First Authors Note: I will only roughly describe how to build the stuff while taking some creative freedom. If I wanted to write a manual, I would just copy some instructions for ISO/DIN (or whatever it was called).

Second Authors Note: I will clearly cut the word children out and use the proper terms now all the time. So please don't be confused.

Character Information - Who is who?

Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven't. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful, it can be a spoiler for the chapter!)

Alexander K. Leonandra (Wolf-kin)

* Transmigrated from the Earth and the MC

* The fourth child of the current Leonandra household

* Golden eyes

* Snow-white fur and hair color

Aurum (Swan-kin)

* Son of Salyna Leonandra

* Specialized in accounting, economy, and finance

* Blue eyes

* Snow-white feather and hair color

Green (III) from the Forest of Fallen Wishes (Fairy)

* Messenger of the temple

* Head of a temple branch in the east of Moorgrel

* Teaches the MC magic

* Specialized in healing, herbalism, agriculture, and administration

* Light-green eyes

* Greenish hair

* Autumn-colored wings

...

A puppy looked at all the equipment he was given in one of the storage halls beside the most minor mansion. He almost started salivating over it as he missed using things that came close to modern equipment.

Alexander needed to wait quite some time for it, and if he believed what Aurum, Salyna's son, told him, it was like pulling teeth to get what Alexander needed.

Aurum fought with the blacksmiths to build it exactly like what Alexander instructed it to be. However, the craftsman told him it was stupid and that they would rather work on armor or weapons, but it worked after some threats and name droppings. They were a stubborn bunch that solely worked for the estate, so after telling them that Alexander wanted it, they grumbled but got to work immediately.

The glassblowers were not better by Aurum's portrayal as they never made something this weird that Alexander wanted. However, the moment the ISO wizard saw the Erlenmeyer flask, he felt like he was back on Earth, and then he remembered the horrifying and long hours at the laboratory. Memories of all the attestations, protocols, and ridiculous deviations at every experiment came flooding back and made him shiver, 'There goes my nostalgia.'

He started sorting out all the chemicals first and was a little overwhelmed since he had no idea what they should look or smell like. But even without the knowledge, only by looking at it, the chemicals couldn't reach 80% purity, which was not acceptable by modern standards.

Sulfur's, a yellowish powder, purity was abysmal, even just by looking at it, and he couldn't imagine what else was actually in there. Some dirt, maybe sand, who knows? He wouldn't be surprised if an actual raccoon jumped out.

The stone salt was cheap, and it looked like it. But it didn't matter how dirty it was. It wasn't bought for consumption, so a little dirt was fine, but what was delivered to him was more dirt with salt than the other way around.

'My fault, I guess. Shouldn't have said to buy the cheapest stuff.'

Pyrolusite was the most problematic since Alexander didn't know how it should look but hoped that this would create the oxidizer he needed to produce actually sulfuric acid. His only remembrance from the books he read on Earth was hazy, but by the looks of it, it fitted. He hoped.

What he was about to do was incredibly dangerous since he didn't know what contamination the raw materials had. It could easily lead to an exothermic reaction. But for this, he already had a plan.

He put everything inside of pots and closed them. Next, he checked the equipment, which was beautifully made... for some inexplicable reason. Engravings with wavy vines, flowers, all the stuff.

Alexander looked to the side, to Aurum, who was very proud of himself, 'I said I need it only functional... well, at least it will look lovely if this shit blows up in my face.'

He didn't want to imagine how much more expensive it was because it looked nicer, but he took it anyway. Not like it mattered in the end. On second thought, it wasn't expensive at all but just time-consuming since the blacksmiths worked for them. He noted that he should make them busy again later on as he had a new idea for Sarah's shield.

She trained him a lot, so he thought about designing a cool shield he had seen in movies for her. She already had a rough prototype, but she seemed to like it, and all her shield arts worked well with that and her martial arts, too.

He concentrated again on what was in front of him and examined it. One apparatus was as big as two bathtubs welded together and a little small for his taste, but for the beginning stages, it was great. On the side, he had multiple other containers with pipes that could be connected to the bathtub to catch the chlorine gas. He sincerely hoped that it wouldn't leak. He wasn't too hot on recreating the first world war.

