...

Alexander's room, Leonandra Estate

"Urgh," after groaning, Alexander slowly opened his eyes as a strong smell invaded his nose. It wasn't in any way unpleasant, just overwhelmingly strong.

He saw how Narsiz entered the room, so he answered automatically, feeling sleepy, "Wood mornin'."

His older brother giggled when he saw how Alexander scrunched up his nose and asked softly, "Hehe, are you fine?"

Alexander wiped the saliva from his mouth and tried to wake up. He felt a little like after an operation as he was a little dizzy from all the sensations invading him, making him feel weird, 'What does he want?'

He was never a morning person, so he sounded cranky, yawning, "Huam! Yeah, what do you want?"

While Alexander rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, Narsiz got a chair and sat beside his bed. None of his usual demeanor was there where he acted like a cold bureaucrat, but he had a warm smile and even whispered as softly as possible, "I just wanted to talk with you."

Sitting up in the bed, he had no idea what they could even talk about. However, Alexander was thankful that he spoke quietly since he was oversensitive, but out of habit, he also started to whisper, "Sure, what do you want to talk about so early? Wasn't yesterday your legacy? How was it?"

Out of nowhere, he suddenly opened his System window.

[https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kiruschka/kiruschka.github.io/main/Chapter_11_Narsiz_new_remade.svg]

Alexander exclaimed in surprise, "Wow, your legacy looks sick."

Narsiz tilted his head, "Sick?"

'Right, the lingo thing, ' Alexander remembered that he couldn't talk like on Earth, so he explained while trying to hide that he was a little flustered, "Sorry, it means good."

Narsiz laughed sheepishly and scratched the back of his neck, "Hehe, yes, I really like it too. I need now to find out what the skills are doing."

Alexander looked at his skills much more closely, and the names of his [Mystic Skills] sounded like some phrases from Earth, so he offered him help, "Maybe I can help you?"

His ears twitched slightly, breaking his usual noble-like demeanor, which wasn't there initially, anyway. He raised his voice slightly, already forgetting about his little brother's sensitivity problem while sounding overly curious, "How so?"

Alexander obviously lied through his teeth since he couldn't disclose where the information came from, "I read about them in some books where such skills were mentioned indirectly."

His already golden-colored tail waggled in happiness while his face stayed the same, as his voice went back to a quiet one, "We can at least try."

Before starting, Alexander observed his brother quickly as he looked different. The color of the streaks he had on his fur took over the snow white around them, and all the hair became almost entirely golden/blond colored.

Alexander tried not to grimace, 'He looks even more beautiful. I can't believe it.' Before the legacy, his brother looked handsome, but now, he was on another level, which brought some jealousy, 'Well, hopefully my genes are as good.'

He ignored his dwindling self-esteem as he was bound to a bed with nothing to do but self-pity, and with a slight smile, he asked him, "With which [Mystic Skill] do you wanna start?"

For some reason, it felt weird talking to Narsiz while he tried to be a proper big brother with his aura of nobility showing. At the same time, though, he could barely hold back from knowing his [Mystic Skills]. It was quite the contrast and really cute since it reminded him of his little brother through this behavior.

Narsiz barely hid his grin while saying, "How about the first one? [Rabbit Foot]?"

Alexander thought about it and could remember different meanings of such a phrase from Earth. He could, however, only remember two at best, "I have only read about two probable meanings which could indicate what it can do."

Narsiz put one leg over the other while shaking his head, "It's fine. There are a lot of beast-kin who run around for years, not knowing what their [Mystic Skills] can do, so no pressure."

Alexander never heard about such a thing, but it made sense. If someone got a [Mystic Skill] with a cryptic name, it would be hard to decipher how to activate it. One needed to have at least some hunch what it could do.

He nodded and went with his hand through the hair, only to stop midway, thinking that they got overly oily. As he wiped the grease on the blanket away, he gave his brother his conclusion, "The phrase [Rabbit Foot] can have two possible meanings. One of them is about luck, maybe some boost you can get temporarily or permanently."

Narsiz put his hand on his chin and was probably in thought while Alexander was halfway thinking about a nice bath with Melina. However, he still kept asking, "Did your [Luck] attribute increase?"

He shook his head, "No."

Alexander's focus switched from the greasy hair to his brother completely, and he started thinking about how it could activate or work. After going through his memories, he suddenly got an idea, "Hey, do you have a coin?"

Narsiz looked confused at Alexander but, after a moment, took out a silver coin. On one side, it had some emblem he had never seen before, and on the other, some text describing divinity and stuff.

He stared at Alexander, obviously waiting for what he wanted to do with it, so he continued, "Flip the coin, say before you do it if it will land on head or text. Most importantly, you should concentrate on your skill and which side it should land on."

