I wanted to ask why that mattered, but judging by Aastor’s face, he wanted me to come up with the answer myself. So I decided to just keep quiet for a few seconds, and let my thoughts percolate. After all, Self-Composed was giving me a rather nice INT boost, and providing me with crystal clear clarity. I could figure it out.

I had three clues, so to speak:

Sparks gathered energy more or less inexhaustibly. Sparks rarely expended There was only a limited store of energy in the world.

Oh. Well, it was surprisingly simple after all. Simple, but absolutely horrifying in it’s implications.

“I think I understand, Sir.”

“Do ya, boy? Then, explain for the benefit o’ everyone, will ya?”

“Yes Sir.” I paused and gathered my thoughts. “If Sparks continue to gather energy, by which I mean that they continue to consume everything, there won’t be enough left for Excelsians or Summons, or any other living thing.”

“And?”

And? That wasn’t all? How could the possible end of life due to overconsumption by Sparks not be considered the end of the discussion?

“And, Sir?”

“And what does that mean for us, Blanc? Or rather, for all Spark users?” Fay spoke up, a little bit of impatience tinging her voice. “You may have noticed that the world hasn’t yet ended, and nobody seems to be panicking about it.”

She was right. It didn’t seem like Sparks were considered a particularly evil or uncontrollable resource. Clearly the Excelsians were fond of magic, since slave Summoning was the cornerstone of their society. And they revered Sparks, given how Chanak had reacted to my acquisition of a Spark and how bureaucratized and organized the S.R.C. seemed to be. So Sparks weren’t exactly harbingers of doom. But why? Why not kill the Sparks immediately? They were certainly powerful, but didn’t the risks outweigh the rewards?

Unless…unless you could easily track and control every Spark. And you could ensure that the Sparks released energy every so often, to restore balance, and make sure that they didn’t suck up too much energy. And…what if the release was controlled and utilized? Utilize the energy so that you could essentially lock it, preventing Sparks from consuming it?

“How…how efficient, exactly, is magic?”

“What do ya mean, boy?”

Aastor seemed a little confused by my question, but Fay grasped it immediately and gave me a curious look.

“Perfectly efficient. If Riri consumes one unit of raw energy, he can produce one equivalent unit of magic with no waste.”

That was the answer I was hoping for. Completely efficient battery systems that could store unlimited amounts of energy. Sparks were dangerous, but when tamed and controlled? Excelsia quite literally had access to the most incredibly exploitable tool I’d ever seen in all of my travels.

“In that case, the Spark Research Centers clearly do more than research.” I couldn’t stop myself from talking. A lot of pieces had fallen into place at once, and my mind thinking thoughts faster than I could possibly state them. “Quite aside from the fact that they torture their researchers, they also maintain lists of Spark holders. I would suspect this is to ensure that no Spark can be too powerful, or store too much energy. Is that right, Sir?”

“Aye, yer almost there, boy. What do ya think they do if yer Spark is too strong?””

“They would not kill the Spark. It would be a waste.” This was it, the linchpin, the revelation I’d only just had. “In fact, it would be more useful to force the Spark user to expend the energy on something worthwhile.”

“Such as?” Fay prompted me, not that I needed it. Aastor and Fay were leaning in closer as I spoke, eager to see me draw the conclusion that they had clearly already known about.

“Summoning. Force the overfed, powerful Sparks to Summon new slaves from different worlds. The slaves boost the economy, the Spark users get punished for not utilizing their Sparks correctly, and the energy is released in a safe, controlled manner. I am unsure how much energy Summoning requires-“

“Very little, comparatively speaking. Especially for the benefits it provides.” Once again, Fay demonstrated that she couldn’t possibly keep quiet when an academic question was being posed. “It costs more energy if you want a very, very specific Summon, but for the most part? Not much. And the energy that the Summoned provides is equal or greater than the amount that the Summon takes, without even mentioning that the energy spent on the Summon is locked up so to speak, and inaccessible to the Sparks.”

“Aye, and that’s why they keep doin’ it. It’s triply useful: Punishes bad Spark owners, gives tha economy an expendable slave, pushes back an energy apocalypse.”

“Pardon my language, Sir, but that is odious.”

“Aye, ‘tis indeed terrible. But tha Queen ain’t gonna wreck the foundation of Excelsia’s society and wealth for somethin’ like morals or a conscience.”

A terrible silence befell the three of us as the implications became clear to me. Fay and Aastor had already known all of this, but had trusted me to arrive at the conclusions on my own, which I appreciated. Not only had they not tried to railroad me towards any propaganda, they had simply answered questions while I came up with the requisite answers. Excelsian Society relied on ticking time bombs in order to function, and the most efficient and easiest way to delay the timer was to use the energy that the Sparks stored to steal more energy from other worlds. And the most efficient way to do that was to Summon slaves, who could be put to work and would actually become part of the energy system in Excelsia. It was a parasitic system, one that would, over a very, very long time, cause a multiversal collapse. If Excelsia continued as it was, it would slowly suck every other world dry of energy.

