“That about wraps it up for this sector,” Reivan announced to the interior of the large tent when everyone who wasn’t a knight had left. “That’s actually the last for this region, too. And you all know what that means—we move on to the next one.”

The other seventeen people inside—including Hector, who was also in disguise like Reivan—either sighed in relief or started packing their stuff up.

‘Hm… Sun’s almost set, so we should continue tomorrow instead.’

It didn't need to be said, but a sudden infusion of more than twenty million people involved a lot of work.

Samsara as a whole had already provided all the necessities, for the most part.

Injuries, maladies, and other illnesses were cured by clerics courtesy of the Sormon Faith. Infrastructure in nearby cities and villages was restored to provide housing for them. Food was being regularly provided if they had yet to secure a way of feeding themselves. Potable water could easily be produced by special artifacts loaned out to each settlement. And of course, Reivan was very insistent on keeping security as tight as possible.

Now, all that was left was the nitty-gritty detail work.

On that note, all of the new citizens had yet to be confirmed as real Arkhanians.

Since this particular batch of relinquished slaves passed through Aizen, Reivan didn't particularly need to be wary of any espers lurking among them. That is, as long as espers didn't take one of their place after they departed from the kingdom and arrived in Samsara. But that wasn't what Reivan worried about the most.

The problem here was whether there were Argonian spies mixed among them.

Sure, the two ethnicities were quite different from each other, but it wasn’t completely out of the question.

Both Arkhan and Argonia had been in conflict with each other for a long time, and the latter had likely stolen away plenty of Arkhanians in the past. It wouldn’t be strange if they’ve somehow cultivated a force of spies born and raised in Argonia but were of Arkhanian ethnicity.

It wouldn’t be the first time Argonia bred people for specific purposes like that. Records stated that in the past, they’d used a special troop of warriors who were significantly stronger than the rest. That said, this was only the case for random members of a certain bloodline. That entire bloodline was wiped out, however. And ironically, the ones responsible for it were Argonians too. They’d been casualties in the usual power struggles that happened there. Aizen had been looking for possible ways to wipe the bloodline out themselves, so they’d never expected for the work to be done without them lifting a finger.

In any case, Argonia wasn’t a stranger to breeding humans like that, so Reivan had to be wary of them as best as he could. Part of that effort manifested as Reivan personally conducting a census of his newest citizens.

“It’s late, so we’ll pick up where we left off tomorrow,” Reivan said to the others as he pocketed the dream crystal he’d been using to send his thoughts to a spare holostone—which would record those thoughts as actual words for later use. “Pack this place up and let’s reconvene in the next place.”

Nobody complained or resisted, and not just because they knew who he was under the fake face he wore. It was because the sun was already beginning to set, and it would be very rude to pop into another village and interrogate everyone until dawn. Questioning an entire village took hours, after all, even if they had sixteen people who could host the interviews at a time. Reivan and the others even saved a lot of time by having multiple people, who were either acquaintances or family, interviewed together.

Honestly, there were just too many restored villages to get through in a single day. This was an endeavor that would take multiple weeks.

Seeing no refusals, Reivan fixed the fake glasses he wore and turned to Hector, who had been surprisingly earnest about the work as his guard this past week. They could have easily devolved into idle chatter, but he’d remained on guard for the entire day.

It wasn’t a particularly impressive feat for a knight since most of them could maintain focus for long periods of time, but it was hard to do if your best friend was right next to you.

“C’mon, Hector. Let’s go back.” Reivan nudged him with his elbow.

Hector nodded before offering a casual wave to the others. “Bye, everyone. I’ll be standing around with this guy tomorrow too. Don’t be afraid to hang your coats on me if you want.”

The friendlier ones responded with smiles while the more taciturn ones offered a firm nod as they began the work of dismantling the tent they’d been using to host the census.

