♠️ Exceptis Centrum ♠️ ✔︎

Chapter 7

Notes:
This chapter might be a bit of a bore, it’s mostly explanations of the lore with some Easter Eggs here and there if you look carefully ;)

As Alfred finished off signing the last document for the morning, he placed it on his out pile with a smile and even stood up to take the pile of forms over to the briefcase, all the while humming a familiar tune. After handing the briefcase to the clerk, whilst also giving him a pat on the shoulder and thanking him for his hard work, he turned to Yao and enthusiastically asked, “What’s next?”

He walked with a skip in his step and his eyes seem to sparkle like stars as he preformed his tasks throughout the day. He strolled round the palace and he greeted his subjects in an enthusiastic manner, winking whilst pointing at them or just giving them a charming salute. He did all of his work with a smile and completed it all without whining or complaining about it.

Yao seemed curious as to why Alfred was in such a good mood when this morning he looked like a zombie ready to go back to its grave. Still he couldn’t complain as all the tasks that needed to be completed ended up getting completed. All of the inspections and meetings were taken of and according to the schedule and work plan, everything was up to date meaning Yao only had to worry about surprises which he could handle.

Now it was lunchtime and as Alfred stuffed his face with his favourite burgers, Yao looked over the schedule and was surprised that everything was completed this morning. “Apart from a chat with the district mayor of the eastern city regarding some policies, it looks like you got a free afternoon.”

“Whewee?” replied Alfred, his mouth currently occupied with a half eaten burger. He forced himself to swallow it and rubbed his greasy lips with the back of his hand. “So there isn’t anything we need to do?”

Yao double checked the monthly plan. “We don’t need to inspect the guest rooms for the other courts until next week, nor do we have to go over the menu just yet as the caterers are currently taking stock. There are no other meetings or events coming up. So... no, we are fully up to date,” confirmed Yao with a smile.

“Aw, shame,” gasped Alfred after downing an ice cold soda, patting his chest to force out a trapped belch. “I’m actually eager to do something today.”

Now Yao was really curious. “Ok, what happened?” he demanded, “This morning you looked ready to meet your maker, and now you’re acting like you’re on top of the world.”

Alfred just smiled and winked at the Jack. “Let’s just say I took a quick trip this morning,” was all that he said.

It wasn’t the answer Yao was hoping for but he took it for what it was. “I just wish you were like this everyday,” he mumbled as he double checked his notes.

Slurping away at his soda, Alfred just smirked as his hardworking Jack went over his notes to try and find something for him to do. He truly did feel a whole lot better than he did earlier on this morning and it was all thanks to his little trip to Arthur’s Garden. He didn’t even realise that he was happy to return there until after he returned to the palace.

Nothing interesting happened during his visit, well nothing majorly interesting. Arthur greeted him politely for a change though he did call him an idiot when Alfred teased him. Arthur then sung to his garden and allowed Alfred to listen in, despite feeling embarrassment with having someone who could talk back as an audience. Once he was done singing the pair of them talked for a while about trivial things. Some of their topics made them either invested in the conversation or get pouty about it, but the longer they talked the more Alfred got lost in Arthur’s world. Despite when he called him an idiot or said one thing when he meant another, Arthur was an interesting guy to talk to. He could get full of himself but he did seem to take an interest in Alfred’s own nonsense.