27 Chapter 27: Cloudsteel

*knock*

*knock*

"Young master, breakfast is prepared"

Caesar blinked his eyes and slowly got up after hearing Sebastian's voice "yawn, I will be right there Sebastian"

"I will await your arrival downstairs," Sebastian said respectfully from behind the door and walked away.

Caesar pushed the covers off the bed and walked towards the bathroom, he splashed some water on his face and rubbed his sleepy eyes.

"I feel as though I'm waking up earlier and earlier these days" Caesar grumbled as he walked towards his closet… he rummaged through his clothes and picked out a suit that sported grey trousers with barely visible black lines running through them, a white long sleeved shirt with a black vest over it. He finished off with royal blue bow tie and white gloves.

Caesar grabbed a hair-tie and put his long hair into a pony-tail and looked into the mirror. He nodded with a satisfied smile on his face.

*creak*

Caesar opened the door and walked out, his loud footsteps echoed throughout the manor as he walked down the stairs to the dining room, once he reached the dining table Sebastian immediately stood beside him and said: "today I have prepared a splendid blend of tea from the Silovian kingdom alongside an assortment of fruits and yogurt… I decided to make a small and nutritious breakfast for today young master"

Caesar nodded and sat down at the end of the table and began drinking the tea elegantly while snacking on the fruits provided.

Ahri and Edward looked at this scene dumbfounded "who would think that the normally battle crazed and perverted man would be so sophisticated at the dining table" they both thought inwardly.

*cling*

Caesar put down the teacup on the small plate in front of him and looked at Ahri and Edward…

"what are your plans today?" Caesar asked curiously

"I plan to leave here soon to help give the knight's morning sword practice and then… I will probably just follow you haha" Edward laughed and replied

Caesar nodded his head in understanding and shifted his attention to Ahri with a curious expression.

"I will follow Edward of course" Ahri puffed up her cheeks and said

"I see, I need to make a short stop at the archery barracks and Danny's workshop this morning then I will head towards the training grounds to meet up with you"

Both Ahri and Edward nodded with affirmation and continued to eat breakfast. Caesar finished first and stood up, he walked towards the door and put on a long black overcoat.

"I will meet with you guys later, ah and Sebastian… Wonderful work as always" Caesar said as he walked through the door.

Once Caesar walked outside the manor he felt a chilly morning breeze… "it feels quite nice out today" Caesar couldn't help but mutter out loud.

Caesar walked to the already prepared carriage outside of his manor and stepped inside… "good morning, I would like you to take me to Danny's workshop" Caesar greeted the carriage driver.

"Good morning my lord, I will start heading there immediately," The carriage driver said as he pulled the reigns and ordered the horses to go forward.

*clak*

*clak*

Caesar sat back down, he rested his eyes and folded his arms. "I need to get the archers of the kingdom well acquainted with the crossbow, although we still will use long-bows I want to have at least a 500-unit crossbow regiment," Caesar thought to himself.

The carriage soon arrived at Danny's workshop which has now practically encompassed an entire street, Caesar stepped off the carriage and walked towards the middle of the street.

Soon, three familiar figures entered his vision. Caesar smiled and opened "Arwin, Anny, Felicia… how is the progress going?"

All three of them showed happy smiles "reporting boss, they have successfully created 20 ballista's, 650 crossbow's and one trebuchet so far that are without any defects"

Caesar nodded his head "excellent, their progress has exceeded my expectation. Good work you three"

"Your praise is wasted on us" The three replied back humbly

Caesar laughed out loud "haha, Sebastian has taught you well on how to please me"

All three of them smiled bashfully and scratched their heads.

"Ahem, I need you three to tell Danny that I want at least 500 crossbow's to be delivered to the archery barracks within the next hour… This will be your next job" Caesar cleared his throat and changed the subject.

"Yes, boss!" the three replied solemnly

Seeing them hurridly rush towards Danny, Caesar smiled wryly and walked back to his carriage.

"Head towards the archery barracks"

"As you command my lord"

The carriage soon arrived at the desired location, Caesar looked out of the carriage window and saw tall brick walls surrounding a large radius… Inside of the walls was a big dorm.

The carriage moved through the outer walls and entered the barracks.

*pew*

*puch*

*pang*

The sound of arrows hitting hay and wood echoed throughout the archery barracks, the archers soon stopped practicing noticing Caesar's presence and looked at him confused.

"Who is that?"

"You idiot, that's the marshall!"

The archers finally realizing who it was rushed to line up in front of him, it took around 15 minutes for the last archer to get in position.

Once the last archer lined up Caesar solemnly yelled out: "As you probably already know, a battle is soon ahead of us and because of that I have invented a new weapon called the crossbow"

Caesar paused for a second and continued

"I need 500 volunteers to use this new weapon, I can guarantee you a much stronger power and precision, however, it will have slower fire rate and lower maneuverability"

The archers soon started talking amongst themselves deciding and debating whether or not they should volunteer to use the new weapon.

"I volunteer" A raspy voice sounded out first

Right after the first person volunteered more started to volunteer like a domino effect, soon 500 or so soldiers volunteered and stood on the other side of Caesar.

Seeing this Caesar smiled "excellent, the rest of you can get back to training" he ordered the others that didn't volunteer

Caesar turned to face the 500 troops "today we will establishthe crossbow regiment, you could consider yourselves the elites of the archers"

*screech*

Soon a cart full of wooden crossbows was pulled through the archery training grounds front gate and brought to Caesar. "Here are the crossbow's you asked for," one of the men said

"Thank you, just set them down there" Caesar replied with a smile

Caesar looked back at the 500 soldiers and roared "pick up your weapon and train with it, I will be back in 5 days to check your progress."