Reivan and Hector, disguised as scribes, left the tent side by side as they pulled up the hood of their cloak. In the distance, he could still see the backs of the last citizens who were questioned in the tent behind them, gradually receding into a cluster of hastily restored buildings.

Well, “questioning” sounded a bit grim. With the context of how merciless knights were toward enemies, the word certainly implied violence of some kind. But really, they just asked a couple of questions. Such as their full name, what they did for a living before Arkhan’s ruin, and any family members that they believe might still be alive.

Also, they were asked if they were a spy.

Seemed a bit blunt, honestly. But the knights worked with it by asking that particular question last, and with a easygoing tone—as if merely in jest.

The people who were being questioned also took it as a joke to break the seriousness and answered with a light heart as well. They were completely unaware that, regardless of their intentions, there was a human lie detector nearby eavesdropping on all of them.

“Are you feeling okay?” Hector asked quietly as they hopped onto two giant huskies waiting for them.

“There we go… good girl.” Reivan carefully got on the unfamiliar canine. He’d borrowed someone else’s mount for the sake of his disguise. Luckily, this husky was very friendly, so it let a relative stranger like Reivan ride it. With his ass secure on the large hound’s back, he turned to Hector with a raised brow. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You’ve had to focus on sixteen different conversations all day for the past few days, no? Personally, I don’t know how you do it. I can only do up to five at most.”

“Oh, it’s fine… I’m used to it.”

During combat, Reivan adeptly controlled up to sixteen flying blades with his [Formless Will] even while fighting with his own body. Comparatively, just staying still and listening for the sake of [Lie Detection] was nothing.

It was so easy that he even did his work as the Hierarch while eavesdropping on the questionings. He was already holding a holostone, so why not review some documents and proposals while he had the time? Efficiency, and all that.

At this point, he pondered just increasing the number of knight helpers. The more interviewers there were, the faster the work would go.

‘Hm… Yeah. I think I will do that.’

“You’ve been using your ability non-stop, too,” Hector said as he gently stroked his husky’s beautifully groomed fur. “I can only imagine how tiring it is.”

Reivan chuckled, finding that the concern made sense. But he merely smiled and shook his head. “Oh, not really. The lie detection one doesn’t cost anything. It just kind of... happens.”

“What about the one with your eyes, then? You used that one a lot, too. Surely that tires out your eyes.”

“No, uh…” Reivan was about to say that it didn’t really work like that, but then he tried actually looking into the distance. He squinted, noticing that he couldn’t see as far as he usually could.

‘Eh? Are my eyes actually tired? Well, that’s never happened before.’

But then again, he had never used [Supreme Insight] this much in the span of a week.

While he was in Aizen, he had frequently roamed the streets looking for talent. But he only did it on the way to somewhere else. He never explicitly went out to search for special ability holders. But in the past five days, he had probably checked half a million people with his [Supreme Insight]. That was undoubtedly more than he’d ever done. A hundred thousand people per day on average—probably a little more than that, truth be told.

After Reivan blinked hard a few times, his vision became a little clearer. But just the fact that it blurred at all was a shock. Still, he was glad to have discovered it in a relatively safe environment, even though that environment could possibly have Argonian spies nearby if he was unlucky.

There was no need to make a big deal about it, however. “It’s kind of annoying how it somewhat blocks my vision sometimes, but I’ve had very few problems with it so far.”

Hector hummed in thought. “Helen and I get tired when we use ours, so I just thought you’d be the same. Guess I was wrong. Well, good for you, then. Good for all of us, really.”

Thinking back to how Hector apparently learned how to use his ability—though the success rate was still at about forty percent—brought an even wider smile to his face. His friend had gotten married, had a kid, bought a house in Aizen, and a bunch of other things, but he’d still found time to get stronger.

‘Guess he really doesn’t want to fall behind me and Helen.’

It was more of a healthy rivalry these days, he realized. The three of them pushed each other higher. Gone were the days where Hector watched their backs and felt like shit about himself—felt like he'd never be enough. While Reivan wasn’t looking, Hector had found a different kind of strength.

