Death, Devotion, Dissonance

Ten minutes later, Leanne arrived in front of a wooden door decorated on the edges with bronze. She knocked on it lightly. She held three files containing information about Eviendra's background in her hands, thinking it might be useful for the report she was about to give.

"Come in," ordered a male voice from behind the door, and she entered.

"Chairman Kent," Leanne greeted the middle-aged man.

The man sat straightly behind a cleanly arranged stack of papers on a cleanly maintained desk, inside a similarly spotless room. The man's eyes were rapidly reading through one piece of papers sitting in front of him, before he finally scribbled his signature at the end of it. Finished with the task, he glanced at the newcomer and nodded idly.

"Ah, Leanne… Sit. Have you found a mage among the batch today?"

"Two, actually. Out of 21. One boy and one girl."

"A miracle, then. Blessings of the Empress," Kent's tone softened, "This necessitates a celebration."

He then reached out to a drawer inside his desk and pulled out a finely distilled whisky from his personal collection. It was a good enough excuse to drink at work.

Smiling contently, he then poured it into two glasses and gave one to Leanne. Leanne really wasn't one for whisky, but she accepted it regardless. After taking a sip, she continued.

"Indeed. A blessing of the Empress. One of them managed to compel the air to move for her using a Chant… a little girl born as a slave. There weren't any notable effects of the spell, but that was only her 9th try at Chanting. It was also a long time since I've seen someone with such strong affinity with the World of Air."

"Well, slaves do have a knack for Pleading Chants and they usually have a yearning for freedom. Perhaps you can give her an Ivelisi Shard later on, considering she's not one of those anarchistic types who prefer the World of Fire," Kent said, "If Lady Sufia finds her pleasing, perhaps she can put her in the Heartcasting classes."

"Of course. Please don't worry about her arrangements."

Kon really wasn't someone high maintenance. Although she was born into a family of slaves, they all seemed to love her to the core. Even if she met some trouble in the Academy she still had her family to fall back on.

Leanne also dug out some information about their owner and found that it was an old scholar with a very amiable temperament. A well-educated northerner who was one of the most respected voices in his field of study. Leanne was sure that the old man would be more happy than annoyed at the fact that one of his slaves turned out to be a mage.

Reading through the man's files, Leanne even decided to personally give the man a visit. She always loved to strike a conversation with such open-minded individuals.

In one way, living as a slave under such a master was the best way to live. One didn't have to worry about the more complex problems of life, only focusing on accomplishing their master's orders. Sometimes they would wonder what it would be like if they could live free and undisturbed, but other than that fleeting moment of reflection, they'd live their life out in a simple, yet fulfilled manner.

It was almost certain that Kon's family would face more trouble than happiness, now that their daughter had become a mage. They wouldn't realize it themselves for a long, but for the weak, being a mage was as much more of a curse, rather than a blessing.

Kon would definitely need to toughen up to survive in the circle of mages. But of course, Leanne would do her best to help out the little girl. She was even willing to teach her the personally if she deemed it necessary.

'She's awfully charming, after all…'

"Since you're on the case, I can rest assured. Oh, I heard there was another boy who's a mage. Was he not up to par?" Kent suddenly spoke.

'Ah, the problem child… Heh.'

"The exact opposite. You may not believe it, but the boy managed to succeed at Imagination Casting. A rather poor 2nd grade, who came to the Mage Circle smelling like he'd just taken a bath with rats," Leanne said with a smile.

The words seemed to stir something in the middle-aged male, causing his relaxed face immediately made a complete 180 and stare back at Leanne, perhaps trying to see a joking expression on her face. Finding nothing of the sort, he asked.

"Go and get me his accounts."

"It is here. The other two are for his father and his mother," Leanne said and handed over the files.

Kent read through them and stared back at Leanne with a deadly gaze.

"Are you sure you're not joking?"

