The search for Amata had been slower than I had expected. After 2 days of scouring the markets, I was unable to find any reliable information.

  I had come across a number of products bearing the Amata trading company seal, but most of them were bought second hand and their owners had little information to offer.

  It was nothing but bread crumbs, and I was beginning to lose hope when I stumbled upon a rumor worth investigating.

  The merchants were abuzz with news about a coming auction to be held in the upper city of Rapforth.

  I had no doubts about the authenticity of the claims regarding the auction. They had come from numerous sources and flyers were hung up all around town.

  What concerned me were the much more dubious rumors that were whispered underneath breaths.

  Through eavesdropping, I had heard a number of conversations regarding the items expected to appear.

  The claims were inconsistent and shaky at best, but they all agreed on one thing: the Amata trading company was rumored to be supplying the premier lineup this time.

  If it had not been for my frustration with my lack of progress, I would have paid them no mind, but I was running out of leads and more importantly, time.

  The auction was to take place in the Flavonian Auction House near the center of town where most of the buildings managed by the government resided.

  Infiltrating the building would not be easy. I was still a child in this world and attending without an adult would get me laughed out of the line. Even if I bribed a guard to get in, I would look like a lost child or an unwelcome guest.

  I considered scouting the entrance from afar for signs of Amata, but a man of his stature was unlikely to use the entrance for attendees and it was not like I knew what he looked like anyway.

  To break into the venue without the blueprints was probably suicide, but even if they kept the blue prints, they would be stored in the Imperial library which is even more secure than the venue itself.

  I could try hiring a mercenary to act as a guardian, but most are too curious for their own good and too unflattering to make it past the bouncer anyway.

  There was no shortage of reasons to ignore the lead, but I no longer had any other option.

  I wasn’t confident in my ability to remain completely undetected, but as long as I didn’t get surrounded, I was confident I could shake any tails if necessary.

  I wasn’t sure how skilled Imperial soldiers were, but I didn't intend to find out just yet.

  If after all this hassle the guy is a no show, I’ll gladly kill him myself.

  The auction was set to take place tonight, and so I had all day to prepare. I headed to the auction house to gather what little information I could from studying the building.

  It was grand in stature and appeared to contain at least 4 floors above ground. Through the windows, the hallways looked open much like a stadium and offered little apparent cover.

  It was clear that I couldn’t blend in as an attendee and I had no valuables to offer as a vendor, so I saw only one remaining path to entry. If I couldn’t sell merchandise I would simply have to become it.

  The practice of slavery was frowned upon by many, but it was still legal in the Empire for the most part; most commonly as punishment for crimes or as spoils of war.

  Despite the unsightliness, the empire tolerated the practice for 2 reasons. It offered a large source of revenue through taxation, and banning the practice would only send the markets underground.

  Many surrounding kingdoms were victim to underground slaving and criminal enterprises which became a massive burden to crack down upon.

  The Empire’s solution was to legalize slavery under strict regulation. It incentivized slavers to remain within the bounds of the law, so the Empire could maintain some degree of control over the practice.

  Due to these heavy restrictions, in order to own slaves in the Empire, an owner must maintain a solid track of records to prove they had not obtained an illegal slave.

  Due to these strict laws and practices, most slaves were usually elves or dwarves as the enslavement requirements for spoils of war were much easier to achieve than that of a criminal.

  Despite that, there still remained plenty of humans enslaved within the Empire as well. I would need to steal one of their identities to sneak into the auction house safely.

  When I had finished gathering what little information I could from studying the auction house, I headed back to the crescent Inn to prepare.

  After paying in advance for the next night, I stashed what little I had on my person in my room. My Sword, coins, and cloak could not come with me.

  I would not be able to bring them with me once in chains and anything valuable would likely never be seen again.

  The hour of the auction was approaching fast and I needed to be in a jail cell if I wanted any chance of ending up on stage.

  There was no time to meticulously choose a candidate so I decided I would have to try for a simple prisoner swap.

  I headed back to the center of the city to infiltrate the Imperial penitentiary. The building was large and surrounded by a stone wall noticeably absent of guard towers.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Perhaps they were cheaping out on security or perhaps they were more concerned about keeping people in than out. Either way, with my climbing ability the wall would pose no challenge.

  I snaked my way to the backside of the building through a narrow alleyway that appeared abandoned. I waited and listened and when I was sure I would not be interrupted, I went to scale the wall.

  The stone was uneven and rough, offering several protrusions to grab and step onto. Under the cover of the alley, I easily scaled the stone wall and soon found my feet on the grass that filled the gap between the exterior wall and that of the main building.

  I cast the 4th grade spell ‘True Silence’ which I was eager to field test. It was one of the few 4th grade spells that I was able to acquire since I had discovered how to cast 4th grade spells.

  ‘True silence’ was a dual elemental spell which resided on a 2 dimensional matrix. The wind element would perform much the same task as it did in the silence spell, creating a vacuum layer to insulate sound, but to a much stronger degree given the immense increase in mana compared to the silence spell.

  The second elemental attribute of the spell was earth which allowed the spell to cushion vibrations in the ground as well. When combined it would create a true bubble of silence and what little sound that could traverse it would be inaudible to human ears.

