A Test

The very next day, as usual, William woke up very early and a bit grumpily.

" I guess it's once more time for the hell training that will soon become a routine, when can I finally get used to it? I wish I can jump a few years in advance to when I can breeze through it shirtless, with a six-pack and chiseled body." He looked at his window and into the slowly brightening sky.

"Hercules!! Kratos!! Ares!! If you exist and can hear me in this far away place, please let me wake up tomorrow with a body worthy of a Greek GOD. I will do anything; HELL!!! I will even build temples in your names; I can make enough money for that, I promise!!"

William spouted nonsense and he knew it, but alas what else is there to do but to prey to fictional gods, one of them was just a video game character for god sake.

Back on earth, he would always try to go to the gym to work out and get some muscles on him for the summer, yet it would take him no more than three months to lose motivation and drop out.

William as usual went ahead to have breakfast with his father who was a little gloomier than the norm.

As soon as William was done with the greetings he sat down and asked. "Is everything okay father? You seem to have something on your mind."

Lord Ulric looked at his son for a bit and thought about the conversation he had had the night before with Alfred and considered that this maybe was a good opportunity to test his youngest son's capabilities.

"Indeed William, there is something that has been on my mind for some time now, as you know your brother has been sent to deal with some bandits in the north; after more than a week, he had yet catch or drive them away. I wonder if you have an idea about how we can deal with this situation."

William thought for a bit, he did not think much of his father's request who he had started to care more about ever since they came back; instead, he racked his mind to think of something before he made a request of his own.

"I don't have much understanding of the situation; can I get a report about the incidents, the locations of the attack, dates, goods stolen and so on? It would help me greatly in assessing the situation."

Lord Ulric was pleasantly surprised by his son's response. "A good leader always prioritizes information before any action; this is indeed a good start." He thought before he answered his son.

" Alright, you can go to your training after you're done, I will have all the information we have summarized and sent to your chamber; you can give it a look once you have time, but don't dally for too long, we can't allow these rogues to attack our trade lanes much longer or it will affect our reputation and income.

"I shall take a look at them today, I promise." William responded.

After that, he finished his breakfast quickly and went to meet captain Oswin for his daily training.

By the time Oswin was done with him, it was already about 11 o'clock so about an hour before lunch.

As usual, he opted for a nap to regain some of his strength before making his way once more to the dining room to have his lunch with his father.

As soon as he was done William went ahead to look for Edmund and see if he had finished the task he was given to do. He had told Edmund to go look for him at the singing stream tavern every day at around 2 in the afternoon, in case William came back early or something.

William had made his way once more with his disguised guards who made sure to set some distance away from their young lord to keep his identity "secret-ish".

Sometime after he had sat down, Edmund arrived and made his way towards William's table.

"Hello William." Edmund greeted.

"There you are! My favorite merchant friend, how have you been doing?" William greeted back as he mentioned for Edmund to sit. He did not know any other merchants so saying Edmund was his favorite was a bit ridiculous.

"I have been doing just fine, thank you." Edmund had gotten a lot more comfortable with William, and though he still had his reservations when it came to his intentions, he was at least polite to him, unlike the thugs.

"So, how is the research coming along, I hope the gold coin was enough for the expenses."

"Yes it was enough, I had used it to bribe a few individuals to get me the insider knowledge that I could not get my hands on publicly."

"Nice work! So do you have it here with you?"

Edmund nodded and took out of a bag he had brought with him a stack of parchment paper and put it on the table.

William was surprised, there are at least ten papers, he expected three or maybe five at most.

"Good work Edmund, I still need to read it which will take some time, so for now you are free to do as you wish. Anyways let us eat and drink."

William stayed at the tavern with Edmund to catch up with him while drinking a bit as wells as snacking on some food since he had lunch not too long ago.

After about an hour, he left the tavern and was soon followed by the guards, but not before reminding Edmund to come every day at around two o'clock to the tavern in case William needed him.

After getting what he wanted from Edmund, he made his way back to the castle; he still had to look at the bandit reports as well as the research if he still had some time after that after all.

After returning to the castle district, dismissing the guards and making his way to his room, William found a stack of papers placed on his desk.

Laura, who was tidying the room a bit, since she could only really do it when William was away explained to him. "Those papers were brought in an hour ago by order of the marquess since you were not present at the time they were left at your desk."

"Thank you Laura, can you leave tidying the room until tomorrow? I need some privacy at the moment."

"Certainly my lord, I shall be nearby in case you need me." Laura bowed and left the room, closing the door behind her.

William made his way to his desk, sat down and started reading the report, as he did so though he started to furrow his brows more as he read on.

It made no sense to him that these bandits were capable of doing all of this on their own; they obviously had connections, skill, information, and some foresight.

By the time William had finished the reports, two hours had passed by; in a couple more the sky would be dark.

He took a blank, parchment paper and a quill and started formulating a plan that can help take care of this threat that seemed far less simple than what it appeared to be.

"Should I go for 'simple' and brute force it, or should I go for 'elaborate and intricate' as a plan?" William contemplated on what course of action he should take.