What the lesser of many evils was in this case was not easy to decide.
"I definitely don't want to work for the wealthy," he grumbled inwardly. "Those bastards are half the reason why I want to burn this world down. I will get hefty wages and a luxurious lifestyle, but I have already long decided that labor income will not help me become truly rich. And I don't care for luxury."
For many mages, being employed by a rich family, clan, or individuals was the dream.
Not Cæ.
He didn't care for luxury.
"Whatever I choose, it must aid in my two agendas and my ultimate goal."
This, he was clear about.
Serving the wealthy wouldn't necessarily help him earn more capital income from commercial ventures, not without selling his soul to them by having them become his personal investor.
On top of that, the kinds of jobs that mages serving the wealthy engaged in were often not rich in experience. They were there to entertain the wealthy or help them get richer, even the magetants, also known as combat mages, under them saw the least amount of action.
Cæ was simply not inclined to go this route.
"Serving magicorporations also sucks."
The conditions were similar to serving wealthy families and rich individuals except even less personal and still ultimately served in the interests of their profit. On top of that, the work would be highly monotonous.
"Serving the government or the Elendir Mage Association are the two options left in that regard." He snorted. "Not as bad as the rich, I suppose. Still, I may not have to make a choice right away."
An overwhelming majority of magicademies were exclusively national or private.
"Except for the thirteen Elendir Institutes of Magic across the entire nation."
Even someone like him who had spent most of his life in the slums and had had no interest in mastering magic previously was aware of the Elendir Institutes of Magic. Far and away the most prestigious institution in the entire world with thirteen highly coveted branches across the entire nation.
They were joint initiatives of the mage association, the government, many power blocs and interest groups, and many wealthy families.
Together, they created the most well-funded and resourceful institutes that produced some of the most skilled mages in the entire nation, while also employing some of the most skilled mages as professors and trainers.
It took him only a little bit of research on the maginet for Cæ to find out that it offered a scholarship as well, with an open-ended contract offer.
The decade of service would not change, but he could choose between the many patrons, investors, and stakeholders of the institute. Mages graduating from the institutes were so valued that they were often even auctioned as many parties would bid to be their scholarship contractor.
"This institute would guarantee my skills and allow me to choose between the government and the mage association as my scholarship contractor after I'm done with graduation," he mused. "I will be in a much better position to make a difference. And I will know more about it."
And thus, his plan for the second of two agendas, mastering magic, was decided.
"Now, I just need to consider all my options for cultivating magicapita when I get back 'home.'"
His expression curdled at the thought of living in the slums once more. Although he could book a hotel thanks to the success of his business strategy, he knew that it was prudent to wait and ensure that the success of the restaurant was consistent before he spent money more liberally.
When he reached his shabby little hut in the Colohen Slums, his only wish was to be left alone as he brainstormed ideas.
And yet, the Colohen Slums didn't appear to be amenable that night.
"Hehehe, look who finally came back."
"If it isn't the lick."
"I like that jacket you got on. I'm sure it will look better on me, you little shit."
Cæ's eyes narrowed as he glanced behind him from the corner of his eyes.
His eyes blazed with cold hatred and anger.
The cuts, bruises, and other wounds he had suffered over the past few months were because he had failed to entirely adapt back to the Colohen Slums in time. And once he was targeted one time, he would be targeted another time.
And another.
And another.
Until the local community all knew that he was an easy target because he had no friends or allies, and everybody else was picking on him.
It didn't help that everybody knew he worked a job outside of the odd errands of the slums. Thus, he was a prime target for robbing.
More than anything he was an outsider.
"What the hell do you maggots want?"
Cæ's voice was overflowing with contemptuous hatred.
Hatred so intense that it tainted the clear gray of his eyes with malevolent darkness.
A hatred for the slums that had been cultivated his entire life.
It sent chills across the skins of the three men who had cornered him at his run-down hut.
And yet, they couldn't show it.
How you were perceived was everything in the slums. If they were perceived to be weak, then they would end up becoming the next lick of the local slum community.
THUD!
The man at the center grabbed Cæ by the collar, slamming him into the wall of his little hut.
"Don't talk shit to me, you little bitch." His tone grew dangerous. "I will kill you. You understand?"
Cæ scoffed with derision. "Your breath stinks. Fuck off. Or get down on your knees and suck my—"
FLICK FLICK
Cæ's cold gaze shifted to the knives that the other two drew from their worn-down belts.
"You went and did it now." The man's expression was distorted with bloodlust. "You just had to run your mouth, didn't you?"
His right hand left Cæ's collar, reaching for his own blade.
"If you'd just shut up and obediently listened, you would not lose your life today."
FLICK
His grin grew gruesome as he drew his own knife.
"Any last words?"
"…"
"Then die." His eyes flared with sadism as his knife flew towards Cæ's heart.
And yet, it never reached.
FWOOOSH!
