(BL) The Villain wants a Divorce!

Despite Sam’s reservations about the other man, Mr. Collins and Sam were the damn dream team.

While Cass had never had to fully prepare the whole team for the dungeon before, he had sat in on Fiona’s rather in depth planning session, and Sir Forsythe, the gem, had asked Fiona’s assistants back home to send along some of the planning papers she had made for previous dungeons through magic.

Cass was continuously impressed with how the world worked, and constantly annoyed he kept forgetting that he could use it. That was something he was going to have to make time for, especially since the gods had told him that he had the ability to get rid of demons, and Cass was fairly certain it wasn’t through stabbing them.

With Sam and Mr. Collins at his side, Mr. Collins getting in contact with all of the merchants that he would need to facilitate everything, and Sam getting in contact with the Vespertine family to help with the city side of things, Cass was feeling rather confident in his planning.

The only thing he wasn’t feeling confident about was the dungeon itself.

In the letter that the fuckers had delivered, they had not made it clear what kind of dungeon it was. They had intentionally been vague about it, as if doing that would be a good thing. It was clear that this was their version of being petty. They needed the hero party to go do something, but the hero party had made a fool of the royal family and the Dukes at the last ball.

Cass specific, but everyone got roped into it. They had all agreed to let Cass...do what he wanted.

It was petty, and cruel to the people who were being faced with unimaginable terror over a dungeon forming in their area, but Cass already knew that the royal family didn’t really give a fuck about the common folk. It was why Cass had reached out to the Vespertine family, even if Cass didn’t want to rely on any of the dukedoms.

The Vespertines, despite how they treated their own family, were trusted by the common people. Cass had a tentative alliance with them due to him being the second hero and now having Gideon as the next saint after Ava. Duke Vespertine needed to have a connection with Cass and Gideon, so Cass was going to rely on that connection.

It was stronger than anything else that would tie him to the Vespertine household. The man was anything if not a damn leech for power.

Lucian and Edgar came down around lunchtime, checking in on Cass and making sure he had eaten before they wandered off to get some things ready on their side. Lucian, who had been given the area, went to go scout in secret. If the royal family and the others thought that keeping the dungeon a secret from them was going to harm them, they were damn idiots.

Edgar went to speak to the Priests and the Vespertine family himself. He knew that Cass was okay speaking through letters, but he also knew that he could just speak to Cass directly if he had any questions, and it would be faster.

He also knew what they would need relative to what kind of dungeon it was. Cass wanted to tell them no, but there was no way he could when they got that determined look in their eyes. So, Cass let them go.

And then it was Gideon’s turn to come check on him and offer his services.

In Gideon’s case, he was offering to be Sir Forsythe’s replacement, and also do the job that he had done for Fiona before. Helping get soldiers and others to help protect the area while they were in the gate. While Gideon wasn’t respected by his family, he was still respected by the people. Cass was honestly a little worried about letting Gideon go out on his own right now.

He didn’t have a sword, and he wasn’t fully in control of his powers yet. However, he did need someone to do his work. So, Cass sent him out into the world to go get a new sword that would be able to handle his holy power. There was no price point attached, to Gideon’s horror, and Cass sent Byron with him.

That did mean that he had to ask Sir Sanders and Ser Hune to come down from their love nest for a few hours while the other two men were gone, but Ser Hune didn’t seem to mind.

In fact, she was delighted to be in the middle of it all again. She was also glowing. Actually glowing. A pink hue surrounded her body, and Cass was rather alarmed when he first saw it. She had just laughed it off and explained that this was what happened while the nursery tree was helping her with her fertility.

That was something new that Cass learned, and something that had him thinking. Would the same thing happen to him if he...? No no, suppress that thought.

He couldn’t afford to be thinking anything that would send him into a spiral right now. He had work to do.

Sir Sanders was as stern as he normally was, while Ser Hune was a ray of light on everyone while they worked. Cass obviously let her sit while she watched over them, Sir Sanders more of the knight protector while they were both down. That did not, for a second make Cass think that she was less capable.

She was just busy trying to create a baby. Something that Cass had no concept of outside of the basics, and even then, human women didn’t fucking glow during conception. This world was crazy.

~

Cass got most of the tentative planning he could get done while the men were all away. He couldn’t finalize numbers until he knew what kind of dungeon it was; even if he had a pretty heavy assumption; but with the plans that he had from Fiona’s own personal planning, that helped considerably.

Basic numbers for soldiers, basic numbers for carriages, basic numbers for food supplies, water, things that Cass had always gotten for himself, but not for the others. With a few...Cass twists.

