It was evening as five of the eight multicolored and bright moons shined inside the tea room. The table gave off an illusion, but a different one than Alexander knew of.

If sunlight touched it, illusions of colorful butterflies flew around, but now, only ones in darker shades of blue and purple flew around Alexander and his mother.

Sometimes they even landed on them, it was cute, and the puppy really wanted to look at this magic item in more detail. Still, he was more than once forewarned that if he researched it, he would be sent to a nature-dweller boarding school where he would sleep in a hole in the ground. His dad described his time as quite adventurous, so Alexander held back his curiosity.

They sat and drank tea, and Alexander tested his [Mana Sense] quite a bit as it leveled up quite nicely by three levels. He could see some details of the table but also that his mother's tea gave an intense glow, 'Is she drinking some special stuff?'

It was not the time to talk about his mother's beverage choices, as he was mentally and physically tired from the day, and they needed to talk about what had happened today. He was so tired he would probably be asleep the second his head touched the pillow, but he was also excited. His intuition told him that Ocilia had learned the skill, and he could not wait to confirm it!

Marisia looked at her son, who somehow had better etiquette than Sarah and Lorient combined. Alexander told her before about how he got a skill that let him conduct himself more like a noble. Thanks to this, he is probably not cursing like a sailor anymore. It could also be because Marisia told Aro to be his shadow and teach him manners. With this thought, she chuckled slightly.

Alexander took a sip of his tea, which tasted like mate tea from the earth. He really missed coffee. Honestly, he also missed cigarettes, pizza, sushi, and much more. Especially the unhealthy stuff.

The pup saw a smile on his mother, "Mom, are you in a good mood?"

She looked at her son with a slight smile and thought about how she would rather deal with demons than have a time-intensive child like him again.

She loved him like all of her children, but sometimes she wished him to be a little less talented.

The lady cleared her throat, "Maybe you can enlighten me about what happened as the information I received from Aro and others are very... worrisome and incomplete... if I look at the situation..."

She looked at her son in more earnest, "Why were you and your apprentice blood smeared while she was also unconscious in a room with two healers who are now in prison, guarded by the same numbers of guards, for which you need to defeat a Tier 3 hell dog?"

Alexander cleared his throat and answered with his mischievous smile, "Because it's Interitus(~Thursday)."

Alexander watched how his mother rubbed between her eyebrows, clearly annoyed by his stupid joke.

Alexander scratched the back of his head as he chuckled. But decided to tell her, and while he did, his tail propelled under him, "Ok, so let me tell you what happened in short. I tried to awaken Lia's [Mana Sense], and it worked... probably. She needs to wake up first, but I am very confident that it worked!"

Marisia raised her eyebrow, "You... awakened her mana sense?"

Her voice became shaky. It surprised Alexander how calm she was, considering that awakening one's mana sense was the first and most crucial step to becoming a mage. Everything else could be learned with hard work, but if you can't sense mana and don't have this skill as a normal or mystic skill, it is impossible to become a mage, wizard, sorcerer, etc.

Her thoughts spiraled through all possible means and situations, 'If what Alex is saying is true...'

She loved the idea of her late grandparents, who started what her son called the renaissance, an era that would let her subjects live without worry. Her grandfather's dream was that the eras of poverty and starvation would be nothing more than a footnote in history books.

But she and her grandfather could only do so much to help their subjects, and Alexander could actually have the answer to this problem.

It didn't even matter if everyone could learn magic. 1% was enough... no 0.01% was more than adequate to have enough mages who could be used for civil duties than just act as glorified soldiers.

Most mages were recruited by the crown directly and trained. Luckily for her, their family's situation was quite unique, so this wouldn't happen to her son, who had more than enough talent to be a glorified soldier.

Her thoughts returned to Alexander and the situation at hand, '...the healer!'

She wouldn't risk having her son assassinated by some fat lizards. She was sure of that.

Her eyes glanced dangerously as she yelled, "Aro!"

He suddenly opened the door and came in long strides, bowing down, "Yes, Lady, how may I be of help?"

