From a certain perspective, Anton had no responsibility to interfere with the conflict between Tenoun’a and Shreen. Indeed, it could have been said it was none of his business and he should stay out of things. If it was simply a war between factions that he didn’t fully understand, joining either side would not be right.

But it also had to be considered that Anton had the ability to affect more than just battles. Resolving the conflict in a way that was beneficial to all parties would be best. As for how to accomplish that… well, that was where things got tricky.

He could of course declare to Tenoun’a that they had to stop their raids. He could enforce that, unless they were willing to engage in all-out war. Perhaps even if they were, since he would be around Shrenn and they would have to defend themselves. But leading to an escalation was just the same as joining his preferred side.

If he did manage to get Tenoun’a to back down, then what? People there would lose a source of food, as well as materials they desperately needed. Though there were details Anton still needed to work through. Because the fruit he’d seen Aleksandra consuming was clearly something special to them. That also meant it was not commonly available to the people as a whole. Fancy furniture also didn’t support the welfare of the common man. He needed to know exactly what was being stolen. But where could he get such information?

Oh right. He knew the planetary coordinator, and things had become so regular that they calculated productivity with raids as a factor. It took a few days for Anton to think through everything he needed and wanted to do, then he arranged for another meeting with Docia. Her schedule should be fairly busy, but she quickly found time for him.

“What do you need?” she asked immediately as he entered her office.

“Who says I need anything? Perhaps I am just here to chat.”

“No,” she shook her head. “You are not. You would have found me after work.”

“Is there an after work for you?” Anton asked. “You seem… busy.” He could already sense a line of assistants building up at a distance, not hovering outside the door so they didn’t bother him. “But yes. I do need something. Yearly reports on the goods stolen by raids, if possible. Also casualties.”

“Alright,” Docia said. “We’ll have that for you this afternoon.”

“Don’t you want to know what I want it for?” Anton asked.

“I’m hoping you’re working to our benefit,” she said, “And if you were not, I don’t see why you couldn’t get that information elsewhere. But if you are, making things easy for you is best. And for me.”

“Good idea. Wanna know a trick?”

“What sort of ‘trick’?” Docia asked.

“Some methods to cultivate while doing paperwork, which would ultimately improve your efficiency. And a technique to read… much more quickly.”

“How quickly?”

“I could read everything in this room in ten minutes,” Anton said.

“I don’t believe you,” Docia said clearly. There were hundreds or thousands of compendiums and ledgers, as well as drawers and cabinets full of loose papers.

“Wanna make a bet?” Anton leaned his elbow on the desk. “If I win you have to spend an hour every day not swamped in paperwork, letting tasks build up as you practice these techniques to ultimately pull ahead. It’ll be good for you.”

“And if I win?” Docia narrowed her eyes.

“I’ll destroy the next week’s worth of incoming raider ships,” Anton said. “Either way, I’ll be out of your hair in ten minutes.”

“How will I know you actually read it all?”

“I’m sure you’re familiar with everything here,” Anton said. “You can quiz me on any of it, to your satisfaction.”

“... Fine. Might as well get started, then.”

Books flew off the shelves just as quickly as Anton tore through them- and then they returned to their positions after flipping through them. He could theoretically read with his energy alone, but using his eyes made things faster, even if pages only flashed before his eyes.

For the loose papers, Anton made sure Docia could see that they all ended up in the same order and position, just as they had been. He wasn’t planning to make a mess of the organizational system.

Anton was hit with a whole mess of information, mostly covering the last few decades but some things spanning centuries. Clearly, this was not the whole of Shrenn’s records, merely key overviews of certain cities and information. Though Anton did find that much of it could have been condensed into less space, which would also make it easier to look through. It wasn’t a problem with Docia’s organization per se, rather how it was built on earlier decisions of people just making things work before her. As far as things went, Shrenn wasn’t the worst mess of bureaucracy they could have been, but the requirements that they monitor everything carefully to maintain their tenuous level of prosperity.

“Done,” Anton said- though that should have been clear to Docia as he slid closed the last drawer. “Questions?”

“Who was the thirteenth planetary coordinator?”

It took Anton about a second to retrieve the answer to that. He hadn’t come across a list with that information, but he was able to put it together from context. “Ottar.”

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Which moon produced the third highest yields of food twelve years ago?”

“By what metric?” Anton asked.

“Weight.”

“Togar. The third moon.”

“Which sect last won the biannual competition of strength?”

Anton shrugged, “Don’t know. That wasn’t in there.”

“Of course it was… not.” Docia frowned. “I must have left that in the pile I brought home.”

“I’m also declaring you can’t bring things home. You have to use that time for training.”

“I suppose I can’t back down now,” Docia sighed.

“Come on,” Anton said. “Cultivation is fun! And if you don’t like doing this, then that’s more incentive to get quick at it. And train others to handle more of this for you.”

“I just don’t have the time,” she sighed.

“You’ll never have the time unless you make it. People can function without reports for a few weeks or months. They might even be glad,” Anton said. “Let’s get you started on the Ten Thousand Scrolls. Also, I can personalize the training for you if you show me your cultivation method, but I can understand if you are hesitant to provide it.”

