After talking to Steel, Creston withdrew consciousness from his child and relaxed. The problem with Tarrister was relatively ephemeral, but insulting Steel would have real consequences. Fortunately, there were no misunderstandings. Their family should have stayed away from this conflict.

True, only a month after he sent away Steel, news came of the appearance of Tarrister in the capital. He did come to his kingdom right now, when he least wanted to mess with him. Now he could forget about recruitment attempts. Creston groaned helplessly.

 

My journey back to Orion took much less time, and I soon reached the kingdom of Erinz. Flying past one of the big cities, I decided to make a short stop. It was getting dark and the curfew was approaching.

The wings on my back retracted into the golem's armor and I began to descend at great speed into the town square, choosing a relatively deserted area. Before landing, the golem slowed down dramatically, but the landing was still quite noticeable.

BOOM!

The shock wave spread out in all directions. Although I controlled the sonic explosion so that it was almost silent and directed so as not to harm the surrounding people, however, the consequences of landing a three-meter and 1.5-ton golem in weight still caused a small commotion. Tiles in the square were shattered and some people were injured by shrapnel.

I still had some of the remedies from my time as an acolyte, so I approached the victims.

- Ah! My leg, I can't feel my leg. - the woman shouted, but fell silent when she saw how a three-meter golem hovered over her with two bright lights instead of eyes.

- My apologies. - I took out a small vial of potion and handed it to the victim. - Here, use it.

Potions like this were quite rare. Although the profession of an alchemist was relatively common, few people achieved serious success in it. Even Bertram, having spent half his life on this, in addition to changing the recipe for a potion of speed, some poisons and helping with the creation of a confidante for mortals, did not achieve much success. Even if he had the recipes for ancient potions, not all of them could find the right ingredients. Thus, even the good old ointment that speeds up regeneration for Knights that I used in my youth had a certain value. Alchemy potions that could quickly heal the human body were rare, and I only found a couple of them after killing many acolytes.

The woman stared at the vial in confusion, holding back moans of pain.

- Are you a Mage?

- Right. Take a sip.

Hearing confirmation of her guesses, she accepted the vial, albeit with apprehension. Of course, the wound will not heal instantly, however, it will be healed quickly enough and eliminate the pain in the process. This medicine was quite effective and even I rarely used it as a last resort. Now for me it has lost any value, although it could be sold, but its price was not so high for me to bother about this.

Soon the woman was able to get up and felt better. I took out a small sack of gold coins.

- Here, please share the potion and gold with two other victims.

The woman was a bit taken aback by this attitude, but after thanking her, she did as she was told. I didn't mean to act like a mad savage. In my youth, I had nothing and I killed in order to quickly achieve my goals. At Garrow Academy, I had too little time and I also killed trying to achieve my goals as quickly as possible. An old man in years does not care what will happen in ten years if by that time he will already be a cold corpse.

Now time is no longer a problem. There was no point in excessive cruelty and violence without a good reason. In the long run, this would only cause many problems. I believed that I could use softer methods to get everything I needed.

Several people from the city guard came running to the noise. One of them turned to me.

- Excuse me, are you True Mage?

Usually Mages hid their mental wave so as not to harm mortals, but at the same time they wore an official sign confirming their status. Although Mages could make certain changes to their bodies, the three-meter armor of a knight was still quite an unusual sight.

- Yes, I am a True Mage Tarrister.

The guards looked at each other for a moment. Apparently, the name Tarrister was still familiar to them. They all bowed and greeted me.

- Lord Mage, can we do anything for you?

- Just tell me the direction to the best inn in this city. And what is this city anyway?

- This is the capital of the kingdom of Erins, the city of Endwood… - the guard reported awkwardly and indicated the direction to the tavern.

When I walked in the direction I needed, hiding behind the alleys, the guards split up, two followed me although they should have remained at a distance, and the rest went to report to the captain. Naturally, I heard everything I wanted to hear in a huge radius.

