6 A way out

Lihar pursed his lips with a sad expression and looked down once again. They stayed in the abandoned house for a few minutes before Nahar spoke up.

"We should go back."

Lihar nodded, and the two trudged back home. They walked slowly, and Nahar lingered on the previous thought he had.

'God's gift... God's blessing...'

For some reason, the hurried answer he gave to Lihar repeated in his head endlessly.

But the day was not yet finished. When they went inside, Liley and Ney were still sitting behind the table, but there was another guest.

"Baron Yeltsin," Nahar greeted.

"Ah! Nahar! Heard you've been busy lately!"

"Not as much as you are. Everyday."

Baron Yeltsin was famous among the lowrung people. He was a noble from the Sovereignty, who for some reason came to live in the Magicracy. No one knew why, but there was no doubt about the man's origins. He proudly held up the emblem that signified his position as a baron at his house, and everyone who visited him, saw the silver emblem with their own eyes. The baron's close friends even touched it and felt its weight.

As for the baron himself, he was a busy and boisterous man, who carried gossip and news everywhere he went. No one among the lowrung were unfamiliar with his radiant personality and distinctly foreign and polite manner of speech.

With how much the man ran around every day, people always joked he worked ten times as any diligent worker in the city.

"Hah! My work is to simply run around and speak nonsense! I'm always jealous of you craftsmen who can make something out of nothing."

Nahar smiled warmly and so did the rest of the family.

"I'm sorry for asking, but why did you come today?"

"Ah, before that. Why don't little Lihar go upstairs to his room?"

"Lihar, go on boy."

"Why can Ney stay and I have to go?" the boy cried.

"It's adult matters, but it concerns the girl the most," the baron smiled. "Now don't be unreasonable."

Lihar grumbled, but walked upstairs regardless. Ney went behind him and closed the door tightly.

With that, the baron could talk.

"Ah. Your little girl came to me and asked to investigate something. It's about the matter of Vasas."

"Vasas?" Nahar was confused.

"Yes. It's the tools used by the Magi to control the wayward mana inside their bodies. Well, Ney here thought that maybe there are some merchants loitering around that dealt in these Vasas. Illegally, of course."

Nahar almost gasped. "Ney! You!"

The tools of the Magi were akin to sacred treasures. Coveting them was tantamount to seeking one's death!

"I know," baron Yeltsin smiled. "The girl's got more guts than those heroes who slay dragons. Hah! Of course, I explained everything in detail to her.

"The making and allocation of the Vasa are controlled and observed down to the smallest details. When a mage of 'inside blood' reached the age of six, they're immediately sent to the Capital, where they receive some education and also their very own Vasa, which stays with them for the rest of their lives.

"As for slave mages, they receive a weaker version of the Vasa. They remain unable to use most of their mana, but at they very least, they will not die. Of course, the surveillance for that process is also at the maximum level. And as you all probably know, anything regarding these magical objects are taken extremely seriously by the Magicracy."

The baron suddenly spoke a bunch of stuff about mages and mana. It took some time for Nahar to digest it all, but he got the gist of it.

"We often joke that it's actually easier to steal a Magi's underpants than their Vasa," the baron laughed.

"Then she can only become a slave?" Nahar couldn't help but feel depressed.

"Mm. Normally," the baron nodded in a rare, serious manner. "You might feel that it's fine. After all, she gets to live out her life, despite her title as slavemage. But I daresay… that kind of life is no better than death. Slavemages in the Magicracy have no freedom and no free will. They're regarded as no more than suppliers of mana and from dawn to dawn, they sit connected to a mana stone, filling it with their life. Even sleeping, they are connected to mana stones. As you know, it's not a secret that slavemages only live five or six years before they either die or decide to take their own lives."

Nahar's chest tightened.

"Father," Ney whispered. "Don't worry."

Nahar wanted to retort, but he detected a hint of hope in the girl's voice.

"The girl's right," baron Yeltsin said. "But. What I'm about to speak here can never be repeated outside, do you understand?"

Suddenly, the air felt suffocating. The baron was always friendly and amicable, but he never exerted such pressure from his body before.

The parents gulped. "We understand," they whispered in unison.

"It's good that you understand," the baron sighed and the heavy atmosphere in the room dissipated a bit. "Well now… where should I begin? Let's start with the basics. You both know I'm from the neighboring Gretenberg Sovereignty right?"

"Of course. You're the only 'baron' around here, after all."

"Yes, that makes it easier. Well, as the Great Conqueror Marcus said, 'Even the water in foreign lands taste different'. The Sovereignty has a different method of dealing with commoner mages. Since it's an aristocracy, naturally, they want to keep magic to themselves. Similarly to here, they don't let them take too much power and only use them as sources of mana."