He nodded, "Good idea!" as he said it, he flipped the coin.

The coin rotated in the air, and he mumbled, "Head..."

As the coin almost landed in his hand, it slipped away and fell towards the ground. He grumbled, "Damn it."

Alexander yelled as he was about to look for it, "Wait! Look at how it landed."

After a quick search, he found the coin, "Head!"

Both were equally excited, and Alexander became more energetic, "Flip again!"

"Right!"

...

After 30 tries, they had their answer. However, from the 30 coinflips, more than half slipped away, landing on the floor. Regardless, such things they could discuss later as for now, he summarized the experiment and congratulated him, "26 landed on the side you wanted, so it is a luck-based skill! Congratulations!"

Narsiz smiled from ear to ear like a mutant tortoise and softly looked at the coin in his hand, "Yes..." He looked with an honest smile toward his little brother, "...I am very thankful. Without you, I would probably need a lot of time to figure the skill out."

Alexander was never good with compliments. As such, he blushed and tried not to stutter his following words, "Thanks..." He had no idea what to say more, and this moment became more embarrassing for him, so he changed the topic, "...but, let's do the others too, how about it?"

Narsiz nodded readily like a child while his tail swung around, 'Ohhh, the teen who pretends to be noble is acting normal. How cute!'

Alexander never saw himself as the little brother in their relationship but as older as he had his experience from Earth. So, now that Narsiz opened a little more up, he also felt much more relaxed toward him.

They both exclaimed at the same time, "[Prince Charming]."

Alexander fell back onto his pillow and already knew what it meant while Narsiz was in thought, 'Here goes the cute nobleman.'

After a few moments came an expectant voice, a little higher than usual, "So? Did you read something about it?"

Alexander sat straight up and looked at him as emotionless as possible so he could convey what it meant as neutrally as possible so that they wouldn't have an awkward moment, "I think this is a skill that lets you seduce the Ladies... or Gentlemen easier..." He shrugged, "...I don't judge."

Narsiz blushed and began to stutter, "I... I... I am interested in Ladies!"

Alexander wanted to start laughing but knew he shouldn't tease his brother, so he bit into his cheek slightly to prevent it, "I think you need to test it at some other point..." he paused for a second to qualify what his statement, "...of course I mean the skill thing, not the gentleman thing, " what followed was a deafening silence that hovered over them. He could've sworn that he could hear how his hormones went haywire.

After a moment, Narsiz looked at him like he slaughtered his pet and got sarcastic, "Do you think so?!"

After another couple of seconds, Alexander couldn't hold back anymore and laughed out loud, "Haha!" Inwardly, though, he hoped that he wasn't like this as a teen. Even though it was embarrassing, it was cute.

Narsiz stood up and glared, snapping at him with a slight crackling voice, "Don't laugh!"

Alexander stopped laughing and wiped his tears away. He held his other hand up to calm him, "Hehe, it's okay, so let's just go to the last skill, but I remember the name is pretty self-explanatory, don't you think?"

Narsiz relaxed and slowly became his noble self. He cleared his throat, "Ahem, you mean [Smell of Deceit]? I think you are right, but what about the specifics?"

Alexander agreed with him that he had a point. If a skill had such a name, it could also easily mean something different, "Okay, let me try and lie to you..." He nodded and waited, which he did after some thought, "...I am 150 years old."

He bowed his head low and sighed defeatedly, "No, I don't smell or feel anything different."

Alexander mused and suddenly got an insight, "Hey, Narsi? Can you lend me this silver coin? I will give it back tomorrow."

He opened his eyes wide and exclaimed, "What did you do? I smell something foul... should I get a maid?"

Now it was Alexander's turn to blush as he could feel how his head became hotter. He snapped at him, "No, you moron! I said something with the intent to deceive you!"

He clapped his hands together and laughed, "Haha!"

Alexander looked at him sternly and remembered that he also had a short fuse, "Are you done?!"

Narsiz stopped laughing and cleared his throat, "Ahem, yes, sorry, so what did you do exactly?"

He sighed, already calming down and finding the thought of snapping at his brother even more embarrassing. So, he tried to ignore it and explain to Narsiz how he found out, "I wanted you to give me your coin with the intent to not give it back, while I said that I would give it back. As the skill name suggests, you were deceived and could immediately smell it."

Narsiz leaned back and became silent. He had a satisfying smile and looked proud with his chest pushed out. Alexander, though, didn't understand it and looked at him in confusion, "What is it?"

Narsiz looked back at him with a slightly surprised expression, but he didn't lose his smile and explained, "You don't know, but you usually need a long time to unravel the functions of [Mystic Skills]. It is actually insane that I could do it with your help the next day after my legacy..." He started to tap his chin with his index finger, "...how can I thank you?"

