Genesis watched as the mysterious woman who introduced herself as Valentina of House Armstrong rushed from the room. He cocked an eyebrow at his cousin in question before he turned to the butler and said, “I’m sorry about that. I had forgot that I was assigned a butler.”

  “It is alright, sir,” the Butler replied in an even tone. However, Genesis did spot the Butler pull at his necktie and his eyes darted around the room. “I will let Head Sebastian know you will need a replacement widow for your room, General.”

  “You know how to start the morning off with a bang, Gen,” Remus commented, dryly. The three men heard the banging of a door slamming shut. “And you are still popular with the ladies.”

  Genesis resisted the urge to make a rude gesture toward Remus but made the comment, “It is safe to assume she is staying the Armstrong Suit then?”

  “Yes, she is,” Remus replied, “She arrived sometime late last night and was heading back to the suit when I caught her being escorted by Sebastian, Head of Staffing, I believe.”

  Genesis nodded. He glanced at the butler who hadn’t moved from his position. He let out a sigh. He was in no mood to deal with anything. “Could you go fetch me some breakfast?”

  “As you wish, General,” The butler immediately replied and rushed out of the room without a look back.

  “Well, now, you are doing alright by scaring the shit out of your butler at this ungodly hour of the morning,” Remus said, “I’m turning for the night.”

  “Why were you up all night anyway,” Genesis asked before he yawned. He rubbed his face and walked over to the wash basin. He took a handful of water and washed away the last raiments of sleep from his face.

  “I’m sorry, Genesis,” Remus replied, “I’m afraid I can’t tell you. You are the ACTING Head of House, not Lord Bardock himself, after all.”

  “Fair enough,” the General spoke, “It was worth a try.” He shrugged, reaching for a towel nearby. He glance over at his cousin. “See ya after your nap then, Remmy.”

  Remus did make a rude hand gesture over his shoulder as he left the White Hall Suite. Genesis laughed softly and patted his face dry. He walked over to the wardrobe and picked out his clothes for the day. He casted his gaze around the bedroom. It was his old one when the family was living in Camelot, back when his mother and sister were with the family, not away. His father kept it this way in case Genesis ever had to use for Family related business or when Lord Bardock couldn’t be in the castle for a long bit of time. He knew his father was in the process of returning to the White Hall Estate to get to the bottom of his grandmother’s letter concerning his sister and the reason why she would be traveling to the Estate.

  That thought led him to Valentina Armstrong. He frowned. She appeared to be around the same age as his sister. She even had the same name. He hadn’t been lying when he said he wasn’t aware his great aunt had a granddaughter, but of course, it had been nearly a decade since he had personally seen Aunt Nami. She made no mention about having a granddaughter. Of course, he didn’t think it would have been brought up. Lady Freya, his grandmother and the Matron of the White Hall Family, would have demanded for her to brought to the Estate for all courtly training, attend the Coming of Age ball, and eventually married off for the betterment of the White Hall Family.

  He shook his head. He would think about that at a later time, after all the ceremonial shit was done and over. He needed to check on his men and do a quick morning workout before he had to be down at the docks to welcome the Pope to Camelot with his Second and the other two Generals and their seconds.

  Genesis quickly got dressed. The Butler arrived with his breakfast. The Head of Staffing followed him with a disappointing frown on his lips.

  “Really, General,” Sebastian started, looking at the widow with a faint amusement, “If you keep scaring the butlers I assign to you, you will have to start waking yourself up.”

  Genesis didn’t say anything as he ate his breakfast. He would be burning it off and then some once he got started for the day. Sebastian kept his eyes on the Lord Heir of House White Hall before he continued, “I don’t know if you have been made aware, yet, but a Lady Valentina of House Armstrong arrived late last night. I have made sure that she is settled in and a maid will be assigned to her within the next hour.”

  Genesis picked up the goblet that accompanied his meal and took a long drink before he replied, “I have been aware of her.” He paused, thinking. She was a close relative of his, close enough where he thought at first he was staring at his sister, all grown up. “She already scolded me for scaring my butler.”

