That seemed a bit too dramatic, but I decided to keep quiet until I had a real reason to talk.

  “I will be gone for a while since our allies asked for assistand I have experieh naval battles. I decided to take Remi with me sihat would do him a lot better than swinging a wooden sword.”

  “The Aquarian kingdom?”

  “That is right, the number of members of the Darkhand raiders has increased a lot retly, and they ’t guard all their territory. I ’t say when I will return.”

  He had a point, training wasn’t enough for Ulric, he needed fidence more than anything. In any case, that was a minor issue, I had heard about these two groups. Rather, I had read about them.

  The Darkhand Raiders are a group of goblin pirates, bandits, and thieves who believe in survival through plunder and pilge. They see life as one grand party, and their goal is to take as much as they .

  The Aquarian Kingdom lies beh the waves of the Great Sea, where the Merfolk rule vast uer cities of coral and magic. Tritons serve as warriors, patrolling the o and defending the realm from surface threats. The kingdom thrives on trol over the sea, its currents, and trade routes, with strict rules g magic, diplomacy, and marine life preservation.

  I wao ask if he could find another wife there, but Rayner wasn't someone who had a good sense of humor, it was easy to tell since he was always frowning.

  “I train by myself if that is what you are worried about. I also don't want to make you waste any more money on me.”

  That came out a bit harsh and cold, so Rayudied me for a bit. He should have watched us sparring and could tell that I didn't o follow Rowan instrus to bee skilled.

  “That isn't the only thing I am worried about. My men are loyal to me, but they are also loyal to Rowan. I 't guarantee your safety now that he isn't here. You might be targeted if you leave the house.”

  Rayner was the head of the house, but if he stayed far away for too long or if he disappeared again, someone else would take charge. I heard that before I was born, he disappeared for one year and that was what gave birth to me. A one year fling…

  “You don't seem worried and I tell that you won't back dowher. Since you are like this, then I just have to tell that you nor to do anything that will taint my family's name.”

  I wasn't pnning to follow the family's rules, so I couldn't be sidered part of the family. It would be weird if there was any other option, so I just silently nodded. If things go well, then my pns will go a lot faster while he is away and I won't have to wait four years.

  “You leave now.”

  I nodded and thehe office. In the end, it was unavoidable that either of us would see the side of the other. Still, I didn't feel particurly bad about it. Rayner was my only e to that family and he had too mu his pte already.

  Once I returo my room, I checked the blueprint of my new product. Even on the hands of non-scouts and archers, it would e in handy for a lot of people and increase the selling power.

  It would have been a lot faster if I could just sell some ideas for a fixed price, but it was hard to assume that things would work that easily. In any case, before things became troublesome for me, I had to make a lot of preparations. The main one for now should be to avoid leaving the mansion for a while.

  The day, I left the mansion as soon as Rayner and Ulric left. The other kids stayed at home with their mothers and sisters since Rowan asked to ge his job. As usual, a very annoyed guard followed me while keeping a distance of five meters.

  This time around, I didn't check the mert that I usually talk to. I checked around the shops in the area, mainly the ohat sell gss products and simir things. I soon found a shop that specialized in selling monocles. It was exactly what I hey were used by appraisers to check the quality and verify if some products were the real deal or not.

  “I want to buy a rge lot of lenses exactly like these ones.”

  The clerk was an old man with a fancy mustache and he frowned while looking at me. Buying a lot of that was nonsensical Moreover, I chose the ohat were of low quality. He could tell who I was, and since he probably heard of my as iy, he thought for a moment about what I was doing, but soon he decided tet about it to make money.

  The old man had enough leo make me spey pert of my earnings i year. That was equal to two aqua s… it was also enough to buy twenty sets of four. It was a good start for me.

  The box that had them retty light, so I carried them with ease and soouro my room to mess with them using the remaining materials I had that I got from that mert.

