"Is everything fine?"

Two women were standing around a crib in a room full of beautifully carved middle-aged-style furniture. Both were gorgeous and mature – one with golden eyes, the other with crimson-red ones.

The one with red eyes sighed, clearly annoyed, "Please don't worry, my lady."

On the other hand, the one with golden eyes bit the nail on her thumb slightly. Her red hair concealed her face slightly while she stared worryingly inside the crib.

She was not listening to what the red-eyed woman said, concentrating worryingly only on what was before her, "I don't get it. His siblings were so different."

The woman with red eyes stepped a little toward the crib and brought her wolf's tail to block the mother's sight, "My lady, I bet I am not the first healer, am I right?"

The mother looked at the healer, who blocked her sight. Her wolf ears stood up, and with eyes full of anger, she answered while growling, "If you don't tuck your dirty black tail away, I will rip it off."

The room's atmosphere became so thick that it was possible to cut it.

The healer moved her tail swiftly away while stepping back from the crib and spoke full of fear while slightly bowing down, "I apologize, lady Marisia."

The healer bowed and felt the lady's sight on her. Sharp killing intent could be felt around the room. She was intensely sweating while looking at the floor without moving.

The red-haired wolf-kin sighed and dismissed her, "Fine, leave."

"Thank you, lady Marisia," the healer turned around and went quickly for the door without looking back out of fear. Her back was so wet from fear that Marisia could see her skin through the clothes.

As the door closed, Marisia clicked her tongue and looked back inside the crib, her killing intent gone.

Her eyes became more peaceful as she saw her child lying inside. It had golden eyes, a snow-white tail, hair, and ear fur.

She smiled as she looked at her son's calm but curious eyes, 'My little boy, Alexander.'

She took Alexander in her arms and started to caress him while talking in a soft and quiet voice, "I don't know why you are so active, trying to move so much, but also so quiet at the same time, barely crying."

She opened the window lightly and got a blanket to cover herself and her son. Afterward, she went to a rocking chair.

The beautiful and elegant woman with wolf-like features sat down gently so as not to disturb her son. She began to rock back and forth softly.

Marisia continued to caress her son while saying softly, "Your siblings cried as much as the cat tribe during their mating season while you…."

She chuckled and watched as Alexander slowly fell asleep in her arms.

...

Hours later

The puppy, or how he was named: Alexander, woke up and looked curiously around. After checking that he didn't dream, he started his daily routine, 'Pampers? Hungry? Check and Check. Everything looks and feels fine.'

Trying to move, he gave up very quickly again, 'Too tiring….'

Ten minutes passed while he lay there, sometimes moving from side to side and playing with his tail while he contemplated his current circumstances, 'I can't believe it….'

Like always, after he slept, he thought about what had happened last month, and not like he had much else to do. He remembered how he was born and being watched by what were probably: doctors, parents, siblings, and maids, 'This shit is crazy….'

Sighing heavily, as much as an infant could, he looked around again and thought about what had happened before he was reincarnated, like so many times before.

He was an ordinary guy in his previous life. While he came from a relatively low-income family who lived in a war-torn place, his luck was quite good, more or less, as his family sought refuge in a Western country and got accepted.

When young, he went to school, afterward joined the military for a couple of years as an orientation, and then got a degree at a university.

Friends and family thought he was crazy for going to the military, but they consisted not only of guys at the front line.

He remembered that ~50 - 70% of personnel were in support roles. Medical teams, IT specialists, accountants, logistics specialists, technicians, etc. So, most concerns were unfounded, as they would never send someone like an accountant to the frontline, even if he wished they would do it to their lawyers.

After the initial training, which everyone went through, and some tests, he was accepted to a field where his talents could shine. Luckily for him, it was STEM which he also liked.

While not having a college degree was problematic, he got vocational training as an electrician in IT/CE (computer engineer). Nothing fancy, though.

After six years, with four of them in a foreign country, he left the military and started his college career with some love life in between. Finishing it resulted in a Master's, 2 Bachelor's, one B.A., the other B.Sc., and a fiancé.

This is where his luck stopped, as he got stabbed by an ex of hers before he could start at his first job. Death was what happened instead, or rather reincarnation, as he slowly realized it and came to terms with it.

While thinking about it, fury sought within him, 'That stupid fucker! I hope he burns in hell!'

After cursing inwardly and wishing his murderer got fucked by Satan's spiky dick, he became more relaxed.

Alexander tried to be more positive, as being negative only dragged him into depressing and suicidal thoughts, 'At least my sister is a doc, so she can keep my little brother financially stable… shit. I miss them so much… why did this happen to me?'

