Chapter 596 596 Apartment
596 596 Apartment
Rail led Wolfe down through the castle's winding corridors and out into the courtyard, where there were a number of tall apartment buildings constructed for the Demons who lived and worked at the castle. She stopped outside one of the buildings with a grand gesture of welcoming.
"Here we are, home sweet home. Well, at least it is between missions. I'm not sure what the old man is going to want you to do for us, but I've heard that Magi have some unique skills, and he will likely want you to cut a deal to work off your century of labour.
It's mostly unheard of for someone to actually serve the whole century unless they get an excellent job in the castle or something. I know that at least one of the Guard Captains deliberately trespassed so that he could bypass the waiting line for applications."
Wolfe sighed at the revelation. "So even here, the law is intended to be bent and broken. I suppose that's not surprising, there is always some level of corruption, but I had heard that the Demons are very rigid with their rules."
Rail nodded. "We are actually. The option to take time off the sentence with superior job performance is very well codified in the law. All hard labour punishments are that way, and they've often been exploited by those who don't mind a small black mark on their record and are willing to take a risk. Like the Guard Captain. If he hadn't actually been worthy, he would have spent a century mopping floors in the guard barracks, and as filthy as that lot is, the punishment would have been far worse than the crime.
It looks like you will be asked to work with my investigation team. I'm not sure what they'll want you to do, you don't know the area well enough to be doing field work, but Magi are supposed to be excellent with magical items, and we've got a whole rune library here for you to study from if they're planning to make you work that way.
That would likely be the best option, sine the items you make will directly take off the time owed.
Of course, if you've got a bunch of gold hidden on you somewhere, you can reduce it that way as well."
Wolfe smiled. "So, you can pay a fine in lieu of the actual work? That should make things easy. What do you use for money here?"
Rail took out a single silver coin with a faint magical aura.
"These are made by the Royal Mint, and they're very close to impossible to forge. That's the only true currency here, since anyone with a bit of Fae blood might have an aptitude for Earth magic, and they could make gold blocks by the tonne."
Rail giggled as she realized that had been exactly Wolfe's plan, and that the unexpected presence of the Fae in the Demonic Realms had messed up his scam.
She gave Wolfe a suspicious look when she realized he was not the sort of person she expected. "What happened to the legendary Magi code?" She asked.
"I honestly don't even know what it was. The witches killed off basically my entire species, and we're only now just starting to return and regain our powers through a lucky combination of genes from hybrid survivors. If there are records of the Magi Code, they're buried under mountains of corpses, or possibly literal mountains." Wolfe explained.
"Oh yeah. I totally forgot about that. You see, Demons don't age like humans do, and neither did the powerful Magi, so at your power level, I just assumed that you were older than the war and had survived." She apologized.
"That's fine. I'm not even twenty yet, so it's been a long time since the war, and I don't know much of anything from that time. Do you have records here?" He asked.
"Indeed we do. You can likely look them up later. But first, we should go inside and get you an actual unit. There are a bunch of them unoccupied, so you can pick the one you like. I recommend the south-facing ones on the higher levels, as they look over the wall at the lake."
Rail led him up through the building toward the upper floors, preferring the stairs to the elevator, which was sized for someone much larger than either of them.
"Alright, here we are. This unit is unoccupied, but you would have one neighbour. Fortunately, she's quite friendly." Rail explained.
She took out her security pass and opened the door, revealing a small apartment that was richly decorated to a standard nearly as high as the sitting rooms in the palace.
"Wow, are the investigators here particularly well paid?" Wolfe asked. n)-0vElBIn
Laughter came from the open door behind them, and a tall Demon woman with feathered black wings and smooth bronze skin walked into the apartment.
"It's not that we're well paid, we just get some very nice perks. The apartment, the all access pass and the compensated meals. Seriously, that's the best part. Just use your employee card, and you can eat anywhere five times a day." She informed them.
Rail ran over to give her a hug, then gestured between the two of them.
"Wolfe Noxus, meet Investigator Chen. Chen, meet Patriarch Wolfe Noxus." "A Magi Patriarch, right here in the Demon Realms. My Grandmother told me stories about them." Chen informed him with a smile.
Rail brightened up at the reminder. "Oh yeah, you're both youngsters. I forget sometimes. Wolfe is the new generation of Noxus Patriarch, but from the magic on him, he has definitely inherited some of the talents of his Family."
That must have been a reference to the [Eternal Vigilance] spell, which changed his aura, and should be noticeable by the Demons, who were just as skilled as he was in Unholy Magic, or even more talented.
"Welcome to the neighbourhood. There is a department meeting tomorrow, so I will likely see you again soon, but just tap on my window if you need me, you can reach it from your balcony." Chen announced, then ran back out of the room.