely view over the small park near the Grand Cathedral. "...I will take care of everything..." She promised with an angry smirk when she placed her name card over the doors. "... But if you think you can push all the work on me, you are terribly wrong."

•••

Glenn opened the doors to his home that, once again, was silent. Fania and Eri, as always, were home long before him, preparing a meal. He looked into the mirror and cursed himself once more. So what if he was an Arch-priest? He wasn’t able to help the woman he loved, nor his last friend. Yet again, he waited for a few moments to calm himself down before he could enter the kitchen. From under the closed doors, the warm light was seeping into the dark corridor. It was up to him to earn their accommodation and food. The girls spent each day at the guild hall, trying to return to the way they were, but he knew they were scared. Archbishop Lady Lanka Goldentail examined them both and told him they were experiencing the effects of trauma. Post-traumatic stress disorder prevented them from functioning properly, and it seemed there was no one who could truly help them.

"Hello, my Ladies!" Glenn opened the doors and smiled brightly. "How was your day?"

"Oh, we... We actually helped Miss Idna in the guild today." Fania smiled awkwardly, but Eri just looked at the floor, resigned. "She had so much work that she had to count on us!"

Glenn nodded with a smile, but he knew it was a form of a lie. But Fania needed this lie to function, and Glenn was willing to believe in anything if she could just feel a bit better because of it. He went closer and kissed her on the cheek.

"What are you cooking? It smells delicious!" Fortunately, that was not a lie. Fania was an excellent cook, for someone without corresponding skills, but as the tank, she couldn't pick any form of cook class as the sub-class.

"It's a stew from yesterday's leftovers." She smiled brightly.

Eri was still silent, and Glenn was very worried about her. She was on her own, with only him and Fania in the entire world to talk to. Eri tried so much to fight her fear, but even walking outside the safe zone of Middle Castle made her freeze in place, too terrified to even take a single step forward. But before he was given a chance to say anything, the doors to the kitchen opened. Well... Not exactly opened, they just gave up, letting in Miss Idna.

"Fania! Eri! I need your help. Glenn, you are coming with us right now, too!" she announced, but when Glenn looked inside her eyes, he saw the tired look of a person who hadn’t slept well in at least a week.

•••

Lanka rubbed her eyes and smiled, feeling almost victorious as she looked over her work. Queen Irene tasked her with organising the first Hospital and had provided her with very precise instructions. At first, she couldn't understand why the Queen went to such lengths when Avalon healers could perform such wonders. However, the information provided by Queen Irene cast a whole new light on the matter. Lanka once again skimmed the thick tome of wondrous new knowledge and sighed in amazement as she had each time she read the book before. The new understanding of the roots of so many illnesses had become so obvious. She had access to a portion of this knowledge before, but never enough to have a broader picture. However, this book made it clear that having a hospital is a very wise idea.

The last of her problems was to assign a talented healer to each Guild Hall. The idea was simple. In case a very powerful healer would be needed, there would always be one available in every guild Hall, with optimally four available to work in shifts. While the City of Wolf Manor was easy to staff since they had many promising adepts; the trouble for Lanka was the main Guild Hall in the capital. Avalon simply couldn’t rely on just a promising adept. Avalon needed some sort of prodigy to be a shining example of how all of this should look like. Maybe Lanka was a bit overambitious here, but she would eventually convince one of her seven most promising high priests to take the job. The Guild Medical Point would act as emergency centres for every Avalon resident before the Hospitals would take over this function.

Lanka sighed one last time and put the book into her pocket dimension. Right before she could stand up, however, the doors to her office opened.

"My Lady, your sister has arrived with an official request," Rin announced unnecessarily as Idna had already entered Lanka's office, towing two women with her.

She barely recognized the two accompanying Lanka, but most importantly, behind them entered Glenn. He was one of the candidates she had picked for the position in the Medical Centre.

"Lanka, I need your help!" Idna demanded, sitting heavily in the comfortable armchair.

"With?" Lanka raised her brow and looked at them all.

"I need you to ask the King for two specific class quests. I need them to be able to help me in my work, I beg you, sister!"

"What classes do you want them to have?" Lanka asked slowly.

"An accountant and secretary," Idna admitted heavily.

Lanka looked at the two girls who were standing silently behind her sister for a few moments, before she finally recognized them. Fania and Eri. She then examined them and diagnosed them with at least one, maybe two trauma-related disorders caused by so many distressing experiences she was actually surprised they hadn’t completely snapped yet.

"Please, Lady Lanka. Could you help them? I will do anything to repay you for this favour." Glenn asked, making Lanka's eyes shine.

"Anything you say?" Lanka put her hands together and tried to hide her growing smile.

"Yes, my Lady!" Glenn immediately replied.

Just wait and the opportunity would present itself… isn't this truly wisdom? King Theon also used to say that noticing opportunities was a necessity.

"In that case, I am sure I can arrange something..." The trap was sprung and her prey couldn't escape now. She was going to finish her task earlier than anticipated, after all.

•••

"Nathaniel, do you think this is necessary?" Major General Fornal Ban looked at himself in the mirror and sighed.

"Yes, sir. Her Majesty, Queen Luna, made it clear we must fill the gaps in Avalon's defences." Colonel Nathaniel Drake fixed his new uniform.

They both were wearing long, black tabards, with Avalon’s large coat of arms on their chests. They also had majestic capes that signified their commanding roles. Under those capes, they had incredible sets of plate armour. Normally, plate armour is clunky and chimes like a broken bell with every move. But not these; they were as silent as a light robe was. The steel of which it was made from was pitch black and unreflective, making the armour blend with every shadow.

"She really wants us to be ready to replace Legio Aegis?"

"Yes, sir. She is very serious about it. We are also going to form the backbone of the kingdom's law enforcement, sir."

"That reminds me, Nathaniel, have you already met the Grand Inquisitor?" Fornal decided he was ready to go and moved towards the doors out of his office.

"This morning, sir. I must admit that I never met anyone like her." Nathaniel was walking near Ban, followed by their adjutants. "I already feel bad for anyone stupid enough to not answer her question when she asks nicely."

"Hahaha! I do not. Call me bloodthirsty, but some of our enemies do not deserve any mercy or even a sliver of pity." Ban's laughter echoed throughout the corridors on the top floor of the citadel.

They quickly went down to the parade grounds where the 1st company of the 2nd division was standing ready at attention. Ban smiled widely, nodding his head in approval. All the soldiers were finally wearing the proper gear for the first time. Ban fondly recalled the forge master, Lord Ragnar, yelling at him when he found out that Ban had ordered his soldiers not to use this equipment during their training. They now wore majestic black armours, which combined the versatility of chainmail and the durability of the plate armour, which were hidden under similar, but shorter tabards with Avalon's coat of arms. Everyone in the unit was also equipped with a halberd, which was an incredible weapon, perfect for peacekeeping, guard duty and even responding to fires, when it could be used as a fire axe. They also wore incredibly light and durable shields on their backs and bastard swords at their hips.

"The 1st company of the 2nd division reports for duty, Sir!"

"At ease, boys." Ban smiled with satisfaction when he heard the loud thump of the entire company while they changed stances as one. "How do you find the change, Captain Thiule?"

"Sir, we are a little intimidated by the generosity of our King... This is a different world!" Thiule drew his pristine sword. "But we are ready for duty, sir."