Chapter 82 - Plans for the Future 2

With a smile on his face, Jack gleefully left the room.

Leaving Rynold and the others behind, Jack left for the Rogue Elves Division as per his new instructions.

"Did you inform them of Jack's arrival?" Rynold asked Margareth.

She simply nodded in confirmation as she still hasn't lowered her guard down with Neana in the room. It wasn't like she didn't like her; Margareth just preferred to do things with the people who have proven she could trust.

Rynold considered his options, for now, ignoring Margareth's state of defensiveness.

"Margareth," he called out to the elf. "Can you inform me of the state of the other humans that were here?"

"Unfortunately, My Lord, such a thing is beyond my abilities. According to reports, however, the assassin and the Thunder God's Candidate are both in the medical ward recovering. Meanwhile, the other two brothers are last seen roaming around the residential area."

Raising his hand to his chin, Rynold pondered as to what to do next. While he sent Jack away, he didn't necessarily have other things in a top priority right now. The best thing he could do was wait for Oliver to recover, but, even then, waiting for him to wake might take a long time.

"Okay," Rynold spoke as he put his hand down. "I'll head up to my quarters and check on Eileen and the workshop I requested. Inform me when Oliver manages to wake up from his sleep, alright?"

Margareth nodded and, without even waiting for Rynold to leave, went back to work.

Rynold chuckled at the sight of the workaholic Librarian. She hasn't even changed clothes or cleaned up yet from the previous battle. Her work ethic is something he had truly come to admire.

Turning around, Rynold headed to the door for the penthouse.

"Hey!" Neana suddenly called out. "What about me?!"

"Whoops," Rynold turned around and faced the girl. "Kind of forgot that you were here. Well, technically, you don't really owe me anything. So, you're still free to roam around and enjoy your freedom. Same as before."

Facing the door once more, Rynold started to walk out of the room.

"Hold on! Don't you have any assignments for me or anything? I am stronger than you, you know. You should know when to appreciate someone of my greatness, especially when I'm still around!"

Rynold once again was interrupted. He turned around and shook his head.

"What is up with everyone trying to one-up me? Listen, you seriously don't have anything you owe me. Therefore, I have no right to instruct you or give you orders. The others willingly decided to follow me so I can tell them what to do.

Transversely, I can't tell you what to do because you didn't accept the offer. Which still stands, by the way. But, until you accept, you are free to enjoy whatever the Tree has to offer. Okay?"

Satisfied with his own explanation, Rynold turned around and face the door for what he hoped would be the last time. He seriously didn't want to turn around one more time.

However, having sensed that his words indirectly caused Neana some discomfort, Rynold turned around. This time, of his own volition, Rynold faced the elf who was minding her own business.

"Hey, Margareth," Rynold carefully called out. "Are there any open assignments for Neana?"

The elf eyed Rynold with aggression before returning to her soft and uncaring expression. She responded, with a somewhat cold tone in her words, "Unfortunately, My Lord, there isn't a place that would be suitable for her abilities."

Rynold sighed, disappointingly. "Alright, sorry for disturbing you," he said to the elf before facing Neana. "Sorry, nothing I can do about it," Rynold said to the young summoner.

Noticing Neana's face slightly contort to a frown, Rynold felt bad. Perhaps, he misunderstood her entire point of following him up here. But, then again, he was no mind reader. So, he couldn't really know for sure.

"Alright, you can follow me, for now. But, I won't be able to promise that I'll give you full attention when I get to work."

Without even waiting for a response, Rynold was finally able to head out of the Library.

His Mech Knight in tow, Rynold decided to walk up to his quarters instead of using a floating platform. Despite the reports that accurately gave estimates of the damage, Rynold still had a soft spot of checking on people's mental conditions. It was always important to check on morale, especially in a battle that had more psychological impact on its victims.

"Master," the Mech Knight suddenly spoke as they started their trek up. "The girl is following us."

Rynold looked back and saw Neana following them from a distance. He inadvertently shook his head at the sight. 'I can never really understand what people are thinking,' he thought as he stopped dead in his tracks once more.

"Hey, get over here already."

Neana hesitated to come any closer for a second before unwillingly walked towards Rynold. With her eyes facing the ground, Rynold couldn't help but think that maybe he had something to do with the way she's acting.

Regardless, Rynold decided to leave that alone for now. After all, talking about things that bothered people was never his strong suit. If anything, he did the opposite of making other people feel better.

The three of them continued to go up the Tree. They climbed to the higher levels as Rynold checked on the condition of every place they passed. It didn't take very long as nothing really was different from what he normally saw.

Looking and checking on the elves, Rynold soon realized that they had more mental resiliency than he thought. Well, more than humans typically had anyway.

As time passed, Rynold didn't notice anything different from the other elves. Until they soon reached the room that he, Jack, and Oliver had helped out before. However, this time, Rynold decided not to check on the condition of the elves in this particular room.

Just by looking at the elves from afar, Rynold could tell that something about this particular group was different. It was as if they had a spark in their eyes.

Thinking nothing much about it, Rynold decided to proceed with going up the Tree. Until he locked eyes with one of the elves that were cleaning up.

Without even a word between them, the elf suddenly bowed out of respect towards the new Lord. This was a first to Rynold and, in all seriousness, was both a little awkward and honorable at the same time. Regardless, Rynold decided to bow to show his respect towards the elf before moving forward.

The three of them continued on their short journey that soon came to an end.

Rynold could see the small opening that leads to the penthouse area. As soon as he approached, he could hear the Wind Sprites again and the sound of cheer in the air.

With a smile on his face, Rynold approached the center of the room. He was glad that nothing happened at this level of the Tree. Otherwise, he doubted that he would still have the will to live on.

"Eileen," he calmly said as he approached the child that was having fun in the center of the courtyard.

The little girl came up and threw Rynold in an embrace. Rynold responded by hugging her back and called over Strider who was noticeably down.

He comforted the wolf and told him that Oliver was alright and was simply recovering from the fight. Rynold promised to bring Strider to where Oliver was when he had fully recovered. Bring him there now would only lead to an even worse experience for both Rynold and the wolf.

"Neana," he called over the summoner that was standing at the back. "This is Eileen. I'd like you two to get along, alright?"

Somehow, Rynold seemed to direct the warning to Neana instead of Eileen. It was as if he trusted the child to be more mature than she is.

"Okay," Rynold said as he patted Eileen on the back to let go. "I'll come back in a bit so, for now, you guys can do whatever you want. X, keep watch over Eileen, alright?"

The Mech Knight didn't even have to wait for Rynold's command as he could see them both playing and getting along already. It was the right call to have Eileen and X bond, after all.

"Try not to ruin the fun," he said to Neana as he turned back and headed out of the courtyard. He simply meant it as a joke, but Rynold could hear Neana click her tongue as he walked away from the center of the garden.

It was time for him to check on the thing that he was waiting on. Rynold secretly hoped that the construction efforts weren't postponed because of the attack.

Luckily enough, Rynold could see the fully built workshop as he slowly approached.