The asbestos diaphragm was inside a closed container like he ordered since the last thing he wanted was to find out how highly toxic materials reacted to undeveloped beast-kin bodies.

A little fairy flew to the container, wanting to open it, "Oh, what is this? Why not check it?"

Alexander swatted her hand away, "Stop! This is highly toxic... I think, so let's not risk it."

His emergency plan showed her hands in peace and flew away to read her novel, "All right, all right!"

He looked over everything else, like the voltaic pile parts (battery), and decided that it was time, "Ok if I explode, heal me, got it?"

Green nodded solemnly as she read how the centaur tried to fight against an Incubus, 'What a twist... I like it.'

Alexander prayed dearly that she would act and started building his apparatus together. There wasn't much to do but to put noble and ignoble metal rods inside the bathtub, each on one end. Calculating where the gas would come out to position the tubes correctly wasn't that important since the opening of each tube was funnel-like and very wide. Almost encasing the only place the gases could flee to.

Then he came to the battery, which was most important since he had no other source of electricity. An old-school galvanic cell would be the best choice, but he would need sulfuric acid first for it to work. Nonetheless, the voltaic pile should do the trick initially, so he kept stacking the circular metal plates with beautiful engravings on each other while the rags were inside a little wooden tub full of salt water. He would later pack them in between the metal plates.

...

An hour later

There stood his first creation, and like his first self-built pc, he prayed that it wouldn't short and destroy the mainboard. He conjured water into the tub, closed the voltaic pile container, and put the non-insulated copper threads, which were connected to his hill-billy battery, around the cathode and anode.

After waiting for some minutes, it started bubbling, "Yes! It works!"

He had some thoughts that the laws of physics were significantly different or wouldn't work the way he knew on Earth, but as long as they were similar, it should work. He hoped.

If the laws were different, he would need to do a lot of fundamental research first, which was far more than he could handle.

'Now we wait... I totally forgot how annoying it was.'

Chemistry, for all intents and purposes, was boring, at least the practice of it. There was a lot of waiting time, like a lot. So all he did was sit around while observing the process intently to see if something was about to go haywire because the atoms suddenly decided that mana was an excellent catalyst for explosions.

After some time, Alexander stood up, switched out the gas tanks, scratched the lye, and put it into a container.

As Alexander worked, Aurum became bored and came closer. His mother told him to stay by Alexander's side and help him with the project while also seeing if he was the right person to follow. He had no idea why she insisted on it, but he obeyed either way, even if it was annoying, "And this is how you make a better parchment?"

Alexander looked at him bored, "Paper and yes. We need all the ingredients in their... let's call it almost pure form before we can start making the product."

Aurum walked around, and as he wanted to touch something, Alexander used an air contraption to stop him, "Don't! This is incredibly dangerous, and I don't know if this thing blows up."

The swan-kin teen nodded solemnly, "All right..." He thought a bit and wanted to heed his mother's words but do it in his way by testing Alexander, "...let's say you can make enough paper, and we sell it for what Noriken suggested. Do you want to pay for the repairs of the main mansion?"

Aurum intentionally was disrespectful so he could see Alexander's reactions and whether the one evening was a fluke. If he chose someone to follow, he wanted to have the same relationship as his mother had with the lady, where she could be honest and tell like it was.

Alexander concentrated on the process, but like an old and lost instinct, he also could talk without any issue, "Yeah, it was kind of my fault in the end."

Aurum wanted to argue against it but stopped himself. It was unusual for a noble, especially for cygnets (baby swans), to blame themselves for mistakes. Usually, they would blame others even for the most nonsensical reasons, and he experienced it firsthand.

He attended a boarding school specializing in administration, trade, and all the good stuff he liked for a few years. He lived with all kinds of cygnets and teenagers of noble descent, and they were arrogant while never accepting that they made any mistakes, even if they were clearly at fault.

Since returning two years ago, he forgot the culture practiced here and how the nobles here only wanted a minimum of etiquette and respect. It was refreshing.

