He felt Fiona's foot on his lips, rubbing gently. Her other foot was snugged against his cheek. Her soles felt so soft and tender.

"I had this all backwards at the start. I was taking the servant position like a necessary evil, in order to learn magic. But this beautiful, tender woman needs to be taken care of. She is obviously used to comfort and pampered life, but she still took me in, a clueless farm boy, who is just an expense for her. Well, I will do all I can to provide comfort and care she deserves... even to pamper her the way she is no doubt used to... Usually she must be earning good coin to support that lifestyle..."

"Mistress..." Magnus called out silently.

“Yes, Magnus."

“You said magic ability is so extremely rare... That means there must be a high demand for skilled mages... But exactly, what services do you provide for people who can afford you?"

“It is a reasonable question, Magnus. Well, there are different ways to make a Living as a mage. One way is to be in the service of crown. The king has several skilled mages at his disposal and he pays them well to do various things for him. They can provide safety for the king. They can be very useful in diplomacy and espionage. They can even be a strong fear factor and addition to the army. A skilled mage can unleash an enormous destructive power. Also, it is a matter of prestige for kings and queens to have mages in their service." Fiona said, sliding one foot across Magnus’ face and the other across his neck.

“A mage can also do something similar for the rich nobility. Be their bodyguard, provide them with intelligence, root out spies, plots and so on. Only the richest nobles can afford to keep a mage in their service all the time."

"I understand" Magnus said. Weird as it was, he was starting to really enjoy the caresses of Fiona's feet.

“Last, but not the least, you got mages like me, who take one time contracts from nobles, merchants and so on. I don't like getting attached to anyone. I Like my freedom, so I just take occasional jobs.

A job can be almost anything. Sometimes we are even tasked with putting down some dangerous predators, but that happens rarely, and I have never taken a job like that, to be honest."

“What kind of predators? Don't tell me they hire a mage to kill a wolf or a bear?"

“Haha, no of course. There are far more dangerous predators than that.

For example, I heard the Wizard Declan killed a chimera some years back. The beast was plaguing the Land of some Count."

“Eh, so what exactly is a chimera?"

"It is a three-headed flying lizard, pretty big and very dangerous.

Once it tastes humans, it won't go away, until it is put down. He spits poison and has very thick scales, making him very resilient against ordinary weapons Like arrows and spears.”

“Oh, wow. I have never heard of a beast like that..."

“Well, it happens rarely. Chimeras usually roost in mountain peaks, so they rarely come in touch with humans, and they even avoid them mostly.

Anyway, now that you mentioned all this, we will be Leaving tomorrow.

We are going to the estate of Countess Silvana. She has a job for me apparently."