Ivan was in the study, getting work done and looking through the information of the small land the Brittoli Family was in charge of. The sun was not even in the sky yet, but you could tell it was morning by the moisture on the grass outside.

He had his hands full thanks to the many things he needed to clean up. Especially the killer who finished off the Brittoli Family, though he knew now that this issue could wait. The other problems were the vast amounts of poverty, starvation, and hatred. People had resorted to banditry or moved to other domains, leaving the Brittoli Region vacant and in need of people.

The only remaining civilians were those too poor or too weak to survive the trip. Then there were the children who had no families, so the first thing he did was pay the people to make a large building in the large town of Adervalt. The Brittoli Mansion sat atop a lonely hill overlooking the town.

This large building would act as an orphanage and an academy. The children would be raised as soldiers or necessary staff to help make this region prosper. The parents were also given the ability to send their kids, in exchange for a bag of produce or grain every month.

Things necessary for survival were more important now, so the demand for food and clothing were high, especially since it was early winter.

He had asked some old veterans he knew to come in and help out, in exchange for payment, though many rejected the money. The mansion was practically swarming with old men and those with disabled bodies. These veterans were also to be the teachers of the children.

Some were used as messengers, others as guards. Some were also given the chance to perform other services, such as cooking, cleaning, or running errands. The garden outside was renovated, the plants all moved to the sides of the courtyard. Thus, a large area was changed into a training ground.

Of course, this was to happen at a later point. Right now, the mansion was still quiet, and unnervingly so. That is, save for the soft breathing in front of Ivan. He put down the papers and saw a still drowsy Janet rubbing her eyes and yawning silently.

“Oh? Good. We can begin.”

He swept up the papers and stacked them off to the side.

“Take a seat.”

As Janet walked towards the chair, Ivan shook his head.

“No, on the ground.”

Perplexed, Janet obeyed. Ivan moved the furniture around so the chairs were along the wall and facing towards the center of the room, while the desk was placed against the large window, so it faced outside. Ivan took a seat in front of Janet.

“The first thing you must understand is how to breathe.”

Janet cocked an eyebrow, confused at his words.

“This kind of breathing will keep you focused and strong. You will need this in whatever challenges you face, so take heed.”

His back was straight, his knees were pointing outwards, the balls of his feet touching each other. His hands were placed in front of his gut and he calmly breathed in and out repeatedly.

But the air around them was changing! It was like each breath caused the very air in the room to become sucked in, like water going down a drain!

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“Mm, breathe like this for now.”

He got back up and took a seat at the desk, sitting sideways, so he still faced Janet. As he worked on the papers, he suddenly smiled. It must have been an hour after they had started.

“Good.”

Janet looked at him in surprise, so Ivan was confused as to why she reacted the same way his soldiers did when he said the same thing to them.

“Why did you stop? Now we can move onto the next part quicker. Now then, while you perform your breathing, you will answer my questions. However, you will have to answer them within 15 seconds, or face the consequences.”

Janet gulped and shivered, but she nodded.

“Good.”

After waiting for a while, so she could resume her breathing, Ivan asked the first question.

“You are in your carriage riding around the town nearby when you hear a ruckus outside. You look out and see that a woman was injured while trying to save a boy that had scared the horses. She is bleeding from her head and the children are all crying. What do you do?”

She spent a moment thinking and spoke, her voice wobbling as she tried to continue her breathing.

“I would get someone to heal them.”

“They don’t want the magic, they want money.”

“Huh?!”

Janet momentarily stopped her breathing, earning a glare from Ivan. She caught herself and got back into the rhythm.

“Then I would compensate them for their troubles.”

“Too bad. They still think badly of you. The people’s opinion of you has changed from 'member of the detested Brittoli Family' to ‘will toss money around to get rid of nuisances’.”

Her breathing faltered as she tried to calm down.

“I’m not saying it was wrong. See, people have magic. It is easy to heal a wound. However, I never said that she was hurt by the horse. Think more. You must make a decision after finding all of the available information.”

Janet nodded solemnly as Ivan began his next question.

“The Royal Family is celebrating the birth of yet another Prince or Princess. You, as Baron, must attend. However, your people are currently experiencing a famine. How do you proceed?”

Janet gave a sly grin and answered quickly.

“I would let you stay behind to watch over the people, of course!”

She looked to be proud of her answer, but Ivan merely shook his head again.

“Too bad, you died. This would be the best opportunity for you to be assassinated, letting your land be divided by the other disgusting nobles.”

The sound of disdain littered Ivan’s words, but he continued, as Janet was just shaken.

“Okay, then. Seeing as how you care about the people, let us have this kind of question. Two companies arrive at the mansion in order to promote their organizations. One seeks to focus on the people, growing a lot of food cheaply, while the other focuses on making money, investing in art, entertainment, and events the people can participate in. However, you can only afford to provide funds to one group. Which one?”

This time, Janet thought more about the situation. She almost spent her entire time before she spoke.

“The group that focuses on money.”

“Too bad. They created vulgar sculptures, built brothels, and forced the civilians to participate in battles and duels. Sure, you earned a lot of money, but you lost the trust of your people.”

It was then that a woman’s yell entered their ears.

“You vile man! You can’t go around saying that to a little girl!”

Abigail had rushed here somehow, but she looked to be incredibly tired and pathetic. She was still wearing the same clothes as yesterday.

Ivan glared at Abigail, who cowered slightly, then turned back to Janet.

“Why didn’t you ask a question? You can’t go very far by just spitting out answers. You can never learn without making mistakes, sure, but it would be best to never make those mistakes in the first place. Learn from others before you. If you had asked what their plans were, you would have selected the other one, but only because it sounded perfect.”

“It was?”

“Yes. You probably picked the latter option because you went with the opposite of what you expected, right?”

Janet nodded slightly, causing Abigail to lower her guard somewhat.

“Well, if you had selected the former option, then your people would have been poisoned, you would have lost your lands, and you would have probably have been assassinated as well. Questions you should ask yourself about anything would have to be, ‘who, what, when, where, why, and how’.”

Janet silently nodded again, but she had stopped her breathing.

“How do I produce a fire?”

Ivan nodded as a smile formed on his face. The rest of the day was spent teaching Janet how to use entry level magic, while Abigail started to work on cleaning up the mansion, still angry and scared at Ivan.