And a vice too, judging by the man’s reasonably expensive drinking habits. But it was a relatively tame bad habit, so Reivan was inclined to just let it be.

“Oh, right.” Hector spurred his husky forward, prompting it to advance in the direction of Lageton. “I forgot to mention it earlier, but Mimi and I are moving out of the palace soon! Probably within this week, depending on how fast she packs her rings!”

They ran past Reivan, the wind brushing his face as he remained stunned for a moment. Then he hastily spurred his own hound forward. “What? Why! The palace has plenty of room!”

“It's not about that!” Hector shouted jovially. “We just want a place of our own!”

Actually, Hector and Mimi already had a house in Aizen. It wasn’t in the capital, however, since actually getting a property there would cost even a veteran knight a few decades' worth of their salary—and Hector hadn’t been a knight for that long.

But they found a quiet little place by the sea in Anderharbor. Mimi—and possibly Sienna when she grew up a bit more—could even dive directly into the water and catch fish if they wanted. It had a yard to grow stuff in and plenty of room out back if they ever wanted to expand the house to make room for any additional children, which they were definitely going to have at some point, judging from how sweet they were to each other when they thought nobody was looking.

They unfortunately left that house behind because Hector followed Reivan here, and Mimi followed Hector here.

‘I guess it’s not that strange… When I consider the fact that they pooled together their resources to buy a house so they could move in together…’

Reivan didn’t really want them to move out, but what else could he do? Since that was what they wanted, he could only support them. After a bit of contemplation, Reivan procured a bottle of wine from Zouros’ stomach and tossed it at Hector. “Catch!”

“Wh—!” Hector still managed to catch it with a single hand even though he hadn’t expected it. “What’s this…?”

“My advanced housewarming gift! Don’t tell Mimi. She already asked me not to fuel your expensive alcohol problem.”

“The only alcohol problem I have is that it runs out too fast! Anyway, thank you for the gift!” Hector yelled with a loud chortle before looking down and inspecting the bottle. A few moments later, his eyes bugged out of their sockets. “What the hell is this!? Is the year on this real or is it some joke!?”

Reivan smirked, knowing his gift was going to be hard to beat.

Some time ago, he thought of sending word to Valter about purchasing a few bottles from the knight’s wine stash. But someone else caught wind of Reivan’s missive and volunteered something from their own collection.

The Sword Star, Rolf Suprana.

‘Why didn’t I realize sooner? Obviously, the oldest person in the kingdom was going to have the best stash.’

Some fine wines were aged for a decade, with some even aged for fifty years or so. That created the common misconception that the longer a wine was aged, the better it tasted. And that meant that wine aged for a hundred years or so would be mind-blowing.

In reality, there was a limit. At some point, wine was going to turn into undrinkable sludge if aged for too long.

That was the case here in this world too—barring some special exceptions.

Aizen, in its long history, had discovered how to circumvent this with artifacts, elementalism, specially bred berry variants, and various other factors. The taste stopped changing at some point, since there was a limit to depth. But over time, they just became ecstasy in liquid form, with the concentration getting thicker the more it was aged.

The bottle in Hector’s hand was aged for 2263 years.

Reivan had received three bottles, and he secretly had a bit of a sip, immediately wondering if it was even possible to feel so happy for no reason. It was like every cell in his body started dancing the moment his tongue made contact with a drop of the wine.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t addictive.

When the high faded, he didn’t feel an overwhelming compulsion to down the entire bottle. At most, he wanted to take another sip because it tasted good. In the same way, he liked eating a well-cooked steak.

“If you like it, you’re supposed to say thank you!” Reivan bellowed with a laugh before quickly shutting his mouth. With how fast his mount was going, air had flooded into his throat.

“I did thank you! But thank you again!” Hector roared, his happiness apparent in his beaming smile. “Just so you know, I’m not giving this back even if you beg me to!”