His face contorted slightly, and his frustration was slowly seeping out after holding it back for a long time, 'I volunteered and helped my community, donated money, helped underprivileged kids… DAMN!'

"A heee Ahh Waaa eee!"

'I even lived as a Vegetarian, more because of my better half than on my own accord, though….'

This thought stang the most as he remembered his fiancé, 'God, I miss you, Angie… I love you, sweetheart – hopefully, you are living a happy and fulfilling life after I died.'

"Ga geee uuuuhhhhh."

Tears started to fall as all his emotions exploded from the inside. He sniffed and crawled into a ball, hugging his tail, 'I thought I would at least see my parents again, who were executed in this shit-ass war right before fleeing….'

"A waaa eee uuuuu."

He sniffed again and gripped his tail with more strength, his ear dropping, 'Fuck, I need to get my shit together, but I am obviously not myself – I can't control my emotions and thoughts.'

He sniffed again and cried. He held everything back for a time as he oriented himself in this new world, but after he accepted the situation, all the emotions came rushing back, and dark thoughts entered his mind, 'Should I end it… maybe then I can see my loved ones again...'

He sniffed and cried.

The door to his room opened, but he didn't notice it.

He sniffed again, wetting his tail with his tears and sobbing.

Alexander heard a series of steps, and as he looked up. He knew who this was by pure instinct.

Before him stood a beautiful woman, his mother – looking at him with worried eyes, "#### ####### ##### ### ######## ####."

She gently said something that Alexander couldn't understand and took him softly. She went to the rocking chair, sat down, and started caressing him as delicately as possible.

It was dark. Only the moons were in all their colors, and this woman looked at him like only a mother could, and he could feel her love. Like a link, you could never explain.

Marisia's expression showed worry as she sat and caressed her son, 'Damn it. I forgot that I have a new life.'

Alexander broke down in tears and gripped her hand.

'…new loved ones….'

He tried to wrap his tail around her arm to get closer.

'…new parents…'

He needed closeness.

'…new siblings…'

Warmth he only got from family.

'…I need to get over it and start a new….'

It was a bliss that he could only now appreciate.

Before his thoughts went into overdrive again, he heard a wonderful voice. Soft like a summer breeze, which hugged him with every note like a warm blanket.

Alexander closed his eyes and decided to embrace this new world. It was a fresh start, he thought. Afterward, he fell asleep to a soothing voice that comforted his soul.

...

Sometime later

A young wolf-kin girl ran through the main mansion. Her hair was greasy and messy, and she wore a white shirt that was buttoned up asymmetrically, crinkled linen pants, and a pair of house shoes that differed on each foot, 'I overslept again!

She was lucky that her father was on a thinning campaign in the West, or he would let her suffer if he saw her like this. Such thoughts let her shiver.

Thinning meant nothing more than hunting all monsters down they came across in vital areas. It was much more complicated than it sounded. It was done to secure trade routes for a prolonged time.

Monster thinning consisted of identifying the locations where the monsters were born, exterminating them, and then cleaning up the area to keep it as free from monsters as possible.

While some adventurers and mercenaries helped with protection, more was needed, and the Leonandra's, as rulers, provided it.

Her mother was as occupied as her father, but differently, with the new puppy to even care about her sloppiness. The latest blessing was much more active than what she ever saw from her siblings.

She remembered how they sat on a couch in the tearoom, discussing various topics. Out of the blue, Alexander, who was lying between her mother and one of her friends, shot up like a wild boar and banged his head against her mother's thigh, almost falling to the floor.

Luckily, the visiting friend managed to grab him by the foot in mid-air, preventing a severe injury. Everyone in the room almost had a heart attack.

Since then, someone was always looking after him: The servants, his siblings, like her, or their mother.

Even her mother used to mumble that this was abnormal, but what made it more unusual was that he had already started talking in coherent sentences after only four to five months, which was very early.

She didn't know what this meant, but he always tried to babble with her. He tried to form sentences, but the wolf-kin girl, obviously, couldn't understand him.

Lorient came out of her thoughts as she was before the door to the dining room, she tried to change her mindset, but this puppy didn't leave her mind, and a whisper left her mouth, "Cute."

Opening the door to the dining room, five pairs of eyes fell on her. She rubbed the back of her neck, smiled, and apologized sheepishly, "Hehe, sorry for being late…."

The whole room sighed at her, and she thought that even the puppy did that, 'What the...?! I could've sworn that Alex sighed at me!'

She ignored it, though, and went quickly to the end of the table to the place reserved for the oldest child, and as one, she showed a perfect appearance, except for the clothes, hair, and shoes.

