Alex hovered at just about 3000 metres in the air, looking over the kingdom called 'Lyra.' Pandor, right now, was too far for her to bother with. Also, expanding to Dragus after killing 55 knights was not a good idea for business.

Forcing Star Cubs into Dragus would backfire on her solely based on PR. That's a future problem, and should the fat slob of a king try to stop her from expanding, explosions will explode--but, a population living in fear of the corporation that nuked their capital would be detrimental to profit margins.

A brand can't be built on fear.

The lowest hanging fruit would always be the target, and Lyra was looking to be the juiciest while also not needing to tiptoe to grab the fruit.

From what she could see, there was a clear divide in the land quality, economic wealth, and what the young kids called 'the buzz' between different fiefs. Over at a distance to the north was a city by the ocean.

The man, Terry, or whatever his name was, did say something about a port city.

Now, the issue was once again logistics. Even though Lyra was the so called economic giant of this continent, its roads were barely any better than Dragus. What Alex needed for its first satellite chain was a high traffic area and a place that wouldn't signal a threat to the lords of wherever; otherwise, there'd be more 'Ottos' to deal with.

Since the plan was already to build up the roads slowly from her HQ, the best choice was something along the current dirt roads. Below her, a road from Hadstead went towards the seat where a small city stood in the corner between the mountain range and the sea.

When travellers took the middle path of Hadstead, the road led north straight towards the Port City. Taking the eastern route through the mountain path led to the Capital of Lyra. Between the northern and eastern routes was a forest so vast that Alex couldn't see where it ended without flying up further.

Where the northern and eastern paths diverged, there was a small road that connected them south of the forest's borders.

Alex imagined the flow of traffic.

Travellers would take a detour from either path to see a cozy looking retail cafe of brown and beige exterior. A young merchant would smell the (artificial) aromatics of the coffee, seduced to come inside. When he enters the building, he'd be greeted by the barista, saying, 'Welcome to Star Cubs. What would you like today?'

It was pure, unadulterated capitalism working at its finest to give the people what they want.

Then it was decided.

After the initial flagship at the convergence points of all mountain paths, the retail store named 'North Star', the next location would be on this route. It would act like an interstate rest stop. They could also offer food at these types of retail locations so travellers wouldn't need to carry as many supplies with them.

Proper restrooms would need to be fitted just in case, otherwise, the natives of these lands might just use the land around the retail store, creating sanitation issues. Elador's different vinegar concentrations would come in handy for that.

Fuck bureaucracy. Have to avoid creating the FDA as much as possible.

Alex flew back to the mountain range, lowering her altitude to 1200 metres. Swerving around higher peaks, she reached the Path's HQ where Aurora and Grey waited for her arrival.

"My Lady, how was your walk?" Aurora asked.

"It was good. Kind of," Alex said. "Suuup?"

"We've found the location of where your 14 silver has went to, my Lady," Aurora said. "However, we require your permission to use the Director of Security's personnel."

"Explain," Alex said.

"We've found that the order for supplies for the Piker Bean trees has been forged," Grey said. "Although Aurora originally ordered the pikers at 160 coppers each for a lot of 35 saplings. Between the time she sent it over to my desk and my review of it, someone had changed the paper to a forged copy that ordered the piker bean saplings at 200 coppers. This caused a discrepancy in the books that recorded the saplings should've been bought at 160 instead of 200, which is how I found the 14 silvers missing."

"Ok, and?"

"Elador helped us with discerning the forged copy, which allowed me to get a scent of the signature."

"Get to the point already, sheesh," Alex said.

"It looks like the forger is either at the Capital of Lyra or the eastern bandit camp. I suggest we eliminate the bandits to rid ourselves of future embezzlement."

"Eastern bandits, eh..." Alex muttered.

It couldn't be Lyra. 14 silver was pennies for their economy.

Eliminating and killing the eastern bandit camp would be the easy way here, but taking a step back, this was an opportunity. To be able to fool Grey, the crazy admin son of a gun with a forged request order was rare. This man was built like a tank to take on all the repetitive paperwork bullshit at a competence even she admired.

A person who could fool someone like Grey would be valuable enough to hire.

This also gave her an idea. As observed earlier, there was more and more traffic coming and going through the eastern path to and from Dragus and Lyra. Someone must've been eradicating pests around those paths, and if they were embezzling money off of even the Path, they would be charging money for it from passersby or the Capital of Lyra themselves.

