Mavis and Matthis were jostled in their seats a bit after the carriage’s sudden stop. Matthis, irritated, excused himself and exited the carriage. He flung open the door to yell at the driver.

“We shouldn’t be at the destination, why did you stop like-”

He cut himself off when he saw what was in front of the carriage. The young boy from the shop, Paulie, was standing in front of the carriage, blocking the way.

“The boy just- just jumped in front of the carriage. I had no choice but to stop.” The driver said, startled.

Matthis’ angry tone had only served to unnerve the driver even more. Matthis glared at Paulie who was standing in front of the carriage with a similar nervous expression on his face. The situation had drawn a crowd, now turning it into a spectacle. Many people’s whispers could be heard from the carriage. People wondered if the boy got too caught up in playing to notice the carriage. Others if it was intentional so his parents could profit off insurance from his injuries. Matthis glared at Paulie. Paulie tensed up as he saw the look Matthis was giving him. He was terrified. This man is one of the Twelve and could kill him on a whim. He came close to getting murdered during the burglary just the night before, now he intentionally put himself in harm's way yet again for Mavis. He never saw himself doing anything like this before now, but if his boss is arrested, or worse, killed, he wouldn’t be getting his paycheck to help his family.

Matthis left the door of the carriage and approached Paulie.

“How did you even get ahead of us, young man?”

Paulie looked up at him, dead in the eye. He had used the shortcuts he learned from all his shopping trips to get ahead of the carriage, though he wasn’t telling Matthis that, or anything for that matter.

“I asked you a question. It’s only polite to answer when an adult asks you something. Didn’t your parents teach you any manners?”

Paulie stood firm as an oak but simultaneously as shaky as its leaves on a windy day.

“How old are you even?”

Paulie still didn’t answer.

“If you don’t answer me, I will need to add suspicion of child labour to the woman’s charges, you know that right?”

That made Paulie tense up. In the empire, child labour laws are very strict. Businesses cannot legally hire a person if they are under the age of fourteen. Partly so kids are not forced to provide for their parents, but mostly to help try to combat slavery. It’s a relatively new law only implemented in the last twenty years by the current Emperor. These were serious charges that would be levied against Mavis. If he didn’t speak up, she would be in more trouble than she already is

“I-I just turned fourteen last month, sir.”

His voice was shaky, he wanted to do something, anything, to try to help but it seemed like he was only making the situation worse. Matthis smiled though. His wide grin was unnerving, like an animal that had just caught its prey.

“Oh, well in that case, I will need to bring you with me on charges of obstruction of justice. We were on our way to the Courthouse to bring in an alleged criminal. And don’t try to feign ignorance either. We both know full well this was intentional.”

While the legal age to work in the Empire was fourteen, it was also the age you could be legally tried in court. Matthis grabbed Paulie by the arm and dragged him into the carriage, seating him next to Mavis.

“Now, both of you be good.” He said as if he was addressing a pair of dogs. “I would hate to have to resort to violence in front of a child”

Mavis stared at Paulie in bewilderment. She didn’t expect Matthis to come back with him in tow.

Paulie didn’t want to look Mavis in the eye as she said “What the hell are you doing here?” in a confused tone.

“I just thought I could do something.” Then his tone changed to one of confidence. “Like making sure there’s a witness.”

As the cart started moving again, Matthis felt anger. He realised he screwed up by taking the kid into the cart. The reason he could openly antagonise Mavis was because it was just the two of them there. But now that there’s a third party, he can’t without the kid tattling on him. Mavis and Paulie both had the same smug expression on their faces.

“So what was it we were talking about again, Mr. Edenz?” Mavis said slyly.

That little shit. You just acted like you were about to wet yourself when that was just to make me let my guard down. Matthis thought to himself.

“Oh, just how Miss Millwood, here has such an interesting history. A graduate of Gilded Wings University deigning to run a small shop instead of working for a big company is quite strange indeed.” Matthis said, trying to regain control of the conversation.

Paulie slowly turned to Mavis. He had heard of Gilded Wings because it was his first choice of school. He hadn’t decided on what he wanted to do quite yet but he knew that going to a good school like that would open up a lot of opportunities for him. It is known as the top university in the empire and the majority of students are either children of nobility or rich business moguls, or are incredibly gifted in academics and got in on a scholarship. Needless to say, it was merely a pipe dream for Paulie to actually attend Gilded Wings, given his family’s financial status.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“YOU GOT INTO GILDED WINGS!? HOW WHEN YOU’RE SO-” Paulie cut his own outburst short, seeing Mavis glare daggers at him. He was going to say something about her being unintelligent, but she was obviously already not in the best of moods due to the conversation before Paulie joined, so to make a backhanded comment and act shocked was not the best decision. Mavis sighed, choosing to let the boy’s outburst go.

