Lucius laid on the bed and let out a long breath.

~huu~

"Today was rather productive I suppose… so many things completed," Lucius muttered to himself as he recalled everything.

He had gotten himself a few 'employees' in exchange for advanced payments and had also managed to begin his experiments with hell energy. Three different plans were currently underway for Lucius.

'Now that Baron Harrels is taken care of and is shackled, Viscount Drew should respond to it soon. There is no way he would take this lying down… or perhaps he will, seeing how Keith has been hidden away.' Lucius thought before falling asleep.

The morning came quick and Lucius was woken up with a Knock on the door. He stood up from the bed and rubbed his eyes slightly before opening the door. But in a surprise to him, the one who was standing there was not Kiana but Lita.

"Good morning, my son," Lita spoke with a smile.

"Ah, good morning mother," Lucius replied, feeling a bit confused about why she had come here.

"A few mercenaries are here, saying that they will be working for you now." Lita said.

"Ah yes, it should be Gellor and his companions," Lucius replied.

"What will they be doing? Is it related to our plan?" Lita asked, apprehension on her face.

"They will basically be doing the same jobs as they did before, just for us exclusively. I'm thinking of sending them out to hunt Rune beasts and gather some materials. And any other tasks that may arise." Lucius answered.

Lita seemed visibly pleased and nodded his head.

"That will be good. Those mercenaries seem strong and should be good for us. Even if your father can command several soldiers, he can't ask them to do personal tasks for the family. He can only do things that relate to the kingdom's well being." Lita spoke.

"That was exactly my intention. We need someone that is detached from us to do such tasks… someone that is expendable…" Lucius said in a calm tone that unnerved Lita a bit.

She thought over his words and found them to be reasonable.

'Better be strangers than our people…' she thought.

"Why did you come here thought mother? Usually, it's Kiana that comes here." Lucius asked.

"Can't a mother even come to see her son, first thing in the morning?" Lita said with a fake frown.

"Ah, I see. I'm grateful that you came to see me then." Lucius placated the woman.

Lita's frown turned into a smile rather quickly and she spoke again.

"Get dressed then. I'll get the breakfast ready. Your Father is back as well." Lita said before leaving.

Lucius watched her go down the stairs and turned back to wash his face in the basin. He then changed into his day clothes and went down. But instead of going to the main hall or the dining hall, he went to the lab.

~Creak~

The door of the lab opened and he walked in. His eyes wandered around, before settling onto the Bore Shrew in the cage. Lucius walked up to it and saw that it was still asleep.

"Huh, it hasn't moved from its position at all. That's a rather deep sleep." Lucius said while observing the beast in the cage.

He checked to see if the beast had any changes such as growth, but nothing seemed to be different than yesterday night. Having confirmed that the beast was fine and had not escaped, Lucius went to the dining hall.

There he saw Gabriel sitting at the table reading what looked like some reports.

"Good morning, father," Lucius spoke.

"Ah, Asher! Good morning to you too. You came at the right time." Gabriel replied.

"Oh, I did? How so?" Lucius questioned.

"I was just about to authorize the payment for the hospital. You paid a guarantee for an Emberian Herb, I heard." Gabriel replied.

"Yes, I did. In exchange for healing the mercenary Gellor's companion Finch, he and his team shall now be working for our family exclusively." Lucius stated.

"You got them to work for us… for just Six thousand gold coins?" Gabriel asked.

"Yes, they agreed to the conditions I set," Lucius replied.

"Good, good. Even though we have our private guards, we can't really send them out for tasks. These mercenaries will serve us perfectly. Though is there anything particular that you got them for?" Gabriel said, not minding the price that they needed to pay at all.

Lucius nodded his head and explained the scope of duties that Gellor and his team would be doing. He told that he wanted them to specifically gather the Rune Crystals and such that were harder to find in the market. And if they still agreed to work for them after several jobs, he would start giving them other jobs.

"But will they be willing to still work after they've paid off their debt?" Gabriel asked in doubt.

"Oh, they will. I will make it so they will never want to work for anyone at all. Or rather… they will be begging to work for us." Lucius said with a smile.

Gabriel didn't know how Lucius would be doing all this, but by now, seeing all that Lucius had done, he had developed a level of trust in him.

"All right then. You can do as you please and inform me if anything changes." Gabriel replied before folding up the document that he had been reading.

The Father and Son chatted about the workings of the brewery and some additional trivialities before the breakfast finally arrived. Lita joined them for the meal and they had a nice 'Family Breakfast' though this time Kiana seemed to be missing.

"Ah, yes! Where are the mercenaries waiting, though?" Lucius questioned.

"They were originally waiting outside the mansion, but then Captain Donald noticed them and talked to them. After a couple of minutes of conversation, they are now back at the guard barracks." Kiana who had suddenly appeared from the back, spoke.