Grey did also mention the eastern bandits themselves were one of the smarter camps compared to the north, west, and south camps. Specifically, he used the word 'cunning' to describe their leader. How interesting.

The only possibility would be that those eastern bandits had set up a business or a deal with Lyra. But what would be the reason to steal 14 silver? If they had access to the camp itself and forged more documents, they could've stole more but hadn't. For a bandit camp, 14 silver would barely keep them running for a week should they have more than 10 mouths to feed.

Well, look at what we have here. Alex smirked. This little shit wanted to get her attention to see, and now he got it 100%. Had they stolen more money off of her, even getting close to 50 silver, she'd have flattened their whole camp right away. If it was any smaller than 14 silver, it would've been a rounding error. Even now, it was enough to count as a rounding error, yet large enough to warrant investigation from her executive team.

Had Grey not found this little discrepancy, this corporate opportunist would have siphoned off smaller increments, knowing full well he was invisible. If he doesn't join, then eliminating the annoyance was always the second option.

Case closed.

"Aurora, you can leave this to me. Grey, I'll take over from here," Alex said.

"Of course, my Lady. It's our pleasure to serve you," Aurora said, smiling widely.

Weird, but ok. Alex turned to Grey. "One more thing. There's a stack of paper at my desk. Have a look and get Yulka to implement the plans at the convergence point. That'll be our first store, call it North Star. Get Rand over there too to protect the construction workers from the pests."

"Yes, my Lady." Grey bowed.

"Both of you are dismissed," Alex said.

...

Aurora smiled and bowed. Once she looked up again, both she and Grey saw the Lady had already disappeared. Although the Lady took a second to reply to them, the sharp smile on her lips was clear. She was satisfied with them.

"Grey, have you seen the Lady's smile?" Aurora asked.

"I have, Chief Product Officer." Grey's shoulders slightly trembled.

"It seems we've deduced the scroll sheets anomaly in a timeline that satisfies her."

"That is indeed so," Grey muttered. "To call the first expansion of her empire 'North Star'; I once again cannot fathom I'm able to serve such a being."

"Hush, now, Chief Operating Officer Grey. A grand name such as 'North Star' is only befitting of the Lady's first step into the grand world of Nulfrae."

"You are correct once again," Grey sighed. "I wish she would have allowed us the chance to also solve this issue in her stead."

"The Lady sees all. She had already allowed us to solve this issue by slowing down for us. As she was satisfied with our performance, it is her benevolence to see through to the end of this ongoing issue that we cannot finish in an acceptable timeline."

"Indeed so, Chief Product Officer." Grey bowed. "May her Grace light your path."

Aurora smiled. The company's name was the Path, and Grace was her Lady's noble name. Grey had now just beaten her to what would be the phrase of worship of the Lady.

"May her Grace light your path as well, Chief Operating Officer Grey," she said.

The smirk on Grey's lips told her everything as the man stood up and walked back to his quarters. This time, he might've gotten one over her. Next time, that won't happen.

☕︎ ☼ ☕︎ ☽ ☕︎

The day the lightning struck 55 times was the day Sanders knew he couldn't just sit around and be eliminated by the goddess he saw. If it was one thing that he was confident in, it was judging people beyond what they just looked like.

At that mountain path, he saw the woman with a prowess of 20 walking confidently up to Rand and his men like she was taking a casual walk. To someone with prowess that low, that was unheard of, yet she had the eyes of someone who could not be killed. There was a slight insanity in the way she looked at... things. She didn't see people as mere people. It was as though she had calculated everything about a person the moment she saw them.

However, that was all a theory. Sanders didn't have any concrete proof of her intelligence. Was she just a legend, or was she a true goddess walking amongst mortals?

Sanders needed a test. Based on the intelligence he'd gathered from his men who worked at what they called 'the Path', which was apparently something called a 'company', it was essentially a merchant guild. Their main product was a drink that even Lyra's diplomats desired yet came out with nothing.

His plan was already in motion when his men had told him of the 35 Piker Bean sapling order. Part of his talent was spellcraft. Documentation was easy to forge. If the company, the Path, couldn't even find out the small discrepancy in their treasury, then it would tell him the answer: the so called goddess was a fake.

