Alexander POV

"Urrrgh" What is this strong smell?

Opening my eyes slowly, I saw how Narsi came inside my room. "...wood mornin"

He giggled while I scrunched up my nose. "Are you fine?"

Rubbing the saliva away from my mouth, I tried to somehow wake up without coffee. 'What does he want?'

I was never a morning person, and as such, I sounded cranky, "Yeah, *HUUUUAAAAAAM* how can I help you?"

While I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, he got a chair, sat down beside my bed, and smiled warmly while he whispered, "I just wanted to talk with you."

Sitting up in the bed, I had no idea what he could even talk with me? But I am thankful that he speaks in a quiet voice since I am oversensitive, but out of instinct, I also started whispering, "Sure, what do you want to talk about so early? Wasn't yesterday your divine Legacy? How was it?"

Out of nowhere, he suddenly opened his System window.

I exclaimed in surprise, "Wow, your legacy looks sick!"

He tilted his head, "Sick?"

'Right, the lingo thing,' "Sorry, it means good!"

He laughed sheepishly and scratched the back of his neck. "Yes, I really like it too. I need now to find out what the skills are doing, hehe."

While I looked at his skills, the names of his Mystic skills sounded like some phrases from Earth, so I offered him my help, "Maybe I can help you?"

Both ears twitched slightly, breaking his usual noble-like demeanor and raising his voice slightly. He already forgot my sensitivity, "How so?"

I obviously lied through my teeth, "I read about them in some books where they were mentioned indirectly."

His snow-white tail with golden streaks waggled in happiness while his face stayed the same, as his voice went back to a quiet one, "We can at least try."

What a poser. With a slight smile, I asked him, "With which Mystic Skill do you wanna start?"

It is so weird talking with him, he is obviously trying to be a proper big brother with some aura of nobility before me, but at the same time, he can't barely hold himself together, typical for every youth. What a weird contrast. He couldn't hide his grin even while saying the following thing, "How about the first one? [Rabbit Foot]?"

I thought about the different meanings of this phrase on Earth in various cultures, but I could only bring up two at best. "I have only read about two probable meanings which could indicate what it can do."

He crossed his legs and waved his hand in front of his face. "It's fine. There are a lot of Beast-kin who ran around not knowing what their Mystical skills actually do, so no pressure."

I nodded and went through my hair. They were starting again to get oily. As I rubbed the grease away, I gave him my conclusion, "The Phrase [Rabbit Foot] can have 2 possible meanings. One of them is about luck, maybe some boost you can get temporarily or permanently."

He put his hand on his chin and was probably in thought while I was halfway thinking about a nice bath with Melina, as I questioned him further, "Did your [Luck] Attribute increase?"

He shook his head. "No."

My focus switched from the grease to him, and I started thinking really hard about how to test it. Suddenly I got an idea! "Hey, do you have a coin?"

He looked at me confused but took out a silver coin. On one side, it had some Emblem I had never seen before and on the other some text, describing divinity and stuff.

He stared at me, obviously waiting for what I wanted to do with it, so I continued, "Flip the coin, say before you do it if it will land on head or text. The most important thing is that you should concentrate on your Skill and which side it should land on."

"Good idea!" as he said it, he flipped the coin.

The coin rotated in the air, and he mumbled, "Head..."

As the coin almost landed in his hand, it kinda slipped away and went towards the ground. A grumbling sounded from him, "Damn it."

As he was about to look for it, I screamed at him, "Wait! look at how it landed."

After a quick search, he found the coin. "Head!"

I was equally excited as he. "Throw again!"

"Right!"

...

...

...

After 30 tries, we had our answer from which he couldn't catch the most somehow, but I summarized it for him, "26 landed on the side you wanted, so it is a luck skill! Congratulations!"

Narsi smiled from ear to ear like a mutant tortoise and looked at the coin in his hand softly, "Yes... I am very thankful. Without you, I would probably never find out what the Skill does..."

