"Gress got sentenced to life in prison, and he's getting Marked."

  Frederick sat in silence as Fable broke the news to him, with a concerned Sarah Tabeso standing next to them, hugging an empty tray, unsure of what to say.

  After Taio Gress's interrogation, it had taken the Ministerial Council a surprising two days to come up with a verdict, perhaps because of internal conflict and the lack of an emperor. Perhaps it took Prime Minister Flamehart all her effort to keep everything under control.

  "I... I see..." Frederick finally responded after a moment, "Did the General say anything?"

  "Yeah... He said he'll be taken to Amparbi."

  That soured his mood even more. As closed off as he was before, even Frederick had heard of Amparbi Prison, a place specially built for Marked criminals. He had even heard some argue that being sent there was even worse than being executed.

  "I... I don't know how to feel about... about all of this..." said Frederick, his face in his hands.

  The other two remained silent as they listened.

  "I mean... Gress was standing up for... a fiancé he didn't even try to get to know. And... he also put so many people in danger... because of an impulse. So... he had this coming... right?

  "And yet... what my... what Edwyn did to his fiancé... shouldn't he have been the one being reprimanded for beating him up? Sure, the affair was her choice, but... if he wasn't actually interested in her... couldn't he have just said no?"

  He sighed.

  "It's just... I don't know who's really to blame in all this. Is it Gress, for being negligent? Or his fiancé, for being unfaithful? Or maybe even Edwyn for... just taking part in the affair? Or is it all of them...?"

  "That's just how some adults are, Fred," said Fable with a sigh, "Sometimes they just overcomplicate their issues until they implode. Well... I say adults, but... really, anybody could make mistakes like that."

  "It's a sad truth, but..." Sarah joined in, "Affairs are pretty common among aristocratic families. And most of the time, it never ends well. As for how they start in the first place... well, I suppose it depends on who ya ask."

  Frederick looked down at the table, still not having eaten his food.

  "There's... still one thing I don't understand about the Forsaken Mark," he said, "I know magic is important, but... surely you can still live without it, right?"

  "Well, it's not easy, that's for sure," replied Fable, "But yeah, with some of luck and a lot of skill, you can live without magic if you know what you're doing."

  "So then... why do people still treat being Marked like it's the end of the world? You can still earn a living for yourself, right?"

  A surprised Fable and Sarah looked at each other.

  "Um... Fred..." Sarah was the first to respond, with a sad face, "It's not just magic you lose when you get Marked."

  "What? What do you mean?" asked a now confused Frederick.

  "Fred..." Fable hesitantly answered, "There's a reason why most Marked women resort to prostitution."

  Upon realizing what he was implying, Frederick's face changed to one of horror.

  "No. No, you can't be serious..."

  Fable... said nothing.

  "It... it takes your fertility?"

  "Yeah... the Mark doesn't just take away your magic... it takes your future, too."

  Frederick slumped onto the bench, "And... the Council is just... okay with using it?"

  Fable shrugged.

  "The Empress... The civil war... The education program... Is... is this what it's all about?" asked Frederick.

  "Who knows?" Fable shrugged again, "From what I heard, she got too sick to work before she could effectively change the law."

  "Yeah," agreed Sarah, "Even if it was for a while, she did put a stop to the civil war, so I'd like to think that's what she wanted-"

  "Finally... found you!"

  Their conversation was interrupted by a panting Aria Metkins, who had rushed into the restaurant.

  "Whoa! Aria? What's gotten you in such a hurry?" asked a startled Fable.

  She raised her hand as she stopped to catch her breath, "I was waiting for you to come, but... my pops... insisted I... find you and... tell you myself."

  "Uh... tell us what?"

  "What do you think?" she snarled, "Don't you idiots wanna get your new weapons?"

  "Ah!"

  Fable got up from his bench, only to be stopped by Sarah.

  "Oh no, you don't!" scolded she, "No customer leaves this restaurant without finishing their food first!"

  "Oh. Uh... right..."

  Though initially surprised, Frederick couldn't help but chuckle at Fable's ability to easily deviate from their discussion.

  "Here you go. One Railcannon Blade, upgraded without leaving a scratch."

  Aria let out a sigh of exhaustion as she handed Fable his now modified weapon.

  At least, that's what she said...

  "Uh..."

  "I know. It doesn't look any different," Aria scratched her head as she answered the question he had in mind, "I couldn't really fix the overheating issue, 'cus of the whole... alloyed symperium core thing... so I figured I'd try something different."

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  "Oh? Okay, I'm listening," responded Fable, his curiosity piqued.

  "Alright," she pointed to the boy's sheathed blade, "Try channeling mana into your sword, before unsheathing it."

  Fable did as she instructed. As he gripped his blade and focused his mana into it, he felt it... something changed...

  And as he drew it out...

  "Whoa!"

  The unsheathed Railcannon Blade now crackled with power as it sparked with jolts of electricity. Frederick stepped back in shock. But strangely though, so did Aria.

  "Uh... Is that supposed to happen?" asked a startled Frederick.

  "Well, yeah? But it shouldn't be that intense! Fable! You need to expel all that mana now, or your sword will explode!"

  "Whuh-?"

  Caught off guard by the sudden warning, the panicking Fable swung his blade at the first thing he could set his eyes on: one of the testing dummies.

  The result? Not only was the dummy split into two burning halves, but the wall behind it now had a searing cut on it.

  "Again... Just HOW much mana do you keep in that belly of yours?" shouted Aria.

  Fable could only give her wry chuckle, "Do I... have to pay for that?"

  She sighed, "No, it's fine..." She brought a finger up to her chin in thought, "It works too well, but... it works... maybe I should put some kind of limiter on the blade?"

