Blozabella and Muffin were silent until they got outside of Eden's gate. Then Muffin said to Blozabella, "She's such a bitch. Why do you stay with her? I'm only coming here because of you." Blozabella mounted her horse, "I'm here because I have many to help, they would be sad if I left." Muffin then asked, "why do you let her talk to you like that?" Blowzabella replied, "I don't, but many others love her and she is manipulative. She left me out of conversations I should have been in." "That's so unfair!" Muffin exclaimed. "You don't even deserve that. You're too nice," Muffin added as she got closer with her horse and patted Blozella on the back of her shoulder. Blozella had a tear drop forming under eye, but she smudged it off. She took a deep breath, "I care about people." Then she furrowed her brows and looked at Muffin to say, "Sorry I couldn't get her to reveal her guide. She's so secretive about it. We couldn't test your theory." It's okay," responded Muffin with a smile. Then they rode off. In the distance stood Sylvie with her squad listening to their conversation. They were in their human form hiding in the shadows of the woods.
Eden arrived at the study and began to write to Callan in their private message. "Are you free?" She waited about 5 minutes before sending a second message. "I just wanted to confirm with you what is going on with Muffin." No reply from Callan. Eden was still fuming from the earlier interaction but she took a breather and decided if it was something important then there would be a reply. She switched to her training gear and was heading out when she her the notification come in. She sat back down to open it and see his reply, "What are you talking about?" Eden thought of how she could word it in case it backfired on Muffin that was really trying to escape without paying the fee. "I offered her a place in my alliance, she seemed to like her visit with Blozella here." Callan took a few minutes to respond, "There's nothing going on with her. She's just easily impressed. Next time you contact me regarding my alliance, make sure it's serious. Otherwise I can't drop what I'm doing just to reply to you." Eden got annoyed at his reply, it sounded a little too much like what she just said to Blowzella. She then replied, "I thought you would want to know I offered her a place, since I don't go sneaking around behind people's backs to do what I want to do." There was no reply from Callan. Then Eden decided to turn off her notifications she would receive remotely. She had a habit of turning them off when she was doing something that needed her full attention. Then turn them on after she is done. For war, they were always on, but her alliance members knew not to distract her unless it was important. Eden left for the training grounds.
Sylvie was done updating Celeste and Cerberus on what she overheard. Celeste said to her via mindlink, "We need to find a way on how to get into her castle without alerting the defense runes of an intruder." Then Sylvie notified them both that there were villagers traveling in a cart to the castle from afar that Lewis just spotted with his enhanced eyesight. "Intercept them and find out what they are traveling for." Sylvie and her squad moved fast and halted the driver. The driver screamed, "Thieves!" Then a few soldiers pop out of the carriage with swords. "We aren't thieves , we just seek help," answered Sylvie. She looked at the man with a hat dressed in fine robes. Then Sylvie took out a few golden coins and said, "We need someone to kill the 3 thieves that robbed us. They took our chests and ran off in different directions. This is all I have to pay, but my chests are full of these." The man almost grobbled at the sight of the gold. It was more than what he earned in an entire year for transporting resources and villagers for hire. The man gave a mischievous smile when he looked at Sylvie and her men. They didn't have any weapons on them. They were well dressed but they just lost all their gold. They were just peasants without their gold. The man placed his right thumb and index finger on his chin and said,
"I wish I could help, but I have villagers I am transporting to a monarch. They are to be hired for work and for you to get in my carriage, you must sign the contract to become one of those villagers seeking a job. Without a signed contract the carriage's protective shield won't drop". He lied. He could drop it by reciting the chant, but he wanted to trap them to keep the gold for himself. He planned to pay any monarch to help him find those three thieves. Sylvie updated Celeste and then asked, "which monarch are you headed to right now?" The man responded, "Great Eden, she has requested villagers for her forge and mage tower." Celeste asked Sylvie, "how many." Sylvie repeated the question. The man said, 12 in total. If you are not hired here, you would go to the next monarch." Celeste took a moment to think before saying, "you make the choice if you are willing to risk your freedom for the mission." Sylvie asked Celeste, "How important is the mission to you my Queen." Celested responded, "the future of our pack will depend on it." Sylvie then answered the man, " I will sign the contract." The rest of the squad received the same option to risk their freedom or not, but they agreed to risk it once they saw Sylvie sign.
Upon arriving, they followed the crowd to the forge building where Gunther was doing the hiring. Murphy and Kane were going to go first but Sylvie stopped them. "I want to see if he is hiring just to fill spots or if there is a requirement. We can intimidate everyone to back off if its the first," she told them via mindlink. They watched the first one follow Gunther's instructions, which was to use the meter first. Once it moved to the first mark, Gunther smiled and asked a few questions. The first question was if they liked magic and casting spells. What they would do if they didn't achieve the next level. If they had a plan to advance. Did they find forging weapons boring? What was it that they liked about forging? What would they like their monarch to do for them?
The first person answered, they aren't sure if they like magic, but if given the opportunity, they would try to be promoted. As for their monarch, just that they get fair wages. They weren't fond of being in the heat, but they would try it. Gunther then thanked the first person and said, "better luck on the next monarch." Then the second person got to the second mark on the meter and was dismissed without being asked any questions. The Third person got the 5th mark on the meter and Gunther thanked him and asked him to wait, but didn't ask any questions. Then the fourth person got to the first mark and Gunther asked the same questions. It was a female villager who was petite and looked fragile. She answered, "I don't have a preference in work, just as long as I get food, shelter, and some clothes. She looked down at the ragged clothes she was wearing. Then she said carefully, I can only hope the monarch treats her villagers well. I will work hard. Gunther took in a breath of air and assigned her a mage role. Then asked her to wait next to the one pending. Sylvie noticed this one was immediately hired and had a low amount of mana for magic use, yet she was given mage so easily. She looked at the rest and they understood the same thing. They made their way through the crowd and asked if they could switch out some garments for some of the old ones. The villagers were extremely happy to do it because they were just given one pair of clothes to travel in and to sleep in. They didn't get a new wardrobe until they reached the monarch's castle and they bought it from their own wages. After a monarch's fall, they would be captured from the attacker or placed in limbo by the elders until they were sent out again.
