《Magic meets Progress》


 Book 1 - Chapter 1 - Leaving (Myra)

    I stood in front of the door, my palms sweaty. My life would change dramatically from this day onwards. I had spent last night rolling in bed getting no sleep, only pondering the future.


    Yesterday had been my 17<sup>th</sup> birthday. Unruly and unkempt short black hair framed my nondescript face. My body¡¯s only feature I liked were my lavender colored eyes. They formed a stark contrast to my almost white skin. I was small for my age, only about 1.60 meters and painfully thin, malnutrition causing both.


    I knocked on the door then entered the room. A man in his early forties sat behind a cheap wooden desk. As if to mock me, the bright sunshine illuminated the otherwise dark room. Some may take this to be a good omen. A bright day to start a bright future. But I know my future wasn¡¯t bright.


    Sighing inwards I stepped forward, gave the man a shallow bow and spoke: ¡°Good morning headmaster. You wished to speak to me?¡± I already knew what he wanted to speak about. But through the etiquette lessons I got here, I learned to ask first to be considered respectful.


    ¡°Yes, hello Myra. Please take a seat. You have been living in the orphanage for the last 16 years. Sadly, we can¡¯t provide for you any longer. As I¡¯m sure you understand, today you have to leave the orphanage. We provided you with skills which will enable you to find work. And with great relieve I heard you already found a position as a servant for a family?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right, sir. The Laundrial¡¯s took me as a maid.¡±


    ¡°You have done well to get such a position. It can¡¯t have been easy, especially for you, one of the few people with no magical ability.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure you are nervous since your whole life is about to change. You will be responsible for yourself from now on. But see it as a chance, it might be better than you imagine.¡±


    As he said that, the sun brightened even more, as to confirm his words. What a joke. What else can a girl without magic do? I couldn¡¯t even see magic, if someone used it.


    Trying to keep the misery out of my face and replied: ¡°Thank you for the kind words, headmaster. I will always keep the orphanage in high regards. You saved my life by taking me in.¡±


    The headmaster looked at me, his cheery mask falling. He saw right through me. ¡°Listen, Myra. I know your life is harder than most being a magicless. But you have potential. You are smart. Nobody I ever taught learned writing and math as fast as you did. Perhaps try to become an accountant or something in this direction.¡±


    I wasn¡¯t sure what to respond. I liked the headmaster. He never treated me differently only because I had no magical abilities. But both of us knew I wouldn¡¯t ever become much more than a maid. Even as an accountant one needed to use magic, like in almost every job.


    After getting my thoughts straight I answered: ¡°Thank you for the advice, sir. Maybe I will get a better job at some point.¡± It isn¡¯t worth telling the truth. Even if he cared, he wouldn¡¯t be able to change anything.


    ¡°I can tell that you don¡¯t believe me. But you will see everything will work out.¡± After a short pause he continued. ¡°And now you have to leave. I wish you the best of luck for your future.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, headmaster. If I ever get the chance, I will repay the orphanage.¡± They always did their best to keep us safe and healthy. But due to lack of funds, there never was enough food for everyone. And when the strong felt hunger, they took from the weak, which turned out to be always me.


    I walked down the stairs to get to the exit, when suddenly the foot I stood on slipped and I crashed face first down the stairs. Luckily, I was almost at the bottom and didn¡¯t fall too far. Also, this wasn¡¯t the first time I lost my footing for no apparent reason, so I knew how to fall to avoid further injuring myself.


    I lay on the floor breathing heavy. From down the corridor I heard snickering. It sucked having no magic. The other kids in the orphanage always enjoyed playing pranks on me, since I could never retaliate. Also, they seemed to hate me for no reason.


    ¡°Look, the freak is finally leaving. I still don¡¯t understand why the orphanage accepted you. You won¡¯t ever reach anything anyway and will just die on the streets.¡± Four kids stood around me, looking down and laughing at my obvious pain. I didn¡¯t reply, provoking them would just make it harder.


    ¡°You are as toothless as ever. But what to expect from a cripple?¡±


    Another one kid answered: ¡°Nothing. She eats our food and is nothing but a strain on us.¡±


    Again, they laughed. I was used to this, and this was the last time I had to endure it. Still anger swelled in my chest. I had done nothing to them and they humiliated and hurt me. I didn¡¯t understand why. Finally, I got up and left as fast as possible not looking back at them. They let me go. I won¡¯t miss them.


    The orphanage was in Waterside, one of the poorer districts in Gloomchester. From there I walked to the Haven District where my new home would be. Home is the wrong word. It is going to be even more crowded than the orphanage.


    I entered the house and went to the second floor. There were four rooms, three used for sleeping, each the size of four by six steps. Every room held three beds, enough for 18 people. That was because half the people here had night jobs and therefore didn¡¯t need the bed at this time. The other half, me included, had day jobs, and required no bed during the day. The last room was a bath/kitchen. One step down from the living conditions I was used to.


    A woman walked up to me and said: ¡°Hey girl, you must be the new one. You sleep in the third room. I am Ellis by the way. If you need help or have questions just ask me.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Ellis, my name is Myra,¡± I replied in a quiet voice.


    Ellis had a tanned skin, broad shoulders for a woman and a solid, muscular build, towering before me, being at least one head taller than me. She radiated self-assurance. She was maybe in her mid-twenties. She looked rather intimidating. Her only soft feature were her eyes, sparkling like blue diamonds.


    ¡°Oh, a quiet one. Where do you work?¡±Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    I had to strain my head to look her in the eyes. After a moment I decided it took too much effort, and I stared at my feet. ¡°I will work as a servant for one of the rich families. They live in Eastgate.¡±


    Her features darkened. I was afraid I somehow angered her, but when she saw my worried face, she calmed herself and told me: ¡°Be careful when dealing with the rich. They don¡¯t care about anyone but themselves. The live of commoners matters nothing to them.¡±


    ¡°And where do you work?,¡± I asked before I could stop myself, wondered what experiences she had to make such a statement.


    ¡°I had worked in factories. If you haven¡¯t worked there, you won¡¯t understand what it¡¯s like. It¡¯s dangerous and the factory owners only concern is profit. I have seen many coworkers die or get heavily injured during their work. But to be fair, not every rich person is that bad. Some even pay fair wages or support the common people by building care centers. Maybe your family will be nice.¡±


    That I hope too. ¡°Thank you for telling me.¡±


    ¡°No problem. As I said, if you need help, ask me. Now I have to get going. Today is my only free day and I have some things to take care of.¡±


    What a person. I don¡¯t think I have ever seen someone this self-assured. But she didn¡¯t tell me what she did for a living, only what she had done. Perhaps something to ask her at a later date.


    After Ellis left, I took a stroll around the Haven District. Everywhere I looked I was able to see the results of magic. Heavy cargo containers floated above the ground, coming from the ships, which docked in the haven. One person at the front pulling lightly on a rope attached to the container was enough to move it.


    In the sky I could see carriages flying like birds, powered by some strange runic magic. The arch mages¡¯ towers looked like gigantic black needles, towering hundreds of meter high. On a marketplace merchants spoke in voices far too loud and smooth sounding to be natural. Low tier magicians performed tricks using their limited magic.


    I envied all of them and would have traded my life with every single one. In a society where almost everyone had magic, having no magic meant exclusion and a terrible live. I could do almost no job and was unimaginably vulnerable to magical attacks since I couldn¡¯t defend myself or even see the attack most of the time.


    When evening came, I got back to my living quarters and went into the kitchen to find something to drink. And that¡¯s when my problems started. To get water one had to push mana into a device which would then use it to pump water up here. I had no magic so I couldn¡¯t use it. Also, since I had spent all my life being bullied for being magicless, I didn¡¯t want to promote my inability and draw the others¡¯ ire.


    I lay down on an empty bed. I was extremely nervous about starting to work tomorrow so I had problems falling asleep at first. But my lack of sleep from yesterday caught up with me and I soon fell asleep.


    The next day came too quick. I woke up when I heard the closest bell tower ringing, feeling like I slept an hour. But I had to get up. I didn¡¯t want to imagine what would happen if I turned up too late on my first day. On the outside it was still dark, but many people were on the street.


    Spring wasn¡¯t quite here yet; the air still held a chill to it. As I walked I had to be careful not to bump into people, the streets were crowded. Carts, some hovering, some on wheels and the street¡¯s general tightness made it seem like I was in a river and being pulled by it.


    The closer I got to the Eastgate the wider the streets became and the fewer people walked on it. The general mood changed. In the Haven you were surrounded by people but somehow still lonely. Trees lined the streets in the Eastgate District and one could occasionally see a water fountain or a park. Here everything was livelier.


    The properties were six or even ten times larger than in the Haven District. Front yards, which no one in the poorer districts had, lined the street, separated by sometimes small, sometimes large fences.


    I finally stopped in front of the Laundrial¡¯s mansion. The front yard was well looked after. The house was clean, not even the occasional streak of filth dirtying the facade. Now I was unsure of what to do. Should I just walk down the main entrance and ask where to go? No, servants were supposed to use the servant¡¯s entrance. But where was it? Damn, what now?


    This was just what I feared would happen. Me messing up before I even began. My anxiety rose, always close to the surface. I felt rooted in place, unable to decide on how to continue.


    As I still stood there shocked into motionlessness, a girl walked up to me. She didn¡¯t look like she was rich, her clothes were wrinkled, but well taken care of. Her long blond hair and pretty face made her look quite attractive. I didn¡¯t know what to do, so I just waited for her to start the conversation. And started it, she did.


    ¡°Hey there, are you the new one, working for the Laundrial¡¯s?¡±


    I was about to answer affirmative, but she didn¡¯t let me and continued.


    ¡°You must be. I watched you, you were watching everything like you never been here. I had the same expression the first time I came. Come on, I will show you where to start. I¡¯m Ari.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Myra, thank you,¡± I replied, taken aback by her enthusiasm. At least she seemed to be nice. Maybe working here wouldn¡¯t be as bad as I expected.


    Ari led me towards the servant¡¯s entrance and then to a bath. On the way there she helped me pick my servant outfit. It was held simple, in black and white.


    ¡°The Laundrial¡¯s provide us with clothing and a shower. They don¡¯t want their servants to be dirty and stinking, especially when there are guests around. I showered at home so I don¡¯t have to take one, you should though. I¡¯ll be around once you finished. You can use the shower just like any other.¡±


    With these words she turned away to do her duties. I panicked, I couldn¡¯t start the shower, if it was like every other shower. As I stood there unsure of what to do, Ari walked away.


    ¡°Ari, please wait,¡± I almost shouted, ¡°I need help with the shower.¡±


    She came back. ¡°Huh? It is easy don¡¯t worry. You just have to push some magic into the apparatus to start the water and then just heat it.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the problem,¡± I replied. Would she mock me like everyone in the orphanage once she knew? Would this turn into the horror the orphanage had been? No way around it, sadly. In a quiet voice I continued: ¡°I can¡¯t use or see magic. I can¡¯t start the shower.¡±


    ¡°Oh. Oh my, I heard there were such people, but I never met one. My mom once told me one of her coworkers knew someone who¡­ Never mind, I will help you start the shower. But you will have to shower cold, I need to start my duties.¡±


    I was close to tears. Relief flooded me, she didn¡¯t mock me and she would even help. A thin smile spread across my face. ¡°Thank you so much. I am used to showering in cold water, so don¡¯t worry about that.¡±


    True to her word she turned on the shower then left. I got cleaned, then noticed the next problem. There was nothing to dry myself with. My debate whether to get into my working attire still wet, was interrupted when Ari knocked on the door and asked: ¡°Are you ready?¡±


    ¡°Is there a towel somewhere to dry myself with?¡±


    ¡°No, use the hair dryer if you can¡¯t do it by magic. Oh right, I will come in and activate it.¡± With these words she entered the room, threw me a short glance then went to a small contraption on the wall, I hadn¡¯t noticed yet. She touched it and it started blowing hot wind out from its front.


    ¡°Use this, I will wait outside. But don¡¯t take too long, we need to get started.¡±


    I took the hair dryer, trying to get myself dry as fast as possible. Because of my short hair, it didn¡¯t take too long. After I got dressed, I went outside the room where Ari waited.


    ¡°Today you will work with me. We will spend most our time with cleaning hallways.¡± And with this we were off. The work was hard, but with Ari it was almost nice. She liked to talk all the time. But it didn¡¯t bother me. I found her stories about her family and her opinions about all different matters interesting.


    According to her, her father and mother had both landed good jobs and as such they had a relatively high income. Furthermore, they owned their own small house on the outskirts of Gloomchester.


    As she talked, my thoughts drifted to my surrounding. And it made me kind of angry. These hallways were ridiculously large and there were so many unused rooms. In this manor alone, there was enough space for fifty or more people to live, but the family only consisted of six. So much wasted space. Nothing I can do about it. At least everything here looks nice.


    At the end of the work day I was completely spent. I fell into the bed and was asleep immediately.

 Book 1 - Chapter 2 - Changes (Myra)

    I walked down the corridors of the orphanage, when I suddenly froze. It wasn¡¯t the freezing one does when they are shocked. From one step to the next I couldn¡¯t move a muscle, and since I took a step at that moment my momentum took me further and I landed face first on the ground. I recognized the familiar sting of bruises forming where I had hit the ground.


    I made out laughter coming from behind me. It was them again. They always bullied me and I could never stop them. At the beginning, when they started throwing spells at me I could neither see nor block, I had cried and asked them why they hated me so much. Now I felt empty and endured. Talking to them had changed nothing and trying to defend myself was useless. It only resulted in them laughing more.


    ¡°Hey there, retard. Why are you lying on the ground? Oh right, you can¡¯t defend yourself.¡±


    They all snickered. The reason they do this, is because they know without me they will be the weakest. They are only first tier mages.


    ¡°It is boring if you just ignore our polite attempts to make conversation. How about we change the setup a bit?¡± With a flick of his hand I rose feet first until I touched the ceiling. As I looked down, the bottom seemed to be dozens of meters away.


    ¡°Beg us to let you down, and we will consider it.¡±


    I tried to speak, but due to the solidification spell they put on me, I was unable to even move my mouth.


    Waiting for a few moments for an answer that wouldn¡¯t come, they finally said: ¡°Well if you feel you are too good to talk to us, we will just let you hang there.¡±


    They left laughing. My blood rushed into my head, making me become dizzy. I hung there for what I perceived to be hours. In reality I knew it couldn¡¯t have been that long, since these guys¡¯ magic was weak and no spell they cast persisted that long. Then suddenly the solidification spell broke. That allowed me to move, at least my upper body.


    I rolled my shoulders to get the stiffness out of them. Right at this moment the spell gluing my feet to the ceiling ran out. I wasn¡¯t ready at all and screamed as the ground neared my face.


    I woke with a start. The scream still lingering on my lips. I looked around. The room was empty, my roommates having already left for work. At least I didn¡¯t wake anyone. I got my sweat soaked body out of bed, feeling the tiredness in my bones.


    Two years ago I left the orphanage, but from time to time I had these dreams, reminding me of the past. I definitely don¡¯t want to go back there.


    But my live right now isn¡¯t better. Instead of being tormented by everyone around me, most of the people were nice to me.


    In the orphanage I often had no idea what to do with my time. I had to do chores, and we had lessons, but most of the day was still free. Now I had no free time at all. I woke up early in the morning worked until late at night. And then slept.


    If I were a candle I would be burning on both sides. During the last two years, my energy slowly leaked out of me. Two years ago, I was thin, now my body consisted of only skin and bones, my cheeks were fallen in and my eyes held a distant, almost apathetic look. One of those days I will collapse and that¡¯s it then.


