...

A Week Later, Wintersleep Hotel, Private Lounge, Wolfsteeth

Inside the Wintersleep hotel, a small and private lounge on the third floor, with a well-equipped bar, was bustling with numerous guests as they talked and interacted with each other while eating or drinking. After a while, their conversations became more boisterous as they opened up more. It was relaxed, especially since most knew each other somehow, making it easy to network and introduce themselves to others.

Most of them were Alexander's retainers and two newcomers, Helena, an official clerk from the Copper courthouse with whom Alexander had some short dealings, and Lila, also a clerk but for their financial accounts which they had at the Golden Feather Bank. They were apparently half-sisters and only roughly acquainted with some of his people. Still, they quickly got the gist of this little event, immediately trying to make as many contacts as possible.

However, while everyone made new acquaintances, Alexander was happy to see some of his retainers again, as he had only contacted them via letter. One of them was walking toward him, which excited him.

"Oh! Maurice! Long time no see!"

Maurice was his personal guard. Usually, they would stay as close to their Master as possible after swearing absolute loyalty, but here, Alexander used him in a much more flexible manner since he had Lili at his side at all times. Thus, he sent him away with Aurum to protect his other retainers until they had enough security personnel.

For many, it could seem like Alexander threw him away, but this wasn't true. While somewhat weak, Maurice was loyal and motivated to become stronger. The only thing he needed was time and some supervision to excel.

Maurice came forward, wearing his best clothes, but they looked too small since his muscles made it look like they would rip it apart any moment. Besides that, he was also wearing some mana artifacts, which increased the user's weight, as seen on the fitting bracelets at his wrists and ankles.

They were costly, going for hundreds of large gold coins on average. If one wanted an artifact to have more power, it would become exponentially more expensive, exceeding even thousands of large gold coins. Such artifacts were usually only for Royalty or professionals who would use them for generations to come and typically pass them on. Fortunately, the Cold-Snout's presents were numerous, with many artifacts in between them, which he gave partly away to his retainers and siblings.

However, by adding Alexander's exercises and rudimentary fitness equipment to the artifacts, Maurice's training became efficient enough even without a fully equipped gym.

Maurice bowed down, "Hello, Mr. Alexander. Did you receive my packages?"

Alexander nodded, patting the big guy on the shoulder, barely reaching him even though he himself was ~1.6m (~5.2ft) big, an impressive height for someone before reaching the legacy and an obvious genetic perk from his Father, "Oh yeah, I did and am really grateful!"

Maurice nodded happily, "Great! Should I send you more if I find them?"

Alexander smiled widely, "If yes, please do so. I really don't know how I would otherwise."

"Hm, of course. It was an epiphany to taste something chocolaty for the first time, and that canine-kin can't is tragic. However, I find your word choice a little extreme, with all the world ending n' such."

Since Alexander could enjoy his fief, he spiraled into something similar to a slump. He found out he couldn't eat chocolate, which made him incredibly sad since he had a sweet tooth. As such, he overthought it, which led to him making dumb decisions. He tried eating chocolate while having Ipe, his borrowed personal healer, on standby, who was amused by his idiotic behavior.

When Alexander tasted at last chocolate for the first time, it felt wrong. The taste was too different, and he did not like it. His preference changed heavily, as he had the palette of a canine and was not fond of certain things. Other than the disappointment, the aftereffects were stomachache and diarrhea. It was nothing other than him eating some culturally spicy food on Earth, which was at best okayish, only to spend the next day on the toilet crying and teeth clenching.

Because of this relatively unpleasant experience, he decided not to do it again and instead looked for something else: A substitute. Knowing that this was a magical world, there should be somewhere something that tasted like the milk chocolate from Earth for a canine-kin.

As such, he assigned Maurice a side hustle, which his personal guard was delighted about since his former dream job and apprenticeship was at a bakery, which he gave up as he had no [Divinity Line] for and, with that, was much less talented than others.

When he ended his basic training, it became his hobby. So, looking for his Master for a particular taste and sending him the ingredients, finished products, or receipts was a weekly occurrence that he loved. Maurice couldn't taste them since they could be poisonous, and he was without a healer on the level of Ipe, so Alexander was poisoned left and right by his impromptu chocolatier.

Sadly, Maurice didn't find anything close to a milk chocolate taste, and Alexander became increasingly frustrated but didn't show it, "It's fine. Just keep looking, okay? It's vital, and if you do well, you will be greatly rewarded, okay?"

Seeing his severe and stoic face, Maurice nodded carefully, "Of course, Mr. Alexander... I will try to look at more places."

Alexander patted his shoulder again, tiptoeing, "That's great. How... oh!" Beside him walked one of his servants, who had a platter of appetizers, which he grabbed in its entirety, only for the maid to frown as one should only take some of them, "Thank you very much, Franci..." He concentrated back on Maurice while eating, "...where was I? Oh, right, how is your training going? Do you like those spells?"

