17. Elizabeth - At The Workshop 2 by Zernasss on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

Elizabeth POV:

Not for the first time I started to think why are we inmates handling this delicate work, these are precious materials that from what I hear come at a really risky price from the mines at Dracoveil, where the inmates in there are at hard labor extracting these. There is definitely someone filling their pockets by using the system and if what I fear is correct this is more of a systematic issue. What would happen if they actually start paying inmates a livable salary? Would they be so happy to put us in prison for these extended periods of time?

I have seen that most of my fellow inmates actually come from the lower stratum of society, where they can barely defend themselves in the legal system and most of them, like me, accept some sort of deal to have a lighter sentence. Would they actually let go of cheap labor that they have trained for years?

This made me think about the 3 warning system and how something like that can be truly abused, to keep people in the system working for a small quantity of Nals.

I thought that the accords banned slavery from happening, but now I find myself thinking that this is just a new form of slavery that is legally binding. How ignorant I was when living in my secluded bubble and just dreaming on traveling the world.

As my thoughts started filling out how the whole system was rigged, I kept working on my task at hand. Making the circuits with my earth essence, not too hard or too soft, just right for the appropriate essence from the reservoir to flow through. These things are truly miraculous, and our whole society depends on them.

Coming from a noble family we used to buy expensive stuff from professional artificers, but what about everyone else? They might think that these come from professionals but they come from someone barely trained on it. Yes, there are people that inspect our work and correct it if wrong, but they also reprimand and punish us if we mess up too badly.

With those thoughts, my Arcanite lamp started shining a green light meaning that the circuits were properly connected and everything was working well. I proceeded to take it to the evaluator who praised my work as exceptional and recommended I pursue a career in artificing when I get out since I have the knack for it.