In the distant corridors of Adam's estate, where the portal had been installed, the owner of the estate stood before the door. Although he had some thoughts and doubts, his determination did not waver.

"If building a city and its development were the first steps to success and the foundation, then the rest of the steps must be equally reliable," Adam mumbled, glancing at the sunrise and the barely visible rays of light. He opened the door.

The room was ordinary. Not the least bit extraordinary.

There was no furniture here, no chandelier, not even lighting. After all, initially, Adam hadn't calculated the required amount of experience too well, and due to careful selection, only a small number of maids had passed. There were no windows here either, and considering the distance from the main halls and utility room, it was the safest place to install the portal.

And now, after locking the door and putting the key into his inventory, Adam approached the portal and touched it. He felt his fingers enveloped in cold, losing sensation in them, which initially frightened him, but had now become amusing entertainment.

Taking a step forward, Adam took a second step through the portal, ignoring the dizziness that struck him after teleportation and stepped forward.

The B-point of the portal was set in the servants' room, which had not been used for a long time. Elizabeth had similar thoughts, given that "neighbors" were guards, and quite high-level ones at that. Every time Adam entered the system and visited the "Royal Arena" between meditations, he saw new opponents marked with ranks of "S" and higher.

"Well, I guess those aren't all her tricks," Adam thought, pushing the door and leaving the room.

Immediately, he was met by a long corridor, followed by a bunch of alleyways and dead ends. If it weren't for the simple map, Adam could have wandered here for hours, but he would probably find the exit closer to the end of the working day.

However, for his good, Elizabeth had taken care of him and assigned a guide, who, by the way, was already approaching Adam.

"Oh, Mister Poor-Debtor," Adam smirked, seeing the familiar man who, upon hearing his words, grimaced in annoyance.

It was Alexander, dressed in knight's armor. His usual childish and lazy behavior seemed to have vanished, and he looked like a noble knight ready to defend his lady with his last drop of blood.

"Are you going to remind me of this debt for the rest of my life, man? And here I thought we were friends..." Alexander complained, shaking Adam's hand.

However, Adam just smiled and waved his hand, indicating to Alexander to start his work, all the while chatting with him: "Of course, we're friends. But even friends need to show humility from time to time, you know? Friends don't break their friends' property and don't brawl in brothels."

As soon as these words slipped from Adam's tongue, Alexander winced in embarrassment and sighed.

Here's what happened: with his colleagues, on the day when Elizabeth and Adam were discussing the details of the city's integration into Avalonia, Alexander had behaved somewhat unethically and caused his loyal friend damage of a hundred Gold Dragon Stones. Specifically:

1. Broke ten tables and six chairs. Total damage cost: 40 Gold.

2. Accidentally dropped a bottle of expensive elven ale. Damage: 50 Gold.

3. Got into a fight with one of the customers, who ended up with a concussion. It took 10 Gold to settle the matter. (Not for compensation, but to permanently eliminate this person's presence.)

It was fun, to be honest. Well, not for Adam, who had learned about it from his subordinates at the brothel. Although he wasn't angry at Alexander, he couldn't help but sigh.

Patting Alexander on the shoulder, Adam said, "Dude, you understand better than me that friendship is one thing, but business is business on schedule. Just reimburse the damages, and we're square, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, enough already. I'll pay you back tomorrow now that my salary came in," Alexander replied, cracking his neck. Then he turned his head and looked at Adam with curiosity. "By the way, what got old man Risian interested in you?"

Hearing such an informal tone of address, Adam was surprised, but he thought they were close acquaintances. Smiling at the beautiful maid and gaining 5 experience points, he finally answered, "Well, because of connections with the hero. I'm curious about this group of people they've dubbed the saviors of the world." Turning his head to Alexander, Adam also showed curiosity and asked in return, "Are you familiar with them?"

"Ah, well..." Alexander smiled awkwardly and answered, "My daughter is also in Leonid's hero team, so we met at a private party."

It seemed that Alexander remembered something and laughed, but Adam wasn't particularly bothered by it. What surprised him more were his friend's words about having a daughter.

"You had a daughter? Really..."

"What's so surprising? You might not think it looking at me, but I'm 51, kid. Hahaha!" Alexander laughed cheerfully, then coughed. historical

Suddenly, his eyes filled with horror and fear as he comically fell to his knees, clutching his head and tugging at his hair as if trying to rip them out by the roots.

