"Yeah, see, I have the fact that I'm still young and learning as an excuse - not that I need it, because if I rush in no one but me pays the price for stupidity. You're an adult, and were, and you had people relying on you to not fuck up." He gave a small snort. "At least I've learned not to drag others down with me."
"I prefer strength." He reached for his own drink at least, cocoa, and drank deeply before continuing. "I don't care for most of the objects that can be bought with money, nor do I really care about political power. But strength, actual strength, you can't just bribe your way to being strong. And yeah, you usually gotta earn money and political power in some way, you can still scam people out of both."