The office of the Whtiemire estate was quite, bathed in sunlight coming through high windows. The walls were lined with bookshelves filled with ledgers, scrolls, and registers of coins that held decades of meticulously recorded entries. It reeked of parchment, ink, and old secrets. The kind that rich families entombed under layers of respectability.
Karma sat crouched over a fat, leather-bound tome, the light picking up the threads of his hair as he worked. With one hand, he absent mindedly flipped a silver coin, a habit he'd formed over the years. The other supported a silver pen that remained untouched for an hour.
His keen eyes scanned pages filled with diligent code: names concealed within symbols, figures underlined in crimson ink, arrows between months like a spider web of financial transactions. Jotted notes occupied the margins like murmurs of sadder truths: "Project H," "Silent Return," "Shares purchased under fictitious name," "Payment to silence, successful."
He'd been handling Shizuku's estate finances for three years now, ever since she'd adopted him. What had begun as straightforward bookkeeping had slowly revealed itself to be something much more intricate. The Whitemire family entertainment firm was merely the surface layer, underneath it lay a web of investments, information brokering, and nicely manipulated influence that reached across several kingdoms.
He slouched back in the leather armchair, gazing at it all with equal fascination and exhaustion.
"This estate's bloodline might be noble," he muttered, flicking the coin in the air and catching it with practiced ease, "but its money's been anything but clean."
The coin landed in his palm with a soft clink. He shut the book with a decisive thump, the sound echoing in the quiet room. Some secrets were better left buried, at least for today.
"Done for today."
His footsteps echoed along the marble halls as he walked slowly toward his room, each step deliberate and measured. The afternoon light painted long shadows across the polished floors, and portraits of royal family watched him pass with oil-painted eyes that seemed to follow his movement.
As he reached his door, his hand paused on the ornate bronze handle. The metal was cool against his palm. The wood creaked just slightly as he applied the barest pressure.
And then, he stopped.
"I don't want to find it them here..." he whispered, low enough for only the silence to hear. His hand fell away from the handle.
Then a soft voice broke the stillness, gentle as silk. "You forgot these again."
Lily, the ever-patient maid, stood behind him like a guardian angel in simple gray fabric. She held his reading glasses in both hands, treating them with the same care she showed everything in his life, as if they were precious, irreplaceable.
Karma turned, and her presence immediately softened the tension in his shoulders. She'd been watching over him since his first week at the estate, when he'd been too proud to ask for help and too broken to accept it freely. Now, she was the one constant in his life that asked for nothing in return.
He took the glasses gently, their fingers brushing for just a moment.
"What would I do without you?" The question carried more weight than the casual tone suggested.
He reached out, lightly touching her cheek with the back of his knuckles. Her skin was warm, soft, familiar. She froze, cheeks flushing pink, but didn't move away.
He turned again, sliding the glasses onto his face, the world sharpening into focus. "Shizuku said we're going somewhere today. Guess I better be ready for whatever she has planned."
And he walked off down the corridor, leaving Lily behind with her fingers unconsciously brushing the spot he'd touched, wondering what it was he was so afraid to find behind that door.
Outside the mansion, a sleek obsidian sedan that seemed to drink in the light and turn it into a warm, silent glow. The polished body reflected the old estate's stone arches like a moving mirror, its silver trim catching every glint of the golden hour. Shizuku sat in the driver's seat, her silver hair pulled back in a practical ponytail, dressed in civilian clothes that couldn't quite hide her warrior's bearing.
Karma slid into the passenger seat, noting the way she gripped the steering wheel, not with nervousness, but with the controlled tension of someone making a difficult decision.
"You can't stay in the mansion forever," she said, her tone carefully neutral as she pulled away from the estate. "It's time you chose something for your future. You're eighteen now, and you have options."
"I thought I was doing well." he replied, stretching languidly and watching the countryside roll past. "Managing your estate. Peaceful. Quiet. No one shooting at me or expecting anything from me."
"That's not a future," she said with a knowing smirk. "That's early retirement. And you're far too young to live that life."
There was something deeper in her concern, he could hear it in the way her voice softened.
They car moved around the kingdom running from the the hillside to the quite kingdom. After some time he dosed off and slept against the car window.
After a short nap, Shizuku woke him up and he saw outside the window.
A military academy rose before them like a fortress of red stone and gleaming metal. Cadets in pristine uniforms marched in perfect formation across the parade grounds, their rifles catching the sunlight. Banners bearing the kingdom's crest snapped in the wind, and the sound of shouted orders echoed across the courtyard.
Shizuku handed him a glossy brochure filled with images of disciplined soldiers and heroic battlefield scenes.
"Discipline. Strength. Leadership," she said. "They could teach you to channel your abilities constructively."
Karma stared at a picture of young cadets learning to aim military-grade rifles, their faces serious and focused.
"Guns? Yeah... no thanks." He handed the brochure back without opening it. "You know I'm not into things that explode near my face."
