...

Ruler's Bar, Leonandra Estate, Hours Later

Inside the main mansion, there was a bar. The furniture, counter, and every other accessory looked beautiful as it was made out of rare wood, which had the hardness of true steel but was carved beautifully and elegantly to look like everlasting cherry wood. But the furnishing wasn't the only thing that was made out of extraordinary material: The glasses were made out of so-called crystalline ice, a material that cooled down every liquid it came into contact with.

It was a highly sophisticated place with expensive paintings and maps that showed Moorgrel over time. However, on the walls hung also the heads of the most formidable monsters and demons the previous rulers fought and killed. Besides them was a cabinet filled to the brim with a random assortment of artifacts, weapons, jewelry, and so on. They were all keep-sake of the previous ruler's battles with other nobles from their own or different races.

Besides the obvious gruesomeness of the history of the Leonandra's, the room also showed a kind of coziness. It could be the warm light from the mana artifacts or the fireplace, which burned indefinitely through various means.

In this bar, where only the nobles of this estate could enter, sat a lone wolf-kin lady at the counter. She held a scotch glass from which a severe cold was emitted.

She looked slightly depressed and gulped the scotch down in one shot. She took the overly expensive scotch bottle she had opened and got another fill-up, "Can't believe what she said..."

Scarlett was heavily annoyed by what her daughter said about Alexander, "If he wants the title, he can have it? Sure, why not just cut his legs off if we are at it... what a ridiculous proposition."

Behind her, she heard the annoying laughter she hated more than anything, "Guhahaha! I would rather give him the title than cut his legs off, though."

Her dear daughter's voice followed, "We waited, but you didn't come, so we decided to look for you. May I know what you wanted to fight about?"

Scarlett smirked and turned around on the barstool while putting one leg over the other and leaning with one elbow on the counter. She suddenly felt a little dizzy. She looked to the side and saw the empty bottle, 'Can't believe I need to use skills to kill my buzz.'

She used her energy and quickly cleaned her body up from any poisons, and after a moment, she was as fresh as ever. However, she took a sip from her glass and said solemnly, "I need to talk about Alexander's future."

Marisia frowned at her, not hiding her feelings, "He will not go to a boarding school in the capital, Mother."

Scarlett chuckled, "Hehe, this would be truly a waste of time while Anastasia is here."

Marisia tilted her head in confusion and crossed her arms, "What do you want to do then? I saw the glint in your eyes and already thought when you would make any outrageous suggestions."

Scarlett's smile widened, "I want to free him from the noble system."

The whole bar became silent for a minute. Marisia stared at her mother like she was crazy, and Kairoso was confused, but he started to laugh either way, "Guhahaha! The age caught up to you!"

Scarlett stood up and strolled to her daughter, ignoring Kairoso. She became serious as this was a chance she wouldn't get in her lifetime again, "Do you understand what kind of talent Alex has? His future being chained to a knight title will halt him for at least a hundred years. His potential is in line with Cerberus, Fenrir, and Huxian. I will not stand by and let him serve for decades inside a territory where he fights off some demons, dwarves, gnomes, and humans."

Marisia was enraged when Scarlett looked into her eyes, but her daughter could control her emotions, "You really got insane, Mother. The only way to cut him off from nobility is for us to relinquish his name, and I will never do something this terrible as you might know what comes with it."

Both women stood face to face. The tension was tenable, but Scarlett broke it with her laughter, "Haha! What a truly insane idea, but you misunderstood me.." She waggled her index finger before her, "...the noble system, not nobility."

Marisia and Kairoso looked confused at her, so she decided first to present her premise. She turned around and walked to a map on the wall representing Moorgrel. She hated this map as it brought back memories she tried to forget.

[https://github.com/kiruschka/kiruschka.github.io/blob/main/Chapter_79/Map_etwas_genauer_Moorgrel.jpg?raw=true]

"See this? This is nothing but a burden placed on us to defend while the oh-so-glory central nobles or even the damned Emp..."

Marisia stopped her, "This is enough, Mother! I know that you had your problems, but..."

