Chapter 199 - Duty

Rudra looked at Princess Ruby , a wave of emotions surging in his heart... However, his mind asked a question ' Why is she here? '

Ruby walked towards Rudra accompanied by her maids and politerly lift her dress to perform a salutaty bow and said " Greetings great Oracle , I apologise for coming abruptly without notice to your guild , I understand I came at a challenging time , however I felt uneasiness in my heart knowing that I could not serve the benefactor who saved my life and not return this immense favour. Please forgive me for my abrupt arrival ". 

Rudra was dazed for a moment , however Karna quickly recovered the situation as he said " It is our guilds Honor if the great elven princess came to visit our humble abode ". 

He elbowed Rudra to break him from his stupor. Rudra regained his senses as he smiled and said " You are most welcome in my guild , I will try my best to be a good host , and provide you with every luxury to make your stay here comfortable . But please forgive me in advance if I am unable to accompany you during your stay . It is a trying time for my guild and I may be flooded with work. I hope you can pardon my absence ". 

Legolas nodded , Rudra showed the appropriate respect to the Elven Princess while making it clear that his priority was the upcoming beast subjugation event. This was the way military officials were supposed to behave. He approved of the young man. 

Ruby also smiled as she said " Ofcourse , I understand that the guild leader has pressing matters at hand , I will be glad with whatever little time you can spare from your schedule". 

Rudra glanced towards Karna and scratched his chin ... Karna understood the signal , as he said " Please excuse us for a second ". 

Karna and Rudra moved a little away and out of earshot . Rudra sighed in releif as he said " Buy the most expensive decor and fit the best room in the guild with it. Do it fast , it's okay to splurge , I'll personally foot the bill , get it ready within an hour ". 

Karna nodded , he understood the assignment. He immediately selected a few members of the guild and took off to the local market. Thankfully it was not curfew day yet , and shops were still functional in the city . 

Rudra went back and chatted some more with Legolas and princess Ruby , as Amelia provided directions for the elven division to set up camp.

One of the perks of having a platinum guild was that it had enormous size for its headquarters. One could imagine it to be like a massive University campus , where there are massive open grounds , a grand auditorium ( guild hall ) , lots of division buildings ( Areas like blacksmithing workshop , alchemy workshop) , Roads built inside for transportation, Green Gardens , a few architectural structures. And even dormitories . The guild was massive enough to easily accomodate a 100,000 people without feeling congested. And in a prime location like the inner district. It was all only possible because of the platinum creation token. 

The Elven soldiers were more than satisfied camping inside the guild grounds , it was a decent environment. Princess Ruby's maid and commander Legolas were given appropriate lodging in the dormitories , with Legolas getting one of the best rooms reserved for the vice guild master for his stay. 

The room was ambient in mana and had a calming effect on those inside. It was one of the best rooms the guild had to offer ,second only to the one which was currently being prepared for princess Ruby.

However Legolas was hardly moved by this gesture , his only focus was the coming event and he would much rather discuss strategy with Rudra than enjoy luxuries. 

And that's indeed what happened , not even an hour after their arrival , Legolas , Rudra and Amelia were inside the guild conference hall , discussing about the attack patterns and strategies. 

Princess Ruby had also tagged along as her room was not yet ready. Rudra was glad that she came , however when talking about war strategies , he actually did not care about her presence in the room at all. 

Laser focused on his task , he explained to Legolas the strategy that he had formulated. From time to time Legolas would raise an eyebrow , Rudra 's insight and planning were commendable , Legolas assumed that Rudra took certain measures because he was the Oracle who knew about the future already , and ignored the thoughts about how he knew such things.

Giving his inputs on the situation from time to time , he and Rudra constantly refined the initial plan and shaped it into a full proof battle plan. 

Ruby silently sat through the entire meeting , observing Rudra, she was perplexed by how he would sometimes look at her as if she was the most prized treasure in the world and sometimes ignore her presence as if she was air. Her saviour was a mysterious guy , but seeing Legolas talk to him soo casually was a big shock to Ruby who had hardly seen Legolas interact with anyone ever . The way Legolas talked to him , it was clear that he approved of his military skills and battle tactics. This was the first time she saw this with anyone except her father. 

Through her interactions she understood that Rudra was a man who placed great importance on the development of his guild and everything else was secondary to him . However she did not despise this , if anything it was an endearing quality for her. 

Watching her father the king growing up , she knew that even though she was his beloved daughter and loved spending time with her , he was a king first and needed to work hard. Seeing the same quality in Rudra , she smiled as she thought ,' maybe great men have similar qualities' . 

/// Congratulations on hitting the golden ticket target ! The bonus will be released shortly. Only a bit more is needed for the powerstone bonus . And I sincerely hope we reach there soon. 

Big big big shoutout to Cervantez91 for the 10,000 COIN GIFT! , I don't even know what to say anymore other than thankyou, the support that fans like you show the book is the reason I write everyday ! ///