Two more were hired for the forge. They were husky men and they had expressed that they enjoyed the labor part of the forging. Then it was Sylvie's turn. She concentrated on just moving to the first mark and succeeded. Then for her answers, she said she wasn't interested in magic, but if that is where she was needed, then she would go where she is useful. She then said she admired the weaponry, but she doesn't know how to use it. As for her monarch, she would love to follow a devoted person to her people. Gunther smiled and assigned her a mage position. Gideon, Lewis and Murphy followed the same example as Sylvie ,but they each had to change the way they worded it to sound genuine. They were given a mage position. Then it was Oscar's turn. He tried to focus on the meter to get the first mark but his concentration was off that he ended up pushing the mark all the way up and passed the limit. Oscar tried to cover the result in a panic and dropped the box on the floor. Then he apologized nervously, "I am sorry, I think I broke it. It's giving the wrong results." Gunther had seen the result before Oscar tried to cover it and asked him, "Why are you trying to hide your ability?" Oscar moved his head lower to Gunther to show weakness. "I I I , I'm not interested in the magic tower or want to be used to hurt others. I just want to work and be invisible to the rest. I was a soldier in my last assigned position and it has only brought misfortune. Working in the forge would bring me peace," answered Oscar while looking at Sylvie for help. Gunther noticed the eye contact. Then told Oscar, "I was instructed to not hire anyone above the first mark, but I asked this man to wait because I wanted to see if my liege would reconsider. But you are too strong, and she would just dismiss it. I have seen her resolve in our broadcast." Gunther looked at Sylvie, and said, "I see you don't want to disappoint her." Then he paused to think. He would be dismissed as a mage if Eden knew, but not as a villager since he would be locked into the forge role. Then Gunther asked Oscar, "what's your favorite weapon?" Oscar replied, "They're all useful in their own way, to pick one is to disregard the individual beauty of the weapon." Then Gunther assigned him a forging role. Kane who was nervously waiting his turn now wondered if he was going to screw it up like Oscar. When Kane walked up for his turn he greeted Gunther and then looked at the guy who received the mark of 5th. Kane asked, "can he test it's not broken? I don't want to lose an opportunity to work here because it really broke." Gunther nodded and directed the man to try the meter again. The man did as asked and he got the same mark. Then Kane gulped and placed his finger on the symbol. He was so nervous that he couldn't concentrate and closed his eyes instead. His forehead began to sweat because he would be the only one who failed and then separated from his pack. He was beginning to think of all the good times he had with them and how he was going to have to say goodbye. Oscar who sucked at his mana control was just above his. They were known for putting in too much power on things. Which is why they were better at attacking than defending. Defending required focus and control to not hurt the ones behind you that you are protecting. Kane always played the super macho role, but right now he was acting like a little punk ass bitch. He didn't notice that his emotions and nervousness were allowing his mana to seep out. He hadn't even begun to focus on moving the meters when Gunther began to start asking him the same questions as everyone. Shocked he looked at the meter and saw it was on the first mark, it was shaking on the right spot and Kane removed his hand fast before he fuck it up. Kane answered and was assigned to the mage tower as well. A sense of relief washed over him. Then Oscar mindlinked him, "you were shitting bricks weren't you." Kane yelled in their link, "Shut you fucken mouth. It was just difficult to put out so little power into a box without breaking it." Oscar roared in laughter in his head. Then Kane looked at Gideon, Lewis and Murphy who were smirking at him. Stupid Oscar had already told them what he said to me. Sylvie just shook her head at them both and then looked alert when she turned to look at the entrance.
Eden arrived at the forge hoping to see if the task she had asked Gunther to complete was done. It was still early, but she wanted to check on the progress and to see how Gunther set things up. "My liege! You have arrived. I am sorry I have not completed your task yet." exclaimed Gunther as he tried to make his way to Eden to give her a proper greeting. Arthur, Gabriel and Gwaine were behind Eden. Erza was floating behind them because Eden had asked her to stay back in case a non-human villager was within the crowd. She didn't want to know if there was one in order to give everyone fair treatment. After learning Maximilian wasn't human the back of her head. Eden waved Gunther to stop trying to bow and asked, "what of the task I gave you. How far have you completed?" she asked with softness in her tone. Gunther showed her a list, and said, "there is one spot of each position left. I had a question because I wanted to run it past you before I made a decision." Eden looked at Gunther, "Oh, what is it that you have a question on?" Gunther signaled for the man to get closer and then Erza floated a little back. Eden didn't fail to notice Erza's movement. Eden then looked at Gunther who was a little excited and nervous at the same time. She didn't want to burst his bubble, then she stopped him before he asked by raising her hand. Then she said, "Whatever it is you are thinking, I will trust your decision making. Remember my requests and consider that your role is important to the safety of our people. Their armor depends on you." Then Eden placed her hand on Gunther's shoulder and smiled. "I will trust your judgement. Please have the new hires meet in my study so that I may see your final choices." Speechless for a moment, Gunther stuttered to say "Tha tha tha Thank you my liege. I will do my best to not disappoint you." Eden closed her eyes as the flashes of his last few moments flashed in her eyes. She forced a smile and walked away with her eyes still holding the water it was collecting. She forgot that she could see their past life's last moments with contact. This was probably to encourage monarchs from not getting too close to the villagers preventing any socializing or any personal connection.