Oliver entered a room similar to the one where he had been held for trial. A smaller one, with a line of people going from the centre, all the way out of the building. Dozens of people, waiting.
There was already a seated Official seeing each of them, one by one. Two assistants running to and fro with documents and the like. The Official looked up and smiled with relief. She called over to Emilia, “Emilia, hi. Can I have you set up over there? I’ll have my assistants sort out the ones with less serious concerns for you.”
As her assistants gave their employer an irked look, the Official indicated a second desk on the right-hand side of the elevated platform. Emilia and Oliver made their way over to it. Oliver wasn’t keen to do as much work as the other two assistants, but he waited for directions nonetheless.
Tomorrow was payday, after all. The 30th and last day of the 4th month.
Oliver had his legs again, .
Emilia sat at the extra desk, Oliver stood to the side, arms crossed.
The first lady approached, hat in her hands.
“I-I’d like to request an extension. I don’t have enough money to pay taxes this month. I will in a week’s time.”
Emilia sighed, “It’s a bit late to be asking isn’t it? Why didn’t you come in days ago?”
“My son needed urgent medical attention just recently, please.”
Oliver watched Emilia’s unchanging expression.
She thought for a second. “Could you give me your name and address? Some identification?”
Upon receiving the document, Emilia handed it over to Oliver. “Could you go get this person’s records?”
Oliver looked down at the document, then up again at Emilia.
—
Levi practiced his handwriting during his break time, listening to one of Mia’s stories while he did so. He was trying to make it look fancy in the same way that everyone else wrote. He knew his was recognisable in comparison, and that that wasn’t a good thing.
They were approached by a young man in some decorated robes, some member of the local upper class if Levi was any judge. He didn’t seem very magical.
Levi could tell, a little bit. The people who seriously dedicated themselves to the study of magic had a different presence. There was more money in the air around this guy than Mia, though Mia was surely richer.
Regardless, this young man approached the two children with humility. “Lady Mia, Mr. Crest, –”
“– My name is Roger Bourniquet, and I don’t mean to overstep, but I have sent invitations around for my upcoming event – I couldn’t find an address to send yours, Mr. Crest. I saw this opportunity to present it in person.”
He handed Levi an envelope, fancily sealed and everything. Levi shot Mia a look.
She noticed, “I’ve confirmed my attendance already.”
Roger smiled, “Feel free to come or not, It’s on the tenth of next month.”
With that, he left Levi with an envelope in his hands and a confused expression.
Levi looked down at the envelope.
“Is this your first time being invited to something?” Mia looked bemused.
Levi exhaled through his nose, “No, but I don’t get why I’m invited. Obviously you’re invited. What even is the event?”
“It’s just a social event for networking, Roger is the son of one of the more important merchants in Willowhaven.”
Levi nodded, “Sure, but what’s the point in networking with me?”
Mia and her guard knight both gave him a flat look. Mia raised a finger, “One; your association with me.” She raised a second, “Two; you’re a genius.”
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
“I’m not that smart, I just already know how to read, write, and do maths.”
Mia’s guard knight shook her head, “Anyone can be tutored. That’s not why you’re a genius.”
Levi was skeptical, “Why then?”
Mia answered that one, “Similar to me, you pick things up really fast– and not stuff you already know, either. That’s usually clear based on your questions.”
Levi pursed his lips, this was high praise.
“Is this a prank?”
Mia looked tired of the subject, “Believe me if you want, can I continue my story?”
They sat in silence for a few seconds.
“... Sure.”
—
River felt more and more dizzy as she approached and then entered the apartment. Increasingly conflicting thoughts clouded her consciousness as she sat on the couch.
These questions seemed harder to her than they would to most people. Was she a bad person for her actions? It’s a hard question to approach. To tell the truth, she didn’t really understand the significance of what she had done. It could be a bigger or smaller deal than what she had imagined.
She started breathing quicker, keenly felt the blood pumping through her veins.
Overwhelmed, she started making monotone sounds, like humming with your mouth open. “Aaah.. Aaaah.” She had her head in her hands, but she couldn’t feel them there.
She collapsed.
—
Oliver had worked up a good sweat, running back and forth with documents. The line thankfully got shorter as they approached the time Oliver had meant to go pick Levi up, which was impressive since they were addressing the financial concerns of everybody in a whole city.
