After only a quick flight over the city, Othrode academy came into my view. It was located in the wealthy district on the direct other side of the noble district from Audric's house.

The academy was quite large, taking up the space of four blocks. It was separated from the nearby streets and mansions by a short fence backed by view blocking shrubs all around. The academy had three, four story buildings set around a field in the center, each building was rather mundane in appearance, made from gray stone and tiled roof. Along the edge of the field not bordering a build was the entrance gate.

The layout was fairly simple, if I had to guess I would say that the field in the center was most likely for students to practice large scale magic. As we hovered over looking down at the academy, Audric told me that he had actually briefly studied at Othrode once upon a time when he was still a fledgling mage. He gave me a brief description of the layout of the academy.

"As you walk interested front gate, the building to your right top three floors serve as dorm rooms for boys, and the bottom floor is classrooms. The building to your left top three floors is the dorms for girls and classrooms on the bottom floor. The building straight ahead contains the headmasters office, offices for teachers and staff, teacher services, and several classrooms they couldn't fit in to other buildings. Under each building is a large training area, and the field in the center is also used for training. At least that was how it was laied out when I went there."

"Thanks. But now that we are here, I don't see anyone in the academy, did they all go home until the new school year starts?"

"Probably. Well they always have a guard by the gate, so we can ask him about the exams."

We dropped down to street level and approached the small shack next to the front gate. Inside was a city guard, wearing the standard guards armer of chainmail with a light cloth tunic over top that had the symbol for the kingdom of Albin, which was a golden sword on top of a deep blue shield. The guard had a short sword strapped to his waist, and his helmet, similar in design to a roman centurion's helmet but without the plume, was sitting on a nearby shelf.

The guard was sitting on a wooden stool and was completely engrossed in reading a small leather bound book. Audric asked him when the exams were, and he answered without even looking up from his reading.

"Three days from now. Starts at midmorning."

Seriously? Shouldn't such lax behavior be reported? But then again having to sit around all day guarding a gate must be boring. Oh well, at least we got what we came for.

Feeling a little disappointed that we couldn't learn a bit more about the academy, Audric asked for suggestions as to what we should do with our remaining time. I wanted to practice magic, but I would only be able to practice small scale stuff inside city limits.

I also wanted to check out the seedy part of the city. For several reasons, first was because I felt I would be able to learn a lot about the overall quality of the city by comparing the lowest of the low to the higher ups. Second was because in most web novels I read, the most interesting events tended to happen in the slums and shady areas. And third, was because I wanted to test and see how well my magic would work against people. Now don't get me wrong, I wasn't planning on killing anyone, I just wanted to see if I could restrain them, and the best place to 'accidentally' get mugged was in the seedy district. But I wasn't about to let Audric tag along, so going there now was a no go.

In the end I suggested that we just wander around the merchant district untill it was time to eat, afterwards we could go and get my ID. The merchant district was huge and I had only seen a small part of it yesterday, so wandering around wouldn't be a waste.

While we were flying to the merchant district, I had a thought about the identification card.

"Hey Audric, didn't you tell the guy making my card that I was ten? Even after I reach an adult body, won't that still be a problem."

Audric stopped mid air and turned to me.

"I don't understand, how would that be a problem?"

"Say for example I went to buy beer and the bartender asks to see my identification, wouldn't he tell me I am to young?"

"You are still losing me, why would a bartender need to see your identification?"

"What is the minimum drinking age in this country?"

"Minimum drinking age?"

So it is like that. I suppose I should have expected such a thing from a medieval type society. 

"OK, ignore the drinking age... Let me ask this, what is the age of consent in this country?"

"Age of consent?"

Apparently that was also a foreign term here.

"Let me put it this way, how old does someone have to be to go to a brothal?"

"Old enough to get his prick up."

"So you are saying that in this country a child is allowed to do anything an adult can do?"

"Yep."