But her demeanor was excellent, having a stride befitting a knight's daughter. Maintaining a straight back like a pole. Overall, a show of dignity and gracefulness, which was the minimum after all the training she went through in her short life.

She sat down and started her meal by grabbing the bread with butter. Annoyingly, her breakfast was almost immediately interrupted as she took a big bite. She heard a slightly passive-aggressive voice with a chuckle, "Lori, if you need help to put clothes on the right way, just ask. No need to embarrass yourself, hehe."

Lorient glanced to the opposite side of the table and saw her younger brother wagging his tail slowly, Narsiz. Golden-blonde hair, a face with childish big golden eyes, and baby fat, typical for a nine-year-old puppy. But his eyes showed something of a competitor.

Lorient's relationship with him worsened since she awakened a rare [Divinity Line]. Well, it was not really rare in the narrowest sense since it was rated as common, but nonetheless, it was seen as something rare because it was very niché and precious in this part of Moorgrel and, of all, the Mal-Gil empire.

Narsiz had always been more talented than her. Still, she had awoken a relatively unique and outstanding [Divinity Line], which brought out his fighting spirit as only one child of the current generation could inherit the knightage title. This made him suddenly become overly competitive for the title.

The other children in their household were mostly free to do what they wanted. This made Lorient remember her little knowledge about politics and their empire's rank system. It was pretty unique for the Leonandra family, and the reason was unknown to her, though.

You would be married off in every other aristocratic family for more power. There was also more uniqueness: The inheritance didn't go to the oldest child like human nobles or other beast-kin families did. There was a strict focus on merit.

She clicked her tongue and tried to ignore him. If they started a fight right now, their mother would be their new sparring partner for today. This made her shiver slightly.

She saw how Narsiz smirked and shrugged his shoulders from her peripheral view, obviously stopping his obnoxious provocations.

But then she remembered her little sister, Sarah, who sat beside her. Lorient peeked at Sarah, and she looked right back at her. Her big green eyes locked onto Lorient, and an adorable smile bloomed on her chubby little face.

She looked so adorable to Lorient, which automatically brought a smile to the oldest sibling, 'She is the best potion against feeling down since she is so cute.'

Sarah greeted her joyfully, "Good morning, big sister!"

Lorient gently grabbed her head and started caressing behind her pastel-green-furred ears. This already made Lorient more cheery, "Morning Sarah, did you have fun yesterday with the teacher?"

She took a bite from her bread and tried to talk with a full mouth, "Uhum, Tscheacher wat reabby shtrict."

Lorient chuckled slightly and stopped her before she choked on her breakfast, "Swallow first down and then tell me everything."

The little puppy nodded while she waved her tail slowly and concentrated on her food again.

Lorient took another slice of bread, smeared a handful of butter on it, and looked toward her mother and the family's newest puppy. She let out a small whisper, "So cute…."

He just lay in their mother's arms while she breastfed him. She looked up from Alexander and met with Lorient's eyes, smiling slightly at her, "Hm, honey, do you have any plans for today?"

She was much more friendly than usual, even calling her honey. This made Lorient feel a little weird, but she chose to ignore it.

Lorient thought for a moment before answering, "Nope, do you want me to look after this little puppy?"

Marisia looked between Alexander and Lorient and sighed, "Yes, I need to be in Wolfsteeth for a meeting."

"Oh, what for?" After asking her, Lorient looked at her mother as she furrowed her brows strongly.

Her tone became much more serious, "The wave this time will be much stronger and…."

Lorient almost choked on her bread and started coughing. After a moment, she asked hastily, "What about Dad?!"

Marisia panicked as Alexander stopped eating and started to look at Lorient, scared. Everyone thought only one thing: 'Please don't cry!'

After ten seconds of intense silence, they were clear as Alexander started to eat again. Everyone sighed in relief. Alexander wasn't a crybaby, but sometimes he would start crying for hours without reason, so they wanted to avoid upsetting him.

Marisia said with a slightly tensed voice, "Eat. I will tell you after the meeting."

She stared blankly at the plate and remembered the last time a big wave had happened. A cracking sound interrupted her thoughts. The wooden cup in Narsiz's hand cracked while he looked at his mother, and he sounded worried, "Mother, how bad?"

She leaned back in her chair, holding Alexander more intimately, and said solemnly, "Estimation shows that it should be around three times the normal wave."

"WHAT!"

"HOW?!"

The dining room became void of sound after the outburst. A wave three times the size was insane since wild demons could just roll over their territory like a tidal wave if they only prepared as usual.

Also, something else worried the children: Nine years ago, shortly after Narsiz's birth, it was terrible, too. Their father followed his duty and went to the frontline, like every couple of years, but that time, he almost died. He needed some years to recuperate from such a wave, and now it seemed worse.

