Under the guidance of the moonlight, the two continued marching, and it didn't take long till they've reached a small city, surrounded by walls and guards. But instead of going through the heavy entrance, Brian merely hugged Luz while muttering a spell.

Before Luz could react to the sudden embrace, the two were catapulted high into the sky, where Luz screamed for his life. His master, on the other hand, merely laughed loudly as the two slowly floated back to the ground, landing in an unknown alley somewhere in the shantytown.

"How was the view up there," Brian asked in amusement as he let go of the trembling lad who immediately leaned on the nearest lantern post.

"Awful, I thought I would die," replied Luz before shifting his gaze towards his surrounding. It felt strange for Luz to hear all these noises at night.

'Shouldn't they all be sleeping? and why are the lamps on in some places?' Luz thought to himself as his surroundings confused him more and more.

But before Luz could fall deeper into confusion, Brian bought him back to reality with a simple clap.

"You seem to be kind of overwhelmed with the current situation," replied Brian while scratching the back of his head after getting Luz's attention.

Luz nodded before admitting: "It's my first time seeing a city, and well, I'm a bit overwhelmed by the situation."

The master merely nodded before sighing: "Change of plan, we will be going home now," as he turned his back towards Luz.

Luz merely followed him while asking: "Wasn't that our plan all along?"

"Ehm… Yes, of course," laughed Brian before telling Luz his original plan. "Well, at first, I wanted to torture someone in front of you to remind you that I don't shy of killing my subjects. But you already saw how I killed the one who captured you without even blinking, so there is no need for that," chuckled Brian.

Luke replied: "Well, thank god, I would probably throw up at the sight of it."

"Then we've got that settled, too. Time to leave this alley," Brian said.

As the two turned their backs and left, the loud dripping of water and the squeezing of rats could be heard, sending shivers down his back.

'So many rats are hiding in the dark,' he thought as the two strolled through the dark streets while seeing a resident or someone lurking in the shadow every few minutes.

Luz was disappointed by the clothes they wore. This cheap linen clothing bore no resemblance to the clothes the village elder had described.

'That old man lied to me. Weren't they supposed to fly and wear gold while also living like kings compared to us villagers? Why do I only see people suffering here?' thought Luz in disappointment. Unfortunately for him, Luz didn't find anything that agreed with his by now destroyed world view of how citizens were supposed to look.

Depressed, Luz asked his all-knowing master: "Boss, what do I have to do from now on, and what is my wage?"

The latter merely answered with a smile: "You are arrogant to ask for your wage already without having worked a single day under me. Well, it's a few pennies at least."

"And how much is my debt that I have to pay off?" sighed Luz.

Brian pointed a number with his fingers, and Luz guessed: "ten bronze coins?" To which Brian shook his head before replying: "Ten gold coins, mages aren't cheap."

The average citizen earns between 5 to 25 bronze coins a day. (This is an annual salary ranging from 1825 to 9125 bronze coins (=1,825 to 9,125 silver coins). One gold coin equals one thousand silver coins, and one silver coin is worth one thousand gold bronze.

1 gold coin=10^3 silver coins=10^9 bronze coins

"If I have to work until I die, then I'm still a slave, boss," Luz chuckled painfully.

"Well, let's see. If I'm ever in a good mood about your work, I'll let you leave sooner," Brian stated.

"I hope so," Luz responded.

Luz followed Brian, and it was not until deep in the night that the two reached their destination. It was a huge mansion that could be roughly seen in the moonlight. The sight only confused the tired Luz, having never seen a building as gigantic as the one in front of him before. Brian just waved, and a butler opened the gate for them.

An old man with grey hair and a glass on his left eye awaited the two.

He wore a clean black smocking, and Brian immediately told him: "Alfred, take Luz to the other children, please."

Alfred replied: "By your command," before quickly bowing.

He then turned his attention to Luz and briefly looked at the reeking Luz from his head to his toes. "Follow me, young man," were the only words that left his mouth.

Luz followed Alfred to a backdoor, leading them downwards into the basement. Everything looked clean, and each of his steps echoed loudly through the hallways, and Luz almost felt uncomfortable.

After walking a few minutes, Luz gave up remembering the way and silently continued.

'Such a large building belongs to Master Brian, but I don't see a single human soul around.'

"You should be grateful that Brian was the one who bought you," Alfred sighed as he opened a squeaking door.

The door was made of white wood and had a golden handle. Luz gazed into the room, and he saw a few bunk beds with people sitting on them.

"Why is that?" Luz asked, stopping at the door.

"Because Brian has a good heart, who often buy unfortunate or rather mages who got unjustly enslaved in hopes of giving them a life worth living," Alfred stated with a sigh.

Luz nodded, and before the talk could continue, Alfred opened the door wide and the kids inside immediately scrambled under their blankets.

"I may be old, but I'm not a blind man," sighed the butler, before continuing with: "Anyway, you got a new friend. I hope that one of you could lend him some new clothes and bring him to the showers."

After seeing how nobody reacted to his name, Alfred merely shouted: "Lewis, I give you the responsibility to deal with him," before leaving and closing the door behind him.

Luz immediately felt the uncomfortable gaze of all the children in the room, sitting in each bunk bed. Only two were empty.

10 boys of different ages sat on their beds and stared holes at Luz. The atmosphere remained tense for a few seconds before a young boy who seemed to have no masculine traits interrupted the building atmosphere with, "I'm Lewis. Please introduce yourself before I bring you to showers."

"My name is Luz, and I am 18 years old. I'm from the Northern part of the kingdom," Luz stated as he moved his gaze from child to child, looking each of them into their eyes.

Some of them had green eyes, others brown, and there were even some with golden eyes.

'In this room alone are enough eye colors to fill a color palette,' thought Luz.

"Wow, if it continues like this, Master Brian will have saved at least one child from each province of the kingdom," a boy commented.

Another child whispered loudly: "Gotta catch them all," and a few children giggled at his comment.

Before the room could grow louder, Lewis silenced it immediately before taking two towels out.

"Follow me," he replied, and the two slowly left the room.

"Normally, Alfred would kill us for leaving our rooms without wearing the proper clothes. But I don't care about it," whispered Lewis while carrying a small lamp to lighten the dark and small hallways.

Luz nodded, and after wandering for a few minutes, the two finally reached their destination.

Narrator: Don't expect an ecchi shower scene between two teenage boys, it's way to early for that. I'm too lazy to narrate such a scene, but I might include that in a later chapter, who knows.