"So you're afraid of guns?" There was a teasing note in her voice, but also genuine curiosity.
"I'm afraid of unnecessary holes in my body," he replied dryly. "Big difference. Besides, I have other ways of handling problems."
As they drove away, Shizuku glanced at him in the rearview mirror. "The military teaches control. You might benefit from that."
"I have control." he said quietly, but they both knew it wasn't entirely true.
The national bank's government building was all clean lines and efficient organization. Neat desks arranged in perfect rows, quiet clerks bent over ledgers, and the soft scratch of quills on parchment creating a symphony of bureaucratic productivity.
"We'd be delighted to have someone of your talents as a junior estate accountant," the department manager said, adjusting his spectacles as he reviewed Karma's qualifications. "Your work with the Whtiemire estate has been... impressive."
Karma offered a polite smile, the kind he'd perfected for dealing with people who saw him as nothing more than numbers on a page. "I already handle Shizuku's books quite effectively. I'm quietly building my savings. Why complicate a system that works?"
"You're just hoarding cash under your mattress," Shizuku muttered as they left the building.
"It's called a financial safety net," he corrected. "For emergencies. Or pizza. You'd be surprised how often those two overlap."
The next stop was a business college. The glass and steel building gleamed like a monument to capitalism. Inside, young nobles networked aggressively over burnt coffee and stale pastries, their conversations a cacophony of ambition and barely concealed desperation.
Karma lasted exactly five minutes before walking back to the car.
"It smells like ambition... and bad coffie." he said, settling into his seat with visible relief.
"You didn't even hear the lecture," Shizuku pointed out, though she was clearly amused by his rapid retreat.
"I heard enough," he replied, watching the building shrink in the side mirror. "Business school is where souls go to die. I may look normal, but that world's a rabbit hole I'm not falling into."
The truth was, he'd seen enough of the business world through the estate's books. The corruption, the compromises, the way good people slowly became something else in pursuit of profit.
The Royal Law academy's had stately halls filled with the weight of centuries of legal tradition. Heavy tomes lined the walls, and students engaged in passionate debates about justice and interpretation, their voices echoing off marble columns that had witnessed the rise and fall of kingdoms.
Karma walked in, listened to thirty seconds of legal terminology being thrown around like weapons, and walked right back out.
"I'm not booking a seat in hell, thanks." he said firmly.
"Law is a noble profession," Shizuku said, though her tone suggested she wasn't particularly surprised by his reaction.
"Law is noble." he agreed. "Lawyers are just people who've learned to lie convincingly in its name."
In the car, he looked out the window thoughtfully, watching the city pass by. Each rejection felt like a small victory, a step closer to whatever he was truly meant to become.
'There is nothing that can separate me from you.' he thoughts to himself looking at her driving figure.
Finally, they stood before the Learner's Academy of Mages. The ancient tower stretched impossibly high, its stones carved with runes that pulsed with faint, otherworldly light. Magic hung thick in the air like honey, making it difficult to breathe but impossible to leave.
Karma's eyes lit up for the first time all day, and Shizuku felt a mixture of relief and apprehension.
"Wait... magic?" He stared at the tower with undisguised wonder.
Shizuku nodded slowly. "The LA University. One of the last institutions still accepting students with... unique talents. They specialize in helping those with innate magical abilities learn control."
"Magic Academy?" he repeated, his voice filled with something she hadn't heard in months - genuine excitement. "I'm in."
Shizuku smiled, but it was tinged with worry. "Of course you are."
Karma noticed a dark pamphlet on the dashboard that hadn't been there before. He picked it up, studying the cover: a hooded figure dissolving into shadow, and beneath it, elegant script that read: "Master the Darkness, Control the Information, Shape the World."
"This wasn't on the official list." She said quietly. Shizuku kept her eyes on the road ahead, her knuckles white on the steering wheel. "The Shadow Broker's Association. I saved it for last because I wasn't sure I wanted you walking that path."
"Why?" But even as he asked, he felt the nightstone pulse in response to the pamphlet, as if recognizing a kindred darkness.
"Because it's dangerous in a different way than the others," she said softly. "Not just to your body or mind... but to your soul. Information brokers, spies, assassins, they trade in secrets and shadows. Once you enter that world, it becomes very difficult to leave with your humanity intact."
She reached over and placed a gentle hand on his head, brushing his silver bangs aside with maternal tenderness.
"But I trust you," she whispered. "Whatever path you choose, whether you walk through fire, shadows, or storm, I'll be waiting on the other side. You're not the broken boy I found by the river anymore. You're strong enough to make your own choices."
Karma looked out the window at the academy, then down at the Shadow Broker pamphlet, feeling the weight of decision.
Finally, he looked up at Shizuku with a wry smirk that held both mischief and determination.
"Then let's go have a look, Shizuku. I want to see how deep this rabbit hole goes."