Alexander laid back down and stretched, yawning, "Huam! Just come back tomorrow and talk with me..." He blushed a little, "...I am really bored, you know?"

Narsiz gave him the most friendly and honest smile he had ever seen, but his following words teased him nonetheless, "Sure will do, but now I need to go. See you tomorrow, little archmage!"

Alexander's face scrunched all up as he heard the cringe, "Urgh, thanks, but don't call me like this."

He stood up and walked to the door, but before he closed it, he turned around with a shit grin, "Hehe, all right, Mr. Wizard."

Clank

After the door closed, Alexander put the pillow on his face and shouted into it, "So cringe! Urgh!"

However, besides all the juvenile emotions he started to have, there were also warm feelings towards Narsiz. He came immediately after his legacy and even promised to visit him later, 'It's nice to have a big brother for once.'

...

The next day

Narsiz was back and sitting before him again, but there was a really uncomfortable silence hovering in the room since they had nothing to discuss, 'This was a bad idea.'

Even though it felt great that his brother was back, he was a little distant, unlike Sarah or Lorient, who would come up to him and take him into their arms. He didn't know why and wouldn't ask as he was the same in that sense. He was always anxious that coming too close would make the other uncomfortable, so he tried to think of another way to make it work between them.

So, Alexander tried to use his godlike social skills, "By the way, what do you want to do now after the Legacy? Being a Hero?"

Narsiz immediately rolled his eyes but nonetheless smiled a little as he knew what Alexander was trying to do. He answered matter-of-factly, "Obviously not. I am too weak for this. However, I had already eyed a small town close to Puru and Jorko. I will manage it for some time and learn to administrate it since the Earl there should be pretty good. Hopefully, I can learn something from him."

Alexander immediately jumped on this topic as it was at least one, "Hm, I read something about what you wanna do." However, even though he knew a couple of things about administration, he had never read about it in a book in this world.

Narsiz's eyebrows went up, and he became much more awake than before, "Oh, and what?"

Alexander tilted his head slightly, "Well, about infrastructure, bureaucracy, economy, marketing, and more."

He remembered the courses he took at college, so later on, no economy guy would fuck him over. However, after going through it, there was only a lot of theory and nothing more. He saw this as a waste of time besides the credits he got. Yet, now, it seems to be very helpful.

Narsiz's interest was obviously piqued as he leaned toward his little brother. His ears went up like his voice, full of interest, "Marketing? What is this?"

Alexander was obviously not too versed in what the world had to offer when it came to such topics, and it was even more complicated because he had no idea what the world looked like. There were billboards? Ad campaigns? Were there some tickets hidden in chocolate bars? He didn't know, and it was hard to explain something like this to someone who didn't have any common knowledge, which the other one had.

However, he tried, "You know what psychology is?"

Alexander thought that his brother probably didn't know this or it was a niché subject he barely knew about. He determined that since they were in a world of medieval times. Probably no one thought about young farmer boys coming to the big city and taking over it with their self-esteem.

However, to his surprise, Narsiz nodded and explained what little he knew about the topic, "It is the science of how someone thinks or something in that sense. The Cathedral is researching it."

Alexander raised an eyebrow and immediately tried to imagine Freud as a beast-kin. However, he wasn't too hot on reading early hypotheses of childhood trauma if someone like that existed.

He quickly shook himself awake inwardly and away from thoughts about Freud. He was happy they had some mutual knowledge, even though little, it should be enough to build further what he was about to explain.

Alexander tried hard to remember everything about his Economy 101 classes and recount it in an easier way for his brother, "Marketing is essentially the art of promoting your wares to sell it - in your case, it would be the town."

Narsiz looked slightly confused at his brother and asked, "Why should I sell my town?"

Alexander waved his hand in dismissal and understood that he used jargon from Earth, so he tried to clarify immediately, "No, with selling, I mean that you want to grow it, so you make it more attractive to others, so they would come and live there."

He tilted his head again, and the confusion in his eyes stayed the same, "Why should I grow my town?"

"More people means more revenue, which means more taxes, etc."

Alexander suddenly understood something else. Even though his brother acted very adult-like, he would be, in Earth's terms, only around 14 to 15 years of age. With this in mind, it made so much more sense that he didn't understand the basics of these things.

Not to mention that, as much as he knew, his siblings, even though they had private teachers, didn't study as much as humans on Earth, which could come from the fact that they had an increased lifespan compared to Earthlings.

The other thing Alexander also needed to remember was that they didn't have the internet with all the information available at their fingertips. So, even though his siblings were educated, they wouldn't know about specific topics. While libraries existed, and they had one at their estate, it was subpar at best.