Facepalm. Does this society know nothing of protecting their children? What about child labor? Did they have that to? They had slavery so probably so. But at the same time this is kind of good for me. It means that I don't worry about people stopping me for my child-like appearance.

I simply continued on my way to the merchant district. Our conversation lapsing into an uncomfortable silence.

The merchant district didn't fail to impress. I got to see first hand a master glassblower at work, glassware is something only the rich can afford, so every piece on display was a work of art. There was a sculptor selling a wide variety of statues of every kind of material. At one leather workers shop, I discovered that leather working could be an art form, he was selling leather clothing decorations with intricate designs. One I particularly liked was vest cover in a tiny floral and vines pattern.

I have never been one to buy souvenirs, so I only looked. Audric stopped at several magic shops and made purchases of supplies he needed. Two and a half hours passed quickly, so we stopped for lunch before heading to pick up the identification.

"So what do you want for lunch? There are a wide variety of food stalls in the area." Audric asked.

"Hmm... I could really go for some [tacos] right about now."

"Taaa coos? What are those?"

"Basically it is meat and cheese along with several other toppings of your choice that you wrap up in a thin piece of flat bread. Although I am not sure if bread is the best way to describe it..."

"Never heard of something like that. Best I can think of would be a meat and cheese pie. Actually there is a stall for those right over there."

"Let's just get some of those for now, I will try making my own some other time."

We both bought and ate a pie from the stall, the pie was actually a lot like chicken pot pie. After finishing we flew back to the chamber of law. Blane was in the same spot he was this morning, sitting in his office. He had a freshly made card waiting.

The card was about the same size as a credit card, it had rounded edges and was made from a silvery metal. The card was magic in nature, while it had my name, my race as human-elf hybrid, and my age as ten. When I touched the card, several details appeared on the surface, it had my hight, hair color, eye color, and physical age. Blane said that every time I touched it, the description would update to reflect physical changes. The final feature was that when I touched it, it would glow green, while if anyone else touched it, it would glow red. Convenient for keeping anyone else from using it.

Audric had to pay a silver bit fee for the card and then we left. Once outside the building once more, Audric asked what I wanted to do. After telling him I wished to explore the city alone, he provided me with some spending money and left, saying that he would be at the magic counsel headquarters.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Once he was gone, I headed for the slums district.

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 The slums district is the smallest of any of the districts in the city. It was located in between the warehouse district and the commoners housing district. Compared to the other districts it is small, but considering the scale of the city, it still was quite vast.

I landed on the outskirts of the slums and walked it, after all, I didn't want anyone knowing I was a mage... Yet. I chose to walk in from the warehouse district to observe how the two shifted from one to the other. Turns out that at the edge of the warehouse district that the warehouses shift from good repair to bad after only a few buildings. Inside the slums I could see clear evidence that some of the old warehouses were being used for shady business, judging from how some of them had goons guarding the entrances and the only people entering and exiting were making clear attempts at not being recognized.

The farther in a walked the worse the warehouses grew and the more 'houses', if you could call them that, started to sprout up. I was quite appalled by the people here, most of the people's clothing was filthy and in varying states of disrepair, most of the people showed some signs of illness, and most looked as if they were trying to cover something up. Almost every alleyway I passed had a woman or two trying to lure men in, most had appearances that I would think would turn most men off though. I suppose as far down it the gutter as these people were that the men would fuck anything with a hole.

Something else I noticed was a large lack of non-human. There were a few here and there, but far less than what I had seen in other parts of the city. I wondered why. Was it due to some form of racism? A sort of 'ignorance breeds fear' kind of thing? Or did most non-humans have some form of skill they know how to turn into profit and therefore have no need of living here?

I got a large number of stares from the locals, I soon realized that a white cloak probably wasn't a good idea, also I probably should have worn the hood to cover my ears...

