Chapter 69 The Mages Elegance
Along with thousands of other people, they walk down the dozens of steps made of polished gray stone to the sidewalk. Evernya followed Meira as she turned right down the sidewalk, then another right a couple of blocks later. After a couple of minutes of walking, they arrived at a quiet park with a small grass field and playground, but not much else. They sat down on a bench in the shade under a tree overlooking the playground.
“I thought you said we had shopping to do? Why did we stop here?” Evernya asked, immediately upon sitting down.
“I figured you needed a break from people for a little while, and I know you are curious why I stopped you from signing that contract,” Meira stated with a knowing look.
Meira materialized a two-liter bluish smoothie, handing it to Evernya. “I mixed in the last of the Blue Serpent meat in a few jugs because we won’t have time to eat until later. I hope this concoction doesn’t make you too tired.”
Evernya chugged the first half of the smoothie before slowing down to a more reasonable drinking speed. “I think I will be fine. Worse case, I will have to take a nap for a little while somewhere,” Evernya replied between sips of her smoothie.
“Well, hopefully, it doesn’t come, since your naps are usually over two hours,” Meira commented.
“So, what was that contract about?” Evernya asked as she continued to work her way to the bottom of her smoothie.
Meira smiled down at her curious kitten as she explained, “That contact was a geas to make you feel compelled not to pay the money owed. Two things could have happened both bad. Either your body rejects the brand, or it succeeds, forcing you to accumulate debt. To make it worse, if it failed, it would have been obvious that the contract didn’t take if you were still talking about me paying it off.”
“Why wouldn’t they want me to pay it off?” Evernya questioned.
Meira’s smile disappeared as she answered. “For a few reasons first, the interest rate skyrockets after the first month to 200% by the second month and 400% by the third. At the end of the 3rd month, that 10,000 crystal collar would be over 80,000 crystals, which is more than most shifters can afford. The second reason after three months without paying the geas will force you into the service of the mage's council. Unlike normal service members, you wouldn’t get paid because all your pay will go towards paying off the debt you owe. To make it worse, your debt would continue to rise because your pay will never be enough to offset the interest rates. Even if you had the money, the geas would prevent you from paying. So if a shifter signed the contract, they effectively sign their life away into slavery.”
“Wow, what the hell!? Why would they do something so sleazy?” Evernya fumed, wanting to go back and beat up the asshole.
Meira continued, now showing hints of anger. “Well, ever since they put the increased regulations on shifters and their poor treatment, very few voluntarily sign up to serve the mage’s council. Shifters make excellent laborers because of their increased strength, so they are always in demand, but the government can never get enough to sign up voluntarily, and other jobs pay much more elsewhere without the forced commitment time. This issue was one of the major reasons abolishing slavery was such an unpopular choice. They proved the anti-abolishment side false until the regulations came in around sixty years ago, prompting shifters to boycott the service. It is why the government looks the other way when a shifter is enslaved. While technically it’s illegal to enslave a free shifter, the government doesn’t enforce the law. In some ways, even added more methods, such as voluntary enslavement because of insurmountable debt or crime. Many times they even buy the freshly enslaved shifter under the table and ship them off to some hidden location for work.”
“So their workforce shortages are all their own doing, but instead of fixing it, they make it worse?” Evernya grumbled, lacking her usual anger, as other shifters don’t matter too much to her.
“Pretty much.” Meira huffed.
Evernya changed the subject as she asked her next question. “I saw you touch the collar when he wasn’t looking. Did you check it over? I don’t trust that the collar only does what they say it does.”
Meira smiled at her kitten’s attempt to calm her as she answered. “Yeah, I checked it out. There were a few small hidden surprises, but the surprises weren’t essential for the collar to work as intended, so I removed them. I also strengthened the faulty durability enchantments so your collar should last much longer than others would.”
With slight hesitance masking her curiosity, Evernya inquired. “I don’t think I want to know, but I have to, so what were the surprises.”
Without bothering to hide her disdain for the government, Meira replied. “Oh, just some very weak enchantments hidden deep inside the main enchantments that make you feel more patriotic to the government. They aren’t strong enough for most to notice, but over years of wearing the collar, there would be a difference. That one was new, probably added when they added the personal info on the front. The enchantment may be part of a long game to make more shifters volunteer for service in the next decade.”
“Yeah, there is no way they would give me exempt status on the collar. They would probably make me wear it just for that enchantment, hoping I would decide to volunteer.” Evernya commented, hand twitching with a strong desire to rip off the collar encasing her neck.
“It won’t matter if you unlock your bloodline. Since the old shifter families with bloodlines have a lot of power, they made them exempt from all regulations, but normal human regulations, out of fear they would cause issues. Fortunately, the law only mentions having an active bloodline, nothing about being a member of an old family. They probably worded it like that because if a family member has their bloodline severed, they have to wear a collar as an extra dose of humiliation.” Meira added.