On Earth, it was rather typical to know at least roughly what certain subjects meant, and while most wouldn't know the theory behind it, they would know about the things that were associated with the subject. Like that, marketing had something to do with ads, and they had something to do with selling stuff.

Narsiz leaned slightly back and looked perplexed at his little brother. He then asked, seemingly interested in the topic, "But, would it not come to problems if we have a large influx of people?"

Alexander nodded, obviously knowing what he meant. However, he tried to give him another perspective without considering the small details, "See this as an investment. You get able-bodied people who already went through their phases and just want a safe place to live and work."

Narsiz put one leg over the other and crossed his arms. He looked towards the commode, out of wood, which depicted the phases of a wolf growing from a puppy to an adult one. It was apparent that he looked actually into the empty space to concentrate on the discussion, "Their phases?"

Alexander also looked in the same direction and nodded, trying to concentrate, too, "Yeah, you are talking about a town, not a city, right? Such a place is usually there for people who want to settle down after going through their phases of adventuring, making big money, or whatever. But now they just want to stay somewhere safe, work, have a family, etc., and you want exactly such people."

Stolen novel; please report.

Narsiz didn't look away and thought intensely about what his brother said. While doing so, his tail waggled slowly from side to side as he was evidently intrigued by the discussion, 'Sarah and Lori aren't much into Politics and such, while Narsi loves it, huh? Interesting.'

It was also quite refreshing for Alexander to discuss things that were more in line with his mental age, as Sarah and Lorient only talked about trivial things he could talk about but wasn't too much into. He could only listen so much to Lorient and how great her traveling was or the new fashion in Wolfsteeth from Sarah.

After some minutes, Narsiz looked at his brother again curiously and asked, "What about security and a workplace?"

Alexander raised an eyebrow as he was astounded by his brother's intelligence and foresight, especially for a teenager. When he remembered himself, he couldn't even compare, so he tried to give him some pointers that could be helpful, "This is something which, depending on the place, situation, etc., would change quite a lot. You need to survey what your product can give them."

His eyebrow twitched slightly, "Product?" He replied as he couldn't believe that his little brother talked about a town like some bread for sale.

Alexander smirked inwardly. He had the same look when he talked to someone who was a city manager, and he needed to code some software for them as a freelancer. The way they spoke about their job was practically the same as selling cereal, only much more complicated.

He nodded at his reply and explained the principle, "This is marketing at its core. You need to identify the needs of the people who will become your future residents and..." He suddenly remembered an old movie and gestured with his arms like he pulled someone toward him, "...reign them in!"

Narsiz stared at the void again, probably trying to process the information. Still, he returned to the previous topic, as he was most likely more interested in practical matters, "Okay, but what about security and work?"

Alexander sighed inwardly. He tried to give him some hypothetical situations and explain on them what he meant, "Imagine you have an influx of people to your town, which you also know well enough. You can give them someplace to stay for some time and a bit of food at first if they have no means or resources, then get some administrator ready to find them a job and some housing, depending on their skills..."

He stopped himself for a second since there was no way to explain such a thing on the fly, "If they have the basics for living, it should be enough for them not to do crimes like thievery, but in case, get some extra guards. As for work, it really depends on the situation at hand, and I can tell you about it more later, but as an example, you could create jobs where people clean your town for some coin till they find something different and in line with their experience and skills."

Narsiz's tail waved now in annoyance, and for some reason, Alexander could distinguish the different kinds of gestures one would make with the tail, "But, will this not eat up the funds, and didn't you say that people wanted to live in a small town because it was small and they want to have the tranquility which comes with it?"

Alexander shrugged, "Sure, but small towns also want to grow, no? It doesn't mean that you want to build a second Wolfsteeth, but the administration wants more taxes to repair, build, etc. Since many people living there would be older than the population in cities, they would also die much faster, so you need a constant influx of residents so your town at least can hold onto their numbers. However, the improvements can act as an incentive for others to come too..."

He stopped himself again and tried to qualify since there was so much more to this, and generalizing everything would lead to many misunderstandings, "Also, we need to distinguish what a small town is in a relative sense, right? If the main city is, for example, ten million in population size, you could consider that 100,000 as a small town if it was in the city's proximity. It always depends, kind of, you know?"

He scratched his head as it was hard to explain city management from what he knew without having a definitive example and even harder because the new world was too different. Many variables were suddenly very different or weren't even there. In contrast, others suddenly appeared, and since he was never even allowed to leave his small compound of rooms to see what his family actually ruled, he couldn't explain it well to his big brother. It was all hypotheticals from which he couldn't even choose the most fitting ones since he just didn't know what the most fitting ones would be.

