A Finance Ministry Official, a tall young man with orange hair, and a boy dressed in yellow stood at the door of a townhouse as the sun approached the horizon.

“Oh, hello. Are you here on ministry business?”

A little old lady in a yellow pinafore dress questioned the congregation.

Emilia stepped forward. “Hello, would you happen to be Ursula Joan?”

The lady came to a stop and curtsied while carrying a basket of groceries. “Yes I am indeed, have I made trouble?”

Emilia shook her head, "Not at all, my name is Emilia SteeI, Lower Tax Official. I was actually going to ask if you had a residential vacancy. My friends, Oliver and Levi, need somewhere at short notice.”

Ursula raised an eyebrow, then looked at Oliver and Levi. “I haven’t been advertising it.”

Oliver frowned, ”We can get out of your hair then.”

“No, no, you’re free to stay so long as you have the coin.”

“And how much would that be?” Emilia asked.

“Five gold per month. It’s a bit dusty, but if you pay for and take care of it, it’s yours.” The old lady smiled.

Oliver shrugged, this was in acceptable range. “If you wouldn’t mind, could we have a look inside?”

“Of course, right this way.” Ursula led the three younguns up the steep staircase on the right with no trouble, despite her frail appearance.

After heaving open the thick wooden door, the three spilled into the third floor apartment. They were greeted with an open living room, a kitchen in the back right, and a hallway leading further inside. The floorboards were coated in a thin layer of dust, which they kicked up as they walked past a pair of heavy set couches adjacent to the window.

A wooden dining table adorned the back left corner of the room, bringing a purpose to every part of the room. Oliver thought it was more accommodating than many living spaces in large cities on Earth, certainly those for students.

Levi looked around interestedly, Oliver hoped he would be content staying here for extended periods.

Ursula gestured deeper inside, "Further along are two bedrooms, and a bathroom on the right. Even water pumps! Although those are more common by the year.”

The four continued into the back area. Spying the aforementioned simple bedrooms each containing a bed, freestanding wardrobe, and nightstand. The bathroom floor was tiled with simple brown squares, assumedly terracotta.

“This really is quite the place.” Emilia remarked.

The crude tap over a wooden bucket basin was not accompanied by a handle, but instead by a small button inscribed with simple runes, when activated it sourced just one temperature of water; cold.

Oliver was going to need to practice his mana control if he wanted anything to drink.

Right beside, against the wall was a box with a hole.

The toilet.

“Technological marvel, that is.” Oliver gestured to the whole bathroom, wearing a slightly forced smile.

The landlady was chuffed. “Yes, well, take good care of it!”

“Looks decent to me.” Emilia seemed unimpressed.

“Levi, have any thoughts?” Oliver turned to the one who’d be spending the most time here.

Levi squirmed a bit, but he managed to ask, “How good are the locks on the front door?”

Ursula seemed troubled by the question, but she answered. “You would need a decent bit of force to take that door off its hinges.”

“... Ok.” Levi relaxed a bit. Emilia and Ursula looked concerned, but Oliver just went ahead with the transaction, which involved a contract.

If he didn’t work at a finance ministry, he’d be surprised at the level of bureaucracy.

—

The next morning, Oliver woke up in his new apartment. For a second, he’d thought he was back in his dorm. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

Oliver didn’t consider himself to be an early riser, but did believe in the practicality of it, so he forced himself up. He probably had about an hour to get to the ministry, so he knocked on Levi’s door.

“Hey, Levi, I have to leave in about an hour, want to get breakfast with me?”

Levi spoke from the front area, ”I’m already up.”

Oliver paused, looked at his knocking hand, and lowered it. “You have your shoes and such on?”

“I’ve been up for a while.”

Oliver walked into the front area, seeing Levi, dressed and prepared for the day. “You’re way too responsible.”

Levi cocked his head. “Is that bad?”

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Oliver opened his mouth, hesitated, then closed it again. “Whatever. Hungry?” He shouldered his bag, he wasn’t comfortable leaving any modern technology off his person.

The two walked down the exposed staircase, waving to Ursula as they went. They got some strange flatbread from a street stall.

Levi looked like he was ready to follow Oliver around for the day.

Oliver grimaced, “Levi, can you stay behind?”

Levi scrunched his face in thought, then looked apprehensive. “Mmmmmmmm”

“Look, I need to keep a low profile. I can’t have anybody looking into why there’s a kid following me around. Not if i’m going to be looking for the answers that we need.”

Levi already understood, which is why he hadn’t said anything. He just wasn’t happy about being made to do nothing.

Levi sighed, “I want to help.”

Oliver’s face twisted, “You’re not really able.”

Levi looked offended.

It was Oliver’s turn to sigh, “I’ll figure out something for you to do tomorrow.”

Oliver thought Levi was secure enough there, but told him to go to the old lady if he had any trouble, hopefully she’d be alright with that.

