A Kingdom of Hidden Betrayals || Dreamnotfound

21

Clay's POV

Clay sat at a table filled with his friends two days later.

The large table was filled with food and everyone was eating lunch. The group consisted of: Clay, George, Sapnap, Karl, Punz, Quackity, and Techno. An energetic and welcoming atmosphere was the mood for their lunch, everyone was happy.

"Oh!" Sapnap exclaimed softly, "Hello there!"

Clay's gaze darted to Sapnap, who was looking under the table. Sapnap smiled and bent down, straightening back up with a cat in his grasp. Clay grinned at Sapnap's delighted smile.

Sapnap looked at Clay. "Is this Patches?"

"The one and only."

His eyes lit up and he stroked Patches back. Her tail flicked against Sapnap's nose as she purred.

"She likes you," Clay commented.

"Why wouldn't she?" Sapnap retorted, "I'm the best."

"Easy tiger," Karl said with a chuckle, "let's not get ahead of ourselves now."

Sapnap flashed him a challenging smile, continuing to pet Patches.

"I'm surprised she's not with the twins," George whispered from beside Clay.

Clay observed Sapnap and Karl argue. He noted how Patches was sitting calmly in Sapnap's lap as he scratched behind her ears.

"She knows where she's needed," Clay murmured.

George nodded thoughtfully and a small smile crept onto his face when Sapnap didn't try to hide his hand as he fed Patches a piece of cooked chicken.

Clay looked around the table. Sapnap, Karl, and Quackity were immersed in an active discussion about god knows what. Punz and Techno were chatting as they ate. Clay switched his listening from George to their conversation.

"Yeah, I agree, Techno," Punz said, "That'll be a big upgrade for the army."

Techno huffed in agreement. "As soon as the last batch of armor is complete, it will be distributed amongst the soldiers."

"You did a great job, Techno," Clay said, joining their conversation.

Techno nodded in thanks. "Well, what did you expect?"

Clay chuckled. "The best, coming from you. You're the most skilled armorer and weaponsmith around."

Punz rolled his eyes. "Don't inflate his ego any more than I mistakenly have."

Techno grinned, causing Punz to shake his head, his lips twitching up in an amused smile.

"Fine," Techno said with a sigh, "I'll just go back to being a commoner... Clay? Do your shoes need shining?"

Clay wheezed. After a moment he looked at his boots. "Actually..."

Techno's eyes widened and Clay laughed. "I'm just kidding, Techno, you're much better at working with armor and weapons anyways."

Punz chuckled as Techno grumbled and went back to eating his food.

Clay and George had recently opened the army up to women. Only a few had tried out, but soon enough there were more and more coming in to try it out.

Punz had been extremely helpful in the immersion of women to the troops. It was hard for some of the male guards to accept the fact that they now trained with women, but they would get used to it eventually.

Techno had also contributed to the new change in the castle. He had started to make lighter weapons for women as well as armor specifically made for women.