Elas pushed a pouch of coins towards Argis as they sat on the cabin's main table.

“Be a bit more generous with the food. I don't want anyone to say I'm starving my workers.” He told Argis.

“It shall be done, Elder.” Argis replied, accepting the pouch of coins and slipping it into a pocket in his vest.

Elas took out a paper with the names of the four people that had some talent in alchemy and pushed it towards Argis.

“I have chosen to instruct these four in the art of alchemy. Tell them to head to my cabin starting tomorrow. From then onwards they are to be exempt from all other work as I demand their full attention.”

Argis squinted as he read the names on the paper.

“Forgive me for asking Elder Elas but how did you get these names?” Argis asked. It was a fair question given Elas had never asked anyone's name aside from him.

Elas waved off his concerns. “You lot have been in Farhaven for months now. I would be ashamed if I had not heard of your names before.”

It was a bogus excuse. For one thing Elas had asked Argis for his name just a week prior. Not to mention Farhaven was far too large a town for someone to know everyone's names. An adept administrator might be able to do so and Baron Rein definitely could but Elas was no adept administrator. Argis would probably come up with his own plausible theory given enough time so Elas did not bother to flesh out his lie. In truth Elas had simply learned their names as he followed them around with his crown’s vision.

“If that is all Elder I will get to it.” Argis said as he moved to stand up. Astutely not questioning the situation further after Elas had brushed him off.

“Sit back down Argis, we have other things to discuss.” Elas gestured for Argis to stay on his seat.

“I will take the girl Sofia as my official apprentice.” Elas stated. Unlike the others which would just be his students Elas was planning to take the herculean girl as his official apprentice.

Given that a mage was an official position within the empire. Once he takes an apprentice he would assume legal guardianship over said apprentice as he was effectively their guarantor and would answer for any wrong they might commit in the future.

“Elder I must disagree she is too young to be handling chemicals and I doubt the girl is cut out for such a precise profession.” Argis argued.

“I believe you are well aware of the child's gifts, Argis. I have no intention of educating her as a mage and you know it. I refuse to watch idly as a future champion of the empire is wasted. I wish to meet with her parents in order to convince them immediately.” Elas made his stance clear.

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Elas watched as Argis squirmed in his seat while trying to find a way out of the situation. It appeared that he was not fond of the idea of giving away a child to become a tool for the empire. It was unsurprising really as they had moved to Farhaven for a reason yet they still found themselves caught by heartless imperial bureaucracy in the form of Elas.

Argis stared down at the table with a defeated look.

“She is an orphan, Elder Elas.” he admitted.

“Excellent! Inform her that she is to start her apprenticeship tomorrow.”

Elas kept up an unfeeling facade but inside he was ecstatic. He was worried about how to convince the child's parents given that Argis and his group looked to be firmly against the idea. He could have forced the issue by forcing Baron Rein to write a decree claiming the child based on her value to the empire. But that would be deeply unpopular with everyone in Farhaven including the baron.

The child being an orphan completely removed all the legal issues as by imperial law orphans that have not been adopted by a family had no legal guardian and thus had no right to refuse an apprenticeship. Their community had a communal approach to child rearing but such arrangements were not recognized by the empire as legal guardianship.

The laws concerning the empires system of apprenticeship were set up in a way that an apprentices master legally supersedes their parents the moment the requisite papers were signed. The laws were initially made because masters were expected to sink a considerable amount of time and resources on their apprentices and were supposed to get several years of cheap labor in return but incidents of apprentices leaving their masters the moment they learned the craft became too prevalent for an unregulated system to continue functioning. masters had stopped taking apprentices due to fears of gaining nothing and losing all their secrets which brought on a shortage of skilled crafts.

These laws were of course quickly exploited by the Eternal Emperor himself. By declaring the children of defiant families as apprentices in the inner court the emperor had an easy way to take perfectly legal hostages anytime he wanted. If the families accepted then he had a hostage and If they refused his imperial decree even better.

Of course it did not take long before all the nobles and officials started using the same trick to keep their lessers in line. But unlike them who were taking children by forced decree Elas was technically not performing any gross abuse of authority as it was well within his rights to take an orphan as his apprentice.

It was even considered a generous act of charity by most as it meant the mage was forgoing any benefits to be had from taking an apprentice from an influential clan. Now Argis and his people would probably still feel wronged but it was not like he was intending to mistreat the girl. Scratch that, the training in order to obtain all the milestones and achievements he planned would definitely be considered child abuse.

More importantly the baron and the people of Farhaven were unlikely to take any offense at Elas choosing an orphan as an apprentice. Even if the refugees did not agree they weren't in a position to properly take care of such a talented child and will find little support.

Elas was more than happy with a bit of friction if it was the price for obtaining a champion. He was even willing to burn bridges by resorting to a decree if he had to. The girl's value greatly outweighed all the other workers. Mediocre workers were plentiful while such a promising champion would be rare even during the golden age. The empire was doomed to crumble within the decade anyway so the girl would never have to serve the empire as a champion. She would fight as Elas’s champion instead and who wouldn't want that.