Chapter 9: The Slade Family

Vettori’s eyes burned with unconcealed fury. He knew there was nothing he could do at this point. Any further action would go against the same Aethelos Noble Council laws he had tried to use as a justification earlier.

Only Initiate rank Ossuarists required permits before they could operate in any city within the country. This would have been a non-issue to Vettori, because the last time he saw Micah, the man was still a Grade 1 Initiate Ossuarist.

But now, based on his words, he had been promoted to the Caretaker rank. Grade 3, to be precise. There were two more steps before he’d reach Grade 1 — A gap that seemed small, but one he might never cross in his lifetime. Grade 1 Caretaker Ossuarists were so rare, Vettori had never seen one in his twenty-nine years of living in Aethelos.

But that didn’t matter. Grade 3 or not, the fact remained that Micah was beyond his control now. Caretakers were Ossuarists whose skills were recognized by the Ossuary itself, to the point where they were assigned a region to care for. Their sole duty being to scout for the very select few who had the talent for soul magic, and to take care of things like what had just happened to Finn.

And that duty came with special privileges. One of them being immunity to travel across a country unimpeded.

Micah couldn’t help the smug grin on his face as he watched Vettori boil red in anger. The Arcanist visibly struggled to rein his anger in, releasing measured breaths in short beats.

Thankfully, Micah, despite himself, knew when not to push things too far.

“Well then. If there’s nothing more, I’ll be on my way.” He motioned to Isis, and they both walked past the team of Arcanists who looked ready to maul them with their gazes alone.

Micah stifled a laughter as they stepped out of the building.

“Oh. Don’t forget him.” He pointed at Rick, who was still out cold where he had placed him earlier.

“Huh? What do you want me to do with him? Carry him myself?” Isis frowned with her lips down-turned. “That’s a full-grown, young adult male! He looks like he weighs at least 180 pounds!” (82kg.)

“So?” Micah looked innocently confused, “What does that matter? You have the strength of a Silverback Orangutan anyway. This is light work for you….” Micah drawled out the last words, realizing his error only after they had been said.

The Arcanists behind, despite their previous anger, couldn’t help but cast second glances at Isis after Micah’s remark, taking her in a new light.

Her face turned beet red under the obvious scrutiny, and she turned her head mechanically to Micah, ready to throw hands, but Vettori, walking straight between both of them, prevented any brawl from happening.

He paused right in front of Micah, but didn’t have his gaze on him, rather, his eyes were focused on Finn.

“Isn’t this the Slade boy?” he frowned. Finn’s previous state in the building, with the black eyes, veins and pale skin, distorted his image to the point where he was unrecognizable. But now that the black lines had receded and he was out in the light of the sun, Vettori couldn’t be mistaken. This was the Slade Family Scion.

“Hehe…” A smile slowly spread on his face. “Fate is smiling down on me today. It turned out to be the Slade family kid! You’re gonna try to recruit the heir of that family?!! I would very much like to watch this!!” he gloated at Micah with eagerness in his eyes, as though this was retribution for his earlier loss of face.

Micah seemed unperturbed. “It’s just a Slade family. What? You thought I didn’t know?” He chuckled, turning abruptly to hoist Rick onto his other shoulder from where he placed him. “You’re free to come watch. I have no problem with that at all.”

“Tch! Cocky bastard. I’d like to see how you’ll spin this one your way.” Vettori stepped in stride with Micah as they all walked out of the range of the wards the Ossuarist had placed earlier to prevent normal folk from entering.

Just as they neared the edges of the ward range, Vettori’s face took on a more stoic and authoritative look. He waved a hand, and the Arcanist team with him moved ahead immediately, stepping out first to pacify the crowd with believable lies. The ease with which they dispatched the unease of the agitated crowd showed that this wasn’t the first time they had handled situations like this.

By the time Vettori stepped out with Micah and Isis, the crowd had thinned, and even the extra-curious few pointed with gazes of pity, whispering things like:

’So those are the kids that went crazy…’

’It’s such a pity…’

’This is why you should never do drugs, kids!’

The party stoically entered into an Arcanist-owned carriage and left the scene quickly, leaving behind a few of the Arcanist team to further pacify the remaining crowd.

“Drugs?” Micah chuckled.

Vettori shrugged. “People would believe what is easiest for them to believe. Two young masters in a red light district, gone fully crazy from indulgence.”

“What about their families’ image?”

“They don’t know the identities of the two boys. Besides, that is what the other Arcanists left behind are meant for. By the time they’re done twisting tales, there’ll be so many family names, people would eventually chalk most of it up as rumors.”

“Heh. Still dutiful as ever.” Micah praised. Despite Vettori’s haughty attitude, and very foul mouth, he was actually very particular about doing his job well and keeping the peace among the normal folk. In fact, by all standards, he was exemplary. His only flaw was that he allowed his personal opinions and beliefs to color his professionalism way too much.

.

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The ride to the Slade Estate was silent. All parties seemed to be in their own thoughts. So they were caught by surprise when the carriage slowed and they realized they had reached the gates.

And right from there, the wealth of the Slade family could be obviously seen.

The gates alone stood mighty and imposing, as if it was built purposefully for intimidation. Gates were never supposed to be as large as theirs was.

Isis, watching from drawn curtains of the window by her side of the carriage, balked at the immense scale of it.

She seemed the only one to be amazed though.

This wasn’t Vettori’s first time here, so he wasn’t as moved. The surprise was Micah. He had never been here, but even while looking out the windows, he didn’t seem moved at all.

Even as they entered the sprawling estate that looked like a castle built for a king, he still did not bat an eye.

Vettori watched his expression with a sneer, chalking Micah’s lack of intrigue as him ’trying to be ever-cool.’

No one that had entered this estate had not been amazed by at least one thing. So, seeing Micah being this casual, he could only come to that conclusion.

The carriage finally stopped in front of the main building. A massive behemoth of a building — or rather, Castle. That was the better word for it.

And before they had fully stepped out, a man with an imposing air headed straight at them.

“What is this nonsense talk I hear about my son being a soul mage?!!”

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