The Back-Alley Mage’s Return

A back-alley mage who chooses freedom over returning to servitude faces death rather than become a noble house’s pampered hound again. Once a vagrant, he is determined to live—and, if fate gives him another chance, take revenge as a great sage. After his former master, Paheren von Dekulan, personally seeks him out and urges him to return to the Dekulan household, the mage refuses. He expects to die fighting for his freedom, but finds himself alive. Taking this unexpected turn as an opportunity, he sets out to show his pursuers what a great sage’s revenge looks like.