While talking with his guard, he observed everyone else, waiting for them to get slightly more relaxed and open before he proposed his plan. This was why his maids were walking around with pretty strong alcohol, specific herbs, and relaxation teas. While delicious, the appetizers were not fatty or had many calories, making the effect of those drinks more potent.

It sounded weird, but Alexander needed the support of all of his retainers and the fire-djinn half-sisters. While he could obviously command them to do what he wanted, it was always easier to make them choose to support him, making them more motivated and enthusiastic. Ultimately, he was about to announce a long-term project, and if someone was unmotivated, it could make his life much more complex than it should be.

Besides that, he only used his most loyal maids as waitresses for this occasion, wanting to keep what he was about to talk about as secretive as possible, as otherwise, his head would roll when revealed to the outside. He was sure, and because of this, he stationed the most loyal soldiers and guards on other lower floors, with him also booking all of them.

'Okay, it's time.'

Seeing that everyone had a drink or two, which he made sure of by giving his maids the instruction to offer it often, he walked first toward the fire-djinn women who were talking with an annoyed and bored Ocilia, who was not really one for social interaction, seemingly only here for drinks.

Alexander opened his arms, smiling. "Hello Helena and Lila, nice that you chose to come! I hope some of the food is fitting. I really don't know if fire-djinn have a certain platter or diet they need to follow."

Helena was the first to greet him, smiling amicably, "Mr. Alexander! Thank you for the invitation. The food is delicious, so don't worry about such things. I missed you, though. Is everything okay? Judge Otto was quite perplexed by your note of absence."

Alexander nodded toward her, "No worries; I am fine. I just had to research something important for today."

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Lila also greeted him, much less casually and very formally, seeing that she was of higher status than Helena, "Good day, Mr. Alexander. Thank you for your great hospitality, but I need to say that the contract you sent me was unexpected and a little long. Thirty-two pages and too many clauses to count, but I need and want to stay honest and say that I only signed at the behest of Director Nathan since we have such a great partnership."

Alexander raised an eyebrow, "Wow, you really said a lot..." He chuckled, finding it funny, "...you just said you felt pressured, barely trusting me, thus only signing it so we could continue the relationship with you as our clerk."

She was about to say something, clearly becoming nervous, only for Alexander to interrupt, gesturing her to calm down, "It's okay. I like honesty and wouldn't really care if you didn't sign, but if that so happened..." He gulped down unceremoniously an appetizer, "...you would lose out on a great opportunity."

Helena walked beside her, rolling her eyes at Lila, "Don't be like this..." She turned to Alexander, looking at him mischievously, holding a hand before her mouth, "...she was actually very excited to meet you, Mr. Alexander."

Lila blushed but could hold onto her demeanor, "Would you please stop?"

After another couple of minutes of mingling with everyone else and devouring half the appetizers, he saw it was time. He clapped once, creating an air contraption, making him heard easily and loudly, "Great!..." Seeing how his maids brought the last plates out, laying them down like a buffet on a lengthy table, he pointed toward it, "...please take as much as you want or need and move toward the tables to the side..." After bringing out all the food, the maids quickly moved the tables and chairs, which were standing by the side, toward the middle of the lounge, "...it's time to show you why you are here at last!"

...

30 minutes later

After everyone was seated, with their drink on one side and a plate full of food on the other, Alexander gulped the last piece of an appetizer down, washed it with some relaxation tea, and strolled toward the front while observing the gathering.

Everyone was still talking with each other as groups were slowly building up. Aurum and Lila sat at one table while Helena was getting chummy with Ariana, though Ocilia was still annoyed. Other than that, they still followed basic etiquette by filling up their plates to the brim with as much food as possible, as it was considered courteous. However, they would also need to eat everything, with this tradition coming from the past when food was much rarer when they became liberated. Wasting it was a big no-go.

Arriving at the front, he cleared his throat and became energetic, concealing his lack of sleep and tiredness, "Ahem! Welcome, my dear friends! Most of you should know each other, but I hope the little chit-chat helped get those around you to know much better. Whatsoever, I will be clear in one specific thing..." He snipped once, bordering everyone with a vacuum layer, looking like a dome, "...everything I say, give to read and..." He shrugged, "...honestly, everything here is highly confidential. You shouldn't talk to anyone about anything said or done here."

Looking at their confused faces, he sighed with pride and an arrogant smile, snapping once, "However, you are probably confused about what's going on..." Multiple thick stacks of documents started to float toward everyone, like obese butterflies, "...this here is the reason for your invitation, and before we talk about it, I want you to all read it in its entirety.

When they landed with an audible plop before everyone, the first thing they noticed, besides the thickness, which consisted of around a hundred pages, was the odd title on the front, which read: Operation Fat Balden Eagle.

For them, it was nonsensical, with them imagining an eagle-kin far past their prime. However, this animal represented a particular country for Alexander, inspiring him through their countless actions to formulate his plan. However, if he was honest, too many nations did the same, but because he came from a Western country, he obviously remembered only those the most.

Regardless of his inspiration, when they started reading after ignoring the title, they probably didn't expect something grand, only wanting to entertain the delusions of a seemingly crazy puppy.

