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Minor Garden, Greenhouse, Leonandra Estate

Inside a greenhouse, beside the minor mansion, a white-haired wolf-kin boy was working inside, planting seeds. He had a small booklet floating around and a ball made of ink.

After he planted a seed, a string separated itself from the ink ball, writing down a weird combination of numbers and letters and some notes underneath it. When he did this, a small wooden sign floated toward him, pushing itself beside the seed into the ground. The wood suddenly went up in flames and just as quickly extinguished, showing some combination of letters and numbers.

'Okay, C26 is done, next one.'

This was Alexander's next project: He was genuinely planting seeds. They were ordinary, but he emitted different amounts of mana into them before planting them. Some had little, others more, and the last group was filled to the breaking point.

His target was obvious: To create mana plants. Why? For one, he wanted to see if vegetables filled with mana had any effect if eaten. If he could develop gherkins with the same effect as mana potions, this would truly revolutionize his future society of mages.

However, he also had another reason: The mana trees called Oyarion, which he used to create mana paper and ink, were limited, and even though they were growing somewhat fast, he wasn't betting on his luck.

He would want to be sustainable and try to recreate something similar artificially so as not to run into weird problems where some fungus or parasite destroyed them and, with it, his revenue stream.

Another reason was that he wanted to create more tree species with more mana density to make even better paper. Still, as a precaution, he decided to first work with vegetables inside an isolated environment, the greenhouse.

Even though he didn't need one, as the temperature outside was always warm while the sun shone for what felt like 18 hours a day, he needed to isolate them as well as possible. So, building a greenhouse for the crafters was weird, but they did it nonetheless.

For this experiment, he also created other areas. One such area was where he buried mana gems and stones around the seeds without filling them up with mana before. Of course, he would also have another area where he would do both things and a control group of seeds where nothing happened. However, to secure their integrity as best as possible, he also had plates of manullium placed around the areas, isolating them from each other.

Most of what he was doing was also not new to him since he reused many of his findings when he bred mana insects, which was apparently an imperial crime. In his mind, they were a bunch of scaredy cats who forbade it, but not like he could start a petition or appeal to the Crown.

However, it was truly a tragedy that happened when explicitly bred locusts, which turned into higher-level monsters, ate through their farms. Yet, it also showed the potential of breeding animals and monsters, which was already happening, but not insects.

He wanted to design them for many things, from cheaper and easier available food sources to animals who would eat their waste for hygienic purposes. These thoughts tortured him while he worked on this gardening project till he thought: Why animals and not plants?

Was there a reason to use animals for such things? Couldn't plants do the same? Was it possible to create a species with so much protein and fat that it could be compared to meat? Could he actually create meat as a plant? He may be able to do it with mana, but before he could go that far, he first needed to get the fundamentals straight.

Even thinking about it made Alexander giddy and brought many new ideas to the forefront that he needed to suppress while working on this project for the last few days.

Alexander was almost repeatedly seduced to take a mana gem or stone so he could research the new probable energy source. Still, he resisted and decided only to do this with his parents' permission. Besides that, Lili was permanently watching over him, and Ipe was outside the greenhouse, ready to intervene immediately.

Alexander needed to accept that he was a child, one that didn't have the body to survive massive explosions or worse. His, what Patricia and his Mother often described as suicidal curiosity and heroism weren't things that were exactly encouraged, even though he found through them excellent skills.

This behavior showed him they cared a lot, even though it was very controlling. Again, he needed to get in his head that he was a child for them, and such behavior, even though unacceptable for an adult, was quite normal for a child.

However, his fingers itched when he could work with the mana stones and gems, as he wanted to test so much, like throwing them into acids and bases, overloading them with mana, straight up burning them, etc., but he resisted. He had time and wanted to avoid violating his family's trust.

Fortunately, his Mother most likely understood him and almost immediately greenlighted the new project, only making him promise not to eat the mana greens. He knew why she did it, and even though it annoyed him slightly, he accepted her carrot-and-stick approach. If he behaved, she would allow more; if not, he would be punished by not being allowed to do anything.

However, it was good that she allowed this project because he became bored over the last two months as he waited for his blueprints for the train. At first, he thought that it would be impossible to bring all his ideas into reality, but he forgot that he now had the full cooperation of Salyna, their estate's head accountant, who supported him since he was also the one who became one of the wealthier people in their fief who actually paid their taxes fully.

