...

30 minutes later, inside the carriage

Alexander sat inside the carriage, leaning against the curtains, his face pressed against the soft fabric. He looked blankly through a small gap outside, trying to regain all the stamina he had drained after having his first appearance in Wolfsteeth.

However, even though mentally tired, he couldn't stop thinking about what had happened, making him mumble, "What did I do?"

Lili, who sat before him, looked at him with a certain glint in her eyes akin to his Grandmother's, sounding quite prideful, "Mr. Alexander, you gave a cold and calculative speech, trying to usurp our household's subjects in a very decisive and manipulative way."

"Manipulative? Huh, you saw my mana?"

"Rather sensed it, and it was genius..." Lili's smile widened, making her usually dummy, husky-like face more naughty, "...my Mistress will be joyful when she hears about it."

Alexander waved his hand lazily in dismissal, uninterested in what she would think, "Grandma, huh? She sure will be happy to hear about it, but I need some relaxation before I visit the courthouse..." He sighed heavily, exhausted, "...I overused my skills a bit."

"Of course, Mr. Alexander."

Alexander needed to calm down. He used too many skills, which became strenuous over time. Blocking the smells was ridiculously arduous since they never went away, continuously assaulting him. He couldn't think of another way but to get exposed to them over time, slowly adjusting. However, for this, he would need months. A process he already felt dread going through.

Looking over to Lili, lying down and closing her eyes, she probably thought Alexander had problems with the speech, but it was the opposite. The speech was easy to hold, almost natural. Even the improvised parts that came to his mind while doing so were quickly incorporated without many problems.

Even though exhausted, Alexander felt genuinely happy. He loved the attention and admiration he received from all his subjects, which fueled his motivation.

However, it was also poisonous, making him want to become more drastic and faster. It was as if he could listen to their wishes and dreams, becoming captured by their adoration for him.

It was precarious. Of course, Alexander wanted to immediately scream for democracy, liberalism, and a parliament, infecting their mindset with his wishes, hopes, and ideals, but doing so would not only imprison him by his parents but also bring his family into danger.

Punishment was never dealt to individuals but to the whole household, especially when he held rebellious speeches and gave his subjects metaphorical guns by raising their level much faster than was usually the case through education and giving them mana skills so they could use magic, which could be easily interpreted that Alexander would try a coup d'etat by raising his army.

However, perspective-wise, such an assumption was nonsensical. Seeing the whole picture and taking an objective approach to it would make it impossible for most of them to reach heights akin to, for example, Ocilia, who was personally taught by him and allowed to train with his siblings.

Furthermore, even if they did get more powerful, everyone couldn't become a fighter like it was on Earth. Knowing how to use a gun didn't mean the person could use it on another human being.

Even making the most insane the hypothetical, saying they would become as strong as Ocilia, wouldn't necessarily make them a substantial threat enough to remove any Guard Household. Their strength was on another level altogether with unique [Divinity Line]s, specialized training, and the immense amount of time they invested in combat.

Only after years of seeing the results of training multiple people did he realize how big the difference was. It wasn't just that his Mother or Father was as strong as ten or hundreds; they could decimate thousands simultaneously without any problems.

Regardless of the realistic analysis, perception was obviously a key to why he couldn't do such a thing, screaming his romantic ideas into the world. As such, he needed to walk a fine line, strengthening them in any way possible while showing that he used blatant propaganda to instill a particular pride into them, which even other nobles would love to have in their territory, with his speech being a first try.

Thus, Alexander decided to forego anything too radical, making it a slow process by bettering the lives of all his subjects, doing the propaganda, and slowly liberalizing their system by, if he could, later implementing smaller democratized systems here and there in the name of efficiency and a more positive economic outcome. How exactly he could implement the last point was for him to figure out.

However, he also had already prepared pragmatic answers as to why he wanted to have stronger and better-educated commoners, which other weaker or more distrustful nobles, those mostly from central Mal-Gil, could see as a threat. While they could kick rocks even if Alexander didn't answer their questions, it was always better to have something prepared as he wanted to lift everyone in their territory.

Sadly, societal change never came immediately. It happened slowly over time, and he would need to wait years for the first shift in mindset and increase in education, thus in power. This disappointed him a little since he wanted immediate change, but one couldn't have everything.