Yet it was too quiet for this, and they became tense. After reading through the preface, everyone started to visibly and audibly use their skills to understand it as well as possible, stopping their eating and drinking entirely.

In short and rough terms, Alexander planned to use the refugee camp as militia, wanting to send them to the southeast sea to some islands, where either beast-kin fought against water-djinns, or rather the Essence alliance, or toward an island solely occupied by them.

The most important question he needed to answer was how he wanted to finance them without interacting with them. It was actually relatively easy. While beast-kin and Moorgrelians, in rough terms, weren't allowed to give them resources for fighting or just support in any way, fire-djinns could. When the refugees got fucked over, the fire-djinns, or their alliance, Eros, didn't sign anything and was just happy that the wind-djinns were gone, weakening their enemy alliance.

This was why Alexander brought Helena and Lila here, two semi-influential pups of their territory with whom he could make deals. He wanted to buy some resources and slightly overpay for them, and they could use those profits to purchase weapons, armor, food, etc., from the Leonandrian territory and give those to the refugees. Everybody would win and solve so many problems at the same time.

First and foremost, Alexander's conscience would be eased. He himself was a refugee on Earth. His parents took him and his siblings, trying to flee because his birth country politically persecuted them, and in the end, killed them while fleeing, putting him and his siblings into an Outer Circle. This experience motivated him, and even though he noticed it late, it was the main reason he wanted to give the refugee camp at least a chance for a new life, escaping Kratikal, which brought them only death and despair.

Regardless of his personal reasons, there were also many rationales for why he should do it. One of them was that the permanent safety concern for his fief would disappear. While they were somewhat peaceful at the moment, it was always a question of time when not. Having a ticking time bomb on his border wasn't pleasant.

Besides removing negatives, they could also bring positives. One of those was if they could take over part of the island where his kin were fighting the Essence alliance. While letting a third party play in their theater sounded like a dangerous gamble, it didn't matter ultimately, and whatever they did, his fief would win. If they were successful in their military actions, it would relieve the pressure in the southeast sea for his household, making the refugees a viable neutral party.

Furthermore, once established, Alexander could even petition the Count to make deals with them, as they would become an invaluable resource for fighting their enemies. With a bit of PR, he could even easily change their perception.

However, if they were stupid enough to attack Leonandria's military in full force, even Alexander's empathy would be gone, with him going there himself and obliterating their little camp. Again, whatever happened, his household would win, even though some paths could lead to loss of life on his side.

The fire-djinn alliance, Eros, would also win whatever might happen, especially Helena's and Lila's family clan. They would profit from this by increasing their trade and getting sweet merit for their clan, and should they take the opportunity, they could also get some land.

The fire-djinns' structure, or rather, that of the Eros alliance, consisted of clans and families, where leading positions changed continuously. It was much more cutthroat than what the beast-kin had, at least in Moorgrel. As such, he wanted to ensure they would profit from his endeavor, making it as sweet as possible for them. He wanted Lila's and Helena's families to be as successful as possible, as he wanted to deal with them.

Other than that, they had a risk of those refugees joining the enemy side, but Alexander would bet against it. The Essence alliance betrayed them in the past, or at least the wind-djinns, and there was no way they would go back. Such hate was fortunately too deep, making it improbable for them to backstab. Worst case, the refugees would split up by race, creating quite the cluster fuck but nothing too tragic since the moment they attacked, it was back to annihilating them and still holding onto the resources who wanted to fight for them.

However, another negative was that Alexander would lose some gold. Still, if he could enhance the security in Wolfsteeth while strengthening his relationship with some branch families of the Eros alliance, it would be worth it.

The last question he needed to ask was: Will his Mother or Father kill him or punish him like Sarah, or worse, should they find out? Yes, without any question. Alexander would be educated worse than anyone else. As such, he planned everything meticulously so that no fingerprints of his were anywhere.

Even Lili agreed to his plan, but only because of his detailed planning and, what was most likely, she only cared about his safety, so it was enough to say to her that no traces would be seen of him. She acted by what his Grandmother left as instructions, and as long as his safety was ensured, he could even open up a drug ring.

However, his Mother didn't like risky endeavors as long as they were avoidable. Alexander, though, saw so much in this. There were so many opportunities, and when he told Lili, she also saw this, knowing fully well the worst and best cases were consistently good or better as long as he concealed himself well.

Of course, there was a risk of everything falling apart, but so it was with everything else. Right now, Alexander saw a refugee camp, looking for freedom and a chance to grow. Purely logically, it was a great bet he couldn't lose on. If he believed the night-elf, their military ability was somewhat semi-competent, and if everything worked out even half as well as planned, they could take over some islands and decrease their pressure in the southeast sea.

Alexander loved it. For the first time, he was about to play with the lives of thousands of people as if they were his chess pieces. While he felt cynical and somewhat evil, he couldn't deny that one side of him felt excited. Looking at the ones before him, he saw they loved the idea, even though they were still tense, looking for any faults.