    On the way to the Laundrial¡¯s mansion I stopped at a local bakery to spend some of my meager income on something to eat and drink. While sitting there and eating, I listened in on the conversation three factory workers were having.


    ¡°I tell you, it can¡¯t go on like this. Perhaps the Torchbearers have a point¡±, one man said. He wore dirty and old rags and had a dominant scar showing across his face.


    ¡°Are you stupid? These idiots will just get themselves and everyone following them killed,¡± the only woman of the group told him.


    ¡°I agree. There is no point in rebelling. Everyone who has power isn¡¯t poor. We may be many, but even a tier seven mage can kill dozens of us. The problem is that everyone who is at tier five or higher can just get a good job or go adventuring and live the rest of their life comfortable. The best we have are a few tier three mages,¡± a pessimistic looking man added.


    Scarface replied: ¡°But we are still far more. I overheard that over 90% of the population is tier three or below and poor. We need to do something. How am I ever going to support a wife and kids if I can barely support myself?¡±


    As the group continued to argue, I thought about what they had said. The torchbearers were an underground group trying to get the masses to rebel against the wealthy and powerful. They were morons. How would even thousands of low tier mages win against the arch mages who could raise mountains and tame dragons? No way was anything changing the status quo.


    On my way to the Laundrial¡¯s I passed by a black metal construction, a mana node. They were strewn across the city forming the mana grid delivering mana across the whole city. Ari told me she saw mana flowing of the node like water off a fountain. I, of course, saw nothing.


    Working for the Laundrial¡¯s was ok. They left the servants who did their work right alone and unbothered. But they also behaved like they were miles above a simple servant. The real problem was that they expected us to work ridiculous hours. And for many of us, me included, changing the job was not an option, so we had to put up with it.


    Passing through the servant¡¯s entrance, Ari greeted me. ¡°Hi Myra, how are you doing? Did you get enough sleep last evening?¡± I swear she sounded cheery just to spite me.


    ¡°Hello Ari. How can you be so happy? And why are you asking me questions, you know the answer to? I¡¯m doing as always and no,¡± I replied in a dry voice.


    She just chuckled and replied: ¡°Don¡¯t be so down. Life will be easier if you just look at its good sides. We have known each other since you started working here and you are still way too gloomy.¡± From time to times she was getting on my nerves with her happy-go-lucky attitude. But she was also the closest person to a friend I had, despite our different views on life.


    ¡°The lord and lady are getting visitors and the whole building needs to be cleaned again. Add this to our regular duties and we will have a busy and long day,¡± Ari said.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t every day busy? I¡¯m getting showered and change into the working attire. Can you please turn on the devices?,¡± I asked. Ari did so.


    After getting showered and dressed, I spent the whole day cleaning up various rooms. It was hard work. My back aching and my stomach rumbling, my thoughts focused on the silver lining. Every time the Laundrial¡¯s got visitors they had far too much food prepared for them. The servants became the food not eaten.


    At the beginning I had been mad at such a wasteful lifestyle. Now I always looked forward to getting my share of the meal. It tasted heavenly, like nothing I ever had before.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    Outside the sun started to set, but inside the mansion Ari and I still prepared everything for the guests. This included setting the table and preparing the guest quarters. Everyone was in a hectic mood, the head cook screaming at his staff, the head maid working us tirelessly and even Lord Laundrial paced around at the manor¡¯s entrance.


    The guests seemed to be important if everyone was that nervous. For me, it made little difference who came since servants were beneath the notice of any important person. Also, good servants were not supposed to be seen or to be heard. That¡¯s why I wasn¡¯t concerned or excited about the visitors.


    Ari behaved differently. ¡°Who do you think is coming? The head servant didn¡¯t answer my questions,¡± she exclaimed.


    I sighed and replied: ¡°Who cares? No matter who they are, we probably won¡¯t even see them.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be such a down. Maybe I will even catch the eye of one guest. Would be a sure way to an easier life.¡± Shaking my head about her silly ideas, I made out the head servant¡¯s voice shouting: ¡°The guests are arriving.¡±


    ¡°Come on,¡± I said to Ari, ¡°we better go hide somewhere. You know, servants and not to be seen, and so on.¡± I dragged her toward the kitchens, where we ended up carrying the meals upstairs and another servant brought them to the table. Through the door leading into the dining hall I saw our guests. There were one young woman at about my age and elderly male, probably her father talking to the head of the family. They had enormous amounts of food placed on the table in front of them. Much more than they could ever eat. And the servants would get everything they couldn¡¯t eat. This alone almost made the job acceptable.


    Apart from the food there were also bottles of alcohol being served. But since the servants were not given the left-over alcohol, and I had stayed away from buying anything like that with my money, I had never tried any. This was mostly because I had seen what alcohol does to poor people. I had seen and heard of many cases where people lost their work or parts of their body because they came drunk. Some even spent all their meager income on alcohol and could not pay rent or buy food. Yeah, I did not want to end like that.


    The rest of the evening continued to be very hectic. After helping to bring the leftovers back to the servant¡¯s room, the head servant allowed all of us to eat. The meal was delicious. But I also wondered why they needed to prepare so much food that even after three persons ate, it was still enough to sate the hunger of five servants and the cooking staff. But well, I was happy about it.


    I sat next to Ari eating when the head maid walked up to us and said: ¡°Myra, Ari our guest¡¯s daughter has asked that a bath is being prepared for her. Will you bring the water to the second guest room and heat it?¡± Head servant Ersta was a small and sturdy woman in her late forties. She was strict and a bit too stiff but mostly fair. I liked her.


    Ari and I stood up our meals almost finished we went to get buckets filled them with water and carried it to the second guest chamber. The room was large and decorated with a lot of golden and red colors. In the middle of the room was an enormous bed. Next to it stood a massive oak desk with a comfortable-looking chair. We got a bathtub from a nearby room and placed it in a corner of the room which was specifically made for this.


    After a second round of fetching water, we filled the tub to an acceptable amount. ¡°Okay now we just need to heat it. I am going to get the heating stone. You can wait here if you want,¡± I offered to Ari.


    Ari accepted, and I left to fetch the heating stone. When I came back a few minutes later I found Ari happily chatting with the lady I saw earlier at the dinner.


    ¡°Oh, hey Myra, guess who I met. This is Alicia Lachester, she is one of the guests we have today.¡±


    Shock flooded my body. This is bad. Why is Ari talking to someone important this casually? I curtsied and replied, trying to keep the shacking out of my voice: ¡°It is a pleasure to meet you, my lady.¡±


    They both looked at me and laughed. I flushed red. What had I done wrong? This was how I was supposed to great one of high standing. I wanted to apologize for whatever I had done wrong, but before words left my mouth, Alicia spoke. ¡°Relax Myra, Ari and me are old friends and I don¡¯t care about protocol when in private. You can talk to me normally.¡±


    That was new. I never met someone of a family this down to earth. She seemed nice. I gathered all my courage and said: ¡°May I ask how you know each other?¡±


    Before Alicia could answer, Ari told me: ¡°My mother works for Alicia¡¯s mother. When I was young Alicia, and I often played together. Back then mom didn¡¯t want me to be alone at home all the day, so she asked whether it was ok to bring me. Alicia¡¯s mother gave her ok and the rest of it is history.¡±


    They continued talking about the time they spent together and I was content to listen. It sounded like their childhood had been great. I wish mine had been something else than terrible.


    Suddenly I remembered why Ari and I were here. So, I waited for a pause in their conversation and when it came I said: ¡°Before we forget, here is the heating stone.¡± I gave it to Ari, expecting her to activate it and drop it into the water. She turned to do so. But then she stopped, and she seemed to have gotten an idea.


    ¡°Hey Alicia, you are knowledgeable in magic right? Myra is magicless. Are there any cures to it?¡±


    Why did she tell her? I didn¡¯t want anyone to know about it. Shame and anger filled me. Alicia looked at me with surprise and pity. I don¡¯t need anyone¡¯s pity. But apart from these negative emotions I became a bit hope full. Maybe there is a way to fix my condition. I quelled these thoughts down immediately. Hope had never helped me, it just led to disappointment.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry to hear that Myra. Being magicless can have many reasons. It may be inborn, because of an accident or the cause could be something else. If it is due to some accident, and the damage isn¡¯t too heavy your abilities will regenerate in time. But I don¡¯t think you had such an accident?¡±


    I shook my head, looking down. Why did I always feel shame when I talk about this? It isn¡¯t my fault. ¡°I had it all my life.¡±


    ¡°Are you a true magicless?,¡± when she saw the question in my face she continued. ¡°There are three bodily abilities for magic, the ability to use and see magic and the ability to store mana. You cannot survive without being able to store mana. Your body needs it to function. Someone who is a true magicless can neither see nor use mana. If only one of those abilities is missing you can try to compensate.¡±


    When I didn¡¯t answer immediately, Ari cut in. ¡°Myra is a true magicless. She can do neither.¡±


    ¡°Then, I¡¯m sorry to tell you, that there is no way to help you. But there are a lot of progress in magic right now. Perhaps there will be a way in the future.¡±


    I already expected the answer, but a the sting of hopelessness and frustration still shot through me. If she didn¡¯t know of a way, there was none. I would stay a cripple for the rest of my life.


    ¡°Now I need to take a bath and then talk to my father.  I hope we see each other again tomorrow. It has been nice to make your acquaintance, Myra.¡±


    With these words we left and went back to eating our meal.


    ¡°It has been nice meeting Alicia again. I¡¯m sorry I told her you were magicless. I hoped she might know how to fix it.¡±


    She only meant well, I shouldn¡¯t take out my frustration on my only friend. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. It was a good idea. Alicia is nice.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, she is. And she is really skilled in magic. When both of us were four, she had the brilliant idea¡­¡± And Ari was in her element, telling me everything about Alicia¡¯s experiments to learn a flight spell and the results. It turned out to be a funny story, and it brought my good mood back.


    When we finished with the meal and I was about to head back home, Ari stopped. She gazed seriously at me. Ari and serious? That didn¡¯t fit. I¡¯m not sure I¡¯ll like what¡¯s coming. She said: ¡°Listen, Myra, I want to talk to you about something. You cannot continue to live the way you do. Sleep and work is everything you do and still you are not rested. You won¡¯t make the next year if you don¡¯t cut down on your time at work.¡±


    ¡°I know, but what should I do?¡± I always was tired and felt weak. ¡°Working less is not an option. My pay won¡¯t suffice otherwise.¡±


    ¡°I want to make you an offer. Please think about it before you reply.¡± She took a deep breath and continued. ¡°You can move in with me into my parent¡¯s home. There is enough space and my parents are ok with it.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not a charity case. I can take care of myself.¡±


    ¡°Just watch yourself in a mirror. You look like a corpse. Please, I¡¯m begging you, live with us. You are my best friend. I don¡¯t want to lose you.¡±


    The desperation in her voice got me thinking, but I focused only on one word. ¡°I¡¯m your best friend? I mean we get along well, but how can you actually like me?¡±


    ¡°Are you joking? You always listen to me going on and on about my live, without being annoyed, you are even mostly interested in it. No one else does that. Also, while you are pessimistic from time to time, it makes it worth more, when I get you to smile. I like you, don¡¯t doubt that.¡±


    My eyes watering, I rushed forward and hugged her. I wasn¡¯t a touchy person, so Ari was surprised at first, but then quickly hugged me back. My voice faltering, I told her: ¡°Thank you, no one ever told me that.¡±


    ¡°Myra. Come live with us please. If you don¡¯t want to be a charity case, you can pay rent, I do the same.¡±


    ¡°Well if it is ok, I would like to accept.¡±

 Book 1 - Chapter 3 - Meetings (Alicia)

    I leaned on the railing of my balcony overlooking Gloomchester. My family¡¯s estate was in Dawnshine, the most prestigious and wealthiest district in the whole city. From here the capital of the Laumanian Empire looked enormous. There are almost four million people living here. It would be strange if it wasn¡¯t huge.


    I felt a spring breeze rustling my blonde hair around my head. As I was enjoying this moment, I heard a knock on the door leading onto the balcony before Teresa my personal maid was opening it. ¡°Alicia, your father wishes your present in his office.¡± ¡°All right,¡± I replied, ¡°I¡¯m coming.¡±


    Leaving the balcony, I entered my sleeping chambers. My large bed was tempting me with its soft sheets, but I had work to do. I crossed my bedroom and my reception room and hurried to my father¡¯s office. On the way I passed several servants. I smiled and nodded at them. They bowed in return. It is always a good idea to be nice to the servants.


    The hallways in our mansion were always changing shape, direction and position. Without access to the map being projected in one¡¯s mind by the house¡¯s runic system, no one would be able to find their way around. This was protection against spies and assassins who would get lost as soon as they entered our halls. Also, I could use my desire to control the hallways layout to arrive at my destination faster.


    Because of my family¡¯s strong magical talent, most of everything in this house was controlled and supported by magic. In the baths the heat of the water was controlled by the activation of runes. Turning light on or off was handled by them. An inventory grid was spanning the whole house, allowing access to stored items from anywhere in it for registered people. Magic also controlled venting and security, supported cleaning and housekeeping and many more things.


    Arriving at his door a few minutes later, I knocked, and he asked me in. ¡°Hello, my dear daughter. I hope you are doing fine for we have a lot to discuss and work to do. Please sit down.¡±


    I took a seat and asked: ¡°I presume this is about our visit to the Laundrial¡¯s?¡±


    ¡°You are right. We, the Lachester¡¯s are one of the seven great families and since your grandfather¡¯s assassination, things haven¡¯t been easy for our family.¡± I could see the sadness in his eyes when he talked about grandfather''s death and I know mine reflected it. I missed him. Even though he was often busy, he always found time to play with me when I was a child.


    My father continued interrupting my depressing thoughts, ¡°The Laundrial¡¯s are a rising family. If we get a good relation to them, they may be valuable allies since they made their fortune by trading weaponry. When we meet them this evening, I want you to evaluate if they are the right allies for us. Our position is not weak and we are not desperate. Our business is going well and we are one of the top five most powerful families. Also, you deciding to get involved in the family¡¯s politics helps.¡±


    I had never much cared about politics being born with an above average talent for magic and because I started studying magic since an early age, I got very proficient in it. My grandfather being an arch mage and my family''s fortune helped. Also, I loved magic. The possibilities to form the world to your will were limitless. Thoughts about magic always raise my mood.


    To my father I replied: ¡°I looked into the Laundrial¡¯s and their rise to power. Betrayal and corruption are the base of it. They may have succeeded in tricking lower families, but I believe when they try this on the wealthier families they will fail. And they will fall.¡±


    ¡°They invited us to discuss a deal and we will listen to what they offer. We can always decline. Also, I am happy you looked into the matter. I worried what would happen to the family once you will take leadership of it.¡±


    ¡°Magic is just more interesting than politics. But I see why it is important even though it takes away time I could spend practicing and developing my magic. If I continue to get more involved in politics, becoming an arch mage will be farther away,¡± I said smiling.


    He laughed and replied: ¡°You are just like your grandfather. Like you, he found magic more interesting, but he also understood the power of politics and used it. If it means you get more involved in our politics, there won¡¯t be any problems with you becoming an arch mage later. You are far too young to become one, anyway. But now, you and I need to get ready for our visit. Don¡¯t forget to get a bag packed since we will stay overnight.¡±


    Our chauffeur landed the flying coach on the designated landing pad in front of the Laundrial¡¯s manor. These flying coaches were a work of art. The runic system making them fly was still beyond me, but I was getting the basics. They were somehow creating a force always countering gravity (unless you wanted to rise or land).


    Casting magic directly interested me more, so I was no expert in the runic field. Direct casting was far more flexible, but I also saw the advantages of using runes. Channeling mana in a rune was far easier than creating the spell by oneself. In the end, runes were nothing else but spells in a written shape.


