Dean Artjom sat down behind his office desk and gestured to Hugo and Mia to sit across from him. Hugo did with a little reluctance. It was a little difficult, sitting in a chair that he knew could trap him with a press of a rune.

“I am sure both of you know that humans are not native to this world. Many decades ago, whole towns were taken from our native Earth to serve as slaves to the nox. They wanted laborers and farmers. What do you know about the revolution where we gained our freedom?”

Mia shrugged, “Not much. It happened sixty years ago. We were good little slaves for so long that the nox grew lax. We snuck into tamakos and some humans gained magic domains. Once we had magic, the balance of power shifted. They were better at magic, but there were more of us. Eventually they decided fighting us was too costly and granted our freedom.”

“That is partially true. Human history teachers like to hide the whole story because it makes us look bad,” Dean Artjom said, “The truth is that hedge mages started the revolution. They are the true heroes of humanity, and without them we would still be slaves.

“The nox never did grow lax with the machines that grant magic domains. We humans discovered a way to control the magic of the world without the assistance of the Acamarian system. Instead of using skills and ranks, hedge mages carefully shape the magic of the world directly. It takes concentration and a fine control of mana learned over years. It’s a very slow path to power called cultivation.

“Those hedge mages, who call themselves wizards by the way, slowly built up their power and led the revolution. It was only after the fighting had started that we gained access to the tamako and quickly bolstered our magical ranks. The Acomarian system provides a quick path to power. By the end of the fighting, these new human mages were more powerful than the wizards that led the way.

“Shortly after we had gained our freedom, mages betrayed our saviors and took over control of our governments. They outlawed hedge mages and pushed them into obscurity. Then when they were no longer loved by the people, we killed them. Hedge mages are right to hate us.

“Today, their goals are still the same. They seek to free humanity from those in power. They believe that overthrowing mages and nobles will free humanity. That is why they are so dangerous, they are fanatics that believe anything is worth it to finally free their people.

“Of course their philosophy conveniently ignores the fact that we humans are already free. We keep our freedom from the nox because we have true power in the form of mages with the system. The farming we do on the wheel feeds the lands around us, and they know that they are better off just buying our food instead of trying to reclaim these lands. If the hedge mages took over, that equation would change. We would be weak again and ripe for conquest.”

“If the hedge mages want to save humans, how come they are trying to blow up the city?” Hugo said.

“That is actually a good question. Their goal has always been to save humanity, not kill it. They typically do not kill groups of people, let alone a city at a time,” Dean Artjom said, “Plus, working with a shadow mage and hiring a mercenary is also unusual for them. As far as I knew, they didn’t have the funds to do anything of the sort. There has to be something new going on.”

“Something new? Like a rich sponsor?” Mia said.

“Perhaps. It is tough to tell with the limited information we have. I suspect it has something to do with Deva. There has been simmering animosity between the River Coalition and Deva for years, perhaps that conflict is boiling over. We will have to discuss it with sentinel command when we meet with them tomorrow. They will know better than you or I.”

“Tomorrow? That was fast,” Mia said, “My uncle said it would take a month at least before we could meet with the secretary.”

The dean smiled faintly, “The advantages of having contacts. I have also discussed this with other old classmates of mine. If the sentinels don’t take us seriously, we have other avenues to explore.”

Hugo left the meeting deep in thought. This situation was a lot more complicated than he first thought. He was still getting over the fact that some hedge mages wanted to kill him, and now he learned that they might be working with Deva. The eight cities of the wheel were supposed to be working together, but there was a lot more intrigue and infighting that Hugo had expected.

Outside of the administration building, he saw something that cheered him up a bit.

“Daniela! Hi, how ya doing?” Hugo said.

“Hello Hugo,” Daniela said with a wide smile, “I am doing good. How was your secret meeting with the Dean? Can you tell me any juicy gossip now?”

“Sadly, no. I want to tell you everything, but he said...” he started.

She waved away his concerns, “It’s fine. It’s what we all expected anyway. Not that I really need to make my life more complicated right now. I am supposed to be cooking tarrok right now, and I have no idea how to do that. Any chance you are a secret chef?” She was holding a basket and pushed it towards him hopefully.

“I do know how to cook, but I am no chef. I have never eaten tarrok. sorry. I don’t even know what it is, exactly. I just know it is expensive.” Hugo said with a shrug.

“Oh you should have them sometime, so creamy and tart. It’s little lizard eggs. It’s expensive because you have to get them fresh and you can’t get them around here,” Daniela said.

“How did you get saddled with cooking them if you have never done it?” asked Hugo.