Narsiz urged his mother for more information, "Mother, will the count or the other clans and families send us aid?"

Lorient looked at Narsiz and saw that he was anxious. While he was competitive and a little scumbag to her for some time, he, like Lorient, held their family's well-being over everything else.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Marisia became slightly annoyed as she furrowed her brows and pinched between her eyes, "I don't know, for this, we will have the meeting later, but so you know..."

She looked at her children, and her voice became saddened, "Your father will not come back for years then it begi…."

Before she could end her sentence, Sarah cried out, interrupting her, "WHY!? I want to meet Papa!"

Lorient saw how Sarah had tears in her eyes and knew how she felt. She thought back to when she would meet her father again as he was most of the time at the frontline, pushing back wild demons or monsters who either wanted to disrupt their territory's trade routes or, in general, encroach into their fief and threaten their subjects.

Because of the coming wave, which will be much more extensive, her father would need to thin out as much as possible beforehand, build more infrastructure to hold the monsters back more efficiently and hire help from the outside while he is in the east fighting wild demons.

Lorient understood that her father's duty was more important than having tea time with his children, so she reacted more composed.

Marisia seemed very apologetic as she spoke to her youngest daughter, "Sarah, papa will be back in around two years, after he…."

Before Marisia could end her sentence, Sarah threw her beautifully carved wooden plate to the floor and screamed, "NO! HE PROMISED ME!"

Tears were building up as she breathed intensely, "I ONLY…" she huffed heavily, barely holding back, "...PAPA ONE TIME…." she became more agitated, "...HE PROMISED ME!"

Sarah cried and sobbed. She was in distress, "Wahhh!"

Lorient stood up and wanted to hug her, but Sarah was too much of a hothead and pushed her away, "NO! I WANT PAPA!"

She looked at everyone with red eyes and snot all over her face and ran away after a short moment, bashing the door behind her.

Marisia approached Lorient, clearly distressed by this fiasco, saying, "Here, take Alexander and look after him."

For some reason, in Lorient's mind, the puppy stood still and looked curiously around, not even disturbed by the situation.

She took him and watched her mother walk gracefully towards the door. Lorient knew she would tell her how the meeting went later today or tomorrow. As such, she needed to calm herself down, expect the worst, and hope for the best.

Before Marisia left, she looked at Narsiz, "Go and talk with Sarah, be sensitive, and just be there for her."

Narsiz nodded slightly and stood up after he used a serviette to clean his mouth, "Absolutely."

Marisia said her farewell, looked back and sighed heavily before leaving for the meeting. After the door closed, Lorient looked Narsiz in his eyes, and he looked back with a more friendly expression.

He sighed, "Huuuh, I will get the servants on my way to Sarah so they can clean up this mess."

Lorient nodded and gave him her gratitude as today, many servants were busy with some dealings, and she would need to look for them, "Thanks."

Narsiz walked away towards Sarah's room. He waved his hand without looking back, "Not for this."

Lorient looked at the little puppy in her arms as he held onto her blouse. She sighed and whispered to him, "Let us go to the art room."

...

A little later

Alexander was confused. Not only was he reborn, which shattered a lot of his worldviews, but he also landed in The Jerry Springer Show.

From the little he could understand, it had something to do with his father, 'I hope he didn't cheat on Mom. Christmas would be weird... if there was Christmas, but I doubt we have here a Jesus... do we actually?'

He threw the useless thoughts away to the back of his mind and looked up and saw his new sister, Lorient. Her wolf's ears twitched, and she looked back, smiling at him while walking somewhere with him in her arms.

Alexander somehow accepted that he was reborn, but he had to accept that he was now some kind of weird animal mix with abnormal ears and a tail. He thought that he could get used to it. But this was not even the most bizarre thing to him as he remembered the system and its appearance.

image [https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kiruschka/kiruschka.github.io/main/Remade_Chapter_1_Windows_Alexander_1.1.svg]

In the first couple of weeks as an infant, Alexander was pretty much bored to death after overcoming his mental breakdown.

To not get insane from the boredom, he did some mental calculations and heard a continuous ringing sound. He thought it was his subconsciousness as he had nothing to do except sleep, eat, and let the servants suffer.

After he rolled, played, and did a lot of thinking, he heard more of those sounds and thought that he was going insane as it sounded eerily similar to the system notifications of a particular operating system.

Before he could imagine the worst again, out of nowhere, his glorious system window popped up in front of him.

He immediately understood what the ringing was and what the window meant, as he had played a couple of RPGs at some point in his previous life.