    Runes, which were written down, but not supplied with mana were passive runes. They were inactive until you supplied the required amount of mana. Then they unleashed whatever they were meant to. This way one could create a complex spell and activate it when needed in seconds, instead of spending minutes trying to build the spell in one¡¯s head.


    From the coach I used my magical sight to check the runic defenses of the mansion. Powered runes always produced traces, which magic sight could pick up. Looking at the traces, I sighed. They were almost none existing. They either were too poor to implement any runic networks, or their runes were all passive.


    After leaving the coach, two servants escorted us into the mansion and to the dining hall. The business talk was supposed to be held over dinner. As we walked into the room a good-looking man in his early forties greeted us: ¡°Hello, it is a pleasure to meet both of you. Since we have not met each other, my name is Frederic Laundrial and I¡¯m the leader of this family.¡±


    We all shook hands, and he asked us to sit down on a large rectangular table. My father and me sat opposite of each other and next to Frederic Laundrial, who sat at the head of the table.


    ¡°Do you want anything to drink? We have the finest of wine.¡±


    I replied: ¡°I assume both of us would like to try the wine.¡± He waved with his hand and a servant waiting at the wall of the room hurried off to fetch the wine and glasses.


    With the wine, the food started appearing. And it didn¡¯t stop until they filled the whole table with it. I was throwing a questioning look to my father. This much food seemed to be ridiculous for three people. It was enough for a dozen. Does he want to impress us with his wealth? The wine he chose is also expensive. Is he trying to hide monetary problems? Our host¡¯s words interrupted my thoughts: ¡°The meal is served so please eat and drink your fill.¡±


    My father answered: ¡°Thank you. Let us toast to our generous host.¡± We toasted and started eating.


    The food and wine were delicious and far too much. For most of the meal we held pleasant small talk talking about nothing of importance. After the servants served the dessert, my father asked Lord Laundrial: ¡°So you mentioned a deal. What do you have in mind?¡±


    ¡°My family plans to not only sell but also produce weaponry. With this we hope to increase our power, and in a decade or two replace one of the great families.¡±


    My father asked: ¡°What do you expect us to do and what will we get for it?¡±


    ¡°We require dungeon materials to build the weapons. You are the largest supplier of them. We won¡¯t be able to pay anything up front, but if you deliver the materials, you will get 20% of our venture¡¯s profit.¡± As I looked at my father, he gave me a short nod. This was the signal for me to take over the conversation.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    ¡°Lord Laundrial, this deal seems to be unfair. We carry a high risk.¡±


    The lord was looking at me, a touch of anger showing in his eyes. He did not expect me to take part in the conversation. Still, he replied with a calm voice: ¡°This isn¡¯t an unfair deal. You give us materials and we produce and sell. You cannot produce and sell yourself. Also, you are missing the contacts.¡±


    ¡°As far as I know you have no experience in producing any goods. How can you assure us, you can do it?¡±


    ¡°Through my contacts I know the company ¡®Salarius Magus¡¯ is about to go bankrupt. They specialized in building magus weapons, and their production team will be without work soon. I will hire them as soon as you agree to the deal.¡±


    Salarius Magus is bankrupt? Their products were always first class. With their production team there should be no problem.


    I continued: ¡°All right. My father and I will contemplate your offer and we will continue talking tomorrow over breakfast. Would that be acceptable?¡±


    ¡°Yes, then I am looking forward to your answer tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°Also, might you please have a bath prepared for me in my room?¡±


    After giving a wink to a servant he replied: ¡°Sure, your bath will be ready in a few moments. Until then, please enjoy the dessert.¡±


    One servant escorted my father and me to our rooms. They were next to each other. We made plans to meet in his room after I finished my bath to talk about Lord Laundrial¡¯s offer.


    I entered the room, closing the door behind me. As I turned back towards the room, I saw a female servant standing next to the bathtub I had requested. On a second look I believed I had seen the woman before. She confirmed my thoughts when she said in a cheery voice: ¡°Hello Lady Lachester, nice to see you. We haven¡¯t met for years. How have you been doing?¡±


    I knew that voice. ¡°Ari? You changed, I didn¡¯t recognize you at first. And you know you can call me by my name.¡±


    She giggled and replied: ¡°I grew up quite a bit. But you did the same. Now you are only a few centimeters smaller than me. But your long brown hair is still shiny as ever. Is it magic or just in the genes?¡±


    The door opened and another maid came in. Ari introduced her as Myra. She seemed to be of the quiet sort, a stark contrast to Ari. Myra kept herself in the background while Ari and I asked about each other¡¯s family and assured us of their wellbeing.


    Then Ari revealed that Myra was a magicless. It was one of my horror scenarios to wake up one morning without magic. I loved magic and couldn¡¯t fathom how anyone was able to live without. I was even more shocked when it turned out the girl was even a true magicless. Her live can¡¯t be easy. The way she looks, just skin and bones. For a moment I considered offering her to work for me. But it would have been out of pity and not because I needed her. I don¡¯t think she would like that.


    Also, the possibility that she was a scribe existed. Scribes were always true magicless. But the chances were almost nonexistent. There were only two known scribes in Gloomchester at the moment. After seeing Myra¡¯s face when I told her there was no cure, I didn¡¯t want to bring her hope up, just to dash it again.


    We said good bye and I heated the water using magic. I had to hurry, my father was already expecting me. So, I only took a short dip into the water.


    After drying myself with a spell and getting into new clothes which I had brought with me in my bag, I walked to my father''s room. He was sitting on a wooden table and writing some letter. He could have done this using magic, but doing it by hand is just easier. ¡°Alicia, what do you think about the offer. And speak freely, I cast I privacy spell on this chamber. No one can listen in on us.¡±


    ¡°Lord Laundrial must assume us to be stupid if he expects us to accept this deal. We have to bear a high risk. If he fails in producing or selling, we won¡¯t get our investment in materials back. Furthermore, his family has no experience in producing weaponry and is missing the required machinery. How will he pay for them? If his information about Salarius Magus is correct, producing shouldn¡¯t be an issue, but at what cost? Moreover, 20% of the profit will hardly make up for the materials we gave.


    ¡°Also, this might endanger our relationship with Sangati, since we would actively support one of their rivals.¡±


    ¡°I agree in most points. But have you considered what will happen if the Laundrial¡¯s get bankrupt?¡±


    ¡°We depend on their production and sales to get back the money we invested through materials. So, we cannot let them get bankrupted without losing lots of money ourselves. Because of that, we would need to subsidize them in such a case. I hadn¡¯t thought about this at all. Do you think this is their plan?¡±


    ¡°It might be what they are after. Have you noticed how much they spent on food or how opulent these rooms are decorated? Either their financial situation is very stable or they are trying to hide big losses.¡±


    ¡°I also thought about that when I saw them serving that meal. But there is an easy way to verify their situation, if they allow us access to their books.¡±


    ¡°Yes, this should solve the problem of their liquidity. What do you think we should do with the deal, if their liquidity is acceptable?¡±


    ¡°I suggest we propose a cooperation where both own 50% and go down to 25-75 at max. This way we have a chance of making large revenue for our investment, at high risk of course.¡±


    ¡°Yes, we will go with that. You will lead the negotiations. You need to get used to things like that.¡±


    Because we were both tired, we only talked for another minute before I went back to my room.


    The bathtub had disappeared during the time I talked with my father. Some servant probably cleared it away. After changing into my sleeping attire, I lay down on the soft bed and thought about the events of the day as I drifted to sleep.


    My next day started with a knock on my door. After opening it, a bowing servant greeted and informed me that breakfast would be ready in 30 minutes. After getting ready, a maid fetched my father and me and brought us to the dining room. Dishes already filled the table. Lord Laundrial and an attractive woman greeted us as we entered the room. ¡°I hope you had a relaxing and refreshing night. Please let me introduce you to my wife Elaine Laundrial,¡± Lord Laundrial said.


    Lady Laundrial curtsied and continued: ¡°It is nice to make your acquaintance. I will join you for breakfast if you don¡¯t mind¡±


    ¡°Not at all¡±, my father replied bowing, ¡°I am pleased to meet you.¡± I also curtsied and greeted her.


    After finishing with the pleasantries, we sat down and started eating while talking about nothing of importance. I drank a tea made from herbs imported from the Eastern Continent. The Laundrial¡¯s really knew where to get the good products from. When we finished eating Lady Laundrial said goodbye and left us. Lord Laundrial turned to my father and asked: ¡°So what do you say about our deal?¡±


    I replied: ¡°It is a good idea in its essence, but not acceptable like this.¡±


    He looked at me irritated and scowled: ¡°I believe we shouldn¡¯t be the ones talking. I asked Lord Lachester.¡± He is one of those male supremacy people. I sighed. Well, when I¡¯m head of the house I need to be able to deal with those people. ¡°I have full authority to decide, so you will talk to me, or there won¡¯t be a deal.¡± Now he looked angry, but after a moment he schooled his face into an expressionless mask.


    ¡°Very well then. What would you like to change?¡±


    ¡°Instead of 30% of the revenue, we want to form a cooperation with equally split ownership. Since we have to deliver the materials has to upfront, we carry a high risk, if this venture fails. Also, we provide political security for the enterprise. Without that, the company will be taken down by Sangati in days.¡±


    He looked at me and laughed: ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous. If you can¡¯t deliver the materials, I also lose. There are costs for hiring people and buying the machines as well as advertising and also my reputation will be damaged if I sell bad products. I agree to forming a cooperation, but you shouldn¡¯t own over 25%.¡± He¡¯s giving in too fast. I think father was right, and he is in a financial crisis. Let¡¯s see if I can get an even better deal.


    ¡°This is still unreasonable. Your family has no experience in producing anything. You rely on an external team which you might not even be able to hire. There is just too much risk for us to go with anything below 40%.¡±


    Now he was grinding his teeth, the muscles of his jaw showing. But then he relaxed, started smiling and replied: ¡°Very well. It shall be as you wish. You will have 40%.¡± Now that was just insane. He should never have gone below 70%. There has to be something wrong.


    ¡°I am thrilled you agree. Now there is only one last question. Would you allow us a look into your family¡¯s financial situation?¡±


    His smile froze, and he replied agitated: ¡°Why? There is no reason for you to be interested in them.¡±


    ¡°To make sure you don¡¯t go bankrupt during our partnership. If you don¡¯t want to open your books for us, we will also accept a guarantee from your bank that your financial situation is stable. This is non-negotiable.¡±


    Now he was shaking, his head flushing red. ¡°You expect us to be broke? Our financial situation is stable. Just look around you,¡± he almost screamed at me.


    I interrupted him before he could continue with his tirade: ¡°Then there shouldn¡¯t be any problem with getting the guarantee.¡±


    Now he was screaming: ¡°And that is why women should be seen but not heard. You understand nothing. Lord Lachester, I guarantee you...¡±


    I silenced him with a quick spell: ¡°Lord Laundrial, your behavior is unbecoming of someone in your position. You are lucky that there won¡¯t be any further consequences to your words. I reject your proposal. Thank you for your hospitality. We will take our leave. Good bye.¡± My father and I got up and left the Laundrial¡¯s mansion. As we neared our coach, I released the spell silencing Lord Laundrial.


    Our luggage was already stowed. After we entered it, the chauffeur drove us back to our home. My father said: ¡°You have done well. This was no easy situation. I will let you go to some of these meetings on your own in the future. I¡¯m proud of you.¡±


    Smiling, I replied: ¡°Thanks dad. Though the meeting turned out to be fruitless.¡±


    ¡°No, it wasn¡¯t. We now have a good idea of the Laundrial¡¯s liquidity and their future plans. This might be useful.¡±


    ¡°Yes, you are right.¡±

 Book 1 - Chapter 4 - Taken (Myra)

    After I decided to move into Ari¡¯s parent¡¯s house, Ari and I left work together. We first visited my lodging to pack my meager belongings. I owned nothing apart from two sets of clothes. Their coloring was already bleached out, but they didn¡¯t have many rips and tears. I also planned to say goodbye to Ellis, but it seemed she was at work. Nothing I can do then.


    When we left my quarters, it was already late evening. The crowds on the street had thinned, and we were able to move comfortably. Mage lights illuminated the main streets of the Haven District. We stuck to those. The district was safe, but none of us wanted to tempt fate, especially since I couldn¡¯t defend myself against any magical attack.


    Ari lived on the northern end of Waterside, so we had a long way to walk. As we strolled along, the streets got narrower and the condition of the buildings lining it worsened. The number of mage lights lighting dropped dramatically. I couldn¡¯t help but to look behind me every few steps. Ari didn¡¯t miss my strange behavior.


    ¡°This is a bad part of Waterside; my house isn¡¯t in it. But we need to cross it, or walk through the Eastgate District. That would add another hour and the guards may bother us, believing us to be thieves.¡±


    ¡°Is it safe here? It doesn¡¯t look like it.¡±


    ¡°Mother told me not to walk through here, but it should be fine.¡±


    I wasn¡¯t so sure of it. Having no magic to defend myself, I always had to be attentive on where I went to not get stuck in a bad situation. If someone tried to kidnap us, I had to rely on Ari to keep us safe, and she told me she had no magic training.


    Perhaps my negative thoughts summoned the trouble. The cause of our predicament I couldn¡¯t discern, but when Ari suddenly screamed: ¡°Myra dodge the spell,¡± I knew we had a problem.


    My attempts to dodge the spell were comparable to a blind person trying to avoid the strikes of a blade, not successful at all. All my joints froze up. It reminded me of the time at the orphanage where I often ended up like this. But now, it wasn¡¯t some juvenile prank. Ari and I were in danger.


    And I was dead weight, no, even worse. I was a hindrance, Ari had to protect me, still frozen in place, and herself from the onslaught of spells thrown by our assailants. The whole fight seemed like a light show to me. Ari¡¯s shields flared up when they blocked some indiscernible and to my vision invisible spell.


    Ari was unable to do anything but defend against the three attackers. First, she started breathing hard, then sweat poured off her forehead and finally her shields gave in. She dropped to the floor like her strings were cut.


    Oh my god, is Ari dead? I wanted to scream or run to her side, but not one of my muscles moved. Why did this happen now, just as my live seemed to take a good turn?


    One assailant said in a rough voice: ¡°Man, this woman was strong. She will fetch a good price when she gets sold her at the slave markets of Anardin.¡±


    Slave markets? And I thought my live already was at its worst. And Ari too. But before I was able to lose myself into more and more depressing thoughts one of them said: ¡°As to you, you will need to go to sleep.¡± And after a wave of his hand I knew of nothing.


    I woke up when someone shook my shoulders.


    ¡°Myra. Hey Myra, are you okay?¡±


    My brain was still foggy from the enforced sleep, but I recognized Ari¡¯s voice. I inspected her. Her head sported a large green bruise, but otherwise she seemed to be fine.


    ¡°I¡¯m awake, you can stop shaking me. Yes, I¡¯m fine, how about you?¡±


    ¡°My everything hurts. I used up all of my mana in the fight against the kidnappers.¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say your magic is weak? It didn¡¯t seem that way to me. You defended both of us for quite some time against three attackers.¡±


    ¡°I never told you that. I said I had no magical training. My inborn magical talent is pretty good. Also, the only way I was able to defend us for so long, was because of their lack of power.¡±


    Talent can make up for quite a lot as it seems. ¡°So, any idea where we are?¡±


    ¡°We are still in Gloomchester. I hadn¡¯t been asleep for more than an hour. They trapped us in this room.¡±


    I observed the surrounding room. All the walls were made from dark wood. Planks sealed the window. The only exit seemed to be the door. Apart from the two of us the room appeared to be empty of anything, only clumps of dust decorated it.


