Mamadou stepped inside Bruno's room. He was the last one, as Javohir, Viki, and Raul were already there. The girl was sitting on the bed, while the two boys took chairs by the table. Bruno was still waiting, leaning on the railing of the balcony and looking at the ships in the docks.

The former assassin closed the door, catching the young alchemist's attention. Bruno looked over his shoulder only to see the man motioning for him to come inside the room.

"Welcome, everybody," Bruno greeted them, as he joined the crew.

"Just cut to the chase," Mamadou replied.

"Fine. As I already told you, I was working on a plan. You, teacher, need a place to hide, while the rest of us need a new home. This is not the place for us to stay. This is not the end of our journey. That led me to propose a deal to the pirate king," the boy explained, making everybody's eyes follow his movement as he slowly approached the desk.

He picked up a map from it, setting aside the stack of papers that covered most of it. He presented the map to the people gathered in his room. In the sharp light of the late morning, the map was clearly visible, displaying only one thing: a strange island, the first and largest of a long chain, which was famously under the rule of the pirates.

"I need an army. Excellent fighters who have trained hard for a long time and are prepared to die for me. An army that will allow us to achieve things that, for all of you, are probably unimaginable. Because the unimaginable is my goal. An empire that this world has never seen before," he said, pausing carefully between each sentence to ensure he was well understood and to give more impact to his words.

"And how will we do that?" asked Javohir, a smirk already adorning his lips.

"Mamadou will train them. From scratch. He will also make sure they follow the rules I will prepare for them. Hard work will be rewarded, while laziness will be punished. We will start slow, but as the second part of the plan progresses, we will be able to accelerate their training and shape them better. I need elite warriors who are valued and feared," the young alchemist replied with determination.

"And what is the second part of the plan?" Mamadou asked.

"With the help of pirates, we will take over a kingdom," the boy immediately answered and pointed at the northern part of the island depicted on the map he was holding. "This is the kingdom of Zoulan. A terrible place ruled by an idiot who lost almost everything he received from his father, the previous ruler. At first, I wanted to build from scratch on another island, one belonging to the chain, but how could I pass on such low-hanging and ripe fruit? This place has no aristocracy, as every noble was stripped of their title and land. It only has the king, which means whoever can take down the king, can take his kingdom." A nasty grin appeared on Bruno's face. "During six years of his rule, Katyan lost part of his kingdom to Tabernak," he pointed to the east of the previous location, "and to Ankhelis," he pointed to the south of the first location. "It would probably end even worse if not for the pirates, who generously decided to give their support three years ago. Obviously, it wasn't some kind of charity. Do you see those mountains between Zoulan and the Western Empire? They are rich in both coal and iron." He pointed again at the map, slowly dragging his finger down the mountain chain. "He pays for that support with those two resources. That's also precisely the reason why Tabernak wished to take over that part of the island. They have excellent blacksmiths there. Unfortunately for them, as soon as they attacked, Ankhelis did the same, wanting to take a part of the land for themselves. Between fighting among one another and the terrible army of Zoulan, strengthened by the forces of Hugo Wagner, they decided to back down. Still, they took part of the territory, and they tend to raid Zoulan every so often."

"Do I understand you correctly?" asked Mamadou, his eyebrows already high up on his forehead. "You want to take over a kingdom?” He paused, only to ask, ”Where is your army? I can't see it."

"A small kingdom. And I don't need an army. We will be sent there as reinforcements from the pirate king. We will establish our position. Currently, Katyan pushes his subjects very hard. They have to mine a lot of iron and coal, even the farmers do, and most of what they dig out is sold to the pirates for the riches their king wastes on his whims. The people are poor and often hungry. On the brink of rebellion. This is where we step in. Sent by Hugo Wagner himself, to prevent rebellion with good advice to the king. A perfect spot to establish our position in the kingdom, among the people, and create an opportunity for the coup," he explained, keeping the smirk up.

"You think a king will accept us?" asked Viki. "We are quite young. He might not acknowledge us."

"He will. He doesn't care about his subjects, as long as enough iron ore and coal are mined from the mountains. He will give us the freedom to do what we wish because he also has no other choice. He can't go against Hugo Wagner, because he sits on his throne only because of him," Bruno explained confidently, his eyes gleaming with determination. „And there is nobody else to challenge us because the nobility in that kingdom no longer exists. What is left of their army is a sad joke, so they absolutely need the protection of the pirates.”

Mamadou slowly nodded to those words, his gaze fixed on Bruno, clearly intrigued by the bold plan.

"Good plan, isn't it?" the young alchemist asked with a mischievous smile.

The warrior kept nodding. "Yes," he agreed. "If you can make the people follow you, that is."

"That part actually will be easy. I'm an expert in botany and a pretty good alchemist. I'll help them grow so many crops that they won't be able to harvest them all," Bruno responded, then chuckled, covering his face with his hand. "I'll also deal with the mines, so those people stop being worked to death. This will win them over. Kingdom is nothing without the people, so if I have the people, I have the kingdom as well."

As he spoke, the map slowly drifted down from his hand, eventually landing on the floor. It instantly attracted the eyes of everybody in the room, and they all focused on one particular spot on the northern part of Frontier Island—the kingdom of Zoulan, their target.