Remian arrived in time to see her block the door with Kage at her side, the shadow-magic user standing there silently with his arms folded. Mindy looked frightened, but she still barked at Rose like a cornered puppy.

"Relax. I'm just here to pick up someone." Cruel Rose was perhaps named for her shape rather than her face. The general form of the woman in front of the tavern was indeed 'blooming'. Her height and her width had a lot more in common than most humans could dream of. Her hair was piled high in a bun above her head, which was very, very heavily covered in make-up.

Next to her was a man who deliberately looked like a skeleton. He wore a black suit painted to look like the form of human bones, and had likely borrowed some of F AHEM! 'Cruel' Rose's make-up to paint his face like a skull.

Ye'Tuo 'the Undead'. Ye'Tuo the Slayer. Rose had come with one of her strongest.

"You can't kidnap us! Kage is right here!" Mindy drew up her courage, especially when she saw Remian arrive. Her eyes lit up a little and a wave of daring bade her speak her mind. "You fumpfh?"

That last bit was m.u.f.fled by a hand covering her mouth from behind. Mandy appeared, a full head taller than Mindy and looking pale. "You're here?"

"Of course! My newest employee is finally eighteen today! How many years have I waited? How long have I been patient with you, and the brats slinking around this miserable hole?" Rose exclaimed. "How generous and kind I have been!"

"No!" Mindy managed to pull her sister's hand off her mouth. "You can't!"

"Can't I?" Rose took out a complicated magic scroll, tapped it daintily, and a sigil lit up.

From that scroll came a voice.

"I, Mandy Summers, do pledge my lifelong service to Cruel Rose upon reaching adulthood in exchange for sum of 3000 Lir. I swear to obey her every order from my eighteenth birthday onwards…"

"No!" Mindy gasped. "It can't be! It's a lie!"

"It is a legal contract, and I am here to collect her debt!" Rose announced. "Isn't that right, Mandy, darling?"

Mandy did not deny it. "You didn't have to come here so early. I was going to meet you tonight."

"Ah, but why wait? The day has come, and I am eager to see the fruits of my patience!"

"But… but…!" Mindy stared. "We'll pay you back! We'll pay back the money!"

"With what, darling?" Rose eyed her. "All you have to offer me, your sister can do better, and even if you wanted to replace her pledge with yours, I'm afraid I simply haven't any interest in waiting until you yourself reach maturity."

"We have money! We've been doing jobs for the Burning Steel!" Mandy gritted her teeth. "I have sixty Lir right here! I'll give it to you now, and more every week until the debt is paid! In less than one year, you will have your 3000 Lir!"

"Ah, but the debt happened so long ago, I'm afraid it has grown with compound interest! It is now 5000 Lir!" Rose said. "In another year, it will be 6000! When you finally pay that amount, two years would have pa.s.sed, and the debt would have risen to 7500! At the rate the debt rises and the amount you pay, it would be three years and 9000 Lir before we are done! But I am a generous woman, so I am actually willing to release Mandy from her pledge… AFTER you finish paying the full amount!"

"That… that's not fair!" Mindy gasped.

"The contract is in my hands, darling. You don't get to complain." Rose said smoothly. "Don't worry. If you really miss your sister so much, you can join her in my company once you yourself come of age."

"How did this happen?" Mindy turned to her sister. "When did you sell yourself? Why did you need that 3000 Lir?!"

Mandy didn't answer, but her gaze slipped sideways, and fell upon a pair of little girls playing with new sewn-fur toys.

"No way." Mindy's eyes were wide. "That day when half of us went missing… you said you found them!"

"Of course she did, darling. She certainly found them." Rose nodded agreeably.

"You kidnapped them!" Mindy shouted furiously. "And then you sold them back… for three thousand Lir… which we couldn't have… and made Mandy swear a contract to pay it with her life?!"

"Enough, Mindy!" Mandy grabbed her sister, holding her tightly, whether to protect her or to stop her from charging at Rose, Remian wasn't too sure. Maybe both. "That's enough."

"No! It's not! We can't let her get away with this! We have to fight her!" Mindy turned to Remian. "Help us!"

Rose turned and casually made a gesture with one hand. There was movement in three different streets surrounding the tavern. Sunlight glinted off weapons that were raised on all sides. But n.o.body charged in yet.

It seemed Cruel Rose had come fully prepared for a fight. Her gang might have fewer members, but they were mainly full-grown adults, violent, hard-bitten thugs more often than not. As for the Circling Ravens, a good many of them were children.

The only way they could win this fight was if Remian could turn the tables entirely on his own.

"Wait." Remian held out his hand. "What if I could pay off that debt?"

"You?" Rose eyed him. "You do have some looks… but I'm afraid you simply won't last very long doing the kind of work my employees specialize in."

Remian coughed awkwardly. "That's not what I meant. It's just… perhaps I could offer something valuable to pay it off all at once? An immediate profit could surely justify a discount."

"Something valuable, you say?" Rose's eyes narrowed.

Cautiously, Remian took out his most valuable possession, the one thing which could possibly measure up to the value of that debt. Reluctantly, he held up the book.

"Fire magic." Rose breathed. "Is it real?"

"It is real." Ye'Tuo spoke for the first time, in a rattling, hoa.r.s.e voice that made Remian's bones s.h.i.+ver.

Such a book in Remian's hands was worth all the scrolls he'd Inscribed early on. But such a book in Rose's hands? She herself was capable of using magic scrolls, which meant that she had some magical ability, maybe enough to actually use that fire magic. On top of that, she ran a gang, which might have other members capable of learning…

But who would sell such a book, even a second-hand (or sixth-hand!) book, to a woman of her reputation? Even Remian had trouble getting it with his status as an agent of the Iron Legion and an Emergency Field Priest of the Order of Celestial Light. It was his abilities at Inscribing Scrolls and his future potential as a trading partner that finally brought the deal through.

In other words, this was an item that Rose could not have bought no matter how much money she offered.

"It's a trap." Rose said suddenly. "I don't believe you. It's either fake, or… or…"

"Really?" Remian twitched a finger, and fire lit up on it. Deliberately, he pressed that tiny flame to the corner of the book. It, too, caught fire…

"Stop! STOP!" Rose leapt at him in a frenzy. "I'll take it! If it's real, it's a deal! Just STOP!"

Remian extinguished the flame. "The contract. Now."

"The book first!" Rose insisted. "Show me the contents!"

Remian hesitated, then glanced at Mandy. "Can you read?"

"I can read." Mandy nodded. "Sort of."

"Then come here and read it aloud."

She did exactly that. "The basis of fire magic is desire. Upon… sorry, I'm not sure how to read this word… and this diagram…"

"Just show them the first page." Remian sighed.

Ye'Tuo and Rose lit up upon seeing it. Rose grinned. "It is real."

"The contract!" Remian reminded her.

Quickly, Rose put her hand on the sigil of her contract scroll and said, "I, Rose Ackers, do hereby transfer the owners.h.i.+p of one Mandy Summers to Remian as part of our trade deal."

The sigil lit up. Lines of inscriptions suddenly appeared floating in the air around Mandy, like written light around her head. She screamed, clutching her head in pain.

"What are you doing?" Mindy shouted. "You had a deal!"

"And I have kept it!" Rose pursed her lips. "I don't have the power to release a slave, dear. Transferring her owners.h.i.+p was the best I could do."

Remian's jaw dropped. "Wait… are you saying…?"

"Yes, of course." Rose smiled at him and Remian felt both gooseb.u.mps and a chill down the back of his spine at the same time. "Congratulations, darling boy.

"Enjoy your new slave."