Her voice was strained, "Are the healer gone?"

He shook his head, "No, they don't want to sign the contract Mr. Alexander gave them. One of them is saying it is too much and protesting. So we put them under house arrest like he instructed, together with enough guards that even a flea couldn't sneak out."

Aro was a little overwhelmed and thought whatever happened was over the top of what Mr. Alexander instructed him to do. But he just followed it up; worst case, some guards would have a couple of hours wasted. Still, it was a good exercise for the puppy, and the butterfly-kin actually liked that Alexander was extra cautious.

But something strange happened before his eyes. The lady nodded, "Good. If they try to flee or contact somebody. Cut their heads off instantly. This situation is rather..." she inhaled and exhaled strongly, "...dangerous. If they don't comply - kill them."

Aro's eyes went wide as saucers as the lady continued. Aro could not comprehend what happened, "Also, the contracts Alexander gave them are probably inadequate. Go to Noriken and tell him that we need the ones my late great grandfather had stored for..." she paused, her eyes became more violent, "...for specific situations. He will know."

Something happened, and Aro knew that [Mana Sense] was a big deal, but he couldn't comprehend it fully. He bowed nonetheless and went out immediately. Alexander could hear how he started to give out his commands in a confident but nervous way.

Alexander smiled at his mother, but she looked sternly at him, and her following words were something Alexander predicted but not to such a degree, "This is serious. If this leaves this estate, assassination attempts will be our smallest problem."

Alexander let the teacup fall but instantly caught it with his mana as he controlled the tea and the cup with air. He let the cup slowly land on the table and let the tea flow inside.

He looked nervous and didn't know what the hell was going on, "What... why? I mean, I get the assassination attempts and all that. But what do you mean by more? Shouldn't it be something people want? Everybody can be a mage or whatever. While most are maybe not talented or not interested but for the small things, this surely is beneficial if I can refine the process."

Alexander was gobsmacked by what his mother said next, "No. This will not leave this estate. Alex, you don't understand but let me try to explain. Do you know that dragon-kin's are the only ones who use magic?"

She put her teacup down and crossed her legs, looking thoughtfully at her son, "What you did would put their clans, families, or tribes under immense pressure since they have a monopoly on magic. I know your views on liberalization, and you probably think we could push magic toward the commoners, who will have a much easier life. Fresh water and fire. Maybe wood which they can grow themselves for cooking? Forget it. They could conjure up flames to cook. There will be no need for something pesky as firewood anymore."

Alexander lost his composure. He knew his mother had the same ideals as him, "Yes! This and more! Our population could live longer and happier with the development of healing spells. Farmers could tend to their land for two hours a day instead of ten and have time for much more productive things!..."

He rambled on, "...blacksmiths could produce metals through the control of mana much faster, everyone would clean their place with just a thought, freezing would be nothing more than you would experience but for a moment till you use magic to warm yourself..."

As he excitedly told the lady his ideas, he noticed her tired smile and knew this kind of facial expression. He saw it too often when he volunteered and saw social workers who were crushed by bureaucracy and politics.

She sighed, shaking her head, "Son, you need to know that people in power want to hold onto it even if they start to get stagnant. We, the Leonandra and some other families, are exempt from such pettiness."

"Then...!"

Marisia held her hand up, interrupting her son, "While we have more freedom due to our rather interesting position, the dragon-kins are also very unique in their circumstances."

At first, coming to this world, Alexander thought that this world's politics were much easier to maneuver through than on earth. Still, after learning history, it was much more of the same mess but different, as the system could give individuals the power to crush armies.

However, Alexander tried to remember what he read and how the law structure worked. He was amazed at how similar it is to earth: The Empire, Mal-Gil, gives rough guidelines for the law that can vary from territory to territory. Then nobles who were dukes or marquise would appoint counts, viscounts, baronets, and knights so they could lead locally more precisely.

Then there were the asterisks like the whole of Moorgrel, where the count had almost the same power as some higher nobles but also not. The knight families on the border to the east also had more freedom, but also not. Then there was the honor system, and who was honored through what and how important it is.