"F**k! You were supposed to be the last person to find out about my daughter's existence! Aaaargh!" Alexander looked at Adam with horror and hostility. "You bastard, don't you dare lay a finger on my daughter!"

"Hey, hey, calm down, old man. Why do you think I would touch the daughter of my friend?" Adam was genuinely surprised and looked offended. "Do I seem like the kind of guy who flirts with my friends' daughters?"

"And how else?! For all I know, your flirting with married ladies shows you're shameless! Even more shameless than me!" Alexander proudly declared.

Adam rolled his eyes and smiled, not quite understanding why Alexander was so proud to have someone worse than him. However, he didn't argue with the old man. Though he didn't miss the chance to tease him:

"By that logic, you'd better not mention the existence of your wife. Who knows what might happen..."

"Go to hell!"

***

"Quite... an ordinary room," Adam thought as Alexander led him almost to the other end of the castle.

Upon entering the room, he saw bookshelves, a bed, and a small window that was the only source of light. His eyes slowly turned towards a beautiful woman sitting at the table, perusing documents and signing them after reading.

"Your Majesty," Adam greeted her and couldn't help but smile, remembering another queen—the nymph queen. "I wonder how she's doing. I need to visit her in the coming days."

At the same time, Elizabeth responded only after a few seconds, nodding and waving her hand toward another table, which was already piled with documents. Although Adam hated paperwork, he always had to sacrifice something for a better future.

Pushing the chair back and sitting down, Adam looked at the first stack of papers and began reading the reports.

His eyes quickly scanned the text, and in less than ten seconds, he was able to read the entire text, summarize it, and then begin devising a solution to the problem.

The report stated that control over the slave trade had greatly weakened due to corrupt officials. However, there was no clear evidence due to the collective work of unknown individuals, although there were some suspicions. The author of the report provided all available information and outlined their short thoughts, along with a brief but informative biography of the suspects.

"Knight Renirasen, Baron Valior, Viscount Worin..." Adam memorized the names of the suspects and placed his hand on the sphere standing in the corner of the table, then repeated those names aloud.

The sphere lit up, and Adam's mind was flooded with information about these individuals. There were also records of their movements, as well as their character and wrongdoings. After processing all the information, Adam nodded to himself.

"Strong suspicions. These people have already been noticed for their dishonest work and for causing harm in significant amounts. The punishment was mild, so they didn't feel the sharp edge of the scythe nearly touching their heads." Adam's eyes gleamed, and he snorted. "But we can't just punish them without cause, as this is a kingdom of humans, where every action needs to be accounted for and reputation upheld."

The task was heavy, as Adam wasn't dealing with ordinary folks from the commoners but with officials and aristocrats at the same time, which complicated matters several times over.

If it were to be discovered that the queen allowed such mismanagement in governing her country, her reputation could be negatively affected, and that was something that couldn't be allowed at all. Yet, softening the punishment in any way was also not an option, given the poor results of Adam's former colleague.

"To tell the world about the theft and the queen's incompetence would be foolish. Though I'm sure Elizabeth has known about it for a while." Adam thought, glancing at Elizabeth from the corner of his eye and then returning his gaze to the report in front of him. "But she doesn't bother with such minor matters, and partly, this might be a test for me. A challenging start."

Was Adam certain that he could come up with a 100% perfect solution? Of course not. In any case, saying that officials under the command of the queen were covering up slave traders who had abused their resources and capabilities wouldn't be the best solution.

"Manipulate to make them guilty of something else? No, that's risky... What if we held a public trial?" Adam pondered. "Fortunately, power is concentrated more in the queen's hands here, and if I present the speech correctly, stating that officials took advantage of her kindness, deceiving the just queen?"

Overall, it sounded absurd, but if he found someone who could deliver such a speech, one that would impress everyone... it might work.

"Although it's manipulation as well, it would cause fewer problems," Adam concluded. "But if I play on the public's sentiment... and considering people's love for the queen and worship, it could be a good choice."

Unfortunately, Adam didn't possess enough knowledge about managing public opinion, but he could still come up with some solutions. However, even if he were to make a mistake, he wouldn't lose too much.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth secretly looked at Adam. Her eyes glanced over his face and after a few seconds, she averted her gaze.

To be continued...