After only five minutes of walking I was surrounded by a group of five thugs. I didn't even have to duck into an alley to get mugged, they just surrounded me in the middle of the street, and the locals didn't look like they gave a shit. They are all males, shabby uncleaned clothing, scruffy facal hair, and daggers. You probably get the picture of your basic goons, I wasn't really bothered to notice more details about them than that, I imagine that their kind comes a dime a dozen in the slums.

The one directly in front of me was significantly larger than the others and was bald, several scars adorned his face. He flashed me a smile filled with rotten teath.

"Oi, we got urselvs a dirty demi here. Tha boss pays extra fur demis, so ur coming wit us boy."

"Sounds fun." I replied.

Judging from what I could decipher from his slang mumbo jumbo, it seems like instead of mugging me, they intend to sell me to someone, probably an illegal slave ring that deals in kidnapped persons. They didn't even ask for any of my money either, these guys probably weren't the sharpest tools in the shed.

My hypothesis was further proved correct by the thug leaders confused "Ehh?"

"I assume you want to sell me to a slaver or something, and I think that sounds fun so let's go."

The thug stared at me blankly for several seconds before his tiny mind came to a conclusion. He shrugged his shoulders and said.

"Follow me den."

Definitely an idiot.

Bald thug and his gang led me to a nearby warehouse. It's entrance was being guarded by two overly muscled men, they recognized the bald thug and let him in. My suspicions were proved correct when I cought sight of the large number of cages organized into neat rows. I also discovered what happened to all the non-humans who tried to live in the slums.

Although only about half the cages here had people in them, these were mostly filled with various non-humans. From were we had entered I could only see two human slaves amongst the non-humans.

Soon a tall thin man wearing dark cloth clothing mad to resemble formal clothing unhurriedly made his way over to the thugs group. Baldy's demeanor completely changed from before, he now made an effort to stand up straight and made an effort to keep a neutral face.

"Sir, we cought uh demi, and brought 'em over to sell, sir."

This guy must be someone they fear for them to put so much effort into trying to be polite. The tall man, who was pale, had dark hair, beady eyes, and a beak nose, studied me for a few seconds before replying.

"Good, I don't recognize his species so I can sell him off as an exotic. I will pay an extra 20 full coppers over your usual fee."

The bald thug seemed delighted. Too dumb to haggle the price I guess. Well anyways it's about time for me to make my move.

"I am afraid I can't allow that." I snapped my fingers and at the same moment created small shock waves next to the five goons who had brought me here. The shockwaves made a cracking noise and sent each of them flying and crashing into nearby cages and walls.

The tall man narrowed his beady eyes at me for a moment, but like a true business man quickly went with the flow.

"Ah, I did not realize we had an esteemed mage in my presence. Please allow me to extend my deepest apologies for the conduct of my... Associates." He said while giving a slight bow.

Seems this guy is much smarter than the thugs.

"It's fine, I allowed them to lead me here after all."

"Of course. Please tell me what I can do for you... Mr..."

"Call me Mr. Frank. And I am new to this country so I was curious about how slavery operates here."

"Then please allow me to answer any questions you may have Mr. Frank."

"Well, first I would like to know why the slums have such a hostility towards non-humans."

"I suppose it is because the inhabitants of the slums have next to nothing, so they hold onto what they do have, and for them that is being born a human. The laws of this country treat non-humans as equal to humans, but that didn't stop the people here from dragging them into alleys and killing them. Long story short, I made some deals with the right people and was able to move in and give the people a less violent alternative to vent their frustration, while simultaneously supplying certain wealthy persons with what they require to feed their fetish."

"So your a saint who gets to line his pockets at the same time."

"I would hardly go that far."

"OK, next question, what are the legal requirements to make someone a slave?"

"Legal? Well mostly it is criminals that are made slaves, such as thieves who cannot repay the amount the victim demands as repayment. Also there are people who owe debts and cannot repay, although for that the case is supposed to be brought before a judge who decides if slavery should be used to repay. The least common kind is war captives. If a creature is considered by law to be a monster, then they can be bought and used with no restrictions."

"I see. What would be an example of a monster type?"

