William travelled for two days before arriving in the town where he had saved Matthew and Leah from the members of The Organization that the Crown Prince had sent to capture them.
It was the nearest town to Lont that had a teleport gate he could use to reach the capital. Naturally, William didn't enter the town using his flying carriage. He had ordered Dave to land two miles away from the town where they would travel by foot.
Lionheart, the Wyvern, as well as the Lamassus that accompanied William, entered the Thousand Beast Domain. Since he knew that the members of The Organization were the ones in control of the Hellan Kingdom, he didn't want to attract any unwanted attention.
He planned to go to the Capital City, Gladiolus, and reunite with Est and Isaac. There, they would form a plan about how to deal with The Organization and the Crown Prince who had betrayed their kingdom.
Several children wandered the streets looking for something to eat. After the adults had turned to statues, all of them were left to fend for themselves. The same thing was happening to all of the settlements in the Southern Continent..
If not for the fact that the heirs of the ruling nobles had returned to their territories, things might have escalated beyond anyone's control. Just like Matthew and Leah, who had been trained to oversee their lands, the other Heirs also took action.
They gathered the survivors to form teams that would handle the hunting of food, cooking, and other necessities that would give their lives some sort of normality.
Even so, some places were worse than others, just like this town in the countryside. It seems that the Heir of the Town's Mayor had died during the Dungeon Outbreak, leaving no one to handle the aftermath and lead the survivors during this time of need.
William saw several children sitting in front of their houses while holding their stomachs in hunger. Dave, who had once been a commoner, took pity on them and offered them his own food to alleviate their hunger.
However, no matter how good his intentions were, it brought about unexpected results. Several children, who saw him giving away food to others, ran towards him and begged him for food. Their loud voices were heard by others nearby, which also increased the number of children asking for food to eat.
Conrad's expression became grim as he saw his friend being swarmed by teenagers who were older than them demanding that Dave give them all of the food in his possession.
When Dave said that he had nothing more to give, the teenagers snatched the food that the chubby boy had given to the younger kids he had seen first. This made Dave very angry and soon a brawl, consisting of several teenagers ganging up on the chubby boy, started.
Conrad wanted to help, but was held at bay by William.
"It's going to be fine," William said as he held Conrad's arm firmly. "Let Dave handle this."
Conrad frowned and reluctantly obeyed William's order. He watched the brawl with a serious expression with the intention of helping Dave at the first sign of weakness.
Although their numbers were greater, Dave was no push over. He had survived the Dungeon Outbreak as well as several other life and death battles. How could a group of ordinary teenagers beat him in a fight?
Five minutes later, the teenagers that started the fight lay on the ground unconscious. Dave didn't hurt them too much because they were just civilians, and not trained warriors. After the fight ended, the children who numbered in the hundreds looked at Dave in fear and admiration.
None of them moved away, because there was no place for them to go. It had been several weeks since the adults had turned into statues, and almost all of the food they had was now gone. They were only barely able to survive by drinking water, but that wouldn't last for long.
"Sir, what should we do?" Dave asked. "Should we leave them all behind?"
William sighed internally as he looked at the hundreds of children that had gathered around them. The surviving children in this town were almost a thousand, and the red-headed boy had no idea on how he could help them all.
"Let's take them with us to Gladiolus," Conrad proposed. "The capital may have the resources to support them for the time being."
Dave gave William a pleading gaze. He also wanted to save the children who were starving in this town that was located in the countryside.
"Very well," William agreed. He then stepped forward and raised his voice. "Listen, all of you. I am a Knight of the Kingdom and serve directly under the king. All those who want to eat food can follow me to the capital."
The children's ears perked up when they heard the word food and looked at William with expectant gazes.
"Naturally, I will only take the obedient ones," William stated. "All troublemakers will be left behind!"
"H-How about us? Can we come too?" One of the teenagers who had fought Dave earlier regained consciousness.
The others were also starting to stir and looked at William with sorrowful expressions. They knew that they did a bad thing. Even so, they only did it out of desperation. They hoped that William would forgive them and take them as well to the capital of Gladiolus where there was food to eat.
"I will allow it," William said firmly. "However, I will not accept any other wrong actions coming from any of you. Do I make myself clear?"
""Yes!""
The teenagers felt that they were given a new lease of life and hurriedly agreed to William's condition. Some of the children didn't know if they should go because their parents' statues were still inside their homes.
However, William told them that their parents were safe. He added that his own relatives had also turned into statues, but they were not in any immediate danger. Using his charisma, the Half-Elf convinced the children that their parents would be sad if they were to die of hunger before the curse was lifted.
William assured them that the curse would automatically be dispelled in the future, which made the children sigh in relief.
"Erchitu, show yourself!" William ordered.
A portal appeared behind him. Suddenly a Giant, White Ox, stepped out of the portal which made the children scream in fear.
"Do not worry. He is a Guardian Beast that protects our Kingdom," William shouted in order to calm the children who had panicked at the appearance of the giant Beast. "He will ensure that all of you will safely reach the capital. So, you don't have to be afraid. Just follow my orders."
Erchitu wanted to retort that he wasn't a Guardian Beast of the Hellan Kingdom. However, he knew what William wanted to accomplish by summoning him, so he didn't make him lose face in front of the children.
After the initial shock had passed, the children became more orderly because although they only half-believed William's declaration of being a Knight of the Kingdom, the appearance of Erchitu gave them hope.
The Erchitu was a giant Minotaur that stood on two legs. It looked so strong and powerful that the children looked at it in awe and fear. This allowed William and his two knights to lead them all to the teleport gates.
William summoned one of his High-Quality Magic Crystal from this Thousand Beast Domain in order to power up the teleport gate and allow the hundreds of children to cross it. Dave and Conrad had gone ahead and waited in the capital where the connecting gate was located.
William and Ian stayed behind to ensure that all the children were safely sent to the capital of Gladiolus.
The System had already done a full sweep of the town and didn't find any members of The Organization. However, it found several children that were too weak to leave their homes and join the migration to the capital.
William summoned the Cercopes Monkeys in order to retrieve these weakened children and carry them towards the teleport Gate. The sky was already starting to turn dark when the last batch of children, who were carried by the Cercopes Monkeys, crossed through the gate.
It took William nine hours to finish this town-wide evacuation. Although this task delayed him from doing his mission, his heart was at peace. He knew that he would feel very guilty if he left these children behind to fend off for themselves when he could have helped them.
The red-headed boy asked the System to do one final sweep of the town to ensure that no children were being left behind. After another full sweep of the surroundings the System gave the all clear signal which meant that everyone had been accounted for.
Only after hearing the System's confirmation did William and Ian step into the portal that would lead them to the capital.
As William stepped into the gates, his determination to overthrow The Organization became stronger. He would not allow an Organization that could start a war and sacrifice millions of lives to have their way with the Hellan Kingdom.