Willem stood in front of the Royal Palace like he owned the place, and at the snap of his fingers the earthen cage holding the Princess peeled away so that she was finally free.

The Princess, softly crying, crawled out of the cage and ran past Willem without even looking in his direction. Instead, Willem waved at the still gathered crowd cheering his name.

"Grandia!"

"Grand Mage please look this way!"

"You saved my son!"

The crowd seemed overwhelmingly infatuated with Willem and everything he did. Since he appeared out of nowhere and lead them to a victory against their enemies, how could he not garner so much attention.

The caravan filled with gifts for Willem had been recovered by the guards and was now sitting at the gates to the Royal Palace, awaiting orders from Willem to move along.

As Willem descended the stairs, he gave a long glance at the Royal Palace doors where the King had appeared, overlooking the gathered crowd with a reluctant frown.

Kinsey, Anna and Arania had all gone about their business, so Willem did not have to wait for them to return. Instead, he glided gently to his caravan and entered inside while the driver prepared to take off.

The two white stallions bucked gently at the response of the reins and trotted down the street toward the old Saye family household. Upon arriving, two maids waited on Willem hand and foot while the rest of the butlers and maids unloaded the caravan of goods.

Those who were chosen to unload the goods placed them on the teleportation circle while Willem sat down on a chair and was served some honey mead that was made locally.

By the time Willem was done with his drink, the goods were ready to be transported. Willem stood in the teleportation circle and began casting an elaborate spell to move the items and the staff.

After just a few moments, Willem and the goods he had been gifted arrived at his Private Sanctum along with all the maids and butlers whom had been working for him.

Kinsey was on the other side of the teleportation circle, a cup of tea in hand and ready to give orders to the workers. After the tea was handed to him, Willem left the teleportation circle and headed to his study room.

"Listen up, anyone who wishes to remain in employment with the Grand Mage, the duties up until now have been a precursor to what will be expected of you." Kinsey spoke to the maids and butlers. "We have many new guests in the Private Sanctum, and the majority of the work will now take place here instead of the inner city."

The maids and butlers nodded their heads but did not interrupt.

"Since the majority of work is here, no one will be leaving the Private Sanctum until the war is over. If this is acceptable, you may give me your house name and we can bring your family here to be protected, where the magical beings cannot get to us. If you wish to no longer be in employment of the Grand Mage, I will teleport you back and give you three months pay for services rendered." Kinsey exclaimed.

The maids and butlers looked around restlessly, unsure of what the best option would be. To not be able to leave the Private Sanctum was a big deal, considering it could be years until the war ended. However guaranteed safety for themselves and their family was a tantalizing offer.

"You have until sunrise to decide. Until then, you may continue with your duties and unpack these goods, when I need you I will call upon you. Until you are called upon, feel free to look around." Kinsey wrapped up her speech before turning around and leaving the kitchen.

The maids and butlers talked among themselves while they worked diligently, unsure of the best course of action.

In the study room, Willem and the White Tiger Cub were playfully sparring, now that the White Tiger Cub was large enough to fight without getting too badly hurt.

Having constantly fed on beasts stronger than itself and despite still being a Cub, the White Tiger was now a little larger than the Matriarch that Willem had defeated a while ago. Measuring up to Willem's shoulder in height and now the length of the bed, the White Tiger Cub was much more ferocious looking compared to when it was first brought to the Private Sanctum.

Though her attacks could not pierce or dent the armor underneath Willem's clothes, she still clawed and chomped with the intention of killing the prey in front of her.

After a quarter of an hour, the White Tiger Cub was finally tired out from constantly trying to kill Willem and fell to the ground exhausted.

Willem tossed the Cub a piece of silver back Caribou meat with a bowl of water to wash it down. The Cub was suddenly filled with vigor as it chewed at the Caribou meat.

After he had his fill of watching the Cub, Willem looked around for a book containing anything with the terms Jörmungandr or Great Wyrm. Despite his vast knowledge and ability to quickly recall information, he could not think of any book in his collection that had information on those two subjects.

Shrugging his shoulders, Willem left the study room and checked up on how his guests were doing.

"Thank you for speaking with me, Grand Mage." The Warden family was the first ones Willem greeted. "We were actually just about to seek you out."

"Pray tell what can I do for you?" Willem spoke elegantly.

"Our family has always had a strong military presence, so much so that over half of our family members are in the Army. If we are going to be here for years, may we ask for training grounds to teach the children?" The head of the Warden family asked his question before bowing.

"Of course, this is a simple matter. You can find it on the bottom level, with a sword and shield on the door. Furthermore, if anyone from the other families wishes to join you, I ask that you give them equal attention in their training." Willem snapped his fingers when he was done speaking.

"It would be my honor, Grand Mage." The head of the Warden family bowed again before turning to his family to explain the situation.

Willem took his leave of the Warden family and headed directly to the Wight family.

The head of the Wight family was sitting on a beautifully made bed, teaching some of the children of his family basic arithmetic.