"We have several selections to the back there if you care to see, but the most popular would be harpys or lamias."

"Well I suppose that's all my questions for now, so I would like to browse your stock."

"Of course, over to your left are the teenagers and children. Towards the center are the types better for domestic type work. To your right are sex slaves, And to the back of the room are the monster types."

I began my tour at the left and worked my way right. All the slaves here were on the thin side with only rags to wear. The majority of the slaves seemed to be of the beastmen races, with only a few others. Cat eared, dog eared, I even saw a few with cow and pig like features. There were only ten humans amongst the slaves and only one elf.

Strange, when I had first realized that this was an illegal slave operation I hadn't even considered trying to free them, and even now when I looked at them in their cages I felt no pity. When I had first learned that there was slavery in this country I had felt shock, but was that just because it was different from what I was used to? Had I changed to feel nothing at their enslavement, or had I always been twisted this way? Truth be told, I didn't know, and that actually scared me, both possibilities were undesirable.

I finished looking through the regular slaves without finding any interesting other than the black markings on their necks. I was curious about how enslavement magic worked. I moved on to the monster types.

The first cage I encountered was large and held only a single occupant. Wild curly red hair, crimson eyes, and healthy tanned skin. She had a well muscled yet feminine figure that went down to her waist, were her skin suddenly stopped and turned to brilliant red scales. A lamia, instead of legs she had the tail of a snake from her hips down. She was currently sleeping.

The owner of this establishment had left me while I browsed, but now decided to rejoin me.

"Ahhh, this one was brought in by hunters several weeks ago, but she has a violent streak that kept her from selling. She jumped from market to market until she ended up here."

"Interesting..."

The next group of cages contained beings that stood slightly under five foot tall, all female. They looked mostly human except for the large pair of feather cover wings sprouting from their backs, and feathers growing from the backs of their hands to their elbows, and from their ankles to their knees.

"Harpys. I don't know how much you know about them, but all harpys are born female, and must mate with a male from one of the races to bear children."

So that was the same as it was in fokelore. I was interested in these monster girls, but for today I was just going to browse, so I moved on to the last cage. The last cage contained several three foot tall humanoids with green skin and dumb looks. Your typical goblins.

"Most people who buy goblins buy them for their ability to get into small spaces. They often train them to clean chimneys or clear out sewer blockages."

The last thing I noticed was a shelf off to one side that held several sealed glass containers, each about two foot tall and a foot in diameter. They were filled with blue liquid, approaching closer, I saw that in the middle of each floated a round crystal, approximately an inch in diameter, that was covered in markings similar to slave markings. A label on the shelf showed that each costed one gold bit coin, wearas most slaves I this shop costed two full gold.

"Excuse me, what are these?"

"Have you ever heard of a 'fun slime' Mr. Frank?"

I shook my head no.

"Fun slimes are a type of slime created by an alchemist. Unlike wild slimes, fun slimes are created unable to digest living flesh and supply air to anything inside of them preventing them from being able to suffocate a living being. This makes them unable to harm humans. A fun slimes can change its body from fully liquid to an almost complete solid, and can shape shift to a certain extent. They are made with some intelligence so you can tell them what form you want them to shift to."

"Interesting..."

I hadn't been planning on buying anything here, but I had to admit that this 'fun slime' has peaked my interest. 

"The jars they are in, how long can they be stored in there?"

"They can be stored in the jar indefinitely, they have to be fed while active, but if you put them back into a sealed jar they will hibernate until taken back out."

Yep, I am totally getting one. Even if I don't open it right away, I can just keep it tucked away until I move out on my own.

I agreed to buy it and handed over ten full silver coins to the slave merchant, who I had never learned the name of. He told me that once I opened the container I should say "I am your new master" to activate the slave magic and make it follow my commands.

Happy with my purchase, I took out my cloak and used it to wrap up the container. Outside I found that I had spent most of the afternoon there and that it was time to head back.