  After one week, I had a good enough prototype and theo talk with the usual mert that I had business with. She had this sour look on his face that he wao ask me why I didn’t bring more slingshots to sell.

  “I have two proposals for you today. I have the blueprints of the best slingshot I have developed. I sell it to you to produce them yourself. The price for it is one aqua .”

  It was a high price for such a simple tool, the mert khat he could reproduce it without my help, but an improved version was another history. He could sell more of the old versions, but the new ones could be sold for more and also would sell more because people usually would want an upgrade of their old things.

  “All right, deal.”

  The mert would have to use all of his savings for that, but it was a worthwhile iment. I probably could have made more by selling the blueprint to someone richer, but I wao avoid those who had too mufluehis mert here was a simple oh not many es.

  “My sed offer is this. Aem that will help some csses evolve faster… and prevent surprises in the field. Even those without the scouting csses use this.”

  The mert looked at my simple scope and then frowned when he saw that one side made his vision really bad… he was really dumb, using the wrong side. As if that wasn’t enough, when he found the right side, he tried to point to the sun. I stopped him.

  “Don’t do that. This is what will happen to your eyes if you point it to the sun.”

  I pointed oo a nearby box behind and then soon smoke began to rise from it when I poio the sun. The mert began to sweat bullets when he saw that… that was a quick way to lose an eye.

  “Here is the deal. You will sell ten of those in a few weeks and then instruct them how to use them. You will also tell them that the lot will be sold in two months. This will be enough time for people to desire the produd pay more. You will also tell them that only a certain amount will be sold. A limited item will sell more too.”

  “... In that time, someone will eventually figure out how it works.”

  “I did something about that if someories to open the scope. The lenses will crack.”

  The mert didn’t uand that, but he could tell that I had already pnned for that kind of issue… it ity that I didn’t have a crafting css. Otherwise, I would be swimming in experience.

  Regardless, it ain to make that kind of meism. I had to hide the type of lenses being used and the right order as well. With the materials I had, I didn’t have many options. In any case, I eventually made a meism that would crush the lenses oneoried to open the scope.

  When the mert uood all my ideas when it came to this business, I could almost see his eyes turning into dns. This one was a bit old, but he didn’t give up on hitting the jackpot on his businesses.

  Making business and crafting things were fine and all, but I had no pns on doing that for too long without the proper csses. It would be much better and easier to make them with those csses and I would gain experieoo to improve my parameters. Thanks to that, I nning to make as much money as possible in the four years with the scope while making as few of them as possible.

  Since I had the extra capital, I returo the mustache guy of the lenses and then told him that he could send a certain amount of lenses every month to my home. He would be paid there and he readily agreed with it.

  ‘All right… time to get to work.’

  I still did sword training and precision training, but I spent most of the time of the year produg the scopes… the quality had to be the highest and I had to make sure to keep hidden the produ process. I also had to adjust my pns in case something happened, but nothing major happened when it came to the businesses.

  The differehat I noticed was at home… I was the only son remaining there, but the girls sooo school as well. The twins Lizzie and Li were only one year older than me, so when I turned nine, I would be the only kid at home.

  Their mothers often would leave home to do other things. The first wife, who was also the high priest of the holy order rarely stayed at home, but always there were two or three of them at home. Still, they began to leave a lot more once Rayner didn’t show up for a year.

  ‘I don’t think that they will kill a kid and risk breaking the family, but… better safe than sorry.’

  It was a tough spot to be in, but I already sidered that kind of situation too. Call me a pessimist, but I didn’t care. In fact, I was expeg that something would happen to make things easier for me. That would make me realize that I couldn’t t on anyone and I just had tthen my will to not rely on anyone else.

  Still, the atmosphere at home was normal for the few years… they only began to ge when I turned nine. I retty tall for a child, already 150cm tall, almost five foot. But that wasn’t the issue… my ears started to bee a bit pointy… and that was how things became moody at home.