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Wolfsteeth, One of the Eastern Markets

'My life is a lie...'

Alexander walked around the marketplace; even though looking dignified and warm on the outside, on the inside, he felt as if someone had stabbed him multiple times with a feces-covered dagger.

'No chocolate... my whole life...'

He found out that he couldn't eat chocolate because it was nothing more than poison to him, which reminded him of the first body strengthening and why some solutions tasted like chocolate milkshakes, thinking it was just his imagination playing a prank on him because of the stress at that time.

'I... why...'

After that, he tried to remember what else was toxic to dogs or canines from Earth, realizing why the estate didn't have all those ingredients. His Mother would not even allow servants to have those foods, as her puppies could've eaten them, which would have been the case with Alexander without any question.

Regardless of what he could or couldn't eat, it was better to concentrate on the current situation and address the food problem later, 'Note to myself, either make canine-kin immune to poison or develop a chocolate substitute.'

With this, Alexander sighed slightly, concentrating back on the market. He immediately felt terrible for the cow-kin vendor he had left suddenly without saying anything. It was just too much of a shock to him.

'Well, whatever... at least I can eat sugar.'

With that solace in mind, he shook himself awake and looked to his sides for another stand, seeing that the two soldiers who escorted him from his peripheral view were visibly nervous.

'Oh man, what is everyone thinking I would do?!'

Both were Tier 3 retirees who lived in the outer parts of the estate, enjoying their lives and were probably dragged back by Cross, the commander of their estate, to accompany Alexander.

However, while Alexander didn't like that they saw him this negatively, he couldn't blame them. Being reincarnated and, thus, a puppy, his mindset somehow reverted, with his risk tolerance sinking to the bottom while having all the knowledge from his previous life. He was a ticking time bomb since everything he did was somehow a coin flip of being a great success or blowing phenomenally up in his face, sometimes both simultaneously.

Now, though, he strained every mental fortitude skill to the maximum to avoid running around like an insane person, talking to everyone. Besides that, he also had a plan for now: He needed to buy a couple of simple things, at least, to show his more casual side to the commoners, making himself more approachable to them.

Like on cue, his nose caught something interesting, 'Hm, this smells acceptable.'

He walked casually to a stand that sold meat in potatoes. Potatoes were like on Earth, but only some types, which were, from what he guessed while walking through the market, far too expensive for commoners as they were only available in small quantities and barely bought.

The potatoes the fast food vendor sold were the variant commoners ate. They were much bigger and stayed relatively hard, even after boiling them for hours. They were eaten mainly by the poor, who substituted bread or rice with them, which was much more expensive, too.

However, the vendor seemed to boil them in water first, cut them open like a bun, and fry them in cheap oil, making them seem edible while adding some overly greasy monster meat, which Alexander could identify by how much mana it had left after frying it, too.

Alexander looked at the vendor while taking out an average gold coin, "One."

The red-skinned djinn seller looked baffled at him, "Excuse me, but I think I can't sell it to Mr. Alexander."

Alexander raised an eyebrow, becoming annoyed, "What now? Are the damn potatoes also poisonous to me?!"

The djinn bowed, sounding nervous, "No, it's just..."

He didn't say anything, which annoyed Alexander even more, "What?! Just tell me..." He became a little too honest, blowing a fuse, "...I already can't eat chocolate. What else is there to crush my will to live? The oil?!"

The djinn didn't look up, becoming quite nervous from Alexander's rant, "I... it's too much... I don't have enough change... so please let me gift it to the honorable Mr. Alexander!"

Alexander tilted his head in confusion, "Wait? How much does a... what do you call it..." He looked to see what the dish was called from the shield above the stand, which was just a childish drawing of a monster inside a potato, "...let's call it meat in potato."

The djinn still bowed, not daring to look into his eyes, which was considered rude, "Two iron coins."

Alexander raised his eyebrow, trying to remember the current conversation rate, '8.74 large silver coins are one small gold coin... but what were copper and iron coins again?!'

Alexander got every month a report of the fluctuating prices of silver, gold, and other materials from Aurum but not about iron and copper coins since they were too cheap for him to care, 'Okay, how do I make me not look like an out-of-touch asshole?'