However, while away, he also learned how this aspect of Moorgrel, especially the guard households, was painted for the central nobility and only strengthened their hatred for them. To them, they were nothing more than barbarians or traitors.

His school had a definite slant towards the factions of higher nobles and those who disliked mixing beast-kin blood. When he found this out, he just said, as instructed by his mother, that he was a son of a wealthy merchant, never telling his household name to anyone.

Aurum was arrogant and proud but not stupid. The last thing he wanted was to be bullied relentlessly by his peers, who were indoctrinated by their parents against the crown, especially their loyal followers, like Count Moorgrel and his knights, who had giant targets on their backs.

In his opinion, he saw this race question as a nuisance. He avoided it as he was more concerned with concrete politics and not some pseudo-intellectualism that was made up to further some ambiguous question of undefinable purity to allow public support from their subjects.

He, on the other side, wanted to help the poor. Since he wasn't a hypocrite who only philosophied about it, he practiced his idealism in his free time. For example, he managed various orphanages in Wolfsteeth, 'All the money could buy so much food, so many clothes... at least it is warm all year round so the cygnets (baby swans) do not need to freeze.'

The orphanages and other charity programs were run by the Leonandra household. They were sufficient, in his opinion. Much better than what he heard from other territories, but much more could be done.

Seeing all this waste and potential money, something inside of him wanted to hate this puppy as he was so young and talented. He could potentially bring unheard riches to the estate, "So, what do you want to do with the money after you are done paying off to repair the estate?"

Alexander started cleaning the apparatus with his contraptions. He had enough NaOH but now needed to make KOH, a different kind of lye, "I don't know, honestly, but part of it I will put into our household coffers."

Aurum clenched his fists, "And the rest?"

Alexander shrugged, "Charity, research, cocaine, all the fun stuff."

Aurum ignored the cocaine part, as he didn't know what this was, but he heard a word he never thought he would hear. So, he prodded for a more definitive answer, "Charity? Don't you think this is a waste to help the poor?"

As Alexander put salt containing potassium into the tub and was really really hoping that the substance earlier was actual lye, he answered nonchalantly, "Nope, economically it makes more sense to spend money on the poor as the return on every coin spend, to a certain point, makes more sense than to spend it on the rich."

Aurum was kind of elated, but this puppy was talking like the poor beast-kin were objects. He was very interested in his thoughts, "Could you elaborate, Mr. Alexander."

Alexander put water inside the container and almost forgot to change the electrolyte-soaked rags in the voltaic pile. So while changing, he explained almost automatically what he thought as he did it multiple times beforehand to his family, "Let's say we spend gold coins on the rich through channels like tax decrease or incentives to stay here. They wouldn't really invest in businesses or new avenues, and they wouldn't also buy the stuff from the common vendors to increase the economy more wholistically... I think so, at least. I was never in Wolfsteeth and only go by second-hand information."

He closed the Voltaic pile after putting the salt-water-soaked cloth between the metal plates. He put the connectors back on the cathode and anode, and a new round of the chloralkali process began. He continued, "However, they wouldn't definitely expand their business, as they are probably already saturated, and they would probably take the excess money and invest it in other things outside of our territory or hoard it."

Alexander didn't mention that a resource-based economy was detrimental. There would be no inflation at some point but deflation as the resources like gold and silver would dry up, which meant no investing since hoarding the money also works to increase its worth. The economy would crash violently, and innovation would be stifled heavily.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

However, there were many factors he would need to consider if there were actually unlimited gold mines in this world or if it could be made in another reasonable way which was not possible on Earth.

This puppy increasingly intrigued Aurum, "What if they leave?"

Alexander sat down and looked through his [Mana Sense] inside the apparatus. The second thing he did was to conjure air contraptions, so he could observe the physical properties. He really disliked dying, so he wanted to avoid it again.

[Mana Sense] would alert him if the mana inside would, for some reason, go haywire, and the air contraptions were also like an alarm if heat suddenly increased unreasonably. He would immediately notice it if they expanded heavily.

As he did it, he answered indifferently, "Fuck them. We have big cities and even more competitors who would cut their arm off to just have a chance to get into the same industry as they are."

