"You an eight-year-old child, what can you even do?" Zeidan didn't believe that Zain could do anything.

"You are really underestimating me. Here!"

Zain threw a bottle of wine toward Zeidan which he had brought along him. The bottle was giving out an alluring fragrance. Zeidan caught the bottle and opened the knob of the bottle to take a sniff. He looked at Zain suspiciously.

"What is it?"

"Just drink it."

"It better not be poison."

Zeidan took a small gulp before his suspicious look turned into a pleasing one. He took another gulp, a big one this time empty half of the bottle.

"Hey! easy..easy, don't drain all of it."

Zeidan was going to drink it all but he ignored the temptation when Zain stopped him.

"This is the best wine that I have drank in such a long time. Even Dwarven alcohol couldn't match this. No..they can. But still, it could compete with the most expensive alcohols and wines. Where did you get it?"

"I made it."

"You...hahaha.. don't joke. Tell me, where do you get it?"

"Believe it or not, I made it."

"My lord, I think young master is stating the truth as I have experienced a similar fragrance coming out from his 'lab'."

"So, you really....but how?"

"You really ask many questions. It's like..."

Zain explained to him how he had made it.

The people who had high power levels never got drunk, they had to drink a lot. Whenever toxic alcohol entered their body, it would get eliminated nullifying the effect of alcohol and disrupting their pleasure as it is deemed harmful by their body.

But Zain had found a formula to stop this process after doing tons of experiments in the last six months. Because of his monstrous analysis and calculations, he was able to do it in six months which would have taken years even for an expert. This was a huge achievement and he was an eight-year-old at that.

"What kind of monster are you? How many experiments did you perform for this? Weren't you trying to brew that fairytale immortal potion?"

The last line kinda hurt Zain's pride.

"Do you think that I am that dumb? I was aware that the story was fake from the beginning. But there was something in it that caught my eye. The values like quantity and volume of the material were oddly specific. It's also one of the oldest books that were kept in the library. And it was not even a complete book but a draft as some text was rubbed and rewritten with some parts having slight spelling mistake."

Zeidan couldn't understand why Zain was telling him all this stuff but he continued to listen.

"Its author's name was Goya Stonehill. I looked for clues about him. Apparently, he was a well-known wine brewer in Holy-Moon Alliance a long time ago. But he died of old age without a successor and he never managed to pass on his teachings and wine brewing methods. Luckily, I discovered the secret of this book."

"It contains the recipe for one of his special wines. But I needed to find real-life ingredients which resemble the characteristics of the material described in the book. Over four years I found the matching ingredients."

"So, how did you make it?"

After Zeidan asked this question Zain started explaining the whole process.

"Well in the first three years, I performed near a thousand experiments to figure out the nature of available resources. In the fourth year, I just sat and tried different combinations in my mind to narrow down possible solutions. This last year, I worked on them to make a cost-effective and luscious wine. It still can be improved though."

"Are you saying that you did all that in just five years?"

"Too much time, yes I know but I am still a novice. So, this is the best I could do right now. The recipe in the book is very complex. And you should be praising me not whining about the time."

Morris was in disbelief, he had always known that this kid was good but he didn't think that he would be this damn genius. On other hand, Zeidan was more angry than shocked for Zain calling himself a novice. It was either he was acting dumb or he had no idea what he had accomplished maybe even both.

Of course, it was the latter. Zain had read research work on wine but didn't know how much time it took to gather all of that data. Then Zeidan just punched Zain in the stomach. Not with full strength just enough to leave him with some pain.

"What's that for?"

"Nothing, I just felt like it. Now, tell me what's going on in that little brain of yours?"

"Morris, I want some resources for it."

"No problem young master, but that's only if the lord approves of it."

"So, listen carefully. If everything goes according to my plan we will control 90% of monopoly in our Dukedom and 10% of monopoly in the Empire, in the coming two years."

If anyone other than Zain would have been making these declarations, Zeidan would have personally thrown him out of the palace. But coming from him, it looked as if these words carried some weight.

It was a dream that was near impossible, to complete such a task in such a short time. No one would ever think about it. 5% of the monopoly of the Zinovia empire was controlled by outer forces. 15% was controlled by the royal family. Rest was under nine dukes and near two hundred other nobles.

It would make them the second strongest power in the empire in terms of wealth. But would this dream ever become a reality? This was the question in Zeidan's mind.

"Zain, you know right that our Dukedom is way down when it comes to uhm.. wealth."

"I know that and what is the reason for it? You all are. Tell me, Morris, what would happen if traders were to increase the price of weapons?"

"Hmm... we will increase their taxes."

"And what if they retaliate and refuse to sell?"

"They wouldn't want to mess with us."

"Well, that would end in a bad way. Because we still have obliged to some of their demands."

"Yes, you are right young master. We will be in a bad place. If there was a shortage of supply or a fall in quality, it would cost many lives. But why are thinking about it? It's not like it would happen."

"Oh... really, why are you so sure? Haven't we experienced a rise in the price of grains?"

"Yes, we have. And it can happen. But we don't have a choice."

"Oh yes... Morris, I get it now. Zain, we have other ways though. Assassinating some of them, framing them criminals, there's a lot we can do about it. You are helping us to figure out new ways."

Zeidan got excited over the killing and stuff. It was precisely not what Zain wanted. But he could only rub his temple in frustration at his father brimming with excitement.

"Stop, that's not what I meant."

"Yes, my lord. Their sure must be something else young master would want to explain. You should let him finish himself."

"Thanks, Morris."

Zain didn't know how Morris kept up with his father on daily basis. This man had only one solution to the problem. That's getting rid of the guy who's causing the problem. But because of this attitude their very less people in the Zenovia empire who would ever mess with him.

"I will go straight to the plan. Stage one is making our Dukedom self-sufficient."