Collecting their meager goods, Bernard and Peter made their way into Kyris proper and started asking questions. Since they were posing as religious travelers, it wasn't seen as suspicious when they began asking for poor villages that were in the outskirts.

Even better, it seemed as if there was no shortage of such towns to go around - this region of Juldania seemed to be largely ignored, or exploited by the wealthy sectors to the north, and many good men had left to seek their fortunes elsewhere. What was left was a collection of half-populated towns and rundown villages with scarcely any hope; exactly the sorts of places that Bernard wanted to find.

So, without much difficulty, the two men were able to make their way into one such town, called Lenoran, which had fallen into hard times in recent years and which the youngest generation of men were fast abandoning. Lenoran had a number of similarities to Odellia, although it didn't have a wealthy merchant that was propping it up and keeping goods and services flowing. The people of Lenoran needed better food, needed jobs (or some sort of industry), and to get their health back. It was as good of a setup as they were likely to find without becoming suspicious in their asking. Far from being interrogated here, the offer of help that Bernard and Peter made was gratefully accepted immediately, and Bernard got to work.

The next fifteen months were long and arduous, but proceed in a reasonably uneventful fashion. Small wins compounded, and Bernard found new and intriguing ways to change their fortune, applying many of the same innovative techniques, careful listening, and out-of-the-box solutioning that had helped him in Odellia. Peter did an incredible job of getting the residents to feel like Bernard was incapable of failure, some sort of godsend. In fact, Bernard even stopped considering Peter's removal and replacement, as the duo was simply too effective to break up, and Peter had shown no further signs of trouble.

In terms of progress in getting the townsfolk on their side, and creating a power base, they weren't nearly as far along at this point as they had been in Odellia (after an even shorter time there), but then again, Odellia had been the result of a completely freak run of luck that they had just been smart enough to play up well. Lenoran, on the other hand, was a lot of hard work.

There was only a single problem worth mentioning which needed dealt with, and that was Lenoran's mayor Timmus. He was a friendly enough man when they first arrived - shocked and happy to see outsiders showing an interest - but as time went on it became clear that he was a petty, bitter man who immediately tried to shut down any idea that couldn't be seen as his own.

This slowed down the pace that Bernard wanted to keep, and (although most residents saw through Timmus' act) allowed Timmus to take too much credit for the things Bernard and Peter were getting done. Bernard became tired of fighting with Timmus, and Peter simply wasn't able to get him onto their side, no matter what he tried. In fact, once Timmus saw the tide turning, and people siding with Bernard in their disputes, he began looking for ways to get them to move on out of Lenoran, even questioning their backgrounds and motives.

Bernard decided that enough was enough. Like too many people in Lenoran, Timmus had a significant problem with alcohol; he was rarely sober, and clearly viewed anything that stopped him from drinking himself into a stupor as an irritating distraction.

After a discussion with Peter following an extremely frustrating artificial roadblock being introduced to stop a medical project, Bernard offered to make one final attempt to handle the Timmus situation himself. After all, what did they have to lose? He didn't tell Peter what he had planned, but one way or another, he intended to be done with the problem of Timmus by the end of the evening.

Bernard approached Timmus, without attempting to be discreet and well within the earshot of several residents, and said that he was sorry that they weren't getting along. He said that he felt terrible about the situation, and that he had a lot of respect for what the mayor was having to deal with. Bernard offered to buy Timmus a drink or two as a peace offering, with the promise that he'd do his best to hash things out with him, and if they couldn't reach a resolution, then he and Peter would leave.

Timmus couldn't reject such a deal, not in front of so many others. Besides, he didn't listen to much of anything beyond the offer of being brought a drink; he was ready to go immediately. They went down to the local store where Bernard bought two large jugs of whiskey, not entirely sure how much he'd need for what he had in mind.

Surprisingly, Timmus offered to host Bernard at his home, where they could have their drinks around a warm fire, at least. He was eager to work things out, too, he said - all while eyeing the jugs of whiskey with what some would describe only as lust.

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The evening ran long - Bernard drank very little. This was not unusual for him, as he was content to have one or two drinks, but had never been one for too much alcohol. Besides, he needed to keep a clear head. Timmus, on the other hand, barely noticed what Bernard did or did not drink. He drank, and drank, and drank some more, and the more he had, the friendlier he became.

