C5

The first to disembark the carriage was neither Ymdall or John but the carriage driver from the front cab. After disembarking, he walked to the side and pulled down the steps underneath the side door, and bowed his body slightly with his arms to the side. Unlike other town's Clover was exceptionally clean, depositing trash on the ground could almost be seen as a federal offence, especially when there were bins located virtually everywhere. These bins could filter and recycle garbage, unrecyclable components, however, were dumped into a landfill.

Ymdall and John departed from the carriage, but instead of walking onto the premise of the luxurious mansion and through the entrance gate, they turned to walk down the street, pursuing their original goal of exploring the town. Meanwhile, back at the gate. The carriage driver watched the Lord, and young master fade from his view, he then hopped back onto the main seat of the cab and drove the wagon around the back of the mansion to the garage. Once the horses were unharnessed, they were led to the stables where a large host of stableboys attended to them, from brushing their fur to feeding them hay, some even warily checked the condition of the horse's feet. Luckily, the state of the pavements in town was smooth and soft enough that maintenance on their feet wasn't as frequent as other towns.

Walking forward, Ymdall would point towards small shops, extraordinary adventures, and strange trinkets on different stalls, while John would explain what they could do. But their conversation started to lull the closer they got to the town square. Once they sat down on one of the benches, the conversation stopped as if neither had anything else to talk about, John was the one who renewed the discussion.

"Do you think everyone in this town is good?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because, mum told me that magic takes after and individuals attribute and personality, so if everyone was kind would you have demon practitioners who experiment on children and babies. And even in a healthy society you still have the titles of thief, murderer, and bandit, if everyone was kind, then we wouldn't associate negative and malicious connotations to people."

"Then is evil necessary for society?"

"No?"

"Wrong. If we didn't have organised criminal organisations, how would we have a safe society? If guards ward off the main threats to the middle and upper-class, the lower class is glued together precariously by organised crime. Everyone in the lower class district has at least one connection, however shallow it is, those on the verge of starvation have at least some chance to survive. Whether they are creating drugs or just acting like a porter, unlike regular criminals, those working for organised crime don't even realise their role or even relation to the criminal organisation, to those employed it is just another job. And for those who are paid to steal, kill, and smuggle, at quick, clean and avoid collateral damage. In addition to that, the government and organised criminal organisations usually have a love-hate relationship. If they go too far, they are hunted without mercy, but organised crime can also boost the economy and those organisations know how to get on the government's good side, with a large portion of police, politicians and guards/generals under their pay. Gangs cannot compare to them, and unlike organised criminal organisations, gangs full of miscreants are indiscriminately arrested."

"Wait, but does that mean father has some connections to organised criminal organisations?"

"Hmm, what do you think?"

Standing up, John started walking down the street at a brisk pace, and Ymdall who was caught off guard having to run to catch up. But, however swiftly, Ymdall moved or tried to walk, John seemed to always be ahead, and then he walked around a corner, seemingly disappearing.

*Whoosh*

...

"Is that him?"

"Of course."

"Is he conscious?"

"F**k no. Why would I bring a flopping fish back to the base, Alex did that once, just for fun and phew, have you seen his face, a cat sith took his left side including his eye, and if it weren't for the senior, five other guys would have been fucked up as well."

"Throw him into the freezer room, and remember. The top brass has high hopes for him, we need to break him to make him if he is dead by morning, we are all dead, so make sure he is monitored heavily."

"Urg, I remember, but Burr better show up for his shift otherwise we are dead for sure."

...

A white room located far underground had the infamous name of 'The Freezer', few could survive even an hour in this room, some exotic individuals placed in this room could survive more than two or even three hours, like dwarves or insectoids. And today it would have another victim.

A body with a sack over its head was lifted up by the armpits, and thrown into the room. The thick singular metal door with two metal hinges was hastily shut as the brief period it was open for froze the entire hallway in frost, causing the two escorts faces to flush red.

Huh, huh, huh. Brr.

Cold. So cold.

How do I get out?