Scarlett turned back and looked at her daughter, full of wrath, which wasn't pointed at her. The killing intent she let out was almost tenable. The words she spoke were full of poison, "Problems? Do you find it fair to pay taxes and follow the laws of the crown while getting some pittance from him because some of his knights, our ancestors, thousands of years ago, were sent here to die but could actually defend and gain a massive amount of territory?" Her energy surged, "The Count is complacent, but I am not!"

She stomped her foot in wrath, cracking the floor, "Alex will rott here and never gain anything worthwhile while serving some noble who follows the rotten crown to the end!"

Kairoso approached her carefully before it could escalate, "Scarlett, I think this is enough. While I care little about all this crap, you should know how dangerous it is to talk about such things."

Scarlett smiled at him, "You should know best, dear Druid, how hard it is to escape one's birth. What was it called again when you lived like a dirty animal?"

Kairoso answered her with a frown, "Becoming one with Orbis, but this was training which helped me to increase my strength drastically..."

Scarlett interrupted him, "What was the price again? You were actually one of the few lucky ones who didn't need to fight the draugr since you suggested fighting the demons in our territory. Isn't this right?"

Kairoso nodded but didn't say anything. His mother-in-law knew precisely that the Temple was rigid, and even though they had no currency before the beast-kin allied with them, they were trading favors and time. Now Scarlett's son-in-law, even though powerful for his Tier and age, which he achieved by the Temple's special training, was forced to build up the Temple branches, fight demons, and so on.

Usually, all shamans and druids who underwent the training would be sent to the nature-dweller territory to fight the undead. Still, Kairoso struck a deal with an oracle and indebted himself heavily, which he had already paid off. Usually, he would be free only after another 100 years of fighting on the border at Kratikal.

However, Scarlett knew that her son-in-law could already be entirely free if he traded all his merits in, but if he did that, he would lose protection from the Temple. But at the rate he and her grandson were gathering favors and merits, he could also be free in another 20 years without losing anything.

In Scarlett's eyes, the proposition he engaged in was not bad at all. He was together with her daughter, and it fitted perfectly into their plans, so even though the deal was one year of training for ten years of defense against wild demons was outrageous, it didn't matter much. He wanted either way to build up the Circle in their territory. It was a win-win.

So, she wanted to do the same with Alexander and use some loopholes she and Anastasia found. She continued, "I have a solution where I can give Alex the wings he deserves and, with him, have someone who can actually influence the rotten politics of central Mal-Gil while also lifting the nonsensical burden of the Moorgrelian knightages."

Marisia sat down and leaned back, putting one leg over the other, "Fine, I will listen. However, Alex will not become your pawn because of..."

Scarlett interrupted her, chuckling, putting a hand over her mouth, "Hehe, oh dear, I already got my revenge, but I will never forget the disgust in the eyes of those nobles whom I looked for help. Too bad..." Her smile became savage, "...their looks changed into fear the moment I showed why we can't be toyed with."

Marisia sighed and showed with a hand gesture to get to the point, "Please."

Scarlett nodded at this and became overly happy. Even though her daughter was unreasonably overprotective, she knew of the apparent problems between the different factions inside their empire. So, Scarlett thought that making Alexander play the noble system was also something she would agree with.

While strutting around, she explained excitedly, "At first, I thought that he could go through the usual route and, after 200 years or so, take the title of the Count himself by marrying into their household. Afterward, he could join the Council of Talents and cut off our already perfectly self-sufficient territory from the parasites, the central nobility, but do you think they would let him even become this powerful? There is a reason why they fear someone like Merlin to appear again."

Since Merlin, every individual who at least showed a kernel of what the former archmage was capable of would be brought immediately under a harsh contract to become nobility and/or serve under them.

If someone like Alexander entered central Mal-Gil, the nobles there would immediately start planning how to force him into their households.

They usually did it by noblesse oblige. When Alexander needed to do his due diligence as a noble, they would put him for 20 years into some position where he would stagnate or be in serious danger so he would die off. Scarlett wanted to avoid this under all circumstances, and she first thought bringing him under the Count would work better, but with this, he would stagnate more even though it would be much safer.

