It was very difficult to get up the next morning. Hugo felt like he was moving through a fog. It was a weird sensation. He suspected that Florin had never gotten up early for anything in his life. By the time he was fully awake, they were mostly down the mountain.

Hugo wanted to create a mana dart or two and snipe some monsters for extra points. He decided not to risk it. His father was watching his every move. Either he suspected something because Hugo was acting very differently from Florin, or Florin was such a jerk that his parents had to keep an eye on him so he didn’t get in trouble. Maybe both.

As they neared the trains, the monsters grew thicker. The scene was chaotic, hundreds of monsters attacking a line of mountain guides. The soulmarked guides were competent and strong, but there were a lot of attacking monsters. Hugo would have been scared if he didn’t know how this would end.

He positioned himself close to the giant worm as it died, the survival effect should get him up to rank two at least. Directly afterwards, he followed his parents as they headed towards the southbound train.

The red vested mountain guide in charge was right where Hugo expected him and he walked up to say, “Hello, I heard a rumor that a gang was planning on attacking the southbound train today. They have an airship and everything.”

“Sure you did, kid. Who did you hear this from?” the leader said, not even bothering to look Hugo in the eyes.

“Hugo Rebane. He lived in the narrows of Reval and knew some fox gang members. He is dead now. Your ritual killed him, otherwise I would have him talk to you directly,” Hugo said.

This time the man turned to look at Hugo. “How sure are you that he was telling the truth?”

“Very,” Hugo said. It was interesting how no one seemed to trust him. Everyone he had talked to in the last day had been distrustful of what he had to say. Was it that Florin had a shady face, or did his shitty reputation play a role?

The man swore and yelled off to the side, “Fermi, go grab your brother. I need you on the southbound train. Bring your toy in case it gets attacked. Ask this kid here for details.”

His father gave him another weird look as he boarded the train. Hugo ignored it. The man was probably wondering why this one had been true when the others had been half lies.

Just like the last few times, the brothers Feynman and Fermi brought their runic cannon aboard the train. Hugo let them know what they were up against. This time around Hugo didn’t let the crazy runic mages know that they forgot to arm the explosive.

When the fox gang flew towards them in their stolen airship, the cannon just shot them down. The sky didn’t crack asunder like last time. A short while later, they were on their way again. The train pulled into the Tallinn station. Hugo grabbed his bag and followed his parents as they got off the train and walked out.

“Where is Martin? He should be here with the cart,” Ana-Marie said, “He knew we were returning today. Damn him. I just want to go home and take a bath.”

Hugo was feeling grimy from the trip as well, but didn’t feel the need to complain about it. Actually, now he was wondering if he should complain. He was pretending to be a real jerk. From what he remembered of Florin, he would certainly complain in this situation. Just as he was opening his mouth, a mana cart drove up right in front of them.

Ana-Marie dropped her bags and said, “Where were you?” She scowled as she got in the cart. Sebastian and Hugo followed suit.

The driver, presumably Martin, got out and said, “The train was later than expected. Shimmer corps insisted I not block the road while I waited. Once your train arrived, I ran to go get your mana cart.” As he talked he grabbed everyone’s bags and placed them in the cart bed. Then he hustled back to the driver's seat and got them moving again. “I trust your trip was a success?”

“Yes. Baden family has a new soulmarked. Soon a new mage,” Ana-Marie said.

Conversation stopped after that. They sped through the cobblestone streets of Tallinn. Since they hadn’t gotten on a connecting train, Hugo assumed that they lived here. It was a nice city. He had visited it a few times to talk to Alexandru. Hugo would probably track him down later.

The city was very similar to Reval, the same mix of wood and stone construction. Houses and businesses were stacked on top of each other, crowding the road. As the mana cart sped through the city, pedestrians often had to jump out of the way. The occasional mundane cart was simply avoided.

One difference between Reval and Tallinn was the city’s size. Tallinn was roughly twice the size of Reval. It was one of the two transport hubs for the wheel. Trains left daily, bringing shipments of food to the countries outside the wheel. The larger than normal workforce had to stay somewhere, and so a larger city had been built.

The Baden family didn’t belong to that workforce though. They were firmly in the upper class of the city. Hugo wasn’t sure if they were royalty or just rich. Either way, he wasn’t surprised when the mana cart drove up to a mansion. The city was packed to the gills with people, but their front lawn was larger than two apartment buildings.