Each person emitted certain sound vibrations, even the work of his brain caused certain vibrations that even for me was difficult to notice. Theoretically, I could experiment and to some extent know when a person is telling the truth or a lie based on their brain waves, I will deal with this later. Well, I caught sound vibrations from people's conversations everywhere and could filter at my discretion.

The tavern turned out to be quite decent, obviously not for poor travelers. Large stone building with beautiful decorations. Fortunately, the entrance was calculated with a margin for representatives of various mixed races.

The floor creaked helplessly under my heavy steps, but I hoped that the furniture here would hold up. It was still quite crowded inside, they paid attention to my appearance, but no more. True, one girl clearly showed excessive interest in me. For a while I sat quietly and listened to the conversations around me.

I observed the sound waves of the people around me with interest and compared them to conversations and brain waves. Gradually, I began to distinguish certain emotions that people experienced. When they were sincere, and when they openly lied and flattered.

Soon this girl came up to me and sat down next to me. She was a rank 2 acolyte and with her were two bullies True Knights. Apparently a significant figure in the city.

- Beautiful armor. I wonder what race you are. Let me guess, obviously not a minotaur, after all, there is nowhere to hide the horns behind such a helmet. Stone man? - she asked with a smile.

Stone people were naturally not made of stone. It's just that their size was much larger than ordinary people and their skin was extremely tough, which is why they got such a name.

The interlocutor herself clearly did not have good intentions, although there seemed to be no frankly evil intentions either. It was still difficult for me to figure it out properly, it will take more time. But she obviously wanted to lay hands on me or something, whatever that meant.

- Wrong guess. I am a construct - tapping on the shell, I continued - There is nothing inside.

- Huh? Never heard of such. Are you a living artifact or something? - the interlocutor was amazed.

- Yes, you can say that.

She stared at me in amazement and doubt.

- Where did you come from? Maybe you are looking for a job? I'm Casey, if your armor is as effective as it looks then I can pay you well for your services. What do you say?

- I'm a True Magician, so I'm afraid you can't afford my services.

If I were a human, I could enjoy the local cuisine. Or at least portray a malicious smile on my face after such a comment, but somehow I didn’t bother with this issue earlier and didn’t foresee this. My golem face remained an impassive statue.

The girl was surprised more than ever and was speechless, the neighbors who heard this statement also stared in our direction. There were not so many true Mages on Orion and they were seen quite rarely, and even acolytes were met not so often. For example, there were two True Mages of the Leicester family in the Erinz kingdom, perhaps there was someone else passing by. Even without an official mark, the people of the kingdom would be able to recognize the True Mage of the Leicester family.

- This can`t be real. Never heard of a True Mage with such an appearance. - Casey commented a little scared.

It was a small problem. I should spread my name everywhere so that everyone can recognize me at a glance, otherwise there will be too many ridiculous situations in which the especially curious or greedy will try to commit suicide approaching me. Although I could deal with such problems with ease, it would be too stupid to pretend to be a weakling with my current level of power.

Maybe I should have beaten up one of the other True Mages in public or something like that, I decided to take note of that.

I released a mental wave that covered the entire tavern. People froze as if struck by thunder. Of course, I tried not to hurt anyone. The tavern fell into silence.

Casey's ears dropped instantly. The tail wiggled wildly, betraying her inner state. Tears appeared in the eyes. She was clearly horrified.

Of course, I did not feel a drop of malice towards her, even slightly sympathized. It would also be unpleasant for me if, on my life path, I met a seemingly ordinary person or some kind of ant, and he would turn out to be an omnipotent being. Then my path would end before it even started, it would be rather sad.

I mentally smiled and said.

- Everything is fine. My name is Sam Tarrister. I recently ascended and became the new True Mage in the Orion Continent. There is nothing surprising in the fact that you have not heard of me before.

My voice spread through the hall like a warm wave washing over those present. Their tense bodies relaxed, some even couldn't help smiling, but soon came to their senses and hid them again. The people bowed and lowered their heads, afraid to move. Although apparently most wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible. Mages were feared, and not without reason.