Marisia looked at her mother expectantly, "What do you have in mind then? He will have either way do his noblesse oblige and, with this, become chained to some position for an uncertain amount of time if he doesn't take the title. Worst case, it would be 20 years in the central region."

Luckily, Scarlett looked together with Anastasia for a fitting solution. She smiled at her daughter, "This I thought about a lot and have an idea. There are many exceptions, and one of them is to do a voluntary noblesse oblige before they enter their first mating season. It was actually a loophole in the law for the cowards in central Mal-Gil, but it would also work for Alex."

Marisia tilted her head in confusion, "I never heard of such a law, and I would guess you don't want to send my son to a war region or the east while he is premature."

Scarlett shook her head, "Oh please, Mari, who do you think I am?"

Marisia frowned and gestured to continue. Scarlett knew what her daughter thought of her, but it didn't matter. Her past misjudgments were one thing, but she wouldn't touch Alexander this time. He was already perfect in her mind, and all she wanted to do was pave the ideal path he would walk on.

Of course, she would also need to talk to him when he became older and convince him what was better for Moorgrel and their household, but this was almost a given since even her daughter mostly agreed with her.

She opened her arms, "As I said, he can do voluntary Noblesse Oblige while he is younger, and since the positions are clearly written in the law, where do you think I want to put him?"

Marisia frowned, not clearly knowing what her mother was talking about. Scarlett understood it since Noblesse Oblige was usually a way for the crown to force nobles into their war efforts. Higher nobility could also send others in their stead by council since they had the same power as the crown.

This was what Scarlett feared the most: That they would send her grandson to the most dangerous regions with barely any resources. Of course, they couldn't be too blatant about it. Otherwise, the Count would step in, and a war would begin. However, if they were lawful, his reasoning to start a conflict would be less justified, and he would get less support from other factions like the nature-dwellers or the Cathedral, etc.

Marisia shook her head, "I have no idea, but I guess you will tell me this."

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Scarlett nodded and became more exasperated, "The imperial law clearly states that voluntary Noblesse Oblige is not that young nobles can avoid the normal process, but if they are talented, they can do it earlier. In this case, their efforts will be heavily rewarded by counting at least one year as ten..." She sighed, "...this is obviously a way for the royalty and others to avoid the process..."

She explained further, "Nonetheless! One could take many non-dangerous positions in the normal process, like logistics, but these are not mentioned. Still, others are for which only the crown and the higher nobles have the resources to train their puppies early on. Can you guess?"

Marisia thought about it but couldn't think of any and just shrugged. Scarlett nodded and answered her happily, "I want to make Alexander a judge for two years only!"

Scarlett saw how her daughter wanted to argue against it but didn't say anything, 'There is no good argument against it!'

From what she heard from Anastasia about Alexander, he could do it easily. By imperial law, a judge needed to have the skill [Law] at level 26 to be sworn in temporarily. While he would only be at the court for lower criminal affairs, it didn't matter since the law especially mentioned that it was of no concern which court one would oversee.

Marisia looked at her mother with a smirk and then at her husband, "I need Saru to stay here."

Scarlett also threw her another bonbon to make her more relaxed and trust her more, "Don't worry, I will also get one of my people to come here and look after him."

Her daughter had a clear choice: Either have her talented son be subject to the insanity of other nobles or be proactive and let him avoid the issue once and for all.

Marisia nodded with a more casual smile, "Thank you, Mother."

Scarlett came close to her and touched her shoulder, trying to reassure her even more, "Also, don't worry. He will do it only once a week and decide only on some smaller cases. With Saru and Lili, even Ori can't touch him."

Marisia raised her eyebrow and looked at her mother skeptically, "You want Lili to protect Alex?"

Before Scarlett could further explain, her son-in-law brought up a weird point, "So it's decided? I am fine with this, but will Alex, though?"

Marisia nodded, "He will, and if not, I will make him..." She stood up and went to the bar to get a scotch bottle, "...I would rather have him for two years deciding the punishment for a fish thief than going haywire on a battlefield..." She shuddered, "...he will be court-martialed when he gets one of his crazy ideas and injures some wuss."

