I sighed and eased myself into a chair. The most likely explanation was that someone had done all of it. And I had no idea why. None of the magi had any motive, because they sealed me. But there was no one else who’d even have anything close to this kind of power, and it’d take decades, at best, to develop it. So someone was out there, and helped me, presumably, for whatever reason. I figured the best course of action would be to track them down. Maybe they’d know what was going on. I couldn’t find any mana traces on my body, but that was probably partially because I was always awful in detection magic. Though, I was able to get a read on a bit of the mana signature, and looked through my body for any more of a similar type. It turned out that the deception I’d already found was the only source there.

There were many maps of Proxia lying around. The country was set to the west of an ocean and east of a mountain range labelled ‘Ruhr Tribesmen’. It was quite small compared to the countries lying to its north and south. The capital, Taron, wasn’t too far from where I was, so I decided to head that way.

I put the maps back, then quietly left the tiny shop. Thankfully, there were no issues, and I found the road leading out of the village with little difficulty. Briefly, I wondered if there was any way that I could speed up my travels, but decided to stick with with walking. I didn’t want to draw attention to myself by flying, and I had no local currency to buy a horse. Stealing without knowing the repercussions wasn’t the best idea, either.

So I set out, allowing myself to use the simplest of light magic, as well as minimally augmenting my legs with force magic--just enough to keep myself running for a large amount of time.

The first few hours went smoothly--the plains by the road transitioned into a more hilly landscape with some woods to the left. That’s when I saw a faint, flickering light off in the trees.

As I drew closer, I heard some distinctly human voices. It seemed like some people were camping for the night, so I decided to walk past them. But then, I heard a louder voice.

“Is that someone on the road?”

“Yeah,” another man responded. “Hey, wait a minute!” He was talking to me.

I debated running off--they wouldn’t be able to catch me on foot, and it’d take too long to get on a horse. But I didn’t want anyone knowing about me. I wanted to be invisible, at least until I learned a little more. So, I decided not to risk it.

“Yes?” I said loudly.

Leaves crunched as a few men walked out to the road. Two were soldiers, armed with swords and dress emblazoned with some type of bird. The last was middle-aged, dressed in finer cloth--he was probably a nobleman.

“Are you alone?” The nobleman asked, frowning. “Do you have a horse?”

“No,” I said. “I’m just walking to Scopt. I don’t live very far away.”

He shook his head. “What? It’s the middle of the night. Are you aware that there are bandits and creatures around?”

I grimaced. Maybe this wasn’t the best idea. “Oh, it’s quite alright. I’ve travelled like this many times and have never seen a bandit in my life.”

The man nodded, but looked unconvinced. At that moment, a lady decided to show up. She looked to be the same age as him, so she was likely his wife.

“Tom, honey, what’s going on? Who is this?”

“Just a traveller.” He looked back at me again, and apparently decided to give up. “Well, have a safe trip. Goodnight.”

I nodded, then walked down the road some distance before casting a light again.

…

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

By the time the sun had come up, I was almost to the city. I’d used some water magic to satiate myself, but doing the same for food wasn’t possible. It looked like I was going to have to find a source of currency sometime soon.

Up ahead the woods and plains transitioned into meadows and hills. As I drew closer, I finally saw Scopt--the most populated city near the capital.

It was huge, situated on a hill and bigger than many cities of my country, Regence. Traffic seemed to be picking up at this time of day, and people walked in and out of the massive wall. I slowed to a walk and joined the main road.

As I drew closer, the wall caught my attention. It had to be at least fifty feet high, but that wasn’t what I’d noticed. There were magical reinforcements on them--and they were incredibly strong. Elemental earth magic, different runes of fortification, failsafes, and the such. It would even give Regence’s capital a run for its money.

I thought about what that meant. It seemed like the magic I came across--the deception used against me, the defensive measures--they were strong. The weird thing was that it was so rare.

Soon, I got to the gate. A squadron of guards waved me and a few others through. I was given a few odd looks, which was probably due to the fact that I was alone and without transport, but other than that, I managed to get through without a hitch.

As soon as I passed between stone walls, it was like the world had transformed. The quiet, fresh air from outside turned into a raucous, awful-smelling mess. There were dozens of street vendors spread out on the wide, stone street, selling everything from food to clothes.

I hesitated for a moment. Crowds were always hard for me--way too many people in a tiny area. I acclimated, though, and kept my head down as I walked through the street.

The first thing I needed to do was find a source of income. Hopefully to pay for something better than the disgusting inns I had seen so far. The first thing that came to mind was magic--creating some enchantments or force augmentations--but I put that on hold. For all I knew, magic could be illegal here. I needed to look around first to learn anything I could.

I went to the side of the road and saw a kid sitting against a building. He was eating some bread and looked to be around sixteen years old. I walked up to him and waved to get his attention. “Hey, kid.”

A look of concern flashed across his face, but he seemed relieved after looking up and seeing me. “Whad’ya want?” he asked, in between mouthfuls of bread.

“Do you happen to know where I could find a library?”

He seemed confused, but pointed deeper into the city. “Just go over there and ask some more people.”

“Thanks,” I said. I turned to leave, but he stood up.

“I’ll show you around the city, actually, if you pay me.”

The kid probably thought I was wealthy. “Sorry, I have no money on me. I can’t pay.”

He scowled and turned away. I took that as my invitation to leave, and headed in the direction he pointed me in.

The environment gradually became cleaner, more organized. The peddlers looked wealthier, the inns were nicer, and the crowd had thinned out. I passed what looked to be a park, as well as some larger buildings such as schools and banks. In the distance, I caught sight of an enormous castle with rising over every other structure. That was likely the local government.

Soon, I reached a large open area where a crowd was gathering. In the middle, a wooden platform supported a large, animated man. I drew closer to hear what he was saying.

“--then I’ve got just the thing for you! Ladies and gentlemen, two purebred elves from the country of Sveldan itself!”

The crowd clapped, and another man brought two chained beings up the stairs to the platform. A boy and girl, both tall, with blond hair and elongated ears.

I froze. I’d never heard of an elf before, but judging by the two on the platform, it seemed that they were a different race. Maybe a subspecies of a human. The people gathered were very excited, though, and the cheering rose to a roar.

“Alright, folks! Bidding will start at one silver for the boy, and two for the lady.” Immediately, a fierce bidding war began. Anger blossomed in my heart as the man’s words triggered a memory from several years ago.

I strolled through the capital’s marketplace with a few friends, celebrating my induction as an archmagus. We went around and bought a bunch of useless trinkets for the hell of it, intent on having a good time. That’s when we saw the slave auction. A bunch of chained-up kids and adults, taken from poor countries.

When we passed, the lively chatter between my friends died down, and they looked away in shame. That memory was etched into my mind for the rest of my life. I spared a glance up, and saw a six or seven-year-old girl being brought up. She looked terrified, probably only holding back tears for fear of what would happen if she cried. I felt anger and sadness, but most of all, shame. Shame that I’d done nothing. I’d told myself that I couldn’t do anything, that nothing would matter. But seeing my friends act the way they did, I made a resolution.

Soon after, I bought that girl. She didn’t have a name, so I chose Melissa.