Chapter 174: A Mission That Takes Precedence

"Are you feeling thirsty, Will?"

Will blinked twice.

"Here you go," Wendy said as she gently assisted William to drink a glass of water.

After his thirst was quenched, the young lady carefully supported his head and laid it back on the soft pillow.

The corner of Est's and Ian's lips started to twitch when they saw this scene, but they didn't do anything about it. They just cursed William for being shameless in using his current condition to take advantage of Wendy's kindness.

"How about I give you a foot massage?" Ian asked. "They say that it helps the body recover faster because the foot is connected to many internal organs of the body."

Ian didn't wait for William's approval and started to knead the Half-Elf's foot with a smile on his face. 

"Does it feel good?" Ian inquired. "It does? Then I'm going to continue."

If William had been able to speak then he would have already hurled a long string of expletives at Ian for applying so much pressure to his foot that it felt that it was tearing apart. If he could have moved his foot then he would have already kicked the snot-nosed-pansy and sent him flying out of the window.

Since he couldn't move, and couldn't speak, William could only curse his mortal enemy while shedding tears of pain and sadness. Wendy, who saw this scene, felt that something was off, but Ian merely told her that William was only shedding tears of joy because his massage was so good.

Est couldn't bear to see William hurting so much, so he cleared his throat and made eye contact with Ian to not bully the defenseless boy.

Ian clicked his tongue as he reluctantly eased the pressure that he was applying to William's foot. He then gave the red-headed-boy a proper massage which made the latter feel so good that he fell asleep.

It was at that moment when the door of the room opened and Kenneth came in carrying a bucket of warm water. 

"He's still asleep?" Kenneth asked as he carried the bucket near William's bed. "Well, I guess it won't make a difference whether he is asleep or awake."

Kenneth then proceeded to unbutton William's Pajamas. Seeing his actions, Wendy immediately blushed and asked the delicate looking silver-haired-boy what he was planning to do.

"What am I about to do?" Kenneth looked at Wendy with a mischievous smile. "Of course, I plan to help clean William's body by washing it. He's the type that likes to bathe everyday. Do you want to do it in my place?"

"N-No!" Wendy stuttered. "I-I'm just asking."

"I see." Kenneth nodded but the smile on his face didn't disappear. "What a shame."

After taking William's shirt off, Kenneth started to clean his body using a wet hand towel then drying it immediately using another towel. His movements were so precise, that those who were watching him felt that Kenenth was used to doing such things."

Feeling their gazes on him, Kenneth decided to talk as he cleaned William's upper body.

"Two years ago, my brother fell ill and suffered a similar condition to William," Kenneth began his explanation. "He was unable to move, so it was up to me to help him eat, drink, and clean his body. Seeing William like this reminded me of home, so I decided to help him clean his body since he likes taking baths everyday.

"Still, my little brother's body can't compare to William's. Seeing this strong and lean body, I am feeling envious."

William was a martial expert, so his body was very fit. If you added the aesthetics of a Half-Elf then you would get a good looking guy with a very attractive physique. After cleaning the upper part of William's body, Kenneth was about to remove the sleeping boy's pants when Wendy immediately retreated to the corner of the room. 

Seeing her reaction, Kenneth gave an understanding smile as he lowered William's pants. Est, and Ian turned around to look at Wendy who was sneakily peaking through the gaps in her fingers.

After noticing that Est and Ian were looking at her, Wendy immediately closed the gap in her fingers and turned around to face the wall.

It took Kenneth less than five minutes to clean William's lower body. He then went to the shepherd's closet to pick out a new set of clothes for him to wear.

When the red-headed-boy was properly clothed. Kenneth left the room to handle the daily affairs of the Martial Class along with Priscilla. Before they went to fight against the Dungeon Outbreak, William appointed Kenneth to be the Secretary of the First Year Martial Division. 

Since their Head Prefect was not around, it fell to the officers to ensure that the rest of the students were behaving properly. 

The Second, Third, and Fourth Years still hadn't returned from their missions. The Dungeon Outbreaks that were happening in other places in the Hellan Kingdom were getting more and more intense, causing the Hellan Army to feel more of the pressure.

Because of this, the King was forced to send messengers all across the kingdom, hiring mercenaries and other armed groups to help resist the Dungeon Outbreak.

