Playing with death is a familiar thing for every practicing magician. Dangers awaited the caster at every magical action and not only. Every wizard got used to this over time. But such courage did not often go beyond witchcraft. That is, sorcerers who repeatedly take on the risks of creating spells rarely acted like this in their everyday, social or political life. And why would they risk it if everything was gradually flowing into their hands anyway. A thousand years ago, they didn't have the slightest autonomy. Right now, there were no opponents in the world for them. No, of course, there are many problems that cannot be swung at, ranging from scientific tasks to strong opponents. For example, the higher gods, demons, elementals and other entities of this order were one on one superior to any magician. But, firstly, they were quite passive and contrary to the ideas of ordinary people, they did almost nothing, at least according to current information. And, secondly, here we need to look not at a static picture of what magicians can and cannot do, but at the process of their self-improvement. Ten thousand years ago, a sorcerer was defeated by a simple man, a thousand years ago, from a dozen to a hundred people could cope with a wizard. Now it was impossible in any case. Five hundred years ago, thirty magicians could barely defeat the lower demons. Forty-five years ago, forty of the best magicians from two countries were enough to kill one of the strongest gods. And this despite the fact that the ritual itself was a failure – among the participants, one or more turned out to be traitors who spoiled the spell. So all the magicians died heroically, but still achieved their goal.
Seeing such dynamics, no one wanted to do anything other than magic. This tactic put the sorcerers where they were now, and nothing prevented them from achieving even more in the future. So many sorcerers thought, among whom was Crassus. He was completely satisfied with the stability of the position of modern wizards. In general, his current behavior was not caused by a desire for power or global change. He just didn't want to be on the losing side. He was in complete control of his life now. But it wasn't an accident or luck, he didn't inherit it. The Archmage achieved this by himself, alone, and therefore was completely independent. And this independence suited him completely. He could explore what he wanted, fight with whom he wanted, spend as much money as he wanted. And in general, is it really necessary to explain to someone the advantages of power coupled with independence? And independence was very important here. People often, making their way to the top, take on obligations, which they cannot refuse to fulfill later, so as not to lose what they have achieved. After all, if you offend one of your long-term donors, then the others will immediately turn away from you, and you will remain at the broken trough. So the debts had to be repaid, no matter how unpleasant it was sometimes. Crassus owes nothing to anyone. On the contrary, he often helped young and talented magicians with his advice or patronage. Although, in general, all influential wizards who have at least a bit of ambition were engaged in this. Looking for future allies is a basic element of the struggle for power. After all, despite the fact that sorcerers were not interested in relationships with people, but the hierarchy within the magical community is a completely different matter. Perhaps if wizards were exclusively scientists, it would not manifest itself in such a developed and rigid form, but besides that they were also wars. And it is typical for warriors to always organize themselves over time into a certain complex structure. Crassus, being at the top of this structure, together with other archmages, could spend such funds on his projects that the kings could only envy. Consequently, it is absolutely out of his hands to lose his place. So lately he had to spend a lot more time on politics and intrigue than he himself would like.
Speaking of which. Here, too, Crassus was not so smooth. The fact is that magicians in general are much less knowledgeable in intrigues compared to people. If the courtiers were only doing this, then magicians generally spent their free time either on science or on training. They simply lacked experience and a suitable environment for practice. So Crassus, although imagined the directions of his actions, such as gathering allies and eliminating opponents in advance, but he could not come up with something more complicated. And it was lucky that he was actually an aristocrat himself, so he had certain skills. It is difficult to imagine what he would do as a commoner. The magician even thought of consulting with some famous schemer, but this is too unreliable an idea. Now Crassus has just arrived in the capital, the city of Ur, to prepare the ground for his next move. It was planned to first decisively divide his rivals, and then successfully dominate them. By the way, this idea about "rivals" seemed funny to him. He himself was considered an enemy only by sworn enemies from the Federation and perhaps some, so far hidden, forces in his native country. Meanwhile, the Emperor and the prince, the noble assembly and the council of masters, the first adviser to the emperor and the supreme pontiff - all considered him, if not their ally, then certainly not a rival. Crassus himself did not see any value in them and planned to take certain measures against everyone in order to reduce their authority and, if lucky, raise his own.
In Ur, a small but rich city standing in the middle of a man–made exotic forest, the sorcerer arrived for negotiations with his former classmate. Logmar was a talented mind magician and only time separated him from those peaks that had already submitted to Crassus. Or maybe not just time. Logmar belonged to the descendants of a large group of Northerners who moved to the empire a hundred years ago. If he were a combat magician, there would be no problems – victory is victory and they would not be able to refuse to raise his rank. But sorcerers following the path of a scientist should understand that scientific works are evaluated not by an impartial court, but by the same magicians, who were not prevented by anything from underestimating the significance of some studies and favoring others. But that's only half the question. It is clear that the wizards discriminated against the young magician, but why did this happen? Logmar himself believed that it was because of his origin, different from the Acadian. But Crassus didn't think so. The magical community was incredibly tolerant of the origin of man, power and knowledge were put in the first place. It couldn't have been any other way. That did not prevent them from dividing by interests into large and small groups for further struggle for power. Only not on the basis of origin, but on the basis of scientific, political, social and other views. Each group had a wide influence and promoted its newly arrived members in every possible way up the career ladder. But the northerners, and there were about a dozen of these magicians in total, did not want to join any group, and they did not create their own. That is, each of them was as much a loner as Crassus, no more and no less. Only, if en Janet had the strength to break through to the top, then they don't.
