Hours passed inside the office as Atlas lazed around on the sofa while combating the killer headache that was annoying him endlessly. He had lunch, a bowl of proper gruel, of course –the sawdust added meals were for the poor– admired the map that he had made, played a few games of ‘tic tac toe’ with himself being the opponent, and won all of them, spent some time drawing against the misted windows, and spent an hour or so practicing his language.

Slumber did arrive a few times to try and claim him, however, the young hero proved too difficult an opponent to win against.

Bloodshot eyes staring at the flickering flame, Atlas thought out loud, “I wonder if I’ll become insomniac due to forcibly keeping myself awake? Insomnia… Insomnia-Man. Tagline, ‘Justice Never Sleeps.’”

Finishing his dramatic, narrator-like monologue, Atlas blankly stared at the dark ceiling. His eyes emptily traced the flickering shadows produced by the single wisp of light.

“By the Gods, I’m bored.” Kicking his feet up in frustration, he yelled, “Move forward with the plot!”

Knock! Knock! The door to his office was knocked. Atlas froze for a second before hurriedly sitting up and patting the creases on his clothes.

Ahem. Ahem. “Come in.” He regally replied after composing himself.

The door to the office opened with a satisfying click and a large-bodied man entered. He looked at the empty desk first and then turned towards Atlas upon noticing the little prince from the corner of his eyes.

“My liege, the Scout Team #2 has arrived,” he reported.

“Un. Bring them here,” Atlas replied, before getting up and walking towards his desk. He seated himself just in time for the Baron to come back with the scouts.

“My lord,” the men greeted with a uniform salute. Atlas simply waved them off.

“So? How bad is it?” Atlas directly got to the point. Judging from the ashen expressions of the scouts, the news didn’t seem to be good.

“We’d returned halfway through the route, my lord,” the captain of the scout group reported. “A massive fallen tree is blocking the damned road.”

“Can’t you simply go around it?” Atlas asked, dumbly.

“We could, but then we’d have to enter the forest, my lord. Taking a detour into the forest is not advised on the best of days. Doing so in this sorta weather, especially with danger lurking around us is a fool’s gamble.” The captain explained.

“How about over it? Like climbing over the fallen tree?”

“We did try doing that, my lord. However, there is a problem,” the scout captain paused to take in a breath and explained, “The trees of the Brooding Dark Forest have a sorta slick coating on their surfaces. It makes ‘em harder to grip and even harder to climb. While we could make past it with some trouble, we still have to remove the tree and clear the path, if we want to save the poor bastards stuck on the other side.”

“Oh? So you confirmed that the miners are stuck in the mines?” Atlas questioned with a raised eyebrow, noticing the nuance in the man’s sentence.

“Aye,” The scout captain replied. “We found some washed traces of a struggle, and more traces leading back towards the mines.”

“Any casualties?”

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“By the grace of the Gods, we didn’t find any bodies. However, we can’t be too sure,” the man somberly replied.

“No bodies at the initial point of struggle is a good sign. It means they managed to retreat while avoiding death.” While his mouth spoke such optimistic words of relief, his mind thought differently. ‘Thank Gods there are no casualties. Manpower is stretched thin as it is and I can’t afford to lose anyone.’

Having finished his report, the scout captain turned silent. Turning to face Baron Helm, Atlas asked, “What do you suggest we do, Baron Helm?”

“We have to rescue the miners, my liege.” Baron Helm unhesitatingly replied.

“That goes without saying,” Atlas immediately replied. “They are trapped within the mines with no food, no water, and a pack of wolves surrounding their exit. Worse yet, their only route to the town now remains blocked.”

Sitting up straight, he slowly spoke, “Question is, how do we go about doing it?”

The room sunk into silence as each man pondered the issue. Seeing no harm in doing so, Atlas habitually thought out loud. “The issue of the fallen tree blocking the road is not very significant. We can simply ask Mrs. Bradley (Foreman Vivian) to lead a team of woodcutters to clear the route. The real issue is regarding the wolf pack and evacuating the miners safely. How do we do that efficiently?”

“Err, about that,” one of the scouts suddenly spoke up. Having his attention drawn, Atlas looked towards the speaker with interest. “Yes?”

“I think… I might h’af a solution for it, milord.” the scout nervously said. He then slowly explained his idea.

Hearing his method, Atlas’s face slowly got brighter and brighter. By the time the scout was finished explaining his idea, a faint smile hung on his face.

“Wow. That’s an interesting tidbit of information that I never knew,” Atlas spoke a word of genuine praise. “What do you think about this idea, Baron Helm?” he turned and asked his retainer.

“The idea is ingenious and has a high chance of succeeding, my liege. I think we should do as he says.” Baron Helm spoke in support.

“Alright. It’s settled then,” Atlas stood up and clapped his hands. “We shall proceed according to this plan. Brilliant idea, Mr. Timmons.” The prince praised the timid scout one more time.

“I-I-hehehe.” Mr. Timmons shyly laughed while hiding his face. Never had he expected that he would be personally praised by the Son of the Heavens!

Atlas then detailed the plan one more time and handed over specific instructions to each man in the room. After he finished doing so, he looked at the scouts and spoke, “Then I shall be troubling you gents once again.”

“Leave it to us, my lord. Serving you is our duty.” Each scout replied in kind before saluting and leaving the office to carry out their respective tasks.

After seeing them leave, Atlas lazily collapsed back into his chair once again and grabbed his forehead. The damned headache was back.

“My liege’s exceptional talent repeatedly leaves me in awe,” Baron Helm whole-heartedly spoke words of praise as he recalled how quickly the little prince had adapted the ingenious idea and had shaped a plan around it. Had it been him in that situation, he would still be clutching at his head unable to think of a solution.

“Enough with the bootlicking, Baron Helm. I got another job for you,” Atlas interrupted his wishful thoughts.

‘Bootlicking?’ Baron Helm absentmindedly wondered about this foreign term for a moment before wiping it out of his head and placing his full attention on the prince’s words. As he heard the prince pass his instructions, his joyful expression soon turned into that of horror.

“My liege you cannot do this! No! You mustn’t do this!” Baron Helm screamed with fright.

“Oh, relax. I have a reason for doing this. Plus, you have no reason to worry. I naturally have thought of a backup,” Atlas replied with a mysterious smile and explained his backup. Upon hearing it, Baron Helm finally seemed to lose the apprehensions in his heart as the expression on his face softened.

“Although I have no idea why my liege is taking such an unnecessary risk, I shall obey you.” Baron Helm replied with a wholehearted salute and left the office.

Sitting alone in the now-empty office, Atlas stared into the dancing strand of flamelight. He stared emptily into it for a few seconds before suddenly bursting into laughter.

“Hahahaha! Gods, I’m such an unparalleled genius! Machiavelli? More like, Machia-loser! Hahaha.” His laughter soon came to a stop as he buried his face into the desk before him.

“That was such a shit line. I really need some rest. I’m slowly losing my mind here.” He soon quietened down and rested against the desk while waiting for the Baron to return and wake him up.

Time was of the essence, and they had to work fast if they wanted to rescue the miners.