"Good morning, Lord Gale. Breakfast is ready to be served."
Gale woke up on his bed, and a trail of saliva leaked from between his lips. He slowly recalled last night's events.
"Damn it! I had so many questions! Why does he have to do that?"
"Hmm, what happened? Did someone make you upset?"
He heard Lena's voice questioning him. He thought about whether he was allowed to tell her about the God of Charm, understanding it was yet another question he couldn't ask before the god sent him away.
"No, it was just a dream. Good morning, Lena. I did some experiments with my ability, and I have some questions to ask you later about magic and magicians, will you help me?"
"Yes, of course. Let's go eat breakfast first."
He got up, took a shower, and wore fresh clothes. He entered the dining room and found Lena and Nina talking to each other.
"I'm here, I hope I didn't make you wait for too long."
"It's ok, Nina and I were talking about a few things, now that you know her identity. She had to know she still is not allowed to hit on you."
"Why can't she?"
"Do you want your friends to hit on me?"
"Fine, I get it. Let's eat."
Nina was pretty, but it wasn't like he had feelings for her. He just had her in mind for his first target to seduce as she was of a higher stage than Atress, and available. When he thinks about it, Lena is right, he shouldn't go after Nina. She is Lena's friend, and he wouldn't want to hurt her. Breakfast was served by Nina and the three ate together.
"So, what did you want to talk about?"
Lena asked Gale as they entered an isolated training room, where his secrets could be kept safe.
"I found out I can increase my stages by having sex with women of higher stages. The higher their stage, the higher the benefits I can reap from it."
"How would you experiment with your ability? Did you go to a brothel last night? Were you upset this morning because they threw you outside when you were drunk?"
Lena looked at him suspiciously.
"What? No! Your imagination is too wild! I just… mediated on it."
"You found out you can increase your mana control by having sex through mediation?"
"Exactly, so let's leave it alone for now. The problem is that to achieve maximum effects, I must do it repeatedly with the same person, and they would get injured from it. By the time I get to their stage, they'd be crippled."
"Are you planning to cripple Atress?"
"No, I can control whether to take energy from them or not, so I'm planning to seduce other women and take energy from them once or twice only. After a few weeks, they'd heal."
He continued explaining to her the way it worked as the God of Charm explained to him. Lena, as expected, was quick to understand the crux of the problem.
"You don't want to hurt others, so you just plan to advance slowly, and might get stuck at an early stage. This won't do at all; I have a better solution."
Gale knew his sister pretty well, and also knew she was quite selfish and wouldn't hesitate to tell him to take advantage of others if it would help him greatly. While she wasn't bullying the weak, she would do so if she felt the benefits of doing so exceeded the importance of her morale code. He waited for her to continue, prepared to quickly deny and object.
"We could go to jail, find someone who was sentenced for a long time and offer her to exchange her powers for freedom and money. Aren't they all there because they tried going against the law for money in one way or another?"
"Nobody would agree to that. They only need to wait a few years in jail to go out healthy. Why would they sacrifice their future because of a few years?"
There were no prisoners who got a life sentence. Those would be executed to prevent wasting food and resources on them. It made no sense for a magician or a mage with a long life expectancy to give up their future for a few years.
"We could at least try, let them decide. You never know one's circumstances, it might be urgent for them to leave jail as soon as possible."
"All right, I'm willing to try. But if they refuse, we are not going to force them. They also need to know the risks before we let them decide."
"No problem. I must go now to my daily training."
Lena quickly left, and Gale went to read in the library about magic.
Lena walked down the street, heading towards the local jail.
"Lady Lena, it's an honor to see you visit. What brings you here?"
The jail manager came out quickly to greet her after he was notified of her arrival.
"What is your name?"
"Neal, Ma'am."
"Neal, do you have female mages jailed here?"
"No, Ma'am. Only normal people and magicians."
It was a weird question, but the manager knew his place, and it definitely was not to question an Earl's daughter, who was also known as one of the best geniuses in the kingdom.
"Fine, how about Expert Magicians?"
"We have a few, some of them are female. Should I make a list?"
"Yes. Write their crimes, how long they have left to serve, and most of all, I want someone desperate for money, help, or anything else they can't get but I can."
"Yes, Ma'am."
30 minutes later, Lena sat with a list in her hands. She went through the list and chose the 3 best ones. Indeed, the best for her meant the worst situations they could be in.
One's kid was kidnapped, and in her desperation to find him she broke into the wrong house and attacked innocents. Another had a sick father and tried to rob travelers to raise money for treatment. The last one seemed to be sitting for attacking her husband and his friends, yet she claimed she was framed by him.
All three of them were expert mages, and the third was even a rare darkness-type magician, while the first two were fire and earth. She didn't know which elements Gale wanted, but she figured she'd just prepare them, and he could choose later.
"Hello Mira, I'm Lena Stormborn, the daughter of Earl Stormborn. I heard your son was kidnapped."
"Hello, Lady Lena. It's true! Please save my son, I'm willing to do anything!"
The middle age woman was the first one on Lena's list, after all, any mother would be desperate if her son was kidnapped and they couldn't save him. She expected it to be easy to convince her.
"I'm not a guard, nor an investigator. it's not my job to search for lost kids."
"He was not lost, he was kidnapped! Please, since you came here it means you came with an offer, tell me what it is, I'll do anything."
"Speaking with smart people is indeed convenient. Tell me, would you sacrifice your future? Become a normal person for the sake of your son?"
"I… I would."
The woman thought for a few seconds and answered. The reason the life span of magicians was longer was because of the mana they used to strengthen their bodies, thus, even if she lost her connection to mana she wouldn't lose much.
She was already quite old and wasn't sure how long she'd need to break through the next stage while raising her son and working, and she was willing to sacrifice those chances to have her son back.
"Good, tomorrow a man will come here. He will come here for a month or so, your job is to have sex with him every day. When he's done with you, you'll lose all your powers. You can't ask questions and you can't tell anyone about it."
After telling her about the stick, it was time now for the carrot.
"During this month I will mobilize all the guards to find your son, and you will be released after you lose your connection to mana. Remember, if you tell anyone about the details of our deal or of what happened between the two of you, both you and your son will meet your end."
The woman was confused about the details, as it all sounded weird. But she agreed nonetheless; Lena was her last and only hope. She couldn't bargain and had nothing else of value to offer to an Earl's daughter.
"Yes, Lady Lena, I understand."