CEO in a Fantasy World 2 Page 6

  "N-not in particular," Renee averted her eyes, avoiding eye contact."

  Caesar walked to her bed with steady steps and sat down next to her. He could see her visibly shiver once he sat down.

  "Renee, we will be leaving to your home soon… you should prepare your things," Caesar said seriously while looking at her.

  Renee abruptly turned to face Caesar with shock evident in her eyes, "what about Elizabeth, or the citizens? Is it okay for you to just leave them?"

  Renee looked down at the ground and continued "I know you are just doing this because of that promise, you don't need to help my clan… I will somehow do it myself, I already thought about this today" Tears started flowing down Renee's face.

  Caesar wiped her tears with his index finger gently, "Elizabeth starts school again soon, my father will solidify his position as king and give the citizens a tax-cut… Don't worry. This kingdom can handle me, leaving for a while."

  "W-what about the elves?" Renee sniffled and asked in a mumbled tone

  Caesar smiled and subtly started pulling her in his embrace "the elves want to regrow their forest, I had already promised them I would help in a few years." Caesar placed Renee on his lap and brushed her hair gently with his hand.

  Renee suddenly looked at Caesar. "I-I don't want to get you mixed up in my problems… It wasn't always like this before b-but after that night I started getting these strange feelings, please promise me you won't' get hurt" Renee choked on her tears and barely let out a few words.

  Caesar pulled Renee closer in and lifted her chin with his hands. He stared deeply into her big yellow eyes "don't misunderstand, I am not doing this because of a promise, but because I want to."

  "Why would you wan-" her words were cut off as Caesar pressed his lips on hers, his tongue soon invaded her mouth as he pulled her closer to him.

  Renee opened her eyes widely in confusion before slowly resigning to her fate and letting Caesar do as he pleased.

  Caesar soon pulled his head back, and a string of saliva connected their mouths, "do you understand now, Renee?"

  Caesar asked in a seductive tone, Renee just nodded her head absentmindedly.

  "Haha, you are truly a temptress, but tonight is not the right time" Caesar chuckled and kissed Renee on the forehead. He tucked her into bed and whispered in her ear, "we can continue where we left off at another date."

  Renee pulled the covers over her red face, seeing this Caesar smiled wryly and walked out of the room… Once he closed the door behind him, he started breathing heavily.

  "The amount of self-control I have astonishes me," Caesar muttered to himself as he walked down the long halls to Elizabeth's room.

  "Daddy! I was waiting for you. I thought you had forgotten our promise," a cheerful voice rang in Caesar's ear immediately after he opened the door.

  Caesar smiled and hugged Elizabeth tightly, he placed her on the large bed and laid down next to her… after a few minutes, a cute voice rang next to Caesar's ear, "when are you going to make it so all three of us can sleep together?"

  "Haha, in due time, darling," Caesar replied sweetly.

  "Hehe, what do you like about Mommy?" Elizabeth asked curiously

  "She is the first woman ever to put my safety before her wants, and I would be lying If I said that her compassion didn't move me."

  "Are you sure you're not just entranced by her beauty?" Elizabeth asked doubtfully.

  Caesar kissed Elizabeth on the forehead "I can only be moved by what's inside here" Caesar tapped Elizabeth where her heart is located.

  "Now, it's time to sleep," Caesar said quietly as he pulled the covers over them.

  CHAPTER NINE

  "Daddy, it's time to get up."

  Caesar heard a sweet voice in his ear and a small hand push his back, he opened up his sleepy eyes and got up slowly.

  "Good morning, princess," Caesar said, still half asleep.

  "Good morning!" Elizabeth replied energetically

  Caesar pushed the covers off his body and got out of bed; he yawned loudly and headed for the bathroom. He splashed some water on his face and quickly groomed himself.

  After he was done, he walked back into the room and was greeted by Elizabeth's mocking smile.

  "You clean yourself just as much as mommy does." Elizabeth giggled cutely.

  "Hmph, a man should always look presentable," Caesar snorted as he straightened out his shirt.

  "Your Highness, the king is awaiting you in the throne room," Sebastian's voice echoed out from behind the door.

  Elizabeth looked at Caesar with confusion "how did he know you were in here?"

  Caesar smiled wryly and patted Elizabeth on the head, "I will see you again at lunch," Caesar said as he kissed her forehead and walked towards the door.

  "You better keep your promise!" Elizabeth yelled out from behind him.

  Caesar opened the door and was greeted by Sebastian's bowing figure "please come to follow me this way," he said respectfully and led Caesar towards the throne room.

  After about 8 minutes of walking, they finally reached the large doors in front of the throne room, the guards bowed and opened the doors.

  "Crown prince Mephisto Pheles has arrived," a minister called out from the side.

