The territory under House Malaevorn was the largest in the Kingdom of Thanevros. Sitting smack in the middle of the other two dukes' domains, it was almost double in size to Lady Sarian Noctis’s domain.

Artemis, being one of the mages of the army of Lord Zavian Malaevorn, had, for much of her life, traveled through the expanse of his domain, doing whatever the higher ups ordered her to. Usually, this meant she'd have to prevent monster attacks from the more critical villages and cities, or escort certain essential caravans with deep ties to the nobility.

But today, she wasn't ordered to do that. She'd instead been ordered to go with the army towards the ten villages that lined the border of Artesh and Thanevros.

The cohort she was following consisted of six centuries, with 80 soldiers in each. They'd been sent to the fifth border village, just beside the great forest of Nazaria.

While the whole of the third legion, among which also came her cohort, was deployed towards the ten border villages, she couldn't help but wonder about the reasons. Though, in the military academy of mages, it was drilled into them not to think beyond orders. But being a mage, and being told not to think, were a fine contradiction in principle.

The carriage she rode now shook from side to side, as she shifted her thoughts and focused on it instead: the sounds of wood against wood, wooden wheels against the dirt roads, and the not-so-muffled moans of pleasure between some particularly thirsty individuals that came to her ears riding on the back of the wind that she championed in.

She tugged the gray-haired mage beside her. The boy looked towards her with an expressionless face.

“So, how far do you think we are still?” she asked.

He looked away from her and towards the road ahead. “About nine more kilometers,” he said, coming off more disinterested than usual.

He was a true vampire, and unlike her, he was quite young. Though, that could hardly be told based on the boy's eyes and facial expressions.

She gave him a push with her shoulders; it shook him away from whatever dreamland he was in.

“Boy, it's us old people that have the right to own those dead fish eyes. Not you. Come on, look alive,” she said, tickling his sides.

Except, he turned his gaze at her. She couldn't help but reel back at the state of his eyes.

They were dark, too dark, the kind of eyes one would only develop after witnessing their parents' death, or something far worse.

He gave her a forced smile; the thick hollowness of it almost oozed out. “Don't worry, Lady Artemis. I'm fine now,” he said and turned back.

The boy leaned against the carriage's wooden boards and shut his eyes. A small coin flipped out of his pocket and rolled outside. The boy's hand snapped out, caught the coin, and put it back inside in one clean motion.

But her accursed eyes had already seen what it contained.

“A Third Stain? That's… you've been promoted?”

The boy didn't answer, feigning sleep instead.

She felt hazy in her head. The Third Stain made you a vice centurion, a position just below the leader of a century, an eighty-man armed corps.

And yet, in the past decade of her service, she hadn't been able to attain this honor. A stain was only ever handed out after accomplishing something significant for the lord to take notice of you. But that was only from the second stain onward. The first and second stains were handed out when the most senior of the centurions took notice of your performance, like the first centurion of a cohort.

Obtaining the third stain also qualified you to be appointed as in charge of a century during emergencies. Being the leader of an eighty-man squad was no small honor. It also came with a myriad of perks. And it also took a lot of time and effort to gain.

And still, this boy, who'd gotten not one, but three stains from the only mission he'd ever gone to—instead of jumping in joy, why had his eyes turned hollow?

Her thoughts churned at his words. Whatever had happened to him, and whatever the nature of his mission had been, she now felt it in her gut that this mission might be similar in nature.

The carriage came to a stop, halting the motion of her sinking thoughts. Outside, the most senior of the centurions called.

“Soldiers, gather at once.” His voice boomed.

Artemis quickly picked up her bag and turned towards the boy, Rimanus. He was gone. She blinked her eyes several more times, wondering if she'd imagined him this whole time.

Because there was no way he had gone outside without her noticing. She was a mage of level one hundred and forty, had several perception spells turned on. The boy was a light warrior class, not an assassin. He shouldn't have been able to move fast and quietly enough for her not to notice.

And yet, he was gone.

“A mage is missing,” announced the centurion outside.

She immediately snapped out of her thoughts, gathered her stuff, and hopped off the carriage. The soldiers and mages had formed into neat groups, each separated by their classes. She stood beside one of the older mages, Risha. She was a level two hundred vampire, one of the strongest mages of their century, except for the vice centurion.

The chief of their cohort, the first centurion, glared at her. To which, she gave an apologetic bow.

The briefing began. The first centurion addressed everyone, his voice loud enough to not require a voice enhancement spell.

“We've dropped just a few minutes from the village itself. From here on out, you will have to follow the orders step by step.” He breathed, eyeing everyone present with a gaze that could probably shock a shark to death. “For some context, this mission has been directly ordered by Lord Zavian himself. It is of the highest priority. Any and all participants of it, the most obedient and loyal ones, can earn merits ranging from first stain to third.”

The soldiers all gasped in surprise and stepped back in disbelief. Artemis herself felt like casting a wind spell to support her weight and keep her stand firm. Because not only had the talk with Rimanus been real, as could be seen from the boy standing just beside the centurion of their century, but this outlandish reward of so many stains.

What's going on? What is this mission even about?

The first centurion continued, “Gather into squads of five: four warriors and one mage in each. The rest remain. Now spread out and encircle the entirety of the village.”

“As you command, Centurio Malcador!” the cohort roared.