“Yes, I studied there. I could only afford to go because my old man decided to use his earnings from his adventuring days to pay for the tuition. He had quite the nestegg saved up, and for some reason, decided my education was the best way to spend it instead of living out his retirement in luxury.”

Paulie could tell from her tone as she talked about her “old man” that it was a sore spot for her. He started to feel bad for his outburst.

Mavis continued, “And as for why I chose to open my shop; it was a personal choice. I wanted to make it out there on my own. No big companies backing me. No name dropping. I took out a loan at the Royal Bank of Baltharus and I intend to pay it off myself, whether through the business itself, or from my adventurer side gig.”

Paulie and Matthis both looked surprised. It was not an answer either of them were expecting, but for different reasons. Paulie didn’t expect the semi-crazy lady who he knew to have the temper of a child to say something he could actually respect. But it was also Mavis, who sits around reading magazines instead of doing actual work. Matthis, on the other hand, felt the opposite. He saw it as childish idealism. To make a small, dingy shop a household name without using any sort of connections was unrealistic to him. He thought of Mavis, due to what he read in her files, to be an intelligent individual. But now, she’s just another hopeless and naïve dreamer to him. She could easily use Zergil Oren’s name to bring in a good number of people who know of his exploits, but she chose not to out of pride. That, to him, was foolish.

“I see, Miss Millwood. That is… quite admirable.” Matthis said with obvious sarcasm. “I don’t think I’ve met someone in your field who WASN’T willing to use every connection they had to get ahead.”

Mavis shared a glare with Matthis as the carriage came to a stop once more.

“Oh, we’re here. Please everyone, make your way out of the carriage single file.” Matthis said playfully.

As Mavis, then Paulie, stepped out of the carriage, they expected to be greeted by the ivory sheen of the Imperial Courthouse. Instead they saw the entrance to a dusty back alley. There had to be some mistake. As they turned to the carriage driver, he was already accepting a bag of coins from Matthis, a slight look of fear in his eyes as he quickly pocketed and took off.

“Well then, shall we?” Matthis addressed the two formally.

Not having much of a choice, the pair followed him down the alleyway, passing by back doors to restaurants and shops with bags of trash sitting next to them. A couple of rats ran between Mavis’ legs as she jolted a bit from their sudden appearance. As they went deeper into the maze-like alley, Paulie started getting more worried.

“Hey, Mr. Edenz, where are we going?”

“Don’t worry, young lad, we’re almost there.”

Though they couldn’t see his face, they could clearly imagine the wicked grin on his face as he spoke. At some point. Matthis suddenly stopped walking.

“Alright, I don’t think we’ll disturb anyone this far in.”

He turned to face Mavis and Paulie.

“I should let you both know that I lied about going to the Courthouse.”

Mavis scoffed. “Yeah, no shit. Now cut to the chase and tell me what you really wanted here.”

Matthis let out the slightest chuckle. “Miss Millwood, You know I didn’t lie about the misinformation on your Adventurer’s Union forms. But I was only sent to confirm the Union’s suspicions. The robber from last night, as you know, is already in custody and awaiting trial. However, his testimony went as follows.” He cleared his throat and attempted his best impression of the robber. “That woman hit me with ‘er magic balls, bouncing all o’re the place. She even kicked one into my head!” He switched back to his normal speaking voice after he was done relaying what the robber had said. “From his description of the spell you casted, I know it was Arcane Bolt. A very destructive spell and a staple in our own Mage Corps. How you were able to use it to harm but not kill an individual who obviously had no prior combat experience, is curious. As well as the fact you ‘bounced’ it.”

Paulie looked back and forth at the both of them, trying to keep up with the conversation. He had no idea what Matthis was getting at, but he remembered Mavis saying that the spell was her own non-lethal version. Mavis remained silent, however. She just stared at Matthis with a stoic expression. She understood perfectly. The reason he was questioning her in an alley instead of the Courthouse, however, was also another indication of what he really wanted.

Matthis sighed. “If you’re not going to say it yourself, I’ll just say it. You put your Talent as N/A on your Union registration form, but the way you used that spell last night suggests you do in fact have one… and I want to see and confirm it for myself.”

Matthis reached into the sleeve of his blue suit and slowly pulled out a large mallet that shouldn’t have even fit in there, the same as he did with the folder.

“Paulie, step back.” Mavis said as she took what looked to be a fighting stance.

Paulie, did as she said, panickily. This was not looking good.