Spontaneously, the man combusted, consumed by an enormous fire that enveloped his body.
"AAARRRGGHHHHHRRARHGRHRGHRR!!!"
His gruesome howl gave the other two goosebumps as they simply watched with horror as he was burned alive.
By the time they started running, it was too late.
"Sorry." Cæ's words were cold. "But I can't spare any witnesses."
His chilling expression never changed a shade as he watched both of them burn alive.
It wasn't until they stopped screaming that he finally released the flames.
He heaved a sigh of relief.
"It's a good thing I already tried the igniting magic once before."
Ordinarily, one time was far, far from enough for any mage to be able to use a spell like that in practice. But with Cæ, even once yielded him enough experience to know what to expect.
He could construct eidos from pure imagination and thought, after all.
He glanced at the three corpses with cold apathy before his gaze shifted to his hands.
He didn't feel even the slightest hint of remorse, emotion, or guilt at having killed three people. Perhaps it was because they were going to kill him had he not done what he did. Perhaps it was because people like them were part of why he had come to hate the slums his entire life.
Regardless, he simply didn't feel anything despite burning three people alive.
His gaze swept around his surroundings carefully, unable to sense any presence. Unfortunately, as unreliable as relying on his senses to detect any potential witnesses was, he didn't have any better method at the moment.
Thankfully, just witnessing him setting people on fire without incantation or a magical circle was not proof that he was engaging in pure magic, considering that enchanted items and artifacts were capable of replicating what he had just done. Thus, his secret was far, far from revealed, even if the whole world saw him light them ablaze. That was the only reason that he was not too worried if someone had seen him.
"Tsk, I need to get out of the slums as soon as possible."
The slums were deeply unpleasant to live in. The moment the success of Selvig's Ristorante was proven to be long-lived, he was more than content leaving the place and shifting to a better place to live.
He refused to remain in this shit hole of a place with absolutely no future and no potential. He had always known his entire life that this place would always hold him back and never let him achieve his dreams.
"Now…" He heaved a sigh. "Time to brainstorm for commercial ventures that can allow me to accrue more wealth and more capital income."
With the income that he was projected to get from partial ownership over the restaurant, he needed to start filtering out business ideas whose venture capital he could afford.
The very moment he did, his mind was flooded with a myriad of ideas that he could pursue, from targeting different market segments, targeting different industries from those that sold essential goods and services to luxury industries.
Dozens, hundreds, thousands of ideas erupted in his mind as he considered them.
His imagination ran wild with possibilities even as he parsed all of them.
"Tsk, this is unsustainable," he tutted. "I should further rank them by reward/risk ratio."
Unfortunately, this was where his knowledge was starting to show its limits; he didn't have a good understanding of a lot of industries.
"Then, I should focus exclusively on industries that I have knowledge, exposure, and experience with."
There was no point in starting off in areas that he had absolutely no foundation in. It was better to focus on industries and markets that he was familiar with before expanding into unfamiliar territory.
That erased a lot of the many ideas that had surged within his vivid imagination, leaving some clear favorites ranking at the top of his list of ideas.
"The food industry."
This was a no-brainer.
Of all the industries he was most familiar with, the food industry was probably at the top of the list. He was, of course, a consumer of food like every person was, and he had many years of experience of working at a popular family-run restaurant.
He was also the most confident in working in that industry due to his success at turning around the dying Selvig's Ristorante and changing its destiny. However, there were issues.
"The food industry often has a very high barrier of entry and a low ceiling."
Starting restaurants was expensive, but also had very clear limits in terms of revenue potential. It was not something that had tremendous potential to yield him great profits and meaningfully help him reach his ultimate goal.
Long-term scalability was important to him for his goal, and wasn't a condition that the restaurant industry was known for. Thus, he was not inclined to invest a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into creating his own restaurant.
CRACK CRACK CRACK…
He snapped out of his reverie at the unsteady cracking sounds from the walls. Moments later, the structure began collapsing on him, leaving him precious few moments to jump out of the way.
BOOM!
Cæ barely managed to jump out of the crumbling shack in time, narrowly avoiding being crushed by the falling rubble. That was what fundamentally drove him to do what he was doing with the strongest.
"Goddammit!" he cursed, gasping for breath. "I totally forgot that this was the condition of real estate in the slums!"
No construction company bothered entering the slums due to the extremely low purchasing power of the residents of the slums. All construction services were done by incompetent, unskilled workers for short change, or by the residents themselves.
"It was already pretty old and shabby, but I didn't think it was anywhere near crumbling. That guy shoving me into the wall must have been the final straw." He scowled, getting up as he dusted himself. "I guess I should thank him for having done that, huh? If it collapsed after I fell asleep, I would be dead. Tsk, I would be willing to pay hard cash to be able to sleep at night without worrying that a building is going to fall on top of me—!"
He froze as a sudden idea popped into his head. "Willing to pay hard cash…"
His eyes lit up. "...This might just work."
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