Nahar nodded. It was a well-known truth that the Magi purposefully pushed down outside blood mages. The only option they had was to serve them as a slave, or die. The Magi didn't even bother to hide this fact. They spread it far and wide across the country, relishing and praising their own strength. Anyone who disagreed with them met an untimely end. They reigned supreme in the Magicracy.

But what could the people do? They had no weapons to fight against the Magi. Before the miracles of a Magus, a thousand brave men were nothing but ants.

Nahar didn't know how it was in the Sovereignty, but he knew for sure that the mages reigned supreme.

"But," the baron continued. "There's a big difference. The commoner mages there don't become slave mages. They join the Temple and serve the people. They supply mana stones and operate the magic tools necessary to keep the country working. But they don't do it all day every day.

"They start their work the same time as all of us and end it in the evening. They receive ample breaks inbetween and even take a day off from a week. They're respected by many, as everyone knows they can live comfortably thanks to the mages, and many devote themselves to artistic hobbies, bettering themselves as cultured people.

"If they're lucky, they might even receive the grace of a noble and serve them as a follower, who knows?"

Nahar's expression brightened considerably. Compared to the Magicracy, the Sovereignty sounded like paradise.

But the baron's tone sounded threatening again.

"This is only the drunken ramblings of a random passersby, of course," he said. "I'm sure you three haven't even a clue who it was."

"Of course," Nahar nodded. "These drunkards are getting too loud these days."

Without saying anything else, the baron got up and walked out of the house.

When the three of them were left behind, an odd silence lingered.

"Does that mean… you're leaving?" Liley was the first to break the silence.

"When I become rich enough," Ney smiled. "Which should be after three months, when craftsmen from across the country send me their first batch of income.

"The problem is… these next three months," Ney continued. "I'm sure the Magi would eventually hear news about me. Now, they're still oblivious since they never bother to interfere with the non-mages' business, but when they notice that the products that are circulating here are much better than before, they'll start snooping around."

"When they realize that an outside blood mage was making all these new things, what do you think they'll do?"

Nahar frowned.

Ney had a way out, but she had brought unnecessary attention to herself, she was saying. With how much money she made, it was a pipe dream to think that the Magi would peacefully let her go to the Sovereignty.

"They'll try to take you."

"Perhaps some opportunistic person has already spoken about me to the Magi," Ney sighed. "After which, they'll do everything they can to get me on their side. Even if it's illegal for them to abduct a random child on the streets, since I'm a mage, they can just forcefully draft me into service. Although technically, that's better than becoming a slave, with me getting my own Vasa and not being under the Magi's total control, I don't trust them enough to go through with their words."

Nahar's frown deepened.

"Wait! That means that even if they didn't know that you were going to the Sovereignty, they would try to take you!"

"In the Magi's eyes, we're nothing but dogs littering the street. They have the idea that they can do anything to us without any repercussions. And it's true. They can come to our house and take me away by force tomorrow and there's nothing we can do."

That definitely was a possibility. Who knows how many times Nahar begged the Initiate Mage to give them the tool to save Ney? But even hearing the descriptions of Ney's suffering, the mage did not even bat an eye, as if Ney's matters were the matters of animals.

"Then…"

"I've spoken to Headmaster Vevian," Ney said. "I'll be adopted by him as soon as possible. With his standing as Headmaster of the Merchant Union, even the Magi cannot act rashly against him."

Nahar sucked in cold air. But it wasn't over yet.

"I'll send you some money from time to time, but it's best if we don't interact with each other from now on," Ney said resolutely. "I'm certain the Magi will try everything to make me budge and I'm afraid they won't think twice about using you guys."

Ney's eyes turned sharp and resolute. Nothing like the eyes a 12-year-old should possess.

"I'll say this, and I hope you don't get too offended by it, but if the Magi does take hostage of you, I will not be sacrificing myself for you guys. I'll do my best to save you, but not if it means I'll become a slave to the Magi."

Nahar wanted to groan.

The feeling of guilt dreading through his veins, he looked at his wife. Liley showed a difficult expression, but she seemed to understand and accept the situation.

Nahar wondered what kind of face he was making. Whatever it was, Ney seemed to deem it as acceptable.

"It's good that you're so understanding," she continued with a wry smile. "Well, 'She' says that even if I do sacrifice myself to save you three, the chances of you all getting killed afterwards is eight out of ten, if that makes you feel any better."

"That…"

Ney laughed and waved her hand as if she was joking and continued.

"Don't look too glum, it's not like I'm going to leave you three to fend for yourselves all alone. I have a plan and it's very simple," she smiled devilishly. "You just need to report me to the Magi yourselves."