Everything was there. Skills, levels, attributes, and so on, but the best thing was that the bored puppy had something to do!

Alexander then tried out more things that he could comfortably remember and pushed the levels of some skills, which was pretty easy in the beginning.

While he tried to level up his skills, he also noticed that his experience increased. Every time he would level up, he would get the experience equivalent to the previous level from which he leveled up.

Examplewise, if he leveled up [Mathematics] from level 1 to 2, his Exp increased by 1, but when he leveled it up from level 2 to 3, his Exp increased by 2, and so on.

As his overall level increased several times, he noticed how each level needed 100 Exp. He would also get a [Free Stat Point], which he couldn't use for some reason, 'I can't wait until I can communicate better to ask more questions!'

At that point, he tried as many things as he could. [Logics] was the hardest, as he barely remembered stuff like propositional logic. But as he tried to recall all that he had learned in his university days, for example, De Morgan's laws, and apply them exemplarily in his imagination, he almost instantly leveled the skill up two times.

Miraculously, he could recall it more clearly and use it much faster, 'I would've needed you in my university days...'

This obviously made him ask more questions, for example, how the system determines what skill would level up. What would the system choose if one did a complex calculation in something physics-related? 'Well, this is food for thought for later.'

While he was lost in his thoughts, they arrived at a room full of paintings. They started looking over some art that reminded him of a mix of the middle ages and modern times, 'I hope I didn't land in some backward country, but looking at what the art looks like, I am very right.'

Some knights and brutal scenes were depicted, so Alexander's assumption was even more confirmed, 'Well, at least I won the lottery this time! I am probably some child of a wealthy merchant or aristocrat, hehe.'

Their short appreciation of NSFW paintings was interrupted as a lady in white came looking for them. He had seen her often in the last weeks. She always examined him with something that looked like a spell.

This was something new and fascinating since, in his eyes, this was something akin to magic, which only existed in media in his previous world.

It looked like she was in a hurry, searching for them, and wasn't really keen on doing this work. The doctor, this was what Alexander assumed she was, greeted his big sister and started her daily examination on him.

By that point, he was stable enough, emotionally, to investigate the feeling she gave him. Every time she examined him, something felt weird and out of place, and he couldn't put his finger on it as this was something absolutely new.

Alexander became giddier as the examination started, 'This is obviously magic, so this should be something I can learn too, right?'

With this in mind, when she used her spell again, a greenish-white light came out of her hands and invaded him. He tried to hold onto the sensation as much as possible and tried to copy it.

It was weird when he suddenly sensed it more clearly and knew what it was. Since he was born and started to examine the world around him, there was a bizarre sensation; only now, as he tried to hold onto it, could he recognize it much more clearly.

It was odd, and this feeling became clearer until he heard the system notification. That was when he started to sense the bizarre sensation around him more clearly.

Alexander couldn't accurately describe it, but if he needed to, it felt similar to when he was blinded by a flash grenade and was blind for weeks. When he recovered and opened his eyes again, it was like a whole new world to discover which he had forgotten.

The healer concluded her examination and left. But Alexander ignored her entirely as his adventurous spirit was ignited and started testing everything he could to see if it was now functioning differently with his new sense.

Sadly it was somewhat restricted as he was an infant and could only test things mentally. Not like there was a roll-around or tail-hug skill.

He unlocked [Meditation], which was pretty easy to get. He didn't know what it did precisely and only knew that he got relaxed after a round of meditation. To his dismay, nothing changed.

He immediately tried another skill that could be slightly different: [Alchemy]. It was weird since alchemy in itself was, in his previous world, only an old term for chemistry and disregarded after the concepts became more fleshed out.

After much trial and error, Alexander could unlock it because he knew about typical lab tech stuff and remembered fundamental things. He imagined the procedure step by step: titrations, distillations, etc.

But his new sense didn't do anything to it as he tried to imagine everything from the theory to the practicality in the laboratory.

It was a downer, as he could guess it had something to do with it. Otherwise, the system would probably name it chemistry, 'One more thing on my to-do list, next!'

He tried to imagine medicine/biology and remembered what his ex-fiancé told him about her studies as she was about to become a doctor, 'Nothing... damn it!'

He wanted more privacy to test out this sensation more, but his sister interrupted his tests as she spoke in this annoying baby-blabbering tone.

Still, Alexander appreciated that she tried to always talk with him. This time though, it seemed she was thinking a lot and only spoke occasionally. He assumed it had something to do with the situation at breakfast.

"Hey ###### puppy, do you #### to ####?"

He felt proud that he could understand her partly. The only problem was that his new language was very longwinded and exact. There were little ambiguities, as much as he could tell.