Alexander ran his hand through his hair, feeling the slight sweat, 'This will be fun, huh?'

He looked out of the window, trying to concentrate on his upcoming duties as a judge after he cleared his thoughts about the speech he held.

At first, it seemed like another obvious way to change the societal perception of him, but he would need to wait for this for some time. For Alexander, it was now just a job he needed, like when he worked at a fast-food restaurant.

After a long talk with Noriken, the estate's archivist and overseer of their judicial system, and his Mother, he couldn't bring his values to the table as blatantly. He could stretch and bend the laws as much as possible in some ways, but making rulings purely on idealism was impossible. Otherwise, his Mother would impeach him, making him only take nonsense cases to make his Noblesse Oblige count.

It was a warning that while he was given freedom, he shouldn't overstep what his Mother had set up after decades of hard work. Like Salyna, Noriken was strict in serving his Mother, following everything to a tee, which meant he would look at Alexander's behavior as a judge very closely.

For Alexander, it was actually funny to see how they tried to bend themselves into pretzels so he wouldn't go rogue, and honestly, it did work. Without all those little freedoms, he would probably run away on the third or fourth day, trying to mix himself under the masses and play Peter the Great, only without the head-chopping when he got found out, which was obviously often.

'Well, at least I will not run away when it smells so bad. Should I actually do something about it?'

His thoughts were interrupted when the coachman shouted, "We will soon arrive, Mr. Alexander!"

"Gotcha'."

Alexander looked out of the carriage, ignoring all the onlookers, and focused only on the northern courthouse, also called Copper House because its color resembled copper, obviously.

It was used to prosecute those who committed lower offenses, like minor thievery and bodily harm. Alexander was sent there for a couple of months to learn all the procedures and other administrative aspects of being a judge. Also, he needed to familiarize himself with the system before ruling more severe cases, as a mistake there was far more fatal, while here, those could sometimes be ignored.

It looked shabby from the outside. It was made out of a mix of cement, adobe, and some wood. It was three stories in height and had only some lower guards standing in front of it, who looked very young, which made sense. The criminals sent here were either Tier 1s, or, if they were at a higher level, they wouldn't protest or do anything stupid; they simply paid some fine and were free. Since minor offenses were also not really expensive, they had no reason to fuck around, thus the lax security.

'This will be some boring months.'

Alexander wasn't too keen on sitting through this time, but it was necessary. He was even lucky that they could organize someone to look after him and teach him. Otherwise, he would need at least a year or more to learn the basics. Yet, he was nonetheless quite excited, as it meant at least meeting new people, helping the poor ones, and much more.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

...

Wolfsteeth, Copper Courthouse, Conference Room

Ten judges sat at a big table inside a conference, looking grim. Some were older, some younger, and one was barely alive, clutching to his duty with the bit of time he had left.

All of them wore suits, all different and tailored to their personal taste, but to identify them as judges, they had a necktie with a specific sigil, a shield. It was divided into four parts, with Leonandra's sigil on the upper left and lower right. In one of the spaces was a flower, a Lisop, representing innocence and peace, while on the other was a detached bloody head of a human.

The color and pattern of the necktie indicated the wearer's courthouse and status. As such, everyone's necktie had copper-colored stripes, but the other stripes were all differently colored.

A young fox-kin woman wearing a yellow-striped necktie looked to the side at a gorilla-kin, who looked like he was sleeping, "Hey, is Hans still alive?"

The gorilla-kin named Hans, the oldest in the room and wearing a black-striped necktie, swatted her away without opening his eyes, "I am still alive, you brat!"

A beetle-kin laughed slightly from the side, wearing a green-striped necktie, warning the fox-kin woman, "Doris, please calm down. If Hans is about to die, I am the next in line to get his office."

Still not opening his eyes, Hans sounded angrily, "Silence, you whippersnappers! In my days, we had respect for the old! I remember..."

He was immediately interrupted by a squirrel-kin, sitting at the end of the table, wearing a tie without any pattern, purely copper colored, "Okay, that's enough. We don't have time to listen to your stories about how great it was when Wolfsteeth was filled with murder, rape, and chaos..."

He looked around the table, ignoring Hans's nonsensical and barely audible mumbling, "We have something much more serious to deal with than Hans's never-ending stories..."