The difference in speed between Emilia and the Official in charge of this duty was noticeable, but clearly not as substantial as the Official had expected. Well, according to Emilia. Oliver had not been paying attention, being preoccupied.
Emilia turned to him with a hint of victory on her face as they walked out of the room, “She kept giving me more work to do, which is a good sign. We’ll be going there tomorrow as well.”
Oliver, still breathing heavily, asked “Why is that such a good sign?”
Emilia grinned, “I’m hoping for her recommendation.”
“Ah.”
—
Levi and Oliver met at their designated meeting point.
Oliver snapped his fingers, “Alright, let’s go.”
“Wait, hold on. Want to meet Stephen?” Levi pointed back at the Scholarium.
“... Now is as good a time as any.” He spun on his heels, and Levi led him into the building.
They passed the lecture and experiment rooms, then some personal studies, before arriving near the centre of the Scholarium. There, there were rows of small single person rooms. They reminded Oliver of shared student accommodation at his university, the cheap kind where your bed took up 80% of the space in your room.
Levi knocked on a door, “Stephen, it’s Levi!”
And they waited. They heard something fall over and thunk on the floor, followed by a groan. The door opened, and the professor stood before the boy he had known and the man he had only known by proxy.
Oliver had a nonplussed look, feeling it was a bit of an anticlimactic meeting – but he stuck out a hand. “Oliver. Well met.”
Stephen looked at the hand, then smiled deeply. “Stephen, likewise. Come in– ah, give me a second.”
Stephen had a clean and well kept little room, but across his bed were meticulously placed components. He did have a small desk, but it was already as crowded as it could be in any sensible way. Regardless, he hurried to shift some of the pieces so that there was room to sit.
“I apologise, I would be using a workshop but I’m not quite skilled enough for that yet, according to my peers.” He frowned, but it went just as fast.
“I’ve heard about you, professor.” Oliver and Levi placed themselves in the room.
“Ah, I’ve been little to no help, haven’t I. Young man, I hear you’ve gone through much. So has Levi – I want you both to know we’re all in this together.”
Oliver looked around the dorm room.
Stephen waved a hand, “Don’t worry about bugging or the like. They don’t have any recording equipment, if there is any around, it’s a bygone artefact.”
Levi twisted half a smile, “They have such a strange mix of modern and old technology.”
Stephen chuckled, “That’s magic for you I suppose. Does some things well and other things not whatsoever… Speaking of–”
He plucked a mechanism with some kind of mounted disk that had magical engravings on it off his desk, “It’s silly to ask, but neither of you happen to have a motor, do you? Bar that, a magnet?”
Oliver leaned on his knees, getting a closer look at the mechanism. Then into Stephen’s eyes. “... Phones have magnets in them, but I don’t know about pulling them apart for this…”
Stephen nodded with a frown, “Yes, it would defeat the point.”
Levi interjected himself, “I’m very confused.”
Oliver put a hand on his shoulder and grinned. “Electricity, Levi.”
Stephen sat straight, “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, strange world and all, but it’s definitely a possibility. I could think of a few uses for a charged phone, however deadly it is to be caught with one.”
Oliver nodded, “Laptop, too. Some comfort from home if nothing else.”
Stephen shook his head, “Think of the logistical applications. Spreadsheets, organisation. It would halve the research time of most things I see around here.”
Oliver’s eyes opened slightly wide, then a more sinister smirk slowly appeared across his features, he placed a hand on the bag he always carried over his shoulder. “Yes, organisation. Databases. Programming. I can think of some uses.”
A ticket to the big leagues. Man stepped on the moon with determination and a couple big calculators.
The professor saw Oliver’s expression and narrowed his own eyes with a smile, “I take it you’re a computer buff?”
Levi looked between the two, and at last… Something seemed to be happening.
—
Everybody likes information. Everybody collects it in some form or another. People trade it, sometimes too willingly. For other information, for money, for nothing at all.
A commodity as common as commodities came. Of course, in this particular Empire – the trade of information was as competitive as could be.
Even people in places of power could not simply rely on the information reported to them by their subordinates, there was a conflict of interest. Not everybody had staunch loyalists working under them, and even if they did – where did those staunch loyalists collect the relevant information.
The Minister of Finance crumpled the report in his hands.
“Touché.”
SUNDAY
https://discord.gg/rV85Ccv3nr }
Where do you read these?
