The president returned to the general's tent and saw that Rigel was still there. He was lying down on one of the empty wooden couches with his eyes closed. Acasia guessed that he must be sleeping and ignored him.
"I apologize for my actions a while ago. I just wanted to make sure that all of my information is accurate," Acasia slightly bowed his head to show his sincerity. "I would also like to thank your brother for his help in bringing back my subordinates."
"That's understandable and that apology, you should say it directly to my brother," Linius gave the man a nod but he was not comfortable receiving a thank you on behalf of the master.
"No need, I already heard it." Cygnus spoke without opening his eyes. He then turned to his side with his back on them.
Acasia left the tent without looking back at them or even talking. He went to where the heroes were and helped them with moving their subordinates into their camp. They all did this without any words and when the other teams returned from their mission, they were shocked at the news.
Some of the heroes were indignant and were at a loss in what to say. Some of them didn't believe what happened but after the president explained everything they slowly calmed down. It was just a waste because the hero that died was one of their most talented ones.
The whole base camp was shrouded with solemnity and the soldiers did have their usual after mission party where they got loud and drank until dawn. Even though they don't have the best relationship, they still respected human lives. The night passed by in silence and when morning came everything returned to normal.
For the following days, the heroes and the soldiers continued with clearing the areas marked on the map. Cygnus on the other hand stayed with them and had no plans of returning to capital for now. He had been joining them on their clearing operations which made the exploration move faster.
Within a month they managed to reach the border that was indicated in the map and for a week they managed to wrap up everything and declare the area claimed. The heroes returned to the capital first together with Lieutenant Arc Lisbon and some of the soldiers. General Linius remained to oversee the construction of an outpost in the place.
Cygnus also remained because he was not keen on returning to the capital first. Besides, the only reason why the lieutenant returned earlier was because he needed to follow up on the request for more manpower for the outpost they were building and to of course report to the king as the general's representative. Although Acasia was there to report too, Linius still preferred that he too had a report of his own just in case the other party wasn't fond of giving them due credit.
Just as he suspected, the Hero Association was trying to get all the credit for themselves. If not for Lieutenant Lisbon's presence during the audience with the king, they might have taken everything for themselves. Arc Lisbon couldn't help but look at the hero association's president with contempt because they even used the death of that hero to reap more benefits for them.
The president even mentioned that Rigel Maverick Ginehart joined the expedition. He must have been looking for anything that could discredit the general or Ginehart in general. Arc Lisbon couldn't help but look at the direction of Duke Ginehart who had attended the morning audience.
"I didn't know that that young man would be there," King Orpheus rested his head on the palm of his hand after hearing Acasia reporting this matter, "and it seems that the lieutenant failed to report this to me."
Acasia didn't hide his grin as he looked at the lieutenant with a smug look on his face. He did that on purpose because somehow, he knew that the king wasn't informed of the young master's arrival at the base camp. Since it has come to this, he had no reason to lie to the king any longer.
"I apologize, your majesty, for not telling you that Young Master Rigel went to the base camp. It was supposed to be a short visit to his brother but in the end, he ended up helping us. He was even the person who saved the subordinates of President Acasia from the brink of death and with his help we were able to clear the rest of the whole area with ease." Arc Lisbon did not waver as he defended the young master.
Acasisa wanted to refute the man's words but before he could do it, they heard the lieutenant speak again. "With his magical support we finished our job within a month. He was a great help and if he had been there earlier, we would have finished the exploration in at least four months."
Lisbon glanced at the president who now had a pale face. If the president was really going to play this kind of game, the lieutenant would not back down. He has much more to say about the performance of the heroes and if the president insists on going that path, then he has no choice but to reveal it all in front of the king, the generals, the four duchy and the other ministers inside the throne room.
The tension in the room rose as the two men continued to glare at each other. King Orpheus sensed that something must have happened during the expedition. Even all the people inside the room could sense that there was something wrong.
"Do you know about this, Duke Ginehart?" King Orpheus looked at the duke who was calmly sitting on his seat.
He nodded, "Rigel informed me that he was going to visit his brother, I just didn't think that he would stay there and even help. I never hold back my children when they want to do something and I will reprimand them if they did something wrong. As far as I am concerned, Rigel has done nothing wrong by being there."
The king smiled and the president shut his mouth. He had no more to say because he couldn't refute the duke's words. There was really nothing wrong with Rigel being in that place even though it was an official mission, especially because he was the son of a duke and he did not cause any disturbance during the entire time he stayed there. Well, except for that one time that he burned all of their tents.
"Since it is not a matter of concern, there's nothing wrong with Rigel being there. What I'm most concerned about right now is the implication from the lieutenant's words." The king's gaze sharpened as it fell down on the hero associations' president.
He had known the man for a long time now and they had formed a friendship but the man was doing something out of the king's eyes again. This has been going on for a while now. He couldn't believe that the man was trying to mess with Duke Ginehart and was even behaving unethically in front of General Linius. How presumptuous.
"There are some misunderstandings that arose during the expedition but everything has been settled. Everything is in the past now. It is not unusual that there are some things that we can't agree upon because of our circumstances but we all learned to deal with it," he hastily explained. If they make the issue bigger then not only his name would be dragged down but also the reputation of the hero association.
"The president is right, your majesty. We already made up and the relationship between the heroes and the soldiers are mended. As he has said, everything is now in the past." Arc Lisbon seconded because he too didn't want any more misunderstanding to arise.