  Sebastian stayed behind the door, and Caesar walked forward, a luxurious blood-red carpet was laid down through the middle of the throne room. Beautiful white pillars held up the ceiling and decorated the room. In front of the throne were two stone dragons, the one on the right held a fierce expression while the other looked graceful.

  Caesar walked until he was about 10 feet away from his father, he kneeled and cuffed his hands "I greet the king," he said respectfully.

  Crowley, on top of the throne, waved his hand, "you may rise."

  Caesar naturally stood up after hearing his father's words and looked around. Many different officials were standing on the right and left sides of the throne room. The right side represented the military branch, while the left represented the financial.

  Caesar had asked Sebastian to arrange a meeting for him and his father, naturally, a meeting with the king doesn't happen with just two.

  "What is the purpose of this meeting?" Crowley asked from his throne.

  "Ahem, I would like to discuss a major weakness our kingdom currently has" Caesar cleared his throat and replied calmly while looking at his father with a smile.

  Crowley nodded his head, signaling Caesar to continue.

  "Ever since my late grandfather had died, there have been no nobles qualified enough to become leaders in the military. I believe the rule that requires you be nobility to lead the soldiers of our kingdom should be discarded."

  "Preposterous, how could we let mere commoners lead our soldiers" a few officials from the right side roared out in anger.

  Crowley waved his hand to silence those on the right; he looked back down at Caesar and urged him to continue.

  "Because of this silly rule, when our trade routes were blocked, the kingdom relied on me, a man with no prior experience or any type of training to lead the soldiers on an expedition… Correct me if I'm wrong, but that sounds incredibly idiotic," Caesar said with sarcasm.

  The officials on the right gnashed their teeth in anger while Caesar continued.

  "I suggest we create a school to train those we deem worthy in the art of war and strategy. We will award the knights that have superior intellect with higher ranks in the military as well as create a system where a chain of command is followed with the king on top."

  "Where will the nobility stand on the chain of command you suggest?" Crowley asked curiously

  "I believe that the nobility and military faction should be kept separate, the nobility can run things inside of the kingdom while the military lead things outside of the kingdom. We have many well-trained knights. However, we have no generals to utilize their potential."

  The officials on the right furrowed their brows, and Crowley nodded in understanding.

&n
bsp; Caesar suddenly started speaking in a louder voice, "We defeated the enemy once, however, once news of our cloudsteel reaches the ears of bigger kingdoms… Do you think we can defend against it as we are now?"

  "We need to create a better system to follow" Caesar suddenly glanced at the left side of the palace room.

  "We need to give those with higher ranks or those who gain merits in battle rewards; many of the knights training under me can't even feed their families with their wage. Some of them don't even own buckets in their homes."

  Suddenly Caesar roared louder than before "is this how we treat those that defended our kingdom, our lives?"

  The officials on both sides started talking amongst themselves, finally, after a few minutes of discussion one of the officials on the right side asked: "how do you suppose we do what you suggest?"

  "I believe we should make an insurance that the families of any fallen soldier will be taken care of, as for the money per ranking… I think all of you can figure that out yourselves," Caesar replied after thinking for a moment.

  This time an official on the left spoke up "if we comply with what you are suggesting, we will need to spend an extraordinary amount of funds not only on the knights but also on the schooling."

  "With the huge amount of population increase from the elves, I believe we need to expand… we need to be willing to spend more funds on our military if we want to be able to hold more land."

  Caesar paused for a second and continued, "we can sell some of the cloudsteel to merchants and increase the tax-pay for those that want insurance."

  Crowley looked at Caesar, confused and asked: "what do you mean by insurance"?

  "For those that die by unnatural causes, the government will give their families a decent sum of money so that they can live comfortably even without their mother or father."

  The ministers on the left held a thoughtful expression, and one of them roared out in excitement "if the people pay more tax because of this so-called insurance, but only a select few actually die due to unnatural causes, the amount of money we will profit from it will be huge."

  Crowley looked at Caesar with a bewildered look "is this really my son? I feel as though I don't know anything about him anymore…" he thought to himself.

  Suddenly an official on the right side roared out, "have you already planned the ranks you want to implement?"

  Caesar's lips curled. "I believe the organization is of most importance. For every five soldiers, there should be a squad commander… for every five squad commanders, there should be a captain. For every five captains, there should be a sergeant. For every five sergeants, there should be a vice general. Two vice generals should be appointed to assist every general, and so on.

  "Of course, there will be a supreme commander that leads everyone, but with more competent leaders, you can guarantee better efficiency. A single leader, after all, cannot see the entire battlefield."

  Silence enveloped the entire throne room, Crowley suddenly looked at his son and smiled "we will need to discuss this in further details, thank you for your suggestion, my son."