Evernya huffed. “I need to find out how to unlock my damn bloodline.”
“As I mentioned, having a bloodline opens a lot of doors, but it will bring you a lot more attention, some unwanted. Especially if we find out your bloodline has connections to a family you don’t want to have any connection with.” Meira warned, tempering her kitten’s enthusiasm.
“Anything to not have to wear this humiliating collar anymore,” Evernya stated, disregarding Meira’s warnings.
“We will see if you change your tune after we unlock it,” Meira said as she checked the time on her phone.
“So, where do are we going next?” Evernya asked.
“Most of the activity is in the market section of the city, but we need to make a stop first because we both need something to go to the auction tonight,” Meira answered cryptically as a goofy smile formed.
Meira schooled her features as she turned toward her kitten. “How do you feel? Can you continue, or do you need a nap?”
“I feel a little drowsy, but nothing serious as long as we get moving. I should be fine in a few minutes,” Evernya replied with a slightly worried expression.
“Good, I would hate to babysit your comatose body out in this park for hours,” Meira commented as she stood up from the bench.
“Sorry, it’s not my fault I sleep a lot,” Evernya grumbled, jogging to catch up to Meira at the curb.
“It’s ok, I was just teasing you. If you need a nap, I’m fine with waiting.” Meira apologized.
Meira stood at the curb, materializing her motorcycle along with two full-faced helmets. One helmet is bright red with a tinted visor, but the other helmet catches Evernya’s attention.
“You had a helmet made for me?” Evernya questioned, eyeing the matte black helmet with ventilated cat ear-shaped protrusions at the top.
“As much as I would like to take credit, I can’t. Since your ears are nearly identical to a catkin, I bought you a catkin variant motorcycle helmet.” Meira admitted before handing the helmet to her kitten.
“Thank you. I don’t care if you didn’t have a special made. Crushing my ears in a normal helmet would be torture.” Evernya thanked, shivering at the thought of her ears jammed inside a confining motorcycle helmet.
Meira slipped her helmet on, strapping it in place with the chinstrap, prompting Evernya to do the same. Evernya pulled the helmet on while carefully aligning her ears with the protrusions. The first thing she noticed was while her ears fit comfortably within the soft inner lining of the protrusions. However, the protective hard outer shell prevented her ears from swiveling. Fortunately, despite having her ears stuck in the forward position, the helmet didn’t compromise her hearing.
Evernya reached up to pull the chinstrap tight, only to find a problem. While she can tighten the chinstrap, the movement exposed another issue. Even without the helmet, her silver collar bordered on a posture collar with her small neck, but adding the helmet restricted her neck flexibility to near zero. Similar to her ears, all she can do was look straightforward.
Meira immediately noticed her kitten’s predicament. “Why the hell did they give you such a big collar!? The resizing should have adjusted the diameter and the height!” Meira fumed.
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“Can we exchange it? I don’t feel safe riding a motorcycle like this.” Evernya pleaded, unable to look up into Meira’s eyes with her rigid neck.
After a few seconds of thought, Meira concluded. “Unfortunately, after binding the collar, no one can change the size, forcing us to buy another, which will probably have the same issue with your tiny neck. For now, ride without a helmet, since removing the collar is impossible.”
Evernya swiftly unstrapped the helmet and slipped it off, returning partial mobility to her neck. She rotated her head as much as the wide silver collar would allow, satisfied with around twenty percent neck mobility over zero with the helmet.
“I’m assuming you know how to ride as a passenger if you owned a motorcycle before,” Meira stated, after storing away Evernya’s helmet.
After receiving a small nod from her collared kitten, Meira sat on the motorcycle with Evernya following suit, wrapping her arms around Meira’s waist for support. Once sure her kitten wouldn’t fall off, she started the motorcycle before pulling flipping up the kickstand and pulling away from the curb.
Ten uneventful minutes later, they arrived at a fancy-looking building with dresses and dress shoes displayed in the window. Evernya strained her neck against her confining collar to read the sign above the door stating A Mages Elegance.
She better not bring me into that store! Those dresses look like they cost a fortune. Against Evernya’s mental complaints, Meira pulled over to the side of the road and turned off the motorcycle. With a grumpy expression, Evernya released her hold on Meira’s waist and jumped off the motorcycle. As soon as Evernya landed on her feet, she spun with her hands on her hips, giving Meira her best ‘I refuse’ look.
“Why are we going dress shopping? Why not just pick out a dress for me? Why do I even need another dress? I am sure you have multiple tucked away somewhere for me to wear.” Evernya questioned after Meira resisted her nonverbal refusal.