Because of that, she ordered many artisans at the estate to cooperate fully with him and just do what he wanted. It seems ridiculous, but she just gave them the command to accommodate his whims to a certain degree, which he liked very much.

Little to say, it was weird as suddenly, the carpenters and smiths took his projects very seriously and worked on them immediately the moment they got their hands on them. So, all he needed to do was design them as well and thoroughly as possible and later review them after they were made.

Because of this, he started creating miscellaneous writing ware and things for better organizing while giving them out as presents to everyone at the estate and his workers at the charity. The reason was straightforward: He needed to increase efficiency and productivity.

His only bottleneck was manpower, especially the skilled ones. While he could get a thousand people to join him immediately on his projects, he needed ones with knowledge and skills—artisans, administrators, alchemists, etc. For this, his schools couldn't be built fast enough.

While Alexander planted the last seed group, his thoughts were interrupted when he heard multiple people walking toward him, 'Huh, he is here?'

Alexander was told that the guy who saved Ocilia's ass wanted to meet him, and he agreed to it, also saying he should come directly to the greenhouse as he didn't want to run around the estate.

Multiple people suddenly hid the sun, throwing shadows at him, which were probably some guards and the savior. Without looking at them, Alexander asked, "You are Quill?"

"Yes... I am, and it is my honor to meet you, Mr. Alexander." He sounded sincere but also calculative, as if trying to grasp his personality.

Alexander kept planting and felt the guards would disturb an honest conversation should they stay, "Jack, Max, Leave us alone."

They both bowed down and left, knowing that Alexander had someone much more dangerous protecting him at all times.

As they left, Quill asked, a little stunned, "May I speak more openly, Mr. Alexander?"

"Sure. I like openness."

"Why are you planting... are those tomato seeds with magic?"

Alexander looked to his back, at Quill, and back to his little garden. He was as depicted by Ocilia. He looked good but also didn't emit anything like Aurum, arrogance, or pride. Instead, Alexander felt as if Quill tried to make himself as invisible as possible. His breathing was shallow, and his movements were as minimal as possible, 'Interesting.'

Alexander sounded stoic as he answered Quill, "Let's say it is a hobby of mine, this much you are allowed to know. However, Lia told me that you wanted to meet me. I hope you didn't use the merits I gave you on something as nonsensical as discussing the challenge of planting with magic. By the way, you would've met me either way as you are an exceptional worker, which Aurum told me about."

Quill sounded slightly flustered, "Ye... Yes, thank you, Mr. Alexander. I actually wanted to meet you to decide my future course in life."

Alexander smirked. He knew what kind of guy Quill was and decided to fuck around a little, "Clever. Wanting to make sure I am not some moron, so you could analyze me first before following or fuck off with a mountain of gold."

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Quill suddenly twitched and became nervous, "M... Mr. Alexander, that is not true! I just wanted to see who the noble person was who invested so much into the charity!"

After planting the last seeds, he closed the book and put the ink back inside a flask, plugging it up. He stood up and used a cleaning spell while putting the booklet and flask inside his non-enchanted pouch, which floated beside him. He then looked Quill into his eyes, smirking slightly, "I see. Too bad, though. I really like the idea of someone not being fully clueless and knowing their options."

Quill only stood there, pupils shaking and obviously panicking. Alexander smiled at him, finding the situation quite funny. While he had nothing against the rabbit boy, it was clear that he had a lot of distrust toward nobility and wanted to make sure that the Archmage Puppy wasn't some moronic puppet of anyone else who just did what was he got told.

Alexander agreed with him 100% but didn't like it. Ultimately, he was a noble who put a tremendous amount of gold into charity and other projects, which benefited society for the better. His action should be reason enough for him to believe he was not some ordinary brat.

Even though he seemed to distrust nobles and thus needed to see everything for himself, he was probably also pretty immature, which was a given since he was also somewhat young.

With his mindset, the correct way to cope with such a situation would be to wait for Ocilia's girlfriend to visit him and then question her afterward, which Alexander expected since he seemed from descriptions to be socially conscious. However, Alexander's action probably made him doubt his experience, thus making him visit much earlier as his curiosity killed him, 'If my assumption is true, this is quite the pickle he is in.'

However, while Alexander empathized with him, it also irked him the wrong way. He felt unworthy as his actions seemed not to be enough. He also had an ego and didn't like to be judged by his personality regarding his skills and ideals. Yet, he wouldn't be too petty toward the rabbit boy since he understood him, but a little punishment was necessary, even if it was only for Alexander's amusement.

