Plans couldn't keep up with the changes.
Previously, he wanted Akane to investigate the hidden lab in Elf Land while he focused on finding and breeding Olivia.
But now?
Now, he would go to Elf Land himself using his noble privilege, while Akane's task was to find Olivia for him. He immediately sent her a private message and told her about the new assignment.
She agreed without asking why.
He had already expected that.
That was precisely the reason he entrusted this mission to her.
It seemed Akane was very suitable to become his spymaster—someone who could be trusted with espionage missions and intelligence gathering.
Moreover, he had no intention of letting Elf Land slip away so easily.
He was determined to buy it. Not only would it justify a large-scale search for the Artificial Intelligence hidden there, but he also needed to control the lives and fates of the players who had been trapped as elves and set up by that Chinese man.
He would make them develop an intense hatred toward Lin Feng—so much hatred that they would wish to tear his flesh and bones apart.
Then he would use that hatred to ensure the Chinese bastard would never have an easy time here.
And he would do all of that without firing a single shot, while positioning himself as the savior who freed them.
Now, it was time to speak with the landowner.
"You want to buy Elf Island, Lord Redgrave? That's impossible. It's not for sale."
Earl Offrey refused firmly.
Of course, it was understandable why he did so.
Elf Island provided Earl Offrey with enormous profit and revenue.
But the money, vast as it was, barely scratched the surface of the island's true value.
What made Elf Island truly priceless was the web of connections it spun.
The island provided Earl Offrey with the friendship and patronage of countless perverted nobles—men of power and influence who harbored twisted desires that could only be satisfied by the island's elven inhabitants.
These nobles, from influential viscounts to powerful marquises, paid handsomely for the privilege of using elves to indulge their darkest fantasies, a practice so deeply normalized within the kingdom that no one even bothered to whisper about it anymore.
Through Elf Island, Earl Offrey had cultivated a network of indebted, grateful nobles who owed him favors and looked upon him with something approaching friendship. That kind of political capital couldn't be bought with mere gold.
Aquamarine Hoshino—now known to this world as Aquamarine Redgrave, first son of the legendary Duke Redgrave—leaned back in his chair with the casual confidence.
A slow, deliberate smirk curved his lips as he watched the Earl's expression flicker with barely contained interest.
"You have money. You have land. You also have connections, yes."
He ticked each point off on his fingers, his voice smooth and unhurried. "But you lack one thing, Earl. The one thing that separates merchant-born nobles like yourself from the true aristocracy. Prestige."
The word hung in the air between them.
"I'm offering you a deal you can't refuse," Aquamarine continued, leaning forward now, his blue eyes gleaming with cold purpose. "Sell me Elf Island, and I will repay you in full. How does five hundred million Dia sound? And a chance to enter our circle."
Earl Offrey's eye twitched visibly.
Five hundred million Dia. The number alone was staggering enough to make even a wealthy earl pause.
But it was the second part of the offer—the possibility of gaining access to the true aristocratic circle—that made his pulse quicken and his breath catch in his throat.
Five hundred million Dia translated to approximately fifty billion yen in Japan's currency, or roughly three hundred thirty million US dollars by our world's exchange rates.
It was an astronomical sum, enough to fund armies, purchase provinces, or elevate a family's status through sheer financial might alone.
And yet, even that mountain of gold was worth it for Elf Island.
The island wasn't just a profitable asset—it was irreplaceable. It housed a rare magical race, the elves, whose existence alone was enough to make any noble salivate with envy.
It sat in a highly strategic location blessed with dense mana concentrations, making it invaluable for magical research and the cultivation of powerful mages.
Its political importance within the kingdom couldn't be overstated; controlling Elf Island meant controlling access to one of the most unique resources in the realm.
Compared to the money, however, it was the final part of Aquamarine's offer that truly seized Earl Offrey's attention and refused to let go.
For a family like the Offreys, everything was a constant, exhausting uphill battle.
They had originated from merchant stock, commoners who had clawed and climbed their way to the rank of earl through sheer commercial acumen and relentless ambition.
But in a kingdom dominated by ancient nobility—families whose bloodlines stretched back centuries, whose names were etched into the very foundation of the realm—the Offreys were still treated as outsiders.
Upstarts. Interlopers who didn't truly belong.
They were largely isolated from the inner circles of aristocracy, excluded from the private gatherings where true power was brokered, locked out of the marriage alliances that bound the great houses together.
That isolation was precisely why they aggressively sought to marry their daughters and sons into other noble families, offering dowries and concessions in desperate bids for legitimacy.
The chance to finally breach those walls, to stand among the true powers of the kingdom as an equal rather than a tolerated merchant... that was worth more than any sum of gold.
"Is your father aware of this deal?" Earl Offrey asked, his voice carefully neutral despite the hunger flickering behind his eyes.
He needed to be certain before committing to anything.