“I’m not going to ask for it back.”

“Well, good! This is great! It’ll probably ruin me forever, though!”

Reivan chuckled. He supposed he could understand the notion. If one got a taste of high-quality stuff, they’d unconsciously compare it to everything else they tasted throughout their entire life.

For Reivan, he remembered Hanzo’s exquisite cooking. All of it was a solid ten out of ten by his books, no matter what type of dish was made. Because that old man loved him like a son, and Reivan could always taste the care put into it.

Those dishes were made specifically for him to enjoy. That was why they were the best he ever had, and it was hard for him to find something that would give him the satisfaction Hanzo’s cooking did.

‘Aw, damn. I’m not going to cry…’

Reivan hardened his face and changed the subject. “Why don’t you save it? For when Sienna gets old enough to drink!”

Hector’s eyes widened. “Van, you’re a genius…! Yeah! What better way to enjoy this drink than with my daughter!? Alright, I’ll do that! I’m gonna tuck this bottle away somewhere safe! Thanks!”

“You’re welcome! Congratulations on the new house.”

“Eh, nobody was living in it anyway, so all I had to do was call in a favor for renovations.” Hector turned his gaze forward for a few moments before he directed his husky to run closer to Reivan’s. “Thanks for not making a big deal out of it. Honestly, I thought you’d try to stop me more.”

Reivan waved him off nonchalantly. “As long as it’s in Lageton, I have no complaints… Wait a minute, it is in Lageton, right?”

“It is, it is. Don't worry. We’re gonna live close to the Terracatta people who came over here. I want Sienna to be around people like her more!”

‘Hah? What the hell is this moron talking about…? There are a hundred and fifty warbeast concubines in the palace right now, but only a hundred Terracatta knights in Lageton. And the latter probably won’t have any kids any time soon.’

He didn’t want to pull the wind out of his friend’s sails, however, so he stayed his tongue. In any case, the house was already prepared, and from the way Hector talked about it, he and his family could probably move in as soon as tomorrow.

Reivan thought back to how he was slowly slipping away from the people he cared about.

He barely saw his mother and brother nowadays. His father had come to Samsara to help manage it, but he would probably return to the kingdom at some point, and he’d be estranged yet again. Jiji intended to “graduate” from her adopted status and strike out on her own, counting on nothing but her own abilities to rise. Then there was Mimi, whom he rarely saw even before he got ridiculously busy, because she was out and about so much.

It wasn’t all bad, however, when he thought about it.

Helen ended up married to him, though, so there was that. And Hector was practically his replacement guardian knight now, even though it wasn’t official in any way. He got a bunch of nieces and nephews, too. Most of all, he had a child now, with another one following very soon, and hundreds following in the next few years.

‘Well, it’s not like I can’t ever see them again. So this is a significant improvement.’

His thought brought a grin to his face as he turned to Hector. “Don't forget to invite me to dinner at your place once you settle in. I'll bring Helen and Arthur too.”

Hector laughed, giving him a thumbs up as the other hand tightly held on to the reins. “Of course! I hope you like fish, because that’s probably what you'll be eating there!”

They didn’t know when the plans they made would come to fruition, but they both looked forward to it as their mounts sped across the gradually recovering landscape to Lageton.

 

---

 

Reivan and Hector split up after returning to the city. The latter went off to spend some quality time with his family after work, while Reivan donned a different disguise after returning the husky he rode to its rightful partner.

His plans after dusk were not spontaneous, so there was already a magitech carriage and a driver waiting for him at a pre-arranged alley.

Wearing the appearance of this world’s “Ken”, Reivan hopped aboard and got comfortable. “To the Emerald Manse, please.”

The carriage lurched forward, as all magitech carriages did. But this one didn’t bounce him up and down like it was trying to knock him up. No, this carriage was made through a combination of Arkhanian magitech and Aizenian artificing.

Zentech, it was called.

