The Third floor was grander than the others, the main room that they entered was a large living space, similar to that of the old Town Centre, but the walls were decorated with the sabre tooth tigers. To the left was a door that led to another living space with two bedrooms attached, where as to the right was another door that headed to the master bedroom.
Dom headed to the master bedroom, seeing that his armour stand and personal box were in their usual locations in proportion to his bed, that was now even larger than his old one. There were a few glassed windows across the wall, which Dom could see the moonlight through. At the far end of the room was a small balcony that showed him the Silver Forest. There was also another door that led to a personal office space that Dom could use, with a miniature map and lots of writing materials.
After exploring the room, he first went to his Weapons Rack, which had his Slaying Spear placed on it, and he unstrapped his Harpe and placed it on his rack. He then headed towards his bed and lay on it, feeling the comfortable base and the thick blankets that covered it. Meritamen joined him, laying beside him, her fingers spreading out and feeling the layers of fur on the blankets between them.
"The Palace beautiful." Meritamen said tiredly, "Not as big as the one my father has, but it holds the heart of Riverside much more than my fathers would."
"It's definitely a change from the Town Centre." Dom agreed as he closed his eyes, exhausted from the long day. Meritamen laughed, before closing her own eyes, too exhausted to find her own room tonight.
...
The morning was soon upon them and Dom was awoken by Ban Jieyu again, the Head Maid was at the bottom of his bed and politely informing him that it was time to get up. Dom didn't remember requesting a wake up, but expected that Meritamen had in his place. Ban Jieyu left the room and Dom got up and got himself ready in to a clean set of clothing that Ban Jieyu had laid out for him. He collected his Harpe again and strapped it to his waist.
He headed downstairs, through the mainly empty middle floor that only currently had Tomoe staying there, before heading down to the bottom floor where he could smell food from the Palace meeting space. He followed his nose, and saw that Meritamen was sat on the left of the U-Shaped table talking with Shang Yang, whilst eating some freshly baked bread. They both looked up at Dom's arrival and invited him to join them.
"Good morning Lord Lazarus." Shang Yang greeted politely, "I am a big fan of your new home."
"How does the old home look?" Dom asked as he headed towards them, taking a seat beside Meritamen.
"Different, the Banquet Hall is still the same, but the upper floors now have many more meeting rooms and offices." Shang Yang replied, "Lucius and myself explored earlier, but the new office spaces don't seem to have any additional purpose other than being office spaces. I think we can assign one to each head general so they can do their own planning when based back in Riverside."
"That's a really good idea." Meritamen agreed from beside Shang Yang. She had almost became Shang Yang's apprentice, which was peculiar in many ways as historically someone like Shang Yang would not have taken a woman as an apprentice, and also historically Meritamen was a princess and shouldn't have the need to do any additional roles other than being a figurehead.
"What are the plans for today?" Shang Yang asked Dom as one of the maid's brought Dom a plate of food from a hidden door that must have lead towards the staff area.
"We need to agree the plan for the next month whilst I am not here." Dom started, "Specifically from a Military perspective, as I am confident with our growth plan for the Towns. Do we know when Artemisia and Elder Qiao will be back?"
"She was supposed to leave at first light and collect Elder Qiao and Abubakar from Tranquillity on the way. She should be here by lunchtime." Meritamen explained, "Do you want to have everyone together for the meeting?"
"I think it would be best if all of the Heroes of Riverside are gathered." Dom replied, "Then everyone knows what the plan is."
"I'll arrange the seating plan for the room then." Meritamen stated as she looked around the Palace Meeting space, whilst Dom and Shang Yang discussed various things that happened the day earlier.
....
After chatting with Meritamen and Shang Yang, Dom left the Palace and headed towards the Military area where he went to the Training Area in the Ninth Legion Warriors Hall. Normally he would try to train with Centurion Pullo, but he was currently in Tranquillity. So instead he trained with some of the other Legionaries that were here, primarily on his sword skills.
"Your swordsmanship is definitely improving." Dom heard from behind as Subutai appeared, taking a seat on a nearby bench, having heard that Dom was training with the Legionaries from the Ninth Legion. "It's not as good as your spear skills, but you are definitely excelling at it."
"Thanks Subutai!" Dom replied with a heavy breath as he took a break from training, the Legionaries bowing at him before heading off to rest themselves. "I think all of these battles have helped."
"We have been against weaker foes so far from a skill perspective, but you have come away from fighting on the frontlines with minimal injuries." Subutai complemented him, "But we do need to keep pushing you if you decide to keep fighting on the frontlines. I'll speak with Chariovalda, Pullo and Alexander about creating a more detailed training regime for you when you are back."
