Isekai: The Eight Soul Fragments

Serkyrio went out of the castle and went towards the sightseeing district. He went around to see if there are various people causing troubles while loosening up his own self for taking a lot of time. It was still quite early in the morning as the people who are playing some board games began getting more and more concentrated as most of them are having quite intense battles or getting pushed back. He decided to spectate one game of the Chinese version of chess [Xiangqi]. After checking how the game went, it seems that one person was losing by a small margin of having an overwhelming amount of pieces. But the minister pieces he has somewhat blocked the movements of the his own king, allowing the enemy to perform a neat checkmate. "Ahh, that was unfortunate... Let's get to construction, Arlesk might be moving around to check us now." The two guys who were playing cleaned up from the table that they used to play on and properly organized the xiangqi board before leaving. They returned it to the person who was in charge of letting them rent the board. Serkyrio is currently in the area where there are tables lined up for multiple kinds of board games. There are medium sized boards for the three versions of chess that can be rented for as long as they wish. But the boards will not leave the premises of the open air area. While looking around, many people are renting the board for two copper coins each. Serkyrio went to the person managing the boards and took in some info. "Yo, how's the business so far?" The young lady who was the one managing noticed Serkyrio and immediately responded. "Ah, your majesty! Yep, many people that are coming here were very interested in the three board games! In fact, there are people that are becoming quite strong with their thinking skills. There are those who wished to purchase but I told them to go towards the shopping district for that." The girl began scratching her head while saying something with a troubled face. "Some troublesome guys and merchants do come here often and try to force me to hand over the things. But it ended just fine with the [Sentinels] or the [Knight Order] patrolling the area after all." Serkyrio immediately recognized the word [Sentinels] which she referred to as the group Draxus manages. From the training he's currently giving, there are only a few members that aren't even reaching twenty members, but they have abilities that are just below Draxus in terms of skills." Serkyrio simply smiled and asked other questions. "What about information, this place seems like a good place for exchanging information right?" The young lady nodded while giving an answer. "Yep, I do see Minister Andreus coming here sometimes to ask if I got some weird information. But he rarely does come here, so I will tell you instead. There seems to be some dangerous people moving around on the kingdom that's at the complete center of this continent. They were very powerful and was rumored to actually battle against the hero there. It was said that all party members of that group were easily defeated by the hero. There are rumors that the group had defeated any pursuit of the knight order, so they sent the hero." Serkyrio immediately got hooked to the discussion after the young lady mentioned [Hero]. "What kind of abilities did the hero have?" The young lady pondered for a bit before giving an unsure answer. "I don't know much, but some people said that it involves teleporting and instantly knocking down enemies... It's like he moved and defeated everyone in a single moment. Ah! I think he was called as [Hero of Time]?" Serkyrio's eyes instantly narrowed down and began pondering. "A hero that can freely control time huh...? That would be a threat to the three of them... But if that hero can't freely stop time whenever it wants, then it would be possible for them to defeat him..." The young lady tilted her head as Serkyrio continued muttering. "Ah, I was thinking whether it would be a good sign if he becomes active around the alliance. It'll be bad for the most part since most of my people will not be able to handle him after all. By the way, what are the plans for this place in the future?" The young lady pondered a bit due to the sudden change of topic. "Well, we want to allow the people who rented the boards to continue enjoying the game as usual. But we'd like to further increase the number of people who are coming around to this place and enjoy the games further." Serkyrio looked up to the sky for a second while thinking. "I got some ideas, like preparing some light snacks and drinks so they can play while eating. It'll be perfect for times like a break." The young lady revealed a surprised face while asking Serkyrio about it. "Ah well, I'll head here again later so I can teach you about what kind of food would be good as a light snack for the townspeople here. Since the residential district is still under construction, I'll have to check on the progress there. See ya later." The young lady waved at Serkyrio as he left the venue. Serkyrio then went to the currently under construction district on the west, which contains all the houses and other things. He then found Arlesk who was giving out instructions to the other people. He didn't bother him as so he looked for Hecate and Amber who are working as his secretaries.

"What brought you here Your Majesty?" Hecate told Amber to assist Arlesk in the paperworks while she talks to Serkyrio. "Just checking on Arlesk, he seems to be giving his all for this empire." He turned his gaze towards the people who began constructing the walls without mistakes and perfectly handled everything despite being a little shorthanded. To Serkyrio, he didn't see any of the construction members rushing unless one person is holding out something that's a little bit over the balance. It was people who were helping each other happily. "I'm really glad that everything is taking shape quite smoothly. I thought that starting a country would be difficult but it ended up being really simple. The feeling of peacefulness in this place is really great, but powerful and mutated monsters do come out here from time to time. It's much more frequent than in other countries but Arlesk or the sentinels come out to annihilate them every time. It's a little troubling that the materials were hard to extract." Serkyrio immediately pondered after Hecate mentioned the things about the materials. "By chance, are the materials stored in interdimensional storage?" Hecate nodded while continuing to explain further. "Yeah, but every time some monster comes out, a large part is given to us so that the townspeople can use the meat for a great meal." Serkyrio let out a convinced voice and asked other questions. "By the way, how are things with Arlesk?" Hecate averted her gaze with blushing cheeks. "Ahaha! Seems like you're having some trouble with him? That's fine, but you and Amber should be aware of things. Arlesk tends to get really popular, so keep an eye on him whenever he does things. And take care of him since he's more of a person that would face the enemy whenever the country is in a threat. He has a somewhat heroic stance to this country and is pretty much loved by the people of the countries he gets involved in. Be sure to stay by his side even when things escalate alright?" Hecate nodded and responded positively to Serkyrio. "Good, I'll take my leave. Feel free to tell him that I came around to check on the state of affairs. I'll be a bit busy until lunch time so see you around." Serkyrio left as Hecate waved at him. Serkyrio then went back to the castle to clear up the paperwork that's accumulating in his office.

"Ah Arlesk, Serkyrio passed by to check by the way." Hecate returned to Amber and Arlesk's position after the meeting had ended. She then immediately notified Arlesk regarding Serkyrio's check. "So he checked on us today huh? Even though it's everyone's day-off today, we're technically just doing whatever we want. Though sometimes what we want to do is to clear off piling work. But what did he say?" Hecate immediately turned her gaze to the ones that are constructing. "He simply said that he's around checking the state of affairs all over the town. He's going back to his office in the castle if you plan on looking for him." Arlesk then pat her head while looking up to the castle. "I'll go later, thanks Hecate." Hecate blushed a little which got Amber a little jealous. Arlesk didn't hesitate and pat Amber's head as well. "As always, thank you both for helping me." Arlesk smiled at the two who are enjoying themselves as they receive headpats.