Needless to say, Lucas received a good deal of 'tender' care from his Master after he explained to her just how cheap it was to make his soap and sugar.
The punishment he suffered would surely have gone on for much longer had the boy not thought quickly and offered up both production methods to Celestina.
Patting her young Disciple on the head, Celestina beamed happily and accepted the offer, as if her prior anger was all just for show.
In fact, Lucas suspected that that was exactly the case and that Celestina was just waiting for him to offer up this money-making recipe of his own accord.
Of course, Lucas wasn't planning on asking what the truth was, or reneging on the deal.
He valued his life, after all.
Still, he did manage to mostly recover his losses by proposing, "I can turn over the recipes for soap and sugar, but I hope Master will allow me to supervise and manage their production."
Celestina chuckled slightly when Lucas made this request, thinking to herself that this boy really wasn't easy to cheat. Even so, she had no issue with Lucas' proposal and thus nodded, "Very well, I can allow you to maintain control of your soap and sugar business, I'll even have the Balfour Family provide as much funding as you need to increase production; however, 60% of the profits will go directly into the family's coffers."
Pursing his lips, Lucas thought quickly before making a counter-offer, "I can offer 75% of the profits to the Balfour Family; but in exchange, I want a guarantee that any new project or product I propose will receive priority consideration for funding and implementation."
"Deal," Celestina immediately agreed, before adding a caveat, "However, you must discuss any new proposal you want to make with me or one of my trusted assistants before you begin. There might also be a need to consult the Elder Council, but once you have my approval, that shouldn't be an issue."
Pausing here, Celestina put back on a serious expression and solemnly emphasized, "Remember, you can make use of your inherited knowledge, but only to the extent that you don't expose yourself."
"Ah… Yes, Master," Lucas gawked for a second before nodding sheepishly.
He had gotten a bit caught up in his plans and became over-enthusiastic, forgetting he needed to act with more caution than before. It seemed he still had a way to go before he could properly control the impulse to use his inherited memories.
Nodding in approval, Celestina felt this was a good place to end their discussion, despite there still being much to investigate regarding Lucas' condition and his advanced knowledge. Just then, however, there was a knock at the door and a voice called out, "General, permission to enter."
Instantly shifting back to work-mode, Celestina called out in an authoritative tone, "Come in."
Upon receiving permission, a familiar figure with long black hair and dark blue eyes opened the door and stepped into the office.
After Allina Crest and Celestina Balfour exchanged a formal salute, the latter asked her adjutant, "What do you have to report?"
"General, the town has been fully secured and the Sunchaser has just departed. Patrols have also been arranged and are about to set out to begin clearing the surrounding region of stray beasts," Allina reported succinctly.
"Good work," Celestina nodded, before inquiring, "You wouldn't have disturbed me just to say that everything was proceeding according to plan. What else is there?"
Allina promptly continued, "The lookouts have spotted a formation of flying beasts approaching from the north-east. They are still too far out to identify precisely, but there are 10 in total, 9 of them with pitch-black bodies, while the last appears golden-brown."
Raising her brow, Celestina peaked outside to check the position of the sun before nodding, "It's likely a pair of Squads from the Aerial Knights. En, given when I sent a message to the capital, it should be possible for the elites to make it here if they flew non-stop."
Lucas was naturally curious about who these 'Aerial Knights' were, but he could see that his Master was having a serious discussion with her second-in-command right now, so he kept his questions to himself for the time being.
On the other hand, Sasha naturally knew about the famous Aeiral Knights of the Golden Wings Legion, including their mounts, the Tartans and Golden Hawks.
This news came as a pleasant surprise to the Town Lady, as they had not expected to receive any significant reinforcements for the next several days, but now a unit from Rockwell City was fast approaching.
Even if it was just 10 mounts, each Tartans normally carried 2 fully equipped soldiers, while Golden Hawks were basically the exclusive mounts of Spirit Initiate Realm Commanders.
If Celestina's speculations were correct about this being an elite force, that meant it was likely another 20 or so soldiers at or above the Core Formation Realm were about to join them.
This wasn't nearly as substantial as the force her grandmother had brought with her, but that wasn't surprising considering just how outrageous it was to move a dozen Spirit Initiates all at once.
