He lays on the ground as rain masks his tears, Yaku cries in agony as Bone held down the witch in that hut until they both burned, His body paralyzed by poison but thankfully it was no more than that, A temporary paralysis poison because the witch needed them alive to devour them, Yaku cries until he passes out and when he wakes up in the morning, The poison had worn off, The rain stopped and the Hut burned to the ground
He walks to the hut finding nothing but ash, He leaves the place after making a grave for bone, just a rock on top of dirt, That's all he could do, There are no traces of the horse, The witch might've ate it somehow, Yaku looks for food in the back of the carriage but he only finds sacks of flower
Sad, disappointed and broken further more, Yaku continues his quest to reach Bagio city, He intends to visit the magic archive to understand magic more, he never had real training before and if he intends to finish his secret hidden goal then he needs to master mana control, He reaches Bagio city in 6 hours on foot, he laments, If only had not gone into that side road, Bone would be alive
The round city Bagio is a beautiful city with a wall all around as high as the eyes could see, the outer layer is reserved for poor people and slaves and the inner circle within another high round wall is where the nobles reside and the lord in charge of this city, Lord Doth The executioner, known for killing anyone who opposes him even nobles
There are guards letting people in, case by case, Yaku reaches the Bagio gate and then he is stopped, one of the guards asks him for the reason he intends to enter the city, Yaku doesn't lie he answers "to learn magic in the archives" The guard asks him for his mage classification emblem but yaku doesn't have any, "I can't let you in without proof of your magic abilities" the guard tells him, Yaku gets frustrated, "I'll show you my magic if you want" yaku says in an aggressive tone
"What's going on here" a man with a robe asks, the guard explains the situation to him, "ok show me what you can do" the mysterious man asks of yaku, Yaku channles 30% of his mana into his sword and it gets coated by mana, "hmmm interesting but this amount of mana is extremely low class, if that's all you have then i can't let you in" the man tells yaku, Fine I'll double the output and so Yaku channles 60% of his mana into his sword, the reinforcement is much better now and it's noticeable, "hmmmm you doubled it, you were holding back, this amount is still low class but some students at the magic academy are at this level, follow me" the man says
They both enter the city and walk through the outer layer, Yaku is shocked "w..what is this? So many ill people on the streets, homless and malnourished people, houses barely holding up" he asks, "this is the outer layer, where poor people and everyone with tiny or no mana capabilities reside, they're the same level as southerners, no mana talent at all" the robed man says, Yaku clenches his fists and holds himself back from just punching that man for such disrespect to human life
Once they reach the inner circle, Yaku sees people bidding for slaves publicity, nobles drinks alcohol in the middle of the morning, resting their feet on their slaves, "This...This is not what i expected" Yaku thinks to himself, They reach the entrance of the archives, "you will be tested here 2 days from now at the beginning of noon, you must be here by then, you can rest at an inn or anywhere you please, goodbye" the robed man says as he is let into the archives, yaku stands in shock as he has no money to stay at an inn
He walks the streets wondering how it is possible that only a wall seperates the wealthy and the misfortunate, while noblemen drink wine and laugh, kids are dying of hunger, He wonders if there is a way to defy this and one day achieve equity, and as he walks the streets the smell of freshly baked goods hits his nose, his mouth starts to water and the smell guids him to a bakery
Yaku sees a girl with long black hair, she has a side bang on her forehead, her nose beautifully small, her lips are small but beautiful, her pale skin gleaming like the moon, brown eyes that stare into his soul, she wore a short top showing some of her perfect figure, her stomach as flat as his swords surface
He stood in shock, staring at the most beautiful lady he's ever seen, "ummm may i help you?" She asked with her unconventional voice, her soft beautiful voice is better than hearing music play, her shy demeanor sent chills into his body, "i... I'm sorry i followed the smell of bread but i don't have any money to pay" he answered, with a compassionate look she offered him a peice of bread, "you look beat up, please eat" she told him, Yaku took the bread from her beautiful womenly hands and took a bite, "it's the best bread I've ever had" he replied, She smiles at him with such compassion that his heart stops beating for a moment, she closes her eyes and smiles "I'm glad, i made it, my name is Emilia, what is yours" she asked, barely able to get out the words "my name is Yaku" he answers while frozen in place just staring