He also inwardly added that the cost to start a business at this time, with this kind of technological progress and almost no existing regulations, was ridiculously low compared to Earth. All one needed was enough funds to rent a building and buy the materials for whatever they wanted to do.

Aurum looked at him in thought and asked, "Then why poor people then? Why not take the money yourself, Mr. Alexander?"

Alexander frowned as this conversation turned again into some economic teaching lesson like he had with Narsiz, "Multiple reasons. First, they will spend the coins locally and in establishments which are more likely to invest back into the local vicinity, then the money will come back through taxes."

He thought for a bit and continued, "Second, by helping them a little, we increase the chance that they achieve more in their lives, thus have better jobs, thus paying more taxes and decreasing the chance that they start doing something illegal."

After a sigh, he continued, "Sorry, I forgot the other points, but there were more."

While multitasking and chatting were possible as he concentrated on chemistry, doing an economic analysis was too much for him.

Aurum became more and more joyful. Even though he disliked his reasons since they were logical, cold, and rational, like the perfect picture of a calculating noble. He saw a youth of noble descent who wanted to help the poor. It was like finding a needle inside a pile of hay.

Even though he liked the ones more who would help purely because they were idealistically wired that way. A philanthropic belief, so to say, but he couldn't disagree that there was a need for rationality as gold wasn't unlimited and the budget needed to be balanced.

This made him giddier to know more about the puppy's beliefs, "And how would you help them, Mr. Alexander?"

Alexander thought briefly and answered in his monotone I-am-working-and-just-chit-chat-on-the-side tone, "Mandatory education for basic things like reading, writing, and math. Helping them find apprenticeships. Then decent nutrition, clothes and building better orphanages, infrastructure, and so on... honestly, I don't really know since I don't have a full picture since I... well, can't get out of the estate till I am ten."

Aurum became a little baffled for a second, 'Right, he is not even ten...'

It was like he talked with some idealistic but calculating colleague. Someone who went through the same hypocrisy as he did and saw others who were incredibly demeaning toward commoners or even worse toward the poor.

He wanted to learn more about this rumored genius puppy's mindset, "Mr. Alexander, don't you think those poor commoners are a plight to society."

Alexander raised an eyebrow, "A thief can become a great spy, a chéf can become an assassin, and a bad farmer could become the start of the downfall of a fief. If you see everywhere negatives and not the possibilities, you will have much fewer resources for the betterment of the fief and thus the estate."

Aurum became more excited, "What do you think about the difference in beast-kin sub-races, Mr. Alexander?"

Alexander became annoyed as it was like some oral examen in school, trying to determine how well he could defend his beliefs. Still, with a side glance, he saw a young man who looked interested, 'Well, he is probably in this phase where he is really interested in the opinions of others and how they are different from his, but the questions are a bit... batshit-crazy.'

It was like someone asking what he thought about the differences between ethnicities and if some are inferior because they ate with chopsticks. Nonetheless, he played along and answered honestly, "I don't care."

This was Alexander's honest answer, as he couldn't care less, but Aurum was shocked. It was an unheard sentiment from nobility, even if they were on the side of the crown who tried to somehow unite all beast-kin.

Everyone held some prejudice against certain sub-races, and it wasn't uncommon to openly display them from the commoners' side, but nobles tried to caviar them more but were also much more extreme in their beliefs.

"Could you elaborate, Mr. Alexander?"

Alexander nodded, "I don't care... at all."

Aurum frowned, but Green answered him beforehand while she read an NSFW scene before he could prope more, "He really doesn't care. He has even no problem with me as his magic teacher, so why should he care about other beast-kin?"

The young swan-kin looked at her and tilted his head back to Alexander as he said something, "Why? Are you poisonous or something?"

Green answered while turning the page, "Nah, while beast-kin like the Temple, most dislike nature-dwellers."

Alexander nodded, "Because some of you are basically immortals?"

Green shook her head, without taking her eyes off the novel and not changing her matter-of-fact tone, "Nope, because we think beast-kin doing affronts against nature like eating animals. Thus, you see us as arrogant or unreasonable if we talk down to you."

