"The patriarch is currently in scheduled seclusion," the man's secretary reported as soon as Theo approached the reception desk located right in the entry hallway of the big man's mansion. "He should return in about half an hour."
Such was the reality of living as a royal hostage in a marquis's sect. Theo was important enough for the patriarch to make time for him as soon as he could fit it into his schedule… but not important enough for the man to just ignore his daily cultivation session for his sake.
"Thanks," Theo nodded his head. "In that case, I will wait outside. Today's weather, even at night, is too precious to waste by staying inside without a proper reason."
There was no need for Theo to be rude to the receptionist just because he had to wait. She was simply doing her job and was in no way at fault for this expected delay.
'While it was obvious this would happen, its still a pain to waste time doing nothing like that.'
Theo sighed before removing himself from the mansion's entry hall and returning to the gardens outside. There, he ventured to one of the small hills with aromatic herbs planted all over the place and one or two stone benches standing for those wishing to relax in the garden's fragrant atmosphere.
For Theo, however, this place held a much different advantage.
Its elevation.
It was only a few meters higher than the rest of patriarch's otherwise flat gardens, way too little for Theo to be able to look above some of sect's buildings. And yet, even with those obstructing his view of the sect as a whole, his height advantage was still sufficient for him to get a general look around.
He could remember every little detail of the manor area's layout. With a societal ban on how high he could rise in his cultivation, scouring the place for all its tiniest secrets became one of Theo's few sources of amusement that helped him to pass time.
Still, even if this whole area was pretty much mapped out in his memories, it still felt better to just take a proper look at it while already planning ahead.
'Since I'm forced to stay and wait, I might as well figure out what to do after I subjugate the patriarch!'
Refusing the very notion of wasting time by doing nothing, Theo took a deep breath before relaxing as he released said breath from his lungs, allowing his eyes to wander without pattern or goal, hoping they would just latch onto something he wouldn't be able to notice before.
And quite soon, thanks to his new perspective gained after living in a much more developed part of the world, Theo came to a very simple realization.
'Just how poor is this place?'
The buildings were grand and awe-inspiring, sure. But that was only on the surface. Below it, they were all just a relic of the past, a heritage the sect clung onto in a bid to maintain its status among all the other vassals.
Below the grandeur of those selected few buildings, though, this whole place was so poor, it was outright depressing.
The only upside of this sect, an aspect inherent to its geographical location at the very frontier of the kingdom, was the overabundance of the farmable land. A quirk the patriarchs of the sect took great advantage of in the past, laying down the foundations for agriculture that now provided everyone in the sect with as much food as they needed. Beyond that, though?
The streets were dirty, with the sewage flowing directly in the open channels and thus inviting great illness. There was no industry to provide the sect with something to sell, forcing them to rely on the military subsidies from both the crown and the duke to keep the treasury somewhat balanced which, in turn, left them at the crown's and duke's mercy.
'From this angle, this place really feels like just a glorified mercenary company,' Theo thought, gritting his teeth.
For the foreseeable future, he would have to cope with the lack of basic comforts his old self was perfectly used to. And now that his new, reborn self knew of those 'luxuries' like proper sewage, access to clean water or clean streets…
"Restoring this place to what it can be is going to take much more work than I thought it would."
This was the benefit of taking a fresh look at the sect, especially now that Theo's perspective had changed. Now, he could see the things that he was blind to before. And while that allowed him to start making some plans for after he would deal with the patriarch…
He still had to deal with the man in question himself.
'With those,' Theo's hand involuntarily moved down to the pouch where he stored his pebbles and the one special stone he went out of his way to find, 'dealing with him is going to be easy. The question is…'
"Mister Theo!" the receptionist came out from the mansion and called out just loud enough for her voice to reach Theo's ears. "The patriarch is about to leave his seclusion. If you could make your way inside…"
Theo sighed and stood up from the bench upon which he sat, patting his robe down to free it from the dust before turning back to the mansion.
Yet, even as he walked back, ready for the big and sudden coup d'état… or rather, judging by the state this sect was in—coup de grâce—this one question lingered in his mind.
'Should I deal with him using force?' Theo asked himself while feeling the weight of the pebbles in his pouch. Then, his smile relaxed a little. 'Or should I just buy him out with wealth?' he thought as his fingers, through the fabric of his pouch, touched the lone, big stone instead.