...

The screams didn't stop. They kept going—shrill, deep, frustrating, and disturbing. Saliva flew around like droplets of dew in the morning after rain, the charming earthy smell replaced with an atrocious stench that even lower-class folks would be ashamed to have. It made Alexander reflect, something he didn't even do while getting gutted by Green, but now he regretted all his life choices and thought it all started by making paper, triggering his motivation.

"I can't believe you attacked me! I thought we were in love!"

"You are both in love?! I will kill you both!"

"Shut up, both of you! You paid me!"

"In chicken?!"

Sure, he could earn a good amount and lessen his guilt for destroying the training hall and the foundation of his parent's mansion. However, this also opened Pandora's box, making him feel a sensation he loved: admiration. It was one Outer Circle of a drug.

An ambition awoke inside him, a catalyst that made him want to better everyone and everything, converting his idealistic dreams into actions. After every success, he again bathed in everyone's love and affection, wanting to do more. Fueled by idealism, it became a vicious cycle. It was poisonous, but Alexander loved every second of it.

This repetition, in turn, made many want to follow him after they knew him more closely. He would take almost everyone in, putting them into appropriate positions. If those around him were willing to do his bidding, he would do his best to see where their talents and skills were. It wasn't that hard if he was honest; since a system and skills existed that could visibly quantify one's talents, everyone had endless potential.

"Argh! You bit me, you fucking animal!"

"Serves you right, kahahahahaha!"

Maybe not everyone at every point in time. However, this was all irrelevant since Alexander was thinking about how to end this situation amicably. He did not want to drag this shit-show of a case out any further, as he would otherwise have separated interviews or used other more clever tactics.

"Animal!"

"Bitch!"

"So what? Jealous, you don't make any coin with your shitty job?!"

While he loved to do all this due diligence, he couldn't. In the future, he would have around four to five cases a day as a rookie, but this was already going on for hours, making him increasingly irritated that he was far below the quota and would probably have a hard time following any time schedule, 'Okay, let's end this stupidity.'

Alexander's aura of wrath and pain slightly escaped him, making all three flinch, "That's enough."

His voice sounded vicious, a warning. Two of them immediately shut up and stopped their antics, and the third one, Sophie, became frightened, feeling the atmosphere in the room.

"Sit."

All three sat down carefully and slowly, not daring to make a noise, with Alexander leaning back and feeling increasingly irritated, which they also heard when he spoke, "I don't have all day listening to your petty squabble."

As the room became silent, almost eerily, Alexander fell into thought. He didn't lose his idealistic tendencies and would love to help those trash beings. While they were a crime against nature, he could see they were decent people who took some wrong turns in life.

However, if one of them were genuinely humiliated by getting cheated on or found the assault non-trivial, he would act accordingly. Still, looking at them, it didn't seem to be the case, as they were just emotional. Usually, he would love to calm them down, but it would take time. They couldn't stay here without proper reason, in their jail cells, and letting them go so they could come back later would only lead to more chaos, making this whole thing hard to maneuver.

Regardless of all the theoretical thought, everything was on Sophie now. Her testimony could break or make the whole case. Alexander looked at Sophie, still stoic and emotionless, "Your husband, Fred, and Ira testified while you were healed, so I want you to do the same..." He looked at them both, "...and I want no interruptions. Sophie is to be as honest as possible and tell her side of the story as much as she wants."

Sophie opened her mouth, nervous and anxious. As a hyena-kin, she was somewhat buffed, like Otto, with visible scars on her hands from all the work she did in construction. Her clothes were relatively decent-looking, probably given to her by the Temple. When she started to speak, she sounded rough, with her teeth being quite yellowish-brown, probably from all the tobacco and alcohol she consumed her whole life.

However, Alexander saw or sensed something else with his mana on her teeth and fangs at the border of the gums. It was like tartar, which gave out mana in a weird kind of way, in waves to the outside, and the other part of it was absorbed into the gums and disappeared, probably into the body.

'Wtf is that?'

"I... I stopped lovin' Fred..." She became sorrowful, and Fred, while listening, looked down and clenched his hands, not feeling better, "...it was just... I don't know, weird."

Sophie looked anxiously at Alexander, who gestured for her to continue. He split his attention, listening to her and still investigating her mouth and the weird tartar. He also looked at everyone else's mouths but found nothing close to it, except Fred's, who had the same stuff.