Alexander answered her, "Huh, but aren't we allies since the liberation? I also know that we basically rule your territory without many problems, so I would imagine that the nature-dwellers would revolt otherwise."

Green licked her finger and went to the next page, answering, "There are many problems, but because we fundamentally rule the Circle of Nature religion, there is balance."

Alexander nodded, "Makes sense, and we hate you because you preach stuff most beast-kin don't agree with, right?"

Green nodded solemnly, "You got it."

A silence suddenly went through the room, 'What the ...?'

Aurum was clearly confused listening to such a conversation between two individuals who were on the social ladder pretty high up there.

In his head, he heard Alexander describe the nature-dwellers as vassals, while beast-kin also intensely disliked their intrinsic belief, which they preach and practice unopposed. On the other hand, Green said that beast-kin can get fucked since they control religion and are disgusted by how beast-kin live.

'If I had such a discussion with one of the temple leaders, my head would fly right off...'

However, this became much more interesting as he thought he could talk much more openly, "Haven't you both not right now insulted each other?!"

Alexander and Green looked at him momentarily before turning their head back and kept doing what they did. But a comment left their lips.

"Idiot."

"Brat."

Aurum became a bit flushed, "Excuse me? Could you explain it?"

Green solemnly nodded, "Alexander, explain why we put up with each other."

Alexander sighed, "Fine..." he looked solemnly at Aurum, "...nobody gives a single fuck about falling trees or insults if the other possibility is slavery. Here you go."

He returned to his work, while Green commented, "Very reductive but on point. We are basically choosing the lesser evil for both of our benefits."

Silence reigned again, and Aurum started to sweat a little, 'Do they know what they said?!'

In his mind, they said they hate each other but tolerate it because the other possibilities are worse! It was somehow true, but nobody should say it out loud and not this bluntly.

Aurum quickly changed the topic as he felt uncomfortable, "How does the alchemy go, Mr. Alexander?"

Alexander stopped and began to remove the water, the KOH, and so on while answering, "Fine, I guess I can finish the preparation today, and after a couple more times, I can get some workers if the finished product is to my liking."

Aurum nodded and wanted to know the puppy better, 'Is this why mom sent me to help him since she knew how he was? Damn it, why not just tell me?.'

Aurum wasn't a noble and was either looking to follow someone with similar ideals, which he felt was improbable, or become a merchant. He could achieve a lot with the Leonandra household and his family in the back, especially with his skills.

He became more curious than ever, "Mr. Alexander, do you have any life goals?"

Alexander started to frown, but before he could answer, Green laughed out loud, "Haha, look at him testing you if he should follow you or not!"

The puppy put down all the chemicals and conjured water to clean up the apparatus while walking to the battery, "I figured it out too, thanks teach." He didn't know but played it off.

Aurum blushed, "Wait! It's not like that!"

Alexander ignored his teenage behavior of being caught trying to be sneaky, "Listen, I am too young to have any grandiose goals..."

Alexander lied as he had grandiose goals but wanted to try something new he read about leadership since Green told him he was tested, 'There's no time like the present, I guess.'

He turned and looked deep into his eyes, "You can do what you want, but from my followers, I want absolute loyalty and that they would do their job correctly. Don't think you can choose just because you want to. I will be the one who decides."

Alexander began to be very interested in having him as a retainer since he heard from Ocilia, which she heard from her mother, which she heard from rumors, that he was very talented like Salyna.

Yet, what he told wasn't fully truthful since he wasn't too hot on absolute loyalty. However, he thought that it would be much easier to convince him if he stated that he had high standards.

He turned around again and started adjusting the apparatus. Now he needed to begin creating Potassium Permanganate, which was pretty easy. Dissolving, heating, and dehydrating were all that he needed to do.

Aurum was baffled, 'Was I rejected? Does he want me to prove it to him?'

He shook himself awake. It was like a skill used on him, and he didn't like it, "Hey, did... Mr. Alexander, did you use a skill on me?"

Alexander started the heating process and answered honestly, "Nope, and I really don't care if you want to follow me. Also, as you can see, I am already at work here. Not like I can do everything at once."