Scarlett clapped her hands, "That is my daughter!"

Kairoso shrugged, "Fine with me."

Marisia nodded but smiled mischievously while looking at her mother, "You will bring this great news to Alex and try to convince him. How about it?"

Scarlett nodded expectantly, "Don't worry, my dear daughter, he will agree the moment I tell him!"

She went to get her glass and have a small celebration with her daughter since they actually decided on something without starting a fight again, 'This will be easy. He is a puppy. How hard can it be?'

...

Some days later

"I would rather have the dropout perform a lobotomy on me."

Scarlett sat inside Alexander's room. Her grandson was lying on his stomach while Patricia patted him. She told him what a great idea they had. It was perfect for someone like him, but he only looked at her with annoyance and spouted some nonsense she couldn't understand, but from his tone, it was clear that he didn't want to do it, 'What is wrong with him?'

She forced a smile, "Would you like to explain Alex?"

Alexander waggled with his stick, formerly known as tail, and was casual in his answer, "Well, let's say I am on the fence and need a little bit of motivation if you catch my drift. You need to understand, my dear and lovely grandmother, that I need to put my frail and little body out there against the criminal gazes of..." He stopped his annoying tail waggling, "...which court was it again?"

Scarlett frowned but already knew what he wanted to say in his overly condescending way, 'In my time, he wouldn't even dare to be like this. Mari was too lenient with him.'

However, if she was frank, what can one take away from him as punishment without hindering his potential? Usually, one took away what they cared most about but wouldn't hinder talent or potential, like good food, luxuries, pocket money, etc., till they accepted their duties and did them diligently.

Her daughter, for example, was very fond of good food. Scarlett punished her when she was little by taking it away and giving her some disgusting gruel till she gave up.

On the other hand, Alexander clearly didn't care about luxuries. Before the assassination, she asked around and gathered as much information as possible about him. She now knew that there was no way to punish him seriously.

His meals were, at best, subpar, and most of the time, he just slept anywhere he could without a care in the world. He had the gold to buy what he wanted, so she thought about restricting his access, but she quickly found out that he didn't spend it on himself. He put most of his gold into the estate, the charities he tried to build, or other things with which he could make more gold.

With this came the next problem, which she only now saw: He was arrogant, prideful, stubborn, and condescending, which would drive anyone to the brink of beating him up. However, all those traits came from him inwardly since he knew he was a genius. There was barely any humbleness left in him. If he wanted something, he didn't ask for it. He just took it or made it himself. She loved that he had such a personality, fitting of a noble, but it also made it much harder to force him into submission.

Through more information, she also tried to inquire if he was treated much more gently while training, but even this was not the case. His usual training was so harsh that the healer already came automatically on certain days to heal him.

After hearing it, she started to adore him much more, but when thinking about his personality now and what she wanted from him, it became a problem. The only reasonable way to punish him was to beat him up, which could make him more insufferable. So, she decided clearly against it.

There was another reason why she decided against violence. From Anastasia, Scarlett knew that he hated violence, so doing it through such means would only mean he would escalate. Combined with his personality, he would make the lives of everyone around him Outer Circle.

Worst case, he could just run away. With the gold he had at hand, he would be fine either way. But the moment he would enter a giant city, he would probably send it ablaze and would have all eyes on him, which would endanger him—something she didn't want at all costs.

She had truly no idea how to correct his personality besides imprisonment and torture. Still, even with this method, it would be impossible as he could already crack rather sophisticated anti-mana collars, and then it was back to him running away.

For her, one who trained a lot of youths, he was the worst case one could encounter, 'At least he knows what he wants... let's play his game and bargain.'

She forced a smile, "The lower court. The most dangerous beings you could encounter are thieves who are Tier 1 scum."

Alexander suddenly became exasperated, obviously acting out, "Thieves?..." He turned toward Patricia, who was beside him and confused, "...can you believe it? They will probably do unspeakable things to me!"

Patricia was baffled and didn't understand the situation, "Ehm..."