The Redgrave family wasn't some minor house he could afford to offend with a careless refusal or a poorly considered acceptance.
The Redgraves were one of the oldest and most powerful noble houses in the entire Holfort Kingdom.
They possessed vast lands that spanned entire provinces, enormous resources that could fund wars and shape policies, and the prestigious title of duke—the second highest rank of nobility in the kingdom, surpassed only by the royal family themselves.
Forming an alliance with them was the kind of opportunity that came once in a lifetime, if it came at all.
But Earl Offrey was no fool. He wouldn't sell Elf Island merely for money, no matter how vast. He wouldn't trade it for a simple alliance, no matter how prestigious. The island was far too important, its value too deeply woven into the fabric of his family's power and influence.
If he was going to part with it, the price would need to be everything he had ever wanted and more.
The question burning in his mind was simple: was Aquamarine Redgrave offering exactly that, or was this just the opening move in a much longer, more dangerous game?
"I'm the heir of the Redgrave family. Remember that, Earl Offrey. You can select one of your daughters to marry me. She must be beautiful, of course. Well-mannered. Capable of serving her husband perfectly in every way a wife should."
"You understand what would happen to your family once the heir and future head of House Redgrave marries one of your daughters, don't you?"
Aqua whispered the words calmly.
Earl Offrey swallowed hard, his throat suddenly dry despite the full glass of wine sitting untouched before him.
The temptation crashing over him was overwhelming, a tidal wave of possibility that threatened to drown all rational thought. If his daughter ever bore an heir for Aqua Redgrave.
That child would undoubtedly become the future head of the Redgrave family as well.
His grandson/granddaughter would one day sit at the head of one of the most powerful ducal houses in the entire kingdom.
His bloodline would be woven into the very fabric of Holfort's aristocracy.
For an outsider noble family like his, perpetually scrambling for scraps of legitimacy while the ancient houses looked down their noses at them, that possibility was simply too enticing to resist.
It was everything the Offreys had ever wanted, everything they had schemed and sacrificed to achieve, now being offered on a silver platter by a man before him.
But the benefits didn't stop there.
Aqua's sister was betrothed to the crown prince himself. If that marriage proceeded as planned, a daughter of the Redgrave family would eventually become queen, tying their house directly to the royal throne.
If Earl Offrey accepted this deal, his family would be linked to the Redgraves through marriage, and through them, connected to the crown itself.
The path of power and prestige was beckoning him with open arms.
In his mind's eye, Earl Offrey could already see it: his daughter, dressed in the finest silks, standing beside Aqua Redgrave at noble gatherings.
His grandchildren, playing in the vast halls of the Redgrave estate.
His family name, once whispered with condescension by ancient nobles, now spoken with respect and perhaps even envy.
Of course, Earl Offrey couldn't possibly know the truth.
He had no way of seeing that the crown prince was a complete idiot—a vain, arrogant fool who would one day publicly tear apart his engagement to the Redgrave family in the most humiliating fashion imaginable.
He couldn't foresee that the very man standing before him, offering marriage and alliance, would eventually cuckold that same crown prince, turning the royal family into bitter enemies.
The future was a closed book, and Earl Offrey was reading only the glittering first pages while the darker chapters remained hidden.
For now, he knew only one thing with absolute certainty: following the Redgrave family was the wise choice.
It was the choice that would elevate his house to heights he had only ever dreamed of.
"I understand, Lord Redgrave."
Earl Offrey straightened his back, meeting Aqua's gaze with newfound resolve.
He extended his hand across the table, grip firm and unwavering.
"I will sell Elf Island. There is no need for the money—consider it a gift, a token of our future alliance. May our families be bound together for generations to come."
He bowed his head slightly, a gesture of respect that acknowledged the power dynamic between them without descending into outright subservience.
Aqua's grin widened, spreading across his face like dawn breaking over conquered territory.
He took the Earl's hand in his own, grip equally firm, equally confident.
"May our alliance last forever indeed, Earl Offrey."
They released the handshake simultaneously, and Aqua reached for the decanter of aged red wine that sat on the table between them.
He poured two glasses with deliberate ceremony, the dark liquid catching the firelight and gleaming like liquid rubies.
They raised their glasses together, the crystal catching the light.
Clink.
The sound was soft but final, a bell tolling the end of one era and the beginning of another.
From that moment on, the ownership of Elf Island fully belonged to the Redgrave family. The island with its rare elves, its strategic position, its dense mana and political significance—all of it now flew under the Redgrave banner.
And with it came the beginning of an alliance that would reshape the balance of power in Holfort Kingdom, for better or for worse.
Earl Offrey drank deeply, savoring the taste of victory and the promise of a brighter future.
Aqua sipped his wine, savoring something else entirely—the satisfaction of a plan perfectly executed, and the anticipation of all the delicious chaos yet to come.
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