Alexander gave his best ladykiller smile and tried to communicate as coherently as possible, "Yesh!"

He heard the level-up notification and instantly felt how his old gamer personality came alive, 'Hell yeah, probably leveled up [Charm]!'

She let Alexander down on the carpet and started playing with him. After he began to get much more active, she helped him crawl and stand up for a bit while holding him, 'Oh yeah! Soon I will be able to sit up without falling down to the side like a potato sack!'

After a moment, she heard something from the outside. She said something too quickly to Alexander to understand and left him alone, 'What the fuck?! Leaving a baby alone! Never mind, my chance!'

He feared opening his system in front of others since it was probably not normal for an infant to have that many skills in scholastic subjects, 'System!'

image [https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kiruschka/kiruschka.github.io/main/Remade_Chapter_1_Window_Alexander_1.2.svg]

He saw something new and exciting: [Mana Sense], 'Mana? Can I fucking summon Bahamut?! Wasn't this some kind of stuff to fuel spells within games?'

Even though he didn't know exactly what it did or how it worked, all skills he learned came with some ingrained knowledge that gave him a little vague understanding toward the next level.

If he imagined solving fractions with addition/subtraction and leveled up, it solidified his current knowledge and gave him a nice hint toward the next level, like some abstract feeling he couldn't describe.

Alexander closed his system window as instinctively as he opened it and started concentrating on his new skill and the knowledge he had received, 'Oh yeah, baby, let me summon Ifrit!'

He closed his eyes and, after a short moment, could feel it. Even though minuscule, it was like a very low-density gas around him that he could feel momentarily. The notifications went wild in his mind, but he ignored them.

Alexander slowly widened the range of his [Mana Sense] and, at the same time, tried to grasp everything close to him more clearly. He could feel it better by the second until he heard quick steps.

Thus he interrupted his training, and his other senses noticed something else. Lorient was back, she sighed in relief as she saw her little brother alive and well, but her sense also picked something up, making her facial expression scrunch up.

She came over and heard her little brother talking to her, "Shishda, ma yaber!"

She looked at her little brother with big golden eyes and chuckled slightly. She picked Alexander up and went with him on the adventure for fresh linen diapers.

...

The City of Wolfsteeth, inside a meeting hall in an inn

In a big room fully equipped with furniture, were around thirty people sitting down or standing around, doing small talk.

If the average commoner beast-kin could sell a chair from here, they could live worry-free for a few months. A perfect fit for nobles and wealthy merchants.

Some village lords, a couple of earls, three knights (Marisia included), and two minor barons were here. All these people belonged to the east part of the county of Moorgrel and ruled the little territory they received from the count.

There were also some non-important trading partners from the central region. They decided to join spontaneously to socialize, but everyone else was from the East.

Marisia sat at the most prominent table. She put one leg over the other and listened while they discussed the hot topic: The demon run.

Not just any demon run, but one that would be at least three times larger than the average ones.

On a positive note, the county knew about this already for two weeks, so the meeting was arranged in Wolfsteeth so that the Leonandras would not be inconvenienced in such times.

But something else inconvenienced her very much as her ears twitched non-stop out of anger at what she heard. If she could, she would rip everyone a new one to whoever suggested that the Leonandras could defend the border by themselves just fine, 'I wish duels between nobles would be made legal again.'

She remembered how it was made illegal by Count Moorgrel in his territory as all his nobles, at some point, had a lower life expectancy than poor farmers and, thus, couldn't fulfill their duty as a noble and administrate their fiefs.

The Leonandra estate, which lay far east in the county of Moorgrel, never had such problems for various reasons but had others, like demon runs.

Marisia and her ancestor's primary duty was protecting against wild demons from the farther East for generations. Right now, those against aiding them in their duty were obviously from the central and west sides.

She gripped her thighs hard enough to tear a hole into a tree as she remembered how they protected those scumbags, and all her household received was apathy. Most of the talks were not by accident loud enough so she could listen to them, 'I promise that I will pressure the last drop out of you after the demon run is over.'

They obviously believed that her household could stomach it even with many casualties. So they cared little about the prospect of some knightage.

Someone poking her side with an elbow suddenly interrupted her simmering anger, "Is Kairo fine?"

She looked to her left and saw an old friend. Marcus Melodia was a knight with the rank of Mono(I) - Blood and Iron who worked for merchants. While he had barely any power in politics, the wealth he piled up was more than enough to make it up.

Knights rarely worked for people other than nobles, but in some cases, giant trading companies could pay knights an equally tremendous amount of coin for protection and prestige.

He was Marisia's husband's good friend, but she couldn't stomach a knight who sold himself for some coin at this point in time, "He is right now thinning out in the west."