He made sure that they had tents, firewood, and other supplies. He didn’t ask for permission to use space magic. Fuck these guys. If they wanted to be petty, he didn’t need to declare things that Fiona normally would.

He wasn’t Fiona, and this was going to be the boys show. He was going to prove to them that Fiona only kept them in the loop because she was a good person. Now that they were attempting to be petty, Cass didn’t need to do shit.

He didn’t need to appease anyone. He didn’t have guilt over letting others down who didn’t mean anything to him. The only people he cared about the opinions of were Sam, Byron, Sir Forsythe, Ser Hune, the nursery tree, Lucian, Edgar and Gideon. Everyone else could go eat his ass.

With Mr. Collins’ help, Cass was able to get into contact with merchants that Cassian worked with normally to get the supplies that he needed. By the time that Gideon came back with Byron, looking a little flustered but in a good way, Cass was well on his way to getting everything shipped to the estate and ready to leave.

Gideon also had good news. The soldiers he reached out to were happy to help, as long as they were paid. That was, once again, not an issue. Cass had been the one who had been mostly bankrolling their dungeon missions, even if the ’kingdom’ had been giving them money to help out. It was a paltry sum, one that Cassian had originally scoffed at and told Fiona to keep it for herself.

Cass wondered, briefly, if it was that paltry sum that Fiona had used to escape.

He didn’t like that thought very much.

Either way, Edgar and Gideon came back successful rather quickly, and Gideon was over the moon with the new sword that he had picked out. While Gideon gushed about the sword, asking permission to show it to Cass on his desk and then pointing out each detail like a boy showing off his hot wheels collection, Cass couldn’t help but smile.

It was Byron who stepped in once Gideon was done with his explanation who explained that he had originally tried to go for a less expensive weapon, fearing that it would be a burden to Cass. Cass couldn’t help the sound that left his lips, rolling his eyes in disbelief. Gideon looked a little taken aback, while Byron’s lips curled up into a smile that told him that Byron knew his Lord well.

Byron had then gone above Gideon in rank and asked the store owner, the man who made the weapons, what was his best weapon and if it could handle holy power as well. The blacksmith had taken it as a challenge and had shown them this sword.

Byron had watched how Gideon’s eyes had lit up at the sight of the sword and as the blacksmith continued to speak about the sword. Byron didn’t know anything about weapons like this, since while fairies were advanced, they didn’t give a fuck about weapons like this, and he was mostly trained in magic so he took the blacksmith’s word for it.

He had even gone so far to ask the blacksmith if there was another sword out there that was better suited to someone of Gideon’s rank. Gideon, even in the retelling, looked horrified at the words leaving Byron’s mouth. Cass wanted to smile.

The blacksmith, offended at first until he realised that Byron wasn’t trying to get a rise out of him, laughed, and told him no. He was the best smith in the country, and had supplied a lot of swords to the Ridgewood family. In fact, this sword was supposed to be for the next head of the Ridgewood family, but if they wanted it, he was happy to part with it. Especially since he could tell that Gideon, unknown to this man, was capable of wielding it well.

Byron hadn’t hesitated then. He had bought the sword, had even overpaid because Byron knew his Lord.

He would do anything to fuck over the other Dukes.

Cass was beaming by the time that Byron was done explaining his story. Damn, he was like a proud dad, or older brother. Gideon was embarrassed, clearly about to say that they could return the sword but there was no way that was going to happen.

”Did you get a sheath that is suitable for a saint?” Cass asked and Byron beamed.

”He’ll have it done in two days.” Byron told him and Cass was glad that he had managed to convince Byron to stay by his side. Ooh, that feeling was going to fill him up for days to come.

Cass didn’t keep Gideon around for too long, just long enough to make sure that he got all of the information for the soldiers, and then let the man go to make sure that he could use his new sword well.

Gideon was clearly embarrassed, but also grateful for Cass’ kindness. He promised he would hit the streets early the next morning to make sure that he had his side of the deal complete. Cass waved him off dismissively, happy that the light had returned to the man’s eyes after yesterday. All it had taken was a new sword.

He wondered if that would work for the other men too?

Cass knew what his light returning gift was. Books, but he wasn’t sure if the men knew that.

Either way, Cass had more work to do, and it wasn’t until later in the evening that Lucian returned back to the estate, a rather somber look in his eyes.

Cass could tell that he had found the dungeon, and from the looks of it, he wasn’t too pleased.