    ¡°Can¡¯t you use some fancy spell to get us out? The walls don¡¯t seem to be durable.¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t use magic in here. My spell work gets dismantled almost immediately. Do you see the runic system carved into the wall next to the door?¡±


    I stood up and walked closer. Yes, the wall spotted dozens of small symbols. So, these were runes? I had seen none before.


    I contemplated the current situation for a moment and suggested: ¡°Can¡¯t we just destroy the runes? And then you can break us out?¡± While suggesting it, I tried to open the door the physical way. It was locked.


    ¡°No, we can¡¯t. I learned some basics about runes. This runic system draws power from the mana grid. It prevents us from using either magic or violence to escape this room. I tried both while you slept, and let me tell you, the shocks aren¡¯t pleasant.


    ¡°If we scratch out any rune but the one observing the intactness of the runic system, something bad will happen. I can¡¯t tell what, but it wouldn¡¯t be pleasant.¡±


    So, they trapped us in here with no way to escape. Damn, why us? My breath became too fast. I didn¡¯t want to be a slave. All my life had been heavily influenced and decided by others. In the orphanage the other kids did whatever they wanted to with me and I had no choice but to let them do it. When looking for work, there was nothing I could become but a maid. That again meant I had to do whatever someone else wanted.


    Then Ari offered me a choice. A choice to improve my situation. That had been the goal my whole life. To be able to choose and to live a life worth living. And now, everything I thought I had gained was in peril. As a slave I would continue to exist, unable to live.Stolen novel; please report.


    ¡°Myra, calm down, we will escape at some point. They didn¡¯t kill us yet, they want us alive.¡±


    ¡°Yes, to sell us into slavery,¡± I replied with desperation showing in my voice. Then I continued, almost too silent for Ari to hear. ¡°That¡¯s what they said earlier. I don¡¯t want to be a slave.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t let us become slaves. They will be distracted at some point, and we use that to escape.¡± Ari continued talking about how we would escape. After a few minutes she calmed me down, then we waited. Well, I waited, and Ari talked.


    I got bored fast and inspected the runic system closer. Maybe there were some hints on which rune to remove. Worst case we have about a one in fifty chance to remove the right rune.


    I found no indication. But something different happened. The runes almost seemed familiar to me. I looked closely at every single rune. The geometric patterns each rune consisted of burned into my mind. And then it was like I could perceive the rune¡¯s intent.


    To my newly awakened sense some felt hot. Looking at others was like getting a small electrical shock, if this analogy made any sense. Others radiated power. Still, I could not determine their precise function.


    I concentrated more, trying to associate every rune to a feeling. Suddenly a hand landed on my shoulders. I jumped, spun around and lost my balance. Only Ari holding me steady kept me from falling down. The understanding of the runes fled me.


    ¡°Why are you staring at the runes? Can you read them?¡±


    ¡°No, well I don¡¯t know. I have never seen a rune before.¡±


    ¡°This is common. For almost everyone there is no need to learn about runes. And the runes used in the every-day devices are hidden, since anyone who saw them might duplicate their effect. If you are unable to read runes, why were you staring at them?¡±


    ¡°It was as if I could discern the runes intent. I got a feeling or a physical sensation from watching them. Am I going mad?¡±


    I moved a step to the side, and Ari stared at the runes. After a few moments she declared: ¡°I feel nothing. But there is an easy way to resolve this. Find the rune which stops us from destroying the runic system. I don¡¯t know maybe you¡¯ll get a protective sensation?¡±


    I again watched the runes, trying to get back into the right headspace. Ari was silent for once, trying not to break my concentration. Nothing happened, frustration rose in me. I focused harder. There it was, I could perceive the runes¡¯ intent again. I centered my whole attention on the first rune. The rest of the room blurred into the background.


    This one exuded heat. The next one felt empty. I continued scanning the runes like this. When I observed the 30<sup>th</sup> or so rune, it was like being watched. The sensation was so intense it broke my concentration. And with it my perception of the runes vanished.


    This might be it. Ari said the rune we search for would react to specific changes. So, it needs to watch what¡¯s going on.


    To be sure, I checked the rest of the runes. The rune I suspected gave of an aura closest to what I associated with the needed effect. There was only one problem.


    ¡°Ari, I think I located the rune we need to destroy first.¡±


    Ari leaned with her back on the wall, dozing. That made me wonder how long I stared at the runes. It must have been some time, my legs ache and my eyes hurt. My words made her jump up. ¡°Cool, which one is it?¡±


    ¡°Well, there are two of them. These two.¡± I showed them to her. The runes looked completely alike.


    ¡°So, the two runes protect each other. If we only disable one, the other one will activate. But there is an easy solution to that. Just destroy both at the same time.¡±


    She grinned, and I grinned in response. Perhaps we had found a way out of this misery. ¡°So, what? Do I scratch at them until they stop working?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯d have to scratch them out  at the same time and the wood doesn¡¯t seem to be rotten. If you had any tools, I¡¯d say go for it. But I don¡¯t believe you have?¡±


    My good mood evaporated. ¡°We still can¡¯t get out? So, there was no use to all of this.¡±


    Ari laughed out loudly. ¡°I have tools to do it. Well, I have two knifes, that should do the trick. Show me the runes please.¡±


    Sometimes I didn¡¯t understand Ari. How could she make jokes in a situation like this? She took everything too leisurely. Still, I wanted to leave this damned place, so I pointed at the relevant runes.


    But one thing still bugged me about the runes. ¡°Did they have to place the runes on the inside? Doing it like this, seems to invite someone to tinker with them.¡±


    ¡°As far as I know, the runes have to be placed in relative proximity. Mages can see close active runes through walls, if they are not shielded against mage vision. Also, there are only few people able to read runes. It might have been an oversight on their part to place them here, or they believe nobody they captured could read runes, in which case there would have been no problem with their placement. The answer may be something else, but it doesn¡¯t matter. Let¡¯s just hope the trick you did revealed the right runes.¡±


    She rammed one knife in each rune. Nothing happened. Since nothing is supposed to happen, this is a good sign. After waiting for a few seconds, Ari continued to disable all the runes. Still, nothing happened. A small flame appeared on top of her hand. And again, nothing happened.


    ¡°It worked,¡± Ari said with enthusiasm, ¡°I don¡¯t know how you did it, but it worked. I can cast magic again.¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m happy for you, but how do we get out? If our kidnappers see us leaving, they will catch us again.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that. We¡¯ll try to escape without them noticing. But if they do, I¡¯ll win. They only won last time because they had ambushed us. Now I am the one ambushing. They¡¯ll stand no chance.¡± She finished her statement with a menacing chuckle.


    Ari opened the door of our room. She told me to stay close behind her, and that I did. We crept through the corridor, the hallway floor made no noise as we stepped on them. The decoration out here was the same as in our cell. This meant no mage lights on the wall, no paintings, nothing adorned the space, only dust and more dust.


    This is their hideout, not their home. We sneaked down the corridor until we made out muffled voices coming from the room to our right. Light peaked through under the door into the otherwise dark hallway. As we reached it, we could understand the criminals¡¯ words.


    ¡°Our contact will arrive in another hour, then the women are her responsibility. We¡¯ll get our share of the money. I kind of feel sorry for them. But their life in slavery surely won¡¯t differ much from their current one.¡±


    Another male voice replied: ¡°Once we have the money I¡¯ll be able to take my wife out to dinner on our wedding anniversary and gift my daughter the dress she wanted as a birthday present. I wish there was a way to get enough money through a legal way, but it isn¡¯t possible.¡±


    A short silence followed his words. I looked over to Ari. I believed they were monsters, doing it for fun, but they just want a fulfilling life, like I do. Still, we had to escape, or I had no chance of this ever happening. So, I took a step back readying to leave.


    ¡°Hey what are you doing here?,¡± a voice came from behind me. We only heard two people talking, the third one wasn¡¯t in the room. And we had been too focused on their conversation to realize someone came close to us. He shouted: ¡°Alarm, they escaped the ...¡± I stood there not having moved an inch, but Ari reacted. As soon as she heard the man¡¯s voice she turned around and threw a spell at him, which made him freeze up. He didn¡¯t even have time to raise his magic shields.


    I perceived chairs crashing into the ground as the two remaining men came rushing out of the room. I took off as fast as possible to give Ari room and not have her worry about me being hit.


    The magical fight started. And it was epic. That¡¯s what I¡¯d like to say, but it looks like a staring contest. From time to time they waved their hands, or their shields flashed from a spell hitting it. Otherwise the scene seemed peaceful.


    That was until one of the men formed a spear of ice and physically threw it at Ari. She screamed and threw herself to the side, narrowly dodging the projectile. Are they trying to kill her? What if she wouldn¡¯t be able to keep her earlier promise and get us out of here? What if she gets injured or killed?


    Ari caught herself fast. As retaliation she used a spell which not fizzled out of existence when touching the shields, like all the other, but exploded on contact. As the man was off balance, Ari followed with another gesture. He fell down, unconscious.


    With only one enemy remaining, Ari took care of him with ease. Still she sweated heavily and her walk appeared unsteady. I rushed over and supported her. ¡°Damn, I again used up most of my stored mana. I will be weak for a moment or two. Let¡¯s look around, find your stuff and then leave, before any of them wake up again.¡±


    That was what we did. No other captives occupied the house, and we quickly found my belongings. I took them and together we left the house, me still supporting Ari¡¯s walk. As we went through the door, the sun rose above the horizon, warming the cold air around us with its rays.

 Book 1 - Chapter 5 - Education (Alicia)

    The day after we visited the Laundrial¡¯s a beeping in my head woke me. A rune, integrated into the house¡¯s runic system, caused this beeping. It was an alarm clock I was able to set to wake me any time I desired. It turned off once I left the bed. After standing up, Teresa entered my bedchamber.


    She said: ¡°Good morning Alicia, shall I help you wash and dress?¡± I smiled at her. She knew I didn¡¯t care about our different station when in private.


    ¡°Yes, please prepare some nice clothes while I take a bath.¡± I headed into my personal bathroom. Teresa used the inventory grid to search for a fitting outfit for the day. After taking a short bath, my maid helped me into the dress she chose and then made my hair. I looked in the person sized mirror hanging in front of me. Yes, I was presentable. The day could begin.


    ¡°Can you name the seven great families and their main source of power?,¡± Master Wingard, my politics tutor asked me.


    I just rolled my eyes and answered: ¡°Gaspell, they lead a merchant empire. Sangati, producing and selling military equipment. Lachester, the mana grid and dungeon mining. Aleness, food production and investment. They own parts of every major company. Arfang, they own the mercenary guild. And finally, Morrishot and Hashot. They are bitter rivals and together own half of all the factories in the kingdom. But why are you asking that? It¡¯s common knowledge.¡±


    ¡°Your father informed me of your intent to take politics serious. That¡¯s why I have to make sure you understand the basics before continuing to advanced topics.¡±


    ¡°What are the tasks given to the great families?¡±


    ¡°Each family¡¯s head represents their family in the committee of the seven. Every ten years the committee either elect a new monarch or approve the current ruler. They are also advisers to the king and can veto his decisions. The king is accountable to the committee of seven. Furthermore, day-to-day politics and legislation is handled and coordinated by the committee.¡±


    ¡°Very good, but don¡¯t forget that the committee is also a tool to balance the power. Through competition between the houses they keep each other in check and together they ascertain the king is doing the right things.¡±


    Like this, the lesson continued for another two hours. At the end he told me: ¡°I advised your father to take you to the next meeting of the committee of seven. It will be tomorrow morning. This way, you will be able to see how politic works. I want you to pay close attention to each family¡¯s stance to the discussed topic. We will discuss your findings tomorrow evening.¡±


    Then I had a nice midday break sitting on the terrace and drinking tea together with my mother.


    ¡°How are you doing Alicia?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m doing fine. I met Ari at the Laundrial¡¯s. She works as a maid.¡±


    ¡°Ah yes, Senna told me her daughter worked for them. You talked to her about the old times?¡±


    ¡°Yes, and she is as energetic as ever.¡± I smiled inwards, remembering her attitude.


    ¡°That¡¯s good to hear. She was an interesting child and since her mother is one of my maids, I hear a lot about her. How was your meeting with the Laundrial¡¯s?¡±


    ¡°They tried to trick us and it was obvious. We gained nothing from it.¡±


    ¡°Well be that as it may, you still did well.¡±


    ¡°How is the business side of things going, mother?¡±


    Mother was leading the family¡¯s businesses while father took care of the committee¡¯s matters.


    ¡°It¡¯s going well as always. We¡¯ve finished expanding the city¡¯s mana grid.¡± The mana grid was my family¡¯s invention and a major source of income. We continued to talk about in leisure until she had to leave for a meeting with one of her department heads.


    After the midday break I walked back to my study room and tried to improve my spell casting. Doing magic was a strain on mind and body. First the caster¡¯s mind needed to form the spell. This included establishing its effect by focusing on the intent and defining every minute detail on how the spell was supposed to function. Then one had to supply the perfect amount of mana to the spell, to make it work efficiently. A mage needed to train mind and body to get the best results in their spell work.


    Low tier mages casting a standard fireball would use up half of their mana. A master mage was capable of creating a far hotter and denser fireball with just a tenth of the mana. This showed how the importance of control and training. The tier of a mage was in its essence a combination of their control, their knowledge and their talent in magic. Every person even with the slightest bit of magical talent might reach tier six or even seven if they were willing and able to put train their knowledge and control.


    I had a great talent for magic, the will to learn and all the resources I needed. This way I reached the ninth tier only being 20 years old. In perhaps five to ten years if I continued to work on improving I would reach the tenth tier and then I needed to build a strong reputation to become an arch mage. My dream had always been to follow in my grandfather¡¯s footsteps. Now I wasn¡¯t so sure anymore. My change of mind started about three months ago.


    One of the mana nodes we had built had stopped working. It was in the Ravenor District where many factory workers lived. My mother took me and a couple of guards with her to investigate. I only came after much complaints and only because she told me she might need my help with figuring out the problem.