Artemis, likewise, despite her unwillingness, joined with Rimanus and the other three, and broke into a run, with the affinity of wind pushing her forward and removing the air resistance. Combined, she could keep pace with the two heavy warriors of her team, with Rimanus.

They soon formed a block, and just like them, multiple more blocks formed into a chain of soldiers that surrounded the village from all sides.

The voice of the first centurion came through clear on the magic coms.

“Slowly and discreetly close the distance to the village.”

Their bodies followed his orders before their minds could process the implications.

By the next hour, their encirclement had tightened, and now, to Artemis, it felt more like they were some predators rather than protectors. The feeling made her bile rise up.

“Now,” came the centurion's cold, booming voice, “enter the village at once. Mages, cast proper breath restriction spells. Warriors, immediately capture and incapacitate any and all resistances. Now move!”

The bushes, trees, and grasses; the coordinated run for the village rang across the fields as birds flew off in panic everywhere.

Her breath came out in rags, and she wished it was from exhaustion.

She followed behind the warriors' footsteps, as they brought down any and all resisting men or women to the ground, irrespective of their age and physical faculties. Each warrior pinned down one man with their foot while holding two others by their throats.

She began conjuring the breath suppression spell, trying her best not to let the pleas of the people interrupt her.

“Lord warrior, lady mage, what is happening!? What did we do!?” screamed a man in both pain and humiliation at having himself pinned down underfoot, and at the screams of his panicked wife and son.

“Husband!?” his wife shouted out, her voice filled with a mix of rage and confusion. “What are you doing to him!?”

His much older son, a lesser vampire like the rest, didn't scream. Instead, he tried to force his way through the warriors.

A hand extended out, grabbing the boy by his throat and lifting his body in the air. The pressure from the grip didn't halt after it restrained him. No. The veins popped red on the boy's head. He wasn't even struggling to breathe; she could see the hand literally attempting to crush his throat.

“Rimanus! That's enough!” she barked, halting her casting for a second.

The grip of Rimanus didn't halt; he was intending to kill the boy!

She quickly cast the breath restriction spell on the boy. Before, she had intended to cast it on the boy's father, but unless she cast it on him first, Rimanus was going to use the excuse of restraining him to kill him.

“What the hell are you bastards doing to my child!” The mother struggled free and ran towards Rimanus.

She too was choked to a halt by him. Rimanus wasn't going to listen to words, it seemed. So she quickly cast the spell on her too, as Rimanus released them.

Artemis kept casting the breath restriction spell on everyone until most of the villagers were made unconscious.

Centurio Malcador's voice came right after, like he'd been watching this all along, despite there being no familiars around.

“Now, earth mages, procure triangular houses, ten separate ones. Make sure men, women, and children are all kept separate from each other. Instruct them on the codex that will be sent to you soon. For anyone in the village that refuses to follow it, punish them accordingly based on the codex. From thus onwards, until further instructions are provided, follow the book. Those who follow it with the most discipline shall be rewarded! Do not let your lord down!”

…

The village—the bustling village with stalls, fruits, crates, and the traffic of people coming through and going in—was still the same. The village Artemis and her group had invaded appeared completely and entirely normal, with kids running around, smiling, and adults bargaining at the stalls like usual.

What had changed was unnoticeable from outside. But she knew. Of the thousand population that occupied the village, only two hundred were allowed to function like normal.

And that too was made into a reward for working fifteen-hour shifts at the mine.

Yes, the village had been overturned. Within the largest houses of the village, a tunnel had been dug that ran deep into the earth bed below, reaching into the earth veins.

She walked into one such room. Her duty was to refill the mana battery that powered all the bulbs that ran through the tunnels. In fact, her whole century of eighty mages had been turned into mana battery chargers.

She touched the coned crystal that was embedded into a box of crystals. With a pull of her will, mana gushed forth. The crystal box began to light up with a blue glow, and after fifty minutes of mana infusion, until her veins felt like they would burn up, she let go of the crystal cone.

“Ha,” she huffed and gathered herself. Around her, the cries of men and women echoed out of the tunnel, accompanied by the sound of whips cutting air. “What have we been turned into…”

They were soldiers of the kingdom, soldiers who were supposed to protect its people. And they were here, running this covert operation of mining, turning a free, lively village into a slave camp.

Worse than a slave camp, in fact. The womenfolk and menfolk weren't allowed to interact except beyond work.

This was a gold mine. Unless certain quantities of soil contained a certain amount of gold, they weren't allowed any interaction with their families. And those who overfulfilled their quota were allowed sexual interaction for a limited time with whomever they wished, chosen from the wives and women of the ones who hadn't been able to fulfill their part of the quota.

This had divided the villagers at large. And while the extraction was running at absurd speed, she felt more and more disgusted with herself.

She'd watched Rimanus kill a mother and child the other day, following the orders of the first centurion. She'd been given a similar order. And if she completed it, she'd likely get the third stain she'd been working to attain for so long. Though, was it worth it to sacrifice her remaining dignity and morals, just for the sake of obtaining a stain?

Then again, she'd done a lot of horrific things already to keep her job at this institution. For many here, the answer was clear: yes, it was worth it; you were serving the domain of the lord at large, too, not only the few. But to the indecisive Artemis that she was, the answer didn't feel satisfactory. Far from it, in fact.

Right then, someone entered the house. The face she had been avoiding intentionally after coming here.

Rimanus.