Alexander showed two fingers while glaring at him, "So, you have a choice. Either you lied to me by trying to make yourself look amiable to me, but at the same time, you would look intelligent, or you were telling the truth, which makes you a moron, someone I don't need. What is it?"

Quill opened and closed his mouth multiple times without saying anything. However, after some time, he bowed, while sweat ran down his forehead, "I..." Alexander interrupted him, laughing intensely, "Haha! Sorry..." He patted the frightened rabbit-kin on the shoulder, "...I am just fucking with you."

Quill looked at him slightly up, confused, so Alexander clarified, trying not to laugh, "Sorry, buddy. You saved Ocilia, so I don't care even if you lied to me, but of course..." Alexander stared him down with an ice-cold glare, "...I don't really know how to feel about you."

He put his hand away and was about to leave the greenhouse and go toward his mansion, "Follow me."

Quill straightened up and followed him, "Of course, Mr. Alexander..."

While walking toward his mansion, Alexander asked, "Tell me, is what you saw to your expectations? Be free to answer honestly."

After a moment of probably thinking everything through, he answered, and Alexander could smell his fear, "No and yes."

Alexander raised an eyebrow, being interested, "Oh, would you like to elaborate?"

"I expected you, by no means do I mean this as an insult, to be more chil... kit like, but the moment I saw you, I knew I made a mistake with my previous assumption..." He gulped down, "...looking at Ocilia, your disciple, I should've known that you are not some ordinary noble youth, and testing you would be nonsensical, yet I wanted to make sure about your personality and if I would want truly to follow such a person... should I ever get a chance."

Alexander smiled and decided to be a little nicer, "Ocilia? Forget her. If you saw how she was years ago when I took her..." He waved his hand in dismissal, "...forget it. Weren't my projects good enough to indicate who I am and what I stand for? Why want to know my personality? It's not like me being nice to maids would change anything."

Quill also calmed down a bit more, probably because Alexander's tone became much more casual, "May I be honest?"

"Sure. I like honesty."

His tone became more serious, "I was with Aurum in a school full of nobles whom I couldn't stand. To survive there, I needed to analyze them. The only decent way was to do it personally. I don't trust actions or hearsay. I only trust my instinct."

"Oh? I heard that you were some thug, right? Is it some remnant from that time?"

He flinched hearing that, obviously a little scared, "Did Ocilia tell that?"

Alexander shrugged, "Don't misunderstand me, I don't really give a fuck where you come from. From all I know, Lia's Father was one too. All I care about is your talent and loyalty if you want to become my retainer, but..." He turned to look at Quill, who was staring holes into the back of his head, "...you seem not to have decided. Am I that hard to read?"

Quill answered, almost stoically, "You are unpredictable, Mr. Alexander, and I have no idea what you will do next."

Alexander raised an eyebrow, "That's bad?"

Quill shook his head, "I don't know."

Alexander suddenly stood still in the middle of the estate, crossing his arms, "So, before we continue this talk, which is the least I can give you since you saved the moron I call my disciple, I want you to be honest with me. What do you want in life?"

"Pardón?"

"You heard me right. What do you want in life? If you want wealth, just ask me, and I give you this as a gift for your great merit. You will never lift a finger in your life, and even your family will live for five generations with a silver spoon in their mouth, but since you are here, you probably want more, am I right?"

Quill solemnly answered only after minutes of contemplation, "Yes, Mr. Alexander. I want more."

Alexander smiled, "Why?"

Quill sounded sincere, "I saw what you are doing and want to be a part of it."

"Is that so? Go on."

He became silent, and Alexander could guess what he wanted to say, "Just talk openly. I promise you by my name that nothing will happen to you even if you insult me."

Quill nodded, "I never liked nobles and less the young ones. They were arrogant, spoiled, and talentless. However, when I saw your charity and how much she changed the life of the ones like me, I wanted to be a part of it..." He clenched his fist, "...I know that there are nobles who give out bread and water to appease the less fortunate somewhat. Still, you went far beyond that and didn't expect anything back. Education, good food, clothes, and so much more which you just give out..." He chuckled, "...even Aurum is annoyed as he isn't fast enough with distributing the wealth you gave to him. As such, I want to be a part of something like this and make a change, too..." For the first time, he showed what Alexander would consider an honest smile, "...much more than what I do now."

