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"Clean them up properly, you douches!" A man with a large moustache yelled at Aron from the back. "Last time it wasn't done properly. All of you can forget about your today's meal if it happens again." The voice came again and Aron began rubbing the statue with increased vigor as the sound of footsteps grew louder. But as he was extremely tired, he can't keep it up for long and eventually fell back to his usual speed, once the footsteps moved away.
"Shithead!!" He turned to his side to find a fat boy cursing at the man. He too was a slave at this place, wearing his ragged clothes and moping the statute just like him. He was his only friend at this place, Caleb. "Simmer down. He might hear you." Aron warned in good faith. Caleb scrunched his face, "I can't help it, brother Aron. Even slaves have the right to be fed. They didn't even give us proper food in the morning and now he is even planning to cut corners with our dinner. I am telling you this must be embezzling all the funds."
Though Caleb kept ranting but at least he had changed his voice into a whisper now so that no one else can listen to them. Aron shook his head and turned back to mopping the statue once again. "We got no choice even if he is involved in that. We don't even have a proof for it and also if our names ever come out. We might just get killed in an 'accident'."
Fatty nodded his head. "I am so frustrated man! Why did we have to be the one born in this misfortune?" Aron looked at him and held his shoulders. "We can't lose hope. If we gather enough money, we can free ourselves from this slavery." Though he was a slave Aron had a lot of hope for his future.
He was not a slave from the beginning. Rather when he was just a small kid his parents left him, never to return. Aron was too little to understand anything at that time. He was picked up by an orphanage, only to be turned into a slave once he reached the age of thirteen. It's been two years and today was his 15th birthday working at this magic school.
Greenville Academy of Sorcery was the largest and most prestigious magic academy in all of the capital. They provided education to young children of various wards of the noble families. Training them in various disciplines of magic ranging from elemental to even necromancy.
The necromancy department was where Aron worked in. Apart from students and faculty, due to its sheer size, the school required an army of slaves for various miscellaneous tasks. Like cleaning the statues, the task which had been assigned to him and his buddy. Night fell and they were done with their assignments.
"Let's go, brother. I just hope we get some good food today." Caleb was drooling at the thought of dinner. Once a week they will be served meat for dinner. And looking at his lost expression, Aron can tell that it must be today. Both of them mixed into the stream of slaves as they returned to their quarters to freshen up before collecting back at the cafeteria to have their meals.
***
They entered the dining hall after half an hour. "Looks like we got lucky!!" Caleb was excited to find meat on the menu. Aron followed behind him as they took their plates and got in the queue. All around them there were more girls than boys and all of them were slaves. The girls outnumbered boys by a ratio of 3 to 1. It was not a special case in the school, rather this gender disparity was the reality of the human race. Whenever a woman got pregnant, they were 3 times more likely to give birth to a girl than a boy.
Getting their food they sat together. "So any plans for the day?" Caleb munched on his bread while asking. "Nah.. just like always. Like our birthdays have any value in this world as of now." Aron responded, biting down on his piece of meat. "Hmm." Fatty didn't continue to linger on the matter. But after silently eating for a few minutes he fired up again. "You know even with how difficult our lives are, we can still be considered to be the lucky ones. I have heard that slaves at other places frequently die out, either from punishments or from hunger."
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Aron nodded. It was true. Those from the orphanage, who were picked to work her were the lucky ones. Others might end up working under some cruel lord or mining spirit stones all their lives. "Haha.. look back. Your lover is still staring at you. Man, how many times had she proposed to you? Had I been in your place I would have accepted long back."
"I am not interested in all that. Also, she is at least 3 years older than me." Aron turned back to see a maroon-haired girl winking at him. He was a handsome boy. Roughly 5'5 tall, with long black hair and a slender build. What mesmerized the girls around him was most definitely his deep black eyes.
Boys were already rare in this world and finding such a handsome one was an extremely difficult feat. Thus, Kyla had been adamant about getting him for herself. Aron didn't think much about it and completing their meal, they left back to their quarters.
He and Caleb lived in a small quarter together. With a single bunk bed in the room, there was little space for anything else. Aron climbed into his bed while fatty slipped in the lower one. "Good night, fatty." "Good night, brother."