  Another benefit of being a 4th grade spell was that given the effects were pretty mild compared to most other 4th grade spells, much more of the mana could be used to increase the range and size of the spell which could allow the caster to encompass several people in it as well as themselves.

  The Imperial penitentiary was the main housing unit in the city and was used for high volume but low risk criminals. I used the first grade earth spell ‘disturb earth’ to create a small opening under the wall which could be crawled underneath. I needed to leave an exit route for the prisoner I was to swap with. With some luck, it appeared the perimeter was unpatrolled.

  Before I could find evidence to the contrary, I quickly made my way to the wall and began my inspections.

  The exterior wall of the penitentiary was lined with several barred windows that allowed light into the cells.

  There were 5 levels judging by the windows, but the stone masonry of the main building was much more impressive and would prove a challenge if needed climbing.

  With discretion I began spying through the windows on the first level in search of any potential candidate for my plan.

  After nervously scouring through a dozen different cells, I finally found a boy who looked promising. He looked about my age and had black hair like my own. We weren’t doppelgangers or anything but I doubt the guards would pay that much attention anyway.

  I extended the range of my true silence spell, making sure it was large enough to encompass the boy as well. I then whispered to get his attention, “Psst, come over here”. We couldn’t be overheard anyway because of the true silence spell, but the kid wouldn’t know that and I didn’t want to alarm him.

  He looked back out through the window with utter disbelief for a second, but he approached as commanded.

  “Are you a repeat offender?” I asked, keeping my voice to a whisper. I wasn’t sure what the criminal requirements were to become enslaved, but I doubted any first time offenders would get such a harsh punishment and the punishment for murder was death.

  “A what? All I did was take a loaf of bread. Those fat bastards had plenty yet they’d sooner let it rot than give the likes of me even one bite.” The boy complained with his thick accent.

  I pinched the top of my nose in frustration. “Is it your first time getting caught?” I followed up.

  “Course not, but this is the first time I’ve been here for more than 3 days. You must be new around here. This place is like an inn for us street urchins. You get three free meals and a bed, it’s not that bad” He explained to me.

  He may not have been the perfect candidate for enslavement, but it was strange how he had been held longer than usual and I wouldn’t feel bad releasing the kid since he was hardly a hardened criminal.

  “If you can keep a secret, I’ll trade you for your spot?” I offered the kid who didn’t seem to believe me.

  “Sure, I was getting bored anyway. I…” before he could finish his sentence, his jaw dropped as the stone wall of his cell opened like a draw bridge letting more of the blinding sunlight into the room.

  The cell door was solid wooden so I was hoping if I worked fast that none of the guards would notice.

  I pointed the kid to the small hole which I had left under the exterior wall and after swapping clothes with him, I sent him on his way.

  The boy remained shocked, but wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth and scurried off.

  With a 3rd grade earth spell, I re-erected the wall which was on the floor and reconnected it to the surrounding stone.

  And just like that, I was in a jail cell for the first time in all my two lives. I was surprised with the lack of protection against mages, but maybe growing up on the mist island, I had failed to realize how rare the craft really was.

  Even I wouldn’t expect an orphaned street urchin to know magic and the prison could hardly be called maximum security anyway.

  The cell contained a small mattress that paled in comparison to the bed from my inn. I knew prisons weren’t known for good accommodations, but I at least expected some sort of plumbing.

  Instead I had begun to notice a stench that seemed to be emanating from a bucket in a corner of the room.

  I was sure the bucket contained exactly what I expected and so I avoided that corner of the room like the plague.

  I remained in the cell for several hours until a knock graced my door. The man on the other side did not wait for a response before he burst through the door and into the room which had now grown dark from the lack of sunlight.

  All that lit the room was a faint moonlight and what emanated from the small metal lantern the man held.

  “Mister… Jonathan?” The man read from a small paper list in his other hand. “By the order of the Proconsul of Rapforth, for your repeated crimes and contempt of law, you are hereby indentured to 2 years of slavery effective from the point of your sale which shall be carried out by the state in a speedy manner as dictated by section 4.2 of the Convicted Criminals Act ratified by the people and senate of the Empire.” The man stated in a dull tone as if he had repeated the same phrasing 1000 times.

  Following his tedious monologue, I was placed in cuffs and attached to a line of chain that made up a snake of other slaves.

  On one hand I was extremely thankful that my plan had worked, but on the other I was quite distraught by knowing that I was surrounded by mostly street urchins who were only children.

  Slavery could never be viewed as a humane punishment in my eyes, but to enact it on an innocent child who steals only to survive left a sour taste in my mouth.

  But I was no hero, just a machine in the cog that could never hope to dismantle an institution as large as the empire.

  I had to settle for the small act of kindness that I was able to do for Jonathan. I wasn’t a coward, but neither was I a fool, there was nothing I could do for these children.

  With my mind at peace, my focus quickly returned to my mission. I would only have a few minutes at most on the stage and I would need to locate a man whose face I had never seen.

  The only thing I had going for me was my enhanced vision which would allow me to get a closer look at the audience than most would consider possible.

  But even an eagle's eyes are useless if he does not know what he is looking for.

  The logo of the Amata trading company was all I had to go off of. Either way I had made my bed, and now it was time to sleep on it. Only this time I hoped it would be more comfortable than my last.