Apparently, the researchers wanted to dedicate the new blend of technologies by calling it “Aizenwald Tech” but then shortened it to “Aizentech”. But even that was shortened a day later to what it was now.

Magitech was easily reproduced, so it was still going to dominate the average household’s home in Arkhan, what with all the mages here.

But Zentech was between that and the peak of artificing. Sometimes, it could even win against master artificing in certain categories. Truth be told, Zentech was growing every day as young artificers—still full of youth, creativity, and courage—searched for avenues in magitech where a little bit of artificing could make it a lot better.

Reivan especially liked these carriages. Not because he used them frequently, but because Elsa did—and she was so pregnant, he wouldn’t be surprised if her water broke right this instant. A female cleric practically lived in the Emerald Manse now, together with a team of highly skilled midwives.

How was he sure the midwives were skilled? Well, because they were old. Everybody knew elderly midwives were crazy good at their job. Otherwise, they would’ve quit. Probably.

Just as the carriage neared the gates to Elsa’s mansion, Reivan peeked his head out the window for a bit, catching one of the sentinels’ eyes. A moment later, the gates were opened and Reivan’s carriage passed through unhindered.

As the carriage advanced, Reivan spent a moment admiring the lush greenery outside. Hedges taller than two people standing on top of each other framed the carriage’s path. And he was surprised to see bushes that were trimmed to look like noble lions.

‘Oh, these look amazing. Must have been prepared today because they weren’t here yesterday.’

This vibrant greenery, even despite the blizzard—to be honest, it was just some mild snowing now because it’d been a while since the last Snowday—was the reason that Elsa’s estate was now known as the Emerald Manse. Most of it was the work of the female cleric who temporarily lived there. She was likely bored just waiting around, so she busied herself by beautifying the place.

Aside from the lions, everything looked the same as yesterday. Coming onto the mansion proper, however, Reivan noticed an unfamiliar carriage parked outside.

The sigil on the carriage was familiar, though.

‘Fortuna? What are they—Oh, never mind.'

Elsa was a merchant. So they were probably talking about business stuff. Funnily enough, Elsa was less of a merchant these days. She was more of a… well, he didn’t really know how to describe it?

Oh, she was still a public figure, alright. Everybody in Lageton knew about the beautiful pregnant lady, Elsamina, who was present at every event that involved helping people. She heard their problems out and brought them to those in power, and a moment later, a solution would be put in place.

Essentially, the people thought of her as a kind person who cared about the people and happened to have the trust of the powers that be around here. She frequently stepped up to help people when nobody else did—this alone was enough for them to give her their trust.

Reivan hadn't expected such developments. If democracy were restored in this place and the Arkhanians were made to elect an Arkhanian as their leader, he was willing to bet that Elsa would win the vote.

‘Wait a minute…. Elsa as the president, huh?’

As he got off the carriage, he tried to simulate how well that would go.

Honestly, his plan of foisting Samsara off to someone else involved abdicating to someone with enough of the people’s approval, ensuring as little backlash as possible. He had no plans to restore democracy or even allow it to be restored by previous leaders.

It was simply too easy to game the system. Normal people, in this era, were just so ridiculously gullible sometimes. They fell for the simplest tactics in the book. And while the gameability of the system could be exploited by Aizen to raise rulers it approved of to the highest seats of power, why tolerate uncertainty at all?

Was it not better to just make it an inheritance system with a precedent of not passing the position down to a blood relative? That could even be made a rule to prevent political dynasties from forming.

The problem with Reivan’s plan was that he lacked qualified candidates.

Whoever he chose to take his place as Hierarch, they had to still be loyal to Aizen, so the kingdom could retain its influence within the Samsaran regions. They had to be at least a little competent so the kingdom didn’t have to micromanage everything Samsara did. And they also had to be trustworthy.

Of course, they also had to be approved by the people, painting Aizen as the kind of nation that came in, helped Akrhanians rise from the ashes by ruling it for a while, and then gracefully exited the stage to give power back to the Arkhanian people.

