Ezra awoke with a grunt. Pain was apparent all over his body, with a headache worse than before.
Normally, he'd cultivate, invigorating himself with mana to wipe away fatigue.
But he couldn't do that today, as the pent up fatigue didn't allow it.
His body rebelled against its misuse, and Ezra complied, going back to sleep.
Meanwhile, Fredrick was solely investigating Black Jaws's ongoing activities.
He woke up after an unknown amount of time, still tired, but not as much as before.
With groans, he got to his feet, only to kneel, a single thought in his mind.
'So hungry!'
He took food from his space ring, shoving it down his throat.
Minutes passed as he ate his fill, bread crumbs and fruit juices littering the floor at the end of it.
He sat, taking breaths to calm himself as he regained his reason, but he was too tired to think clearly.
Once again, he shut his eyes, heading back to la-la land.
Ezra awakes once more.
Not willingly but out of necessity.
His tummy was churning incessantly.
Again, he ate rapaciously, falling asleep right after.
Time flew by, Ezra waking up for the fifth time.
The cause? The knocks on the door.
Opening his quivering eyelids, Ezra starred, promptly going back to sleep-
"Ezra!"
-when a voice shook him awake.
"Mooom?" he muttered, getting to his feet and opening the door, slowly but surely.
Something clicked, and the door split open, revealing a woman garbed in an embroidered shirt and jeans to allow for flexible movement, both blue to match her deep blue hair, which was tied in a bun.
"Ezra!" she ran, hugging Ezra with teary eyes.
"Do you have any idea how worried you made me?"
His heart skipped.
"Sooorrry"
"Shh" she muffed, touching his head.
"Your body's so hot"
"Huh? I...didn't…kn-"
His head fell back, falling asleep immediately.
"Ezra?!"
Quickly, she popped a healing potion into his mouth and laid him down as she looked around.
Her finger snapped and two guards came in.
"Have this place cleaned"
They nodded, promptly doing as ordered.
"Ugh" Ezra woke up, rubbing his eyes as his nose picked up a sweet aroma, knocking away his dizziness.
"I see you're finally awake"
Turning his head, his mom came into view as she rubbed his hair with a cherry smile.
"Mom?" Ezra began recollecting.
"Ah yes. You were here"
"Of course I was, now, less talking, more eating" she said, taking the lid of a bowl, revealing Ezra's favorite dish, then feeding it to Ezra.
"Come on, open up"
Unable to argue, she fed him to his fill.
With the bowl empty, Ezra wiped his mouth.
He wondered…
"Why did you come here?"
"You didn't visit, so I did"
He paused, letting the words sink in, before his eyes widened.
"How long was I asleep?"
He visited his mom on the last two days of every month.
Orion had ten months in a year, which were thirty-five days each. A year was 50 weeks or 350 days.
His mom raised five fingers.
"Five hours?"
"Five days" she corrected.
"That long!" he exclaimed.
She nodded.
"What about Theron?"
"He's fine. Roxanne told me he woke up two days ago"
"I see" he calmed down.
"Sorry I forgot to visit"
"It's okay" she said.
"So? How do you feel?"
He stretched and stood.
"Better. A bit stiff, but nothing a few day of training won't solve"
Dusting her clothes, she headed out, ruffling Ezra's hair one last time.
"Then my work here is done"
He bowed in response, before asking something that was bugging him…
"You changed your hair color?"
"Oh, you noticed" she untied her hair, letting it fall beyond her shoulder.
"So? What do you think"
"It looks great on you"
She nodded, smiling all the way as she exited, leaving Ezra to his thoughts.
He stretched, his body feeling far lighter even though he still had braces on.
He brought out his staff, making a few stances to ascertain his assumption.
After a few movements, he smiled in delight. The braces felt nonexistent. He had grown stronger once more.
Nodding, he took out new braces, replacing them in minutes.
'Now…shall I check my progress?'
Ezra was anxious to know how the mana stone had changed his body. And from his observations, good news awaited him.
But that'll have to wait.
A tingling sensation on his finger alerted him.
'Hmm?' he took out a scroll - one of the communication artifacts - and unfolded it.
It revealed a white surface, which shone as words written in black ink appeared.
This was how Fredrick and Ezra communicated.
Reading the message, Ezra raises a brow.
'Something's wrong' was the opening sentence.
His curiosity now captured, he read on aggressively, making several expressions while doing so.
The scroll has a limit to how many words could be written within, so he cleaned the foremost sentences to bring forth the rest.
Three minutes elapsed while he read, releasing a sigh at the end.
He pressed his forehead.
'This is troublesome'
The message was Fredrick reporting the findings of his investigations.
In hindsight, there were a lot of problems.
Firstly, Black Jaws spent a little more than a hundred and sixty thousand platinum this year.
Granted, more than half of that amount was paid to acquire the eleven slums and a few other lands at Ezra's orders.
But then, where the heck did fifty thousand platinum go???
The renovation of Traxford and Kingsmere's slums? Please! Five thousand platinum should be more than enough! Or was it?
Ezra got confused. He wasn't knowledgeable on these matters, but there was no way the amount spent wasn't excessive, he just didn't know how excessive.
Something clicked as he wrote to Fredrick some questions he hadn't thought to ask before.
—-------------------------
In his cottage, Fredrick sat on his lonesome as Ezra's words materialized.
"Huh?" he was stumped. He didn't know the answers to Ezra's questions.
'Where was Nathan working before? How much did he make and how much did he manage?'
'How am I supposed to know?' he thought.
He replied 'Traxford' to the first question and 'I don't know' to the others.
'Find out' Ezra replied.
Fredrick nodded as Ezra had more directives.
—-------------------
The second issue was about the gold slum movements, specifically, guild members.
The majority being F-rank was far below their estimations, for it didn't match the benefits given. And Fredrick findings told why.
'Of all things, I didn't expect this. But well, there was a reason why they were slum dwellers'
Fredrick findings told of the slow growth to be due to two reasons.
Very few were willing to risk death by hunting beasts despite the luxuries afforded to them, so the majority opted for an alternative.
Since they knew what would happen should they try leaving the guild, they paid the majority of their rations and money to those unafraid to hunt for them.
He smirked.
'It seems they got a bit too comfortable'
This culminated into an advantage for those unafraid, one that stacked over time.
They ate their fill by eating the food they were paid, then killed more beasts, serving as experience which increased their skillset, thereby accelerating their growth as they were awarded herbs and artifacts.
Now, the gap between majority and minority had expanded.
Thankfully, this came to their notice early on, else it would have spelt disaster.
'Let's have the useless ones weeded out'
Of course, he wasn't going to order a slaughter, so…
'How should I do this?'
'There's that!' he remembered, writing 'Has the newly built guild hall been completed?' to Fredrick.
'Almost. The interior is not quite there yet. The underground compartment is going through the final phases' Fredrick replied.
'When will it be done?' Ezra wrote.
'A month and half at most'
'Good. Those weak have exactly that long to grow. Get trained beasts at the ready. They'll regret squandering their chance, as I am magnamious enough to grant them a second chance'
'Yes'