Hans interrupted, "You...!" The whole table chuckled slightly. The squirrel-kin waved his hand in dismissal, "Nobody cares. Now, Mr. Alexander will arrive in about an hour."

The beetle-kin leaned back, annoyed, "Don't tell me this... now we need to babysit a br... Mr. Alexander?"

A small dog-kin with floppy ears, wearing an orange-patterned necktie, voiced her frustration, "However, he showed and proved to Noriken that he has the [Intermediate Law] skill. Can you actually believe it?"

Doris voiced her frustrations, "Who would actually? I needed fifty years to reach level 50 in the basic [Law] skill, but he is not even through his legacy."

The squirrel-kin listened to what he would describe as slander against the nobility, but it was true. His colleagues were even more or less nice, not speaking out their inner thoughts.

Alexander was a brat who would need constant babysitting, and even though his skills were higher than those of his colleagues, it didn't mean much. Many procedures must be followed and learned, as, without them, the whole process could lead to a negative sentiment among the populace toward them, the opposite of what the Lord and Lady wanted.

Even though it was confusing to many, especially other nobles, why their rulers wanted to ensure such a thing since they held absolute power over their subjects, the implications of positive perceptions that showed fairness were more valuable than one could imagine.

If their court ensured a certain fairness, guaranteed by the Lord and Lady, even against the lowest of the low, they would tend to cooperate more with guards, be less tempted to commit crimes, be more likely to report criminals, etc.

This resulted in tremendous success, drying out the former underworld that built up under the former Lady. However, they sought revenge and tried to poison their firstborn son. This led to total retaliation, and they were hunted down for months and executed in public by the dozens every day.

It was a brutal time, which was fortunately behind them. With their new leadership, the underworld was now more amiable toward the administration, and they controlled themselves much harsher. Their city administration and surroundings ran smoothly, with everyone trusting them much more than in other territories, making it a Core for commoners.

It was only possible through the leadership of the Lady and Lord and the blood and sweat of their retainers who worked their hardest, him included. They pushed through, making the city worthwhile.

The squirrel-kin became visibly annoyed, even thinking about what they had achieved and what disaster could come from this, 'What a mess...'

Still, now, an inexperienced brat would join their courthouse. While giving out more or less punishments on whims was acceptable, a norm, nonetheless, needed to be followed by every judge and learned what the current Lord and Lady established after they took over. Otherwise, all their hard-earned success could disappear.

A lousy judge was one thing; even though bad for their perception, they could be delegated to some desk, doing some nonsensical work, or thrown out altogether, but a noble kit badly ruling was another catastrophe altogether. They couldn't delegate him anywhere as he needed to rule at least a case a week.

His thoughts were interrupted when Doris mentioned what he thought about, "Seriously, can't we just sit him somewhere down and let him do administrative work?"

The beetle-kin waved his hand in dismissal, "Do you want to check every couple minutes if he had made any mistakes? Going through revisions is such a pain in the ass, and isn't his Noblesse Oblige? What the fuck is he doing here then?!"

He looked around the table, speaking loudly, making them shut up, as what they said slowly became insulting. He wouldn't deny any of it if asked, getting them thrown out almost immediately, which he wanted to avoid, "Silence!"

They all looked toward him, surprised at his harsh tone, as he was usually much more friendly. However, he needed to stop them before they lost their head. If Alexander was really that eccentric, as talked about, he imagined the worst.

He cleared his throat, "We don't know much about Mr. Alexander, only that he is very eccentric and a mage, which actually fits the notion of those people..."

He was interrupted by a colleague, a dragon-kin who looked angry at him, his necktie brown striped, "Lucas, I would appreciate it if you stopped such slander."

Lucas nodded back apologetically, "I apologize, Dennis. I had many things on my mind. However..." He looked around the table solemnly, "...we are to educate Mr. Alexander on how the court works and prepare him for the Star House..." He looked again around the table, frowning heavily, "...who wants to volunteer? You will get fewer cases at the time and a substantial wage increase."

Nobody raised their hand and looked away, obviously trying to avoid the responsibility. Having a true noble here made everything much more complicated, as his status, especially with the law skill acknowledged, superseded all of Lucas's colleagues, making it overly bizarre to teach him.