“It’s this whole thing. Apparently all nobles know how to do it since they have it so often, and I won this little game in history class. Does your history class do those weird little games with no rules?”

Hugo nodded. They had different history classes but both of them had secret political games.

“Anyway, I won and Elise ordered in some fresh tarrok for me to serve in the girls dorm tonight. But she didn’t cook it. I think she hates me for some reason. Anyway, I am off to the kitchens, hopefully I can find someone to help me out and save the party.”

Hugo wished her luck and gave her a little hug for encouragement. He shook his head as she walked away. It used to be that kind of drama was everything to him. He would have been in the same boat as her, struggling to meet the expectations of a noble culture neither of them grew up in. Now he was trying to save the city.

He slowly walked back to his dorm room and got out a sheet of paper and a quill. After his poor showing in the fight against the mercenary, Hugo wanted to arm himself better. He needed physical weapons for when his mana ran out.

His crossbow was great against some monsters, but it had broken right away. Besides, he couldn’t carry around a crossbow in the middle of the city. He needed to fabricate something new that would help him survive if the hedge mages came after him again. He wanted anyone attacking him to underestimate him. He needed something hidden.

First on the list was a good knife. Using an alloy of mythril and titanium, he made himself an arming dagger, and a sheath that hid it on the back of his belt. This time he was able to create a comfortable handle and sharp edge without spending too much of his mana. He should have done it before the culling trip, but he had been too reliant on his crossbow.

Next, he started doodling on paper. He needed something that would help him in a fight with a human, but he didn’t know what. His first idea was bracers. He could create metal bands around his forearms, and hide them underneath his sleeves. That way he would be protected without it being obvious. He wanted to make a breastplate too, but that was a bit too much for his mana pool at the moment. He could probably piece one together, but he knew it would be uncomfortable.

He needed a good weapon that could surprise his attackers, either to kill them or give him the chance to run away. He briefly considered making an urumi. The flexible sword could be worn as a belt, and he could always have it with him. But then he remembered Sage Rasmus saying how impractical they were. They required a lot of training to get right. He probably couldn’t make anything flexible enough with his elements anyway.

The alloy he could make was just the right flexibility for his crossbow, not any more flexible. That gave him an idea, he could make a handbow and attach it to his bracer. It would probably work, but it wouldn’t be hidden. If he was going to walk around with a weapon, it might as well be his full size crossbow with exploding bolts.

If he wanted to stick with his strategy of hidden weapons, he would have to use different technology. The most complicated machine he knew of was the one Oskar had told him about, sewing machines that his family made. Hugo didn’t understand all of it, but he knew how to make gears and springs.

His next idea was to make a dart shooter attached to his bracer using springs to power it. Excitedly, he started sketching out the design. He quickly did the needed math and started fabricating it right away. The first two iterations didn’t work. He needed to thin out the material to create a spring that was strong enough but would also bend. Then he built a better arming mechanism, since it needed a huge amount of force to pull the spring back. Eventually, Hugo made a dart shooting bracer that could shoot a six inch dart across the room and imbed itself deep into the walls.

Looking at what he had just done, Hugo was glad Oskar wasn’t here. His former roommate was right, Hugo was irresponsible with his testing.

Still, it had worked. Now he would have a backup weapon if he ever ran out of mana. His barrier domain could still create better on demand weapons, but now he felt like he wouldn’t be dead in a prolonged fight.

The next day, Hugo armed himself with his newly created weapons and joined Mia and the dean to meet the sentinel command. They walked across the noble part of town towards the western wall. Their destination was the tallest lookout tower in town. The ornately designed building was the local command seat.

As they walked, Hugo tugged at his school uniform. It was the nicest thing he owned but he felt underdressed. Although nobles were technically in charge of the town, it was well known that the sentinels had serious political clout. Mia looked stunning in her embroidered dress, and the dean was wearing ceremonial robes. Hugo could see hundreds of runes covering the fabric. He almost wished that he had chosen the runic domain. That would have been a fantastic way to create hidden weapons and armor.

A few sentinels stopped them at the entrance to the tower and confirmed their invites before letting them in. They were escorted to a small platform, where a cage of metal was lowered over them. Then the platform started moving, it was raising itself up through the building. There was a runic track attached to three walls, and mana pulled the platform up at a steady rate. Hugo was fascinated, but the dean grumbled about how wasteful the platform was. But if anyone could afford to spend mana crystals, it was the sentinels. They probably killed more than enough monsters in an hour to keep this thing running.

In short order, they arrived at the sixth floor, and the guard there showed them to the hall of sentinels.