After a burst of green light, Mothra's form slowly solidified.

Eventually, the guy just turned into a bigger version of Tinkerbell.

"Wow! What do you think? Isn't it cool?"

He buzzed around, wings fluttering excitedly—honestly, not that different from before. But Abel could feel it.

The energy was different.

Stronger.

It felt like Mothra had doubled in power in an instant.

Everything alive, no matter how powerful, grew in steps. But Moss had just tossed that logic out the window like it didn't matter.

All from a few encouraging words?

Abel tilted his head. So if I praise him more, will he grow threefold?

No way. That couldn't be right.

Still curious, Abel tried saying the same compliments a few more times. Of course, Moss only shrugged, unimpressed. Nothing else changed.

"What else has changed, besides the fact that you got bigger?" Abel asked.

"The vessel expanded. I can take in more of the earth's energy now."

"What about the spirit tree?"

"I don't know. That wasn't even my job to begin with."

Yeah, fair point.

The spirit tree hadn't been created on purpose. It just showed up as a side effect while Mothra was sucking up earth energy.

Still, they might as well experiment a bit.

Abel grabbed Mothra by the back of the neck and dragged him toward the second sector.

"Let's try something."

"What?"

"You know. That thing you do with the earth's energy."

"Ah, right. I needed to recharge anyway. I've been starving since I grew. Just wait a bit."

Mothra flopped onto the ground, closed his eyes tightly, and… just stayed there.

Abel stared, confused. All this talk about tapping into the earth's energy, and he was basically taking a nap.

He looked at Vargas with a raised eyebrow, but Vargas was already glancing at the surrounding trees—then broke into laughter.

"Hehehehe!"

"What?" Abel asked.

"This is crazy good!"

"Why? Looks the same to me."

"No, no. The rate of change in the environment has more than doubled. At this pace, we could cut sector transition time down to six months!"

"…"

Abel was speechless.

So all it took was a few compliments?

No, honestly, it sounded more like gaslighting. He'd only said those things to push Mothra into working harder—maybe mass-produce a few more spirit trees.

Still, he kept that part to himself.

At the end of the day, it was working.

Spirit wood was an amazing resource, but production volume was way too low.

If things kept going like this, the Perias area and the Duchy of Crawford could produce a steady supply.

If the business goes as planned…

But something in his gut twisted.

"I've got a feeling," Abel muttered, "some huge interference is coming."

---

The Next Day

Just like he'd feared, a problem with the spirit tree came up at the Crawford State Council meeting.

"There's a rumor that goods produced behind Mount Berkal are being exported to the Empire."

"Then we should've had proper procedures in place, like setting tariffs," another official added.

Several senior nobles had already been pushed out, but the bureaucrats still clung to power like mold on old bread.

It was like a classic noble cabal.

The Empire had its own infighting, sure—but at least they fought each other.

Here in Crawford, they just tried to box in the royal family.

Was this opposition for the sake of opposing?

Abel looked at the shouting officials and gave them a cold smile.

They didn't care about the Duchy's welfare.

What they wanted was to secure their own power base and keep their influence intact.

Soon, the officials quieted and looked at Abel, clearly expecting him to respond.

To be fair, their arguments weren't entirely wrong.

Crawford and the Empire might have a good relationship, but they were still separate countries.

Still, they were missing the point.

You think I'm just another bureaucrat like you?

Why would a giant like the Dapan Group invest in this remote place?

It wasn't for money.

It was to help protect the Duchy's royal family—because Crawford was hanging on a thin thread, internally and externally.

Abel's goal wasn't about hoarding power or wealth.

He wanted to change this place.

To make it fairer. Stronger. More just.

He wasn't just following orders from the Emperor.

He wanted to make a society where people were actually happy to live.

And that meant fixing the broken system from within.

Abel's eyes moved around the room, landing on a particular man.

A big-bellied official with a ridiculous wig curled like overcooked noodles—Bazzix Soltry.

He was part of the Soltry family, whose actual head was Izkaya, Princess Justia's husband. But Izkaya had no real power.

The uncles controlled everything.

And Bazzix was one of the key players in Crawford's power game.

So what are you gonna do, Izkaya? Can you even move without their permission?

Abel nodded coolly and spoke.

"Of course it should be taxed. It's an export item."

"How much do you plan on charging?" Bazzix asked. "The Empire charges 8%, but since it's valuable, shouldn't we raise it?"

Abel smirked.

They didn't even know what the spirit tree was used for yet.

All they knew was that Dapan Group was interested. That was enough for them to pretend they were financial geniuses.

"How do you know if it's valuable or not?" Abel asked.

"If it weren't, the Dapan Group wouldn't be here," Bazzix replied smugly.

Now the other officials joined in, all nodding in unison.

"I heard Dapan is huge in the Empire."

"If they're here, the product must be worthwhile."

"We should raise the basic tariff."

"How about 20%?"

"Too low. Make it 30%."

It was almost laughable how quickly they agreed—like pigs squealing in harmony.

But they didn't know the full picture.

If Abel wanted to, he could just move the spirit tree production elsewhere.

Not that he planned to.

But that didn't mean he'd let them squeeze him for 30%.

He looked at them all and thought, You're about to learn who you're dealing with.