In the Main Hall of Mordarake family manor which was previously called by Dorbank's family name.
Master Clayton, Donald, Jack, and Alex were sitting down on chairs with a long square table in between them.
The ladies were busy in the kitchen making dinner for everyone to celebrate today's victory. There were puppets available as maids and servants and also chefs to cook dinner for them but Julie and Meg were adamant about cooking the dishes themselves for today.
Anna, Meg, and Julie were experienced in making dishes as delicious as Alex's but Selena had just recently started learning to cook as all the work in her home was done by servants before. So she was helping out the other three while also learning from them.
Selena would even sometimes ask particularly about what Alex likes to eat or what he dislikes.
Anna would happily answer her excitedly as if she knows everything about Alex. Julie and Meg knew why Selena was so keen on asking such things, being interested in the likings of your future husband is very natural for girls in this age.
Hank and Tom were busy checking out the four storey mansion and what secrets it had. Though Alex had already told them that he would demolish this Mansion sometime soon as it is not to his liking. He will make a new one in its place.
Also, all the mansions in the eastern part of the city where the previous five noble families resided are going to be demolished. In its place, Alex is considering to start an academy for education and cultivation purposes.
On the dining table, Master Clayton finally opened his mouth to ask Alex about his subordinates as it has been on his been mind for a long time. Jack and Donald had also wanted to ask him about them.
Alex thought that telling them about the puppets would not be a good idea. But he also didn't want to lie to them. That's why Alex only requested them to not ask him about this matter now and wait for him to tell them about it in the future.
"They(puppets) are only loyal to me in this world and are unable to ever betray me. They can never have any thoughts to harm me or any of my family members. I cannot tell you or anyone about their origin. Please trust me on this. I have my reasons that I cannot say to you."
Jack after some thinking said: "Alex, it's alright if you don't want to tell us about them now. We understand. If you trust them fully then we can also trust them."
Donald also said the same and Master Clayton agreed as well.
From the moment Donald and Jack thought of building their own clan by taking the same surname as Mordrake with them being the elders and Alex as the Patriarch of the clan as all of this was only possible because of him; it was now their duty to follow his orders without question as per the tradition of this world. Master Clayton also agreed to become an honorable guest elder of their Mordrake Clan.
After having dinner with everyone, Alex said " Everyone, now that we have acquired Dorbank Clan territory our neighbors will not easily let us keep it without any confrontation. Soon the news of today's battle will reach their ears and we will once again have to deal them while defending our newly acquired territory."
"I am thinking that before they can react, we should send our own soldiers to attack them and take the whole island in one sweep in our control."
Hank and Tom surprised and so did the others.
Alex smiled and said "A mountain cannot be shared by three tigers. I am confident in defeating them as not only we have the numbers but also because our army is three times more powerful than theirs."
Master Clayton's eyes shined when he heard that. True, with those hundreds of 9th grade Body Tempering Realm Cultivators fighting together, defeating those two powers will not be difficult.
Thinking of this Master Clayton said "I support Alex's decision. This is the best time to defeat the Merchant Union and Lord Frey. You will never get a better chance than this. It will also bring peace to this whole island."
After discussing amongst themselves everyone agreed.
Seeing that everyone was on board, Alex told them his plans that he had thought for the Merchant Union and Lord Frey in the north...
...
It was night time, the adults had gone to sleep in the rooms that were allocated to them in the mansion. Alex wanted to sneak into Selena's room at midnight to spend some time with her but all his plans were squashed when Selena invited Anna to sleep together.
Being dejected, Alex decided to go and torture Joseph for the night and possibly force him to open the Interspatial Storage Ring as he didn't have a need to sleep for more than two hours every day after cultivating with the Unnamed Cultivation Technique. Alex can go without sleep for a month if he wants but more than that would put a lot of stress on his body.
At the prison where the war criminals have been kept, Alex entered the place to see Joseph and the others being kept in different cells.
The puppets were keeping their eye on them so that they do not try to escape the prison. Alex wanted Joseph to open the ring in his hands but he was not cooperating at all.
Master Clayton had already asked him that he wanted to deal with this guy by himself tomorrow and that's why Alex had still not let his puppets torture Joseph until now or getting him to open the ring by now would not have been a problem at all.
"Joseph, what's stored in this ring. Open it up." Alex tried to ask him nicely but he only got a no in reply.
"Joseph, I am being nice when I ask you to open this ring."
Joseph kept his mouth shut and didn't respond.
"Do you prefer getting tortured first until you decide to cooperate. Is that what you want?"
"Do anything you want? I will not open that ring. I am telling, you will regret becoming enemies with my sect. You don't know how...humm, hummmm, hum" Alex simply stuffed his mouth with a smelly rag to make him shut up.
"Alright, I don't want to listen to you blabbering how great and how terrifying opposing your sect will be for me. I will deal with them when they come here but you and your friends still have to die no matter what." Alex sighed as he couldn't get anything from him.
"I can tell you what's in that ring if you promise to take a devil oath to release me." Suddenly, a person's voice sounded from the adjacent cell.
"Oh! you are Arnet, right! You know what's in this ring." Alex looked at him with interest.
Arnet was bound to the walls with chains just like every prisoner here.
"I know but I will only tell you after you take a devil's oath to release me and let me go out from this island safely."
Alex looked at him like he was an idiot. He knew the dangers of taking the devil's oath as a cultivator so of course, he will not do that for stupid things as getting to know what's in the ring.
"Don't tell me something like it has everyday essentials for cultivators or some spirit stones stored inside it. Anyone can guess that. Also, I am just curious about what's in it and nothing more..."