Alexander frowned, 'I hate this overcomplicated system, and now dragon-kins are some exception?!'

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Marisia looked at her son's face and how he frowned as he thought about the empire's political intricacies. Of all of her children, only Narsiz was interested in their fief's political and administrative aspects. Sarah was too lazy to even attend her classes. Lorient would rather fight demons and monsters her whole life while she lived in a tent. She needed to wait and see what Janina wanted, but Marisia prayed every day that she didn't turn out like Alexander, who was a walking disaster in itself.

Alexander was young. Very young. He was in some aspects very childish but also very adult-like in his ideas, and she was already organizing and readying all teachers for him for aspects of a noble he couldn't find in books.

But she knew she needed to steer him away from his radical ideas. He was like a wild animal, ready to destroy a whole village just to slaughter a single sheep.

Marisia explained, "In short, the dragon-kin clans will do everything to keep this information from spreading, while they will not declare war... officially, at least, if they don't want to get eradicated by the crown..." a slight chuckle escaped her.

She coughed into her fist and kept talking as her tone became more severe with every word, "...they will try and hire every possible sellsword they could get their hands on you and not only threaten you but everyone in the family..."

She relaxed slightly, "... however, it would be a mess to do it in a way you think we should be doing."

Alex raised an eyebrow, "In a way, I am doing? So there is a better way?"

A smile bloomed on Marisa's face, and her slightly cheery voice came out, "Dragon-kins are bastards. They are absolutely neutral and basically hoarders of knowledge, or why do you think we have almost no literature about Alchemy, Mana, Runes, etc.? Well, thanks to you, it started to fill up at least."

Alexander's mouth was slightly open, not believing his mom cursed for the first time.

She cleared her throat and became embarrassed as she cursed in front of her son, "Well, it is frustrating. Even getting you a teacher for magic was nigh impossible, but your father could convince someone from the temple. While you are very talented with magic which could put Tier 2 mages to shame, you have no foundation."

Marisia took the spoon she used for her tea and infused her demonic energy into it, "You see, magic is very comparable to the energy I use..."

The spoon started to corrode, "...while it is mighty, you may injure yourself, if not handling correctly..."

After she said it, the spoon suddenly disintegrated, like it was never in her hand. She looked sternly at Alexander, "...thus, Lorient, who I made a mistake by giving her too much freedom, was corrupted by the energy and is now under house arrest and strict training, but I will not make the same mistake with you and let you risk your life with one of your little experiments..."

She frowned, "...again."

Alexander was trying to interpret her words, and it suddenly clicked, 'Does mom think I dislike having a teacher? So she is trying to threaten me with house arrest like Lori? hm...'

He waved his hands before his face, "Mom, this is great! I have so many questions that need to be answered! Thank you so much! It is the fairy I met before, right?"

The lady nodded, "Yes, her name is Green. She is... somewhat qualified... let's keep it that way, but hopefully, it is enough to give you some foundation."

Alexander clapped his hands together, and joy was seen on his face, "Fantastic! Never mind her qualification. I will have someone to talk to about magic, which will be fun!"

The puppy was really excited as his tail swung widely and furiously. At last, he could compare it to established magicians since he would be considered a rogue mage, someone who received zero teaching and just learned by themselves.

She took her cup, gulped the tea down in one go, and looked at Alexander with a big smile, " Back to the topic of changing the Mal-Gil for the better..."

As she said it, her already big smile widened, and genuine joy could be seen on her face, "...we will release it, but you need to wait for it till all of you are strong enough. We will do it at once and spread the information as far as we can so that even the dragon-kin can only choke on their robes and can't possibly go after us."

Alexander was a little bewildered at how his mother had hatred against this particular group of beast-kin, "Mom, do you have problems with the dragon-kin?"

She chuckled slightly and held her hand before her mouth, "Slightly. I will tell you later, go now and look after your apprentice and don't worry. If you want to go into politics, waiting for the right moment is the most important part. Especially if you want those lizards to suffocate on their own overgrown ego."