If done right, all of Arkhan’s distrust toward Aizen would vanish in a single generation. And if the secrets of what happened during the Sage King’s death were ever made public, the kingdom would have enough of a reputation to deny the allegations or assert innocence.

Reivan thought it was a masterstroke. Of course, he only came up with the basic outline of the plan, and people like Jiji and Roland refined it and its conditions. But what mattered was how he’d just found a possible candidate to abdicate to.

‘I’ll ask her opinion first, though.’

It was fine if she refused, but it would be great if she agreed. Because “Ken” was her husband, Reivan would have the opportunity to influence Samsara even after he abdicated. Additionally, he would have all the excuses in the world to bring her over to Aizen for “diplomacy” and whatnot.

'This is a superb idea...'

Honestly, he had initially been considering Mira. The girl had essentially cut ties with him, however, and she would also resent him for even suggesting that she become Hierarch after him.

Reivan walked the familiar halls of the Emerald Manse and came upon Elsa and a very dashing man walking side by side and talking about something. There was a respectable distance between them, enough that a chubby person could comfortably fit between them, but he still felt some annoyance rise within him.

As he sized up this unnecessarily good-looking stranger, Reivan realized that it wasn’t a stranger at all.

‘Oh, it’s that guy. Servcacci of Fortuna.’

They noticed him immediately, and so too did the guards trailing along behind them. Elsa’s guards knew him, so they didn’t show much of a reaction. But Servacci’s men looked just about ready to unsheathe their blades.

“Oh dear,” Elsa’s beautiful green eyes widened for a moment before a smile bloomed on her face. She half turned to Servacci as she gestured at Reivan. “Young Master Servacci, this here is my husband, Ken.”

‘Husband…’

Reivan’s lips were tugged upwards by that simple word. They technically weren’t even married yet. Not because he didn’t want to, but because they were waiting until after the delivery so they could go back to Aizen and invite all of her acquaintances.

They were husband and wife in heart, in all but their papers.

“It’s nice to meet you.” Servacci offered a hand in greeting. “I’ve heard a lot about you from Miss Elsa.”

“Only good things, I hope.” Reivan chuckled as he took the offered hand, barely stopping himself from clasping it tight enough to make the other side wince.

This handsome young man standing around Elsa irked him. He also happened to be the same age as him, so Reivan didn't want to admit it, but he felt a little threatened. After all, Elsamina probably had a preference for younger guys. He didn't want to take any chances, so this guy had to go.

“I’m Ken. It’s nice to meet you as well, mister…” he trailed off deliberately, pretending not to know the other side.

“His name is Servacci Adamantes,” Elsamina came over to Reivan’s side and hooked her arm around his. “He’s here to gift me some Pentagorian medicines that apparently help with easing childbirth.”

“Oh,” Reivan immediately felt a little bad about the assumptions he’d made. “You’re too kind, Mister Servacci. Thank you.”

“It is no problem,” Servacci dipped his head a little. “We have a saying in Fortuna, that harmony breeds wealth. And I wish for nothing more than to exist in harmony with you, Miss Elsa, and your… organization.”

Reivan frowned, glancing at Elsa. From the look in her eye, he immediately realized that Servacci—and probably Fortuna by extension—knew about Ouroboros and was aware that Elsa was its acting head.

‘There’s no lie about the harmony part, however.’

It seemed Servacci truly did wish for harmony. If so, then Reivan didn’t feel the need to dwell on this more than he had to.

When the greetings were over, Servacci didn’t linger. He left, giving the excuse that he had another appointment scheduled after this.

“You got jealous, didn’t you?” Elsamina giggled as she hugged his arm tighter, even reaching up to toy with his ear.

Reivan snorted, but he couldn’t deny it. "I know I'm the last person that's allowed to feel this, since I probably make you jealous all the time. Even though I don't want to."