    When we arrived, we found what was wrong quickly. The node had been wrecked and words had been smeared on it. It said ¡®for the torchbearers¡¯, or ¡®we are the people¡¯. I felt livid: ¡°Why have they destroyed the node? Why is anyone supporting these lunatics? Instead of vandalizing, they should find some work. Then they would have enough food for them and their families.¡±


    My mother looked at me, disappointment showing in her eyes. ¡°While I agree that destroying the mana nodes solves no one¡¯s problems, your other statements are wrong.¡±


    ¡°Why are they wrong? Nobody who works for us is complaining about having no food.¡±


    ¡°It seems your father and I sheltered you too much from the real life. People working for us get paid fairly and we don¡¯t employ many people in the capital. I said you are wrong because lots of people don¡¯t get work even if they are looking for it. And even if they get it, it often doesn¡¯t pay enough to feed everyone.¡±


    I was shocked. My mother never got angry or loud. But now she did both. ¡°I don¡¯t understand why you are defending them. They destroyed our property, and it didn¡¯t help them in the slightest.¡±


    ¡°The mana grid is what allowed the factories to arise. As you know, the runes used in the factories rely on ambient mana. Normally you could only power that many runes on ambient mana without exhausting it. The mana grid provides ambient mana so without it there would be no factories. The torchbearers see the mana grid as the source of the bad situation.¡±


    ¡°They are wrong. They should look at all the good, at all the progress the mana grid caused.¡±Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    My mother¡¯s look of anger faltered, replaced by frustration. ¡°Come with me. It seems it is time you see the ones paying the price for all the luxury we have.¡±


    We walked for about 10 minutes. Afterwards we went into a building that had a sign reading care center above its entrance. My mother told me: ¡°This place was built by our family and we still finance it. It supports those who cannot support themselves. Go around and talk to the people. Ask them why they don¡¯t work.¡±


    I hadn¡¯t known we supported such a charity project. The care center seemed to be well cared for. No dirt on the floor or on the walls. I started walking down a random corridor. The walls were lined with doors. Probably something like bedrooms behind them. I walked until I reached a larger room which seemed to be a canteen. Since no food was served, currently only one elderly man sat on one of the round tables. As I neared him I saw that he sat on a wheelchair instead of, as I originally presumed, a normal one. He had no legs. He noticed me watching him.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be shy, young one. Come over and keep me company.¡±


    I walked up to him and asked: ¡°What happened to your legs?¡±


    ¡°I lost them during an accident in the factory I worked in. A machine suddenly blew up and took both of my legs. One of my coworker¡¯s proficiency in healing magic saved my life, but not my legs. The next day my employer fired me because I couldn¡¯t perform my work anymore. After the accident no one else hired me because I am a cripple.¡±


    ¡°And what about the owner of the factory? Didn¡¯t he help you?¡±


    The old man laughed. ¡°He didn¡¯t care. Got a new machine and new workers and that¡¯s it. I¡¯ve been working there for twenty years and was left to die of starvation or to freeze. That is if I hadn¡¯t been brought here.¡±


    ¡°Oh my god. I¡¯m so sorry. I.. I didn¡¯t know such things happened.¡±


    Now he was looking at me with confusion. ¡°You must have never been outside your home. It happens everywhere, all the time. I¡¯m hardly special, and by far not the worst off. Go talk to Maria. She lives down the corridor second door to the left. Go and talk to her.¡±


    I got up and walked in the direction he indicated, feeling numb. Why hadn¡¯t the owner hired a healer to regrow the man¡¯s legs? On fresh wounds it wasn¡¯t that hard to do and not even very expensive. Instead he was doomed to die.  Was that the reason for the torchbearers¡¯ existence?


    Still deep in thoughts, I knocked on the door. A woman, Maria, opened it and asked: ¡°Hello, how can I help you?¡±


    She was thin and almost looked like a corpse with large and dark circles under her eyes, sunken cheeks and pale skin. I just stood there unsure of what to say. After collecting my thoughts, I asked with a shaky voice: ¡°How.. Why are you here?¡±


    She watched me looking even worse than she did already. ¡°My husband died half a year ago in an accident in a factory. Since he provided the money, and I took care of the babies, suddenly we had no income. I tried everywhere to get a job to earn at least enough for us to eat, to not get kicked on the street. But no one wanted me.¡±


    She started to cry. I stood there completely overwhelmed with no idea what to do or say. She continued mercilessly.


    ¡°And then we had to leave the house. It was still winter. And my babies¡­¡± She started howling and tearing on her hair. ¡°Oh god my babies.¡±


    It was too much, I fled. I short range teleported to the street I saw through the window and kept teleporting until I found an empty alley. There I sat down, feeling numb, my thoughts a mess.


    The way I saw the world changed. I had always believed that the ones being hungry or living on the streets were lazy. Never had I thought about their situation being the cause of someone else¡¯s fault. Someone else who could have prevented all the pain without much trouble. It wouldn¡¯t have cost more than a gold coin to regrow limbs. It wouldn¡¯t even have cost a gold coin to provide lodging and meals for Maria and her children for a year or two.


    Who were those people who didn¡¯t care about the results of their decisions? They probably are people I¡¯ve met before, since I have seen most of the factory owners. And to my horror I remembered what I had said not an hour ago. Now I began to understand why my mother got angry with me.


    Right then, in the alleyway I decided I needed to change, needed to fix this. I had the power. I was the heir to one of the most influential families in this country. I was going to prevent the horrors I heard about from happening again. I couldn¡¯t change laws and minds of the leaders in a short time. It was going to be a long process, and I was dedicated to see this through.


    And so, my decision to pursue politics was born. My pursue of mastery in magic became only my secondary interest.


    Still sitting there, my mother found me thirty minutes later. She didn¡¯t comment on my actions and just took me back home. Later, on the same day, I asked my father to resume my training in politics.


    The next morning found me in the committee¡¯s hall. In the center of the room stood a round table where the seven heads of the family sat at. Opposite to the door was the audience section, where I was and listened. Only family heirs or advisors to the families were allowed to attend these meetings.


    The room was well lit by many mage lights, illuminating the room with cold blue light. Otherwise nothing adorned the empty walls. Even windows weren¡¯t present. The table alone was decorated lavishly with gold, diamonds, mithril and other rare elements.


    Talking was only permitted to the heads. And talk they did. Today¡¯s meeting seemed to be mostly about Anardin and their dealings with the Laumanian Empire. It ranged from their trade relationship with us, to them importing our weapons. Other topics were accusations of them being involved in kidnappings of Laumanian citizens and in spying.


    I knew our empire had often fought with Anardin in the past. So, most heads pleaded to observe their action carefully. It was decided to send more spies and invest another ten thousand gold in fortifying our southern border. Some heads didn¡¯t appear to be happy with this. Decisions had to have at least the majority supporting it, which meant four heads.


    What enraged me was their handling of the kidnapping cases. Since no strategically important people were taken, like researchers or political targets, they decided it was a matter for the local city watch and not their concern. I disagreed. They don¡¯t know why they are kidnapped. Perhaps there is a hidden goal. Also, shouldn¡¯t the state protect the citizens? I was not allowed to voice an opinion.


    ¡°What have you discovered while attending the meeting?,¡± my tutor asked me hours later.


    ¡°It was about how to handle the relation with Anardin. Opinions ranged from ¡®let them do whatever they want¡¯ to ¡®engage in an all-out war¡¯. Sangati, Gaspell and interestingly Hashot supported the motion of not doing anything. Sangati and Gaspell I understand. A worsening relationship endangers their trade with Anardin. Hashot is not engaged in trade. So, they had no reason to deny the motion.¡±


    ¡°The situation may look like this at first. Hashot, Sangati and Gaspell have close a relationship, in politics as well as in the economy. They side with each other in most questions. That may be the sole reason Hashot decided to vote for them. Of course, Hashot may have their own agenda you don¡¯t know yet. Anything else?¡±


    ¡°There is a kidnapping spree going around in Gloomchester with Anardin as likely perpetrator and no one seems to care since there are no ¡®important¡¯ people taken.¡± I put special emphasis on important. ¡°What if Anardin is planning something?¡±


    He took a few moments to think about the matter and spoke. ¡°Cases of kidnappings are normally handled by the city guard. But if Anardin is involved, it may be a good idea to investigate. If you are interested in it, how about you do the investigation? Use your house¡¯s spies and local contacts. Even if nothing comes of it, it is a good exercise. This will be a standing assignment for the next few weeks.¡±


    Afterwards we talked about the power balances in the current committee. Hashot, Sangati and Gaspell were one group. Lachester and Arfang had a friendly relationship and helped each other out most of the time. Morrishot were strongly reliant on the mana grid provided by Lachester and therefore couldn¡¯t afford to antagonize my family. Aleness was a wildcard most times. They may side with either group depending on the topic and what they were offered. My tutor told me: ¡°Remember all these alliances are just loose couplings, anyone might choose to oppose their group if the reward is high enough.¡±


    After the lesson finished, I decided to talk with father about my assignment. After my knock on his door, he asked me in. ¡°Ah Alicia, perfect timing, I wanted to send for you. What did you think about the committee¡¯s meeting?¡±


    ¡°It was interesting to see politics in the making.¡± I took a deep breath and continued. ¡°In the meeting you talked about kidnappings in Gloomchester. Since I wanted to investigate the matter, my tutor assigned me the task of doing so. I came to ascertain that investigating is acceptable and to ask about resources I could use.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good to hear. I am interested in the matter myself. I believe one of the great families might be involved. Hashot¡¯s stance to Anardin is too friendly. They may be cooperating. That is also, why I didn¡¯t press for actions at the meeting. Christoph is investigating at the moment, I will tell him to report his findings to you. Once you find connections to any great family or a lack thereof, please inform me immediately.¡±


    So dad cares about the kidnappings. This made me feel relieved for some reason. Also, he is trusting me to see the investigation through. I hope I¡¯m up for this. A short burst of anxiety rushed through me, but I pushed it down. No, I can and will do this. ¡°All right, father. Thank you for your trust.¡±


    He smiled and winked me off. Minutes later I left his office, considering my next steps. I had to wait for Christoph before I could do much.

 Book 1 - Chapter 6 - Improvements (Myra)

    I would have loved to walk to Ari¡¯s house and sleep for the next 10 hours. But that wasn¡¯t possible. Ari and I had a job. So, instead of taking a nap, we walked straight to the Laundrial¡¯s mansion. We came in a few minutes too late and had to endure a lecture from the head servant. After getting ready, we started working.


    There was little I wanted to do less than work right now. I came down from an intense adrenaline rush, the only sleep I got was enforced unconsciousness, and by now I had been awake for over 30 hours. But no one would care about that. Also, Ari was in a similar position and she didn¡¯t complain.


    I had to have a conversation with the head servant to get the number of my working days reduced. I wasn¡¯t looking forward to this. The head servant was fair and strict, but also intimidating. What¡¯s the worst that could happen? She telling me if I wanted reduced hours, she would reduce them to zero would be quite uncomfortable.


    Nervousness and sleepiness made me clumsy. Ari had to clean up the mess I made when I accidentally pushed over a bucket filled with water. She laughed when she saw my attempts to stop the water from flowing everywhere. I felt the blood rush to my head, making me blush red with embarrassment. After a few more giggles she showed mercy, waved her hand and the spilled water rose from the stone floor and flowed back into the bucket.


    ¡°Sorry and thank you. I¡¯m looking forward to getting home with you and just sleep.¡±


    ¡°Me too, believe me. I don¡¯t know if I ever felt that tired. I don¡¯t even want to talk. Why can¡¯t the day just end? It would be nice to ¡­¡± Contrary to her words, she started talking. That, at least, took my mind off the impending meeting.


    The rising moon found me knocking the head servant¡¯s office. A muffled voice asked me in. The office looked just like the last time I had been here. A small desk stood in the room¡¯s center on which the head servant sat. Small paintings decorated the wall.


    ¡°Myra? I didn¡¯t expect you to come to me. But I need to talk to you, I was just about to send for you. Well, you go first. How can I help you?¡± Why does she want to talk to me? That¡¯s never a good sign.


    I gathered my courage and replied, speaking fast: ¡°Miss Ersta, I came to request to reduce my weekly working days.¡±


    She stared at me, her face first showing wonder, then a grin and then she laughed. The head servant is laughing? Was my request that ridiculous? Her laughing subsided quickly. ¡°Don¡¯t look at me this worried. It¡¯s just I was about to ask you the same. The Laundrial¡¯s want to reduce their spending on personal. I knew you needed all the money the job gave, so I didn¡¯t look forward to telling you, but it seems like everything is fine?¡±


    ¡°Yes, Miss Ersa. I¡¯m going to move in with Ari so my rent will lighten.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good to hear. What I am to offer you is the following. You work five days a week and your payment will be reduced by half, which means you will earn 1 silver and 20 bronze in the future. This is non-negotiable. If you don¡¯t like it, you will have to find another job.¡±


    What? Only half? Before agreeing to move in with Ari, there is no way I could have survived with so little. I felt like getting ripped off. The problem was that there would be always people desperate enough to take the job no matter the payment. Employers could decrease it however far they wanted to. For me, half was still better than nothing.


    ¡°I accept the offer,¡± I said grudgingly.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, truly. It¡¯s not my decision. But you are a lucky one. I¡¯ll have to fire two maids.¡±


    Before she could continue, I asked: ¡°But not Ari, I hope?¡±


    ¡°No, not Ari. Two others, but I know looking for a new job and missing the income during that time will be hard on them.¡±


    I looked at the head servant. She wasn¡¯t old, not really. But right now, she seemed to be. Firing them is also hard on her. I never knew she cared about us that much. It saddened me to hear two of my coworkers had to leave. But I had no close relationship with anyone but Ari, so I didn¡¯t mind it much. They have magic. They will at least have the chance to find a new job.


    ¡°All right Myra. I¡¯m happy the conversation with you went this well. The next ones I¡¯m going to have, won¡¯t be. I presume you want to have the same free days as Ari?¡± After my nod, she continued: ¡°All right. Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow will be your days off. You are finished here today. Take a good rest, you appear to need one.¡±


    I left the room in search of Ari, to tell her the news. This went far better than I thought. I had wondered what to do if she denied me. Luckily it didn¡¯t come to that. But I wondered why the Laundrial¡¯s were suddenly trying to cut their expenses like this. They had never seemed to be in monetary trouble.


    As Ari and I left the Laundrial¡¯s mansion she asked me: ¡°And? How was it? I can see she accepted, otherwise you would be far more depressed¡±.


    ¡°What is that supposed to mean? I¡¯m not depressed. But you are right, it went well, kind of.¡±


    Ari giggled and replied: ¡°Myra, I like you but you are always depressed. But who knows, maybe another two years, and I get you to be only unhappy. In all seriousness now, what did she say?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll have the same days off as you do, but I lose half my income.¡±


    ¡°Uh, that¡¯s hard. But look at the bright side, you¡¯ll still have more money to spend than before since the rent will be far cheaper.¡±


    We continued to talk like this, but once we entered Waterside, I got nervous. Would we make it this time? Another kidnapping attempt I wouldn¡¯t survive. I was far too tired for it and Ari looked like she would pass out at any moment. But this time we managed it.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    We staggered in through the front door. Her parents weren¡¯t home, so we went directly to Ari¡¯s room where she had prepared a makeshift bed for me. Without having eaten anything or getting cleaned, we fell into bed and slept.


    The sun shining into my face woke me. I slept like a baby feeling fully rested for the first time in months. A shock coursed through my body, as I noticed the state of the sun. I had to be at the Laundrial¡¯s mansion an hour ago. Then I remembered I didn¡¯t need to work today or tomorrow. For a short moment, I considered just to stay in bed for another hour or two. But a look to the side revealed Ari had already left her bed and was up. I didn¡¯t want to lie down while she was up doing whatever.


    I got up and inspected the room around me for the first time. There were Ari¡¯s bed and the makeshift bed I slept in. On the wall, a picture could be seen, showing a younger Ari and two more people, probably her parents. I wonder what it¡¯s like growing up with parents. They seem so happy in the picture. Why didn¡¯t my parents want me? Why did they leave me alone? I shook my head to get rid of these negative thoughts. I had spent enough time at the orphanage pondering this question. There was no sense wondering about it.


    Ari¡¯s room was about 5 by 7 steps large and on the second floor. After I left the room I arrived in a small hallway with two doors and one stairway leading downstairs. Through the other doors are probably a bathroom and her parent¡¯s bedroom. I went downstairs and found Ari sitting on a table and reading something.


    ¡°Morning Ari, since when are you awake? I could have slept for another few hours, and you must feel the same.¡±


    ¡°Hey Myra, I¡¯m still tired, but otherwise ok. My parents woke me. They wanted to know where I have been yesterday, they were really worried,¡± she told me in a guilty voice.


    Ari continued: ¡°They are off working at the moment. Since both of us are awake now, do you want to go to the bakery and get something to eat? I¡¯m famished.¡±


    I had eaten nothing yesterday, so I was more than happy with her suggestion. We walked there and ate in leisure. That was something I was unused to. For the last two years, I didn¡¯t have enough time to do anything in leisure. It felt nice though.


    As the sun reached its zenith, we arrived back home. There was not much to do. Ari again started reading.