However, before Alexander could think about it more, his brother suddenly stood up, 'Oh, did I say something wrong, or was what I said too risky? I can understand it.'

Alexander tried to explain modern Earth city design, which worked well with economic systems with a capitalistic slant. In contrast, he had no idea what kind of economic system actually existed in this world. So he thought he hit some nerve and became a little sad that his brother was about to leave because of his big mouth.

Narsiz went to the door, opened it, and suddenly did something Alexander didn't expect. He screamed at someone, "Hey! Bring me some parchment, ink, and a feather! Go!"

Alexander smirked as he heard some servants suddenly run as their lives were on the line, 'Hehe, how bossy.'

Narsiz returned, pushed the table on the other end of the room towards his brother's bed, and sat down, not talking and waiting for his utensils.

Alexander wanted to make sure that he understood the current situation and asked him straightforwardly, "Do you really want to record what I say? It's basically me teaching you, you know?"

He nodded straight, like some brain he had at his university, "Absolutely."

Alexander sighed heavily while smiling. He pushed the blanket away as it was getting too warm for him and thought about how to ensure that something like discussing such ideas wouldn't lead to a catastrophe like ruining the relationship with his brother, "But you know that theory and implementing something with success are two absolutely different things? It can take a nasty turn. So, take everything I say with a grain of salt, okay?"

Narsiz looked confidently at his little brother and answered in a matter-of-fact way, "I know what you say makes sense on so many levels. You take the wishes of the common people and use them to your advantage..." He smiled mischievously, "...while not saying it directly, I can read the subtext. You want to manipulate them so they would come to the town even though they might be happier elsewhere. You create a positive feedback loop where one gets more people, uses them as a new resource, and improves the town. Then, with the improvements, one can get more people and so on. The circle starts anew."

Alexander was baffled, 'He understood it perfectly?!'

Even though he explained it very roughly and chaotically, his brother actually understood the principle of marketing and that in the example of a town, 'Is he a damn genius?!'

However, he didn't like how he said it, like he was the anti-Christ incarnate. He went on all fours on his bed and yelled, "Hey! Don't talk so sinister! It sounds like I am a villain..." His head suddenly started to hurt from the screaming, "...argh!"

Narsiz stood up while chuckling and helped Alexander lay down again as he talked, "Hehe, I know, right? But we are talking about governance, and what the serfs want and what I want are different things, so why not align them a little? You didn't say it directly, but incentivizing someone to live in your town is the same."

Alexander knew now that his brother was on a different level. This kind of intelligence, fed with the right information, was something dreams were made of for teachers. This also meant he could discuss more complicated topics and use more complex terminology. As long as he explained it, it should be fine.

Clank

A sweaty and stressed-out butterfly-kin maid came in. Her wings continuously changed colors, and Alexander felt like he was on LSD. She immediately bowed towards them and started talking to Narsiz, "Mr. Narsiz, I have everything you asked for."

Narsiz pointed toward the table, and she put everything on it. Afterward, she quickly bowed toward them and left.

Clank

After the door closed, Narsiz turned towards Alexander and smiled softly at him, "So where were we?"

Alexander couldn't believe how quickly his brother changed. However, it also meant, at least in his mind, that he was socially very adaptable, 'Well, I am not really that strict with my servants though.'

While he understood why Narsiz was this domineering towards the servants, Alexander couldn't do it. His Earth-self saw everyone as the same, and even when he served in the military, after clocking out, everyone was more or less on a first-name basis. However, his maid, Melina, was very reliable, so he was fine with how he treated them as long as they did their job well.

Now, though, he felt like he needed to do his job as the younger but somehow older brother in teaching his sibling. Yet, he somehow liked it, and it was many times better than listening to Melina's stories about her daughter for hours. So, he complied happily with Narsiz's wish, "First, as we talked about, you need to attract people to your town so that it can flourish since stagnation is economic death. More people, more flourishing commoners, and a higher possibility for talents."

Narsiz suddenly stopped his writing and looked up askingly, "Talents?"

While Alexander loved teaching Narsiz, he suddenly understood his former philosophy teacher's phrase. He once told him that if even a lion could speak with humans, they wouldn't understand each other, and now, it seemed like many terms that were widely known on Earth weren't part of the vocabulary of his brother or any youth in that sense.

He tried to clarify the term, "Talent is a term for people with exceptional talents and abilities or that they are just experts in their field. This also makes them outstanding and most important for society and, in that sense, the economy."

Alexander saw how he immediately made notes on the side, 'Wow, I wish I was such a dutiful student.'

On Earth and even here, all his notes and writings were stacked in nice big stacks without any order. He would be more efficient if he had half of what Narsiz showed him. However, such things were for future Alexander to figure out.