  “Then the next time I see the wonderful lady, I will give her my thanks,” Sebastian’s lips twitched into a smirk as his tone held a note of something the Fiery General didn’t want to even to think to identify. He had a long list of things he needed to get done.

  “You do that,” Genesis commented as he stood up from the table and hurried over to the fireplace where he had took off his boots the night before, slamming his feet back into them. He hurried out of the Family Wing without a second thought.

  “Attention!” Reno’s voice rang out as Genesis entered the Training field for his branch of the military. “General Genesis has arrived!”

  Slipping into his General Role, Genesis eyed his men. He knew most of the men on duty now were in the same position as him, cursing the fact the sun was barely peeking over the horizon and the fact they had to be up this early in the morning. He smirked. He knew one way to wake them up.

  “Morning, men,” Genesis called out, “I know a lot of you are cursing the fact you are up this early in the morning.” He felt the silent agreement radiating from his men. He went on, “So, as a way to wake up, and as a warm up for our wonderfully long ass day a head of us, do a lap on the wall around the town.” He also felt the silent groans and almost non-exists glares coming from them. He waited for someone to take the lead. “Do we have any volunteers to start? Hmmm, No?”

  Someone obviously had their coffee this morning in the front line and called out with their hand up, “I’ll take the lead.”

  Genesis nodded. Wasn’t that Captain Green? He pushed the thought away and commanded, “Start running!” The man peeled out of the group and headed to the stairs leading up to the wall. One by one, the rest of them followed, falling into a two-person line. Genesis watched them disappear over the edge of the stairs before he turned to Reno, “Night Report?”

  “Nothing much happened during the night, General,” Reno shrugged, “Other then the fact, a lady in blue showed up in town sometime during the night and evidence of some sort of blood ritual took place in an alley way.” Genesis raised an eyebrow at that. “Yeah, Commander Henry is looking into the blood ritual with a few of his men. He had one of the men with a note explaining why he couldn’t deliver the report in person by the time I got here. As far as I know, he is still out there with a couple of the men cleaning up.”

  Genesis nodded. He knew magic was illegal per say, but there were very few court-approved magic users in the Kingdom. It was also a long process to get approved by the Court of Camelot to use magic and most of the time, asking for permission was a death sentence. Two of the Court Approved Magi lived on the castle grounds. When he saw either the Battle Mage or the She-Mage, he would question them about it. However, he looked at his second with an evil grin, suggesting, “Let’s follow them. I think they will have to pick up the pace. We don’t have the time to horse around today.”

  Reno nodded. Genesis darted up the stairs and spotted his men approaching the cross wall, leading over to the outer wall from the inner castle wall. Reno and Genesis hurried over to join them. It was not long before Genesis started to grin and he let out a whoop as he approached the rear duo causing them to jump. He passed them, continuing to make his way up beside the line. Reno didn’t follow him.

  A sense of nostalgic fell over General Genesis as he slowly reached the beginning of the line. He used to run after his younger sister back when she was around because he was the older brother. He had to keep his younger siblings in line. He knew the reason why he felt this way. Just hearing the name Valentina brought back the memories of the sister he barely knew anymore.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  She used to escape from their nursemaid through a number of means and usually, by the time someone had noticed her gone. A small smile flickered at his lips as he remembered one time, she might have been four and he was six, he thought it was around Christmas time or New Years. He didn’t remember which The White Hall Family would always throw a wonderful ball, celebrating the holiday. The memory swept over him.

  He sat up from where he was laying on his stomach, coloring pictures, waiting for the nursemaid to finish helping his young brothers getting dress for the ball. He heard a giggle and turned his head to see his younger sister, Valentina, dressed in a pale blue dress with a mischievous look on her face. She spotted him looking at her and held up a finger to her lips before she sneaked out of the nursery. His jaw dropped. He was the one going to get into trouble! He called out to her nursemaid and informed her Valentina had left the room again. He didn’t want to be sent to bed early!