She shook her head, “Not really. My method is basic and publicly available.” She pulled out a book labeled Convening Fundaments. “It is widely usable, but not optimal for martial purposes.”

Anton quickly looked through it. “Ooh, farming techniques. I see a lot of flaws though,” Anton handed it back. “The good news is I’d bet you reach Life Transformation in a couple decades if you get on the right track. I have to say,” he said, looking at her hands, wrinkled skin plastered around bone. “It’s great for the joints.”

“I find it hard to believe you had joint trouble before you reached Life Transformation, if you’ve truly surpassed it.”

Anton grinned. “I had joint trouble even before I touched Body Tempering. I look a bit younger now.” With prominent wrinkles and gray hair, that statement meant quite a bit. “Make sure to get me those documents, I’m still missing some relevant details not in all this,” he gestured around him. “And make sure to be ready for training.”

-----

The area of most concern to Anton had been casualties. Fortunately, it seemed that Shrenn had developed ways to minimize their own losses, maximizing their defense. The information on Tenoun’a’s losses was less clear, though it seemed they generally avoided the areas they knew would be well defended. Shrenn planted in seemingly random places on their various moons, but they would not defend all of it. For example, they had entire forests that were mostly undefended, with raiders landing and chopping down what they could before being chased off. Even so, Anton didn’t feel comfortable accepting any deaths on a continuous basis. Clearly it was sustainable over the long term, but it would obviously inhibit growth and the quality of everyone’s lives.

Anton approximated the number of individuals placed similarly to Aleksandra in Rolis and compared the results to the fruit and wood and other things stolen. Pretty quickly it became clear that it was more than a relatively small population of elite could manage to use, so at least he confirmed that the general populace had to be benefitting from the raids. The food specifically could make up a significant portion of what Tenoun’a consumed- though it was likely the staple foods such as drought resistant tubers that they would get.

Rice was completely unheard of, which made sense because nowhere had much water. Shrenn had more water underground than on the surface, but it didn’t come with natural sunlight. There had been efforts to bring it to the surface, which was also where the moons got much of their moisture, but for the most part they conserved what they had as much as possible.

Anton considered the possibility of redirecting icy asteroids to help with the issue. The planets were space capable, though their technology seemed limited in scope in that regard. Ultimately, Anton decided he didn’t know enough. Rutera’s scientists would be of much help in determining what made sense.

As for various interesting plants, Anton did not have enough seeds of any sort to immediately support populations that needed whatever they could get. It was even possible that people would prefer to eat the seeds instead of planting them, if they were desperate enough. And making any significant growth on Shrenn and its moons would be difficult enough. He could get the process started for them, but ultimately that meant more work for some time. Tenoun’a would need larger changes first. Anton simply needed more than he could manage on his own, and people with other expertises. Which meant he would have to leave things as they were, likely for years.

Before that, he had hundreds of samples to take. Soil, plants, and all sorts of other things. He also needed to see other places on Tenoun’a, to measure their potential willingness to negotiate a peace. That would require at a minimum food, and potentially reparations and apologies that Shrenn might not be able or willing to make. Who could have predicted that centuries long conflicts weren’t easy to fix?

But Anton simply couldn’t let worlds devastated by the upper realms remain like this. Just to spite the Trigold Cluster, he wanted them to thrive.

-----

Returning to Tenoun’a was awkward, because they hadn’t been terribly friendly to begin with. However, Anton thought up a way around that. Because of his strength it was unlikely anyone on Tenoun’a would refuse to host him- but it would also make them wary. Anton wasn’t fully certain that he could survive if they saw him as a threat they had to remove at all costs. So, he would come bearing gifts. That could even include seeds for various sorts of cultivation enhancing plants and medicinal herbs that would improve cultivation- with the understanding that such things wouldn’t significantly affect Tenoun’a’s ability to attack Shrenn for at least a decade or two. He didn’t want to bolster both sides just to result in a larger war instead of the steady conflict they had now.

Though ultimately Anton wanted to try to seek out someone… friendlier… than Aleksandra, he decided he had to return to her first.

“I snatched something from Shrenn as I stopped by to look at them,” Anton said, producing some fresh and well preserved pear-like fruits. He tried not to pay too much attention to the relative opulence Aleksandra lived in.

“Impressive,” she said. “I had not expected you to return.”

“In truth,” Anton said, “I stopped to speak to them as well. I have some plans… something that might take some time to come to fruition. I would like your assistance with it.”

Making himself seem like a schemer working towards his own benefit would most likely relax Aleksandra- and those she was in contact with. It was unlikely they could imagine someone interested in altruism, given the circumstances they had lived in their whole lives. And it was altruism, despite what benefits Anton might reap or personal satisfaction he could derive. He could gain much more from simply remaining on Ceretos, or simply binding their star as he pleased. Nobody could stop him.

Was he going to eventually ask for permission to do just that? Absolutely. But only after everything was settled, and he made it clear that there was no requirement or obligation. Though he had grown fond of the bright blue star on his two trips past it.