  Caesar smiled gently and bowed deeply, "thank you all for listening to my suggestion. I will take my leave now," Caesar said cordially and started walking out.

  As he was walking away, he could hear the voices of many of the nobles present.

  "it's a great idea. However, will the authority of the nobles fall?"

  "What if we put our sons in that war school, wouldn't we be able to put our foot in the military?"

  "I'm more interested in the insurance idea that boy came up with, how should we implement it?"

  "Settle down. We need to discuss the gains and losses of such things first…" Crowley roared out, calming down the rest of the nobles present.

  The guards opened the doors for Caesar and bowed deeply, Sebastian was already waiting for him with a smile.

  "How did it go your highness?" Sebastian asked curiously while emphasizing the word 'highness.'

  "Sigh, don't call me that when we are alone, Sebastian… I consider you my friend" Caesar blew out a long breath and straighten his shirt out.

  "Haha, I was just teasing young master," Sebastian smiled and replied.

  Caesar started walking towards the dining room while talking to Sebastian, "the meeting went well, whether or not the nobles take my advice or not is up to debate, however."

  "I see, are you planning on leaving soon?" Sebastian asked curiously

  Caesar looked at Sebastian with an impressed look "yes, how did you know?"

  "Haha, just intuition," Sebastian replied with a slight chuckle.

  "Hmm, have you heard back from that Olivia woman yet?" Caesar hummed and changed the subject."

  "Not yet, I believe she used a magic recorder to deliver a message to the regional manager… It should be some time before we receive word from her"

  Caesar nodded his head and continued walking.

  As they got closer, a delicious scent soon invaded their noses. Caesar smiled as he started to walk quickly towards the dining room.

  Caesar walked through the doors, and a long table filled with food entered into his eyes… Elizabeth, Renee, Joe, and three other familiar faces entered into his vision as well.

  "Come to sit with me!" Elizabeth roared out and patted a chair next to her

  Caesar walked to the chair and sat down. He looked at everyone's happy smile as they ate and then gazed up at the ceiling.

  "Is this the calm before the storm?" He whispered under his breath.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Caesar and the rest started picking at the food placed on the table. Elizabeth was giggling happily while seated on Caesar's lap.

  Caesar's lips curled, feeling the harmonious atmosphere. He hand-fed the rowdy girl on his lap. She would cutely nibble on the food Caesar brought to her mouth.

  Suddenly Caesar gazed at his three subordinates, Irwin, Felicia, and Anny… They were eating slowly and looked quite uncomfortable.

  "Ease up, no one here is going to bite you," Caesar said teasingly towards the three.

  The three immediately straightened up their backs and looked down with shame, seeing this Caesar chuckled softly and went back to feeding Elizabeth.

  About five minutes later, both Caesar and Elizabeth were stuffed, Caesar placed the fork and knife back on the plate and raised his eyes. He looked at the three that still carried nervous smiles on their faces.

  Caesar snapped, and a butler came walking over with a silver platter in his hands. On top of the platter were three pouches.

  "As promised, you will be paid," Caesar said playfully as he gestured towards the platter.

  The three's faces flushed with excitement and then quickly went red with embarrassment…

  "w-we didn't doubt you I-it’s just that, we have never been paid before…" Felicia stammered for words.

  Caesar waved his hand "don't stress the small things, speaking of which how is the progress for the weapons going?" Caesar changed the subject and asked curiously.

  Irwin took a step forward "because our defenses had held in the battle the speed has gone down, no one is building like their life depends on it anymore."

  Caesar nodded his head, "as expected. I assume many of the workers also want to be paid for their hard work."

  This time Felicia stepped forward and replied with a nervous tone, "many of the workers were dissatisfied with the little amount of recognition they were given after the battle, whereas in comparison, the knights were held as heroes."

  Caesar placed his hand on his chin and carried a thoughtful expression "it is true; we will award them with jobs and good pay."

  Anny stepped forward this time, "b-boss, shouldn't we fire a few of the workers, with so many how can we upkeep that many wages?"

  Caesar stood up slowly from his chair and straightened out his shirt "Anny, with more workers we gain more merchandise, with more merchandise we gain more profit"

  Anny was shocked for a second "b-but if
you pay the workers grandly than we will not gain any profit"

  Caesar smiled "if you pay the workers a good amount they feel wanted, they will work much more efficiently, and it creates a better working pace for recruits. We will fire those that are subpar but raise those that exceed, do you understand?"

  Anny nodded her head, absentmindedly, "but wouldn't that create competition?"

  Caesar shook his head slowly and steadily walked towards the dining-room door, "competition is needed for a business to thrive, humans innately want an opportunity to reach the top or be above others. As a leader, you must create a ladder but always stay ahead of others to create a good example."