  He shook his head. He remembered that she was caught by a young ninja who had been hired to help the guards patrol the boundary and the estate before she got too far in the ballroom without supervision. He let out a small chuckle as he reached the front of the line and barked out, “Pick up the pace, men!” He past the Captain and took the lead. He knew Reno would be pushing the men from the back. They reached the outer wall, over looking the docks. A glance toward the left showed him that the Honor Branch were heading their way. Genesis took the right, leading the men over the wall that separated the docks from the rest of the castle and town. They headed North.

  The General of the Fire Brigade heard the familiar sounds of the town waking up as the Morning Shift of the Fire Brigade ran on the wall. The calls of birds came above as the residents of each distinct started their morning routines. He heard a cry of a baby coming from a nearby large building, longing for their breakfast and some of the locals for each distinct roam through the streets, getting ready for the day. He spotted a massager boy darting through the cobble streets with a stack of rolled up papers under one arm with a bag full of them bouncing off his lower back.

  Genesis gaze drifted from the town below over to the Northern and Eastern Farm lands. He spotted a village half a day’s ride to the East. There was a trail of people heading to the Castle and the town below from that village. Apparently, there were still people coming to Camelot, wanting to pay their respects to the dead King. In the nearby eastern forest, he spotted a few trails of smoke drifting up from the forest canopy. He continued leading hie men around the town, heading South. One of the southern roads was the same way as the Eastern road, but he spotted a knight with his cape floating out behind him, riding hard. Genesis frowned. He couldn’t see the family symbol, but the colors were silver and red. He strained his memory. He knew they belong to House Nevermore. However, the fact the Knight was riding hard that was never a good thing, especially this early in the morning. However, if it became an issue, he knew he would get a summons from the Court and get the information they had at hand. He pushed it out of his mind for now.

  Genesis didn’t regret pushing himself and his men hard as they approached the western wall. He panted, hard. His heart thundered in his ears. His mouth felt dry as he led the men around the last corner, heading over the wall separating the Southern part of the town from the docks and started to slow the pace he had set when he took over.

  He saw the Fiery Blade Brigade approached and he held up his left hand. General Bartholomew grinned at Genesis and they slapped hands. The Explosive General kept up his hand, allowing the Blade Brigade slap his hand. It was a way to encourage the men and a signal that his men had reached the last stretch. For the men desiring to their ability to breath normally, it meant the hellish run was nearly over.

  Ignoring the sting in his hand, Genesis bounced down the stairs and at the bottom of the stairs, he slowed to a walk. He knew several of his men would heading over to the water station the servants had set up by the time the Honor Brigade had made it back to the training grounds.

  Genesis turned to his men and tried to wet his mouth before he called out, “Good job, men!” He watched as a couple stragglers clutched the stair wall, trying to make it down without falling down the stone stairs. Reno walked behind them, panting hard. The General met his Second’s eye and they nodded at each other. None of the men passed out during the run.

  That was a good sign. Usually, he had two or four men pass out during the strenuous run, but those were new to the company. He had a program in place where those men had to extra laps every other day to increase their endurance and they always had an experience partner who made it through the morning run without passing out for a few months.

  Reno approached, slowly catching his breath as Genesis took a cup of water and sucked in a deep breath before he drunk from the cup, draining it. The General let out the breath as he took the cup away from his lips and he watched the men rehydrate from the run.

  “Well, men, are you awake?” Genesis asked. There were various ‘yeah’s, ‘yes’, and some curses thrown in, at a low volume. He frowned. He barked the question. That caught their attention.

  “Yes, Sir, General,” they called out as they snapped to attention. Genesis spotted one of the men splash himself in the face with a cup full of water when he tried to snap to attention. The red head had to shallow a bark of laughter.

  “Now, that’s better,” Genesis called out, “Now, we have the Pope arriving today. I want you to be on your best behavior. You are representing Camelot’s Military Force, no matter what branch you are apart of.” He looked at the line of men. He was proud of his men.