“Well, the auction is a very formal event, so those simple dresses you have worn won’t do,” Meira replied after storing away her motorcycle.
Evernya eyed the groups of richly dressed women of varying ages walk in and out of the store. “I think I am underdressed to even shop here.”
“It's fine. I’m not dressed any better. I’m only wearing skinny jeans and a t-shirt.” Meira stated, shrugging off her kitten’s worries.
“Except you aren’t a shifter and look like a supermodel just wearing that.” Evernya pointed out.
“Thank you for the compliment, but you know you are beautiful as well, so stop making excuses. We are going in,” Meira said before walking toward the door.
Evernya stood on the curb for several seconds before following her up to the door with a scowl. She stopped when she spotted a sign stating “Mages Only” in bold blue letters.
“Why did you stop? You’re a mage, so you’re allowed. Why don’t you do the honors of unlocking the door for us to prove it?” Meira suggested.
“Fine, I’ll do it, but you know they don’t mean mages only, more like no shifters allowed,” Evernya grumbled.
“Yeah, but they didn’t put a sign out here saying that, so they can’t refuse us. Besides, we are about to spend a lot of money, so they won’t want to miss out on that.” Meira pointed out, waving Evernya forward.
Evernya funneled her mana through the lock of a similar design to the mage’s test, prompting the door to swing open. Meira caught the door and walked in with hesitantly Evernya following.
Evernya froze stiff upon entering, overwhelmed as she took in the countless dresses. “How am I going to find a dress here? There have to be thousands to choose from!”
“Not as much as you think, because your tail limits things. I doubt they will make a hole to accommodate your tail just to try them on. That leaves us with open back floor-length dresses. Plus, since you don’t want to wear dresses with frills or bright girly colors, it won’t take long to find you a dress.” Meira stated.
“Less time spent in here, the better. I don’t feel comfortable with how everyone is staring at us.” Evernya whispered upon spotting several customers and staff giving her veiled looks.
“They will get over it,” Meira said, unbothered by the attention.
“Why do we have to shop here? I’m sure there are plenty of other dress shops that are more shifter friendly.” Evernya questioned, trying to find some way to wiggle out.
Something caught Meira’s eyes off in the distance as she responded, “There is, but this place has the best selection with high-quality materials. If we have to dress up for the auction, I want to go all out.”
Without another word, Meira began frolicking around the shop, grabbing multiple dresses that fit their criteria, while Evernya sat on a chair near the entrance to wait.
As Evernya feared, when Meira was on the opposite side of the store, out of sight, the onlookers struck. “What are you doing here? You know your kind doesn’t belong here? This store is for high-class mages only, not an animal like you.” sneered a middle-aged lady covered in expensive-looking jewelry and fancy-looking clothes that probably cost more than most people make in a year. Surrounding the woman were four other ladies with similar outfits, with slightly less elegant designs.
I knew this would happen. Don’t these people have anything better to do than harass me? From the look of them, I doubt any of them have worked for any of their money, probably born or married into wealth. I didn’t think people like these existed outside of fiction, but I guess I was wrong.
Evernya glanced at the women with a bored look but didn’t bother to respond.
Infuriated by being ignored, the woman squawked, “Don’t ignore me! You should feel honored even to have me speak to someone like you.”
Evernya continued to ignore them, causing the woman to send one of her minions to fetch security. The scene drew the attention of other shoppers, but most stayed in the background, curious about what would happen. Meanwhile, Meira continued to frolic around the store, unaware of the current situation.
A few minutes later, two men in fancy suits wearing a badge stating Mage Guard Security arrived at the scene. Not this again. Why can’t these people leave me alone! Every time I go out in public, I get security called on me! Evernya fumed in her mind.
Evernya took the proactive approach, politely greeting the security. “What can I do for you, gentlemen?”
“Ma’am, please leave. You are disturbing our customers.” Ordered the security man on the right.
“Why do I have to leave when they were disturbing me? All I was doing was sitting here waiting for my older sister to pick out dresses for me to try on.” Evernya questioned while remaining seated.
The security men scanned her current attire before the one on the left commented. “With all due respect, I doubt you could afford a dress from here.”
Evernya refused to budge now on principle as she explained, “You are right. I can’t afford anything here, and I really don’t want to be here either, because I knew someone like those women would bother me. I’m only here because my older sister forced me. She insists I have to wear something fancy for the auction tonight. I asked to go to a less fancy place, but she insists this is the best dress shop in the area. Besides, why am I not allowed to be here in the first place? I didn’t break any rules. All I am doing is quietly sitting on this chair.”
