23 - Revised

6 weeks left

After the speech, some of the villagers came to talk to me and say strange things, and that made me think about my role as prince.

"It's a pretty good one, Prince." Adam came, and we had a beer together. "Didn't know you had such words in you."

"Thanks, I think I can do better with practice. And probably time to come up with better words." I could just copy great speeches from history… if I could just somehow remember them.

"I would cry if you said more inspiring words, so, actually its fine. Not a good sight for the others to see, so, yeah."

We both laugh.

"But yeah. The men probably want to have a beer with you again."

I smile, "Sure. You coming along?"

Adam shrugs, "Yeah why not."

The men were gathered round a small table, all sitting, and all slightly tipsy.

"Prince, I liked your speech."

I smile, and I take a seat. "Glad you do." I signal one of the workers to take some beer over, and the workers quickly rush over with a mug for each and every one.

"Drink up, men. We will have many days of fighting ahead of us, I'm afraid. So let us all share a beer while we still can. Cheers, to the living, and the dead."

"Cheers!" Everyone knock their beer mugs together.

“Prince… are we going to die?”

“Maybe. But I hope not.”

Adam smacks the guy who asks the question on the back. “I’ll cover all of you, so don’t say things that attract bad luck!”

“Haha…” The guy laughs, and one of the other guys quickly change the topic.

“Prince, are you going out with Ms Anne?”

I pause, and I think for a moment. “I guess so.”

“Great! We’re rooting for you.”

I grin, “Well… It’s going to be complicated in the future. There’s probably a lot of other girls…”

Adam laughs, “Prince, you really want a harem?”

“Uh, yeah.” I gotta be honest, right. “I do want a harem. It’s one of my dreams.”

The men laugh, and they joke. “I’m jealous, I wish I’m born a prince with a harem in my next life.”

“Oh please if you’re a prince, I’ll be the King!” Another of the soldiers jump in the joke. “I’d have 1,000 ladies in my harem, like the emperors of the east!”

“You know, I wonder how they actually get down to so many… ladies. I think after a while I’d be sore.” One of the men joke.

“They must be eating some crazy drug or herb to stay up so long!”

I laugh, this kind of joke reminds me of high school. People, even in this world, are not so different after all. “Well… I’ll let you know when I come to that point.”

“Come to that point?” Everyone catches the double entendre and laughs.

And we share a few more drinks, before I decide to take my leave. I still have work to do, and I need to catch up with the girls as well. I hope Anne brought the girls for a bath, all of them.

-

So later that evening in the guesthouse, Anne returns, looking noticeably fresher. There’s a little pleasant fragrance in the air, her hair looks a little more glossy, her skin looks less tired, so I smile and nod.

“Looks like you had a good bath?”

Anne nods, “Yes. After the party, the girls all went for a bath together. Thankfully the village does have a small bathhouse that we could use for all of us girls.”

I smile, and return to my little notebook, making some notes. Time is catching up, and we’ve got to start training. “How’s everyone?”

“Much better, the bath helped as you suggested. We also liked your speech.”

“Glad to hear that. Anyway, let’s get some rest, we’ll go for another village, and we’ll head home after that. We need to start training.”

Anne nods, “Yes, Prince.”

The guesthouse has multiple rooms, and in the largest room, there’s multiple beds. I take the main bed, while Anne takes one of the single beds.

“Prince…” Anne asks, while she’s lying on her pillow.

“Yes?”

“Will it all be okay?”

“Yes, Anne. All of us will be fine.”

-

So, the next morning, we set out to the next village. It’s going to be our last stop, so I hope I can recruit someone, but if I can’t then, that’s too bad. It’s time to train up.

“Adam, Sara.” I call both of my combat ‘leaders’ over so that we can walk together. “I’m thinking of working on some practice sessions with our men, together. During this journey, and perhaps at the next village. Any ideas?”

“We could do formations.”

“Formations then.” Ah, Adam brought up a good point. Formations are useful in fighting hordes, a good one can make fighting a lot easier for the frontliners, and provide better cover for the ranged attackers.

So, with that, I let Adam and Sara start discussing some formations to try out, given their existing mix of combatants. My knowledge on this is relatively low, so it’s better I leave it to the experts.

Affection summary

Anne - 80%, Blue, Rank 4, Level 8, Prince’s Adjutant Adam - 58%, Yellow, Rank 4, Level 9, Soldier Sara - 29%, Green, Rank 4, Level 6, Ranger Lani - 17%, Yellow, Rank 5, Level 3, Elementalist Reese - 30%, Red, Rank 3, Level 12 Marty - 5% Yellow. Rank 4, Level 6 Heavy Arm,

Skill Menu (+) indicates can be upgraded.

Level 5 Prince (+)

Level 1 - Eye of affection Level 3 - Crafter of gifts (+) Level 2 - The power of love (+) New skill - Level 1 Prince’s Titles.

Level 1 Healer (+)

Level 2 - Heal (+) New skill - Level 1 Remove status effects