I was not really good with compliments, and my face got a bit red, as I tried not to stumble my following words, "Thanks... but, let's do the others too, how about it?"

He nodded readily like a child with his tail in harmony. 'Ohhh, the teen who pretends to be a Noble is acting normal, how cute!'

We both exclaimed it at the same time, ""[Prince Charming].""

I fell back onto my pillow and thought about what this meant while he went silent. 'Here goes the cute Nobleman.' I really have no clue what different meaning it could have. All I could think of was one possibility.

After a couple of minutes came an expectant voice, a little higher than usual, "So? Did you read something about it?"

I sat straight up and looked at him as emotionless as possible, so I could convey it as neutral as possible, so we didn't have this awkward moment. "I think this is a Skill that lets you seduce the Ladies... or Gentlemen easier..." I shrugged my shoulders. "...I don't judge."

"I... I... am interested in Ladies..." His face was red like a tomato.

"I think you need to test it at some other point and time..." I paused for a second, "...of course I mean the Skill thing, not the Gentleman thing," following this was a deafening silence that hovered over us in the room. I swear that I could hear how his hormones went haywire.

He looked at me like I slaughtered his pets and got pretty sarcastic. "Do you think so?!"

After a couple of seconds of silence, I laughed out loud. 'Was this how I was as a teen? How funny!'

He stood up and looked a little angry, snapping at me with a slight crackling voice, "Don't laugh!"

I wiped the tears away and held my other hand up to calm him down, apologizing indirectly in an "I give up" kind of way, "It's ok, so let's just go to the last Skill. But as I remember the name, it is pretty self-explanatory, don't you think?"

He normalized slowly and went for his noble self, coughing to get his voice in order again, "*cough* You mean [Smell of Deceit]? I think you are right, but what about the specifics?"

I nodded to him since he had a point. "Let me try to lie to you."

He nodded slightly and waited for me to begin, so I did after some thought, "I am 150 years old."

He hung his head low and sighed in a defeated tone, "No, I don't smell or feel anything different..."

Hm... deceit doesn't need to mean lying in itself, maybe this? "Hey, Narsi? Can you lend me this silver coin? I will give it back tomorrow."

He opened his eyes wide and exclaimed, "What did you do? I smell something foul... should I get a maid?"

Now it was my turn to turn my head into a tomato and snap at him, "No, you moron! I said something with the intent to deceive you!"

He clapped his hands together and laughed. "Haha!"

I looked at him sternly, as I was not really someone with a short fuse... at least I thought so. "Are you done?!"

He stopped laughing and cleared his throat, "Ahem, yes, sorry, so what did you do exactly?"

I sighed and told him my train of thought while trying to calm myself down, "I wanted you to give me your coin with the intent not to give it back, while I said that I would give it back. Practically deceiving you."

He sat in the chair in silence, looked down, and had a satisfying smile. I saw this and was a bit surprised. Not knowing what the big deal is, I asked him, "What is it?"

He looked back at me with a little shocked expression, which held onto his smile, "You don't know, but you usually need years to unravel the functions of Mystic skills... this is insane that I could do it with your help the next day after my legacy... how can I thank you?"

I laid down fully and stretched myself out while yawning, "HUUUAAAAM, just come back tomorrow and talk with me. I am bored to death..."

He gave me the most friendly smile I ever saw, but his teasing voice conveyed something different, "Sure will do, but now I need to go. See you tomorrow, little archmage!"

Hearing this cringe, my face scrunched up as I hissed in annoyance, "Urgh, thanks, but don't call me like this."

*tap*tap*tap*

"Hehe, all right, Mr. Wizard!"

*clank*

Burrowing the pillow on top of my head, I cringed inside and shouted into the feather grave, "Damn it!"

{The next day}

Narsiz was sitting before me again, but a really uncomfortable silence was hovering in the room... since we actually had nothing to talk about. 'This was a bad idea...'