He answered quickly as he stared at her with shocked eyes, "What?!"

Before he could babble Marisia to death, she preemptively answered him with what he probably wanted to know, "I know what you think, so shut up. Ultimately, we must also trade while dealing with the demon run."

He shrugged and thanked her, "Hm, I get it, and Nil Trading is really thankful for…."

She interrupted him, not caring about some greedy golddiggers, "We do it out of duty, not for some merchants."

He held his hands up in a show of peace and smiled at her somewhat mockingly, "Sure, sure, so what is your plan for getting help?"

Marisia waved her tail subconsciously in annoyance. She answered loudly so everyone could hear her, "I don't beg. I will just take our soldiers and healers back to the estate, those stationed around the county. We will stop providing food support in winter and start our campaign in the East when Kairo returns."

The whole room fell into silence as everybody heard her declaration. Some lord from a large-sized village started to yell in panic somewhere in the back of the room, "Ms. Leonandra, you can't do that!"

Others joined too, "Yes, how will we defend our village…."

"The Leonandra can't take the food away! We will starve!"

Marisia listened to everyone in silence, but after some minutes of selfishness, she released a tiny amount of her [Aura] and pressured the whole room into submissiveness, "Silence!"

She stood slowly up, and a barely visible red energy surrounded her. Marisia was the strongest in the room, even more powerful than all the adventurers or mercenaries hired by different nobilities for protection.

Standing at ~1.7 meters (~5.6ft), being relatively small, her dastardly energy told another story. She looked like a giant in their eyes, looking down on them.

They were all weak in her eyes. In her mind, a noble needed to be strong, ready to take arms and defend the empire, 'Disgustingly weak.'

But realistically, she understood that nobles also needed to have administrative abilities, but there was a need for basic combat abilities. What she saw here wouldn't even meet the level her weakest child, Narsiz, had.

She gave them a decree, "The count gave me full authority over the east defense."

Marisia took a leather scroll from behind her and threw it toward one of the barons. The noble caught the scroll and started to read it. His jaw dropped to the floor shortly after, "Wha… how can a lowly knight order me, a…."

Before the leopard-kin in front of her could continue insulting her, she interrupted him with the energy she released around him. Sadly, she couldn't touch him with it, as there was a chance of killing him accidentally.

The baron felt like a mountain was on his shoulders and was forced to bow. Marisia came a little closer and asked him sternly, ready to chop the head of this noble off if he said something in the wrong tone, "Do you disagree with the count's words?"

If he said something wrong, it could be appropriate to make him a couple of inches shorter just because he disagreed with the command of the count.

The baron looked frightened as if he could die at any moment. The energy around her right hand became visible. A thick dark red radiated out, and everyone could feel the demonic energy that radiated from it.

A quiet whisper was heard from the crowd, "The Leonandra [Divinity Line]..."

The baron decided that his life was not worth the little pride he would throw away. He bowed and saluted with the right hand on his heart, "Of course not!"

Marisia could clearly hear him grinding his teeth. A baron bending his back towards a knight was unheard of.

She looked around again and knew what he said was just for the sake of it. Otherwise, she would've had his head in her hand a moment later.

She sighed heavily, put away the pressure, and started to discuss her plans, "We will conclude our thinning campaign in the west in the next months and will afterward concentrate on the upcoming demon run."

Even though she wanted to get as many resources as possible from them, she couldn't do it forcefully and needed to think about the situation as a whole, 'The county's capital is in chaos because of some god damn shovelers who started skirmishes in the northwest, I can't just come and take all I want as they could be needed in the future.'

Marisia looked at the different nobles and knew that the situation was sub-optimal for her, and she couldn't wait for help from the count, "The food is needed for our soldiers, builders, and healers."

She knew directly what they were thinking by how they started to act nervous. If her household fails, the chance the East would hold is minuscule, and the wild demons would invade more of the county. Thus the verdict from the count.

Count Moorgrel knew that it could come to a chain reaction that could reach far into his county and endanger his subjects, 'These morons are too short-sighted.'

She first declared, "We will temporally raise taxes till the end of the demon run, and the difference between the rate of the new and old one will go to us directly."

It needed to be done with taxes since something like a fee was a bureaucratic nightmare for reasons she didn't know and only knew that her head accountant ranted about it.

Murmurs were heard, but nobody had the guts to speak up. She could see the unsatisfiedness in their eyes, so she thought about a compromise beforehand that would benefit them in the long run, so no internal problems could come from the tax raise.

She continued after the short pause, "The taxes will come down after the demon run to the point, which is a proportional decrease to the rise, for double the time."