A trio of servants met them at the ornate door. They were all wearing the same uniform, red and white robes with voluminous sleeves. The women wore short skirts and the men wore trousers. It was a style Hugo had never seen before. Since his parents were ignoring them, Hugo did as well. The mansion was enormous. Three stories tall, with a central foyer that stretched up the whole length. A central staircase split six times to lead to separate parts of the three floors. Light streamed in through the stained glass ceiling far above, leaving multicolored shadows on the floor below. Servants quickly slipped past them with bags in their hands. Hugo followed the woman with his bag. The whole place felt like a mausoleum.

It took Hugo a few moments to realize why it felt like that to him. It was quiet. A combination of architectural and magical effects dampened the sound throughout the estate. His father’s perception must be sky high to require something this elaborate in his home.

Now that he thought about it, he wondered how high his father was ranked. The monster he had killed up on the mountain had died in a flash. That required a great deal of power and control. If anyone could afford to rank up high on the wheel, it was rich people. They could afford regular trips outside the wheel to hunt. Maybe that is what his father had done.

The servant led him to the back of the second floor. The room was smaller than he expected. It was still large. Larger than his riese room. But in a mansion this big, it seemed small. In addition to that strangeness, the walls and ceiling were clad in some sort of soft metal.

Hugo walked over to tap on the wall. Based on the sound it made it was covered in a thin layer of lead or iron. Weird. The sound enchantments weren’t in here like the rest of the house, and he could hear himself walk around the room.

It was mildly funny that Florin possessed the same number of wardrobes that the riese princess Lina did. Hugo rifled through them quickly to select what to wear after he got clean. Everything looked too fancy for comfort, but eventually he found something that wasn't too objectionable.

The bathroom was large, no surprise there. It took Hugo a few moments to figure out the controls for the shower. They were placed far to the side of the showerhead and that confused him at first. Hugo relaxed in the shower, letting all of the dirt and grime from the road fall off of him. The soaps and shampoos were soft and great smelling. He felt relaxed and relieved to be in a male body again. He had missed having all the right parts.

A voice shook him out of his reverie.

“Would the master like some assistance washing?” a feminine voice said.

Hugo jumped in surprise and spun around. He covered himself with his hands. A maid was standing just inside the bathroom, staring at the floor. Hugo’s mind caught up with what she said and he responded, “No I do not need any assistance washing. In fact I don’t believe I will need assistance ever again.”

Hugo shivered briefly. Florin was grown and still getting help in the bath. That was more than a little creepy.

She bowed deeply and said, “Sorry to offend, master. I will not interfere with your bathing without your invitation.” She walked outside of the bathroom and called back inside, “Your father also asked you to attend to him up on the tower when you are done. I will lay out an appropriate outfit for you.”

“Thank you.” Hugo said. It was interesting that he was getting more help from servants now than he did as a princess.

Once he was clean he walked out to get dressed. The outfit she set out for him was tan and gold, it reminded him of the uniform of an airship pilot. It even included goggles. Hugo put it all on, including the goggles around his neck.

Now he had to figure out where the tower was. There were at least three mage towers in town. In addition, there were a pair of airship docks on top of towers. There were probably a few towers on the wall as well. Maybe he could just ask Martin to take him to ‘the tower’ and hope that the driver would know which one.

Just as he got to the front door, he heard his mother’s voice softly calling out to him. “Florin! Don’t you dare leave the house! Your father is waiting for you. Don’t forget what you promised us so you could get soulmarked!”

Hugo looked up to see his mother leaning over the second floor banister to yell at him. She was yelling, but the sound was reduced to a whisper by the time it got to him. The only reason he heard it at all was because it was the only noise around.

Turning around, Hugo walked back up the central staircase. Apparently the tower wasn’t outside. The way his mother was scowling and pointing up indicated it was on top of the mansion. He nodded to her on his way up the staircase.

Before he got to the third floor, he frantically glanced around without moving his head. Thankfully, he was able to find a smaller staircase leading up. It was a small corkscrew staircase. Hugo glanced back to see his mother still staring at him and he climbed the staircase. Apparently this was the right way.