Let me try and use my godly social skills. "By the way, what do you want to do now after the Legacy? Being a Hero?"

Knowing what I did, he rolled his eyes and answered in a matter-of-fact voice, "Obviously not, I am fragile - I already eyed a small town close to Puru and Jorko. I will manage it for some time and learn to administrate since the Lord there should be pretty good. Hopefully, I can learn something from him."

"Hm, I read something about what you wanna do." I did not.

His eyebrows went up, his surprise was transferred into his voice, "Oh, and what?"

"About Infrastructure, Burocreaucy, Economy, Marketing and more." I did some college courses, so no economy guy could fuck me over later... what a waste of time, I thought at the time, but now it could seem helpful.

His interest was obviously piqued as he leaned slightly over. His ears went up like his voice, "Marketing? What is this?"

"You know what Psychology is?" hmm, either he doesn't know what it is, or Psychology is some niché topic... I would say it is the latter.

He nodded and recited very roughly what it actually is, "It is the science of how someone thinks or something. The Cathedral is researching it."

Oh, how nice. Is there a Freud who is a beast-kin... not really hot on reading his theories about childhood trauma.

I tried to remember everything I could about my Economy classes and recount it in an easier way for him, "Marketing is essentially the art of promoting your wares to sell it - in your case, it would be the town."

He looked slightly confused, which was also heard in his voice, "Why should I sell my town?"

I waved my hand before my face and understood that I used some jargon again from Earth. I tried to clarify it instantly, "No, with selling, I mean that you want to grow it, so you make it more attractive to others, so they would come and live there."

He tilted his head again, and the confusion in his eyes stayed the same, "Why should I grow my town?"

"More people, more revenue, more taxes, etc." Right... he would be only around 14-15 on Earth, so it makes sense that he has no idea or only a basic one about stuff like this.

He leaned slightly back and looked perplexed but nonetheless kept the discussion going, "But, would it not come to problems if we have a large influx of people?"

I nodded, obviously knowing what he means, so I tried to give him some perspective, "See this as an investment. You get able-bodied people who already went through their phases and just want mostly a safe place to live and work."

He crossed his legs and looked at the beautiful decoration on the commode, out of wood which depicted a wolf growing from a puppy to an adult one, "Their phases?"

I also looked in the same direction and nodded, "Yeah, you are talking about a town, not a city, right? Such a place is usually there for people who want to settle down after going through their phases of adventuring, making big money, or whatever. But now they just want to stay somewhere safe, work, have a family, etc., and you want exactly such people."

He looked down and thought intensely about what I said. His tail waggled all the time slowly, as he was obviously excited that he could discuss such topics. 'Sarah and Lorient aren't much into Politics and such, huh?'

After some minutes, he looked at me again with a curious look and asked, "What about security and a workplace?"

Wow, he is pretty intelligent for a teen, much more than I was at his age, so I tried to give him some pointers which could be helpful, "This is obviously something to think about. You need to do a survey of what your product can give them."

His eyebrow twitched slightly, and he replied as he couldn't believe that I talked about a town like some bread, "Product?"

I had the same look when I spoke with someone who was an administrator in a city.

I nodded at his reply and tried to explain its principle, with a bit of a salesman's voice, "This is marketing at its core. You need to identify the needs of the people who will become your future residents and reign them in!"

He started staring at the void, probably trying to process the information I gave him. Still, he returned to the previous topic, as he was more interested in practical matters, "Ok, but... security and work?"

Well, back to the meat and potatoes, "Now, if you have the influx and know your town well enough, you can give them someplace to stay for some time and a bit of food at first, if they have no means, then get some administrator ready to find them a job and some housing..."

I stopped myself for a second since I also needed to think this through, "...if they have the basics for living, it should be enough for them to not do crimes like thievery, but in case, get some extra guards. As for work, it really depends on the situation at hand, and I can tell you about it more later."

