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

By the time Eldrin returned to House Korrandis, the excitement he’d felt from earning his first ten silver coins had mostly faded.

Another thought had been sitting at the back of his mind since the moment he’d read through the merchant ledger.

J7.

He had spent most of the journey back convincing himself it might mean nothing.

There had been no name attached to it that he recognized. No explanation of what was being stored there. Just a designation, repeated alongside purchases of cold-retention crystals and preservation materials.

It could have been for anything.

He had no proof that it had anything to do with his father.

And yet the thought refused to leave.

Maybe I’m seeing a connection because I want one.

Eldrin stopped outside the library.

That was possible.

In fact, it was probably the safest assumption to make.

He pushed the door open.

Rowan was sitting behind his usual desk, a book open in front of him. He didn’t bother looking up immediately.

"Back already?"

"Yes."

"Successful?"

Eldrin nodded.

"Ten silver."

That finally earned him a glance.

"Not bad."

Eldrin walked farther into the room.

He hesitated before speaking.

"Master Rowan."

"Hm?" Rowan asked.

"Do you have a map of the House Korrandis estate?"

Rowan’s hand paused over the page.

"A map?"

"Yes." Eldrin said.

"Why?"

Eldrin considered giving him an excuse.

"Curiosity...."

Rowan stared at him for a moment.

Then he closed the book.

"Wait here."

He disappeared between the shelves.

A few minutes later, he returned carrying a rolled sheet of thick parchment.

He placed it on the desk and unrolled it.

Eldrin leaned over.

The map was far larger than he’d expected.

Roads.

Buildings.

Courtyards.

Walls.

Gardens.

Servant quarters.

Administrative buildings.

The main Korrandis residence occupied only one section of it.

Eldrin’s eyes moved across the parchment.

He searched for the designation he’d memorized.

J7.

Nothing.

He checked again.

Still nothing.

"Master Rowan..."

"Hm?"

"Is this the complete map?"

Rowan looked down at it.

"Kind of." Rowan answered.

"What does ’kind of’ mean?" Eldrin asked.

Rowan gave a faint smile.

"This is the complete map of the household."

He tapped the parchment.

"But not the complete map of everything House Korrandis controls."

Eldrin looked up.

Rowan continued.

"South of the estate you’ll find the military camp. There are schools, training grounds, workshops, storehouses, residences, and various administrative buildings."

He moved his finger across the map.

"House Korrandis is almost a city in itself."

Eldrin stared at the parchment again.

He had thought the place was simply a large noble estate.

Apparently, he’d been wrong by a considerable margin.

"You’ve only seen a small part of it," Rowan said.

"Ten percent. Perhaps fifteen, at most."

Eldrin looked toward him.

"Most slaves never need to see the rest."

He pointed toward the northern edge of the map.

"That gate there is about a thousand metres from the main residence. That’s the primary entrance for officials, staff, and workers connected to the main Korrandis administration."

His finger moved farther.

"The other gates are much farther out. The south, southwest, and eastern gates are roughly ten kilometres away from here."

Eldrin slowly straightened.

Ten kilometres.

He looked at the map again.

The estate suddenly seemed much larger than it had yesterday.

Rowan rolled the parchment slightly farther open.

"This is only the section directly surrounding the household."

He tapped the larger southern region.

"The military grounds, schools, and other facilities aren’t included in this map."

The rest of the afternoon passed without anything unusual.

Eldrin returned to his work in the library and kept his questions to himself. Books had to be fetched, returned and sorted, requests from household staff had to be answered.

By six, his duties were finished.

Instead of returning to the slave quarters, Eldrin left through the southern side of the estate.

He wanted to see how much of House Korrandis actually remained hidden from him.

The farther he walked, the less the place resembled the residence he knew. The manicured paths gradually gave way to long stretches of trees and broad green grounds that seemed to separate one part of the Korrandis domain from another. There were no grand buildings here, no servants hurrying between rooms. Just carefully maintained land and the occasional patrol in the distance.

After a little over a kilometre, he saw the first sign that he’d entered another part of the estate.

A gate stood across the road.

It wasn’t especially large, but the security around it was obvious. Two guards stood beside a narrow checkpoint while people approached one at a time and presented small cards or metal permits before being allowed through.

Eldrin slowed.

He stayed far enough away that nobody paid him any attention.

Another worker approached the gate, presented his permit, and was waved through.

Then another.

Eldrin watched the process for several minutes.

"So that’s how it works."

There was no chance of simply walking in.

Even if he somehow talked his way past the guards, his face and identity were recorded within the household. Someone would notice sooner or later that a library slave had wandered into a restricted military area.

That kind of attention was exactly what he didn’t need.

But there was another possibility.

Eldrin looked at the shadows beneath the trees and remembered the brief moments when Veil had helped him slip past the men at Westmere.

Eldrin’s eyes lingered on the gate for another moment before he finally turned away.

There was no point forcing his way inside. He didn’t have a permit, and even if Veil could eventually get him through unnoticed, trying it now would be nothing more than gambling with his position in House Korrandis.

He already had enough problems without adding another punishment to them.

What he needed was time.

And money.

The thought brought his attention back to the small pouch beneath his coat. The ten silver he’d earned from the last request still felt strangely satisfying whenever he counted it, but ten coins were hardly enough to change his situation.

He needed seventy one more.

That meant going back to the bureau.

Eldrin headed toward the city, already considering what kind of request he should take next. The first job had taught him that he couldn’t simply choose the highest-paying notice and expect an easy night. Perhaps there were requests better suited to Shade—jobs where remaining unseen mattered more than raw strength.

He would find one.

And while he was doing it, he could keep working on Veil.

There was no reason to separate the two.

Every request could give him money.

Every dangerous situation could give him experience.

And every mistake could teach him something about his Pathway.

By the time Eldrin reached the main road, his decision was settled.

Another request.

That was the quickest way forward.

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