Aurum was silent for a time, thinking everything through. It was like he wanted to decide on something, but he wasn't allowed to. He knew of such tricks, but when he looked at the puppy, all he could see was ambivalence toward him. He only concentrated on the alchemical process and answered his questions nonchalantly.

Aurum could always read people like an open book, but his ego was in the way this time since he believed everyone would want him for his talent. He remembered his time at school and how the nobles lined up so he could become their retainer. On the other hand, this very young and inexperienced noble wasn't even sideglancing him.

Alexander was thinking something different, 'Did he bite?'

He read some passages in books on leadership and persuasion tactics. He lied to himself to feel better since he didn't read any grand literature but some trashy drama/romance novels and how women wanted to attract men. In his mind, it was pretty much the same. He hoped.

However, Alexander was unsure about having a snotty brat as a retainer who would also oversee his business dealings. He knew at least he could trust him since his family was solely under the Leonandra banner, but he was a bit too egocentric for his taste.

After getting told by Green that Aurum wanted to test him for something more than some teenage debate skills, Alexander understood why Salyna put him here to help him. She saw Alexander as someone her son could follow and stay inside the household.

However, his CV wasn't brilliant. From rumors, he knew that Aurum rejected Salyna's suggestions to go under any of his siblings for probably the stupidest reasons if Alexander deduced them from the questions he was asked by him.

On the other hand, this meant that this teen was very ideologically driven and had pure ambitions. Alexander loved such mindsets, but those people were incredibly hard to control, if at all.

He decided, 'I want to gamble.'

Aurum's talent would allow him to choose to be the retainer of basically anyone, but Alexander wanted that he desired to be under him.

Suddenly, Alexander was interrupted by a question, "Mr. Alexander, if I wanted to become your retainer since I have unique skills, loyalty, as seen by my family, and talent, why wouldn't you take me in?"

The puppy smiled viciously. Inwardly, of course, and luckily, Green didn't say anything, but he could see her smirk in the reflection of the apparatuses, 'Change of tactics: Balls to the walls it is!'

Alexander didn't turn around and kept pretending to concentrate intensely on the production, "Your family, yes, but I don't know you. I only want someone who has loyalty toward me. At some point, I will maybe do atrocious things for the greater good, and I don't need some naive boy who is too idealistic to see the whole picture while standing in my way."

Alexander felt he was trying to talk to a girl he liked, 'Was it too much? Did he catch that I outed myself as someone with grand goals? I hope not, but he should also not jump to my side because I am rejecting him, but I also really want him now.'

Even though he sounded a little manipulative, he truly meant it. If he wanted to lead at some point, he needed retainers who weren't too short-sighted or too idealistic, as they could see everything he would do as an unforgivable act without seeing the whole picture.

Aurum was silent for some time. Alexander started to proceed with his chemistry again after storing his oxidizer. Next, he would need to create sulfuric acid. It was much easier as he only needed to burn sulfur, put the gas into water, and oxidize it.

After a moment, the young swan-kin nodded, "I understand..." and started monologuing about his life as he thought building trust would be a good starting point.

He started telling about most of his school time, how he felt about everything, and how he wanted to help the poor. It sounded sincere.

Alexander asked him in the middle of his story while burning sulfur and leading the gas through the metal tube into the water, "Why do you want to help the poor?"

Aurum was silent for a moment to think this through and, as he answered, became emotional, "I... can't really answer it, but if I was forced to answer: Pity."

"Pity?"

"Yes, pity. I saw the plight of the poor in Yol, where my school stood proud and big. Embellished..." he clenched his fists, "...in massive decadence while the unlucky commoners had..." he clenched his teeth more with every word, "...had barely enough for dry bread and lumps of clothes while I had five different sets of my gold embroidered school uniform and ate only the finest of foods."

Only the bubbling of sulfur dioxide was heard, how it went into the water and turned into sulfurous acid.

Alexander looked at him and had only one thought, 'Dangerous.'

While Alexander was also somewhat ideologically driven, he tried to grasp the world's reality and use it to his end and adapt as best as he could. On the other hand, Aurum felt like someone with a sledgehammer holding over his head, looking for the first thing to smash down.

Alexander returned to his apparatus and added the oxidizer, "I like you."

