Ravian paused, trying to process what Adrian had just told him, and a frown slowly appeared on his face. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

He briefly glanced at Adrian, looking him up and down. But his frown did not ease.

"Adrian, tell the truth, did you hit your head somewhere while I wasn’t looking? Because you really aren’t making any sense here. Let’s say I have five wooden logs I was burning in my mansion’s fireplace. After some time, two of the five logs were burned away, and I was left with only three logs."

He pressed a hand to his forehead.

"The two burned away logs didn’t go to anyone; they burned and thus ceased to exist. How can those two logs be taken by someone as tax?"

Adrian stared at him expressionlessly for a while, and then suddenly took out a silver coin and dangled it in front of his face.

"What do you think this coin is worth?"

Ravian stared at the coin deeply. It looked new and shiny, but the imperial family’s crest that was imprinted on it had faded very slightly from the edges, which meant...

"This coin is obviously worth ninety lux. I mean, is that even a question?"

But as he looked at Adrian, he was staring back expressionlessly. Ravian began feeling somewhat uncomfortable under that gaze.

"What...? Why are you staring at me like that?"

Adrian sighed and asked something else.

"Who are you?"

Ravian tilted his head.

"Ravian Aurel Graveshroud, obviously. Why are you asking these strange questions?"

But Adrian lightly shook his head.

"Wrong, your name isn’t Ravian, it’s Corvis."

Hearing that, Ravian’s expression turned strange.

’Did he... really hit his head somewhere?’

Adrian was spouting one nonsense after another, which felt even stranger since he was saying all that with a neutral and unamused expression. It felt especially weird to him because he had spent two years with Adrian and knew what sort of person Adrian was.

"Look, we are getting off topic, so stop with the nonsense. My name is obviously not Cor-whatever, it’s Ravian."

Adrian suddenly stopped walking, prompting Ravian to stop as well. Then Adrian suddenly walked closer to him and looked into his eyes.

"Do you have some tangible proof that your name is Ravian? Can you prove it to me without using a document or a witness? Or can you prove that your name isn’t Corvis?"

’Obviously I... can...’

Ravian opened his mouth, but no words came out. After all, how was he supposed to prove something like that?

"You can’t, can you?"

He had no reply.

Adrian turned and started walking, prompting him to follow.

"You aren’t the only one; nobody can prove it. That is because a person doesn’t inherently have a name; their name is whatever everyone thinks it is. And it’s the same for this coin."

Adrian held out the coin in front of him once again.

"This silver coin isn’t ninety lux, it’s a silver coin. The ninety lux value only exists in your head. Think about it, when the imperial crest fades more than half from this coin, you will go to the imperial treasury bank and exchange it for newly issued coins worth seventy-five lux, the depreciated value of this coin."

Then he flipped the coin, showing its plain side.

"But the imperial family will engrave a new crest on it, and its value will become a hundred lux. Tell me, Ravian, you gave them seventy-five lux, but they now have a hundred lux, so where did the extra twenty-five lux come from?"

Ravian’s eyes went wide as things finally connected in his mind.

’What the hell...’

He was less impressed by the mechanics behind the currency system of the empire and more impressed by the fact that Adrian had understood all this. Even now, Ravian felt that he had only understood the bare minimum, and there was a lot that he was simply incapable of understanding even with the help of Mnemosyne.

"Ugh, I get it now. I’m sorry for doubting your sanity before, Adrian. But weren’t we discussing the crowd and how they had their own agenda? What does it all have to do with this?"

After all, it was the duty of imperial citizens to pay taxes, so what if the tax system was a little sophisticated?

"It’s one of the three major problems. Because of this tax system, the citizens themselves have no idea how much tax they are actually paying. They simply can’t calculate it. Now, who will the citizens blame for their poverty?"

’Right...’

Unlike how taxes are physically paid to the territory lord–the noble family ruling the territory, people were paying taxes to the imperial family even while they weren’t doing anything. It would not be possible for them to calculate the amount of tax they have paid.

In essence, the economy was slowly sidelining people who couldn’t use mana, which included most of the imperial citizens, while the tax system didn’t give them anyone to blame.

’Seriously, though, how does he even know all of this? Aren’t we the same age?’

Ravian was well aware of Adrian’s reputation. Everyone praised his talent and intelligence, calling it unparalleled. But all that usually felt like the distant noise of a faceless crowd. After all, Ravian had also been praised a lot for his intelligence and talent.

Those words were nothing new to his ears.

But it was only moments like these when he truly felt how small he was when compared to actual geniuses. Interacting with Adrian made him feel stupid, made him feel insignificant.

’I wonder... is Evangeline Florivelle just as much of a monster as him? The two of them are said to be on a similar level...’

He hadn’t attended their engagement, so he hadn’t even seen her yet. But the image of that girl began forming in his mind.

’Ah, I’m getting off topic.’

He shook away the unnecessary thoughts and thought about the matter they were discussing. Another question suddenly came to his mind.

"If things are so bad, then why don’t people just revolt? I was taught that people do it when things become really bad for them, which is exactly what the current situation sounds like."

Adrian shook his head.

"They can’t. Or, more like the current system doesn’t allow them to. If someone isn’t a mana user, then they are insignificant, and the mana user’s future is already decided by the system."

Ravian’s face slowly twisted into a frown.

From the start, Adrian had only ever talked about the system and its problems. Just how messed up was the empire’s system, and why did he never know about it until now?

Adrian explained further.

"If a commoner becomes a mana user, they need to attend the imperial academy in order to grow. If they attend the imperial academy, they will have to fight in the never-ending two-front war. If they perform well in the war, they are made nobles, and if they perform poorly, then they simply die. In the end, this system makes it so that there is no strong individual among the commoners."

He had no words.

Closing his eyes, Ravian tried to put himself in the shoes of the common imperial citizen. And... it wasn’t a good feeling. It felt as though he was being slowly choked from multiple sides. His hands and legs were bound so he couldn’t even struggle or retaliate. And there was a blindfold over his eyes.

He finally understood the objective of the crowd that was present there, causing that scene in front of that merchant’s shop.

Those people didn’t really hate that merchant, Velmar... they were simply using him as an outlet for the anger that had been growing inside them each day. After all, they were helpless to do anything else.

Perhaps that was also why his words were able to so easily provoke them; he had simply amplified their existing anger and made it explode.

’Ah... they were all victims, weren’t they? All three of them...’

A sense of shame and guilt washed over him. The two of them had essentially used those people and weaponized their suffering, all to achieve their own tiny and insignificant goals.

He didn’t think he would have the ability to face that crowd if he were made to stand in front of them again.

Raising his head, Ravian looked at Adrian, who walked forward with his face a mask of perfect calm, not showing even the slightest hint of guilt, shame, or anything else.

Adrian must have understood all of this even before he made Ravian memorize all those pages. He must have been aware of the meaning of his actions, yet he went through with it all anyway.

Ravian could even make the excuse that he was only following instructions and thus evade the blame, but Adrian would have no excuse for his actions.

’No... he has already proved that he is not someone who makes excuses.’

Looking at him, Ravian wondered. What was it that hid behind that expressionless face? Or... was there anything at all?