"It was at some point that we fought. I ran away to have a buzz..." She gulped, "...after that, I accidentally went to the red-light district and met Ira there. Because I was too hammered, I didn't know what happened really, but I woke up beside her in the morning and..."

She looked again at Alexander, who only nodded at her to continue, stopping his investigation, concentrating on her story, trying to find even the slightest oddness as it became interesting.

"The next days, I felt giddy and restless as I couldn't sit even..." She shrugged, self-deprecating, "...so I wen' to the Lying Lobster again, havin' ma fill, an' after that, I landed with Ira again..."

It was suddenly silent, with her clenching her pants, not knowing what to say, and after what felt probably for her like years, Sophie started sobbing, even though she tried to stop herself visibly.

"I dunno what happened, y'know? Heuk... I jus' starta' to slowly fall n'love with her, y'know? It's..." She looked at Alexander, becoming increasingly frightened, "...I know this a crime, but I just... heuk... fuck!"

Alexander was stoic, not showing a single ounce of emotion. He found this situation becoming increasingly bizarre, 'This makes no sense...' Something was wrong, making him restless, "Keep talking. I want to know everything, even the slightest detail."

She shook the sadness away, sighing and continuing, "After a week or two, Fred became distant from me... and at first, I didn't thin' much about it, but after months, I... Heuk... I somehow got a clear head, following him and findin' him with Ira... an'..."

The rest of what she said was the same as the others. She got enraged, and it came to a scuffle. Alexander got the whole story, and one should make a ruling at this point in time, but there were too many things he needed to know before deciding.

First of all, Ira and Fred, looking at them when they didn't fight, were decent people. Sure, they cheated and did all those other terrible things, but life wasn't always straightforward, and people weren't perfect; however, how it all went down made no sense.

First, Sophie probably didn't lie when she said she couldn't remember anything from visiting the brothel where Ira worked. Otherwise, Otto would tap his shoulder, as he apparently had a great lie detection skill.

Second, it was about the drugs. Alexander didn't know much about anything exotic stuff. Still, drinking alcohol was something he did pretty often before becoming engaged. Yet, he never drank so much that he couldn't remember anything that had happened, to the point it was a blackout over the whole evening.

However, Alexander wasn't a saint. On occasion, he drank like a bottomless barrel and had some outrageous nights with his brothers and sisters from the military. Sure, he may not have remembered everything exactly, but it was normal.

Also, seeing how fit Sophie was and even being Tier 2 as a construction worker, with her being 94 years old, meaning old enough to get some resilience skills going, even though they could be low, it should be enough to drink almost pure alcohol and be fine the next day, having some hangover at most.

In this world, or at least what he learned about from his territory, alcohol was only drunk by younger ones and those who had weak bodies, as it had zero effect on someone with a resilient body. This meant that the older one was, the more skills the person developed against certain drugs, a tolerance that protected the person.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

This was also why alcoholism didn't really exist as what a human from Earth knew. They undoubtedly had drug abuse problems, but the person doing those didn't stay long with one drug. If they wanted another high or buzz, they quickly switched as their skills usually caught up pretty fast, and adding the Temple with their volunteer work to it, they could literally abuse them for their whole life without dying from them.

As such, Alexander asked himself how Sophie got this drunk, 'This is too weird...' From his memories, he saw Lorient and Sarah years ago, getting shitfaced from basically drinking paint thinner, some alcohol herbal mixture, which he sniffed once, blacking immediately out.

Alexander remembered the herb they had mixed with what he sarcastically thought was kerosene, asking himself if he could compare Sarah and Lorient to Sophie when it came to their body resilience. If he took Sarah, who was at that point still Tier 1, she was drinking it like a champ, only getting some blush on her face.

Sarah had a robust body, without questions, but even with all the training couldn't possibly bring the identical resilience as someone much older and with more drug abuse to boot, 'So weird... let's first ask.'

"Sophie..." She immediately flinched, "...yes... Mr. Alexander?"

"What did you drink in the bar?"

She became slightly anxious, rubbing her hands and shrugging, "I dunno? Can't really remember?"

Alexander rolled his eyes, "Just roughly. What did you drink when you went to your bar? Is it something different or the same?"

"I... always drink their cheapest stuff? Beer with those herbs... maoja, I think?"

Sarah and Lorient drank Maoja, too. It was a relatively cheap herb that made one high when mixed with strong alcohol, 'Hm... I remember how they acted...' When thinking back, his sisters were only relaxed, cuddled, and stared at the ceiling for hours; at least, this was how Alexander found them. The next day, they were pretty normal, feeling refreshed, while he had a massive headache from sniffing the poison.