Before my anger could overtake me, however, I was thankfully interrupted.

“My endeavors have succeeded at last!” A broom clattered to the floor, as Baldric triumphantly uttered the words and looked around, proudly. “My enemies lie vanquished! May all hear the words of Baldric the Buccaneer and tremble!”

Baldric walked over, bowed low to Aastor, then Fay, then me and then…immediately collapsed onto the ground.

—————————————————————————————————————

System Notification:

Baldric The Buccaneer has collapsed after completing their assigned task.

It will take 1 Hour(s) for them to regain consciousness.

—————————————————————————————————————

Fay had rushed over to Baldric, and was busy muttering over his limp body. Riri was slowly wrapping around his arms, most likely using energy to either heal or diagnose him. Even though I would normally have stepped over to stop her, I still hadn’t told anyone about the System, and it would probably raise too many questions to just let Fay know that Baldric would be fine. Instead, I just let her carry on.

“Boy?”

“Yes, Sir?”

“Did ya do that?”

“Do what, Sir?” I genuinely didn’t know why Aastor suspected that I’d actually done anything to Baldric, when really, he’d stumbled by, grabbed the broom and made a nuisance of himself! Well, not quite a nuisance. Looking about, the floor really was sparkling. Annoying he may have been, but Baldric the Buccaneer was really damn good at sweeping.

“Sigh. Nevermind. Just be careful when ya use tha’ Spark of yers.” Aastor had a weary note in his voice. “I can keep the S.R.C. of yer back for a while, but ya know I ain’t gonna stick my neck out for ya if it means ruinin’ my plans.”

I didn’t need to be told twice, especially after what I’d just learned. Further, I’d never expected Aastor to put me above his plans. In fact, the best I could do was prove I could accelerate his plans enough that I was a useful resource and one that he should invest time and energy in keeping around.

“Yes Sir, as you say.” I looked over at Fay, who was standing up. “Is he going to live, Lady Fay?”

“Yes, he’ll be fine. The fool was walking about and rushed into physical activity less than a day after being attacked by a Calamity.” She shook her head in disbelief. “I’m surprised he was able to get out of bed at all, much less clean the entire floor.”

Come to think of it, I was surprised too. Baldric had been affected far worse than I was, and he didn’t have a System or a slew of ridiculous abilities to help him get back on his feet, just sheer willpower. It would be quite the impressive feat, if Baldric wasn’t…well, Baldric.

“Aye, well, let ‘im sleep. I’ll be in my study.” Aastor turned around on his heel, but before he left the Hall, he called out. “Get done with yer chores before dinner, boy, and then meet me in the grounds.”

At this Fay, gave an involuntary giggle, before resuming her poker face. It wasn’t a friendly giggle, but I didn’t really have an option. After all, disobeying Aastor carried a huge negative burden that I didn’t want to provoke.

“I shall do as you command, Sir.” I bowed low, even though Aastor couldn’t see me.

As soon as he was out of sight, I dropped Self-Composed. Looking at the timer, I’d already hit 51 minutes, which meant that I didn’t have too much longer I could use it for before I was going to get hit with the side effects.

“The grounds?”

“The field outside the Manor. You can’t miss it, but I can lead you if you want.”

“Yes, but why am I going to go there?”

Fay just shrugged. “You’ll find out. No point in ruining the surprise.”

I was beginning to feel like surprises in this world weren’t exactly my cup of tea, but I also didn’t have much choice. I opened my quest list, and began to look through it. There were still a few chores left that I needed to do before dinnertime.

—————————————————————————————————————

Quest Objectives: Daily Chores (Employer Assigned)

Ensure that the Main Hall has been swept Ensure that the Kitchen has been cleaned Ensure that Dinner is prepared Visit and Survey the Cellars Assign Duties to Understaff (2/3) Greet all Visitors and Guests (Ongoing)

—————————————————————————————————————

Certainly, I had my work cut out for me. And the fact that one of the quests was marked Ongoing meant that I wouldn’t be receiving any quest rewards until the ongoing tag was removed, likely at the end of the day. I sighed, and looked at Fay.

“Shall we head to the kitchens then?”

***

The kitchens were only a short way away, and soon Fay had opened a set of double doors that led into an extremely large, extremely well-furnished kitchen. Pots and pans gleamed on the walls, the counters were well kept, the sacks of grain, including the one that Kel had dived into, were neatly arranged, the floors were swept, and Chanak was dozing on the floor.

Wait. What?

—————————————————————————————————————

Quest Objectives: Daily Chores (Employer Assigned)

Ensure that the Main Hall has been swept Ensure that the Kitchen has been cleaned Ensure that Dinner is prepared Visit and Survey the Cellars Assign Duties to Understaff (2/3) Greet all Visitors and Guests (Ongoing)

—————————————————————————————————————

“Blanc?”

“Yes, Lady Fay?”

“What did you do, exactly?”

“I…I don’t actually know, Fay. I…don’t know.”