"Head of the Wight family, how are you finding your stay? Is there anything you wish for?" Willem greeted the head.

"Besides the war to be over, we have everything we could ask for. Although..." The Wight family head trailed off halfway during his sentence in contemplation.

"Ask and I shall make it so." Willem said.

"Would it be too much to ask for a classroom so I can teach the children how to read and write? Our family has always been the caretakers of the next generation of scholars." The head of the family bowed his head imploringly.

"Of course, this would be a great boon to the harmony of the Private Sanctum. If I may ask this of you, if there are other students beside your family that wish to learn, please teach them as if they were your own." Willem smiled as he snapped his fingers.

"It would be a great honor for our family to undertake this responsibility." The head of the family bowed his head once more.

"Look for a symbol of a quill over parchment on a door at the bottom level. This is my gift to you." Willem said before taking his leave.

As he was continuing to the next family, Willem waved and greeted the children passing by in the hallway as well as the magical beings whom had just left the hot springs Willem had created for relaxation.

"Head of the Lovejoy family, I have come to ask you, how are you finding your stay?" Willem gently intruded on the family head while she was speaking with the elders of the family.

"Ah, Grand Mage, please come have some tea with us, we were just speaking about what the future will bring. Your opinion would be greatly appreciated." The head of the Lovejoy family smiled gently as she gestured for Willem to sit beside her.

"I will graciously accept." Willem said as he sat on the soft cushion beside the family head.

"Elder Fawl, I believe you were talking about our current possession of the mines near the Bastion of Hope." The leader took a puff from her long stemmed pipe as she knocked on the table in the direction of one of the elders.

"Yes, our mines have been abandoned for at least a few months due to the magical beasts killing our defenseless men. The King sent a decree that the mine will remain empty until the magical beings were dealt with. Our source of income has been temporarily halted because of this." The elder bowed his head before and after speaking.

"Forgive my interruption, but you can forego the formalities while within my presence. As for this particular issue, of course I will speak with the King about opening the mine. The metals inside are important for the war effort, so I will setup a teleportation circle inside the mine after sending soldiers to clear it out and order a patrol of the grounds for possible threats." Willem nodded his head in approval.

"This of course will solve a majority of our difficulties." The elder spoke once more.

"Do we have anyone here that can process the ores? If not, I have a blacksmith that I have entrusted with work and can bring him and his family here to work with you." Willem asked the leader.

"The Smith family is who we usually do business with, they have held the position of Royal Palace blacksmith the longest for their unique techniques." The leader responded as she puffed from her pipe again.

"Then explain the situation to them, I will create multiple forges worthy of their prowess on the bottom level, marked by the symbol of an anvil on the door." Willem snapped his fingers once.

"Now that that is settled, what is next?" The leader looked around at the seven elders around the table.

"With respect to Grand Mage, there is a rumor going around that you have the intention of marching soldiers against the magical beings. If this is the case, should we expand our family by sending representatives to the conquered areas?" The elder squeamishly spoke.

"Elder is well informed, though I am unsure where the rumors started from... Nonetheless, I do have every intention to turn our soldiers loose upon the enemies. First we need to conquer the area surrounding the Bastion of Hope, from the Grey Wasteland to the East, to the Blood City in the west and The Deep Crag just south of the forest." Willem rubbed his chin while he explained the plan he had been formulating since he spoke with the Great Wyrm.

"Is it really okay to strike these places? Retaliation will be severe if we fail so close to our home." The elder looked puzzled at the sudden information he had received.

In fact most of the elders sitting at the table looked quizzically at Willem and their leader.

"I have heard from my spies, the presence of strong magical beings in these three zones are the weakest, thus retaliation will need not be considered." Willem stopped rubbing his chin and said matter-of-factly.

Of course this information had been provided to Willem by the Great Wyrm, not by any spies.

"Has this discussion been held with anyone else? It is the first time I have heard it." The elder shook his head in confusion.

"No, this is the first time I have spoken about my plans. Naturally this does not leave the room, except by my tongue alone. I assume this will not be a problem." Willem looked at the elders of the table.

"Of course, anyone who reveals this information, I will personally cut their tongue out and feed it to my dogs." The leader said as she threw her head back and laughed.

The elders all laughed nervously as they either took a drink from their tea or looked down at their feet.

"Good, then we shall continue the conversation. The Blood City has a population of thirty thousand, with ninety five percent being magical beings. The rest are beasts or human slaves that were kidnapped from the Bastion of Hope. We will be striking at them first." Willem gave a cold grin as he drank his tea.

After almost a month of hard work, I have finally finished revising my first chapters and adjusting until I am happy with my work.

To all those reading these chapters and saying "Hey, I already read this!", please start from the beginning of the story as that is where all my efforts have gone.

There will be a new chapter soon I promise.

All chapters now have roughly 1800 - 2000 Words with a revision on the story and the timeline to help better understand the progress.