Casey stammered out an apology, but I turned my attention to the entrance.

A whole group of people, led by an acolyte entered the tavern and approached my table.

- I beg your pardon, Lord Mage, I am the Deputy Head of the Mages Guild of this city, Eric Mackenzie. Casey is my daughter, I hope you will forgive her for being rude.

He held out the beautifully designed box with a bow. Inside were documents for the Endwood mansion, I didn't have to open the box to determine the contents. I teleported the box to the inner space and drew attention to Eric's left hand. From there, a plant grew and glowed slightly, projecting a voice.

- I am Creston, head of the Leicester family. Congratulations on your promotion, Mr. Tarrister.

- Good evening, Mr. Creston. I think we have something to talk about, I'd like to pay you a visit if you don't mind. - I said.

- Of course I don’t mind, you can visit me at any time. Now I am in the city of Dawn. - Creston replied.

- Great, how far is Dawn City from here? - I asked.

Creston was silent for a moment but still answered - About 500 kilometers.

- Okay, I'll be with you in an hour.

There was an awkward silence, but soon Creston laughed dryly and answered.

- Of course, of course, I will look forward to your arrival.

The flower retracted itself into Eric's hand.

- Have a seat, Eric.

Most of the visitors went to their rooms or left the tavern, but I asked Erik simple questions about the kingdom of Erinz and not only. From the looks of it, the Mages Guild was some sort of working accommodation for acolytes serving the kingdom. In addition to the living area, there were laboratories, a training ground, a magical library, and so on. Something like a mini academy. Even missions were given out for everyone, including wandering Mages.

Apart from the king and other high-ranking nobles and officials, the Mages Guild was the main representative of the realm's law, yet under normal circumstances they did not interfere in the affairs of mortals. But obviously Eric's status was quite high.

Apparently, the general principle of the mortal world remained the same as in Outland. There were acolytes of the Leicester family in every big city, although they usually went about their business. The difference was primarily in the presence of several vast mines for mining magic crystals. But on the territory of the kingdom of Erinz there were only three such mines, and basically mortals who committed serious crimes or slaves were sent there. In comparison, the Tharos empire had many mines, especially on the border with the Preserve.

Such mines were huge both in depth and in width and required a huge amount of labor. Although the undead did the hardest work, firstly it was brainless, and secondly, to control them, it was necessary to leave necromancer acolytes, the number of which was limited. Therefore, the main labor force was soulless puppets, like those that I saw at Garrow Academy, one might say living corpses. They were not picky, could not complain, and even understood simple commands.

On the other hand, there was always a shortage of labor in the mines, so there were no longer enough criminals and slaves to fill the gap, which is why the Mages of the empire increasingly resorted to the banal capture of mortals at their discretion and sent them to the mines. Although it was usually their Knights who did it, so the common people of the empire hated both Knights and Mages more and more. However, information was extremely poorly distributed among mortals, so that mass discontent rarely arose, and if it did, it was instantly and brutally suppressed.

Each magic crystal was extremely valuable, but at the same time covered in the blood of the mortal world.

After a little chat with him, I let him go, and went towards the city of Dawn.

 

At the same time, Creston immediately contacted Lothar.

- What's again? - Lothar asked.

“The Tarrister has shown up and is on his way here.

- So what?

- As expected, he is a True Magician, moreover, he announced that he would arrive within an hour. By the way, the distance between us is 500 kilometers. Can you move at a speed of 500 kilometers per hour? - Creston asked.

- Uh? Don't know. I'm not very strong in numbers, maybe I can.

- Moron! You can't do a damn thing, at best your speed is twice as low. Of course, there is a possibility that he uses a flying mount, but judging by the report, nothing of the kind was noticed. In any case, go to the nearest formation and teleport to me in Dawn City. Don't forget to bring Nissa with you. From what I've heard Tarrister isn't a very pleasant person, it's better to play it safe.

- Hmm. Okay, I'll be there soon.