Alexander nodded, stood up, and came to his mother and hugged her before leaving the tea room, noting down that a set of dragon-kin heads would probably make an excellent present to her.

...

Later at Ocillia's room

An unconscious spider-kin girl was lying inside her room, mumbling in her dream, "Urgh... please... no insect cleaning anymore..."

Alexander sat beside Melina, who chuckled while her daughter was lying in her bed and talking in her sleep. He looked at her half seriously and shook his head, "She is such a drama queen."

Melina chuckled slightly at his joke but caught herself, stopping her poor conduct.

She liked Mr. Alexander, but his presence in the servant's part of the estate put her always on edge. Nobles rarely visited their families, only to fire or punish them, but the puppy was not like the others. He sometimes visited them, dragging her half-asleep daughter back into her room because she and she cited her master: "She is bad in time management."

Alexander's personal maid cleared her throat, "Mr. Alexander, you can go back to your quarters. No need to stay here. I will look after Lia."

He shook his head, "Don't worry, she is my disciple, so I should look after her at least. Well, not that I am not at fault in this situation..."

Alexander felt guilty about his little experiment, and sitting and waiting beside Lia somehow eased his conscience. He knew it was stupid, and even if she didn't get [Mana Sense], she would not mind it as the position as his disciple was already an unimaginative position for her.

His thoughts were disrupted by the smell of two hatchlings, Ocilias siblings, looking inside the room. He turned around and waved at the siblings, who ran away instantly as they saw him.

Melina frowned at her children. Most would punish them for such an affront. She prayed and thanked the circle every night for her luck for serving with such an easy-going noble.

Alexander was confused a bit but thought that something was wrong with him. He conjured an ice/water wall mix as a mirror and looked at himself while touching his chin. Every time he looked into a mirror, it became less surreal since the image shown was a snow-white-haired boy with matt golden eyes and wolf ears. Nothing from his last life was left except his memories, "Why did they run away? I think that I look handsome."

As he did saying it, he smiled and winked at Melina. She got a chuckle out of it, "Mr. Alexander, let me at least get you something to eat. We have your favorite dish."

Alexander's eyes opened wide, "Cake? Please say it is strawberry!"

Melina nodded and left the room to make some tea and bring out the cake, from which they got a couple of pieces as leftovers. Because of Alexander's insistence, Ocilia's family had an abundance and variety of food. Even some poor barons would get jealous.

From his previous life, he knew that taking care of the people under him was important. Being in the military showed it to him, so he took care of his disciple and her family as well as he could.

In this world, it was even more important since they lived at their mercy for the betterment of their lives. It is not like they could go to a local college, get a degree, and move to a new job.

There were also other reasons: giving Ocilia's family some resources to improve their quality of life made her much more focused, concentrated, etc., especially after what happened with her piece of a shit brother.

By all the information available, he somehow fled. His personal maid and disciple were downright depressive for a week before it became better.

The people in this world were much more resilient. In his opinion, it was the same as in the middle ages, where you had ten children, and if a couple of them died, you would feel terrible for a short time, but you needed to keep going. The same is going on here.

He supported all his maids to a high degree, and they always did a great job, even doing some extras here and there. Even his mother was supportive of how he treated them since it was also her policy for her personal servants and, to a lesser degree, the general servants.

A smell entered Alexander's nose as Ocilia's father came inside with their children and bowed towards Alex, who just waved his hand dismissively and yawned, "It's fine."

It was already late, and he really didn't have the mind for etiquette, even more than usual.

Her father started using sign language, and the younger brother, Jarus, translated, "Pops is asking if you need anything, Mr. Leonandra."

He got a slap on the back of his head and pushed his head down for a bow. The noble child was laughing, "Don't worry. Call me Alex if we are in private..." he continued after a wink, "...I am here only looking after Lia a bit since I am the reason she got hurt."

Klili, the little sister, jumped in, "Were the insects bad?! Lia is always talking about insects and how they annoy her!"