Dom understood and agreed with what Subutai was saying, he couldn't imagine fighting against his own Legionaries, or even the Celtic or Germanic Warriors that he had in Riverside. His battles so far hadn't been against advanced or high level units. He felt that the battles and training he had taken part of in World Conquest Online so far had made him have better skills in real life, so he was happy to push himself a bit further.
"Maybe he shouldn't be fighting on the frontlines so much then." Dom heard as Tomoe appeared, wearing her casual clothes with one of her swords strapped to her waist. "The Lord shouldn't be risking his life on the front lines."
"Didn't your old Lords do that?" Subutai asked Tomoe with a raised eyebrow. Remembering a conversation that the two of them had shared previously.
"They did, and now they are dead." Tomoe replied sternly, "Plus, Lord Lazarus is much more valuable."
"I'm not sure I am a commodity." Dom argued, but understanding what she meant.
"You aren't, but you are important." She explained with a more serious voice, "Without you, there is no Riverside, Tranquillity or Serenity. Some Lords can be replaced, you can't."
"That's why he is learning to fight better Tomoe." Subutai stated with a flat tone, whilst giving her a strong stare. She matched his stare back, and Dom was surprised at this side of her, not knowing what had brought it on. Eventually she broke eye contact and accepted that there was no point arguing with Subutai as he was the senior commander and she had a lot of respect for him.
"That's enough." Dom laughed, trying to break up the tension that had just appeared. "Don't worry Tomoe, I won't be putting myself in any situations where the risk is too high."
"Like at Tongpai Town's Town Centre?" Tomoe questioned, a slight smile on her face as she mentioned where Dom had gotten injured.
"Like Tongpai Town's Town Centre." Dom agreed with a smile and a shake of his head. The wound on his shoulder having healed now, but a slight scar had remained.
There was a loud noise from the south that interrupted their conversation, and Subutai stood up from the bench that he had been sat on. The Legionaries that were resting nearby quickly gathered their equipment and prepared to meet up with the rest of their Century in case something had happened.
"Relax, it's just the Bireme returning from Serenity." Subutai explained to them, as he signalled for Dom and Tomoe to follow him towards the Palace.
"Another day of meetings?" Tomoe asked as they walked.
"Unfortunately." Dom replied as they headed towards the Palace.
"The final one for a while hopefully." Subutai agreed with a laugh.
"Not if Xun You has anything to say about it." Dom laughed, to which Tomoe rolled her eyes as she knew what he meant.
....
Soon they were back in the Palace and had entered the meeting space on the ground floor, where Meritamen had placed a note in each place were the different Heroes were expected to sit. Dom was placed at the head of the U-shaped table, with Subutai on his right and Shang Yang on his left.
Beside Shang Yang on the left and then following around the turn of the table were Lucius, Meritamen, Crassus, Xun Yu, Hatshepsut, Artemisia, Elder Qiao, Da Qiao, Xiao Qiao and Gu Kaizhi, Uriah and Abubakar.
On the right beside Subutai and following around the turn of the table were Xun You, Gan Ning, Tomyris, Tomoe, Liao Hua, Sun Ce, Hua Rong, Qin Ming, Xun Yan, Guo Sheng, Lu Fang and Huang Xin.
Everyone was talking to those that were sat around them and the room had a very positive atmosphere. Artemisia was explaining about how peaceful Serenity was to everyone and how the sun rise had been one of the most beautiful things she had seen in her life, especially when around her was just the wild. Elder Qiao had also explained some of the plans they had discussed the day before in Tranquillity and his two daughters had promised to come visit the new farming City once they had settled properly in Riverside. Dom waited for a few minutes before standing up to get everyone's attention.
"Thank you everyone for coming today!" Dom announced, "As you are aware, I may not be around for the next few weeks. There are some key things that I wanted to plan out to be done in my absence. The first one is a reorganisation of the Military and it's layout."
Everyone went silent as Dom began speaking, as they were all aware that he was going to leave for a short while, the newcomers had questioned what was happening but the original Riverside Heroes explained that it was usual and they would get used to it.
"As everyone is aware, Subutai will stay as the Lead General and is in charge of all Military matters, in my absence he has the final decision on all things Military wise. This was previously agreed with Shang Yang and Lucius leading in their own areas of Domestic and Wider Government functions. Xun You will continue as the lead strategist, and Xiao Qiao will work as his deputy and assistant." Dom explained as a starting point. Xiao Qiao had a smile on her face, whilst her dad looked proud. Artemisia and Sun Ce who were the newest heroes looked surprised at first, but then accepted that Dom did things differently to where they were both from.