The Countess Lives Twice in the Apocalypse-Chapter 94: Ninety-three
The paperworks that piled up over a course of ten hours is now finished. Jannah let out a sigh of relief, rubbing her temples in an attempt to relieve her brain from accumulating stress.
She had managed to avoid Jeriel’s confrontation by telling her that she can’t say anything about the plan she had in mind due to her not wanting to repeat the same thing to Merlot and others.
Jeriel seemed to contemplate, but she agreed and let her off the hook for a while.
She excused herself as soon as the conversation ended, saying something along the lines of..
"I’ll help them assist the people in moving into their new home because the quicker they get things done, the quicker we can get an answer out of you so make sure you can talk to us in one go!"
The youngest Rafelon might have a lot of questions, but she still wouldn’t go against her big sister.
The moment of peace Jannah had just grasped was broken by the sound of a knock on the door. She glanced at the map, her eyes landing on the three knights outside the door.
"Come in." She said, her voice loud and clear.
The door slowly swung open, Kean’s head peek through the gap, his eyes widening slightly when he caught Jannah’s gaze.
"Hurry up, we don’t have all day." Jannah sighed out, not in the mood for any childish antics.
"Yes, my lady!" Kean squeaked out and swung the door wide open, strutting inside the office with Alejandro and Dante behind him.
Alejandro closed the door then turned back to Jannah, the three of them lowered their heads, paying their respects.
"Did Merlot say anything why the three of you are here or do I have to explain it?" Jannah asked, leaning forward to the desk and propping her elbows on it, placing her chin on her palm.
"Marques Ebonics gave us a briefing, my lady." Dante spoke and stood straighter, "You called for us to ask us if we want to be included in the social bond just like Duke Zacharias and Princess Mercuria."
"Yes, that’d be right." Jannah hummed out, a pleased smile on her face.
Merlot is meticulous and efficient with the tasks given to him, making Jannah happy and proud of him.
"Now, what’s your decision?" Jannah asked as she looked between the three of them, "It’s okay to refuse if you don’t want to be under supervision at all times. Don’t worry, I don’t mind."
"It would be my pleasure to be one of your trusted allies, my lady." Kean said, a look of hope and expectation crossing his face, "I would love to be one of your knights."
"Seems like you heard from Duke Zacharias that I don’t want to accept the oath of knight." Jannah said, a chuckle escaping her lips as she raised a hand to put his name on the ally bond of the social bond.
"Take a seat. You might experience a short nauseousness." She quickly added on, glancing briefly to the knight.
Kean did as he was told and took a seat. Jannah immediately pressed the enter key and watched Kean’s reaction upon hearing the system’s voice.
His reaction was the same as Lucienta, only a twitch of his eyebrow was what she saw.
[Kean
Bond level: 1
Skills:
Salvation ]
Another healer? Jannah wondered, her eyes shifting towards the knight who looked confused and slightly disarray.
"Who’s next?" She looked up, looking between Alejandro and Dante.
"I would like to be an ally as well, my lady." Alejandro said, lowering his head, his voice gruff with respect, then he sat down next to Kean before she could tell him to sit down.
Jannah didn’t ask him if he was completely sure with his decision and went ahead to put his name on the bond he specifically asked for.
[Alejandro
Bond level: 3
Skills:
Elemental Wall ]
Jannah blinked rapidly, her eyes glued to the bond level of the knight she just registered to the social bond.
She looked over to Alejandro, inspecting his reaction to see if he felt something painful. Though, fortunately, he didn’t seem to have any negative reaction.
Huh.. That’s odd.. Duke Zacharias fainted when he received his skills, but Alejandro didn’t? Jannah thought to herself, looking away from Alejandro and looked at Dante instead.
"I would be honored to be one of your confidants, Countess." Dante said, lowering his head to show respect.
Jannah nodded her head, seeing Dante taking a seat on the opposite couch of Alejandro and Kean from the corner of her peripheral vision as she put his name to the list of the confidants.
[Dante
Bond level: 1
Skills:
Devotion ]
"The three of you are done." Jannah notified them and looked away from the system’s window, "Before you go, Kean, Dante, can the two of you spin four times in your spot while saying how old you two are?"
She wants to know if her skill will get activated just like how it did back in the town hall of Rye.
"As you wish, my lady." Kean said, standing up and doing what she ordered him to do with Dante doing the same thing, muttering their age under their breaths which she can hear loud and clear.
Jannah blinked, the notification of skill usage not popping up before her eyes.
Does that mean that they fully trust me now? Jannah tilted her head as she wondered, were they the ones who kept having their favorability increase back on our way to Rye?
Of course, just because she asked, doesn’t mean she will get an answer.
"You’re free to leave." Jannah gave them permission to exit the room, waving her hand to dismiss the three of them and have them go in their way to call for the other half of the knights.
She looked at the list of allies and confidants, her eyes reading the names of the people who wanted to be in the category.
She took a mental note that she has more allies than confidants, but she doesn’t know what those passive skills can be used for if they’re all safe inside the wooden and rock walls of the town.
Oh, well, it is what it is. Jannah thought, sighing through her nose for the nth time that day.
The day passed by quickly with her being occupied and busy. She didn’t go out of the office for the rest of the day because she was swarmed by another stack of papers delivered by Lucienta.
The four knights that came in after Dante, Kean, and Alejandro were all placed in confidants because one of the knights, Loren, asked her if how many people were placed in the other social bond.
When Loren, Diazo, Anthony, and Haile found out that most of them wanted to be in the ally bond, the four of them took that chance to claim their own spot as confidants.
[Confidant:
Loren
Bond level: 1
Skills:
Regeneration
Diazo
Bond level: 1
Skills:
Retaliate
Anthony
Bond level: 1
Skills:
Life Wall
Haile
Bond level: 1
Skills:
Endure ]
Seeing those who received the passive skills of regeneration, life wall, endure, and devotion, Jannah realized that most of them could be placed at front if raiders or ambushers were to attack the town.
Those who received the active skills that can be used as an offense can be put behind those who could receive damages, but those who received the skills of salvation will have to heal those who got wounded.
Jannah rubbed her temples to stop an upcoming headache from forming.
Thinking of strategies to keep the town safe just in case it gets raided or attacked while she’s in the capital makes her head hurt.
The only reason why she’s putting as many people as she can on the social bonds was to ensure the town’s tight security and defense.
The skills they gain from her will be used for greater good, but still, she can’t stop herself from feeling anxious.
Instead of stressing herself out, Jannah decided to focus on the paperwork in front of her. The night is about to roll in and she knows that Merlot, Clara, and her little sister will barge inside the office with others.
She need to finish skimming through the contents of the papers as soon as possible—
Jannah stopped abruptly, her eyes glued to a sentence written in red ink on the paper which shows that one fourth of the potatoes disappeared from the kitchen yesterday and today.
Someone’s stealing food? She thought, lolling her head to the side as she leaned back.
Why would someone steal food from the pantry when everyone inside the town gets to eat twice a day? Breakfast and dinner— no one gets left out.
Jannah’s body froze and her eyes narrowed towards the window when an assumption formed in her head.
No one gets left out except for the three prisoners by the prison. She thought to herself, placing the paper down on the desk as she looked at the map, her eyes shifting to the blue dots to which the two prisoners are related.
One of the prisoners’ family must have felt bad and worried because their family was locked up.
Resulting in stealing food and probably giving it to them to feed them since Jannah told the knights to feed the prisoners once a day only.
Huh.. Guess I just have to find out.