Thinking about the situation, and trying to calculate in advance the upcoming conversation, the archmage paced his capital mansion, selecting appropriate attire. He was wearing his work robes now, as he had teleported to the capital immediately after completing the experiment in his sister's laboratory. But he definitely couldn't have gone to a potential subordinate in a work suit. What will it look like? An outstanding archmage is in a hurry to talk to an ordinary master of magic so much that he can't even change his clothes. And if the townsfolk might not know the difference in the appearance of a magician's formal, casual and work clothes, then Logmar certainly knows this. And, therefore, he will think that Crassus really needs him. So it will fill its own price. En Janet could not afford that. So he had to quickly put on one of his many ceremonial robes. The magician chose his most favorite - an all-black robe. His most expensive purchase. A long time ago, the most expensive color was purple, one might say the imperial color. But alchemy did not stand still and now any paints cost about the same. Until alchemists started competing in other areas, for example, in the depths of the black color. As the tailor assured him, the fabric reflected only hundredths of a percent of light, so the mantle looked very unusual. Well, it is also showed his status, of course.
Dressed up, the magician gave incredibly valuable instructions to the servants and went outside. Horses were banned in the city, as there was simply no place for them in a small town with narrow streets. But how refreshing was the purity of the local air. Compared to other cities, it's just a fairy tale. There was no horse manure, open sewers, alchemical and other foul-smelling industries. It might be better, except in the forest. Or in the mountains. Although Crassus had not yet tasted the smell of the mountains for himself. On the contrary, he had as many as three unpleasant memories associated with them. Specifically, with the Tollack mountain range, located in the south of Akad. Once he almost died there in the clutches of an impudent dragon. Then he hurriedly ran away from the mages of Innsbruck in the same mountains, performing a combat mission. Well, in the main in importance, but the first chronological case, he disgraced himself in front of a girl. It was before the magic academy, when he and his family visited the famous mountain resorts. And it so happened that he found himself alone with a local commoner high in the mountains. The situation could not have been more romantic. But mountain sickness had its own opinion on this. So he threw up right before attempting the first kiss. Well, at least he managed to turn away. And the girl was not noble, so in the future this story did not result in anything. Nevertheless, the mountains were not remembered for him from their best sides.
The sorcerer was walking towards the building of the Supreme Court, where his future, as he hoped, accomplice worked. The streets were deserted enough, except for the gardeners scurrying to and fro, servicing myriad exotic plants. During working hours, it was really rare to see an idle pedestrian in Ur. All due to the fact that almost all residents were employed in one or another state institution. So Crassus walked the streets of this city all alone. And he was incredibly happy about it. Thanks to this, he could safely admire one of the pearls of the empire. The architecture here was truly magical. And this is not an exaggeration at all. Each building contained a bit of magic. It was a very long tradition to use magic to build houses in this city. Because of it, architects could realize their wildest fantasies, regardless of the laws of physics. For example, the three-story building that the archmage was passing by now did not have a second floor. There was just an empty space in this place, through which everything that was behind the structure could be seen. En Janet himself could come up with many ways how he would implement it. The simplest of them was implemented here – an illusion. In fact, the second floor did not exist only for an external observer, it was inside and was no different from the others. Such simplicity suggested that the magician who dealt with this house was not very skilled. The houses of the mighty magicians of illusion looked like an explosion in a mirror factory. But the magic of illusion was naturally not limited to everything. Everything was here, from flying mansions to palaces, constantly and arbitrarily changing their appearance and internal composition. So there is something to admire. And a sorcerer who has seen not only the appearance of buildings, but also perfect spell structures, even more so.
After walking almost the entire city, due to the fact that his mansion and the Supreme Court building were at opposite ends of the Ur, the magician found himself in front of a huge majestic building made of white marble. The money was not spent small here. But what a scale, what a majesty. The mighty spirit of justice is felt. Without pausing at the entrance, Crassus went inside. He did not arrange a meeting with Logmar in advance, since he considered the effect of surprise to be a very important factor in any conversation. And if there was such an opportunity, he always tried to use it. Moreover, the situation allowed it. Even if his classmate was at the court session now, there is no doubt that for the sake of the archmage, this court would have been suspended or postponed. But as the clerk from the administration said, there was no sessions for the mind magician right now, and he can safely meet in his office, where Crassus went. On the way to the right door, en Janet rejoiced to himself that Logmar worked not anywhere, but in court. A person not initiated into the magical topic might think that this is a very honorable position for any magician, since it gave certain privileges, influence and power. But in reality, everything was exactly the opposite. For sorcerers, the closer their profession is to interacting with people, the less honorable it is. And it's not just about honor, it's just worse.
Being engaged in human routine, the magician thereby buried his talent in the sand, since he spent a huge amount of time not on his research and self-improvement, but on useless, repetitive, tedious actions for him. Working in court is truly a step of desperation. If Logmar hadn't been so stubborn and narrow-minded, he would have been a magister a long time ago and worked in someone's laboratory, or maybe not in someone's, but in his own. In court, he did not do anything except sitting in his pants. Its whole function here is a lie detector. Any master can handle this, let alone a mind magician. The mentalist, if he wanted and had enough time, could tell more about the suspect's life than he knew himself. But no one needed it. Probably, there is no such person who would not know someone else's secret. Especially among the nobility. If you fully read the memory of a noble suspect, you will find an invisible thread of crimes, secrets and riddles leading from one person to another. How many innocent people will be among the upper class then? Twenty percent? Thirty? And then who will remain in charge of the country? Many disagreed with this. Justice is justice. But the laws were written by completely different people. Therefore, the prosecutor tried to carefully select questions so as not to hurt other people's secrets, and the mind magician only checked the veracity of the answers. Speaking of secrets, how would Crassus now use the knowledge of some, even the smallest, Logmare's secret. Blackmail in the upcoming case looked much more reliable than shaky trust.