Quintus put himself between the minotaur and Trillia. "Alex, don't make the resistance right about us. Take a breath; you're free. There are no shackles. What's going on?"

The minotaur's knuckles were white on the handle of the large, two-handed hammer he wielded. Slowly he turned his death gaze from Trillia to Quintus. "Forgive me, Lord Quintus. Permission to return to training, I have nothing to say to the Shattered Plains."

Quintus gave him an odd look before nodding. The Minotaur glared at Trillia once more before turning and going to a dummy. Far too angry to control himself against a living thing. Quintus turned his head to Trillia. "Any idea why he hates your people?"

Trillia shook her head and relaxed once he had walked away. "I have no idea. I'm turning nine soon. It may be that something happened between our people before I was born? Do you know how old Alexander is?"

Quintus looked from her to the minotaur, who had taken to growling and slamming his hands into the gravel and dirt floor of the training area. "Thirty or forty winters? He was only recently released from the fighting pits. I think it best if you ask your slavery question to Lord Arlyss. He is perhaps the only person in this city who will give you an unbiased answer. The rest of us are still keenly feeling the effects."

Trillia gave the slightest of nods. As she looked at Alexander, she wondered how much he had suffered. She had seen some of the scars Uncle Cordaos had.

She was suddenly very grateful for being a part of the Shattered Plains. "I think it best if I'm not near the training grounds for now. I appreciate the offer, but I'd rather not create any ill will."

Quintus nodded, and Kismet led the two of them away. They walked in silence for a while as they slowly made their way to the parapet atop the wall. Kismet led them around and spoke to various members of the guard. The vast majority of them were human. In fact, the vast majority of everyone she had met was human. There were only a handful of non-humans around.

Kismet stopped above one of the guard houses leading out of the enclosed area. Motioning to this part of the city. The houses were in rather poor condition compared to the rest of the city, and the amount of guards stationed here was three times that of any other part of the wall. "This is where the slavers have taken to hiding. Those who oppose Lord Arlyss' new laws concerning the abolishment of slavery. He doesn't want to simply march in and slaughter everyone as he feels it could start a civil war. Something the city could not survive."

Trillia took a few minutes to parse through the information and get the gist of what was being conveyed. "You mentioned a food crisis. Do you know how Lord Arlyss intends for me to help?"

Kismet asked her to repeat the question a couple of times before understanding enough of it to answer. "Mana machines. Come, I'll show you. Stas should be there."

Once more, the two set off. This time back into the tower and lower into the underground levels. Trillia was startled to see that the underground sections of the city were probably just as vast as the above-ground. There was obviously powerful mana manipulation at work to keep this place from collapsing.

Kismet led her to large fields, odd tubes filled with glowing mana hung on the ceiling, and acres of sprouts rolled out before her. All along the wall, thirty or forty people took turns channeling mana into runes. Sure enough, Stas was standing next to one of the machines and had taken it apart piece by piece. There were a few other shorter creatures that looked like goblins but with the skin of a human standing near him.

As they approached, one of the pale goblins walked up to Kismet and began jabbering in yet one more language Trillia didn't know. "This one is fucking crazy! You want to blow up the city? Lord Arlyss want to blow up the city? Cause that's what this one is gonna do. He's gonna blow the entire city into the clouds! Get him the hell out of here!"

Kismet's face appeared completely calm and at peace. Trillia needed the trait that let her deal with all this and never seem particularly emotional. Trillia walked past the angry pale goblin and up to Stas. "Making more friends, Uncle Stas?"

The goblin chuckled at that. Stas seemed different. As if he was actually happy and enjoying himself. "Little shits wouldn't know good engineering if it bit them in the ass."

The two spoke in the goblin tongue. Trillia saw now that Stas' hands and arms were covered in some dark oily substance. Curious, she activated [Mana-Sight].

Crude Oil:

Crude oil is a mixture of carbons in liquid form. You lack the skills, traits, and know-how for a more in-depth explanation.

Alchemical Use: Oil is an effective way to start and spread fire. Some very high-quality fire flasks use small bits of crude oil to make the flaming substance more sticky.

Rain Machine:

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

This machine is the product of gnomish engineering. It is a series of runes that are connected to pipes to help with the irrigation of farmland. For every cubic foot of water, you wish to create and push. You must channel 10 mana into the runes.

Stas pulled out another pipe and tossed it in a pile. The other pale goblins - gnomes, Trillia supposed was their name. - began shouting at him in their own language. Stas began shouting back, and they motioned towards the machines. All of them stormed five feet to the side to a table that held a bunch of papers on it.

She respected the gnomes. They didn't seem to care what level Stas was. Or how dangerous he supposedly was. They only cared that he apparently disagreed with their engineering practices. Trillia could respect that.