Alexander looked around, noticing that he held a large gold coin, not an average one, and decided it was too late for him to look relatable. Observing everyone around him and how they looked, it was doomed the second they saw him. His clothes were made out of legacy wings and the finest and most resistant silk there was inside their territory. His outfit was probably worth more than all the stands combined. As such, he doubted his looking more out of touch was even possible.

However, what surprised Alexander was that this vendor actually got it right how to talk to him since there were very distinctive ways they were allowed to talk to nobility in Moorgrel.

At the estate, servants were allowed to speak to him directly but needed to mention his name with the Mr, which was an abbreviation of Master, which was meant in a more general sense than what Ocilia, his disciple, called him. However, the commoners outside the estate weren't even allowed to talk to him personally and could only mention him when speaking in a third-person perspective.

Yet Alexander liked them to make some more mistakes so he could show his more friendly and forgiving side. He didn't care about etiquette as long as they were respectful.

He tried to think of something until he noticed some of the commoners looked quite tired and hungry, thus getting an idea. He smiled at the seller, "All right, how much do you have at your stand? How many could you make today? Would two average gold coins be enough to buy everything?"

The djinn became slightly astounded and quickly looked around his stand, leaving his bowing pose. He started calculating the amount he could make by counting all the food he had at hand, only to nod back, "One small gold coin would be more than enough!"

Alexander pulled an average gold coin out of his pouch, snipping it to him, which the djinn nervously caught, "I want you to make that meat in potato for free the whole day or until your stock is depleted. Now give me mine and..." He looked to the side, seeing multiple containers, " I want mine with the purplish sauce."

After seconds of the djinn staring blankly at him, he bowed again, "I thank Mr. Alexander!"

Alexander smiled at him, trying to gesture for him to calm down, "It's fine. I am a bit hungry..." The djinn screamed, interrupting him, "Of course! Please wait!"

When the djinn started making the sandwich, Alexander tried to sense his surroundings without looking around. He found that most readied themselves to get something to eat since they heard there was free food.

However, others looked at him astounded, whispering between themselves, 'Okay, time to spy.'

Alexander conjured a spell called Tempest's Whisper, a three-dimensional construct that was pretty hard to learn but very helpful. It increased his hearing sensitivity while using wind, conjured with mana, to control it in a specified area, making him listen to everything in that area.

It was a magic enhancement, a spell that increased a person's or sometimes even an object's abilities. However, this spell was a little unique and not a pure enhancement since it also let him control the conjured wind outwardly. Regardless, it was defined as such.

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Those spells were complicated for Alexander to learn because they needed to be cast on the person directly, and the pamphlets Green gave him described only how to cast it on a dragon-kin.

Even though a wolf-kin and dragon-kin body weren't too different, they were when it came to ears and tails, and Tempest's whisper needed to be cast on the ears.

As such, Alexander needed to change the spell before he could cast it on himself, making enhancements constructs incredibly annoying to learn.

However, after an almost silent chant and putting the jerry-rigged magic enhancement on and in his ear, he could now hear much better and even distinguish those further away from him through his conjured wind which he could control with his [Mana Manipulation] skill, 'Okay, what do they talk about?'

From further away, he heard two puppyish girls talking with each other.

"Is this Mr. Alexander? He looks..."

"I know, right? He is so cute! Is he so big because of the Lord?"

"Hm... I dunno, but do you think he takes concubines? I would..."

Alexander stopped it immediately, trying to listen to others, and switched his sense and spell to a more mature couple, those being some colorful bird-kin.

"I dun unnerstan' ho' cu' som' cul' be?"

"Dus' i' twiik' in' ya' croatch'?"

Alexander again stopped, trying to find someone he could understand and wanted to understand, 'This can't be. There should be someone interesting here.'

After a moment, he found a boy barely old enough to wear the dagger he had strapped to him, probably been through his legacy some months ago, looking like an adventurer, and his friend, who looked like the typical blacksmith apprentice.

"Do cha' think we willya become lik' him?"

"I wish... isn't cha a wizar'?"

"Spells'n shi'?"

"Ya. Isn't he open cha a schoo'? For free'n shi'?"

"Will ya cha go?"

"Dunno... isn' cha disci' also from tha rat distric' an' learn' all tha stuff?"

"Dunno, bu' is' free, so why cha no?"

"Dunno."

Alexander decided to stop before his brain got fried, 'Note to myself, get them some linguistic teachers... I can't listen to this shi' cha.'