Alexander looked back at Scarlett, "See? Even she has no words for what unspeakable things could befall my poor soul!"

Scarlett couldn't believe what was happening and had enough before he started to act out a whole play. However, she stayed calm, "Enough. Just say what you want."

Alexander's smile became more vicious, "Freedom!"

Scarlett shook her head, "No."

It became suddenly silent till Alexander broke it with an exasperated exclamation, "Oh! My poor little hea..."

Something snapped inside Scarlett. She stood up and yelled, "Shut up! I can't obviously give you any freedom for you to run around Wolfsteeth, doing your crazy things!"

Alexander looked perplexed at her but suddenly smirked like he was making fun of her. Scarlett popped a vein, and her mental fortitude skills could barely hold her back from beating the little condescending shit up.

Yet, he made his following proposal calmly, which irritated her even more, "Fine, give me stuff."

She thought momentarily and answered, drawing clear lines about what she could and could not do, "I can't give you any dangerous alchemical materials or mana artifacts, not to mention any high-level magic tomes."

Alexander just shrugged with his tail, "Who cares about that trash? I can probably create better stuff the moment I am out here..." He nodded toward Patricia, "...I want what she has, but only the method."

Scarlett became confused and looked at Patricia, who did not know what was happening, then back at Alexander, "What do you mean?"

Alexander said, without any shame, "I want your training method."

Scarlett didn't know what to make of it, but she liked it. All her irritation was blown away, 'Oh my! He comes after me!'

While all her siblings and colleagues her age at that time dreaded the training from the Iron-Claw household, she loved it. Even if it was more torture than anything, her foundations at that time became incredibly strong. Afterward, as a Tier 3, she could kill Tier 4's without breaking a sweat. Thus, she created her training method based on the Iron-Claw one, which was much more challenging but gave incredible results to even the most mediocre fighters like her daughter, who could, as a Tier 2, kill Tier 4's without many problems.

She smiled more honestly at him now, "Fine, I will train you after your legacy! This will be easy to arrange."

Alexander shook his head, "Nope. I want your method written down with every detail explained."

Scarlett's smile turned immediately into a frown as she understood what her grandson wanted to do, "It will be too dangerous for you to dabble in such things."

Alexander suddenly smiled condescendingly, "I think I can create a much more efficient method."

Something inside Scarlett snapped fully as her pride was hurt. Her bloodlust invaded the room, "I don't think a little shit like you has the qual..."

However, the moment her bloodlust invaded the room, she could see how there was another aura coming from Alexander. His bloodlust was suddenly coming off from him, rivaling hers initially, 'Fascinating.'

She heard he inherited the ancient bloodline, which meant nothing but suicide since one could only control the enormous amount after at least a hundred years of being on the battlefield. Even though the amount she emitted was relatively low, it was impressive that he could go against it.

Alexander's voice became more arrogant as he looked down on her even though he lay down on his stomach and couldn't move, "I created the current training method for the average soldier and increased the efficiency of their training by manifold. Don't have the qualifications? I can turn your subpar and barbaric method into something great so every soldier can become even stronger!"

Scarlett looked at him and couldn't believe what she heard. However, her bloodlust subsided, and she smiled again, 'He is a true noble... and an arrogant mutt at that.'

The specific pride and arrogance she felt from him was a rare occurrence, which only true nobles or the crown showed. However, she also got an insight and understood why he acted how he did: Everything was for his subjects and retainers, 'Got your weak point.'

However, she wouldn't threaten him with it yet but instead tried to see his point. In her opinion, he created a perfectly fitting training manual with well-designed apparatuses for Tier 1 and lower Tier 2 soldiers while adjusting their nutrition well, 'It should be fine if he uses my method to experiment on our soldiers.'

This thought made her giddy, and she saw him in a new light, "Fine, but under one condition."

Alexander's bloodlust resided, and Patricia stopped her shaking slowly and looked baffled at him. He asked, confused, "Well, I will play the judge for two years. Wasn't this the deal?"

Scarlett shook her head, "Yes and no. I need you alive. For this, my personal healer will arrive in a couple of weeks so you can recover faster. She will also stay with you so you don't kill yourself..." She air quoted, "...by accidentally trying my method, and like her, one of my maids will be your shadow."

