In the Empire, coal furnaces smoke, car boilers come out, monitors plow the seas, and huge armored trains rumble on the rails. Empire needs a lot, and it drives away the resource-rich northern lands of the Rooskies barbarians, whose borders are connected with the imperial terrible Cataclysm. For the Empire of couples is good, and magic is evil. Magic is unpredictable and deadly, it will burn a person from the inside and kill those who are nearby. Therefore, a special Department is established in the Empire, which neutralizes unfortunate magicians before they have time to cause anyone any harm. And what to do if you are only twelve years old, and the magic has suddenly awakened and there is no way to salvation? More precisely, there is, but only a captured boy - a barbarian knows him... What will Molliner Evergreen Blackwater, a young well-bred miss, the daughter of a railway doctor, do?