Lezhe

With Elder Thaddeus healed and resting, Will and Elizabeth spent the evening relaxing together in Will's bedroom. James and Helen returned Camille and Edward home.

After catching up with their children, it didn't take long for Will and Elizabeth to fall asleep. Their respective journeys were both physically and mentally exhausting. Furthermore, they needed to recover their mana from the ceremony.

In the morning, besides meeting with his staff and mentoring Kalista, Will decided to take it easy.

Lounging in the library, the happy couple discussed their plans. Will talked about the upcoming World Economic Forum and Elizabeth talked about Camille's mana testing.

It seemed almost preposterous to Will, that Camille turned 12 next year. Where had time flown? It felt like only yesterday when Camille was born. And now she was about to turn 12 and undergo her mana ceremony.

"Is she nervous?" Will asked remembering how confused and nervous he felt.

"What do you think? It's all she thinks about! It's all her class talks about?" Elizabeth laughed.

"How is Edward?" Will asked.

"You should speak with your children yourself. He spends most of his time with the city guards, practicing his swordsmanship. You should consider training him with Kalista, I think he'd enjoy you training him," Elizabeth recommended.

"Alright, I'll include him. I'm sure Elder Thaddeus would relish the opportunity to instruct Kalista and Edward," said Will pensively.

"Just don't be too hard on him. He gets frustrated easily," said Elizabeth worriedly.

"Well, then that's the first lesson," Will laughed.

"Will, did you tell the king your full story?" Elizabeth asked in a somber tone.

"No, there were quite a few parts I left out," responded Will truthfully.

"So, did I," Elizabeth said telling Will the unadulterated truth.

"I wonder what the gods think about what we did," Will laughed.

"Don't be rude!" Elizabeth said not amused.

"Sir. Perceval also warned of an impending great war," Will shared.

"Will, I'm scared. The war is the only thing our journeys have in common. What if that isn't a coincidence?" said Elizabeth cautiously.

"Then we face it head-on. What other option do we have?" Will answered.

"You can bring it up at the World Economic Forum, two months from now?" Elizabeth

"I think that would be wise. It would be the best option to unify the world. While not every empire, kingdoms, principalities, theocracy, or dukedom would rally to the cause of collective defense, it could serve as a unifying main point.

"What's collective defense," Elizabeth asked confused.

Will struggled with how to explain collective defense to Elizabeth. Because the term came from a German philosopher in another world.

Immanuel Kant first defined collective security as an agreed-upon political, regional, or global arrangement wherein when one country is attacked, all the signatory countries are obligated to respond to the threat, with the ultimate goal being world peace. Like The Three Musketeers, it was all for one, and one for all.

However, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) had a similar, but different multi-alliance arrangement. NATO allies had a collective defense arrangement, which committed support in defense of a member country if attacked by another country outside the organization. But the collective defense held no such ambitious fantasy of achieving world peace.

Will did his best to explain collective defense without too many references to Kant's philosophy.

"That's a great idea! What kingdom would refuse to eradicate demons?" said Elizabeth happily.

'There's always one,' Will thought not wanting to rain on Elizabeth's happiness.

"How is the development in Kukes coming along?" Elizabeth asked.

"Slower than I like, but Vincent has done an excellent job of keeping to the timeline. Moreover, Kurosawa and Bubba are fulling they're roles admirably. Yet, by my estimate, having everything finished by the completion deadline shall be close, too close," admitted Will earnestly.

"Honestly, Will you jump from one thing to another with disregard for your wellbeing. You know what I think. I think we need a relaxing family holiday. Why don't we visit Lezhe this weekend?" Elizabeth suggested.

"I think that is a fine idea! Let's invite Elder Thaddeus to Lezhe with us. I think we could all use a trip to the beach." complimented Will.

When the kids came home from school, Elizabeth and Will told the kids the news.

"We're going Lezhe!" Edward exclaimed excitedly.

"Yay! It's our favorite family destination," Camille said happily.

"I can't wait to splash in the water!" Kalista said.

"You have everyone talking about how wonderful your new fief is, I'm coming too!" Elder Thaddeus said.

Secretly, Will thought he was going to have to talk Elder Thaddeus into coming. But Will was surprised when Elder Thaddeus volunteered to go himself.

Since being granted the new fief, Will decided against remodeling the city.

The city was a retreat, a chance to break away from his norm.

The smell of the sea invigorated Will. He enjoyed rolling up his pants and relaxing on the beach and resting without a care in the world under a cabana.

The only thing Will added to Lezhe were cabanas, umbrellas, and a lounge chair rental facility.

When he took over Lezhe, Landen his city administrator asked for food. Lazhe had no access to arable fields. Therefore, Will started exporting seafood and crops to and from Gadreel.

With the food crisis solved, Will focused on increasing Lezhe's tourism. Honestly, Will felt the city sold itself, with Lezhe's transparent blue water and white Sandy beaches. The sleepy little Lezhe already had taverns and inns, but not much else.

But, Will wanted his new city to reflect him, so he built hundreds of high-priced luxury villas, and a new fancy restaurant onsite.

