All Coming Together

"Here, these are good, right?"

Dumped onto Theodore's bedroom floor were five rigid corpses. One small mouse and four crows. Albatross had concealed them in the large satchel used for her deliveries.

"I didn't expect you to get them so quickly, certainly not this many," Theodore commented in pleasant surprise.

"The mouse was easy, found it lurking in the workhouse's kitchen. The crows I got from the eastern district, there was a young lady there with a vicious owl as a pet and she likes to set it against the crows that sometimes fly by. She sometimes set that bird upon the apprentices-in-name as well, so it makes me wish that I could have brought that owl too."

"What's stopping you?" said Theodore as he examined the corpses. He found that the mouse was somewhat bloated and appeared to be drowned while the crows appeared to have suffered several lacerations and punctures before they died.

"There's an unspoken hierarchy between apprentices-in-name and proper apprentices. Besides, even if I ignored that, she's apparently a lady from a noble house. If I got caught with her precious little pet, I doubt that I'll be let off with just a beating."

"Hm-hmm, sounds like she's a handful," Theodore replied halfheartedly as he worked to repair the crow corpses, stitching their torn skin and broken feathers together. Since they're dead, he can't rely on their natural healing, but at the same time, with most of the Aether within the body already dissipated upon their death, magic resistance was nonexistent and he was able to mold their bodies as he pleased.

"I don't get why she's even here in the first place! I thought the empire is distrusting of the mages. Why would one of the lords send their daughter here of all places?" Albatross began stomping the floor as she got more and more worked up while talking about this noble lady. Even Theodore, who was only half paying attention, could tell that there might be more between these two.

"To the eyes of a commoner, all mages are to be feared and reviled. Mages simply hold far too much power compared to the common folks. However, the same could be said about the lords. Be it a mage or a nobleman, it matters not in the eyes of a commoner. The only difference is that they can openly show their hatred for mages. From the perspective of a nobleman, however, their concern is less about the magical might of a mage and more about their political alignment. For them, what's most important about a mage is whether they're aligned with the Mage Tower or the Noxian Empire."

"Most likely," Theodore continued, "the noble lady you're talking about was discovered to have magical talents and was sent here to gain the knowledge of magic to bring back to her house. Be it magic or riches, power is power, and possessing power will earn you the respect of the imperial court. Now, why didn't they simply hire a court magician from the imperial court itself is another story entirely. Perhaps they weren't that major of a house and couldn't afford to hire one, perhaps they sent her here as a spy of a sort, or perhaps the house owed the Mage Tower a favor and their daughter was sent here as a hostage with learning the magical arts as an excuse to keep up appearances. Either way, so long as the Circle of Mages desire to remain in the empire's good graces, I doubt they'll mistreat her. That is to say, she'll receive the treatment fitting for her status as per the empire's standards."

"I didn't realize that the mages fear the empire so much. You'd think that they could have taken over the whole country if they felt like it with all their magical powers."

"Mages might be powerful, but the army of the empire vastly outnumbered them. For each mage, there was a thousand imperial soldier, and that's counting the apprentices. That was ten years ago though, so I'm not sure what the situation is today. Either way, though it is not certain that the mages would lose in an all-out war, they're not winning without paying a hefty price. Still, while I don't think that there will be a war coming anytime soon, if the empire continues to push the mages further than they doing now, I can't say for certain what might happen."

"Let's hope that we'll be far gone by that time."

"Agreed. Now then, today, I want to discuss the plans for our little heist."

"From your tone, I'm guessing that you have information about the Dandelion Mandragoras?"

"Indeed. I'll give you the details now."

It was just the night prior when Theodore had mentioned to Fiana that he heard about the Dandelion Mandragora from Albatross and express interest in getting some. Of course, she told him that they're not something just anyone can get and that permission was needed from the Circle. She suggested asking Kalman if he could do something about it, but he likely wouldn't even bother if it required him to step out of the workshop. Not that Theodore would want to tell him. Apathetic Kalman might seem, Theodore couldn't risk his plans being found out by anyone, much less an elder. If he started asking questions, it could bring trouble.

While obtaining the plants the easy way was a bust, Fiana did talk about them being cultivated within the tower and mentioned how the terrariums installed within the tower were being used as indoor gardens and farms. When Theodore shifted his interest towards the terrariums with seemingly child-like curiosity, Fiana ended up talking about them and her own experiences tending to them at length. As it turned out, Fiana was a caretaker of a number of the tower's terrariums.

"So Fiana will be our way in? Is that what you're saying?" asked Albatross.

"Precisely."

"You have a penchant for taking advantage of the people around you, don't you?"

While Albatross had not interacted with Fiana much, she seemed nice enough, for a mage. As such, she felt rather uncomfortable at the thought of Theodore making use of this seemingly nice lady.

"Say what you want, but it's not as if I have a lot of options to choose from."

Theodore did not show it, but Albatross's words stung. In his desperation, he had come to rely on the Demon Lord's experiences and methods. Slowly, step by step, Theodore was becoming closer and closer to the Demon Lord. Even so, it was too late to turn back. There was no stopping anymore.

With the pieces coming together, Theodore's plan began to take shape.

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End of Chapter 53

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