In the bustling village just outside of another Thorne estate, a group of commoners stood near the market square, glancing up at the high stone walls of the manor.

​"Have you noticed?" a baker asked, dusting flour off his hands. "The Lord hasn’t been coming out of his estate lately. Do you think something happened to him?"

​"I hope not," an older woman replied, adjusting her shawl with a worried frown. "Lord Alarick has always been fair to us. If something did happen, I pray the heavens keep him safe and okay." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

​"Maybe he is just busy with the upcoming harvest taxes," a third villager chimed in, carrying a basket of apples. "You know how the nobles get around this time of year. I’m sure it is nothing to worry about."

​While the villagers continued their innocent small talk, completely unaware of the dark storm brewing within the estate walls, a tense silence filled the manor’s corridors.

​Edward walked down the long, dimly lit hallway and stopped in front of the Lord’s study. Knowing better than to just waltz in disrespectfully, he raised his hand and tapped on the heavy wooden door.

​Knock, knock.

​"Come in," a tired, raspy voice called out from inside.

​Edward pushed the door open and stepped into the office. Alarick was standing near his desk, busy putting together some files.

​"Is it done?" Alarick asked without looking up.

​"Yes, My Lord. It’s just that their appetite seems quite big if they want to move their whole guild," Edward said in a low voice.

​"I don’t care how much they ask for, as long as they get the job done. They will die either way," Alarick said, finishing putting his papers in order.

​"And what about the other thing I asked you to do for me?" he asked, putting on a jacket and staring at Edward.

​"Well, My Lord, that request is kinda hard to fulfill. Where would I even find a Fifth-Class Mage with my measly strength of 3rd stage aura user? And one that would be crazy enough to fight off a Count, at that? I don’t usually say this, but there is no one in this kingdom who would be stupid enough to do that, and even if we did where could we even find the money to pay him" Edward said with a serious expression. He fully expected Alarick to lash out at him and was prepared, but to his surprise, Alarick didn’t do anything. He only slumped back down into his chair.

​"I know that much. Do you think I’m stupid? I just... sniff... I just wanted to try my luck you know. Maybe there could be someone out there who is crazy enough to do it," Alarick said, tears suddenly falling onto his desk.

"....!?"

​Edward just stared, not saying anything, but in his eyes, you could see he was hurt too by watching his master like this.

​"My life has been a total disaster, huh?" Alarick laughed bitterly. "I get my mana circle destroyed, and I am duped into starting a family in a weak family like this just so I could protect my sister. The plan was that to massacre this entire family so that I could go back and have a nice life with my sister maybe she could fall in love with some boy and they would a nice family. I didn’t want her to go through things I did. But fuck! Those assholes sold her to that crazy Count under the pretense of a wedding! I don’t even know what they are getting in return... Sigh. This sure is an ugly world, I just hope she lives a long life and have a wonderful family if she gets the chance." Alarick said, sounding like he was finally giving up on his sister.

​"But you still have Young Master Isaac, my lord. You could also go back with him to the family, lord Abel did say you could bring him" Edward added, trying to give Alarick some confidence.

​"Pffft. That brat? Most of the time, I don’t even know what he is thinking. I always get the feeling that if I let my guard down around him, he could stab me in my sleep. That monster is lucky he got his mother’s curse and can’t feel Aura or any Mana at all. Because if he did, I don’t know what he would have done with that type of power. So, for your information, I am not going anywhere with that little monster. He will stay here. I would rather he dies with the rest of them."

​’That is kinda heartless,’ Edward thought. ’But what could he do? He has never treated the boy kindly before either. I bet the reason his mother sent Isaac to the academy was because she felt fear for him being left alone with this man and he would be abused. And Alarick only agreed to send him away because he is afraid of the boy only, not that he cares. Huh, what a mess of a family. The mother doesn’t even live in this estate anymore and only stays at the Main House with the pretense of saying she is working.’

​"I understand, My Lord. I will take my leave now," Edward said, taking a small bow. He left Alarick alone in his chair, sighing heavily.

​— The Next Day in the Afternoon, at Ian’s Estate —

​Ian could be seen writing on the very last document on his desk.

​"...and I’m done," Ian said, exhaling a long, heavy sigh and relaxing back into his chair. "Only the papers from the Merchant Union are left. You can finish those while I’m gone, right, Mom?" Ian asked, looking at his mother who was still writing.

​"Yeah, I can basically do that much. I didn’t want you to do it because you would change the method of doing it, and I don’t think those merchants would take lightly to that. They would think we are trying to steal from them. So, I plan on teaching them your new methods slowly until they also start using it naturally," Caroline explained. "But I’m kinda surprised. In our businesses, you didn’t find any theft, and the expected profits actually aligned with the profits we got. I guess we did kinda hire good employees," Caroline said, pride in her tone and a small smile forming on her face.

​Ian didn’t argue. He just looked at her. He then opened his desk drawer and pulled out a piece of paper filled with the names of businesses that weren’t doing so well or were very suspicious with the false information they sent in their books.

​There were ten branches written on that piece of paper. The one that was stealing the most was the one from the Capital that handled the manufacturing of carriages. Most of the branches on the list had one thing in common and that is they were kind of far away from the scope of the estate’s direct control.

​When Caroline looked at the piece of paper, her proud smile instantly faded, and pure rage took over.

​"Those fucking bastards! They dare steal from us?! Just because we are far away, it does not mean they can do whatever they want!" she yelled, tightly gripping the list. She threw out a few more cursed words before finally calming down after a few minutes.

​"Why didn’t you tell me sooner?" she then asked Ian in a calm, dangerously quiet voice.

​"I didn’t mean to hide it. But when I first saw one branch , I wanted to tell you. Then I saw a second, and a third one... so I just decided that I would show you once I was completely finished. And here we are," Ian said simply.

​"Since you are already going to the Main House anyway, you should show the Elders this. You should also explain how you figured it out. Those old farts might actually start showing some liking to you," Caroline suggested.

​"You really don’t like them, huh, Mom? You always call them old farts." Ian asked, staring at his mom.

​"Those guys objected to me marrying your father. Saying stuff like ’why are you marrying an orphan.’ Another one even suggested that he should marry one of his children. At least your father didn’t really care what they said anyway. He was really a troublemaker to them." Caroline said, a fond smile returning as she thought about the good old days.

​Ian talked with his mother for a little while longer and then left her in the office. He wanted to roam around the estate for a bit. As he walked toward the training grounds, he saw Trevor walking in his direction.

​"If you are still alive, it means you passed my Uncle’s test. Good for you," Ian said with a bright smile.

​"That’s not funny, Young Master. I could have died if I made a single mistake," Trevor muttered, nervously rubbing his neck.

​"It was that bad, huh?"