The Countess Lives Twice in the Apocalypse-Chapter 105: One-hundred-four

"So, you decided to just give the little girl more work?" Jeriel asked, raising an eyebrow towards her big sister.

"Yes? No? I mean— I didn’t know what to do..? I just did what I think is best at the moment.. And that is giving her two more days of labor. Is that bad?" Jannah looked at Merlot and Clara, asking genuinely with her eyes screaming for help.

Merlot and Clara could only look away since they also didn’t know what to do if they were out in a situation like that.

"Well, at least you made sure that the little girl was happy." Jeriel sighed deeply, patting Jannah on the back lightly and walking away from their spot.

The three of them were previously standing in front of the watchtower, checking if the preparation for their future scavenging endeavor is going well and found Jannah approaching their spot.

That was when Jannah told them what happened.

She didn’t exactly tell them what happened in detail, just that the little girl wanted to work longer because she thinks that giving her only five days of punishment wasn’t enough.

Jannah sighed. "Jeriel’s right, as long as the little girl was happy."

She said those words to assure herself more than anyone, feeling like she had made a wrong decision, but couldn’t undone it.

"Have those who will be coming with me the day after tomorrow prepare their things inside one bag or suitcase then have them come to me at the office in the town hall." Jannah turned to Merlot, nodding her head at him.

"Understood." The Marques lowered his head as a gesture of showing his respect before he walked away, leaving Jannah and Clara alone.

The ladies waited until Merlot was out of sight and once he was, they turned to each other.

"I heard from Jeriel that you registered Count Nige to the flower bond and plans to bring him back to the capital." Clara said, her eyes narrowed towards her friend, a frown settling on her face.

"That’s correct." Jannah answered, coming clean instead of avoiding the confrontation.

"Why?"

"Personally, I think that bringing the Count with me is not a good idea." Only because he looked like he wasn’t over with grieving his people, was what Jannah wanted to add, but she held back, fully aware that she didn’t have the right to say the Count’s circumstances at the moment.

"But Count Nige was the only person who came from Baron Pangasikan’s barony in the west." Jannah stated, turning to the cart which was full of arrows and newly made daggers, "We need him for this first scavenge expedition because he knows the quickest route."

It also might distract him from all that thinking. The Countess added in her mind, recalling how the Count forced himself to look happy in front of other people.

"So, you think Count Nige will help you and the people you will bring with you make the journey faster..?" Clara asked, her voice dripping with uncertainty, as if she was testing the waters where a predator was hiding in.

"You could say that." Jannah hummed out, picking up the arrows and placing them on her inventory.

Arrows

Quantity: 20/200

Oh? I could carry two hundred arrows for one slot? She brightened up significantly when she saw that the arrows didn’t require two slots.

In an instant, the wooden cart that was previously filled with arrows is now empty, making the passerby knights and people look at the cart with wide eyes upon seeing the shafts disappear right before their eyes.

Even Clara looked baffled.

Jannah hummed softly, looking away from the cart and glancing at the inventory to see how many arrows she had stored.

Arrows

Quantity: 200/200

Arrows

Quantity: 53/200

Hmm.. I guess I have to ask for more arrows just in case. She thought, nodding her head with a sense of satisfaction, and turned away.

"Anthony!" Jannah called out to the knight who was about to turn into a corner and made him stop in his tracks, looking over his shoulder to see who called for him which made him quickly rush towards her once he saw who called him.

"Yes, my lady?" Anthony inquired, his face pale and sweat beads forming in his forehead. It was obvious that he was doing something before Jannah called him.

"Are you heading for the training grounds?"

"Yes, my lady." The knight confirmed.

"Lovely." Jannah smiled and brought out one arrow from her inventory, the shaft appearing in her hand, making Anthony go wide-eyed, "Ask Arthur to go to the blacksmith and have steel arrows crafted, give this to him and make sure that the blacksmith will make an arrow that looks exactly like that."

Wordlessly and speechless, Anthony heeded her words and stiffly made his way to the training ground with the arrow at hand.

Jannah huffed, started walking towards the wagon which her group would bring with them to the capital, and rummaged through the small line of suitcases, looking at the names of each case.

"What are you doing?" Clara asked, walking towards the wagon and peeking over to her friend who was crouched down.

"Looking at which cases belong to whom." Jannah said, her eyes skimming through the labels of the suitcases before it would vanish from her sight and appearing in the inventory.

Her inventory has twenty slots, consisting of four rows and five columns.

The first row will be for the food, weapons, and anything that she could in her inventory for the journey to the capital so her group wouldn’t have to carry wagons.

On the other hand, the second and third rows will be divided by the people she will bring.

The first column would be hers.

The second’s first half would be Jeriel’s while the second’s second half would be Kirie’s.

The third’s first half would be Princess Huenazia’s and the third’s second half would be Lucienta’s.

The fourth’s first half would be Duke Eulicies’s then the fourth’s second half would be Count Nige’s.

The fifth column would be left empty just in case.

The reason why Jannah decided to bring most of the nobles with her, but left the Ebonics couple behind with the third prince was because she could have people she trusts lead the people of Philipia while she’s gone.

She might not have interacted with Prince Hanzo for the past few days, but she trusts him enough to give assistance to Merlot or Clara.

I should thank him for making my little sister smile more than usual. Jannah thought as she stored the last suitcase of Count Nige in her inventory, the dark colored case disappeared into thin air.

She would have brought Prince Hanzo along to the capital, but he refused quite adamantly. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"I don’t want to go back." The prince’s stern and firm voice echoed in Jannah’s mind, making her let out a sigh and wonder if she’s making the right choices.

There’s no use doubting myself now. She mused mentally, encouraging herself and standing up.

People are looking up at you and hoping for you to protect them for as long as you can, you can’t have these thoughts clouding your mind, Jannah. She continued to encourage herself, making her lips curl up into a smile.

"Good.. I feel sure of my decisions now more than ever." Jannah murmured and jumped off the wagon.

"You’re finished already?" Clara’s voice made Jannah turn to the Marquess and made Jannah nod her head to answer the question.

"I just have to get the food that Aran packed for the trip, take the items that Lucienta prepared, and pick up those steel arrows then I’m done." Jannah added on, noting everything she needs to do.

"You won’t bring a gun? Count Nige has brought a lot of gunpowder." Clara tilted her head, a worried look crossing her beautiful features.

"I’ll leave those here just in case the town gets raided." Jannah said and pat Clara’s head, "You don’t have to worry about us, we’re stronger than you think and we will come back alive no matter what."

The blonde woman pursed her lips and didn’t speak after that which made Jannah let out a huff, a small smile of gratitude on her face at the concern her friend is showing her.

Evening rolled in and Jannah didn’t waste any time on gathering the people, inside the town hall office, she will leave in charge of the town while she’s gone.

"Arthur and Polo will be in charge of the knights, have them split their shifts." Jannah told the two knights standing by the door of the office and made the two of them nod their heads.

"Clara will be in charge of those who would get injured, Hanzo and Marco will be in charge of the people— discuss who would be on duty during the day and night." She said, watching as the three people she mentioned also nodded their heads to show that they understood.

"Have Maria and Lilo be in charge of the children since the two of them have the offense skill." Jannah turned to Merlot, saying the words to him directly.

"You will be in charge of everyone inside of this room. They need permission? They have something to suggest? They have something to ask? Everyone will go to you." Jannah stated, her voice firm.

"I will do my best to protect this town." Merlot bowed with everyone following his action.