"Right... what effect did maoja have on you..." He looked at the soldiers, "...did you take the stuff too? Tell me."

A gorilla-kin shrugged, "I dunno? I feel a lil' dizzy, like havin' a buzz when I was lil and drank stron' stuff, you know, Mr. Alexander?"

A soldier scratched his feline ears, "The last time I drank, it was fine, only to relax, Mr. Alexander."

All the other soldiers in the room answered the same, with Alexander wanting to confirm something, "So, did someone take so much of this that they got unconscious and forgot the last night?"

They all shook their heads, and Alexander frowned, 'This is getting much more complicated.' He sat still, thinking about what to do. Should he continue with a couple more questions and then his ruling, or stop for now and investigate everything? Multiple considerations came into play, which would influence his decision.

The first was the punishment. If Alexander asked now about the cheating and they answered that they both cheated, Sophie would get the brunt of the law. She would also be forced to pay for the divorce and a penalty, which could accumulate to two to three average gold coins, an enormous sum for her, which, if not paid properly, she would be sent to a working camp in the east.

Ira would pay some silver coins, and Fred would go away freely. Other than that, they all would pay for the damages in the bar and the cost of the court.

The second consideration was due diligence—a concept that made him go after every doubt and question, checking everything twice to ensure he didn't make a grave mistake. Making a mistake would ruin their lives, so he wanted to be careful.

The third and most important one was that he had a gut feeling. Alexander's instinct was alarmingly good and sharpened by his family for and in combat, but it also translated well into more mundane things, like this case. Something told him that Sophie's and Fred's tartar had something to do with this, but it also made him anxious to ask, a bad sign, 'I need to investigate everything first.'

Alexander looked at the soldiers, "Bring everyone into their cells..." He already heard that Otto wanted to say something, interrupting him immediately, "...got it. I have a reason, so don't worry."

Alexander looked at a soldier when they left and ordered him, "Go to the Wintersleep Hotel and drag Quill out there. It doesn't matter what he is doing right now; it is urgent."

...

Red Light District in the Evening, Northern District, Wolfsteeth

Quill walked through the red light district, trying to ignore all the prostitutes who were about to grab him while avoiding the pickpocketers who sometimes bumped into him. He was still tired and yawning from being woken up a couple of hours ago, 'This will be some sleepless night.'

He didn't complain, though. He was compensated well, and doing something different from his regular work was okay for him. Usually, he would go out every night to the underworld, scouting out auctions, merchants, and other miscellaneous folks who sold anything his Master needed.

Yet, at first, it was a little stressful since he needed to learn how to spot valuable items and distinguish them from scams or trash. Still, after weeks of studying and learning mana skills, he was ready to go.

At first, he was a little nervous since he hadn't been to the side of the underworld that dealt with such items and literature, but after the first week, it got effortless, almost dull. Everyone who dealt with those items had yet to learn how much they were worth since most were stolen or just sold for little coins from mages who needed a quick coin.

Also, it was surprising that more items flooded the black market from other regions, seeing that Wolfsteeth now had a high-value buyer, shifting the current trends. However, it made sense since most of the things he bought could be copied down; thus, there was no reason not to send a copy elsewhere to try to sell it, and they had almost a guarantee that at least one buyer would want to have it. Even if it was haggled down, it was profit nonetheless, especially for the Wolfsteeth market, which never dealt with those things in the first place.

Other than that, what was most important was that he saw that his work had a lot of value, which was the foremost reason he did the job. After bringing those back, after a week or so, every retainer and servant was sent the new spell by their Master, which he bought the week earlier, only somewhat modified for those who didn't use proper mana skills and with more explanations for those less talented.

It felt good to be useful and better; Quill knew that sooner or later, the youth who would go to school would learn those spells, too, 'Hm, but this is weird, though...'

While walking through the eastern side of the Northern District, Quill saw the folks around here and had to guess why his Master wanted him to inspect a specific brothel, a bar, and some other places while providing only little information to look for particular drugs and exactly remember what the workers did and said.

Quill skipped over a drunk lying on the ground and immediately twitched as his cheap pants pinched into his private region, which he needed to adjust immediately, 'Fuckin' dammit!'