Narsiz suddenly stopped and peeked at his brother, "For society?"

Alexander kept lying down and sometimes stared at the chandelier while trying to sound encouraging. Even though he wanted to stand up and write everything down on a blackboard, he wasn't even allowed to leave the bed, so he needed to be as expressive with his voice as possible, "Of course! Imagine being a commoner from the same town as some genius alchemist, scholar, or something like that. It will give you pride! You need to bind common commoners..." He stopped and chuckled at the phrase, "...hehe, towards your town in some way. Like, only your town could bring out such geniuses."

Narsiz sounded solemn as he probably became thoughtful, "You are right. It is like with nobles and their ancestors. We are proud of our history because of them, so a town could have the same for commoners. You want to create a certain sentiment that they would have toward the town."

Alexander nodded inwardly as his brother understood the principle well. Through this, he became more enthusiastic, "Yep! Manipulate their perception through a particular lens, but something like that is insufficient. Having specific and fair policies will give them the sense that they could also become like that. The chance is obviously not really high without other policies, which we can discuss later, but hope is a miraculous feeling you can exploit!"

Everyone from Earth would immediately know which country Alexander was describing. Such an idea granted them talented people who wanted to reach the stars without an end in sight. It was obviously impossible for everyone to become a superstar, but this wasn't important at the moment. He wanted him to know that such a thing was possible. Even though they were beast-kin, he assumed no difference from humans in this aspect.

Narsiz's voice became cheerful, "Oh, I get it. You want to tweak their sense so that if they achieve something, they wouldn't only think that it was only by themselves but that they could only be successful because of the town and, indirectly, the ruler. Putting policies in that could or would help them would seem to everyone like the town was also partly responsible for their success, and thus, people would see the town, from the outside, like one where people could come to achieve something. Even though most wouldn't achieve anything, they would, in the end, probably stay and work normally."

Alexander was surprised and happy that his brother got the principle down. Even though some variables would and could change everything drastically, it was nonetheless an excellent explanation, especially since he didn't know anything about it until today.

Alexander laughed heartedly, "Haha, you got it!"

Clank

The door suddenly opened, and since nobody knocked, it meant that it could only be their family. They both turned immediately around and saw their Mother.

"Mom?"

"Mother."

She looked at Alexander lying around like some pig in mud and then at Narsiz, "This is enough for today."

Narsiz immediately tried to argue back, "Wait! He can..."

She only needed to shake her head once, enough to shut him up, 'Huh? He didn't enter his rebellious phase. Well, at some point, he will probably...' He suddenly thought about how his siblings entered theirs and made his life a living hell, but now he wouldn't be one looking after his new siblings, '...hehe, this will be fun.'

Narsiz nodded at her and stood up. However, before he left, he smiled at his brother and thanked him sincerely, "Thank you. I will visit you in the next few days..." He stopped and probably thought about his brother's well-being as the next question proved that, "...is it okay with you?"

Before their Mother could say anything, Alexander yelled overly cutely, "Yes! Please read me more fairy tales, big browa!"

He left the room with a smirk on his face. However, when he closed the door, he laughed so loudly that Alexander and their Mother could hear it.

...

Days later

"Let me ask you something. Do you think that beings are rational?"

Narsiz thought about it momentarily and shook his head, "No."

Alexander held a finger up and became cocky, acting out the all-knowing teacher, "Good! Beast-kin, nature-dwellers, and so on are not rational. Depending on the situation, they will act quite irrationally. So, you can use this to get more people into your town..."

He stopped and thought about how he could ask his brother a good question where he could not give a right or wrong answer. After some seconds, he got it. Even though it was a very dull one, the answers could be very different, and this was important for Alexander as he would need to pick Narsiz up where he was and discuss with him the ideas he had. Just feeding him information was a big no-no for Alexander, "What are the most important things for the citizens or, in your case, the town's residents?"

Narsiz looked toward the wall, where some ornament swords hung till his little brother almost got kebab'd by them. In all honesty, Alexander was fortunate that his family didn't know what a padded cell was. Otherwise, he would be in one for his own safety.

After a moment, he answered, "Safety."

Alexander sat up and pushed away the new blanket that was made out of silk and embellished with flowers and other nature-like pictures. He got the most expensive bedware after asking his Mother if she could give him the cheapest one since he was making them dirty as he ate in bed and sometimes did other unsightly things that made him flustered even thinking about it. He didn't know what this kind of move of hers meant, but he hoped it was something like that she didn't care about him dirtying them and not only to sass him.

However, through the bedware, he got an idea, "Yes and more. We usually don't use only taxes on walls and guards. We need administration, clean and well-maintained streets, and so on, but there is a trick..." He thought about it since Narsiz was here the last time, and he wanted to ask and discuss this topic dearly, so he risked it, "...do you know what a republic or democracy is?"