“How is someone like you invited to the auction tonight! Only elites like us have the honor of attending unless you are for sale.” The richly dressed middle-aged woman squawked, backed up by the nods from her minions. However, unfortunately for them, everyone ignored them.
“Well, miss, we have it clearly posted on our door Mage’s only.” The security man on the right stated.
Finally finding a way out, Evernya said. “Well, then, everything is fine because I am a mage. It’s even engraved in big, bold letters on this stupid collar as proof. I even unlocked that door to get in here if you look at the security tape. Besides, if my sister couldn’t get in here, none of you could, since as far as I can tell, she’s the most powerful mage in this store.”
The security guy on the right glanced at his partner for confirmation before responding, “I don’t know, ma’am. I’ve never seen a shifter collar engraved before.”
“Yeah, neither did I until we bought this collar earlier today. Apparently, they added a humiliating name tag with personal information recently, as if wearing a collar isn’t bad enough.” Evernya grumbled.
Sick of trying to explain herself, Evernya decided to make a show of it. She glanced toward a rack of dresses a few meters to her right as she tapped into her telekinesis. With a sudden jerky motion, the rack of dresses lifted off the floor, startling the security men. Relying on trained muscle memory, they took on defensive stances with their air magic swirling around them, ready to attack at a moment’s notice.
Evernya immediately set the dress rack down and canceled her magic, surprised by their reaction. “Calm down! I didn’t mean to startle you guys. I just wanted to prove I am a mage. Nice air magic, by the way. My older sister is an air sorceress too.”
The men canceled their magic but kept their guard up. “Please present your ID, someone else could have moved that rack.” The security man on the left ordered.
“Fine, I guess the personal information on this stupid collar does nothing. He said it would count as an ID, but I guess he was wrong.” Evernya fumed as she retrieved her ID from her pocket.
She slowly levitated the ID toward the men, not wanted to get close, spying mana suppressing shackles in their pockets.
The security man on the left grabbed the ID out of the air to read it. After reading through it for a few seconds, he relaxed his posture. “You are quite talented, young lady. Awakened Grade 5 with two classes by 19, truly impressive. I thought a shifter couldn’t be a mage, but the ID doesn’t lie.” said the security man on the left in a much friendlier tone after he handed it to his partner.
“Thank you. I hit grade 6 earlier this week, too,” Evernya replied, relaxing into her chair as the tension dissipated.
After whistling in appreciation upon inspecting her ID, the security man on the right said. “Damn, I didn’t get grade 6 until I was 25. Do you plan to go to college? With your talent, I bet any college would beg to have you, especially with you being a Psion.”
“Yeah, I am going to DIOM in the fall. They offered a deal that was too tempting to refuse.” Evernya replied.
“Any chance I could persuade you to go to my old college? DIOM is one of the best Tier 3 colleges, but it doesn’t compare to a tier 2 college.” The man on the left inquired.
While giving the men an apologetic look, she replied, “Sorry, but no, I already committed to DIOM. Even if I didn’t, I have connections with multiple board members, which I would lose if I went somewhere else. Besides, if I went to a tier 2 college, they would force me to wear this stupid collar every day and I refuse to do that!”
The security man on the left deflated as he commented, “Was worth a try DIOM is lucky to have you.”
“We will see if that’s the case. If I run into people like these ladies every day, I don’t think I will stay there long.” Evernya grumbled, casting a sidelong glance at the ignored, fuming group of women.
Following her eyes, the security man on the right apologized after floating her ID back. “I am sorry about your treatment. We have a strict policy forbidding harassment of other customers to prevent situations like this. If they had a problem, they should have come directly to us instead of causing a scene.”
“Please call me Evernya, and it’s ok. I expected this to happen, it always does. They waited until my sister was out of sight, then they pounced.” Evernya stated, shrugging off the apology.
After surveying the small crowd of observers, the security men simultaneously agreed to make an example of the women. “Have a day, Evernya. If you need us for anything, don’t be afraid to ask. Don’t worry about these ladies. They are regular customers so they should know the rules.” The security man on the right stated as he and his partner approached the group of women.
“How dare you take an animal’s side over elites like us!” The middle-aged lady squawked, but her protests fell on deaf ears.
“Thank you. It was nice talking to you guys. In my limited experience, it’s rare to find people like you guys who can see past my ears and tail.” Evernya commented with a smile blooming on her beautiful face.
“Same to you. I hope you find the perfect dress.” The left security guy stated as they corralled the women together.
“If I had any say, I would wear what I am currently wearing to the auction, but my older sister wouldn’t let me,” Evernya grumbled under her breath as the security men herded the women toward the door.
After they left, Evernya slumped in her chair, relieved at the crisis averted. With the instigators gone, the gathered audience dispersed to continue their shopping, leaving Evernya alone.