Visitors could lodge at a beautiful seaside estate and enjoy an elegant meal on the pier.

Instead of using the traditional market, where he'd paid criers to announce something or write an editorial in his newspaper, Will said nothing about Lezhe unless asked.

He simply told people he went or came back from there. Will wanted the interest to develop naturally.

And it worked, He started running into people on the beach, or inviting nobles to share a table. As more people came back to their cities, they tell people about their holiday. Which led more people to choose Lezhe as their holiday destination.

In his conversation with nobles, Will often referred to Lezhe as the best secret. The city was very far from every major city, the airship or boat ride took a long time to get there, and the villas were expensive, but the rest of the city was very inexpensive.

On the beach, Will and Elizabeth were surprised at how crowded their small seaside escape had become. They kept running into more and more of their friends from Gadreel and Tirana.

Elizabeth was the first to remark how on this trip, Lezhe felt less like a secret seaside escape and more like a fun family getaway, as hundreds of nobles enjoyed the beach, food, and waves,

From under the cabana on the beach, Elizabeth looked out at Kalista, Camille, and Edward splashing in the water, Elder Thaddeus lounging on the beach.

"Will I love our family! I'm so glad the Sea Witch talked you into being Kalista master," Elizabeth said maternally.

Will looked up from his chair and replied, " I wasn't happy at the time but now, I think of her as a daughter."

Sitting under an umbrella, Will napped to the waves gently crashing against the beach, he realized he hadn't looked at his stats since he became a grandmaster:

Race: Human

Rank: 4 (Earl)

Title: Lord of Games/ Gaia's Champion

Class: Merchant

Sub Class: Spellsword Knight

Attributes:

Constitution—90

Strength—95

Dexterity—83

Intellect—102

Charisma—19

Ranks Skills: Management (87), Diplomacy (78), Accounting (91)

Class Skills: Appraisal (100, 100) [Radar]

Abilities: Grandmaster Swordsmanship (2, 100), Grandmaster Terramancer (5, 100), Gaia's Blessing (multiplies your spell strength x2), Journeyman Blacksmith (37, 50), Immunity to [Dragon Fear]

***

Ten days later, they returned to Gadreel. Nothing was more cathartic the relaxing on the beach.

Elder Thaddeus seemed to beach holiday more than most. Lounging by the ocean, Elder Thaddeus seemed to enjoy soaking up the sun, thanks to soaking in the water.

As the family stood in the family, they were momentarily stunned when they heard a deafening roar!

Running outside they saw a large shadow pass overhead. When they looked, Edward was the first to speak, "A dragon!"

A loong white and light blue dragon with blue whiskers flew toward the Dragon Temple Will built a week ago.

"A dragon?" repeated Elizabeth in awe.

"Let's go," Will said inviting his family through the spatial gate.

When they arrived at the temple, Elder Thaddeus was already speaking with Priestess Xing.

"Priestess Xing, welcome to my fief. This is my family," Will said introducing his family members one by one to her.

"It is a pleasure to be acquainted," Priestess Xing said curtsying, "The temple looks very majestic," said Priestess Xing briefly inspecting the church.

"I'm glad you consider it sufficient," Will said thankfully.

"However, where do you suggest I live? I smell a cave with a large pile of gold nearby, is that to be my residence?" Priestess Xing said hopefully.

Will hadn't realized that his secret vault of gold could be so easily exposed by Priestess Xing's sense of smell.

"I'm not sure what you are referring to, but I'm sure whoever's gold it belongs to, considers it a private affair. But you are free to build a cave in the mountain," said Will doing a poor cover-up job.

Hearing Will's blatant cover-up, everyone chose not to say anything. Still, they all filed the information away for later. A secret vault in the mountain filled with treasure, how exciting.

Elizabeth especially was interested in Will's secret vault. She looked forward to learning more about the vault. She was sure Will would admit it was his and she was sure he'd lie about the amount stored away.

"Priestess Xing, Will told me how you aided him in the Dragon Realm. Thank you for helping Will save my life. Please let me know how I can repay Mother Tiamat and you, for the new life you gave me?" Elder Thaddeus sincerely asked.

Priestess Xing's eyes went blank for a moment. Will knew she was waiting for Mother Tiamat to respond to his question.

"Mother Tiamat wishes to speak with you in private. Please visit the Dragon Realm at your earliest convenience," replied Priestess Xing.

"I shall," said Elder Thaddeus respectfully.

"Priestess Xing? A Temple to Mother?" said a stunned handsome young muscular-looking nobleman.

"Are you a dragon too?" asked Edward happily.

"A temple?" asked a beautiful young noblewoman.

As Will and his family stood there more and more dragons appeared one after the other. Overall, 27 dragons, joined Will and his family.

"I never knew so many dragons resided in Gadreel?" Elizabeth said recognizing a few noblewomen who she now recognized were secretly dragons.

"Tonight, I shall consecrate this temple, so that our prayers may reach Mother Tiamat. Please pray with me!" said Priest Xing guiding everyone in prayer.

Afterward, Will, his family, and the dragons moved the meet and greet to his residence, where they stayed up late enjoying a sumptuous meal.