"Bayajidda? Are you from Bayajidda tribe?" Armad rolled his eyes in surprise that Babara was also a Bayajidda like Ikenga. "Are you related to Ikenga Bayajidda?"

Babara chuckled. "Having the same tribe with a man doesn't mean you are friends with them. The world is a big place. Ikenga and I have taken different paths."

Armad sighed. He was starting to see Babara in a different light than the wicked fortune-teller that sent him to his death.

"Look at this," Babara said, showing him a small ayrid with a few inscriptions on it. He dropped it to the ground and it sank. A few seconds later a little seedling appeared. The plant grew to a cubit and then stopped, bearing a small flower which, after being plucked, turned into a newspaper.

Babara looked at Armad inquisitively. "Which newspaper did you have a contract with?"

"Contract...?" Armad didn't understand what he meant by that.

"So that's why you don't know what's going on in the world?" Babara asked rhetorically. "No, we must correct this right away. Luckily for you, I used to work for Daily Pollar back in the day. Swallow this ayrid and sign a contract with them. Every week you can find out what's happening in the world around you for only one ayrid."

Armad took the wet Ayrid from Babara and swallowed it. Babara then gave him one ayrid coin, which he buried, just as Babara did. He soon found himself reading his newspaper. He was very impressed by the simplicity of the system and was wondering just how many things his family hid from him to prevent him from interacting with the outside world.

As they read the newspaper, Babara brought them food and water from his bag to fill their bellies before returning to work. Armad didn't like dry fish, and unfortunately for him, that was all Babara had and the man liked it.

Babara looked at him with a frown. "A student has no choice. You can't yet decide what you get."

Armad groaned. He kept turning the fish in his hands and only taking small bits of it while reading from the newspaper. He opened a page which caused him to jumped on his feet, his mouth wide open.

Babara looked at him and then at the page he was reading. "Oh, Nostalgia? The jinzidal called her to court to explain the crimes she committed in the slave auction last week. The judge himself said it wasn't her fault and he would dismiss the case if she just said it was the slaves who frightened her and forced her to do what she did. She was even given a witness that would confirm whatever she said. But the young woman couldn't do that. She told the court she did everything on her own and that no one forced her.

"After that, there was no way for the judge to drop the case. He still alleged that he had sufficient evidence to indicate that a slave named Armad was the perpetrator of it all. He put a bounty on his head. I'm sure people are already out to get this... slave Armad. By the way, the world is not fair a fair place. You can forget justice if you aren't connected to the upper echelon of the society."

So Babara already knew about it.

Damn it.

With a bounty of 1.5 million ayrids on his head, everyone would be looking for him. But Armad was having trepidation because of Nostalgia. Just what exactly was she doing? He was all fine with being saved but she took an unimaginable risk for him. He couldn't just keep ignoring the things she was doing.

"Why?" He asked.

Babara shrugged. "In my experience, she either loves you, or she's mad."

"Love?" Armad shook his head dismissively. "It can't be that simple."

Babara raised an eyebrow. "You... you think love is simple?"

Armad waved him off. He didn't want to even consider the possibility because it was both foolish and childish and impossible.

Babara smiled with a sigh. "Now, what do you want to do? Would you like to go to the fourth world and help her out, or would you like to continue training?"

"Babara?" Armad frowned. "You want me to go and help her out? How am I going to do that? Will I need to surrender myself in court?"

Babara stared at him with narrowed eyes for a while before he sighed softly. "I wasn't seriously considering it but it's still nice to see you acting like this. It's good to be cautious. Look at your picture on that page. Anyone can recognize you now."

Armad looked at the page with his pictures on it. First was a picture of him when he was inside the glass box. Then another was taken when he came out of the box holding a sword in his hand. There was even one with his eyes glowing.

"And I'm sure Nostalgia won't want you to throw your life away after trying so hard to save you," Babara said. "You can't help her now. The only way you can help her is to help yourself grow stronger and then decide on what to do when you're strong enough."

Armad looked at the paper and saw a picture of Nostalgia standing in front of the court. Then from the bottom, he saw a picture of her taken exactly when she killed the djinns Kalkuta and Netti, but anything else that showed she was responsible was purposely removed from the picture. And there's the money of up to one million five hundred thousand ayrids on his name. He never thought things would get so bad so quickly.

"My mother is my top priority. But don't ever think I will leave my friends in misery to protect myself. I have to find Nusi if she's still alive and somehow get Nostalgia out of her predicament."