"I believe your assessment is correct, General," Allina agreed, "At their current pace, we estimate that they will arrive in just under an hour."
"Understood. Have their Commander report to me as soon as they land," Celestina ordered before waving her hand, "Carry on."
After giving another formal salute, Allina turned around and departed, closing the door behind her.
Before Lucas could even ask, his Master, who was beginning to grasp just how insatiable her new Disciple's curiosity was, took the initiative to say, "The Golden Wings Legion is the Rockwell Kingdom's fastest and most mobile Army as it consists entirely of cavalry. Other Armies, like my Raging River Legion, also have mounted units, even some flying ones, but only the Golden Wings have full Regiments of Aerial Knights. They are based just outside of Rockwell City in the centre of the kingdom, allowing them to rapidly reach any place within our borders."
Lucas' eyes sparkled when he heard this as he quickly asked, "How many soldiers are there in a Regiment?"
This time, Sasha stepped in to answer her curious nephew, "While the size of the kingdom's 10 Armies varies quite a bit, Regiments have a standard 1,000 troops with at least one Commander in the Spirit Initiate Realm leading them. Below Regiments there are Battalions of 100 led by Captains and Squads of 10 led either by lower-ranking Captains or Knights."
"Wow…" Lucas marveled out loud, imaging 1,000 flying beasts soaring through the air in formation with fully armoured knights riding atop their backs.
Even if Lucas had images of much larger flying formations from his inherited memories, those were cold, metallic machines, rather than living, breathing beasts and soldiers. It was a thing straight out of fantasy for a young boy like him.
Seeing such a reaction brought a small grin to Celestina's lips. Ever since she met him earlier today, Lucas had displayed an incredibly composed and mature demeanor totally unbefitting his age, so it was a bit refreshing to see he still had some child-like wonder in him.
It was a sign that although the accident which gave him a new set of memories had affected him greatly, he was still a young boy at heart.
A moment later, Lucas came to his senses and blushed slightly when he saw the adults in the room looking at him with a sense of fondness.
Coughing awkwardly, he tried to move the discussion along by asking, "So, the Capital sent reinforcements already?"
Celestina shook her head, "No. Even though each Tartan carries 2 to 3 soldiers, there's no way Old Man Gunthar would deploy just 20 troops as reinforcements given the scale of this incident. It's probably an advanced party, sent here to coordinate with me and also gather information to relay back to the main force."
Calming down and thinking about it for a moment, Lucas felt this made sense. If a Regiment had 1,000 soldiers in it, sending just 20 troops to quell the situation didn't make sense. A few hundred would be the absolute minimum necessary to accomplish anything meaningful.
What's more, moving hundreds of beasts and soldiers would surely take time as things like logistics needed to be taken into account. Thus, while preparations were being made, it made more sense to send out scouts to assess the situation.
Mulling things over in his head for a moment, Lucas next asked, "Should we put together a summary of the situation, then?"
Celestina thought about it briefly before nodding, "That's not a bad idea. We'll likely have to explain the situation many more times in the coming days, so compiling a formal report would probably be prudent. If we make a few copies, we can even save some time and effort later on."
Sasha nodded along as well, thinking this would make things more convenient for all of them in the long run.
Whether it was a noble or a military officer, ordinarily, reports were written after everything was settled and they had time to sit down and arrange their thoughts. It wasn't that no one saw the issues with documenting things after-the-fact, just that it was the norm that everyone followed.
Lucas suggesting they create something of a real-time log would certainly add to their work in the immediate term, but it would produce a more accurate representation of what transpired when the dust finally settled. It would also allow others to get up to speed on the situation without someone who had been there first-hand having to stop and explain it to them.
"Seeing how it was your idea, I'll assign this task to you to handle, Lucas. Consult with whoever you need to in order to get all the details right," Celestina immediately decided.
While it might have seemed like she was dumping the boring paperwork onto her new Disciple because she didn't want to take care of it, the truth was that Celestina had been very impressed by how Lucas had originally laid out the series of events to her the first time they had met.
At least, that was the story she would tell anyone who dared to ask her.
Having foisted off this tedious task to the others in the room, Celestina promptly declared, "I'm going to make an inspection of the town's situation."
With that, the Balfour Marquess strode out of the office and towards the Town Lord Manor's exit.