“You’re so silly, my love. Still getting jealous at this point. In the first place, it's not about who should or shouldn't be jealous. And it's most definitely not about getting back at each other. I think it's normal to feel this way, and I dread the day when we don't feel it anymore.”

"Hm... I'm sorry, I misspoke." Reivan's shoulders loosened, his tension draining out of him. Why was she so good at toying with his ear? It felt good, somehow, and it made it hard for him to maintain a serious expression. “But what’d he want, anyway? And did I understand your gaze correctly? Does he really know about our little organization?”

“It was implied that he did, yes.” Elsamina stopped playing with his ear and meekly palmed her cheek instead. “I can’t tell how they knew, though. He wouldn't tell me, either."

“Perhaps they pieced it together by tracking all the branch companies you were seen with? You’re hard to forget, you know.”

She smiled at the not-so-subtle compliment. “Rather, I think it would be the company names. They’re all snake-related.”

“...That’s true. I’m sorry for suggesting that.”

“No, no. It was fine. Besides, we weren’t the only ones using snakes in the company names anyway. It’s not exactly an uncommon animal in Arkhan.”

Reivan grunted in mild agreement. True enough, it wasn’t like Ouroboros had a patent on snake-related company names. It wouldn’t be strange for others to use the same animal if it were related. Like a restaurant that served dishes made from snake meat or a belt store that made belts from snake leather.

“Did that guy try to blackmail you?” he asked, his brows creased.

Elsa playfully slapped the arm she was holding onto before leading him down the corridor. “No, he and Fortuna in general have been courting my favor for the past few weeks.”

“Hah?”

“Not romantically,” she clarified with an impish grin. “His people are doing it to some of my people, too. It’s that, you know? Networking. Building connections with influential people in the area. I used to do that too.”

Reivan nodded as he let himself get led away, careful to match her pace while being hyper-aware of the bulge in her stomach. “How are you doing?”

“I’m fine. You check on me too much.”

“Of course. You’re due any day now.”

“But it’s only been eight months.”

“Yes, but I heard it can come early sometimes.”

Elsa hummed in consideration. “I’ve also heard that…”

“See?”

“It’s fine. The very cute Priestess Seryllda is here. And then there are the midwives you paid in advance to stay on alert all day in the mansion to help out. I’m taken care of. Too well, if I might add.”

Darn the pregnant women in his life. Always telling him not to worry, as if he could do anything else. Regardless, he had to admit that after going through it once, he was a bit calmer now.

Just a little bit, though.

Elsa didn’t have Helen’s constitution, so she was practically guaranteed to have a harder time. But in her defense, the bar Helen set was so high that every other person’s experience was just objectively worse by comparison.

Unskillfully changing the subject to escape his nagging, Elsamina asked about the matter he tackled today. “So? Found any spies? Or espers?”

Reivan still had a bit of nagging left in him, but he decided to give it a rest. The last thing he wanted was to cause her unnecessary stress. “Surprisingly, no. I’ve been thinking this for a while now, but despite Argonia being assholes, they’ve been following contracts and agreements to the letter.”

“Maybe that's what they want you to think. What are the chances they only plan to be like that at the start, so you let your guard down. Thn they reveal their treacherousness when they have a high payout for it.”

“That’s possible. Very possible, yes. That’s why I’m still going to check every single one. Even if it takes a really long time.”

A week had passed, and he hadn’t gone through a million yet. There was still 19.5 million left to go, so he was going to invest a lot of time in this.

Sadly, he couldn’t just increase the number of interviewers. If there were too many, he might miss them sometimes. Sixteen was all he could handle without his focus fading, maybe a bit more if he exerted himself.

And when night fell, he would have to work on his concubines. Though some days were dedicated to Helen and Elsa.

‘Merciful gods, I’m so busy…’

Reivan truly hoped Argonia’s princes would just peacefully kill each other while Reivan handled internal affairs for a month or two.