There was no need to serve such a being that couldn't solve such a small discrepancy. Yet part of him wanted her to solve it. To be able to serve a goddess, that was unheard of.

Sanders lifted the cup on his table and took a long sip. This drink was called 'Cup of Cub'. He'd been drinking it for a couple of days, allowing him to stay alert even as the sky dimmed. Sources said that it was made with the narcotic Star Seeking flower, yet it did no harm to his body. Instead, it made him more alert during the day and night.

The drink itself was refreshing. It had a sweetness that was of better quality than normal syrup. But what blew his mind away was the cup he received called 'Cafe Mocha'. Complex notes of sweetness and bitterness flooded his taste buds the moment it touched his tongue the first time he tried it. However, he had only managed to sneak exactly one cup of it from his source who worked at the company.

Would it have been worth it to work for the Path without testing?

No.

Sanders shook his head. Never again would he ever work for a lazy dumb superior. Although, he was grateful to his teacher at the Court of Mists. Being sent on a mission to Pandor's capital was basically telling him to die, all for the reason of finding a woman he forgot the name of.

Two knocks sounded on his door.

"What?" Sanders asked.

"A woman has appeared beyond the gate," the man said from behind the door.

A woman? They weren't expecting any visitors at this moment. Maybe from Lyra? He asked, "Has the woman stated her purpose?"

"She has, captain. Her purpose is to see the leader of our camp."

"From where does she hail?"

"She said she's from a place called 'the Path'."

Sanders jolted up from his seat. Was she finally here to eliminate him? But she hasn't levelled the whole camp yet, which would mean she was here because she noticed the 14 silver discrepancy.

A smile formed at the corners of his lips. "Accept her at the reception hall. I'll be there in half an hour."

"Yes, sir."

The sounds of footsteps could be heard fading away down the corridor of the town hall. Putting on his coat, Sanders brushed his dishevelled hair back. He grabbed his Fraedium gem embedded wand just in case, though he knew it was useless against a goddess.

Footsteps suddenly came down the corridor. It was more similar to a step clicking onto the wooden floor rather than boots. Annoyed, Sanders thought he had already explicitly told them that he'd be out in half an hour.

But before he could continue that thought, the door to his chamber slammed inwards. The same woman from the mountain path appeared before him in her foreign-like clothing. She had a smile that carried a tone of slight insanity.

Those eyes saw through him as if he were just an ant.

Being in front of her, he could feel that there was no chance the thing in front of him could be human. A goddess, most likely, but the question has yet to be answered as to why a goddess would willingly walk amongst mortals.

To make a drink that the masses would consume? That also had no semblance of sense when she could kill 55 Dragus knights in mere seconds. In just less than 2 months, she had turned the southern, western, and northern bandit camps under her control.

The more Sanders tried to understand the being in front of him, the more he felt a headache forming in his head. It was possible that trying to understand such a being could cause his sanity to wane. Yet his drive for logic and rationality wanted to understand her true purpose.

"You called?" the woman asked.

Sanders knelt down towards her. "I apologize for my rudeness, goddess. I was preparing to receive you by cleaning myself up."

"Just call me Alex, or Lady Alex. Just chill." Alex snapped her fingers once.

A blue outline formed around him, lifting him up from his kneel. His body suddenly smelled of citrus and amber, similar to some teas and soaps found only in Lyra. Rubbing his fingers together, he felt cleaner than before. The oil in his hair vanished, leaving it looking and feeling as if it had just been washed.

"Lady Alex, shall we move to a better reception area?" Sanders asked.

The Lady snapped her fingers again.

This time, the scenery changed. In an instant, they were no longer in the eastern bandit camp. What he saw was a posh reception room, covered in fur and dark varnished wood, that Sanders didn't recognize. Lady Alex sat in front of him on the sofa while he sat on the other side. A coffee table between them had a white teapot covered in patterns of blue flowers. Two cups sat by the teapot.

"Lady Alex, if I have offended you, then I shall apologize in full," Sanders said, but then saw the Lady put a finger to her mouth to tell him to stop talking.

"Randy," Lady Alex said.

The door to the reception room opened, and the man, Sir Rand, bowed down to the Lady. He walked up to the coffee table, knelt down, and poured tea from the teapot into the two teacups. Taking one of the teacups in his hand, he presented it to the Lady, who then took a sip of the brown liquid.

