"There are no slaves in Hermea," Joan-Pau says straight-faced.

"Cheliax's greatness is, I think, not founded on the careful selection of its citizenry for obedience and wisdom. In this Cheliax's greatness could in principle even exceed Axis."

"- More seriously, Your Grace, the Church of Abadar has been telling us that inherited slavery is an inefficient means of allocating personnel for centuries, and I don't see why we shouldn't believe them? Andoran and Galt have serious problems, but the problems aren't famine. It will cause problems now, and I do appreciate your heroic work reducing them, but I expect our grandchildren will be thanking us."

Sergi nods. This Count Ardiaca is a clever man.

"I'm in favor of abolition. I'm undecided on all the arguments about efficiency but I don't think it could possibly be so great a good to the empire to justify all the evils it plainly entails for everyone involved. I do expect our grandchildren will thank us, and certainly the halflings' grandchildren. I just notice we're declaring a whole lot of the ordinary functioning of all civilization Asmodean. I worry some committee's going to pop out with the take that having nobility at all is Asmodean, or that having an Empire is."

Joan-Pau frowns. He can't deny that.

(No one asked her but Issa kind of thinks the nobility are an Asmodean institution. The pamphlet she most recently picked up certainly seems to argue it's still full of Asmodeans.)

" - oh, were any of the pamphlets inflammatory, Issa?"

"Your grace, they're saying that the Archduke of the Heartlands is a Thrune, though I know it isn't so, and they have a speech by a priest that I think's probably banned. Though I didn't pick it up. Because it's probably banned."

"Saying that the people of Cheliax will rise up against the evil nobles?"

"Saying, ma'am, that, uh, that the Queen and the archmage have betrayed the revolution, and that the convention's full of Evil Asmodeans and they caught one just this morning, and that we should all rise up and tear them to shreds and hang them from the lampposts and every man who dies will die a martyr and go to Heaven - is that true -"

"No," he says, looking very grim. "Murder on suspicion is a damnable* sin."

(*: Abyssable, technically.)

Oh, that's going to go badly. He immediately rises to his feet.

That was not in select Wain's speech! "That's going to be a disaster. Is there anything - what should we do?" Alfons-Valenti has only fought one real battle personally in either of his lives, and he lost it. He doubts he can talk down an angry mob, either, but -

"Where are you living? How many servants do you have? Are they out on business?"

“If you’ll excuse me, gentlemen - here should be safe. It’s a rare mob that prepared a Dispel Magic that’d take this mansion down - but I need to contact some people.”

"Yes, Duchess, please excuse us - "

She heads to a private room where some wands are stored.

"North of the city, where it's a little less crowded - I have two dozen servants with me, most of them are there as far as I know, it's just my secretary and a pair of coachmen and four of the guards who are here."

"- Good." He glances to Xavier "- you coming -"

"Of course. Teleports?"

He does something very complex with his scaffold. "Two left, now."

They're heading out of the house already. "Get me back to Skyrender, combine our households -"

"I can trade one for Overland Flight, I have a scroll on me."

"Haste, Haste, Fly," he says, raising a rueful eyebrow. "Your phantom steeds don't fly, I take it?"