Aurum looked at the puppy and asked, confused, "Pardon?"

Alexander thought he could control this ideologically driven youth if he could give him work in some locality or some charity at first and show that it could work better if one worked inside the system while trying to change it. He would probably lose his edge and become more rational after seeing the machinations of real administrations and politics.

He himself was somewhat new to this but understood enough to see the bigger picture. Small steps or a radical reshaping? He had plans for many paths he could take but would only choose the most probable one, which would be a slow one in his mind.

Everything needed to be cultivated slowly and carefully. A fief showing, for example, how free public education benefited society would set up a domino effect in other fiefs.

"You heard me. I like how you think." Alexander almost added boy to the end of the sentence.

Aurum suddenly smiled, "Thanks! So..."

"So what?"

He opened his arms and wings while leaning forward, "I want to be your aid!"

Alexander looked through the now giant glass container with his mana sense and contraptions. He could detect a high concentration of Sulfuric Acid. The fumes it let out that could burn his hair off his head were a good indication. He took half of it, put it into the tub with the cheap salt, closed the battery, and concentrated his mana sense/contraptions on it.

Alexander stood up and looked at the swan-kin, "Why?"

Aurum was confused, "Why?"

"Why do you want to be my retainer? You could earn enough gold by yourself and do as much charity as you want."

Aurum looked down toward the floor, "I... I don't want only to patch the problems up but also change it as a whole... with your, Mr. Alexander, ideals being close to mine and being a noble, there could be change, and we could show what you mentioned before while... helping them."

Alexander crossed his arms, "What if my ideas don't work out, and I abandon the concepts I mentioned before?"

Aurum was silent for a moment but then looked Alexander into his big golden eyes, "I will try to persuade you to and at least find a compromise, Mr. Alexander."

Alexander looked emotionless at him, "What if I don't budge?"

Aurum answered bluntly, "I will then leave you, Mr. Alexander. I swore to myself that I would not betray my ideals."

Alexander smiled and sounded joyous, "Good! This is what I want! Not a mindless object as my retainer but a living being with dreams and ideals! Now, kneel down and swear your loyalty if you want to be my retainer!"

While the puppy looked confident and noble, he felt incredibly awkward to say something like this. However, he needed to adapt to such procedures.

Aurum looked at first baffled but then smiled too. He thought he had nothing to lose, and as long as this weird noble child would stay loyal to his beliefs and words, he saw no reason to say no and, if not, leave.

He kneeled down and put his right hand on his heart, "I swear to never betray you and be loyal to you as long as you don't betray my dreams and ideals fully!"

Alexander laughed, "Great! While I end it for today, write down the problems plaguing Wolfsteeth, and then we can look for solutions which can be mended with coin... after I mended the mansion, of course."

Aurum stood up with a proud smile, went to a desk on the side, and started writing, 'How cute.'

Alexander went back and checked how his apparatus went. All he needed to do, was to take half of the sodium sulfate and heat it to create sodium sulfide. So far, so good.

After that, he needed to make sure to label everything and store it in a safe place for later when he would start the actual paper-making process.

While he did it, he thought through what just happened. He gained another retainer and one with strong ideals. He really liked people who were a bit more on the emotional side.

If this paper making made him enough coin, he could take a part of it and invest in a charity he would open. Ultimately, as part of the family who controls the fief, he would get the coin back soon enough, 'Not like I know what to do with this much money anyway.'

He could buy more literature and materials for artificing since Green supplied not enough literature for his taste. But there wasn't much else Alexander wanted for himself.

As the puppy was working and thinking what he should get for the coin he would make, Green was sideglancing this interesting exchange, 'He has some leadership potential... hm, not bad.'

Green and Anastasia talked regularly and exchanged how the teaching was going on. Green couldn't usually say much since her student was a permanently dry camel who could endlessly drink water like he did with knowledge. All she did was look after him and blackmail her colleague.

For the coin alone she got, it was worth it, but now she also built up a relationship with someone like this. Such things couldn't be weighed in gold.

Nonetheless, she turned the next page of her novel, 'Oh, why are centaurs always this possessive... hehe.'