  "What even was that?" asked Frederick as he let out a breath of relief, "It didn't exactly look like an enhancement spell."

  "Hmm? Oh, that. Well, I figured I could redirect all that energy from the railcannon into the sword. That way, you could... y'know, have another way to use it. Turns out, I just had to tweak around a bit with the sheath."

  "So that's why it doesn't feel that different. Not exactly what I had in mind, but... I think I like this. Thanks," said Fable with a satisfied smile.

  "Don't mention it..." said Aria with a sigh, before turning to Frederick, carrying something in her hands, covered in cloth, "Now for you..."

  "Huh? Oh..." Frederick was rather surprised, "You... really made me a spear..."

  "Hmph... I'm not that petty. I keep my promises."

  The boy hesitantly took the item from her hands. Unwrapping the cloth revealed a halberd, with a small but sharp and lustrous blade. Despite its size, it was light and easy to carry.

  "Wow..."

  "Gotta admit, your commission money got me some good materials. Obsidianbark shaft, sujiton point... Fable's sword made for a good reference. Well? Give it a swing, or thrust, or whatever."

  With a nod, Frederick did as Aria suggested, and... every move felt natural to him. Whether it was Aria's craftsmanship, his training paying off, or even his apparent talent for it, the spear already felt like a natural extension of his body.

  "It feels... Right," commented Frederick, "Like it's a part of me."

  "That's not all, you know," said a smugly smiling Aria, "Now, channel your mana into the spear, then swing in the direction of the dummies."

  Following her instructions, Frederick closed his eyes and focused on the spear...

  He focused his mind on that one memory... Of himself and his mother flying a kite, her hands holding his...

  Then, taking a deep breath, Frederick gave a his new halberd a mighty swing...

  From the weapon's axe blade sprung forth a wave of mana that sent the dummy flying towards the wall as a gaping crack grew on its chest.

  "Well, look at that!" shouted an enthusiastic Fable, "And I thought polearms couldn't be any cooler!"

  "W-wow... you're... a lot stronger than I thought..." spoke a surprised Aria in a low voice.

  "Was... was that wind magic?" asked Frederick, now experiencing a mix of emotions, "Does this have a core?"

  "Uh... Y-yeah!" replied she, almost immediately returning to her usual demeanor, "I fit a laventite core in it, since you use wind magic so much. Not nearly as conductive as symperium, but it's definitely better than anthesite. Now you can hit your target from a distance before they can even get close to you," she puffed up her chest with a smug smile, "Pretty good first project, huh?"

  Frederick spent a moment examining his new halberd in awe, the one that now his own, before turning to Aria with a grateful smile, "This... This is amazing... I don't know what to say... just... Thank you."

  A surprised Aria stood silent for a moment, before looking away as she scratched her head in a fruitless attempt to hide her reddened cheeks, "W-well, you don't need to be that grateful. I'm just... doing my job..."

  "Ooooh..."

  "W-what?" Aria retorted to a blank-faced Fable.

  "Nothing," he very slowly responded.

  Having finally finished his work on the service tunnel, Fable let out a sigh as he sat on the bench. Rebuilding it turned out to be a lot more time-consuming than he had initially thought. He was grateful that the workers had the patience to put up with him.

  As he rested, he watched people walk through the streets of the business sector. Housewives, elders, young couples... families...

  Fable imagined himself walking down these streets with his mothers, checking if they had bought all the right ingredients for dinner, arguing over which clothes to buy...

  He sighed.

  I'm off to a really rough start.

  He may have gotten into the academy, but there were multiple occasions where he could've easily gotten himself expelled, were it not for the help and consideration he got from others.

  He couldn't do this forever.

  He thought about everything that had happened that week. He had seen a man being robbed of his future with the Mark, the same Mark that his mothers had on their necks, that forced them to sleep with strange men every night just to make ends meet.

  Putting Taio Gress aside, how many people had been subjected to the same fate? Whether they were deserving or not, losing your magic and fertility in a world where magic is needed to survive was essentially a death sentence. And the fact that it was permanent meant that they could not redeem themselves or start over, no matter how much they worked to earn it.

  This was the kind of world the late empress had tried to change, though her reign didn't last long enough to do so.

  And that only left him with even more questions than answers...

  Why did it take so long to find the empress? What was she trying to achieve with the education program? What was holding the Ministerial Council together, without an emperor to guide them?

  Fable groaned as he scratched his head. There was so little he knew, thinking about it now wouldn't get him anywhere.

  He remembered how he had promised his mothers to buy them a mansion, where they could live and do as they pleased.

  Am I in over my head with that promise I made

  "Slow down, kiddo. One step at a time..."

  Fable took a deep breath.

  Right. First... look around... meet more people... make more connections...

  For now, he decided it would be best to take things slow, and figure things out as he went along.

  "Meow..."

  "Hmm...?"

  As he stood up to leave, his thoughts were interrupted by an unexpected visitor. He looked under the bench to find a dark-furred cat looking at him with curious eyes.

  "Oh... Hello."

  After a moment of sniffing his shoes, the cat approached him and rubbed itself against them with a purr, much to Fable's surprise.

  "Huh... You sure are friendly."

  The cat meowed back, tilting its head in further curiosity.

  "Hmm..."

  This cat was... rather friendly for a stray. Was it once domesticated? But it didn't have a collar or anything that indicated so. Fable looked around for a few moments, but no one seemed to be searching for it, and it seemed very keen on following him.

  It meowed at him again, this time sounding more concerning, as though to ask him if he was leaving.

  After a moment of hesitation, Fable made his decision and knelt down to face the kitten.

  "Y'know what? Alright... Why don't you stick around? I could use a furry little friend."

  part of it, anyway).

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