  They had shown discipline in the past whenever there was a major political event like this. He knew they would still show that same discipline now. “While the few days has been stressful for everyone in the castle and town with the King’s passing,” he acknowledged, “We are still a major force to be reckon with. There are not many who are willing to stand against us when we take to the field. However, during this time of mourning, we can not drop our guard. We have guests all around the Kingdom that has shown up over the past couple days and we will have more arriving today. Like I said, the Pope will be arriving at the dock’s shortly. He has brought his own security detail with him, but it does not mean we don’t have to help protect him. With every guest that crossed into our town and into our castle, we will guard them with our life. Why?”

  The General ran his eyes over the men, allowing his single word question to echo before he answered it, “We signed up for this. We all signed up to be someone’s hero.” He saw his men crack smiles as they thought of their families at home. “Now, remember that as we all perform our duties. Some of them are boring as fuck.” That brought chuckles from some of the men who knew what Genesis talked about and other smiled, thanking Lady Luck that they hadn’t been assigned to the boring tasks their General talked about. “Other duties required more of us.” Silence filled the yard. The men knew which task required more and then some. “And there are duties we all like.”

  “Believe it or not,” Reno pipped up, “This guy does like paperwork.” He pointed at Genesis.

  Genesis turned his head and glared at his second. Reno appeared to be busy by not looking at him. Another round of chuckles rose from the men. Genesis allowed the comment to slip by. It would do the men good to see some friendly interaction between their General and his Second. After all, he wasn’t any better then the rest of them. Just like them, he fought to get to his position. Granted he did have the option to be given the position without proving he had earned or not, he chose to earn it.

  Right now, Genesis was all for keeping the morale of his men up. He had learned through experience that anything that cause a smile or a chuckle to escape from one of his men was a good thing. It helped morale. It was going to help during this uncertain period of time.

  “Anyway,” The Heir of the White Hall Family started, “Captains Wood, Ford, and Gillian.” Three men stepped forward from the front line and saluted the General. “You three may proceed with the assignments for today’s patrols and training regiments.”

  “Yes, General, Sir,” the trio called out.

  Genesis watched as Captain Wood twisted on his heel and called for the new recruits to follow him over to the firing range. Nearly two dozen men parted from the rest of the troop for the morning shift. Captain Ford walked over to a nearby table and picked up a scroll. He turned to the men and read off a dozen names, informing them they were to follow the General and the Lieutenant General to the docks as part of the welcoming party representing the Fire Brigade.

  The Fire Brigade Welcoming Party peeled away from the rest of the men and strolled over to the equipment rack, grabbing their assign equipment. One by one, they fell into line, in front of Genesis and Reno. They waited.

  Genesis didn’t want to leave until he made sure that the rest of the men had been assigned patrols or a station. Captain Ford went on, assigning patrols to the South and West parts of the town. After Captain Ford was done, Captain Gillian did the same with the North and East parts of the town. There were still nearly two dozen men left. He frowned, thinking. He knew Honor had some of his men patrolling the outer walls. Bartholomew was the same way.

  However, Genesis knew the weakness of his own branch. They were long range fighters. While some of them had the abilities to work in close range, majority of his men was faster at firing then swinging a sword. However, that was why Honor trained his men to be better at swordsmanship. Bartholomew’s men were trained in both, but they weren’t as skilled as Honor’s men with a sword or Genesis’ men in range weaponry.

  “The rest of you,” Genesis started, “I’m sorry to say, you will be working on making sure our stocks of ammo for each corner Tower is fully supplies as well as for each main entrance into the town and into the castle grounds.” He paused, allowing his eyes to roam over the remaining men. A couple of them looked relived to get an easy job while there were others who looked annoyed. They would get over it. “I rather be safe then sorry when it comes to our security. Please, work hard and make sure we are fully stock in case the worst does happen. Move out!”

  Genesis stayed in the Fire Brigade training yard long enough to see the rest of the men head to their stock rooms before he followed his own order and lead Reno and the troop of men down to the docks to welcome the Pope and his party to Camelot. He wasn’t looking forward to this. He already spotted the Royal party in the process of gathering and heading down to the dock to greet the Pope. It was going to be a long day.

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