—

When Oliver arrived at the ministry, he found Emilia’s office in ruins. He stood in the entrance, holding the door open. He wasn’t upset, more just inconvenienced and confused. He was there before Emilia, and so got to work picking up scattered papers and upturned chairs.

He was halfway finished when Emilia turned up, and she seemed upset. Rather than saying anything though, she helped Oliver get everything back in order.

Oliver asked, “Should we check for missing documents? Maybe they were looking for something.”

Emilia sighed. “We certainly can, but that’s probably what they want us to do anyway.”

Oliver was confused. “What. To catch them out?”

“No, to make us use our workday less productively. Evaluations are at the end of the month.”

Oliver thought about it. “So it was other officials?”

“Their helpers most likely.” Emilia said, but that was essentially the same thing.

“Wouldn’t that be, like, a disqualifying factor?”

“It would be if we could trace it back to the source, and be able to prove it beyond reasonable doubt. Assuming a higher official cares enough to give their time without favours, which they most likely won’t in my case.”

Interesting.

“So, what can we do?” Oliver said as he straightened a stack of papers.

“Since both of us have obligations, there’s not much we can do. Just be efficient with your work.”

It took them until midday to finish getting everything back to how it was. Their options were to stay later, or to take the productivity hit. Oliver was planning to search outside the walls again, and he didn’t want to leave Levi alone for longer than necessary, so he left at the usual time, to Emilia’s dismay.

He would arrive earlier tomorrow.

—

Of course, finding Levi and a place to stay had been a tangent– a necessary one –but Oliver was set on his search and discovery routine outside town walls, so he did that until the sky turned orange.

On the way back to the apartment, Oliver detoured back to the ministry just to see if he could catch someone in the act. Outside the door to Emilia’s office, one of the guys he’d seen around was peeking in.

The unscrupulous chap tsked and continued down the hall.

Hardly evidence of anything, but note taken.

Oliver went up to the door himself. Inside, he saw Emilia asleep at her desk, pen still in hand. Guilty for leaving her all the work, he went and draped her coat over her back, then removed the pen from her hand.

As he left, he closed the door, so hopefully if anyone came in she would wake up from the sound of it opening. He bought dinner for Levi and himself, and they ate it in the apartment before going to sleep.

—

“Oliver, get up!”

Obligation accomplished, Levi went back to the living room after doing what Oliver had asked the night before.

He was the closest thing Oliver had to an alarm. The two went out for breakfast again, and Levi asked Oliver a question at their outdoor table. “Can I hold onto the key? I want to go out.”

An eager question from a kid who’d just lost his dad… Perhaps that was why.

Oliver felt responsible for Levi to a certain extent, and he advised Levi that he thought it was a bad idea.

Levi was adamant though, “You’re working all day, even when you check for people, you can only check one gate.”

Oliver retorted, “It’s not like you’d be let out the gates anyway, better not to draw attention.” There was a real chance that they’d connect the dots with his dad, and put him down.

“I know! I won’t go outside the gates!” Levi furrowed his brow fiercely, it’s not like Oliver really knew him that well, so he couldn’t force Levi to do anything.

“Then… why do you need to go out?”

“Well if you got into the city, and I… Thanks to dad, but… I got in… T-There must be other people!” Levi went from contemplative, to distraught, to determined within the space of his answer.

He wasn’t necessarily wrong, and Oliver saw where this was going. If Levi wasn’t a small and vulnerable child, he’d be pushing Levi to go do reconnaissance himself.

“How do you expect to stay safe? There’d be more criminals and stuff lurking around than at home by far, we don’t know this town.” Oliver rested his chin on his hand.

“Besides, the people’ll be hiding if they know what’s good for them.” Oliver recognised that he was being pessimistic, but when you considered that this whole situation was pessimistic, it wasn’t unwarranted.

“I’m fast! And there are other kids around! And it’s daytime!” Levi emphasised each point with a finger, and waved them in Oliver’s face.

Oliver sighed, he wasn’t a parent. If this was going to happen, better to make it happen on safer terms.

“...Fine. Avoid sketchy alleyways, avoid sketchy people, avoid attracting attention. Talk as little as possible. You know what the consequences are.”

Oliver reached for his money bag, and placed two silver coins in Levi’s hands, along with the key.

“If you get into any trouble, you know I'm at the Ministry. If you find another person from home, and they seem nice, you can take them back to the apartment.”

Levi nodded, seriously.

“Be back before people start heading home for work. Be careful.”

Jeez, is this what my dad felt like? Oliver shivered, but he left Levi to his own devices.

Then Oliver headed to the ministry. He couldn’t help but feel he’d made a bad decision, given Levi’s age and recent trauma.

Or maybe the boy needed the distraction.

The competitive part of Oliver didn’t see any downsides.

To find out how he got here, why his people were hunted, who had the answers, he would take any advantage.

The odds were stacked against them.