He didn't move an inch. I could only see how his tail waved around in annoyance, "But, will this not eat up the funds?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "Sure, but who cares? It is an investment since you get more of that funds back and more later. Also, don't forget that the more people you have, the more important such town will become."

He stood suddenly up. 'Oh, did I say something wrong, or was what I said too risky? I can understand it.'

He went to the door, opening it, and since he probably saw some servants, he screamed with urgency in his voice, "Hey! Bring me some paper, ink and a feather! GO!"

All I heard was how the poor servant ran.

He suddenly pushed the table towards my bed and sat down, not talking and waiting for his utensils.

I wanted to make sure that he actually wanted me, basically, to teach him, "Do you really want to record what I say?"

He nodded straight, like some brain I had at my Uni. "Absolutely."

I heavily sighed, pushed the blanket away since it was getting warm, and made sure that something like making such ideas could lead to a catastrophe, "But you know that theory and implementing something with success are two absolutely different things? It can take a nasty turn."

He looked confidently at me and answered me in a matter-of-fact voice, " I know, but what you say makes sense on so many levels. You took the wishes of common people and used them for your advantage."

What the fuck?!, I shouted, somewhat bewildered at him as I went on all four on my bed, "Hey! Don't talk so sinister! It sounds like I am a villain!"

He laughed heartedly for a second before he could answer me, "Hehe, I know, right? But we are talking about governance, and what the serfs want and what I want are different things, so why not align them? Like you said."

I opened my eyes widely. 'I didn't say any of this, but he understood the principle and put it together! He is a god damn genius!'

*clank*

A sweaty and stressed-out maid came in with her wings changing colors continuously. It felt like the time I took LSD. "Mr. Narsiz, I have everything you wanted."

He pointed at the table. She put them all on it and left with a bow.

*clank*

He smiled sincerely at me... well, I hope I don't create a supervillain with my knowledge, as he pushed me to keep talking, "So, where were we?"

I sighed at the thought of teaching, but nonetheless, it was better than just laying around and listening to Melina's story about her daughter. So I lied down again and complied with his wish, "Fine, so you need to attract people to a town so that it can flourish. Since Stagnation is basically death. More people, more flourishing commoners, and a higher possibility for Talents."

He was writing all the time but stopped suddenly, "Talents?"

Goddammit! Do I need to explain everything?! I get now what my Philosophy teacher told me once that if even a Lion could speak with us humans, we wouldn't understand him, so I tried to clarify it, "Talents are people who have special talents, abilities or something else, what makes them exceptional - those people are the most important for society and the economy."

I could see how he made notes on the side to describe specific phrases or words. What a dutiful student!

He stopped and peeked at me, asked something, and returned to writing in lightning speed, "For society?"

I kept lying down and sometimes stared at the chandelier and him while trying to sound encouraging, "Of course! Imagine being a commoner from the same town as some genius Alchemist, Scholar, or something like that - it will give you pride! You need to bind him towards the residents in some cultural sense. Like, only your town could bring out such Geniuses."

His serious voice sounded from my right, "You are right... it is like with nobles and their ancestors..."

Perfect, he understands it, so I kept my roll enthusiastically, "Yep! Manipulate their perception through a particular lens, but something like that is not enough. Having specific and fair policies will give them the sense that they could also become like that. The Chance is obviously not really high without other policies, which we can discuss later, but hope is a miraculous feeling you can exploit!"

I am obviously talking about a particular country where the idea of reaching the stars is so strong that people think that this is the only one where you can do it, even if this is not really true.

His voice became more delighted, "This is why you want to help them... they will develop some sense towards the town and will work harder to achieve something, even if the chances are minimal."

Did I push him towards the dark path? Nah!

I laughed heartedly, "Haha, you got it!"

*clank*

We both looked towards the door. "Mom" "Mother"

She looked at me lying around like some pig in mud and then at Narsi. "This is enough for today."

He opened his eyes wide and tried to argue, "Wait! He can..."

She interrupted him with a shooking of her head. Something like this was enough to shut him up.