This was also why the First Year's success created a big impact on the defenders of the other towns. They didn't expect that the outbreak in Dawsbury would be settled in less than a day. 

Of course, this was due to William calling for reinforcements to assist them in battle. If not for Spire and his herd, the Diabolical Hell Ape, and William's mysterious "Second Master", the outbreak of the Roaring Quarters wouldn't have been that easy to subjugate.

-----

At the Forsaken Catacombs, where the Third Years of the Hellan Royal Academy were stationed, an intense battle was currently taking place.

Carter fired several Empowered Fireballs at the Skeletal Legionnaire that was rampaging across the battlefield. The skeletal monster, that was over two-meters in height, was carrying a giant war axe, which it brandished left and right to reap the lives of the soldiers who were trying to fend it off.

"Thank you, Professor!" one of the soldiers shouted as the Skeletal Legionnaire burst into flames. 

"We are not out of the woods yet! Focus on your surroundings!" Carter ordered as he fired a few more fireballs at the Skeletal Army that was slowly advancing towards them.

The professor was very irritated because the sudden Dungeon Outbreaks forced him to put his plan on hold for an indefinite period of time. Because of the sudden incident, he hadn't had time to make more "candies" to strengthen his hold on the talented students of the Third Year Magic Division Class. 

Of course, that was only half of the reason why Carter was feeling irritated. His superior had also tasked him to investigate the reason for these Dungeon Outbreaks that were happening in the Hellan Kingdom. The reason for this was because a similar thing had happened in the Demon Continent four months ago.

Carter's superior believed that this was done by an unknown group, or organization, that was hiding in the shadows. Without knowing this group's motive, or to whom their loyalty was given, the Higher Demon thought that it would be quite dangerous to leave them at large.

The Demon Race had suffered big losses during the "Dungeon Outbreaks" that had happened in their territory. They feared that the perpetrators were only conducting "further tests" in the human lands, before they returned to the Northern Continent and used the higher-ranked dungeons to start another Dungeon Outbreak.

If that were to happen then a calamity would befall their race. This was something that they couldn't allow to happen! Since this mission took precedence, Carter had no choice but to obey and get to the bottom of this incident.

'Just what are they after?' Carter thought as he continued his onslaught on the battlefield. 'Are they anti-humans or anti-demons? How big is their organization?'

Carter knew that the answers to his question would not be answered soon. So he focused his attention on pushing back the Skeletal Army and joined the experts when they proceeded to head towards the Dungeon Core.

Perhaps he would find the answers he was looking for after he had seen the source of the problem with his own eyes.

-----

"Oh… this is quite interesting," James chuckled as he read Ezio's report. "William managed to accomplish something amazing. As expected of my grandson!"

James was all smiles as he read the report in his hand. His smile didn't last for long as he read the current situation on Matthew's end on the battlefield. His grandson Matthew, and his fiance, Leah, had gone missing while carrying out a mission inside the Lair of the Ancient Queen, which was located within the Duchy of Aberdeen.

According to Ezio's report, Leah had suffered a serious injury when she tried to save Matthew from the attack of a Lamia Queen. Leah then used a special ability that made both of them disappear from the clutches of Lamia Queen that was hell-bent on ending their lives.

This was witnessed by one of the survivors who managed to escape from the dungeon. He immediately reported the mission's failure to the officers defending the front line, and this piece of information found its way into Ezio's hands.

James knew that now was not the time to brag about William's accomplishment and immediately held a conference in Lont.

He decided to bring an Elite Team to Aberdeen and help rescue his grandson inside the dungeon. For James, every member of the Ainsworth Family was precious. There were only a handful of them in the world, and losing even one of them would be a tragedy.

After a discussion with his subordinates, it was decided that James, Mordred, John, and Jekyll would provide reinforcements for Matthew in Aberdeen. This group of four would be able to travel faster by riding on the Giant Hawk, Blitz, who was John's animal companion.

The rest of the experts would stay in Lont to handle unforeseen events, like the Dark-Scaled-Crocodile incident that almost destroyed their hometown. As always, Owen had been assigned to be the temporary leader of Lont while Mordred was away. 

This was the best course of action that James could make after taking everything into consideration.