Alexei

"Connor, no need to worry. I am perfectly fine, rest assured."

Theus reassured the anxious old butler while changing his clothes.

Although the journey to the Abyssal Trench with the Banshees had been quite convoluted, the return trip was extremely smooth. Those Fishmen had vanished for some inexplicable reason; perhaps they had been frightened off by the massive explosion earlier.

He needed to change his clothes quickly.

The Symbiotic Pact granted him immunity to the crushing pressure of the deep sea, but it could not prevent his clothes from being soaked through by seawater.

Although Theus did not care much for aristocratic decorum, being covered in seaweed and small fish was indeed a bit too impolite.

After all, he still had to meet with those pirates later.

Having accepted the allegiance of the Banshees in the Abyssal Trench, he had not wasted any time and immediately set out to return to his territory, all to make it in time for the negotiations with these pirates.

When he had first transmigrated, these pirates were formidable enemies he could hardly resist, but now, there was no need to worry so much.

With the help of the Banshees in the sea, the threat these pirates posed to him had been greatly diminished. Even if a war were to break out, he was more than capable of holding his own; at the very least, self-preservation was not an issue.

Not to mention the Banshees' overwhelming combat prowess against mortals, their reconnaissance capabilities alone in the sea would allow him to strike these pirates with a dimensional advantage. He even suspected that Ash alone could sink an entire pirate ship.

However, he did not intend to drag the Banshees into the war. They had just been freed from slavery and were in dire need of rest and recuperation.

Regarding the pirates, he had other ideas.

With the support of the Banshees, everything was looking up.

It wasn't just about the pirates; he also planned to re-evaluate the development of his territory.

"Let's talk about the negotiations first."

"Master Theus, two sea merchants arrived this time..."

"Pirates."

Connor faltered. He looked at Theus, feeling that the master he served seemed somewhat different.

In the past, young master Theus would never have spoken in such a calm and firm tone. Like any other illegitimate child, he had been sensitive, suspicious, and timid.

Under Theus's gaze, Connor lowered his head: "...two pirates arrived. Since you were away, Chief Steward Alexei went to negotiate."

"Wasn't it agreed that I would handle the negotiations?"

"I did inform him of that, but this morning he rejected my proposal in his capacity as the Chief Secretary, claiming that without official documentation, he only accepts your direct orders."

Theus raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Did I hear that right?"

Wasn't he a lord of the feudal empire? Shouldn't these subordinates be his retainers?

What was this? A mutiny?

Connor hesitated for a moment before speaking softly: "Master Theus, your steward, Alexei, is a seventh-rank civil official dispatched by the Imperial Court to assist you in managing the territory."

In the third year after her coronation, the Empress dissolved the cabinet and promulgated the thirteen-rank civil service system. From then on, imperial officials were only responsible to the Empress and were no longer bound by local lords.

Theus flipped through his memories briefly and discovered that his Chief Secretary was no simple character.

His name was Alexei, and he had grown up in an orphanage run by the Imperial Court in the North. Because of his outstanding performance, he had been given the opportunity to study, eventually graduating from the Royal Army Academy and being assigned to his side as Chief Secretary.

What did it mean to climb from an orphan to a seventh-rank civil official?

Theus's title of Border Count had been secured through the machinations of Duke Cohen; theoretically, his rank was only one level higher than Alexei's.

Although a Border Count was a landed noble and not part of the civil service system, the difficulty of such a feat was evident.

And recalling the background of this Chief Secretary, the Royal Army Academy...

The Empire's navy was a joke, but no one dared to mock the Empire's army.

When the Empress first ascended the throne, the imperial family was weak, and several dukes were arrogant. Today, eleven years after her coronation, there was only one voice in the empire, and the entire empire moved according to the Empress's will.

The various lords stayed obediently in their own territories, watching the imperial army expand the borders every few days, watching the letters of appointment for Border Counts pile up in the Empress's cabinet.

The Royal Army Academy was the foundation of all this, and Alexei had been the valedictorian of his class. If he had gone into the military, he would have started as a mid-level officer.

But how did he become his Chief Secretary, and why did he dare to defy him like this?

It was simple: the Imperial Court assigned graduates of the Army Academy as Chief Secretaries for Border Counts.

On one hand, it was for surveillance and infiltration—these graduates were essentially loyalists to the throne. On the other hand, there was a genuine need for it.

The territories of Border Counts were always plagued by war, and every inch of land had to be carved out with blade and spear. A steward with connections to the Army Academy could easily raise a troop.

Of course, this also meant that the Border Count was thoroughly tied to the imperial chariot.

As for why he would defy him...

Theus laughed at himself.

"I can't blame him. I've been sending money to the pirates all this time. He must be very anxious since he has no battles to fight."

"That is exactly it, Master. If you dismiss him because of this, you would be playing right into his hands. I fear he has long wanted to join the army on the Western Front. You should head over as soon as possible."

"It seems his negotiations with the pirates won't be straightforward either. Let's go quickly, lest he gets any clever ideas."

Theus stood up and walked toward the door, with Connor following closely behind.

Theus was right; Alexei was currently pondering how to stir up some trouble.

He had come to assist the Count of the Border in conquering the Storm Ocean, not to actually serve as some chief clerk managing those files.

Theus had already made him go deliver money to those pirates last time, which had left him quite dissatisfied, and now, at the eleventh hour, he was playing hide-and-seek again? And he expected him to go deliver money once more?

Although the old steward claimed the lord had gone missing, Alexei did not take it seriously.

What a joke—a comatose lord disappearing at night from his own manor under heavy guard?

Why didn't he just say he had fallen into the sea?

Alexei let out a cold snort.

When he first arrived here, he only wanted to properly assist the lord in expanding the territory and carving out a legacy of merit.

But the weak-willed style of Theus was something he simply could not accept.

Buying peace from pirates externally, and conscripting his own subjects to build that manor internally—a project that had only just been completed.

He ignored everything in the territory, dumping it all on him and that old steward, while he spent his days reading books and drinking tea in the manor.

Heh, a Count of the Border?

Alexei's gaze gradually turned cold.

He had climbed to this position through hard work and had seen countless people who struggled with all their might only to waste their lives away for lack of opportunity, yet Theus, who held such a golden opportunity in his hands—with the connections of Duke Cohen and the secret support of the Imperial Family—only knew how to pay off pirates.

He had no intention of complaining about the unfairness of fate, but bowing his head to these decadent nobles was a betrayal of all the effort he had put in along the way.

He could not do it.

Thus, a change gradually took root in Alexei's heart; he had always harbored fantasies about Theus, hoping he would fulfill the duties expected of a lord.

But the fact that his lord had still not appeared became the final straw, and perhaps it was time for him to consider his own path forward.

With a grim expression, Alexei pushed open the door to the conference room.