[Gnome - Steam Tinkerer - 71] Steam-Mana Manipulation

Notable Traits:

Eidetic Memory (Racial)

[Gnome - Greaser - 52] Water-Mana Manipulation

Notable Traits:

Eidetic Memory (Racial)

[Gnome - ?? - ??] Obfuscated

Obfuscated

The gnome she couldn't fully identify was the same one that had approached Kismet. Trillia turned her head to see that Kismet was discussing something with one of the humans. Both looked over at the scene with a smirk on their faces. Trillia wandered off near one of the machines that was still in place.

One of the humans near it seemed exhausted. Trillia tried to speak in their tongue. "Help, can you? Uhhh...I, Lord Arlyss, help, can you?" The human turned to look at her. Glancing her up and down as he sat on a stool, breathing heavily.

"If you're asking how you can help. Dump mana into the runes." he forced himself to stand and motioned for the other human, who was taking his turn to move. "Rune. Mana. Help. Good." The man spoke each word slowly while looking at her. Trillia nodded and walked up to the machine.

As she placed her hand on it. She could feel that the machine could hold about ten thousand mana and was draining ten a second. That was about twice what she could regenerate in a second. Taking a moment to inspect each of the runes and the machine, she dumped enough mana into it to fill it completely. The thing hummed to life, and rain began to fall over large sections of the ground in a mist-like form. Taking the relatively small amount of water and spreading it over a large area.

The two men who were exhausted next to the machine could only stare at her dumbfounded. Trillia moved over and filled four more machines. She stopped there, not wanting to empty her reserves too much.

Now there was a lot more shouting. Gnomes and humans alike jabbing their fingers towards her and screaming. Before anyone could approach her, a low thin whistle emanated from Kismet. Everyone who had been shouting went silent and fell to a knee. "She is the avatar of Lord Arlyss. She is here out of the kindness of her own heart. Lord Arlyss explicitly told her to look around and rest today. But because she wants to help, she was kind enough to descend to the farms and deplete her own valuable resources to do your jobs. I will personally punish anyone else who demands she is put in chains to alleviate your laziness and shortcomings."

No one said a word. They didn't even dare look at Trillia. She got the meaning of what was being said and felt rather angry. But she waited for Kismet to leave the group behind. Once they were ascending the stairs, Trillia stopped. "Don't threaten people on my behalf."

Kismet turned to look at her. A thin smile on her face. "I didn't. I threatened them on Lord Arlyss' behalf. Lord Arlyss does not need a weak-willed avatar. Until this last year, most of the city still believed in slavery. We still practiced it. We still considered normal humanoids superior to monstrous humanoids. The gnomes in there wanted to attach you to a rune battery system and force you to dump mana into them until you died."

Trillia wanted to argue but found most of her arguments dying in her throat. Kismet must have gotten the same advice Trillia did because the woman didn't relent when she knew she was winning. "You're a kind girl. But you're soft. Oh sure, you are no doubt a terrifying warrior and combatant. But when it comes to people, you're soft. I don't know what sort of people you grew up around. But here? In this city? Many people are ruthless and won't hesitate to pull someone else into the mud if it means they can crawl out of it."

Trillia gritted her teeth and nodded. She'd speak with Arlyss about it. Figure out how she could help that situation as well. Kismet shook her head. "It's the nature of mortals. Especially mortals who haven't had to struggle to survive. It was only recently that many of the humanoids in this city had to work and share their food. We didn't care if slaves died; why would we?"

"Is that why you wouldn't answer my questions about it? Because you were one of the people who enslaved?" Trillia stared up at the woman with a simmering rage in her eyes.

Kismet nodded. "Yes. I was one of those who enslaved people. I'm not an avatar or a pact-bound creature. I don't have a trait that gives me thousands of times the mana that other people have. I am no immortal who can bend and break the laws of our world on a whim with sheer power. I looked out for my own. I made sure that my family didn't starve to death."

Kismet now leaned in to stare Trillia in the eyes. "Don't pretend you are so much better than I. Your friends and family have a long history of horrific practices. They may have retired and chosen peace now. But the reputation of the four generals is not a pleasant one. There's a reason they were all exiled to the northern continent."

Trillia's rage was growing by the second. "I can't speak for the past. But my people do not enslave others! We do not care so little for life that we would be blind to so much suffering!" She was furious she didn't understand all of the words. She only knew the general intent and a word or two here and there. But that intent was clear enough.

Kismet shook her head. "This is pointless. We'll discuss this more when Lord Arlyss returns. Neither of us can truly understand the other. Let's not waste time. Come. I will show you to a place you can rest."

Trillia followed after. The two walked to a room in the tower. Kismet showed her inside and left without another word. Trillia sat next to one of the large panels of glass and stared at the city below. She felt cramped here as well. Had this been a mistake? How many of the people here hated Arlyss because he had taken their power over others away? Kismet seemed kind, but...she had been just as vile, hadn't she? Trillia would just have to wait for Arlyss to return and question him.