He looked to the side, the seller having his potato meat ready, which he took. He wanted to say thanks but decided against it at the last second, as he couldn't do it according to how nobles should behave toward commoners.

Alexander bit into it and nodded toward the vendor, "It's good. Great job." Walking away, he could still hear the vendor yelling, "I thank Mr. Alexander with all my gratitudeness!"

Alexander cringed but decided to embrace it since he had no other choice. Also, the vendor was probably really happy since he would not need to worry for some time as what he received as pay would be enough for a couple of months.

However, the potato meat was pretty good, even though it was a little too salty, spicy, and overly greasy. While enjoying the fast food, Alexander became slightly annoyed as the fat dripped on his hand, dirtying his suit. Fortunately, he had the cleaning spell, which was better than the fox who wanted to sell him laundry detergent in the past.

'Hm, what else.'

As he walked away, many people immediately tried to get their free share of food, which freed some other more exciting stands up.

After another moment of strolling through the marketplace, he saw, or rather sensed, something to the side with his mana, 'Artifacts?'

It was a small stand with a donkey-kin woman sitting on a dirty linen blanket. Before her, there was mostly garbage for sale, except for one thing, 'I sense very little mana.'

Alexander gave the soldier his potato meat, which she took only reluctantly. He used the cleaning spell on his hands and squatted before the donkey-kin.

She looked into his eyes, which were filled with dread and devoid of life. She was probably trying to sell everything she could to make some little coin. He could see that she was going through some hard times, as her dress was pretty dirty but not old or cheap. She probably had some rough months or weeks.

"Hello there..." He pointed at a little wooden box, ugly and somewhat broken, with scratches and dents, "...can you tell me what this is?"

She looked at the box and back to him, "This is my husband's last work..." she clenched her hands, "...before he died."

Alexander looked more closely at her, seeing her hands, which had never seen a hard day of work in their life, "Say before I give you some coin for this, aren't you in a widow's home which my charity sponsors?"

She looked to the side, not caring, "I don't want to."

The soldier on his side wanted to intervene quickly, but Alexander stopped her. He looked at the donkey-kin woman and frowned, 'I can only do so much.'

It was obvious that while he could provide material help, he had no experience when it came to mental support. All his life, he broke down and rebuilt himself, looking for people who could hold him in their arms while it happened or afterward, but what if he didn't have anyone?

He never liked such thoughts to begin with, acknowledging that he was, in that sense, lucky to have understanding people around him. On Earth, it was a different story, with him trying his hardest to get through tough times by swallowing every negative emotion he had. So, he knew how it felt.

Was Alexander a little out of touch, trying to compare his living situation on Earth with hers on Orbis? No, he didn't think so. He gave people like her a support structure, which she could take and concentrate on her mental health but didn't want to because of reasons he didn't know and had no time to find out.

Alexander sighed, thinking that he couldn't save everyone. If there were some kind of mental health therapist, he could probably finance them and train others so more could exist, but such a thing was usually unknown here; barely anyone researched such things.

Alexander sighed, "What was your husband's line of work?"

"He was..." She smiled sadly, "...you wouldn't believe me either way. He did something with magic I never understood."

Alexander raised an eyebrow, "A dragon-kin?"

She shook her head, "No, he was the same as me, but he had a very specific legacy that allowed him to craft..." She looked at the rough box, "...such things, but they weren't popular..." She looked down again, still empty of emotion, "...it was hopeless."

Alexander pointed at the box, "May I?"

She nodded, and he used a wind contraption to let it flow into his hands. The woman looked confused at him but didn't say anything while Alexander straightened up and observed the little box in his hands. He looked casual on the outside, but his thoughts were going crazy.

'What is this?!'

While the box was shabby on the outside, the inside was not. There was a splinter of a mana gem, barely bigger than a cut fingernail, with engraved conduits going from it to the outside. Yet, this wasn't the biggest surprise, as he had seen this more than enough times, but there was a weirdly jerry-rigged entrance where one could put something inside.

'An adapter?'

Alexander concentrated his [Mana Sense] on the gem, immediately frowning as it had only little residue mana left, which he had sensed before.

Alexander couldn't immediately use it and would need to rebuild it in its entirety or replace the mana splinter, for which he had no skills. He could hack and break shit, but building was another matter altogether.