There was no point in resisting. Sir Rand could have killed him in the blink of an eye if he wanted to, let alone the Lady. It was clear that he was no longer in the eastern bandit camp and now sat inside of the Path's reception room.

"What's your name?" Lady Alex asked.

"Sanders, my Lady."

"Cool," Lady Alex said, taking another sip. "Have a drink."

Sanders nodded, leaning forward to grab the teacup on the low table with trembling hands. He tried his best to stop himself from shaking just enough so that the contents didn't spill as he leaned back with the cup in his hands.

Taking a whiff of the liquid, he recognized the scent of the Latia berries, the same Cafe Mocha he craved. Tilting the cup into his mouth, he felt the complexity of the beverage that just poured into his mouth.

The trembling stopped, replaced by the euphoria of the sweet and bitter notes. "My Lady, this drink, is it a recipe from the heavens you allow mortals to taste?"

"It's just Cafe Mocha," Lady Alex said.

Of course the Lady would say such words. To her, a drink of this calibre may be consumed daily in the realm she hails from. Perhaps this was her mission--to grant the mortals a taste of their culture. On the other hand, it put even more questions in Sanders' mind.

What could be her grand scheme to go through such effort to bring down this recipe to the mortal realm?

"14 silver. Did you choose that number yourself?" Lady Alex asked.

"I have. It was small enough to not disrupt the Lady's operations."

"What would you have done if I ignored it?"

"I would have siphoned off more money through my men who have infiltrated your company, my Lady," Sanders said. Truthfully, he hadn't even considered that she would have ignored it, as she may have merely seen his presence as a small ant in the grand scheme of her vast horizon. At any point in time, she could have stepped on the ant without even knowing there was an ant in her way.

"And why would you have continued to steal more money?"

"Money simply makes the world go round, my Lady."

"Oh yeah?"

"Money will show you the true face of the man in front of you. During times of hardship, money shows the true character of lords and kings of the domains. Whether that be to pillage or to starve, it will tell you all you need to know about what those at the top truly value." Sanders set the cup back on the coffee table. "At the very bottom, money provides shelter, food, and water. The single truth of our lowly mortal realm."

Lady Alex smiled. Her eyes looked down on him even though she was a head shorter than he was. She saw something in him, but what?

"Then how did you know I wouldn't have crushed you the moment I knew you stole my money?" Lady Alex asked.

The question she presented to him was a loaded gun. Should he answer in a way that would make her frown, his life was forfeit. It was also her way of telling him she already knew what he was trying to do, otherwise, the question would not make sense. Why make a man answer something she already knew? She wanted honesty and additional context.

In a way, it was the same thing nobles did to recruit experts. She was asking him questions to see his worth, not because she didn't know the answer, but whether he could satisfy her with answers she already knew.

"I was there when you killed the 55 Dragus Knights, my Lady," Sanders said. "And truthfully, it was a gamble on your benevolence."

"Explain."

"I saw your prowess, yet you did not kill Sir Rand's knights. You told them to go back to your company. A few days later, I found that you've recruited them to your ranks."

"And that gave you enough proof that I wouldn't simply flatten your camp?"

"Not at all. You've also recruited the southern bandit camp and took them in as your subjects."

"I could've made them all slaves. You never know."

"A slaver would not have saved Sir Rand's knights. Nor would she allow herself to delegate important tasks to her subjects such as administrative tasks to Sir Grey."

"It could be fear driving these people, a form of slavery."

"That is possible, yet also less likely. My men have informed me of the smiles and living conditions of the company. The roads that lead to the Path itself are not the same as the harsh dirt paths everyone is used to. And that is where 14 silver comes in."

Lady Alex floated the teapot and poured herself more of the Cafe Mocha.

"14 silver isn't an amount that would immediately warn you of embezzlement, but it is large enough that it cannot be overlooked. By pocketing only 14 silver, I'm telling you I exist and allow myself to be redeemable in your eyes. The actions I've orchestrated also allow you to see my worth as I've just provided you a reason to allow me into your ranks that your generals cannot patch themselves."

"Cool," Alex said. "But then, what do you get out of this deal?"

Sanders hesitated to answer that question immediately. The Lady was right. His reason was completely shallow. To serve a goddess? To earn money? Both were reasons that no noble nor goddess would accept. Then what would he get out of this deal apart from being allowed into her ranks?