"Yes Marshall!" the men roared back

Caesar walked back to his carriage and stepped inside, "head towards the knight's training grounds… this should be our last stop for the day"

"As you command my lord" The carriage driver replied back respectfully

The carriage exited the archery barracks and headed towards the knight's training grounds.

After about 30 minutes the carriage arrived at the training grounds. Caesar stepped out and walked towards Edward that was currently training the knights.

Caesar didn't interrupt the currently training knight's but instead observed … Finally after 10 minutes of waiting.

"Okay, that's enough for today. We will continue sword practice tomorrow" Edward said towards the knight's with a kind smile

Almost right as Edward ended his sword practice a white carriage arrived at the training grounds and a severely bruised up crown prince and chunky third prince exited.

The crown prince looked at Caesar in fear before looking at the ground and avoiding eye contact… the third prince just simply shook in fear. Seeing this scene Caesar stoked his chin "the third prince is merely a child and hasn't done anything too evil so I will go easy on him" he thought to himself quietly

"GEORGE STEP FORWARD!" Caesar roared out

"Yes, sir!" A tall and bulky man with a beard stepped out of the crowd

"You will supervise the two princes training, make sure to go hard on the crown prince but be lenient on the third prince… introduce the crown prince to the bear brigade today and make sure no fatalities occur!" Caesar instructed

"As you command my liege!" George replied respectfully and walked towards the two princes.

Caesar looked towards the rest of the knight's "for today we will continue practicing our balance, bring your buckets and start fetching water at the river on the outskirts of the kingdom and bring it back to fill the trench"

"Yes, sir!" The knight's replied and grabbed their buckets. The knight's starting rushing to the river located 2 miles east of the kingdom with buckets in hand.

*step*

*step*

The sound of rushed footsteps soon invaded Caesar's ear causing him to turn around… A sweaty minister was approaching him, once he got into talking range the minister took a deep breath and said: Marshall, the king has commanded your presence at the meeting hall… your father has returned"

Caesar opened his eyes wide in surprise "wasn't my father supposed to return tomorrow?"

"Fortunately they excavated the minerals faster then they expected, your father and the king are waiting for you at the round table in the meeting hall"

Caesar turned around and gave Edward and Ahri an apologetic smile "I apologize I can't accompany you for today, I will see you tonight at dinner… Caesar turned towards Ahri and playfully winked.

Seeing Caesar's wink Ahri's face turned red and looked away… Caesar followed the minister and stepped inside his carriage. Caesar sat on one side while the minister sat on the other.

Both Caesar and the minister sat in silence, neither were willing to start a conversation with each other, this continued until they finally reached the palace.

Once the carriage parked Caesar stepped out and walked towards the meeting hall with quick steps.

*creak*

Caesar pushed open the huge double doors and walked inside, he saw his father and the king sitting at a long roundtable while smiling. Both of them heard Caesar's arrival looked up and smiled at him.

"Come, join us"

Caesar nodded in response, he pulled out a chair and sat down vertically from his father and the king.

"It's good you made it back safe father, I was worried about you" Caesar broke the silence.

"Haha, indeed… the king has told me about some of the deeds you have done while I was gone, I must say that I'm very impressed with you my son"

Caesar smiled slightly in response.

"Ahem, although your reunion is heartwarming. We have business to do" the king soon ruined the happy atmosphere and changed the subject.

Both Caesar's and Crowley's eyes turned serious, "so what is this meeting about your majesty?" Caesar asked

"Crowley has excavated a large amount of cloudsteel however, we are hesitant on what we should use it for," the king said distressed

"I suggest we make full-body armor for my special troops and use the rest for arrowheads to make stronger bolts and arrows," Caesar said after contemplating for a second

Crowley nodded his head in agreement "I agree with my son, the coated arrowheads will make our archers much more deadly plus the armor will keep our front lines well defended"

The king nodded his head but asked in a curious tone "but do we have enough time to create all of those armors and arrowheads?"

"I'm not sure, but we most certainly can create a decent amount" Caesar soon replied with a confident smile

--1 hour later--

"Alright, we will do it like that. The meeting is over, you two are free to leave" The king said with relief in his voice.

"Yes, your majesty," both Caesar and Crowley said at the same time and walked out of the double sided doors.

"I heard you have been seen traveling with a girl frequently as of late my son," Crowley said teasingly once they exited the halls.

"And you have been keeping a lot of secrets as of late father" Caesar replied back and laughed.

They both entered the carriage and rode back to the residence, inside the carriage Caesar was informing his father about the training he gave the knight's and his most recent creations.

Soon the carriage arrived at the manor interrupting their conversation, "let's continue this talk another time my son" Crowley said as he exited the carriage and walked inside the manor.

Caesar nodded with a smile and walked through the door after Crowley, Sebastian greeted them.

"Welcome back my lord and young master… Today I have prepared a feast for dinner"

"It's good to be back Sebastian" Crowley replied back with a smile

Caesar and Crowley both sat at the dinner table… Elizabeth, Ahri, and Edward were already waiting for them.

--5 peaceful and quiet days slowly passed--

-------------------------------

"We will be reaching Rahvin kingdom in two days, everyone sharpen your blades and prepare for war!"