I was regretting my new role as Baroness. The more I examined the town I had created as my capital, the more I found needed to be repaired. Maybe if I had claimed a more established Fief, it might have been different. But I was finding myself drowning in the minutia of bureaucracy, as every other person we met had a request.

And I had visited none of the other towns or villages I now ruled, yet.

The meetings and discussion with people that lived in Xiwang had been progressing well enough until I demanded to see what they stored in the warehouses the Harbor Master oversaw. I had thought his refusal audacious until my perception registered the changes in respiration, heartbeat, and sweating.

His actions weren't one of belligerence, he was afraid.

More afraid of what might happen if he opened those warehouses to my inspection than fear of anything I might do to him. It was proof that whoever was behind this venture had to be a cultivator, and a powerful one. Probably one that practiced a forbidden cultivation technique. Possibly one that trafficked with demons.

That my family was already on their way gave a sense of urgency to my actions, a need to fix what needed to be fixed, and root out the corruption that had become systemic quickly. Logically I knew it hadn't been a week since my arrival, and a few days since I survived my tribulation, but logic didn't factor into this.

I had my own fears to face.

I had convinced my parents to come here. I had promised them they could set up shop. That they could set down roots and we could start a House. But I was only one person. How was I going to get everything that needed to be done? In this town, as fast as things needed to be accomplished? Let alone find out if what I had encountered here was the norm everywhere. If my entire Fief had fallen into such disrepair as Xiwang, it would take a massive undertaking and resources to elevate my Fief.

I was hoping Lord Chon and how he ruled was an isolated event. This town was barely hanging on, if this same neglect and disrepair was prevalent thought the territory, I wasn't optimistic that the people that lived here could survive much longer. It still didn't explain why the Hindel was willing to trade the island away so quickly.

Perhaps they were just cutting their losses before neglect and disrepair became so bad that people started dying in vast numbers. I didn't think that was the case. The Hindel were creatures of water; they lived in deep ocean rifts. The island and what transpired on it, shouldn't matter to them. Until the swap with the Empire, the Hindel had only used the island to trade with the Elves.

I pretended to agree to Elis' protestations, walking by each warehouse without entering. My Qi perception had advanced enough that I didn't need to enter. They filled most with salted or frozen fish. A few had tier-one and tier-two beast meat, along with the leather and hides. There was only one building storing herbs.

Elis's reaction as we walked along the row of warehouses became more agitated as we passed one of the storage facilities that seemed identical to the rest that we had walked past. My perception identified herbs stored inside, nothing that seemed out of the ordinary, so I wasn't sure why Elis' psychological response spiked out of all proportion, but because it did, I changed course to enter.

"What are you doing?" Elis demanded frantically. "This is privately owned; you can't just enter."

"The town owns every warehouse," Gwen said refuting Elis's claim. "You have pointed that fact out during council sessions when we have considered taxing each of them.

"What was your argument again?" She said pretending to think. "Ah, yes. The buildings were town property, you can't tax yourself."

"The town owns the buildings," he admitted, "it doesn't own what is being stored inside. The owner for those goods has an expectation that what he stores here for shipping, will be safeguarded. Not ransacked."

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It was a good argument; one I might have agreed to if he wasn't so desperate to keep us out. As Harbor Master, he was forced to deal with various conflicting personalities and had mastered the art of circumvention and distraction. He had learned to lie. Well enough to fool most people, but not a Qi Gathering cultivator. His words might be effective if not for the way his body reacted.

"I'm sure there are protocols in place for inspection. You allow smuggling, you've admitted it, but I don't think for a second that you allow the practice to continue without at least some knowledge of what goods are being traded.

"The buildings are owned by the town. I own the town. I'm simply inspecting my buildings," I said as I opened the door, leaving Elis's sputtering complaints behind as I shut the door in his face. I decided it was safest if I searched this building on my own. Secrets could kill, and I wouldn't have the citizens of the town silenced by whoever was funding this smuggling scheme.

I shouldn't have been surprised by what I found. Chon had the seed pods in his spatial device, but the amount of Golden Lodoicea that had been stored here suggested that a large-scale farming operation was taking place somewhere within my territory.

The seed pods had all been opened, the cores that had been formed and protected inside removed. I was certain those cores were also being shipped somewhere. Cores with no impurities were simply too useful for too many things not to be in high demand. Although it was possible, whoever was behind this was stockpiling and using the cores for their own needs.

The seed pods on their own were worth a fortune. We could use them in Alchemy formulas to purge the impurities Cultivators ingested with every pill they consumed. Even at only the apprentice level, I could think of a myriad of uses for an ingredient with the cleansing and filtering affinity of the plant and pills that made use of the pod's ability to refine Qi.

If we could create a pill that allowed a cultivator to take advantage of that refinement, it would make for easier breakthroughs between each stage. I thought it might have applicable benefits during the honing process as well. Perhaps they could create a pill that extracted impurities faster, making honing easier to accomplish and more effective.

The plant couldn't take the place of the actual work each cultivator needed to put in. Honing, for example, replaced a vital part of each cell with Qi, the plant couldn't replace that process. What it could do was keep the impurities that were removed during the honing process from reforming, from building back up between realms.

As I walked through the warehouse, I confiscated the boxes and boxes of pods that had been stored, placing them all in spatial storage. I would report my findings to Patriarch Umbra and Elder Shadow, I would even give them a few samples to study, but I would use most of these for my own Alchemical experimentation.

I may have shared with Alchemy Hall if I was still a member. Now, no matter how high the contribution points the seedpods might be assigned by Contribution Hall, I wouldn't share any of the plants I collected with Elder Dill. I would see about sending a shipment to Elder Tye in Flowing Water Sect, though. Let him get the credit for innovating any new pill formulas that might be created using this plant.

Considering how valuable this product was, and how much effort had gone into protecting the secret of the plant's existence, there were surprisingly few protections in place at the warehouse. No guards, no arrays, nothing to send an alarm to the owner. These people had become complacent. They had acted with impunity for too long, isolated on an island without Empire rule or interference.

I thought that confidence would make it easier for me to track them to the source. At least to where the farms were located. Patriarch Umbra and Elder Shadow would have to delve into those areas beyond my abilities. They could track the money, find out who was behind all this. As long as I gave them a starting point, they should be able to use the resources of their House to root out most of the agents involved.

I said nothing as I exited a now empty warehouse, simply moving on to the next, continuing my inspection. It was only when we arrived at the end of the row of warehouses that I found the genuine treasure.

They stored the cores that had been removed here. Hundreds of boxes, each with dozens of cores, housed waiting to be shipped. It was a veritable fortune in cores, enough that I could affect repairs to a dozen towns in the same shape as Xiwang. And I took great delight in confiscating every single core.

"I think I've seen everything I needed," I said when I exited this last warehouse. "Commander Belize, see that former Harbormaster Mand is arrested. No one is to speak with him. No one is to see him. Until I decide what I should do with him."

"Gwen, I need to set up an office in the Keep. Have flyers and criers announce the changes I have made and let the citizens know I will listen to petitions, two days a week, in the morning.

"We'll see which day works best. Also, put out the word that I am recruiting talented people to help codify and staff the government for my new Barony."

Decisions made. Orders given. There was nothing more to do that day, other than sending a missive to Elder Shadow. Yvonne would return to the Sect soon, but I planned on taking a few days to get things organized before I returned.