However, this box, seemingly having an entrance for probably another artifact, was something he hadn't seen before on mana artifacts. Usually, they were built as one single entity without any interchangeability besides the mana gem. Even the robot inside the [Law] Tier test could be considered a single entity as everything was very much welded, making this cheap wooden box a literal treasure.

He looked at her, "Say, what is this cute little cube doing?"

She shook her head, "I don't know. My husband only said this is his life's work."

Alexander looked at her stand again, not finding anything else exciting, mostly crap she probably got together, hoping to sell for some irons. He squatted again, taking out two large gold coins, "Listen, I will give you one large gold coin for the box..." She opened her eyes wide and interrupted him, which made the soldiers bear their fangs at her, "Why?!"

Alexander smiled amiably at her, "Your husband was a genius, and this..." He let the box float before her, "...can only be useful for someone like me..." His smile widened, "...a mage."

She looked at him, baffled, as he held the large gold coin before him, "Is this enough?"

She nodded, and he gave her the coin and showed the second, "So, I have another request to make. Are you interested?"

She nodded again, sometimes looking down at her large gold coin, slowly having her life restored in her eyes, "I bet your husband had notes or writings, whatever the case. Even more weird of his gadgets and other things, so..." He smiled at her amiably, "...if you can find them, I will pay you well for them."

Her voice became happy but sad, barely audible, "Ludwig."

Alexander raised an eyebrow, "The name of your husband?"

"Yes..."

Alexander sighed, snipping the other large gold coin into her hands, standing up, "Go to the Aurum, Ariana, or Maurice—The Helping Paw in general—and find them after you get everything. They will pay you, don't worry."

Her smile widened, "But... can Mr. Alexander do me a favor?"

While Alexander was calm, seeing how much in distress she was, the soldiers were about to take out their weapons and cut her down. He needed to calm them down by gesturing.

Asking a noble for a favor was highly discourteous and deserved severe punishment. Still, sensing Alexander's surroundings, he could see others watching him with interest, making them look at him differently than in the beginning.

Alexander nodded, "Depends, but I allow you to say what is on your mind."

"I... want my husband's name to be recorded..."

Alexander chuckled hearing that, making her clench her fist, but his following words made her almost instantly cry, "This is normal. Of course, your husband's name will be mentioned by me and forever recorded. Isn't this a noble's duty to recognize greatness when seen in their subjects?..." He became a little too cocky, though, "...what a stupid question. Everyone who works hard and achieves something worthwhile will be acknowledged."

She smiled while crying as if relieved of her stress, "Hik... Thank you..."

Alexander walked away while saying his last words to her, "Don't forget what I want from you..." He gestured to a soldier when he was further away from the donkey-kin woman, "Listen, look that she didn't get robbed or so. Follow her and don't intimidate her, got it?"

The soldier nodded and walked away. While Alexander was somewhat naivé, he nonetheless noticed the people around him, who were staring at the donkey-kin woman, probably seeing a walking treasure, 'Damn it...'

He gestured to another soldier from farther away, whispering to her, "Listen, go to Aurum and tell him that I expect someone with important information and that he should, if he can, help her out and pay her well. Got it?"

The soldier nodded, running immediately away toward what he expected was their charity's central hub, 'Urgh, so much shit to do.'

Alexander wanted to actually fuck off already, but seeing all the vendors watching him with bated breath, he at least needed to walk around the marketplace, showing himself to them, maybe buying stuff here and there.

It was simple PR. Even though he could leave immediately, he had time to walk around and buy some things while developing his image of someone they would admire. Sure, he didn't need to, but it was always better to create positive rumors than negative or neutral ones if the chance presented itself.

As such, he started walking around again, mostly finding everything more or less boring or not noteworthy. The most he did was pay some fast food vendors to serve free food for the day while getting his share of mediocre fatty and salty food, which he actually liked, if he was honest. It was so greasy that he became quite full.

After an hour or so of strolling around, he came to a vegetable vendor, some kind of mix of insect-kin, looking like a locust, which didn't escape Alexander's sense of irony. However, when he looked around, finding nothing special, and was about to leave, the vendor bowed down, almost hitting his head against his own shabby stand.

"M... Mr. Alexander! I greet you to my humble stand!"