For going into this kind of place undercover, he was wearing a cheap suit, one a lower-class black market bookie would wear. He also had a greyish and wrinkled shirt with rolled-up sleeves and an ugly, half-opened necktie. Other than that, he smelled like cheap alcohol, like the one where the rats drowned and were sold as shashlik by Ocilia's favorite food vendor, but he would never say it, finding it too funny when she ate there.

Regardless, he needed now to concentrate when he stood before his first stop, The Lusty Lizard, making him frown, 'Cheap whores are always so lazy, damn it.'

...

After sending Quill away, Dining room, Copper House, Wolfsteeth

Alexander and Otto sat inside the dining room in the Copper House, eating to their fullest. The hall looked quite bland but not too bad, considering the various depictions of dead humans, dwarves, gnomes, and elves. However, while gruesome, starting a chat with such an icebreaker was fairly easy.

Around them were sitting some other judges, clerks, and even guards, enjoying their dinner. The Copper House was relatively egalitarian since it was the lowest courthouse, and many judges weren't high on their own farts, trying to create a separate area for them alone.

However, while Alexander enjoyed his multiple plates filled to the brim with food around him, Otto wasn't. He sometimes glared at him, only to return to his food, eating it angrily, obviously not liking what had happened before.

The clues he gave were obvious. Sometimes, the knife accidentally scratched the plate too loudly when cutting, or the fork almost broke through it when trying to poke a small tomato and not getting it the first time.

Fortunately, Otto couldn't stand the silence for long. After drinking some relaxation tea, he became serious, "Mr. Alexander, you made a big mistake."

Alexander gulped down a giant piece of fatty steak with butter and lard stacked on it. He looked back at him, smiling, "Let's wait. No need to be hasty."

Otto shook his head, "Mr. Alexander, you should learn to be efficient and economically sensitive early on. You gave all of them a cell to sleep in, food, water, and a change of clothes, which will cost the Cophy a pretty coin."

While Alexander spread lard and butter on his next piece of fatty steak, trying to get as many calories onto it as possible, he sounded amused, "I see your point, but I have a hunch."

Otto audibly frowned, laying down his knife and fork, probably ready to debate it, "Mr. Alexander, a hunch is not enough to waste significant resources."

Alexander chuckled, "Oh my, but I guess you should've analyzed them better."

Otto instantly became enraged, visibly so, as a vein popped on his forehead. Still, he calmed down almost immediately, "Your provocations don't work on me, Mr. Alexander, and I did so thoroughly. Sending your retainer to this rather..." He twitched his upper lip in disgust: "...district inhibited by economically disadvantaged people was a waste of important resources."

Alexander looked at Otto mischievously, "I see your point, and you do not need to worry, Otto..." He let the steak float before him, condensing into a smaller ball, "...I know what I did, but fancy a bet?" He let it float into his mouth, cringing at the taste, but it was also filling, making his tail waggle slightly from side to side.

Otto visibly also didn't like how Alexander ate but ignored it for now, nodding, "Fine, what is the bet?"

Alexander immediately gulped it down and drank some tea to get rid of the aftertaste before looking at Otto, gliding his tongue between his lips, "Hm, if I am right and there is something serious, I get a favor from you, and if you are right, you get a reasonable favor from me. Sounds good?"

Otto frowned, "I will not take the bet, Mr. Alexander."

Alexander tilted his head, confused but smiling, as he was interested in the reason, "Why so?"

Otto shook his head, sighing, "I think you don't know the seriousness of what a favor means, and you shouldn't give those away as you like."

Alexander's smile widened, and his tail wagging became more pronounced, "Oh my, you are such a good boy."

"Pardon?"

Alexander sighed, leaning back and looking at Otto respectfully, "I will take the bet then one-sidedly."

Before Otto could say anything, Alexander interrupted him, waving his hand in dismissal, "Just take it as it is and be happy..." After saying that, he glanced at Otto's plate, which was still half full, "Do you eat this? I am still really hungry."

It was silent for a couple of moments, only for Otto to burst out in laughter, "Haha! This is crazy!..." He pushed his plate toward Alexander, wiping a tear away, "...Fine! Have your bet! But you will get a favor from me should I be wrong!"

Alexander nodded, taking his food and licking his lips slightly, "Sounds about right, and don't worry—I am not some sore loser who is all about technicalities."

Otto shook his head while still snickering, "I wouldn't think so, Mr. Alexander."

Alexander looked at him, and before he could say anything, Otto stood up, still chuckling, "I will get a servant to get you more food; don't worry."

Alexander smiled from ear to ear, "Thanks, Otto."