Alexander frowned, "I get the healer thing, but why the maid? Is it some weird assassin maid who will act as a guard?"

Scarlett clapped once in joy, "Clever boy, and yes! I don't trust Saru since... look at yourself. So, I agree to give my full and detailed method if both stay here and help you, of course."

Alexander nodded, "Fine, let's get the details in a row about our deal. No need for the contract since... well..." He looked at her like he didn't care, but his words sounded severe, "...you could kill me either way easily if I don't obey."

Mana contracts sometimes had, for a reason, a judge to facilitate a deal. If the two parties were too different when it came to power, the effect on the stronger party was severely weakened, and they could even break the contract if the discrepancy were enormous, like between her and her grandson.

She nodded happily, "That's a good boy!"

...

Two hours later, Alexander's room

"Alex, do you hate her?"

"Because of how I talked? Not really. Her idea was great, but I really needed some things for something I got an idea for. Well, she agreed, and we are all happy."

In all actuality, he hated her since he also heard about his aunt. There was also the obvious thing that she treated him like a piece of meat first and now, after seeing him, wanted him as a puppet for whatever reason, 'If you think I will come under your boot, you are surely misjudging me.'

He couldn't openly oppose her crazy ways since she was an elite who could thrash him into particles. So, he wanted at least to annoy her and get something out of her for playing the judge, which he also found insane, 'I am six... I can probably get [Law] to 26 in a week or two, and this is enough to be a fucking judge?'

At first, it sounded ridiculous, but if he thought further, most of his subjects couldn't read or write. They had no idea what a fair legal system could look like. So, him being a judge and actually trying to be fair could be a nice change of pace by showing how the legal system could work. Of course, another positive was that he could at last leave the estate.

Patricia suddenly came much closer to Alexander, and he came out of his thoughts and started to sweat, "Patricia?!"

She looked at him much more intensely, "The bloodlust... can you control it?"

Alexander tried to move back but forgot that he couldn't move at all. She suddenly held his head with her hands. He became frightened, "Y... Yeah?"

Since he was bored when he was alone and couldn't do many practical things like magic, alchemy, or physical training, all that was left to him was training and controlling his aura.

Everyone had a gland, organ, or something akin to it that could produce an aura depending on their emotions. It was hooked to the mana and energy veins but could also work without them. Yet, with them, it would be much stronger. It wasn't something he studied or learned about since biology was of little interest to him.

However, he knew that for beast-kin and other races, it also secreted their pheromones and acted as a receiver for them as it extended more firmly into their senses. It was basically a new organ and one of the few that wasn't ripped to pieces, in Alexander's case.

Training his aura was weird since it was a new feeling and something he couldn't control at all in the past. At most, he could only suppress it. But after the assault, it became very manageable for two reasons: The mental fortitude skills increased immensely in their levels while the amplifier, his mana veins, were shredded to pieces.

Now, though, he had the chance to train it for the first time without going berserk as the emotion of the bloodlust he sometimes felt became very weak to the point he could control it and, thus, train it in various ways. Be it control, increase, decrease, etc.

However, he did it in secret since he didn't know what his family would do when they found out that his only pastime while being alone was to train the emotion his mother tried desperately to suppress through the demonic baptism. Yet, he was sure that everything would be fine in the end and that his family always worried too much.

She pressed him against her chest, "Incredible... can you use it sometimes?"

Alexander became freaked out again, "I... I guess."

She started to pat him and sounded cheery, "Thanks."

Alexander was distressed but tried to sound calm, "Y... Yeah, no problemo."

'Mom said what she does is normal between friends. Somehow, I don't believe her.'

Fortunately, the door opened and interrupted his uncomfortable situation since he didn't really like being handled like a doll by Patricia. Melina came in, his savior, "Mr. Alexander, Ocilia is back with new..." She tried to catch her breath and, after a moment, continued to recount what her daughter told her. Patricia became angry and jumped down from the bed, immediately running towards where his disciple was while Alexander laughed his ass off.