Fair enough.

I imagine part of it is that there is no such thing as a "Free magical." If they weren't under Alexi's protection, they could easily be taken by someone else. But he could still pay them for the work.

Hmm... that does open up the question of how much economic freedom they really have though. Can magical slaves open bank accounts, or credit cards? Probably not... Shit, some of that is already starting to make more sense. He still has a good bit to answer for though. :-P