With this policy, they would be inclined to pay even more taxes or donate, so their decrease will be even higher overall. Anyone with basic [Mathematics] and [Economics] skills should see a great long-term opportunity.

After a short moment, she saw their eyes flaring up with greediness, 'This is what I want.'

She announced the next point, "The following policy is canceling tolls for entries, products, etc. The movement of labor and products is crucial right now. Anything disrupting it will commence with forced conscription or the death penalty. You must cease any tolls for labor and products."

She stated more points after that, which had to do mainly with the movement of subjects and trade and how it couldn't be disrupted.

Marisia also knew they would need time to prepare, "The implementation will begin in half a year, after the spring harvest."

Nobody could prepare something like this on short notice. They would need time to calculate everything through.

The labor question was equally important, and nobody would be stupid enough to go to the East, even if her estate tripled the wages.

Forceful conscription wouldn't work either since most would send disgruntled and ill-equipped children who would only endanger others or put down morale.

Marisia planned to make everyone happy despite feeling mostly disgusted toward them. She represented the higher nobility and needed to think of a bigger picture.

She announced, "Debtors and prisoners will be brought to the East as soldiers. They will regain freedom if they survive, except for type A and B prisoners. Furthermore, creditors will be compensated with tax deductions."

Type A and B prisoners were mostly murderers and tax-evader, and the whole hall thought they would probably be used as meat shields.

She swung her tail slightly. The crimson-red of her fur was reflected by the sun, which slowly settled as the last rays of sunshine for the day came through. Depending on how long this will be going on, soon, servants will come in with mana items and light the place up.

After a pause, she continued her announcement, letting everyone wait on purpose to show that she was making the shots, "While the conscription is voluntary, except for the group of people named before, you are obliged to follow the law."

Marisia would need to plunder her estate's treasure, but it would be fine. They had more than enough wealth to hold on for years, "Everyone who joins the demon run will be paid one large iron coin per month, while at the start of the demon run, the pay will increase to a silver coin per month, depending on the abilities of course."

She saw how their mouths opened and smirked slightly. She knew they didn't think their estate had this much wealth, "All basic necessities and training will be provided."

It was, on average, a meager pay for skilled soldiers or mercenaries, who wouldn't even stand up for this, but since she also included food, housing, and so on, all the coins could be saved or sent back to their families.

Also, training was provided, which would, for many, come as a chance to later join the combat caste and earn much more in the long term.

She paused again, as the next part was crucial for the poor. While it saddened her, sometimes there was a need to exploit them, even if it was against the knight's codex, for the greater good, there was a need, "In case of death, a testament will be provided, which will guarantee a payout, depending on their service, of up to a years payout to family members or a partner – additionally, a lie detector test is needed so we can determine the correctness and sort out blackmail."

The lie detector test was crucial since nobles could send some poor folks to die for them and then take the payout away. Luckily, they had someone with decent skills in this area at their estate.

The whole room stared at Marisia as if she was insane. Everyone knew the Leonandra's as a knight family who kills demons, but this was just a tiny part.

They had many more revenues, like the thinning campaigns. Even though Marisia acted arrogant toward her colleague, her estate received high payouts. But even without those, the taxes they could collect through trade was substantial.

Through their economically sound acting, they accumulated an insane amount of wealth in the past. With this, they built more infrastructure and created a positive feedback loop, allowing them to collect even more wealth.

Also, all their close members are loyal to a tee because the estate treats them exceptionally well. It could be seen as buying their loyalty, but the needs were real, and ideals wouldn't feed their family.

Almost no one would sacrifice a good long-term job for a short-term gain that would only benefit them maybe two to three years down the line. Thus, even if someone wanted to bribe them, it would cost so much it wouldn't be worth it anymore.

She also strictly implemented her policy for her children, that there was no need to pressure them into political marriages or similar arrangements. With this, she hoped that they would not act like the children of other nobles.

All this prevented mainly corruption since the gain wouldn't most likely outweigh the benefit they would receive by following the rules. With this, their administration functioned well enough to support their economic growth.

She smirked inwardly when she saw how they couldn't believe the wealth they made, "This should also conclude the possible food shortage as many will probably join the demon hunt. Enough should be maintained for villagers who stayed behind."

She continued to state her proposal for hours, which they needed to announce to their subjects.

This coming demon run was an emergency, and the only good thing about it was that it was spotted early on by one of the mages in the cathedral of pestilence. Not preparing for it would be disastrous.

With the Authority of the count at hand, it should be easy to implement policies on the surface level, but if Marisia wanted them to comply fully and work with her, they would need tasty carrots. She hoped that her carrots were enough.