He understood it and left, but he nodded towards me and thanked me sincerely, "Thank you, I will visit you in the next few days..." He stopped and probably thought about my state as the next question proved it. "... if it is ok with you?"

Before Mom could say anything, I screamed out. "Yes! Please read me more Fairy tales, big brotha!"

*clank*

Mom and I could hear him laugh loudly.

{Some days later)

...

...

...

"Let me ask you something. Do you think that beings are rational?"

He thought about it for a moment and shook his head, "No."

Holding a finger up, I became a bit cocky and played the all-knowing teacher, "Good! Beast-kin, Nature-dwellers, and so on are not rational. They will act quite irrationally depending on the situation - so, you can use this to get more people into your town..."

I stopped and thought a bit about getting him to think more creatively, "...what are the most important things for the citizens or, in your case, the town's residents?"

He looked to the wall, where some ornament swords hung till I got myself almost killed on multiple occasions. "Safety."

I sat up and pushed away my silk blanket, which was embellished with flowers and other nature-like pictures. Through this, I got an idea, "Yes and more. We usually don't use only taxes on walls and guards - we need administration, streets, and so on, but there is a trick..." Should I say it? Maybe it works. "...do you know what a republic or democracy is?"

He nodded. "It is a government structure where certain citizens can vote for the king."

I shrugged inwardly. Close enough for now, so I kept on asking, "So, do you know that you can use this system to manipulate residents?"

He frowned again like in the last days where we discussed various topics, "How so?"

I held one finger up. "Easy! Give them a voice."

He started writing, stopped, and looked at me sternly... 'Oh, is something like this a taboo even for manipulation purposes?'

What I want is to implement the idea of democracy. Only one spark is needed to start a giant forest fire! If I do it right and give him the right ideas and he can implement them, we can hold onto our title and nobility while getting more trust from our citizens! Maybe we can start revolutions in other countries and cripple them! So many possibilities... ahhh, this makes more fun than I thought.

Before he thought I would overthrow the system, I tried to clarify, "Let us say you have a town with 20.000 citizens. You gave them one seat per 1.000 residents, only residents who at least lived for a certain amount of years there. They should obviously represent their constituent. With this, we will know what is needed the most, and to intercept corruption, you can pay them decently and make them do some investigation tests..."

Suddenly he interrupted me, an angry and sinister voice sounded from him, "Little brother, you want to give commoners the right to govern and lead?"

Looking at his gaze, which was like that of a wolf, ready to pounce at me. "Don't misunderstand me, the Lord of the town, so to say you, will give them only a voice, not the right to govern."

He softened up a little, wanted me to keep on talking, "I don't understand fully."

So I became more ecstatic, "Think more about it. You will get representation from the residents. With their voice, you can govern them more efficiently. They will tell their needs through such a person, and because they choose him, it will give them some kind of sense of belonging and the appearance of power!"

Suddenly he interrupted me, "But what about the guilds? There are Merchants, Adventurers, Mercenaries, etc. Will they not have a big problem if normal residents and commoners get a voice and they don't?"

My tail was like a tornado, representing my true feeling of excitement, my voice which sometimes cracked, "This is actually perfect! Give them a voice too and build 2 chambers where they can argue against each other - so you can pitch them against each other and transfer the anger of commoners towards them instead of yourself if something goes wrong, haha!"

He started to rub his temples and stopped writing everything down, "But, wouldn't they know that they have no power, especially the merchants and other more educated common folks?"

I laughed aloud, giving him a, I think at least, good solution, "Yes and no, the commoners would probably already think that they could influence you if you showed up once a week and discussed the topics with them, which is more efficient! But if you want the guilds... you need to throw them some bone, and this would be something like an assistant to yourself, which also should have no power. The chamber could vote on him..." Thinking about it a bit more, you can't discriminate if you want to showcase fairness, "...you need obviously do this also for the normal residents."

He kept on writing again like his life depended on it. 'Ah, I remember my Uni time where I learned how to write blindly while having lectures, what a time.'