Narsiz raised an eyebrow and nodded, "It is a government structure where certain citizens can vote for the king."

Alexander shrugged inwardly and continued since it was close enough to what he meant, "So, do you know that you can use this system to manipulate residents?"

Narsiz frowned again. His brother had a particular tick to always frown when he didn't know about something. So, he asked, "How so?"

Alexander held his finger up, "Easy! Give them a voice."

He suddenly stopped his writing and looked at his little brother sternly. Alexander got a bad premonition, 'Uh oh. Is it even taboo if it is for manipulating the masses?'

He thought a lot about how he could present the topic without appearing overly radical since he was the son of an aristocratic family.

In his mind, a tiny spark of democracy would be enough to start a massive fire. Alexander wanted democracy and freedom for many reasons. Maybe it was his modernized Earthlings brain that pushed him towards it. Maybe it was because he knew what it meant to be subjected to an authoritarian regime, or maybe it was because he was bored out of his mind and needed some fun hypotheticals.

So, he made a plan that would look like he wanted to reign either way while holding onto the old system. In the end, he was the son of an aristocratic family, and if the beast-kin were even close to the French or Russians, something too radical would make him some inches shorter. He had a good reason not to become a revolutionary immediately.

However, there were ways to slowly introduce ways of democracy without losing anything, and he thought a lot about how to do it since he was chained to his bed. Little to say, it was all theoretical since he didn't know what was happening outside of his rooms and how people thought besides his family and the servants. He was inside a golden cage.

He tried to clarify before his big brother misunderstood him, "Let us say you have a town with 20,000 citizens. You gave them one seat per 1,000 residents. You also only count residents who had at least lived there for several years. They would vote for a person who would represent them. Thus, the elected would know what they needed the most..."

Suddenly, Narsiz interrupted Alexander, as he became visibly and audibly angry, "Little brother, you want to give commoners the right to govern and lead?"

Alexander looked at him, and he was like a wolf, ready to pounce. Yet, he was calm as it was something he expected, "Don't misunderstand me, the Lord of the town, so to say you, will give them only a voice, not the right to govern."

Narsiz softened up a little and became more thoughtful again, "I don't understand fully."

Alexander nodded and continued, "Think about it. You will get direct representation from the residents in the form of an elector who would know their constituents the best. It will be like an administrator, but instead of you choosing, the populace would do it. With this, they would get a sense of belonging and responsibility for the town. While you will ultimately have all the power, they will have the appearance of it."

Narsiz suddenly interrupted his little brother with a good question, "But what about the guilds? There are merchants, adventurers, mercenaries, etc. Will they not have a big problem if normal residents get a voice and they don't?"

Alexander hadn't known about such a thing, but it was actually perfect. His tail started to waggle wildly as the topic became more exciting, "This is even better! Give them a voice, too, and build two different kinds of representations so they can argue against each other. Since they mostly would have opposite opinions, they would barely agree, and if something goes wrong, you can point at them while resolving everything yourself. This will lead to your subjects loving you and hating them, haha!"

Narsiz stopped writing and rubbed his temple, "But wouldn't they know that they have no power, especially the merchants and other more educated common folks?"

Alexander laughed aloud, giving him a good solution, at least in his mind, "Haha! Yes and no. The commoners may already think they could influence you if you showed up once a week and discussed the topics with them, which is more efficient than having detached bureaucrats overlook them. If you want the guilds to work with you, though, you only need to work normally with the commoners."

Narsiz raised an eyebrow, "I don't quite understand. How would working with commoners make the guilds work with you?"

Alexander smirked at him mischievously, "Easy. As much as they would think that it is all a smoke screen if you listen to the commoners and agree to some of their more obvious suggestions, the guilds would, at some point, be forced to participate, too. Otherwise, you could just ignore them and point out that they never participated in those meetings with you if you introduced a policy they don't like, hehe."

While Alexander spoke, Narsiz started writing again since what he suggested wasn't anything that contradicted the noble system. It was more or less a way to govern more efficiently while introducing a democratic system into the zeitgeist.

He was liberal by heart, and slowly changing the system was at the forefront of his mind. However, he wouldn't think that his brother would introduce such a system in a small town if there were not already big problems with the current administration. Yet, giving them a logical idea of when democracy could work without dismissing the current system was already a big win.

Alexander looked at him and asked the next important question, "Let's say you have set up such a system. How would you avoid corruption?"

He stopped writing and thought strongly about it for a few minutes till he could answer, "Maybe we can increase the punishment?"

Alexander crawled out of the bed slowly and carefully. He then wobbled towards his big brother, 'Can I call him a king for fun? I am kind of not brave enough to try it.'