    ¡°What are you reading there?¡±


    ¡°Oh, this? It¡¯s a beginner¡¯s book on magic theory. We had it lying around. I never cared much about learning theory or control but the incident yesterday showed me it would be best to improve my magic.¡±


    ¡°Ari, how much money do your parents make? You have this house, which isn¡¯t small and magic books, which are as far as I know very expensive.¡±


    ¡°My mother is working for Alicia¡¯s mother as a maid, and they are paying well. Father is a research assistant to a tier 10 mage. His job involves mostly documenting experiments and their results. Maybe he¡¯ll know how you were able to read the runes. This morning, we only had a few minutes to talk, so I haven¡¯t mentioned it yet.¡±


    Her parents would arrive in the early evening. The time until then I spent looking over Ari¡¯s shoulder, trying to understand anything written in her book on magic. It went on and on about how to form a spell in one¡¯s head and supply it with the right amount of mana. For someone with magic, the book¡¯s topics were probably easy to figure out. But for me, it was like a blind person being told about colors. I understood the words written in the book, but they held no meaning to me.


    When the moon was about to rise above the horizon, the door opened and Ari¡¯s parents came into the room. Both looked plain at first sight. They were of average height, had blonde hair and had a spring to their step as they walked towards us. Her father had a small scar on his left cheek. When I paid closer attention to her mother, I felt the smile on her face radiating warmth and kindness. It was something I had never seen before, not like this. It made me feel at ease, at home, even though I hadn¡¯t been here for more than a day.


    Her father was by my side first, we shook hand and he told me: ¡°It is nice to meet you finally. Ari talks a lot about you. Feel at home, you can stay as long as you want. My name is Ronald, by the way.¡±


    Before I could answer her mother pushed Roland aside, hugged me and then held me at arm¡¯s length: ¡°You poor girl. You are far too thin. Ronald set up the stove. We need to make some food.¡±


    Before I could protest or do anything, they both started making dinner. I stood there open-mouthed, my mouth trying to find words, but failing. Ari came up to me and said: ¡°Yes, that¡¯s what they are always like. My mother¡¯s name is Senna, I don¡¯t think she introduced herself.¡±


    Finally, a grin showed on my face and I said: ¡°Your parents are awesome.¡±


    Only minutes later the sweet smell of fried meat drifted through the room. I asked them if I could help, but they declined, telling Ari and me to instead set the table. We did it and sat down.


    As I watched them cook I asked Ari: ¡°Ari, why aren¡¯t mages doing everything with magic? You told me both of your parents could use magic, but they are cooking manually. I¡¯m just wondering why that is.¡±


    ¡°If you aren¡¯t very skilled, doing things manually is often easier than using magic. Mana is life energy and using it for spells puts a strain on your body. That¡¯s why runic machines are used. They are powered by the city¡¯s mana grid and only need a small initial burst of mana to function.¡±


    That made sense. Otherwise, why would people hire maids, if they could clean the whole building with magic?


    The meal was ready. It smelled delicious and tasted even better. We ate mostly in silence. I tried to remember everything from my etiquette lessons; eat slowly, take small bites and so on. It wasn¡¯t easy, but I wanted to make a good impression on Ari¡¯s parents.


    After everyone finished eating, we talked about a wide variety of topics, from my upbringing in the orphanage to the kidnapping, to what I should pay for rent and meals. We came to the agreement they¡¯d take half my income. I wanted to give them more, but they refused firmly. Now I can save money, instead of having to spend everything on rent and meals. What a good feeling this is.


    As Ari already warned me, she asked her father about my ability to read runes. He thought for a long moment, then replied: ¡°You are a true magicless, correct? Yes? There is a group of people who have a special understanding of runes and are always true magicless. They are exceptionally rare and called scribes. You might be one of them.¡±


    ¡°Scribes?,¡± Ari asked, ¡°I never heard of them.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not strange. If you go out and talk to a random person, it is more probable to meet an arch mage than a scribe. As far as I know, there are only two known scribes in the capital at the moment. Myra, you might be a third one.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t say anything to that. Was being a scribe good or bad? Would my life improve if I were one? Since I kept quiet Ari asked: ¡°Is there any way to be certain?¡±


    ¡°Yes, there are several ways to find out, but none we can do right now. Let me think about it further.¡±


    Through all the conversation, I wondered about one thing. ¡°What¡¯s so special about a scribe? You said it¡¯s the understanding of runes. But couldn¡¯t anyone learn how to read them? There doesn¡¯t seem to be much advantage to being a scribe.¡±


    ¡°I am not sure of the details myself. The mage I¡¯m working for once found an unknown rune in a dungeon dive he participated in. Since it was unknown and he didn¡¯t want to risk testing it unprepared he asked for a scribe to inspect it. A scribe did so and gave us a good idea of what it did. I¡¯m sorry but that¡¯s all I know.¡±


    Senna said: ¡°As long as we are not sure you are a scribe, I think we should be quiet about it. Ronald can try to find a way to ascertain you are one, and if he can¡¯t, I ask Lady Lachester. She has always been fair and helpful.¡±


    We all agreed that this was the best way to go. Ari and I went to bed soon thereafter. Since I was still tired I fell asleep in minutes.

 Book 1 - Chapter 7 - Kidnappings (Alicia)

    A knock on my door woke me. According to the state of the sun, it was barely morning. I wondered who could want something from me at this hour. Then I remembered what happened yesterday. Father had given me the task of investigating the kidnappings. Could this be Christoph¡¯s report?


    My voice still wavered from sleepiness as I told Teresia to enter. In her hand, she held a pink memory crystal.


    ¡°Good morning, Alicia. I bring you the report of the kidnappings. I hope you don¡¯t mind me waking you at this hour.¡±


    ¡°Morning Teresia, no it¡¯s fine, I wanted to be informed as soon as it arrived.¡±


    She handed me the crystal. If one inspected it close enough, one could see tiny runes engraved into its outside. These crystals were used whenever information needed to be passed around securely and when leaving a paper trail behind was too risky. Memory crystals were expensive because they had to be made to only display their content to specific people.


    After passing a strand of mana into it so it could inspect my mana signature, the crystal displayed its content. A virtual book popped up in front of my eyes, only visible to me. With gestures, I could switch between pages.


    I read Christoph¡¯s report and became thoughtful. There were far more cases than I believed. In the last two months, there had been 60 kidnappings more than usual. There seemed to be no connection between the kidnapped. The only thing they had in common was that they were poor and unimportant. It seems to me like someone is trying to keep the kidnappings below the radar, by only taking people that are unimportant to the powerful.


    According to the report, three victims were found on slave markets in Anardin, rescued and brought back. This was why the committee believed Anardin to be involved in the crimes. It was denying any involvements so far, but that was to be expected.


    The report didn¡¯t say much more. There have to be more traces. You cannot kidnap this many people without anyone ever escaping their capturers. You need places to hold the abducted and you have to get them out of the city without anyone noticing. Also, there had to be people in charge of this criminal enterprise. If I can find them, I will find all the answers I need. Especially which of the great families is supporting them.


    Also, how do they get them across the border? Every wagon leaving for Anardin is searched in the border towns. If they bypass the towns, they may be able to make it without getting caught by a patrol. With the number of kidnapping cases, there had to be at least one transport per week. Them all passing the border without any ever getting caught seems improbable. Especially since they have to stay on a road if they use a wagon.


    They have to pass through a border town that has corrupt guards. Otherwise, most transports would get caught. If I know which border town they use to cross to Anardin, I can find out which officers are bought. Knowing them I can shut down the whole organization. Also, they should know who pays them.


    The other possibility is to catch the people doing the kidnapping in Gloomchester and get information on who hired them. It is unlikely they know it. Inspecting the border towns seems more promising. The rescued slaves may know the border town. I¡¯ll have to have them questioned.


    Two hours later I had the answer to my inquiry. All the rescued captives remembered hearing ¡®Evinsgate¡¯ being said multiplies times, while they were brought to Anardin. Evinsgate was a border city with about 10,000 inhabitants. It¡¯s lucky for me they chose this city since Evinsgate is also a dungeon town, and my family has great influence in any dungeon town in the country. The Hell of Memory was a B-rated dungeon with about 30 floors. Nothing special level-wise, but an excellent source of botanicas.


    In the evening I stood in front of the portal leading to Evinsgate. I talked everything over with father and he ordered me to take guards with me. Eric and Amalia were both skilled, having multiple years of combat experience and they were well equipped. They accompanied me to keep me safe. As my father told me, my magic may be strong but I had no experience in actual combat.


    Together we crossed through the portal and arrived at a large plaza. There weren¡¯t many people walking around. Evinsgate was very different from Gloomchester. Everything appeared to be larger and cleaner. The dungeon and Evinsgate¡¯s position as a border town had made the city rich. And it showed. In the middle of the plaza was an enormous fountain. It used an intricate runic system to make the water take shapes as it was sprayed through the air. Sometimes it mimicked a sirene, sometimes a mermaid and sometimes something completely different.


    There was, as always, a dark side to the city. The riches the city amassed was built upon the lives lost in the dungeon. Adventurers, some desperate, some too cocky, and some just unlucky died in the dungeon on a daily base. These deaths fed the dungeon the mana it required to grow. Adventuring was a profession where you became wealthy fast or died trying. It was nothing I was interested in.


    It had taken three days of nonstop observing of the city gate. Then finally we found our target, a wagon with a concealed storage area that showed signs of life inside of it. The guards didn¡¯t search it.


    The cart was a magus vehicle and therefore required mana to move. It couldn¡¯t float like my carriage but could reach 30 Km/h with ease. The speed depended on how much mana the wagon got supplied. Since there was no mana grid in the wilderness, it had to be provided by the driver and the ambient mana. Even though horse-pulled carriages are seen as old-fashioned, they are much cheaper and in most cases just as fast. They must be doing quite well if they can afford a magus vehicle.


    We followed the wagon as it left Evinsgate again, this time through the city gate towards Anardin. I had remembered the guards who let them through. I would investigate them later, rescuing our people took precedent. I had to do it unnoticed though, so the corrupt guards weren¡¯t warned.


    I planned to walk up to the carriage to search it but was promptly stopped by Eric. He and Amalia proposed to me it may a smart idea to set up a trap, just in case they had someone proficient in fighting. I listened.


    Two hours later I found myself hiding behind a tree close to the street the wagon would take. The road was in bad shape. The stones were cracked and the trees¡¯ branches hung over the path. A few hundred meters ahead of us the Rainwis flowed. The wide river marked the border between Anardin and the Laumanian Empire. We needed to stop the kidnappers before they could pass the bridge which spanned it or we would need to attack them in foreign territory.


    Before I could see it I heard the wagon. Then it came around the corner. A few more meters and it would enter the range of my spell. I had prepared a large scale sleeping spell, which would ensure everyone in and around the wagon would fall asleep in an instant.


    But just before they came in range the wagon stuttered to a halt and two people jumped from the driver¡¯s compartment. Because of the forty meter distance between us, I couldn¡¯t make out their features. They were alert and watched the surrounding trees with caution. I held my spell ready. Only two or three steps closer and I was in range to hit them. Then their gaze fell on me.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Suddenly I couldn¡¯t see them anymore. Well, to be more precise, they were hidden behind a large fireball racing straight towards me. My eyes went wide as I realized what was happening. They are trying to kill me. What to do now? Against a fire-based spell, water is most effective. But there is no water close enough, so I need to draw it from the air or create it with mana. Both options aren¡¯t ideal. Then I realized the fireball was almost at my position, and I still had no protection.


    Concentrate! What should I do? By now the fireball was close enough I could feel its heat. It seemed to fill my whole view. Is this how I¡¯m going to die? Defeated by some second class mages, only because I was lost in thoughts?. I powered up my magic shields, even though I knew they wouldn¡¯t help much against this attack.


    A transparent wall of water rose in front of me. When the fireball hit it, it just sizzled out of existence. I completely forgot I wasn¡¯t alone. It was Eric who saved me in the last second. The shock of almost dying set in. I couldn¡¯t move. This wasn¡¯t at all how I imagined my first real battle to be like. I thought I would wave my hands casting magic too complex for my opponent to even perceive and showing them my strength. I hadn¡¯t considered my lack of any practical experience.


    ¡°Damn it, Lady Lachester, they are still firing at us, get your act together!¡± Eric shouted at me.


    I saw Amalia standing in front of us casting spell after spell to defend us or using her magic shield to block the incoming attacks. She was skilled, I couldn¡¯t deny it, but so were our enemies. I had to move, had to get involved in the fight.


    ¡°Sorry, Eric, Amalia, I¡¯m fine. Give me a few seconds.¡±


    And with that, I concentrated. My mind formed a spell more complex than anyone here could manage. The spell¡¯s variables slit into place, my body supplied the mana and the spell exploded out from my hand.


    I had to use a spell that wouldn¡¯t kill anyone. I didn¡¯t want to hurt the abducted and I needed the kidnappers alive. My spell was a silver blur of magic. It moved at a speed barely perceptible to the eye and crashed straight into their magic shields. Nothing happened, only the branches hanging over the road started to move slowly, seeming to be caught in a weak breeze. The two criminals at the coach continued firing their magic at us thinking they deflected my spell. Just as planned.


    Everything happened fast. The branches and roots of the trees surrounding them came alive and rushed forwards their goal being our assailants. They tried to cast flame spells at the wood but to no avail. The kidnappers screamed as the branches and roots caught them and dragged them against the stem of a thick tree. There they hang tightly bound and gagged by thick branches. The wagon stood there as if nothing happened.


    ¡°Holy shit,¡± Amalia exclaimed, ¡°what was that?¡±


    ¡°The spell I cast animated the trees in their surroundings and ordered them to bind anything that used magic. This way only the kidnappers got attacked.¡± I had to admit, I sounded a bit proud.


    Seeing my display of magic made them forget I froze during the start of the fight. But I couldn¡¯t forget it. Without Eric and Amalia, I would be dead. Also if the assailants were stronger or more, my indecision could have killed all of us. I needed to get better at fights. Well, or take a larger escort.


    Eric¡¯s words distracted me from my thoughts. ¡°Let¡¯s ascertain we¡¯ve got kidnappers and not some merchant just trying to defend their wares. Though I have to admit, I find it unlikely to be someone else, given their immediate aggression.¡±


    In the wagon below the cloth, we found four people, two men, and two women. They looked¡­ actually, they looked fine. I expected worse. But it makes sense. The better the slave looks and the healthier it is the more money you can make with it. We questioned them and the kidnappers and brought everyone back into my family¡¯s manor in Evinsgate, the kidnappers we kept bound, of course.


    I sat across the table from an elderly woman. I had gotten cleaned up and had changed into formal attire for this meeting. The gray-haired mayor of Evinsgate watched me with a sharp and calculating eye. Yes eye, no plural. She had been an adventurer. During one of her delves, a caustic alraune had shot acid into one eye destroying it beyond repair. Because of her injury, she switched to politics.


    ¡°Hello Mayor Ven, it is nice to see you.¡±


    ¡°Evening Lady Lachester, you are here on family business? What do the Lachesters want from the city?¡±


    As my family was heavily invested in dungeon mining we had a strong influence in most dungeon towns. I had met Mayor Ven before. Back then she had been nice to me which made what I had to do harder. Still, it had to be done.