"Of course. Truth be told, I'm just as confused as you are. The boy was born between Edmund, a 45-year-old Westerner, and Lora Ssatsko, a 28-year-old woman half-northerner. On his father's side, there's not a smidgeon of education to speak of, as the man was originally an orphan. He spent his youth traveling, but settled down a 11 years ago."

"I can read that myself. The only one that's remotely suspicious is his grandfather from his mother's side, Ssatsko Dulan, a Hornbearer of the North. But the accounts say that no one from his mother's side had any contact with the boy whatsoever. They can't be meeting up secretly to impart knowledge between each other, right?"

"That's highly improbable. Lora's currently living in the nearby Jiha town, more known as simply Smallwall Town and has married to a man named Theor. Ssatsko usually prefers to stay with her for a while, before going back to the North for one thing or another," Leanne explained.

Kent stroked his chin, an annoyed look on his face.

"Then how the hell did that boy manage to cast using his imagination?"

"Who knows? Perhaps it's the Empress' will?" Leanne said smilingly.

"Bah, the Empress' will. Don't bring that thing up near me, I've grown tired of hearing it," Kent scowled at the mention of the idea.

"I'm not even joking. The boy's flame not only burned the pieces of paper to ashes, it was five times stronger than the one he created using a Rune, and it also burned on nothing but air for 10 whole seconds," Leanne said, trying to keep the excitement out of her voice, "And it wasn't like there was any buildup to that point either. The process happened so suddenly, I wouldn't have believed it if I wasn't observing his mana-core so intently."

Hearing the explanation, Kent's face changed once more.

"A Child of the Empress?"

"As likely as that sounds, I don't think it's that either."

"Alright, get to the point. I don't have all day to guess at your thoughts, nor do I have to. I already have my hands full with my own wife," Kent said with a harrumph.

Leanne chuckled slightly and started explaining.

"No matter how you look at it, the boy's still a child. The way he acts, the way he thinks and the way he looks. Even if he is a Child of the Empress and is simply acting in this manner, then it makes no sense for him to create such a grand display with his spell. Not only that, he's completely subservient to his father, who very likely takes out his anger on his child… in a very personal, and physical manner."

"So? Pretty sure half the kingdom's men do the same. A kid needs a good beating here and there to grow strong and responsible."

"Indeed... but not if the beatings occur too much. A beating after a crucial mistake is a good way to instill a lesson in your child. But a beating every other day for the slightest of mistakes is definitely not a good method of raising children. A real Child of the Empress would not let such a situation continue for long."

"Yes… if he was one of the Children of the Empress, then the moment he realized he was a mage, he should've left his father behind and sought refuge from us," Kent nodded thoughtfully.

"Indeed. Hence the reason why I'm calling it the Empress' will."

The word really seemed to irk the man, as he scoffed once again.

"Empress' will or not, it doesn't change what we have to do. We can't let a talent like that waste away his talents in a violent drunkard's house," Kent said and paused, "You said the boy's subservient to his father, right?"

"Mhm. Moreover, the father seems very opposed to the idea of his son becoming a mage. I'm sure that ten days later he'll come and refuse our offer to put Evin in the Academy. I'm sure the boy will refuse under his father's insistence as well."

Leanne understood this point very well. She was sure that when the time came, the boy would defer to his father's wishes, despite his reluctance in it all.

"Then find a method to separate the two. Perhaps it's best if we let the father take things a bit too far, before we come in to the rescue…"

"Sure. Leave it to me." Leanne said, but she really wasn't planning to do anything special. She could've went over to the boy's house and waited for his father to do something to him, but she wasn't willing to go out of her way for Evin like that. There was a very clear and rather simple solution to this problem, so that was what she was going to do.

As for why she was willing to go so far for one child, and not for the other, well that was simply because she found one of them very charming and the other one… not so much.

'And I still can't get over the fact that he came over to the Mage Circle in such a state,' Leanne thought, remembering Evin's slovenly state, 'I mean, I know it was probably because of his father's directions, but still…'

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