Alexander smiled, sounding joyful, "It is nice to help others, right?"

Quill became far more open in his tone, "At first, I felt annoyed, but after revisiting the orphanages and seeing the change, something inside me wanted more, and my previous feeble intention to become your retainer became stronger..."

Alexander continued for him, "You want to see others helped who are as unfortunate as you were. You have a much easier life now since you know the hardships and challenges, which all could be eased with a little bit of gold and manpower."

It was silent for some time till Quill answered, almost cracking his voice, audibly being happy, "A... Absolutely."

Alexander nodded and turned around, walking to his mansion while gesturing for him to follow, "Sure, I already have an idea what you could do, but I don't know if you will like it."

"What is it, Mr. Alexander?"

"I need someone inside the underworld."

Quill's voice cracked slightly, and Alexander could hear disappointment, "I see..."

However, Alexander continued, "Listen first before imagining yourself as some master assassin. For such positions, I could find better people..." He chuckled slightly, "...I need you down there for stuff I need to buy. As you may have seen, Ocilia isn't fit for this job. Still, to realize my projects, I need many things, which, in my opinion, should be freely accessible in the first place..."

He started counting on his hand, trying to convince Quill that even such a job would significantly and positively impact society, "...blueprints for technologies and mana artifacts, alchemical recipes, magic tomes, and so on. All the things I need to create even better living conditions for commoners..."

For some reason, Alexander became angry as he listed the things he needed, clenching his fangs, "I could create so many great things, share the knowledge so much easier, and make the world so much better..." He suddenly became enraged as it was a pain point for him, "...but no!..." He turned around and stared at Quill, who flinched and walked slightly backward, "...do you know how stupid it is to hide knowledge for non-dangerous things like healing potions? Huh?!"

Quill showed his hands in peace and studdered while sweating heavily, "N... No, Mr. Alexander?"

Alexander stomped his foot on the ground, using magic to create a crater, which visibly frightened Quill, "I paid around four large gold coins for a stupid recipe which can save the fucking life of my subjects!..." He became louder, emitting a massive amount of killing intent around him, which scared away some passerby servants, who ran away quickly, "...do you fucking know how frustrating it is to send my people down there, into the gutter to get things which should be just there, in the fucking library for everyone to see, learn, and create! So they could live a fucking good life without worries!"

Quill was silent and staring, almost in terror, at Alexander, "I..."

He couldn't say anything, and Alexander only now realized that he had gone overboard as the situation indeed stressed him. He needed so many things, but for this, he would need to get his retainers to visit the fucking underworld first, which would cost so much time and resources which could be used for better things.

Alexander sighed, immediately stopping the emission of his aura, "Sorry about that. I get really riled up about such things."

Quill didn't move and stood there almost as if he was frozen, "D... don't worry, Mr. Alexander."

Alexander smiled slightly at him, "Need a minute?"

Quill only nodded, and Alexander let him stay there and relax slowly for as long as he needed. For some reason, even though he could now control his killing intent much better, specific topics, especially when it came to his subjects, riled him incredibly up.

Even though Alexander became more realistic over the years, he also never lost his idealism, and now that he could give everyone mana skills, he came so close to his dream that he could smell it. Still, at the same time, he would need to go through all the convoluted bullshit on which the society was built up over thousands of years.

While he intellectually understood why, for example, health potion recipes were guarded by alchemists, it was nonetheless frustrating. He had no shortcuts, and he needed to invest a lot to get what he wanted.

Quill calmed down and nodded toward Alexander, "I think I am fine again, Mr. Alexander."

Alexander nodded and gestured to follow him while sounding relaxed, "Are you in? I want you to be my retainer and work part-time for Aurum. Otherwise, he would flood me with spam... I mean letters since you are that great. You would only be my purchaser for the things I describe. You decide as I will not force you..." Alexander shrugged, "...and you can immediately stop should I want something you deem unethical. Should this happen, I will give you another position, more in line with what you wish for."

After minutes of contemplation and silence, Quill answered carefully but joyfully, "I like it, and thank you for your gracious offer, Mr. Alexander, but we need to do something before that."

"I will triple your wage, and you get bonuses for successful buys and information. How does it sound?"

Quill chuckled, "You are really unpredictable, Mr. Alexander, but I am in."

Alexander nodded, smiling at him, "Tell me about you while we walk to my office. I like to know where my people come from, especially since they are from so far away."