    ¡°It¡¯s not family business, I¡¯m here because I¡¯m interested in wares going through here towards Anardin. Wares that are alive and human. Wares that should not be allowed to pass through here since everything going into Anrial should be checked.¡±


    She realized what I meant at an instance. ¡°Human trafficking through my city? This is impossible, we check everything. Who told you this?¡±


    ¡°We caught kidnappers after they left this city. They told us their contacts and which guards were bought. Afterward, we investigated the guards and asked who paid for them. And I¡¯m sorry to tell you, they all accused you.¡±


    Before her face had been red from anger, now it turned pale. With a stutter to her voice, she replied: ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous, you have no proof.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t need any. The accusations are enough to get you questioned with truth serum. It will reveal your guilt.¡±


    She jumped to her feet raising an arm, about to cast a spell. I kept sitting, this time I was prepared.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t do that. Before coming here I requested assistance. The whole building is surrounded. Try to cast anything and it will get dispelled. You are caught.¡±


    And like this, my trip to Evinsgate ended. Ex-Mayor Ven, the kidnappers, and the corrupt guards were taken to Gloomchester and immediately questioned, both by my family¡¯s specialists and by the city guard. Both came to the same conclusion. The corrupt guards were paid by Ven. Ven also hired the kidnappers. She reported to Devon Hashot, the third son of Lord Hashot.


    Now there was only one question left which no one could answer: Who led the kidnapping in Gloomchester. We only knew from the victims they were caught by street thugs and then locked up in a building. From there the kidnappers took them. But who was responsible for hiring the thugs and providing the houses? It needed to be clarified or Hashot might escape repercussions. It was likely Hashot already knew they were found out and now trying to erase their traces. I had to work fast to find all the hints.


    But not now, it was already past midnight. After reporting to father I went to my room. Just as I lay down on the bed, Teresa came in with a message from my mother.


    ¡°Your mother wants me to inform you that there has been a kidnapping attempt on Senna¡¯s daughter and her friend. Both escaped and are fine. This case may be connected to yours.¡±


    First I felt worried when I heard someone tried to kidnap Ari, but it turned to relief. ¡°I better visit her then.¡±


    ¡°You should take a rest, let Christoph take care of it. As the head of the family¡¯s information network, it is his job after all. You can visit your friend tomorrow.¡±


    I wanted to protest, tell her I needed to see the kidnapping case through and make sure Ari was fine. In the end, I couldn¡¯t find a valid argument of why I needed to go instead of letting Christoph handle it. Also, I was dead tired. That¡¯s why I decided to stay in my bed. I was asleep in an instant.


    The next day I sat across from father. A memory crystal lay in front of him, containing all the information Christoph had collected last night.


    ¡°I just read the full report. It states he found the house Ari and Myra were taken to. He then searched for its owner, it turned out to be a poor merchant family. He questioned them and they revealed the house actually belongs to an individual called Matilda Harrison. Lady Harrison¡¯s daughter is married to the second son of Lord Hashot. We cannot question her directly without hard evidence, as she is part of a powerful family. But I think we can conclude all hints lead to Hashot. You have done well in figuring everything out. I want you to present your findings at the next committee meeting.¡±


    ¡°What? I¡¯m to present it? Shouldn¡¯t you do it?¡±


    ¡°You need to be recognized as a potential and important ally. Don¡¯t forget, you will lead the family and need to build your power base.¡±


    I felt nervous about the prospect of talking in front of the most powerful people in the kingdom, but I also relieved as well. I caught the kidnappers and prevented more kidnappings from happening. It was only a small thing in the big picture, but it was a step in the right direction. A step to improve and protect the lives of all citizens of the Laumanian Empire.

 Book 1 - Chapter 8 - Revelations (Alicia)

    Later the same day I stood in front of the table, all the committee members looking at me. My father gave me an encouraging smile. It didn¡¯t help much. My hands were sweaty. I never had a problem talking in front of people, but right now it wasn¡¯t any people but the most powerful citizens of the Empire.


    I took a deep breath to calm my nerves. Then started. ¡°I.. I am standing here to report on a crime committed by a person who swore his loyalty to the Laumanian Empire. He not only severely harmed our citizens but also cooperated with another nation. The kidnappings bringing fear to the heart of the masses were orchestrated by his family. His actions not only directly harmed those who got kidnapped but also made our nation look weak. I went and investigated the kidnappings because as the ruling class we must protect our citizens.¡±


    I let my words sink in. I still held a grudge because most in the committee didn¡¯t care about the kidnappings but I couldn¡¯t tell them my opinion too frankly. As I watched their faces some showed a streak of guilt most didn¡¯t care about what I said. That was to be expected.


    ¡°What I found was a conspiracy against the nation. One of the great families was actively trying to weaken us and strengthen Anardin.¡±


    That got a reaction. Lord Arfang and Lady Aleness who both looked bored before were now listening to my words with wrapped attention. Because of many wars, the hatred against Anardin ran deep in some people. Now I needed to use this hatred to get them on my side.


    ¡°This great family supported Anardin. Anardin, who we fought countless wars against. Anardin, who killed thousands of our brave soldiers in the Great War. Anardin, who not even a decade ago attacked us and took our territory south of the Rainwis.¡±


    ¡°Enough,¡± Lord Arfang barked and banged his fists against the table, ¡°who is supporting these traitorous bastards.¡±


    It worked. Were their expressions indifferent before, now they looked at me with interest. I¡¯m not happy I have to use the conflict as bait, but I won¡¯t let Hashot escape repercussion.


    ¡°Lord Hashot, your family was directly involved kidnapping our citizens and bringing them to Anardin, where they would be sold on the slave markets or worse.¡±


    Before I could continue any further Lord Hashot interrupted me with a laugh. ¡°I¡¯m sure you have nice proof to show my alleged involvement in this case. But I¡¯m not in the slightest bit interested in listening to your forged evidence. So, could we please skip it, and come back to important topics?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid you have to listen. We have found multiple witnesses blaming the kidnappings on your children. It is¡­¡±


    He interrupted me again. ¡°You paid some peasants to make some false claims? That¡¯s no proof. A few silvers and they will say and do anything you want. Lachester must have fallen deep if they have to rely on¡­¡±


    Enough was enough. ¡°Lord Hashot it is I who is speaking. You can argue all you want after I finished. And you are wrong, I have the mayor of Evinsgate as a witness. She and the kidnappers accused your family. They made their statement under truth potion, so there is no way they were lying.¡±


    I inhaled, Lady Aleness used the moment of silence to voice her opinion. ¡°Really? Hashot works together with Anardin. I hadn¡¯t expected this and I¡¯m deeply disturbed by the information.¡±


    Lord Hashot answered her. It seemed like I was losing control of the conversation. ¡°There is no hard proof to any of her accusations. Truth potions only reveal what the interviewed thinks to be true. Memories can be changed. And even if it was true, the only one kidnapped were unimportant peasants. You can hardly call that ¡®supporting Anardin¡¯.¡±


    ¡°Lachester is not known to perform sloppy investigations,¡± Lady Aleness replied. ¡°But you may be right, the kidnappings only comprised unimportant people.¡±


    That was what I feared. They ignoring the case because for them it wasn¡¯t of importance. I had to stop this. There was no sense in telling them the kidnapped had family and friends. Most wouldn¡¯t care.


    ¡°I think you should consider it from another point of view. For you they may be unimportant, but do you have any idea what Anardin wants with them? It may be just them wanting to have more slaves. But can we be certain of that? The answer is no, for all we know they may enlist the capable ones in their military and only sell those with bad magical talent as slaves. Therefore the actions of family Hashot should be considered as treason against the Empire and its people.¡±


    With these words, I ended my speech. Lord Hashot opened his mouth to form an angry reply to my words, but Lady Aleness was faster. ¡°Thank you very much Alicia Lachester, you can take a seat now. The committee will discuss your findings and vote on what to do with Hashot.¡±


    Because no one protested against her words, I walked to the spectator area and took a seat so they could have their debate. I hoped I was convincing enough.


    Their talk was heated. Lord Arfang appeared to be especially angry. He had lost both his parents in a war against Anardin and hated them with passion. He suggested having Lord Hashot and all suspects in his family questioned under truth potion. Sadly, his proposal got shut down. The great families were very careful about having anyone in their rows questioned with this serum since the interviewer could ask them anything and make them reveal their family¡¯s secrets.


    In the end, they decided the proof wasn¡¯t enough to condemn one of the great families. Also, according to them, there was no damage done by the kidnapping. Some of the family heads didn¡¯t seem to be happy about the decision. I was livid. Why aren¡¯t they punishing him? It¡¯s ridiculous how many more proofs do they want? I was about to storm over to them and question their state of mind, but something stopped me. It was the smile on my father¡¯s face. He thought it went well?


    Half an hour later I sat across from my father in his office. I still felt indignant and it must have shown on my face since my father told me: ¡°This has gone perfect.¡±


    ¡°Perfect?¡± I asked, my voice almost shrill. ¡°They got away with everything. They sold dozens of people into slavery.¡±


    ¡°There was never a real chance to get them sentenced. The great families can get away with almost anything. If they ever try something like this again, they will lose their status as a great family though. Also, thanks to your speech Arfang won¡¯t ever side with Hashot again. Furthermore, they lost any standing they held with Aleness. Hashot¡¯s position has considerably weakened. Due to this incident, they will be the next great family to lose their seat in the committee once a strong candidate arises.¡±


    ¡°It isn¡¯t satisfying. You know I want to improve the masses living conditions. But if I can¡¯t even get the one responsible for kidnapping dozens of them sentenced, how can I ever reach my goal?¡±


    My father was silent for a moment, considering what to reply. ¡°I can¡¯t say I like the goal you chose but I understand why you chose it and I think it¡¯s worthwhile to pursue. You need to build a strong powerbase, in particular, if you want to push for reforms. By weakening the Hashot you strengthened us. Moreover, you presented yourself well and made your opinions known. I think people will start to approach you with alliances and other deals.¡±The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°And what should I tell them?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s up to you. Your path will be different than mine because our goals are different. The only advice I can give you is to consider all your options and then act decisively. But enough about politics. Take the day off, you deserve it.¡±


    I decided to use my free time to visit Ari. I had to wait until late evening so she was home. When I arrived at her doorstep the sun had already sunken and a bright full moon illuminated Gloomchester.


    The difference between my living conditions and those of most others always surprised me. The rooms comprising my private quarters were larger than Ari¡¯s whole house and her parents were considered to be doing well. I couldn¡¯t imagine living in such small houses.


    I knocked. Senna opened the door and asked me in. The whole family plus Myra were sitting at the table in the center of the dining room and eating. Even though I didn¡¯t like the tightness of the room it was decorated cozily and made one feel at home. That is Senna''s specialty after all. Everyone greeted me.


    ¡°Please sit down, Alicia. Do you want anything to eat?¡± She asked me.


    ¡°No thanks I had eaten before coming here. I¡¯m sorry to disturb your meal.¡±


    I sat down on the only free chair at the table. The prepared food smelled nice and I considered asking for a plate anyway. The only one still eating was Ronald, but he seemed to be almost finished.


    ¡°Ari, Myra, thank you for your help in catching the kidnappers. Also, Christoph told me you were fine, but I wanted to ask myself.¡±


    Ari answered. ¡°We are doing well. They didn¡¯t hurt us.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a relief to hear. I wonder, how did you manage to escape? None of the others kidnapped was able to.¡±


    These words made everyone at the table look uncomfortable, even Ari looked unsure of what to say. I wondered why. Ari threw a glance at her father and he nodded.


    Then she told me: ¡°Well you see, they installed a small runic system in the room they trapped us in, which prevented me from using magic or any other means to escape. The runic system was also protected against tampering. I couldn¡¯t read runes well enough to find out which to disable to destroy the protection, but Myra could. This way we disabled them, I fought against our assailants, won and then we escaped.¡±


    ¡°Myra, you can read runes? I didn¡¯t believe someone in your position to be taught about runes.¡± I meant someone who was magicless and an orphan.


    Myra looked at me unsure. ¡°I had never been taught about runes.¡±


    ¡°Then how could you¡­¡± Then realization hit me. ¡°You are a scribe?¡± I asked incredulously. ¡°But then, why are you working as a maid?¡±


    Ronald took over. ¡°We only got the idea about Myra being a scribe because of the kidnapping and we aren¡¯t sure yet. It seems plausible though. I planned to find a way to ascertain it, without revealing her but I wasn¡¯t able to. We decided on Senna asking your mother about it tomorrow, but maybe you know a way?¡±


    ¡°There is an easy way to check, but it might take some time. We can do it now if you want?¡±


    Myra appeared to be unsure, Ari wasn¡¯t. She put a hand on Myra¡¯s shoulder and told her: ¡°Let¡¯s find out.¡± And towards me: ¡°So, how do we do it?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s easy we only need a piece of paper and a pen.¡±


    After Senna brought the items over to me, I painted a small fireball rune onto it. It took me a few minutes. I did a crappy job drawing it, my hands were shaking in excitement. A scribe. It¡¯s too good to be true. After finishing I walked over to Myra and placed the piece of paper in front of her. Ari and her parents were watching us with rapt attention.


    ¡°Now, place both of your hand on top of the paper, right over the rune.¡±


    She did as I told her. Her hands shacked almost as bad as my own, but in her case, I believed it to be hope mixed with trepidation instead of excitement.


    ¡°Like this?¡± She asked in a small voice.


    ¡°Very good,¡± I said hoping to sound soothing. ¡°Now close your eyes and imagine an empty space.¡± Doing this was just like my grandfather had taught me to form my first spell. Imagination was an important part of spellcasting. It decided the shape the spell would take and it had to be trained just like anything else.


    I continued: ¡°There is a flame, a small one. It is flickering and illuminating the whole space in soft yellow light. Feel the warmth radiating off of it. Try to enlarge the flame. Make it bigger, let it take the shape of a fireball. Now the fire is not warm but hot."


    Until now it was the way how young mages were taught to cast a fireball. Starting from here, I had to improvise. I didn¡¯t know exactly what scribes needed to do to use their special magic.


    ¡°With your imaginary hands reach out until your fingertips touch the fireball.¡± Myra flinched. She seemed to be pretty deep in the imaginary world if she was afraid of the fire burning her.


    ¡°Now focus on everything you feel, the warmth, the light, the burning and push it through your hands. Push it into the paper. Focus on it as strong as possible.¡±


    Suddenly the paper glowed in a brilliant orange light. I smiled, it worked, she was a scribe. I had to stop myself from jumping up and down in excitement like a kid. Myra still focused on the paper not seeming to notice that something had happened. Ari, Senna, and Ronald stared at the paper, none of them sure of what it meant.


    I said a smile clearly showing on my face: ¡°It¡¯s done Myra, you can stop.¡±


    She opened her eyes and looked around. She appeared to have awoken from a dream. With everyone staring at her a questioning expression showed on her face. I took the paper. It had stopped glowing one or two seconds after it started.


    ¡°Well, let¡¯s get outside and test it, just to be sure beyond any reasonable doubt.¡±


    Everyone looked at me in surprise. Ari was the first to find her voice: ¡°So it¡¯s true, she¡¯s a scribe?¡±


    I gave her a short nod and walked outside. The streets were empty. I channeled mana into the rune and concentrated on setting specific variables for the spell. It burst out of the paper and flew straight up into the sky. She is a scribe. There is no doubt about it.


    I have to get her to join my family. Scribes are invaluable and if she supports me, I can reach my goals so much faster. But what if she declines? My last thought brought me crashing down from my happiness induced state. Can I force her to join me?


    No, I can¡¯t. It would go against anything I want to achieve. I want to give the people a life worth living and not to force them to work for me, even if it is for the best of all. Not seeming to notice my inner conflict Myra asked me a question.


    ¡°I have wondered for some time now, how can I see this fireball, but most other spells are invisible to me?¡±


    Did she ask that? Now? She was a scribe, and the only thing she wondered about was that? Didn¡¯t she know how amazing her being a scribe was? Probably not¡­ Knowledge about scribes isn¡¯t widespread.