After what felt like way too long, Hugo finally reached the end of the staircase. He found himself on top of a tower. It was a small tower, only fifteen feet wide. There were high crenulations surrounding the tower, almost like the ones on the wall. Hugo clamped down on his fear of heights, not letting his knees wobble. They were close to the northwestern portion of the wall. The tower, combined with the fact the mansion was on a hill, allowed him to see over the wall and into the countryside.

Standing near the edge closest to the city wall were two people, his father Sebastian, and the servant Martin. His father turned towards him and said, “Glad you are finally here. Now we can begin. You need to pay attention to the process if you are ever going to take over as head of the agribusiness.”

Martin looked up from the telescope he was peering though. He said, “Sir, sentinels are signaling all clear and hypocausts one through eight are ready to light. Nine is currently occluded. Ten though fifteen are also ready.”

“Come here, Florin, this is important,” Sebastian said,

Hugo steeled himself and walked closer to the edge. Sebastian put his hand on his shoulder and pointed towards the foothills of the mountain range nearby. “Shortly after the heartbeat, we need to warm up the rice patties. Normally we do it the day after, but I was with you.”

He stretched forth his hand and a beam of light shot out towards the foothills. They were several miles away, but the tight beam of light pierced through the air, all the way until it hit the foothills. A few seconds later, the light cut out. He moved his hand and another beam of light shot out. He did that over and over again.

A few moments after the first beam of light, a small column of smoke drifted up from the impact site. Eventually there were fourteen columns of smoke drifting up into the air miles away. They must be large bonfires to see this much smoke from this far away.

“Rice needs a warm environment to grow, and lighting the hypoclasts now will warm things up enough that the patties will be ready for planting right after the monster wave ends. Normally the summer is long enough for two crops, but the hypocausts give us a third,” Sebastian said.

“Nine is ready to light now, sir,” Martin said.

Sebastian shot out a beam of light and soon another column of smoke joined the others. A large section of the foothills were smoking now.

“It just goes to show how important mundane things are. The hypocausts are entirely mundane, just a clever bit of stone and wood, but without them we wouldn’t have a third harvest. You are coming with me when we head out in two weeks to plant. When we go, I want you to be kind and respectful to our mundane workers. They are vital to our success,” Sebastian said.

Hugo opened his mouth to agree and Sebastian held up his hand and said, “I know you don’t want to go, but this trip will be a great way to rank up in a safe environment. We will be killing the mana weakened monsters still around our rice patties. It’s necessary so you can gain magical power.” Sebastian turned towards Martin and said, “You may go now.”

“I’m happy to kill monsters whenever needed,” Hugo said. He chose his next words carefully. “I would like to suggest an alternative for my magical education though. I have heard the Blue Lion School is well respected. I believe I could learn how to be a useful mage there.” It sounded like his father wanted to teach him the family business, but Hugo wanted to be able to focus on his magical domains instead of growing rice.

“The Blue Lion is respected for the wheel, but it is inadequate for my son. We will stick with the tutor as planned. Speaking of which, I don’t want to have another argument about your domain again. Please just tell me you will go with my wishes willingly,” Sebastian said.

Hugo glanced out over the countryside. His father was being frustratingly vague. What domain did his father want, and why did Florin argue with him about it? Hugo’s best guess was that Sebastian wanted him to take the light domain. It would fit well with him showing his son how he lit the fires to warm up the rice patties. Hugo was fine with that. He had wanted the light domain for a while, it was the best one to resist the Black Marshal’s shadow magic.

It was just too bad that this one was going to be his final domain. He had seen how much pain Sebastian had been in because of his increased perceptions. The mansion below him was covered in magics just so the man could relax in his own home. With light mage as his main domain, Hugo would gain perception every time he ranked up. That would lead to him flinching at every small noise too.

Still, it was a necessary sacrifice to save the wheel.

“Yes, father. I have been thinking about it. I believe I am ready to take your recommendation,” Hugo sighed.

“Thank the gods. We will finally have a life mage in the family,” Sebastian sighed, “Anything but putting you through the hell that is my world. Come on, let’s go back inside. I can smell that dinner is ready.”

Wait.

HIs father didn’t want him to be a light mage. He wanted his son to take up being a life mage. Shit. Now Hugo had to decide if he was going to defy his father, or attempt to save the eight cities of the wheel without being a light mage.