Another slap and bow. Alexander saw how her disciple's father was blushing in shame.

Alexander needed to suppress his laughter, 'What a cute family. It kills my inner self that I can't really befriend commoners...'

He remembered all the novels his fiancée read and nagged his ear off with this stupid... what did she call it again? Irikey or something. However, all the heroes, some brats, noble or not, befriended commoners and slaves. Even going so far as marrying them and becoming a king, noble, or whatever.

This was incredibly unrealistic. Face to a noble or royalty is something extremely important, and if you suddenly befriend some commoners or build a harem out of slaves, it will only hinder you if you want to help the people living around you.

Play the game, swallow all this useless modern pride and try to take one step at a time. Otherwise, you will only hinder yourself and your goals.

Alexander probably had a lot of luck since he was born into his circumstances since his family members actually married commoners, even going so far as his aunt marrying some farmer she fell in love with.

But the puppy knew what consequences it brought. While the family supported her, she was shut out of the noble circles. Even if her husband became a noble through some miracles, nothing would change the fact that he was a farmer most of his life.

You are usually only seen as a noble after at least three generations and established in your fief.

He had some radical ideas for this world, and while he could play around here and there a bit, he would need to play the game if he wanted to slowly change the system.

The puppy leaned back and sighed inwardly, pushing all his frustration down. All he could do was be friendly and accessible but only to a specific degree. It is better to learn now than later to tread the line.

A groan brought him out of his thoughts, and Ocillia's eyes fluttered open. The mischievous puppy leaned forwards and took the noblest smile he could conjure, "Good morning, princess. May I know how you feel?"

She looked around and saw her family and then her master, sitting and smiling at her. Her first reaction was a blush. She pulled the blanket over her head, "Wow, after losing so much blood, who knew that you could blush so well?"

The whole room went silent as he looked around for a chuckle. All eyes were on Alexander. He mumbled under his breath, "I think I am funny..." he shrugged at the bad audience and became serious, "... so, how do you feel?"

She put her blanket down and got a bit more serious, hearing her master's tone, but her blush did not go away, "I... I feel different. The world..."

Alexander interrupted her, "Wait..." and turned towards her family, "...please leave the room. What we talk about is important research."

They nodded and left, closing the door behind them. From his glance, he could see that the children didn't want to go and needed to be pulled out by their father.

As the young mage saw the door closing, he conjured a thin Vacuum dome around him and his disciple, so no sound could escape. He learned this spell not without problems, as he almost killed himself.

Alexander accidentally sneezed while manipulating the mana and created a vacuum in front of his face, almost suffocating. Fun times.

It was one of the easier magics he could conjure, where he used the mana particles to push everything else out, though it could not stay for long since he could literally suffocate again as no sound could leave, meaning: no air could come in, too.

Alexander nodded towards her, signaling so she could talk.

She started looking at her system window. Her face changed from worry to disbelief to full-on relief, "I... can sense mana, and I have the skill..."

Suddenly she started crying and snorting. A mess of barely understandable babble came out of her mouth, "Mas... Masta... Thank you, phoo musch...."

Alexander rolled his eyes inwardly and went to her and hugged her, as she looked like she would throw herself otherwise to the floor to thank him.

It was actually touching, and he could understand her. She worked with him while he taught her to the best of his abilities. When he told her he wanted to try to awaken [Mana Sense] of some random guard, she begged her master to be the first.

If you learn from someone everything but the most essential craft, it will become, at some point, frustrating to no end. Especially since his disciples had such ideals about knights, heroes, and so on where you needed power. She could now accumulate it and fulfill her dream. Her master would not stand in her way but even support her.

As the crying continued, Alexander felt increasingly uncomfortable and tried to calm her down. He was a softy when it came to children, "Everything is fine. Calm down."

Through the sobbing and wetness of his shirt, he could hear her intensive crying and sobbing speech, "Thank you masta... Thank wu woooo mutsch!"

This ordeal went on for the next hour until she was exhausted enough to sleep. Hopefully, it was because of this and not the lack of oxygen.