The atmosphere in Alexeis office was fraught with activity.

In addition to Novak, Aaron, Treasurer Kimberly, Knight Commander Rozen, and other members of his entourage, uniformed members of the Guardians of the Realm were constantly coming and going. They seem to have come to report on the evidence seized from the captured Novadine faction last night and the confessions obtained from their interrogation.

Good morning, big brother, Im sorry to bother you in your busy schedule.

Good morning, Ekaterina, I am glad that you came.

Alexei smiled.

Im glad to hear that you had breakfast despite your busy schedule. I hope you can take good care of yourself.

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Yeah, if thats what you want.

Alexei was as kind to his sister as usual, but the members of the territorial guard looked at him with astonished eyes. He must have been dealing with the captives in a decisive and harsh manner, as if they were bloodless and tearless until Ekaterina came along.

Hmmm.

She was right about being feared earlier, but it seemed like the fear would diminish when she was around. She wondered if she should not see him very frequently for a while.

But it was a little hard not to see him, even though they were in the same house (though it might be too big to call it a house).

Oh, but come to think of it, my big brother was in full siscon mode in public at the celebration party. I guess its a little too late for that.

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Then, Novak asked.

Your Excellency, I would like to ask the Young Lady to visit the mountain temple on our behalf.

A mountain temple was literally a temple dedicated to the gods of the mountains, I was told.

In this world, gods do exist, and they interact with humans on a whim, sometimes bringing grace and sometimes disaster.

There were several mines in the Yurinova territory. Therefore, one must not offend the mountain gods. If the mountain gods brought disasters to the mines, the damage would be devastating.

For this reason, the Dukes of Yurinova have worshiped the mountain temples with great devotion since the time of their founder, Sergei. It was one of the duties of the Dukes of Yurinova to visit the temple on every important occasion, as well as to make offerings.

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However, Alexander the Yurinovas predecessor visited the mountain temple only once, right after he became the Duke. He was spending all his time in the glamorous social circles of the imperial capital. Alexei, his legitimate son, had been visiting the mountain temple in his place, doing his duty of venerating the gods of the mountains.

And, now that Alexei succeeded to the dukedom, his studies at the magic academy and his duties as duke in the capital made it difficult for him to visit the mountain temple, which was several days away from the capital. Still, I had planned to visit the temple during this summer vacation.

First, Prince Mikhails visit to Yurinova complicated the schedule.

After that, the capture of the Novadine faction from yesterday, as well as the subsequent cleanup, or rather, adjustments, were expected to take longer than expected.

This situation made it difficult for him to visit the mountain temple.

I was right on the money. Even a well-prepared big brother and all the executives were surprised that the adjustment would take so long.

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They would confiscate the titles and properties of Novadine and his family and distribute them to others!

Perhaps raise Novak-sans title from a viscount to a count. I recall that raising a persons title to a higher rank was called advancement.

The coordination would be difficult. Even though it was customary for the main family to have discretion over the knighthoods of the branch families, the level of resentment toward Novak-san, who could be given a title despite having no magical powers, would be intense.