***
It was midnight when Aron was shaken awake from his deep sleep. "Wake up Aron!!" He got up and rubbing his eyes, turned to look at a grinning Caleb. "What's the matter?" But the boy kept grinning. "Hehe.. first close your eyes." Aron trusted the guy wholeheartedly so it wasn't a big deal. "Good. Now open it." In front of him lay a small-sized cake, placed on the bed. "Happy Birthday my friend."
Aron was confused. "Brother, why did you waste money on such a thing? A simple wish is good enough for me, you already know that." They can't make anything by themselves at this place, having neither the equipment nor the skills to do that. So, it was clear as the day of that Caleb must have paid for this from his savings. "I know. But we have been too depressed all our lives. I have decided from today onwards, we will at least celebrate our birthdays and be happy about it, even if it is for a single day in a year. This time I treated you, you can't treat me on my birthday haha.."
Aron responded with a smile. There was no use to fuss around any longer since fatty had already paid for the cake. Getting a small knife from fatty, he cut out a piece of cake and let him have a bite first. Fatty too shoved a large piece of cake in his mouth as they enjoyed it for some time before falling asleep.
***
The next morning Aron was getting ready to get to work when his gaze fell on a small suitcase under the bed. That was his only belonging here. Contained inside the bag was a single book that was given to him by his parents before they left on their last journey. He had tried reading it many times but he can only read the first page of the book, the rest all the pages were filled with gibberish that he can't make any sense of.
"Let's just take a look once more." He convinced himself to open the suitcase once again and pulled out the dusty book from inside. It had thick black covers that read 'The Grimoire of the Dead'. He can tell that this book must be related to the arts of Necromancy. "It's a coincidence that I ended up in the necromancy department itself."
He cleaned the covers before turning to the first page. There was a handwritten note for him from his parents. This note was the whole reason why he had decided to take a look at this book once again, after getting disappointed by it many times earlier. The note read 'Dear Aron, Please open this book after you turn 14. Thanks, Mom and Dad.'
He can't deny that he was hoping for some miracle to happen, since he had turned 14 just today. With hope in his heart, he turned the page. "Hu..." He sighed, shaking his head at his overly optimistic attitude. It was the same gibberish that he had been looking at for 6 years now. Disappointed he was going to close the book but suddenly from the corner of his eyes he saw the letters on the page had begun to rearrange themselves.
He rubbed his eyes to check if he was seeing things. But it was true. Although very subtle, but he can see the letters rearranging themselves to form meaningful words. After some 5 minutes passed, Aron found out that he was able to read what's written in the book. His whole body shivered in excitement. He knew his parents were small-time mages. They must have done something to this book so that, he can only read it after he turns 14.
He began turning the pages to check out further. But after 5 pages it was once again all gibberish. It was clear, for now, he was only supposed to be able to read these few pages. The rest might be available as time passed. Aron was so excited at this development that he even forgot that he had already surpassed the time he had to report to his work.
***
"You will be doing two hours of extra work today, brat. Looks like you guys have a short memory. This will help you remember that you are not supposed to be late for your work." The mustached man practically screamed at Aron's face but he wasn't too troubled by it. What he had gained today was too valuable and this small-time punishment won't dampen his enthusiasm. Thinking this he picked up his equipment and began moping the floors of the classrooms one by one.
'I need some way to get my hands on some basic magic education books. Should I try my luck at the library?' Aron thought about it while his hands never stopped. He wasn't sure if the book in his possession was a real grimoire but one thing was sure, that there were real spells in the book. Now the only problem was, he had no formal education. They were only taught basic reading and writing in the orphanage and that can't help him in understanding the spells.
Spells had their own special symbols-based language. Only students of the magic schools can learn it. Though he luckily worked in a magic school itself. But that is where his luck ended. He was no student of the school. He was a mere slave. Who will allow him access to those books?
Aron wasn't someone who gives up on hope easily. At the very least he now had a spellbook. He will figure out some way to get his hands on those books. Thinking that he focused on completing his assigned task for the day.