Konrad was so exhausted, he wished for nothing but to catch up on his sleep schedule.
But he could have wanted anything; his brain said no.
A wave of inspiration hit him, forcing a quill into his hands to get some work done. He was almost in a trance, or a selective coma, obsessed with numbers and opportunities.
It was easy to stay focused in this state, but let his mind wander a bit, and the spell would've broken.
His brain functioned in mysterious ways—but performed great in the blessed silence.
That was something he was familiar with. After all, being alone was the norm in his past life.
Even when depression and loneliness weighed him down because of it, he never let it affect his work. And now? He was eager to spend this quiet time on something productive.
That, and he learned the hard way that even good company became a bother without breaks or boundaries. Five haremettes with superpowers and chaotic energy in his face?
Non-stop insanity. He needed some calm, something to challenge his mind in quiet.
He didn't even remember the last time he had this luxury to be by himself.
The ideas were flowing, as if someone from a higher plane sent them all to him.
It couldn't have been Lucifer—he still hadn't seen him in his dreams, not that he had many. But well, these thoughts didn't fit the image of his fallen guardian, either.
He felt them in his blood, whispers from a future or a past self.
An eerie sensation—but a very effective one.
In the first hour after his harem left, he had done more work than in the previous week put together. He even enjoyed making progress, solving challenges that kept him up before.
It was odd to think he couldn't make a headway until now—his solutions seemed so simple.
Now that the girls had left him be, it felt like someone lifted a veil from his mind.
It was liberating.
"You have quite the drive, Lord Halstadt." Helena watched him from a distance.
She had the tact not to bother him as she checked on papers she brought from the Church.
Konrad wasted no more than a glance at them once he realized they taught him nothing new.
"I'm still worried I can't meet your expectations," he sighed, scribbling his own notes.
The royals raised a high bar for him and kept increasing the difficulty.
"You've outdone them all a long time ago," the princess chuckled. "But our situation isn't an easy one—I'm sure you understand. My brother trusts that you'd put on a good show."
He should've paid more attention to this world's politics.
Then her words wouldn't have surprised him that much.
But wasn't that what he'd been doing since his second childhood?
Putting on good shows for the people around him.
Whether he used illusions or wit, he pretended to be the prodigy everyone liked.
Not a fifty-year-old with thirty years of experience in a child's body.
Or, well, he was an adult now, both body and soul, especially after Lily—
Well, his head start was melting away in everything else.
He would remain at the same level in most things since his birth into this world.
Except for magic and his sword skills.
He improved in leaps and bounds, but those didn't help with his current challenges. Math did, and the inherited logistics knowledge that only faded since.
"What are you working on?" Helena asked, stretching her arms before wandering closer.
"This one? Preparations for my meeting with the merchants," he explained. "I have fields I can't cultivate this year, and I won't even bother. But I have mines, too—without a workforce."
He turned the parchment around, his handwriting in neat little bullet points.
"I'll offer them concessions. They'll pay me a sum, and I'd let mine all the salt they can for a short period. It might be enticing enough for a few, but it won't make me rich."
That wasn't the goal anyway.
He understood what many managers and CEOs in his past life didn't.
Greed scared people off, but a good deal could bind them to him.
Ever since he learned that this life would be his last, he planned for the long run. Survive the first hurdles ahead, and sow the seeds of a better future. What he would lose out on now—
"Never heard of anything like that," Helena admitted. "But wasn't the salt mine goblin-infested?"
She remembered—again—but he was way ahead of her in planning already.
"Liliana Welfson is out there, negotiating with the tribesmen right now. If all goes well, she'll return with promising warriors I'd have to turn into a cohesive fighting force."
His first encounter was dreadful, but the little monsters caught him off guard.
It wouldn't happen again. And what better incentive was there to work together in a tight shield wall than a beast swarm? His girls could help him out, too—there were no rules in the depths.
"That is some intensive training regimen if I ever heard of one," Helena said and whistled.
Konrad had to double-take. Did he say those things out loud?
The princess was only human. She shouldn't have been reading his mind. But over and over again, he felt like she was playing a prank on him. Or was she that observant?
She was the king's envoy for a reason, after all.
And that reason couldn't have been her blood alone.
"Talking about training, I'd have a favor to ask—or offer, depending on the point of view."
Konrad decided to let that go and smirked, rolling his wrist, letting his joints pop.
"I'll help as long as it's not unreasonable," she replied, her voice cautious now.
Yeah, she was still under the influence of his harem's claim to—well, to be his harem.
"It is very unreasonable," he smirked anyway. "To ask a royal steward and a princess to beat the living hell out of my men to your heart's desire—"
"Consider it done," Helena's eyes lit up, before he even finished the sentence.
Her palm was already on her warhammer.
He laughed, stuck with the mental image of this robust woman fighting Welf. That was a match he would've wanted to see, rather than him getting beaten all the time.
"I hope at least one'll be able to stand as your equal," he said, returning to his notes.
"You're welcome to try as well," the princess said with a wink, then, as if realizing what she implied, she blushed. "To spar. You'll lead from the frontlines, after all. You must take care of—"
"Oh, I'm well aware, Your Highness," he nodded along, but raised an eyebrow.
She was all flustered, like when she learned about his harem. Did he have an actual effect on women, or had he only kept running into ones with self-esteem issues?
It was flattering, for sure—fuelling his work-craze even further.
"First, I need to secure the funds for that event, then come the sparring. And talking to someone who understands tactics or strategy would be nice, too."
"I'm more of a duelist, but I'll see what I can do," she promised again, and Konrad smirked.
"Anything will do. Rather than beating me to hell and back with that hammer, I'd like you to beat some common sense into me instead. I'm a country bumpkin playing a noble—"
And with much of his harem consisting of supernatural powers, he had no idea what was even normal in this world.