While walking towards him, he could barely stand upright and needed to hold onto something, as it was some time ago when he walked the last time and was too giddy to sit still. However, he continued, even though he was already exhausted after some steps, "Let me ask you differently. Do you think there would be less crime if we put the death sentence on thievery for the residents?"

Narsiz thought for a long time while Alexander tippy-toed around the room and, in the end, stretched his atrophied muscles. As no answer came from his big brother, he answered himself, "They would keep stealing. Let us be honest: The vast majority who do it don't want to steal. They do it because of their circumstances."

Narsiz clacked several times with the feather against the table, asking inquisitively, "How would you do it then? Avoiding corruption, I mean."

"Think about it. What do we do in the Leonandra estate."

Like out of the cannon came his answer, "We give them much better pay, secure their family, and to avoid any problems, we make severe contracts with them in return."

Alexander clapped his hands and almost lost balance, "Woah..." He held quickly onto a commode, "...yep! You are right! Give them a good job and environment where they can live happily. All they would steal would be maybe some..." Alexander was about to say some stapler from work but got no idea what they would steal in this world, "...an apple? I don't know, what do our servants take without us knowing? Probably the deserts we don't finish, right? However, corruption can partly avoided the same way Mom does it."

Clank

The door opened, and Melina came in, who looked bored since she had barely anything to do since he was bedridden, "Mr. Narsiz, it is time."

...

Some days later

"What you want is that people are at least literate."

"Why should I want that?"

"You want talents, right? Maybe the farmer's son is a genius linguist but could never fulfill his calling because he never learned reading and writing. What you want to give them is the right of equal opportunity."

"Equal opportunity?"

...

Some Days Later

"What do you mean with welfare? Would they even start to work?"

"Of course, big brother. Give them the minimum, as we talked about in their hardest phase, and let them mandatorily visit some administrator to discuss their situation, problems, etc. With this, you can control them and try to find a solution for them, and of course, you can give a limited timeframe. In the end, they will be so much more thankful and loyal to you after they find a job!"

"Wouldn't they just lie then to not work?"

"There would always be some bad apples, obviously. However, I am now lying in my bed and wishing for nothing more than to do something. I think most are the same."

...

Some Days Later

"You want actually to play the role of the Cathedral and Temple?!"

"More or less. You pay them to build a branch inside the town and blackmail them through everything they did in the past. You can see this as healthcare for your residents as they are there to only heal and nurse the residents, and through this, you can make your residents pay a bit more tax."

"This is... Father already does this."

"Well, see? Hehe, it is a good idea then and already in place."

...

Some Months later

The candlelight in the evening was reflected in all the beautiful decorations on the commode, which was now fully occupied with all the stuff Alexander had since the table became Narsiz's desk.

Like a playful dance of colors that changed with every flicker, it shined in Alexander's eyes and hypnotized him like the old windows screensaver.

For the last few months, he was lying in his bed and thinking about everything he could remember from his previous life and what he had talked about in the last months with his brother, who visited him for hours every day.

They discussed every topic regarding administration and every slight possibility that could arise from all the possible policy decisions he suggested or what their parents did. It was an enormous amount of details to go through, but Narsiz filled more than 300 pages with notes about what they discussed.

Sometimes, he even sneaked into his room at night to discuss the topic they had before but couldn't end. It went so bad that Alexander needed to nap after Narsiz left so he could concentrate at night when he returned. While others might find it annoying, Alexander found it cute and had no problems with an enthusiastic sibling willing to learn.

However, even after months, their Mother didn't allow them to be together for too long since she insisted that he should recuperate in peace and also apparently in boredom.

Alexander could talk with his brother for another half a year for hours every day, but it was impossible as his own ideas were clearly from Earth and not adjusted to this world. Even though he tried to flesh them, customize them, and qualify everything he talked about, it would become, at some point, counterproductive.

Then there was the problem with the skill gain, but he could do nothing against it and suffered pain, which he could endure. He was astounded about why others had so many problems increasing their skill levels or gaining skills while he did it accidentally. In the future, though, he wanted to try and teach someone who had barely any skills to see if it was because he was from Earth or their learning methods were much more inefficient.

Yet, even though he had all his work cut out for him, his smile didn't cease. It was just too much fun for him. The world he was in was like a piece of paper filled with only the colors of yellow and red, but the moment he came to this world, he brought blue with him. What will the painting look like after he could add it? Politics, technology, philosophy, ethics, etc. Everything was possible, and now that he knew that every one of his siblings was adorable and full of love for him, like his parents were, what was there to hold him back the moment he became old enough to change it himself?

He came out of his thoughts when someone knocked softly on the door, 'Oh, is it time again?'