Heavy limbs. Must, must move, need to getaway. Too cold. Can't see, piercing air, must get up.

Despite being in a fetal posture, the adolescent tore off the sack on his head, and low and behold green hair, so now that you definitely for sure know it is Ymdall. Laying on his side, Ymdall rolled unto his knees, before very shakily standing up. Unfortunately for his captors, although Ymdall had not reached the age of twelve, he could still utilise low-level ancient mage spells, limited to four tier-one spells and two tier-two spells.

What separates the old system of spells to the new system of magic is the restrictions in place. The old system utilised the technique of using external mana to arrange a spell, and the spell prepared would hold until the caster uses it or it was forgotten. These spells had a broad spectrum of restrictions which enhanced their power massively and made them incredibly potent.

However, the new system was different. After years of experimentation, an innovative method of magic was created, and it was accepted quickly by the younger generation, this was because it could be rapidly deployed and would only stop when the caster ran out of mana rather than spells. However, the caster had to have high affinity with the element they were casting, and they couldn't cast complex spells on the run. Therefore they usually opted to overpower their enemy with haste rather than wit. This system works well in a war, but against the old monsters utilising the former method, they still couldn't compete, as splendidly as the older generation.

So the reason for the captor's misfortune is that in Ymall's possession of spells was warmth. Now I know what you are thinking, "Why didn't Ymdall instantly deploy warmth?". Those experiencing hypothermia are in a state where they swiftly lose control of their limbs, and the blood flow to their brain slows down resulting in slower response and less critical thinking. This means that despite having the solution, it would take longer for Ymdall to deploy the spell.

Reaching the door, it was as if Ymdall was a moth drawn to flames and although he wasn't blind, he walked headfirst into the metal door.

"Metal? Hard. No escape? Need warmth... Warmth... Warmth activate!"

When the last syllable of "activate" was pronounced, a yellow earthly glow encased Ymdall, and with that, his body slumped forward, leaving Ymdall with the appearance of sleeping while standing upright. This continued for several minutes.

"Was I kidnapped? Dumb question, since I am in a frosted and icy room, I can assure myself I have been, I remember seeing father before losing my consciousness, does this mean that this is a test? Hmm, until I know the intention of the enemies, I should be cautious, but how should I escape? Hmm. A metal door? An ice room? What other factors can I use? Wait... Are those hinges? What idiot puts hinges on the side of the captive?"

Ymdall walked to the door and examined the hinges, they were ones that could be found anywhere and did not have any protection against cold environments, which is ironic considering the location of the hinges. Now that the door preventing his escape had been investigated it was time to investigate the source of the cold and to see whether it could be exploited. The cause of the cold was either a Thul rune etched or inked into a wall, floor or ceiling, or a crystal from an ice creature. Luckily a single unfocused level one 'identify' spell would cause any mana to glow purple.

"Identify!"

*Vmmm*

A sky blue glow encompassed the white room, and sure enough, some lines on the floor with the appearance of a diagonal w or double v glowed purple. Surrounding the Thul hieroglyph was a circle made up of enchanted and ancient letters. Unfortunately, the two systems of magic inscriptions do not bode well together, and the original fourteen cold damage was reduced to five on initial contact, and zero-point-zero-zero-seven every second. This meant that someone under the age of twelve with a hundred health points would only last three to four hours if they didn't take further damage from cold spikes, which could do between five to twenty cold damage potentially causing instant death.

With the current factors, it would be simple for Ymdall to escape. Taking a finger imbued by mana, Ymdall slid his finger across the rune, disrupting it and permanently destroying it, the room quickly settled down, still cold but it would flush out soon. Standing on the other end of the room compared to the door, Ymdall invoked the level two spell Melf's Acid Arrow on the top hinge of the metal door. The top hinge and about three centimetres of metal disintegrated, and the acid from the first hinge fell onto the second hinge.

Ymdall then walked towards the door and kicked it, discovering that his spell might have been pointless since the bottom of the door broke apart. Well, at least Ymdall escaped.