Chapter 447

One of the big differences from the group set up compared to five years ago was that Oliver was no longer the second strongest of the group. While he wasn’t an easy fight for anyone other than Ajax; Lexi, Anna, and Xavier could all win the fight. His level was still higher than all of theirs but nothing that could make up for the stat difference from dungeons.

“This reminds me of Deepwood.” Ajax mentioned on the third day of the trip. 

“High speed travel with no stop even during the night.” Lexi groaned as she snuggled her head into Ajax’s shoulder. “I was hoping we were done with this.” 

“Accommodations have also gotten worse.” Xavier grumbled, the secure transport was not comparable to Sylvanthal’s royal carriage in terms of comfort, even if it was much sturdier.

“What’s your plan for when you return to your new duchy?” Anna asked Ajax. 

“Figuring out what our exports will be.” Ajax’s answer drew inquisitive stares. “That and training to get a better handle on these increased stats.”

“You don’t plan to rule?” Oliver asked surprised, having grown up in a branch of an Archduke’s family he couldn’t imagine someone not wanting the power and control that came with being a duke. 

“I do…” Ajax took a moment to think how to best word it. “It’s just that I don’t want to, nor am I good at, to be honest, ruling directly.”  

“How do you plan to rule indirectly?” Xavier was interested in this, while he was very much interested in one day being king his recent trips through three other countries brought into full focus just how difficult ruling could be.

“I’m pretty good when it comes to setting the goal and outlining the rules, not so much when it comes to the implementation.” Ajax admitted as he thought back to how the recruitment and training of their Houses’s retainers went. 

“That makes no sense when it comes to ruling.”  Xavier said. “If you make the rules then you are ruling, who do you think will do all that for you?.” 

“Right now I’m thinking my brother, his wife and my grandparents.” Ajax said before he looked down towards Lexi who was snuggled into his shoulder. “Most likely Lexi as well.” 

“Don’t your grandparents have their own merchant company to worry about?” Oliver asked. 

“My grandfather saw this coming years ago, about the end of my first year in the Academy he started transitioning his company under Alana and Judy.” Ajax answered. “He’s been freeing himself up to help run the day to day operations of the House until Tom was ready, nobody was expecting a duchy so Tom will have to do some learning on the job.”

“I still don’t see how this saves you any time.” Xavier said. 

“Let’s use this as an example.” Ajax said as he brought out a handful of prepared herbs. “If I decided that one of our exports was going to be growing some mana infused plants. I would figure out how to grow them, where to best grow them and then pass it off. Getting the right tax structure and incentives and everything else with getting it running, that would be on my grandfather.” 

One such export potential was the cement Ajax had them setting up near their estate, Ajax would figure out the recipe and everything else would be for Tom to set up production in and around Lessis. 

“When you say learning on the job…” Anna was a bit skeptical as she knew better than anyone else there how difficult running a duchy was as she accompanied her father as he started showing her to ropes years ago. 

“He’ll be taking over Lessis and the surrounding areas.” Ajax answered. “It’s a backwater region whose only attraction is the dungeon. We won’t be doing anything to mess with that area so he won’t be facing all that much pressure. My grandparents with probably some help from my mother will be taking over the other barony and the viscounty, they are larger and more connected to the rest of the kingdom.” 

His entire plan with building proper roads actually relied on how convenient traveling through his lands was already. He had already been warned that he would need to work on security and that would also need to be worked out with his neighboring nobles as well since they would also need to beef up security around their borders with him.  

“You do realize that change won’t happen overnight?” Lexi asked. “You’re used to making progress and acting on it but this won’t work on the level of a duchy. It’ll take time to implement, for something like a plant farm to be set up it will be a decade or more before they finally start breaking even.” 

“That is another reason why I won’t be directly in charge of introducing anything that affects or needs the people.” Ajax said with a nod. “I don’t have the patience or the focus to make sure it gets done properly.” 

“I’ve seen you spend twenty hours a day on alchemy for five days straight.” Xavier said. “That takes a lot of focus and some patience.” 

“That’s exactly the problem though.” Ajax shook his head. “I do things like that, for something short that can be set up in a week I am a good choice, but if I had to just read reports and numbers to make sure things are still going well a month in I would get wrapped up into something else and things will start to fall through the cracks.” 

“Are you going to be looking into any other odd or new mana types?” Lexi asked, with the number of different spells she had learnt she was always eager to try out different mana types to see if she could earn the skill for them. 

“I am.” Ajax said with a smile, his mind quickly going to Gravity Mana. 

Ajax had made a few attempts over the years before he left for the tournament but he just couldn’t get a handle of Gravity Mana. A big reason for that he supposed was his Void Mana and Magnetic Mana, both Void and Gravity Mana were directly related to Space Mana and Magnetic mana covered a big area of what gravity mana could provide as well. He was planning to introduce Anna to Gravity Mana hoping it would provide a helpful step on the way to Space Mana with the help of her bond. 

“What have you been working on lately?” Lexi asked as she knew Ajax had been spending every spare hour in his alchemy lab before they left.

“You’ll have to wait until we come back to see that.” Ajax said with a smile. “It’s not finished yet but I think I have a… working prototype.” 

“I can’t wait.” Xavier said. “Hopefully it’ll be something interesting for me to do while I wait.” 

Ajax knew exactly what Xavier was referring to, despite getting the lands for the dungeon there was a small patch of land that the crown had kept in his duchy. Specifically the high mana concentration lake he had discovered back during the skirmish, Xavier was the royal family member in charge of overseeing the attempt at growing a fortress tree outside the elven forest. Xavier’s only issue with the assignment was that he would literally be watching a tree grow. 

“Are you planning for any revenge once you return?” Oliver asked. 

“Revenge?” Xavier asked. 

“The son of the Baron currently in charge of Lessis was responsible for an… unfortunate incident where his mentor lost his arm.” Oliver explained. 

Ajax was a little startled at how much Oliver knew, it was a good reminder he supposed that in his absence a lot of nobles had taken a very keen interest in his personal history. 

“He did that?” Anna was surprised, “He didn’t seem that bad when I met him, a little arrogant maybe.” 

“Different son,” Oliver explained. “The one you met was the eldest, this was the youngest.” 

“I am planning an expedition into the mountain of my own, though I will be making sure it doesn’t cause any issues.” Ajax was very eager in raiding the caves and culling the lizard population. Not simply for revenge but like the baron had proved the lizards made for good mounts and if raised properly even made for a good bond, something he was sure the sons of Knight Bonehammer will very much appreciate. “I have long thought that those mountains weren’t properly explored for their resources.” 

“And the baron’s son?” Xavier asked. 

“The matter has already been dealt with by the authorities at the time.” Ajax answered politically while he clenched the fist opposite the one Lexi was leaning on. “I am sure however that any more current infractions will be properly addressed.” 

This answer didn’t surprise Xavier, in fact he was happy with it. The royal family had also investigated the issue and while they were ready to handle injustice from up high the crown prince had decided that it would be best to let Ajax handle the matter personally. As far as they were concerned anything short of ordering a public hit on the man was acceptable, it would also double as a test case to see how Ajax would handle such matters in the future.