In all of his time in the eastern bandit camp, all he cared about was money. It was the epitome of everything that allowed him and his men to live to the next day. Money was needed to buy food from the capital. Gave them the materials to fix up their broken gates whenever there were monster attacks. It gave them temporary happiness in the warmth of women in the brothels.

To Sanders, it was everything, and there was no other true answer. Should he die here from her wrath, so be it.

"Money."

Sir Rand drew his weapon, taking a step forward as anger flashed across his face. However, the Lady raised her hand to stop him from proceeding with the slaughter.

"Now, Sandy boy, if money is sacred, then what about time?" Lady Alex said.

"What?"

"Time. What is it?"

Sanders didn't know how to answer. Time was just... time. It passes unconditionally. A constant of the world.

Lady Alex crossed her legs. "If money is sacred, then time is holy. And as you've suspected from drinking my product, coffee makes the world go round."

"Is the product you speak of this?" Sanders pointed at the cup on the table.

"Exactly. You've noticed it, haven't you? It wakes you up and allows you to work through the night, am I right?" Lady Alex asked.

"Yes! I've noticed that," Sanders said.

"Good. And I want to sell this product to the masses. But since time is holy, we have a big problem," Alex said. "Monsters and shitty roads. But roads don't just pay for themselves."

That was true. If she were to expand the Path's road throughout the whole Hadstead mountain range, it would cost an astronomical amount.

"And what you bandits do is rob the travellers of their hard earned money. I don't know how much you've asked from travellers, but I can guess it's around 1 gold per person, correct?"

"Correct..." Sanders wasn't proud of it. After the other bandit camps all stopped their activities, he had already known to stay low. These days, all they ask for was 50 silver for the whole caravan rather than 1 gold per person.

Lady Alex snapped her fingers.

Suddenly, the scenery changed once again. Sanders looked down and saw the mountain range below him as they were high up in the air, yet his legs did not tremble. He stood in what looked like glass, except completely transparent as though it was solidified air. Lady Alex stood beside him, looking down at the convergence point of the mountain path.

"The first retail store will be put here, named North Star. In addition, at all entrances of the mountain paths, we'll construct a toll booth that'll charge persons or carriages that wishes to use our highways. I-10 will go to the north, I-15 is the path that forks to Lyra, and I-5 goes to the seas through the western path," Lady Alex said.

"Highways?" Sanders asked.

"All the paths will have gates, and your men will man those gates. Your men now belong to me, and you will become the new head of Human Resources under Grey, our Chief Operating Officer."

Sanders couldn't really understand what she was saying. There was too much terminology that went over his head. But from what it sounded like, she had accepted him.

"If Grey caught your schemes, then he's good enough to handle the finances. You're better as someone who reads people. Understand?"

Sanders knelt on the transparent floor. "Yes, my Lady. I understand."

A stack of paper appeared in the Lady's hands as she extended the stack to him. "Read the contract and sign it."

The message was clear. Reading the contract was only to tell him the rules of the soul binding. She didn't ask him for his choice on the matter. It was an order to sign, and he didn't want to find out what the other choice would entail.

Without reading the contract, he took what looked like a quill that resembled a small black wand. He would find out later what being the head of human resources would mean. He skipped to the last page and signed his life away to the very goddess he sought with the small heist. But was it really signing his life away when he was now part of something much larger than himself?

Definitely not.

The way she casually told him of her plans was her way of telling him to come step onto the chessboard and become one of the players and play as part of her faction. Building roads not made of dirt was enough to justify to travellers the coin they paid for passage, let alone protection from the monsters. The idea was not thought of by either Lyra or Dragus either due to their own short-term greed or lack of manpower. Either or, it would not have been possible for either of them to achieve this feat.

The moment Sanders gave back the signed paper to the Lady, she smiled at him softly as though she had just graced him with her light.

Lady Alex snapped her fingers again, and he was back in his room with her just by his door.

"Tell all your men to pack their stuff up and get it over to the company," Lady Alex turned around, walking back through the corridor. "You report to Grey from now on, and ask him what to do. He'll know."

"What about my men?"

"They'll be under Yulka. It's time to construct North Star and all the toll booths." Lady Alex glanced over her shoulder to look at him. "Remember, time is holy. I expect everyone to be at HQ by sun down."

"Yes, my Lady!" Sanders bowed. When he looked back up, she was gone.