Lucas also had an [Intermediate Law] skill and was an Earl, the kit from one of the distant Leonandra family branches, who decided to give up their rights as heirs and marry his Grandmother.

His parents still had the second name as proof, but because they were only Earls in the second generation, they had no right to give away their first name. Thus, Lucas would be automatically the last-born noble in his family line, while his kits would become commoners and would need to work to get the Leonandra household name.

It was quite a complicated system, but it meant that nobility could not last forever and that all the family members needed to be slowly sorted out over the generations. Otherwise, the Leonandra household would implode from all the infighting on the lowest levels.

Alexander, though, was true nobility and, even worse, the son of a Druid. This combination made him basically untouchable, as it gave him a political and religious status. It was a nightmare to deal with if he was arrogant and started throwing his status around.

He frowned inwardly, not wanting to show his worries to his subordinates, 'Why is this so complicated.'

The worst part was that nobody knew how to treat someone like this. A brat and in their case, an apprentice judge, not even through legacy, to become a judge with higher skills and status? Pure Outer Circle.

If they didn't teach him well and sent them away clueless, Noriken would handle their asses, and the Star Courthouse would also try to retaliate against them.

'Urgh.'

Therefore, he thought about which colleague he could sacrifice to the boy, thinking of their oldest one who was also on the death's door and without any family to speak of, 'Okay, Hans, it is... oh?'

However, after a moment, a colleague in the back raised his hand, a pig-kin with orange-colored stripes, "I will do the honors then, if it's right, Lucas."

Lucas nodded toward him, "You have my thanks, Otto."

Otto Melodia was what one would call a slimy asslicker. He came from central Mal-Gil and was an actual noble but a fallen one. His family came from a Knightage, which was burned down due to some internal conflict of some Viscount household, making him and his family run away toward Moorgrel, where they sought asylum.

It worked, and since then, his Father had been a so-called free Knight without any real noble title, joining mercenary groups. In contrast, Otto joined the court, making a name for himself since he was very young. Being only 40 years of age, he could easily become a great judge in higher courts given enough time.

'He has too much ambition...'

Looking closer at Otto, Lucas saw the sparkle in his eyes. He was greedy and willing to do anything to join the noble circles again, trying to increase his status back to what it was.

Becoming a Knight was obviously impossible under the Count, as one needed absolute loyalty, immeasurable strength, and merits, which would make anyone else into a Marquise in central Mal-Gil. As such, he probably decided to become a retainer of a Moorgrelian Knight, which, depending on the region, was the same status as being a Baron or Viscount in central Mal-Gil, just without the territory.

Why target Alexander, though? The boy was the best choice for the next Lord, without question, and he probably wanted to suck up to him, becoming his retainer by any means possible.

'I hate politics.'

The Copper House was usually far from any power struggles, making it more or less a stepping stone for many, which Lucas was fine with. Most of their higher judges learned their craft here and took it to the next level, which gave him an enormous responsibility as the leader and pride in seeing how his apprentices were doing.

Now, depending on Alexander's and Otto's interaction, it could all become very complicated, making his next months a disaster or Core.

Doris asked him worryingly, "Lucas, are you okay?"

He came out of his thoughts, sounding slightly worried, and looked at Otto, "Are you really sure about this?..." He sighed, "...Let's not beat around the bush. We know what you want, but risking everything to become a retainer is quite risky, you know?"

Otto shook his head, putting his hands together, "I disagree, dear leader. What Alexander did..." He was interrupted by a colleague, a monkey-kin with orange-colored stripes, "... arguably."

Otto shook his head again, "You want to tell me that the boy who could bring Anastasia to teach him for years is one to be manipulated? You know of her work, right?"

The monkey-kin sighed, "Sorry, continue where I interrupted you."

Otto opened his arms slightly, addressing everyone, "I will not hide what I want. Mr. Alexander has quite an ideologically driven side, as seen by what he did, and I quite like it. My ideals, though, are quite flexible, and this he will see soon enough, do not worry."

Clank

Before Lucas could say anything, his secretary came into the room, "Excuse me, but Mr. Alexander's carriage stopped before the Copho. He arrived earlier."

Lucas nodded toward her, "Thanks, Jenny..." He looked toward Otto worryingly, "...good luck, I guess."