The idea that I just threw in for fun should work on a small scale, right? I am liberal by heart but not a moron to give everything away at first glance and go for a revolt. Maybe I can slowly build something in the sense of a monarchic democracy... directing the world towards something akin to Earth would be great...

I looked at him, having myself a great idea, "So now comes the big question: how to avoid corruption?"

He stopped writing and thought strongly about it for a couple of minutes while I also had some thoughts. "Maybe we can increase the punishment?"

I came down from the bed slowly and carefully. Wobbling towards the future King. 'Can I actually call him for fun a King? I am not too brave to try it.'

While doing the slime dance, I kept talking since I needed a really long time to get used to the feeling of walking because I laid down for a really long time, "Let me ask you differently. Do you think there would be less crime if we put the death sentence on thievery for the residents?"

Narsi thought while I walked around the room, stretching myself a bit, and answered it myself, "I give you the answer. They would keep stealing. The vast majority don't want to steal. They do it because of their circumstances."

He clacked a couple of times with the feather against the table, asking inquisitively, "How would you do it then?"

I thought about it too, but he should have the answer under his nose, "Think about it. What do we do in the Leonandra estate."

Like out of the cannon came his answer, "We give them a much better pay, secure their family, and so on."

I clapped my hands in ecstasy and almost lost balance, "Woah... Yep! You are right!"

*clank*

Melina came in, a little bored since she had barely anything to do being my personal maid. "Mr. Narsiz, it is time."

Narsi nodded and went out.

...

{Some days later}

...

...

...

"What you want is that people are at least literate."

"Why should I want that?"

"You want talents, right? Maybe the farmer's son is some genius linguist actually but could never fulfill his calling because he never learned reading and writing. What you want to give them is the right of equal opportunity."

"...equal opportunity..."

...

...

...

{Some days later}

...

...

...

"What do you mean with welfare? Would they even start to work?"

"Of course, big brother. Give them the minimum like we talked about in their hardest phase and let them mandatorily visit some council to discuss their situation, problems, etc. With this, you can control them and try to find a solution for them, and of course, you can give a limited timeframe. In the end, they will be so much more thankful and loyal to you after they find a job!"

...

...

...

{Some days later}

...

...

...

"You want actually to play the role of the cathedral and temple?!"

"More or less. You pay them to build a branch inside the town and blackmail them through everything they did in the past. You can see this as healthcare for your residents as they are there to only heal and nurse the residents, and through this, you can make your residents pay a bit more tax."

"...this is genius..."

...

...

...

{Some months later}

The candlelight in the evening was reflected in all the beautiful decorations on the commode, which was now fully occupied since the table became Narsi's desk.

Like a playful dance of colors that changed with every flicker, it shined in my eyes and hypnotized me like the old windows screensaver.

I was, like always, lying in my bed and thinking everything through about what happened in the last months.

Every topic, every slight possibility, and every probable variable. It was an insane amount of details to go through. I think he filled about 200-300 pages fully.

Sometimes he even sneaked into my room in the night to talk with me even more. It went so bad that I especially slept during the day to better concentrate at night.

Mom didn't allow him to be with me too long, so it was the only possibility, as I could not work on my stuff.

I wanted to tell him even more, but this should be enough for now since such ideas need to be fleshed out, and overwhelming him, would be probably counterproductive.

I even suppressed my skill gain, but even now, I get skills like nothing good... 'Why do others have such problems gaining Skills or raising them? Maybe I can try at some point teaching so I can have some case studies...'

As I thought many things through, my smile didn't cease. 'This is so much fun!'.

This world is like a paper only filled with the colors of yellow and red, but the moment I came to this world, I brought with me blue - how will the painting look like after adding it?

Politics, Technology, Philosophy, Ethics, etc. Holding my hand towards the flickering candlelight, I grabbed it. 'This is it.'

*tok*tok*tok*

'Oh, is it time again?'