Moving Up in the World

*HUMMMMMM* [The answer is simple, give the simple answer, answer the question, answeransweransweranswer]

“I dididdddon’t knnnoww”

The interrogator lifted an eyebrow, “It’s no good to resist it, boy.”

“I-I d-don’t know, I dunno, I don’t know. I woke up in a forest, I don’t know why.” Oliver was sweating profusely, shivering in his bindings.

The interrogator glanced at something behind Oliver.

He paused for a few seconds, it felt like an eternity to Oliver.

“...Not a lie… Very well, you can go sit in a cell and await trial! Do have fun.”

The bag lowered.

—

A Lower Official, a professor, and a child sat in an inn.

The lunch rush had finished some time ago, so they had the place to themselves– still, the innkeeper was happy to oblige them with her leftovers.

“This is quite good, what do you think’s in it?” Stephen managed while chewing his food, going in for another spoonful of the ‘soup special’.

“Wild Megarat, they probably caught it today.” Emilia was having some as well, eating at a more casual pace.

Levi stopped eating. “What…”

Stephen looked at his soup sceptically “... Anyway, back on topic, what is the usual punishment for something like what Oliver did?”

Emilia hmmed thoughtfully, considering. “You know, I’m not really that familiar with the standard punishment for dealing with people as powerful as my father.”

She frowned, "The usual remediation for assaulting a guard is something like five lashes?”

Levi didn’t know what that was, so he just raised his eyebrow, but Stephen grimaced, “I knew this city was harsh, but the continuous confirmation pains me.”

“... I was under the assumption we’re in one of the more lenient areas of the Empire.” Emilia stated innocently, but looked away when Stephen met her eyes.

After a moment of silence, she dropped it. “Well, in either case, Oliver’s not going to be out until after the ministry evaluation. My father will make sure of that.”

She looked down at the table, “… We might have a good enough track record up until today to make up for any shortcomings in the next five.” She sunk a bit in her seat. “Still…”

Stephen hesitated, "Is this… mathematical work?”

Emilia looked up at him, and blinked. "Yes, I am a Finance Official.”

“... I may be able to help.”

—

Oliver sat on the floor of his stone cell, because there wasn’t anything else to sit on, or much of anything at all.

There was a… hole… in the corner, for the reason you might expect, but Oliver hadn’t used it.

The bars were inscribed with magical runes, which– according to Oliver’s financial knowledge– were probably expensive enough that they could have given him ten toilets.

It’s not like he was going to bend steel.

That monster of a person he’d seen in Explorer’s Rest might have been able to, but still, surely his imprisoners could tell he couldn’t.

It was scary, waiting for the unknown. Was his punishment just going to be time spent in this cell? If so, how long?

Oliver somehow doubted that was the case, although this city seemed quite modern in its functions, they still cut off people’s heads…

Oliver started shaking again, with anger.

He said it quietly.

“Where is Levi.”

Somebody has Levi. Is he dead?

It was Oliver’s mess. Levi had disappeared because of Oliver’s mistake.

“Where is Levi.”

I shouldn’t have left him alone. Why did I do that?

Levi had nobody else. Maybe Emilia was able to pry him away from her father.

Oliver suddenly had his hands on the bars.

“Where is Levi.”

Oliver couldn’t hear anything, his blood was roaring too loudly in his ears.

From his core, the energy, the mana, made its way into his arms.

Not extraordinarily fast, at a steady rate, feeding into his muscles.

“Where is Levi.”

The metal bars… did not budge.

The light coming off their inscribed circuits flashed.

The mana was sucked out of him forcefully. It was like being winded.

What.

That was the last thing Oliver managed to think before he fell unconscious, empty.

—

Levi thought he was perfectly capable of going back to Oliver’s apartment by himself, but both Stephen and Emilia were against the idea.

The problem came in where he should have gone instead.

Emilia began, “You’ve known this professor for all of a few hours at most.” She nodded to Stephen, “With respect, we’re both strangers to Levi in some sense, but I know him better than you do.”

Emilia wasn’t entirely wrong, even if she didn’t have the whole picture, Levi wasn’t as familiar with the Professor as with the Lower Official. Still…

Stephen struggled to come up with a counterargument that didn't include his and Levi’s ‘shared background’. “There are– look, Levi’s passed his entrance test to the Scholarium, I’m a student there, it would be more convenient.”

Emilia raised her eyebrows. “You understand that’s not really much to go on.”

Stephen sighed.

Emilia gestured, “Levi, we’re going back to my house.”

And it seemed that was the end of that.

Stephen looked forlorn, but Levi gave him a nod, he assumed it would be fine. Emilia was Oliver’s friend.