Timmus confessed that he found himself in an untenable situation; he wasn't great at the job he had, but there was no other job he could do. He admitted that Bernard had done more for Lenoran in the year or so that they had been there than Timmus had done in his entire life, and he knew more could have been done if he hadn't been in the way. The two men talked about mending fences and working together, with Bernard making vague promises to prop Timmus up, and Timmus making vague promises to support Bernard's ideas.

Bernard was half-tempted to leave for the evening then, although he knew that the mayor would never remember what he had said that night. No, he decided, he needed to see this through and see it done properly. So, he kept giving Timmus more, and more, keeping pleasant conversation going until the inevitable blackout came. Bernard half-dragged, half-lifted, the unconscious mayor to his bed, then took a minute to rest while he caught his breath from the exertion.

Now was the time that action was demanded. Bernard pressed down on the man's shoulder with one arm (holding him in place), while he pinched the unconscious man's nose slightly, causing him to sputter a little as he opened his mouth. Within seconds, the vomiting began. Lying on his back unconscious, there was no way that Timmus would be able to survive.

Although he had to be careful not to get any of the man's vomit on him that might leave an indication of what had happened, Bernard stayed as close as was safe, holding him in position and watching while the man choked. Only when he was confident that Timmus was no more did he leave and return home.

The next day, of course, Timmus was found. Bernard's story that they got together for drinks and tried to patch things up was real enough, and he simply claimed that when he got tired, and he and the mayor had reached some small consensus, that he had left - of course, he left the whiskey he had brought as a gift for the man, who had been enjoying it all evening. Timmus must have kept drinking, he said, as he wasn't that drunk when Bernard had left, he was certain.

The story made sense to everyone, and almost without another thought, Bernard was offered the empty mayoral position. Problem solved, he thought - and with no enemies gained at all.

With Timmus out of the way and Bernard officially in charge, things proceeded even more smoothly than before, and Peter found it much easier to give Bernard the credit necessary to advance their plan. However, Bernard realized that he was about to face a problem. Much more economic growth, and he'd need housing (not to mention ramping up construction efforts), and he didn't particularly want to go down a path of making people rich again. Odellia was never far from his mind.

So, he wondered, how could he avoid it? Bernard realized that he'd have to avoid private enterprises, and make any necessary building erection be done by the local government. However, in a town of only a few thousand, that was far easier said than done.

He and Peter talked it over, and Bernard starting running numbers. He thought that given the increased taxes coming in from the town's growth, he had the ability to start the housing project - but probably not to finish it. To make the town even more irresistible, he could allow for people to pay for their housing over a longer period of time; this would amount to the town essentially fronting the mortgage debts, but that required more cash than he had on hand (even if a significant amount of those mortgage payments would be to the town coffers, which was tantalizingly close to paying himself). Perhaps they could lower labor costs and prevent a monopoly if they offered people the land, and gave them materials at cost, but forced them to do the construction themselves?

This was a revolutionary idea, and Peter found it both genius and incredibly enticing. Who wouldn't be interested in hearing about such an arrangement? After all, it would be an easy way for the people who really wanted a better life to get it, but they'd have to put in the sweat equity. That would keep the existing town residents from becoming jealous of perceived handouts. In addition, it would tie the new residents to Lenoran more tightly (and therefore to Bernard, in practical terms), and wouldn't require doing much tax raising.

The two put together a rough communication plan for Jeremy to finish, and then started promoting the upcoming opportunity. Bernard purchased large parcels of land on behalf of the town for use in the initiative. If this didn't go as planned, Bernard would have to eithe ruse his personal savings to bail the town out, sell off the land to someone else at a pittance, or walk away yet again. It was a risky plan, and he wasn't certain that it would all go his way.

If it did work out, though, Bernard knew he could quickly double - or even tripe - the amount of influence and power he had in the immediate area. That certainly seemed worthwhile, and worth the gamble he was taking on the nearly year and a half that he had invested into the place. It still didn't have the speed that Bernard wanted, but it seemed like the best bet by far. He was really proud of this plan. The longer he thought about it, the more confident he became that this was the best option, and the right timing for it.