Enslaved by the Crown: The Weakest Slave Has the Strongest Ability

The office was smaller than Eldrin had expected.

It occupied the lower floor of a broad stone building near the western district, with a steady stream of people moving through its doors. Some carried weapons. Others wore work clothes stained with mud, blood, or whatever their latest job had involved.

No one seemed particularly interested in anyone else.

He approached the nearest counter.

A woman sitting behind it glanced up from the register.

"First time?"

Eldrin nodded.

"Yes."

"Registration is one silver."

One silver.

Eldrin’s fingers instinctively touched the small pouch beneath his coat.

He could spare it.

Barely.

He counted out the coin and placed it on the counter.

The woman took it and pushed a small metal ring toward him.

"Put it on, and your name?"

Eldrin picked it up.

"Caiden," he said.

It looked ordinary at first glance. A dark band of metal with a small crystal embedded in the top.

He slipped it onto his finger.

The woman reached across the counter and tapped the crystal.

A faint blue light passed through the ring.

"Now touch it."

Eldrin did.

The surface lit up.

A thin projection appeared above the ring.

His face appeared first.

Beneath it were several empty sections.

Name: Caiden

Registered Requests: 0

Completed Requests: 0

Rating: 0

Record: None

Eldrin stared at it.

"So this keeps track of everything?"

"Requests you complete through the bureau, yes. Your identification, payment records, rating, completed work."

"Can anyone see it?"

"Not everything."

She tapped the crystal again.

"Your basic identification can be checked. Private details require authorization."

Eldrin nodded.

That was useful.

He looked down at the ring again.

His face was still displayed above it.

It was strange seeing himself reduced to a few lines of information.

"Thank you."

The woman gave him a polite nod and returned to her paperwork.

Eldrin turned toward the large request board along the opposite wall.

There were dozens of notices pinned across it.

Most were ordinary.

Escort — 2 silver

Herb Collection — 1 silver

Livestock Threat — 3 silver

Warehouse Guard Duty — 2 silver

He read through several more.

Nothing paid enough.

Then one notice caught his eye.

He stepped closer.

RESTRICTED RETRIEVAL

Reward: 10 Silver Coins

Eldrin looked at it twice.

Ten.

That was more than he expected.

He pulled the notice from the board and carried it back to the counter.

"I’ll take this one."

The woman looked at the paper.

"You’ve chosen the restricted retrieval."

"I noticed."

A small sigh escaped her.

"Several people have already tried this one."

Eldrin looked up.

"And?"

"They didn’t complete it."

"Why?" Eldrin asked.

"That’s something you’ll have to find out."

Her tone wasn’t dismissive.

If anything, she seemed slightly concerned.

"This isn’t a beginner’s request."

Eldrin glanced at the ten silver reward.

"I’ve got to start somewhere."

The woman studied him for another moment.

Then reached beneath the counter and withdrew a thin folder.

"Fine."

She placed it in front of him.

"But read this before you leave."

Eldrin opened it.

Inside was a brief description of the missing ledger, the name of the merchant company that owned it, and the last confirmed location of the courier who had been carrying it.

There was also a rough map.

The final entry caught his attention.

Last confirmed location: Briarhook Road.

Beyond it, someone had marked an abandoned trading estate.

Eldrin looked up.

"This is where you believe the ledger is?" Eldrin asked.

"That’s where the courier disappeared." She said.

"How long ago?"

"Three days."

Eldrin read the page again.

The reward was starting to make more sense.

Ten silver for a ledger that several people had already failed to recover.

He folded the papers carefully.

"One more thing." Woman said.

Eldrin paused.

"Don’t assume the reward means the job is easy."

Her expression had become serious.

"People get hurt when they make that mistake."

Eldrin nodded.

"I understand."

She gave him the faintest smile.

"Good luck, Caiden."

He slipped the papers inside his coat and stepped away from the counter.

Ten silver.

His first real opportunity.

Now he just had to earn it.

..

By the time Eldrin reached Briarhook Road, it was already close to eight in the evening.

The last traces of daylight had disappeared behind the hills.

The road ahead was mostly empty.

Briarhook had once been an important trading route, but the city that had grown around it had been abandoned years ago. A newer settlement had taken its place farther south, leaving the old district to decay.

Even so, the road was still used.

Merchant caravans sometimes passed through when they wanted to avoid the newer routes.

That explained why the place hadn’t been completely swallowed by weeds and rubble.

Eldrin adjusted his coat and continued along the road.

The darkness didn’t bother him as much as it should have.

He could still make out the uneven ground, the trees beside the road, even the outlines of distant ruins.

Is this because of Shade?

He couldn’t be certain.

There was no strange glow or heightened sensation.

He simply...

saw.

Better than he had expected.

Eldrin kept walking.

A few hundred metres ahead, he noticed something lying beside the road.

He slowed.

A broken leather strap.

He crouched and picked it up.

The material was worn, but the buckle remained attached.

He compared it with the description of the missing courier.

Could be his.

He looked around.

Nothing.

Then his eyes moved toward the old road branching away from Briarhook.

There were marks in the dirt.

Wheel tracks.

Faint ones.

But they were fresh enough to distinguish from the older impressions covering the road.

Eldrin followed them.

For several minutes, the tracks led deeper into the abandoned district.

Then they disappeared.

He stopped.

The road ahead split between a collapsed wall and a line of dead trees.

No obvious tracks continued.

Eldrin looked back.

Maybe they turned off here.

He considered searching the surrounding area.

After a moment, he decided against it.

He had already reached the point where he was working from guesses.

Better to go back and look at what he’d missed.

He turned around.

Three minutes later, something caught his eye.

An overturned handcart lay in a patch of weeds near the edge of the road.

Eldrin approached.

One wheel had broken completely.

The rest of the cart was empty.

He crouched beside it.

A small paper label had become caught beneath one of the boards.

He pulled it free.

The merchant’s seal was still visible.

Eldrin compared it with the information he’d received from the bureau.

Same company.

Same route.

His eyes narrowed.

"Found you."

The courier had come this way.

There was no longer any doubt.

Eldrin looked beyond the cart.

The road continued toward a cluster of abandoned buildings farther ahead.

He slipped the label into his pocket.

Then followed the road.

The buildings became larger as he went.

Broken homes gave way to old warehouses.

Then stone walls.

Then, beyond the walls, something much larger emerged from the darkness.

A castle.

It stood on a low rise beyond the abandoned district, its towers black against the night sky.

Eldrin stopped.

He looked down at the rough sketch he’d been given.

The abandoned trading estate was marked roughly in this direction.

But the castle itself hadn’t been mentioned.

Eldrin stared at it.

Then whatever happened to the ledger might have begun inside that place.

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