Emilia held out a hand for the professor to shake. “Stephen, I’ll pay for any help you can give me.”

He shook it, but also shook his head, “No, no, I’ll do it anyway, just take care of the boy and help your assistant out of his predicament if possible...”

He averted his eyes, “Can’t have Levi all alone.”

—

Levi and Emilia walked toward the wealthier part of town, in the northeastern segment, where the streets were cleaner and the clothes were more refined.

Levi was out of place

Over the ten or so days that Levi had been staying with Oliver, they had gone and bought some simple changes of clothes, but on the whole they weren’t very flashy.

Mostly second hand works in simple colours, nothing too scruffy–the two had modern sensibilities–but not the type of clothes you would wear in this part of town.

Emilia, noticing the looks Levi was getting, hmmed. “Had Oliver bought you robes or anything?”

Levi shook his head, “We were waiting until after the test.”

“Let’s go buy some then, you’ll need to start and stay the whole day tomorrow, since I have work to do.”

Levi looked back at Emilia, eyes wide, “You’ll take me there?”

Emilia nodded.

They approached a clothing store significantly more fancy than what Levi had seen before, with a full glass storefront displaying a variety of upper class casual wear.

*ding-a-ling*

A short man with combed hair approached his customers, “Afternoon, Official. What brings you here today?”

“I’d like to purchase some robes for this boy here.”

The man looked intrigued as to what a common looking boy would be doing shopping in this part of town, but he was in the business of clothes, not information.

They picked out a fair few articles of clothing for Levi, not just robes, and it was enough such that Emilia also purchased a large trunk to contain it all.

“Um, Miss Emilia, thanks for buying me all this stuff, but isn’t that going to be a bit heavy?”

The shop attendant chuckled, “Dear boy, delivery is no problem at all. Official, where would you like this taken?”

“The Steel household on Portende Street.”

The attendant looked approvingly at Emilia, who rolled her eyes.

“Let’s go Levi.”

“Huh? But we didn’t pay?”

“Things don’t work like that around here.”

They passed increasingly wealthy houses until they were most of the way to the northwestern segment of the city.

Not so far away, an interior wall enclosed the biggest house Levi had ever seen, with tons of windows and exquisite detailing– a manor, if Levi knew the term.

Not the tallest, but it was quite long and wide, with a nice looking garden.

As Levi was getting his hopes up, they turned down one of the streets closest to the large building, which was lined with houses modest by comparison, but substantial in their own right.

“Miss Emilia, what was that building that had its own wall?”

“Oh that, that was the Lord’s Manor. We live close to it because my father works there.”

Levi hmmed. He didn’t quite get the implication.

They walked up the steps onto the patio, Emilia pulled out a key and slid it into the lock, twisting it to open.

“Emilia dear, you are quite late again. It will further the rumours.”

Emilia sighed, “There aren’t any–“ She sighed, “Mother, I have a guest who needs a place to stay.”

“A guest? Have you picked someone off the street?”

In the entryway, a woman appeared, she didn’t look too different from Emilia.

That was, if you ignored her lighter hair colour. And smile lines.

“A boy?” She looked dissaprovingly at Levi.

Emilia put her hand on Levi’s head, “Yes, a boy who is currently homeless due to father’s meddling.”

“You know what your father does is for the good of the family.”

Emilia sighed again, “I’ve offered for him to stay in the guest room.”

“... It’s fine, I suppose. How long?”

“Six days at my estimation.”

Emilia’s mother looked irked, “I’ll speak to Marland later.”

“Please.”

“Come in then, eat.”

They crossed the threshold of the house, escaping the darkening outdoors.

The inside of the house was lit with the same lights as in the scholarium, and the wooden floors were polished enough to see your reflection in them.

Levi was led through to a decent sized dining table, which had it’s own room.

A man was already sitting there, a male approximation of Emilia. Taller, broader, and with shorter hair.

“Who is this then?” the young man said.

Emilia introduced the man, “Levi, this is my older brother, Benjamin. Brother, Levi was in the care of my employee, but my employee is currently indisposed.”

Benjamin looked puzzled for a second, then seemed to put it together, “Emilia, you do realise things like this happen due to your own stubbornness.”

“We’re not having this discussion.”

They ate dinner in awkward silence, Emilia’s father didn’t appear for it, and Levi ended up in a bed more comfortable than the one he had on Earth.

He wasn’t very nervous, or all that afraid.

He was mostly just lost.

First in the broader sense that he didn’t have his dad–he cried alone every night–but he was lost in the sense that he didn’t have much direction.

He wanted Oliver back, but Oliver hadn’t made much progress himself.

Emilia’s family seems pretty important.

Levi would have a look around.