    To answer her question, I told her: ¡°A fireball is the result of a spell and is therefore as visible as any other flame. The actual spell is summoning the fireball and pushing it into the desired direction. Everyone who isn¡¯t blind can see the results of any spell, magic vision is only needed to see the spell itself. Also, a mage¡¯s magic shield can only block spells, not their results.


    ¡°But this is unimportant. You are a scribe. Do you know what that means?¡± Myra, Ari, and her parents, who also followed outside, shook their heads.


    ¡°Being a scribe has multiple implications. At first scribes have a natural talent in drawing and reading runes. Furthermore, they can feel the effects of runes when close, like others, feel heat or cold. Becaus of this you were able to understand the effects of the runes of the kidnappers. Both make scribes the perfect candidates for designing large and complex runic systems and finding out the effects of unknown runes.


    ¡°Also, and this is the most important, scribes can bless runes making them stronger and flexible. Stronger means, the caster needs less mana to cast the blessed rune. Flexible implies that the casters can set the variables of the written runes themselves when activating it. This is a major advantage to unblessed runes, for which you can¡¯t change the variables once the rune is drawn.


    ¡°For example, if I buy a fireball rune, like the one I draw on the paper before you blessed it, the creator of the rune has set at which temperature the fire will burn. But maybe I need a hotter flame. That¡¯s where a blessed rune comes in handy. They let the caster choose the heat, the fly speed, the denseness or any other variable at their will.¡± I rattled everything off at top speed and had to take a deep breath before I continued: ¡°These are the reasons why everyone wants a scribe.¡±


    I caught Ari looking at me, her face didn¡¯t show joy, as it normally did, but calculation. ¡°Does everyone mean even you and your family?¡± Ari asked.


    ¡°Yes, especially us. Please come to my family¡¯s mansion, Myra, and bring Ari if you want. There we can talk about it in more detail. I won¡¯t force you to work for me. Even if you don¡¯t want to join my family, there are certain things you need to know. I hope I see you tomorrow, as early as possible.¡±


    With these words, I left. I wanted to make sure they did understand I wouldn¡¯t force anyone, but I dearly hoped she would come.

 Book 1 - Chapter 9 - Decision (Myra)

    After Alicia left, I just stood there. A scribe? As Alicia described it, it didn¡¯t sound that good. It actually sounded bad. The rich wanting me for my abilities and I had to work for them. This sounded like my life right now.


    Only, hadn¡¯t Alicia given me a choice? She asked me to visit her and then walked away. I could go to her tomorrow or I couldn¡¯t. If I didn¡¯t appear would she have me captured and brought? Probably, but still. She had tried to be nice to me and didn¡¯t behave like the other rich people I met. She didn¡¯t have her nose in the air.


    If I go together with Ari it should be fine, shouldn¡¯t it? She would help me. Still, I should ask her. So, I turned towards her, her parents had left us already.


    ¡°What do you think Ari? Should I go?¡±


    ¡°You need to ask? Of course!¡±


    ¡°But what if it¡¯s just like working for the Laundrial¡¯s or maybe even worse? What if they force me to work for them?¡±


    ¡°That won¡¯t happen. Besides, Alicia didn¡¯t ask you to work for her, she asked you to join her family. That¡¯s like being adopted. No one will be able to force you to do anything then, not without enraging one of the most powerful families in the kingdom.¡±


    That got me thinking. If they were to adopt me, nobody would ever look down on me. But it sounded too good to be true. I voiced my doubts. ¡°Is being a scribe such a big deal? It doesn¡¯t sound impressive.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t know, to be honest. But Alicia thinks so, and I have known her for a long time. She never was someone to lie and manipulate others. You should go and meet her tomorrow, I will, of course, accompany you if it¡¯s ok.¡±


    Her words made me feel relieved. I was worried about going there alone. ¡°Thanks. Please come with me.¡±


    Ari smiled at me. ¡°All right, then we will go there tomorrow evening, right after our work ended.¡±


    It had gotten cold and with everything decided we walked back into our home and went straight to bed.


    The next day passed in a blur. The job had gotten easier for me since I worked less and ate more. I was still very thin but the dark rings below my eyes had disappeared and my face had gotten a more natural color, but was still rather white.


    I scrubbed the floor, cleaned rooms and cut the flowers in the garden. Just when I was about to go clean the next room Ari walked up to me and told me: ¡°Let¡¯s leave, we have an important meeting ahead of us.¡±


    I peered through the window in the room I just entered. ¡°It isn¡¯t even dark yet, you sure we can leave now?¡±


    ¡°I talked to the head servant. She gave the ok after I told her who we were to meet. So, come on let¡¯s go.¡±


    Ari took my hand and pulled me through the corridors and the servant¡¯s entrance. There she let me go and we continued towards the Lachester¡¯s mansion.


    I had never been to Dawnshine. There was never a reason for me to go there, until now. I marveled at the size of the mansions. They weren¡¯t just large houses with a garden surrounding it. Instead, the ground each of the rich families owned was as big as a city block and it was enclosed by large walls and protected by complex runic systems.


    For me, the only signs of these systems were runes painted on the walls. For a moment I considered to stop and inspect them to see if I could discern their effects, but the many city guards patrolling through the streets already eyed us with suspicion. Therefore, I decided against it.


    From this district, I could see the palace with its dozens of towers reaching far into the air.


    Ari led the way and finally stopped in front of a large gate. Two guards stood in front of it. Both were wearing heavy leather armor. One had a magus staff on his back, the other one¡¯s waist was adorned by two short magus daggers. They both looked like experienced mercenaries, always ready and self-assured. And grim. But when the one with the staff spoke he sounded friendly.


    ¡°Good day Ladies. How can we help you?¡±


    Ari took a step forward and answered: ¡°We are here to meet Lady Alicia Lachester. She has invited us to meet with her. We are Ari and Myra.¡±


    ¡°Ah yes, the lady mentioned guests coming. My name is Roderick by the way. Please follow me.¡±


    He turned around and walked away, Ari and I followed. After entering through the gate, I got my real first look in the garden. It looked beautiful. The gravel path we walked on was lined by blackwood trees. Their low hanging branches formed a roof above our heads giving the whole path an eerie and magical feeling. This was heightened by the kumurukas jumping and gliding through them.


    They looked like a flying squirrel. Their pelts were of dark shades so they were hard to spot as they jumped and flew around the branches. The only thing making their presence obvious was their songs. All of them were squeaking in different volumes and tones but taken together their voices produced an ethereal hum.


    Behind the immediate line of trees were other wonders I could only get glimpses of. Round balls of light in all shades, enormous trees I didn¡¯t see from the outside, floating streams of water running through the air and many more. If you live outside in the city there may be magic but I have never felt a place to be this magical.


    Due to my observation of the surroundings, I fell behind Ari and Roderick, until Ari called out to me and I hurried back to her side. I still glanced around but was careful now not to get left behind.


    Roderick led us through the main entrance into a waiting room close by. ¡°Please wait here, I will inform Lady Alicia of your presence.¡±


    He left us. I turned towards Ari: ¡°This garden is magical. I¡¯m envious you got to play here.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it was super awesome as a kid. And you haven¡¯t seen anything yet. Wait until it¡¯s summer and everything is blossoming. The first year I came over the water elementals living in the garden created a lake when it got hot. Only the lake wasn¡¯t on the ground like you would expect but hovering over the treetops. We had to climb on the biggest tree to get into the water and then be careful not to fall through on the bottom.¡±


    Ari went on and told me about the time she spent here in her childhood. It sounded magical and full of wonders. In my head, I compared it with my childhood. The difference couldn¡¯t be more obvious. She laughed and played daily with Alicia in this garden of wonders. I spent most of my time doing chores, nothing or trying to avoid other kids.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    The door opening pulled me out of my thoughts. Alicia strode into the room. Today she wore a lavish dress kept in bright colors. That reminded me, we came here directly from work. Our clothes were wrinkled. We were lucky the guards even let us in and not thought of us as thieves.


    ¡°Hello Myra, Ari, I¡¯m happy you came. There is much I need to talk to you about. Please come with me so we can talk in a more comfortable environment.¡±


    We stood up and greeted her. I still felt a bit nervous around Alicia. She wasn¡¯t intimidating or anything, but her position as the Lachester heir meant she could do anything she wanted to us. Like, keep us imprisoned here. Ari wasn¡¯t shy at all, she kept talking to Alicia about the adventures they had had when they were young. I was content with listening.


    Alicia led us down corridor after corridor, everything shone in perfect cleanliness. Pictures about fantastic floating islands, gigantic titans and enormous towers hung on the wall, just beside golden chandeliers illuminating the hallways in warm yellow light. Antic vases and exotic plants stood on marble stands. Stealing just one of these exhibits will make enough money to live a comfortable life for a year or two. I couldn¡¯t deny I was tempted but decided against it. For me, there was no way of knowing if they were secured by some magical measures.


    Finally, Alicia walked towards a massive wooden door, which swung in by itself as she neared. On the inside, comfortable-looking armchairs stood around a knee-high table. We sat down on the chairs. A maid entered through the door.


    Alicia said: ¡°Let me introduce to Teresia, she is my personal maid. Can I offer you something to drink or eat?¡±


    Ari asked for a glass of wine, I decided a glass of water was enough for me. Teresia walked off to fetch it. Alicia and Ari stopped talking about their childhood and Alicia turned towards me. I fidgeted in my seat.


    She asked: ¡°I¡¯m sure you had to listen long enough to us brabbling about our time as children. I¡¯m interested in your childhood, are you willing to share how it was growing up without magic? I can¡¯t imagine it to be easy.¡±


    She looked at me and I thought I could see a flash of fear or distress showing in her eyes. Was she imagining living without magic? ¡°It wasn¡¯t easy but I¡¯m sure many children were doing worse.¡±


    ¡°What do you like to do in your free time?¡±


    ¡°Before moving in with Ari I had no free time. Since then on our days of we have watched street performers and traveling entertainers, been to festivals and hung out with a few of Ari¡¯s acquaintances.¡±


    I said it fast with a light stutter in my voice. Her face showed a pained expression. I understood what she tried to do. She wanted to include me in the conversation and get to know me. I wasn¡¯t averse to her motion, but I didn¡¯t know how to behave around her and what to say. She was just too different from anyone I had ever known. I believed she felt the same about me.


    I sat in the chair my body tense and my hands interlaced with each other. Before the silence could stretch for too long Ari cut in and told Alicia about a theatre piece one particular talented group of entertainers performed. I could only envy her ability to always being able to make conversation.


    Teresa returned with our drinks and placed them in front of us. We all thanked her and she left the room. After everyone had the chance to take a sip, Alicia looked at me seriously.


    ¡°Let¡¯s talk about the reason you came here. We have ascertained you are a scribe. I¡¯m not sure you realize how valuable having a scribe in your family is. No matter whether you decide to stay with my family you need to understand this.


    ¡°Let¡¯s start with your ability to get a feeling about the functionality of runes. Adventurers discovered all the runes we use today in dungeons. Dungeons use them to build traps or puzzles. The adventurers weren¡¯t able to understand them and many injured themselves or even died while trying to discern their effect. That was until the first scribe was discovered. He could give the researchers a good idea of what they were dealing with and therefore sharply reduced the risk involved in research. Today scribes still enter dungeons to discover new runes. Also, the best and strongest adventurer parties hire them to reveal the effects of particularly complex and dangerous runic systems found in the deepest layers. Every such dive can result in dozens to a hundred gold coins for you.¡±


    She made a pause to let her words sink in. With a hundred gold coins I could live peacefully to the end of my days without ever having to work again. I couldn¡¯t fathom owning this much money. The wonder must have shown on my face because Alicia continued.


    ¡°But be careful you a risking your life by diving into dungeons. Many a scribe died in such expeditions. Another possibility for you is joining with a powerful mage or even an archmage and doing research. Scribes'' natural ability to understand and build complex runic systems makes you a perfect candidate. It won¡¯t pay as good as diving into dungeons but you will still become wealthy quickly. Also, you would participate in pushing the frontier of knowledge ahead.¡±


    This option sounded far safer than working in a dungeon, but I didn¡¯t like it. I would again work for someone else only this time as assistance instead of a servant. And in my experience, both were often quite similar.


    ¡°Now for the last and most revered talent of scribes, I have to give you some background knowledge. The effectiveness of spell scrolls, or to be more precise the ratio between necessary mana to activate it and the power of the resulting spell, separates a scroll into different tiers. They start at 1 and go up to 10 and after that S. The effectiveness is set by the quality of the runes drawn on paper and the mental image inscribed into it. For example, the spell scroll I created yesterday was badly drawn and I didn¡¯t inscribe any image into it, so it was tier 1. Then you inscribed a mental image into it which brought it up to tier 3. Also, you made the spell flexible, so I could change most variables of the spell.


    ¡°This third ability lets you create scrolls that can be worth dozens of gold coins. Well, given you train drawing and inscribing the image so you can create scrolls at tier 9 or higher.


    ¡°As a scribe, you can get proficient in one or all of these abilities. No matter which you choose everyone will want you. So, you have two possibilities to choose from. Either you enter a strong family, or you hide your abilities.¡±


    If her words were true I could either continue my life like it is now or work for the rich. Neither sounded appealing to me.


    ¡°Couldn¡¯t I just make scrolls and sell them myself?¡±


    ¡°Everyone wants you, Myra. The great families are always carefully monitoring the population for any signs of an unbound scribe. Someone would find you and force you to work for them. They would take excellent care of you but they wouldn¡¯t let you go.¡±


    Conflicting feelings welled up inside of me. Being wanted by the most powerful people was flattering but also disturbing. I was unaccustomed to this because no one, except maybe Ari, ever wanted me. This seemed to have changed. Normally I wouldn¡¯t believe such claims but for some strange reason, I believed Alicia. She appeared to be genuine and Ari trusted her.


    Alicia interrupted my thoughts. ¡°Again, I want to offer you to join my family. We are powerful enough that we can protect you and I promise you, you will be able to leave if you can¡¯t stand living here. If you join us you will be a member of a great family and want for nothing.¡±


    I wanted to believe her, I wanted a better life, wanted to be free. But how could I be sure she¡¯d stay true to her words and wasn¡¯t using a spell on me right now to make me more compliant? Ok, Ari would have told me if she did it. Should I just accept and hope for the best? Then I realized something. She is giving me a choice even though forcing me would be easy for her and something others would do.


    ¡°I think I¡¯d like to sleep about it. What do you think Ari?¡±


    ¡°It is your decision. I can only tell you that Alicia and her family have always been nice to me. If you accept, you will have an excellent life.¡±


    After Ari finished Alicia told us: ¡°It is late and I¡¯m sure both of you are tired. I know I am. So please stay here for the night. Myra, Teresia will bring you to a guest room. Once there please stay inside. This house is full of magic and runes and if you leave and have to mage vision the best thing to happen to you is to get lost. If you need anything or go somewhere there is a button you can press to summon a servant.¡±


    As on cue, Teresia entered. I turned to leave, expecting Ari to follow me, but she wasn¡¯t.


    ¡°I want to have a word with Ari in private. Good night Myra.¡±


    Ari said: ¡°Don¡¯t worry Myra, it won¡¯t have much to do with you and I will come soon.¡±


    I said goodbye and left the room with a queasy feeling. What were they talking about that I shouldn¡¯t hear? But I trusted Ari, so if the topic they were discussing was concerning me she would tell me.


    Teresia asked me whether I wanted a bath prepared before going to sleep. I declined my sleepiness finally catching up to me. Once in the room, I changed into silk sleepwear which some servant put there for me. In my tired state, I didn¡¯t appreciate how good the material felt.


    As I lay there my thoughts were still on Alicia¡¯s offer. I think I¡¯m going to accept it tomorrow.