Supreme Magus novel Chapter 4388

Chapter 4388: Stooping Low (Part 2

"The kids don’t get out often. They each have their burden, but there is only so much my wife and I can do. Too many kids, too little time and money." He sighed.

"I’ve read your file." Lith kept an eye on every child, making sure they didn’t stray too far. "You have no children of your own, and you always host at least six orphans. Isn’t that too much?"

"I could ask you the same, Magus Verhen." Tessor replied. "Twenty-one years and you’ve achieved more than anyone in the Kingdom ever had. To answer your question, yes, it is a lot, but we can manage.

"We don’t just serve the kids food and put a roof over their heads. That’s the easy part that any hostel can do. We also give them love, support, and structure. All things that help them become good people and break the cycle they escaped from.

"If we do not take them, they might end up in the hands of someone who sees them as nothing more than a welfare check. Six children are too few, if you ask me, but we’re humans and-" The sounds of a commotion cut him short.

The two men turned around, noticing that Mirika was arguing with a much better-dressed young girl. Mirika was playing with Valeron’s figure when the other girl had snatched the toy from her hands.

"A beggar like you can’t afford something like this!" She spoke from experience since her family couldn’t afford such a masterfully crafted toy either. "You must have stolen it!"

"I didn’t steal it!" Mirika stared at the girl’s pretty clothes in envy and at her eyes in outrage. "It’s not mine but-"

"She admitted it, Mom!" The girl said with a triumphant smile. "This little beggar is a thief!"

"Mirika is no thief!" Osyan said. "That toy is mine, and I can prove it!"

He called upon Lith’s enchantment, and the Valeron figure was about to escape the girl’s grasp when her father caught it. Osyan tried again, but the spell was meant only to make noise, not to hurt.

"And where did you get the money for an enchanted toy, child?" The man was a merchant and appraised the figurine’s worth for at least ten silver coins. No matter how simple a spell was, it was always expensive. "Do you have a job?"

"No, but-"

"Then you are a thief, and this is stolen property." The man cut Osyan short. "You’re lucky I don’t call the guards. I will-"

"You will do nothing." Lith’s voice was level, but as cold as steel. "You’ve already pushed your luck. Give that back."

"Or what?" The man sneered. "Will you attack me, punk?"

Lith was in a pinch. He wanted to help Osyan, but at the same time he was afraid that any form of violence might traumatize him further.

"Ba!" Elysia had no such problem.

She shapeshifted into her Tiamat form and jumped at the merchant, biting his hand until he let go of the toy.

"Who’s that little monster?" The merchant’s wife lifted her parasol to strike Elysia, making Valeron and Ral hiss menacingly.

"Don’t!" Lith was afraid, but not for Elysia. "Farm me sideways, it’s too late."

A giant, flaming yellow eye with a vertical pupil had appeared right above the baby girl, and was staring at the merchant’s family with boundless hatred.

"What did you say?" A voice that sounded like the rumble of earth and the gurgle of lava asked. "What. Did. You. Say?"

An outline of fire appeared around the eye, tracing the form of a Dragon so big that his head alone blotted out the sky.

"Ba!" Elysia growled with the confidence of a baby Tiamat standing on the head of a Guardian. "Ba! Ba! Ba!"

She picked up the toy and returned it to Mirika as Leegaain’s body became less ethereal with each passing second. His fangs were ivory blades the size of a horse, and his open maw revealed a fiery pit ready to hurl death.

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