I would be very disappointed if that mercenary group was unable to figure out what my abilities are.

I mean—things would be a whole bunch easier if they were unable to. Realistically though, I gave them too many hints into the nature of the ability I had trapped them with. I was hoping to make it appear as a space manipulation ability, but that hope was sadly misplaced. The leader of the group is adept in space, and time manipulation.

He should have easily figured out that I wasn’t actually bending the space around them in order to keep them trapped in the apartment building. From there, I bet he could easily narrow down the list of potential powers, and single one out as the most probable.

Honestly, I shouldn’t have used my other ability in the first place. It was a mistake on my part, and one I’m not going to repeat. In this case, I was overeager to use it, since I have few chances to do so otherwise. I mean, sure, I could use it in everyday situations. But I don’t think I’d like the results.

Oh, and for those not yet in the know—Yes, I am an illusionist. A very peculiar one.

I say that because of the fact that I rarely use the ability, for fear if it changing me too much, or becoming less effective. Most other people with the ability use it to change the way people see them, by making themselves more attractive, younger, etcetera, etcetera.

I’ve done nothing of the sort. I appear to others as I am meant to be. Nothing more, nothing less. That’s not to say that I haven’t used the ability in the past to change aspects of my features, but I did it for purely tactical reasons in those cases.

Also, illusion abilities tend to be much more effective when nobody knows about it. If you’re fighting against someone you know to be an illusionist, you’ll be on your toes, right? You’ll be questioning what’s real and what’s not. However, an illusionist can get away with quite a bit more if nobody knows that they’re one. Therefore, the less people know about this particular ability and my limits with it, the better.

I actually got quite lucky with my first Awakening, since I was able to hide that my primary ability is illusion. Hell, I was even able to hide that I had any abilities, and that I had Awakened. Such a fortuitous turn of events, no?

I’m also a bit peculiar as an illusionist for a few other reasons. Namely, that the power of an illusion is directly tied to the mental capabilities of the person with the ability. You can see how this would make things interesting, right?

Add in the fact that most illusion abilities are shackled upon Awakening to prevent them from growing too strong, and I become a very unusual and lethal sort of illusionist. I wasn’t subjected to that particular restriction, you see.

That’s actually another reason to keep people from finding out that I’m an illusionist, since the highest powers in the galaxy might get antsy, and figure that no illusionist should be as powerful as I. Even though it’s best to shackle an illusionist’s powers right after Awakening, you can still do it later, though it’s more dangerous due to the fact that the ability’s grown in power.

As for how illusionists are shackled, well, scientists took notes from Old Earth doctors—especially ones dealing with mental patients in the archaic 19th and early 20th centuries. It’s a bit barbaric, frankly, and I’d like to avoid the fate brought to other illusionists.

Anyway, I returned to the apartment after our little confrontation. Joel saw me coming back in, but didn’t ask about it. He just carefully watched me as I went over and replaced my sword in the closet. I snickered a little internally, as some of the closet’s contents had been shifted—evidence that Joel had tried to find out where exactly I had been hiding a fairly large sword this whole time. He must have been really frustrated after not being able to find anything.

Inside the closet, I engaged the mechanism that swings open the false back wall, which has enough room for all my emergency supplies. I placed the sword among them, and closed the panel again. I exit the closet and shut the door behind me before walking into the kitchen.

Sure enough, as soon as I’m out of line-of-sight, I can hear Joel getting up and checking the closet again. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t be able to find anything. I designed the false wall in the closet to be as secret and inconspicuous as possible, and it would fool even those with heightened senses. He has no chance.

I smiled to myself when I heard the closet door shut, and Joel huffing in annoyance and frustration. Though, I can’t help but think that if he’s annoyed by something as small as this, what’ll he think about favors I pulled? In fact, I think I should be getting an answer on my plan for him soon—if it hasn’t happened already.

Luckily, we have time. It’s still only Saturday, after all. And while the sooner this gets done, the better, it doesn’t really matter as long as it’s done and finalized by Monday morning. By then, there’s nothing Joel can do to change the situation. And even if he could, I am effectively his legal guardian for now. Though, I may have hacked the city mainframe to grant myself that particular position of power over him. Teehee~?

Regardless, I think tomorrow should be interesting for all parties involved. First though, I made sure to sent some private messages to that mercenary group, and Joel’s parents. Namely, I made them aware of each other—mostly to get that woman to pay for them to screw off and keep quiet. And maybe also to dissuade other mercenary groups from acting against Joel and I.

Sunday dawned reasonably bright and early. Reasonably since the sun lighting Jor is dark red in color, and doesn’t lend itself to as brilliant of a sunrise as you would have on Earth.

Like yesterday, Joel was still sleeping when I woke up. He slept through me making breakfast as well, and only woke up after I held a bit of freshly cooked meat under his nose, letting the smell and his hunger rouse him.

Afterwards, we did much the same as yesterday—just lazing about the apartment. Well, for the morning, at least. Things got a little hectic in the afternoon.

Mostly due to the fact that I invited all my friends over; and because Joel got some very unwelcome news.

But first, let’s go back to the beginning, shall we?

The doorbell rang.

Joel looked up from the holo-screen he was playing with an annoyed look, and I sigh, getting up to take the door. I have a pretty good idea of who’s on the other side, and I also know how painful this might get.

The door opens, and there stands my entire friend group, looking very curiously into my apartment. From where they’re standing, they can’t see Joel yet. They could hear him though, as he shouted from the couch.

“Who is it Revy? What do they want?”

I sigh again, and roll my eyes.

“Come in, relax.” I said to my friends, who were looking past me, into my apartment with some trepidation. I explained most of the situation to them through e-mail, letting them know that I have a younger guy living in my apartment, and that I need to occupy some (most) of his time.

I held the door open, welcoming my friends into my house. Come to think of it, I don’t think they’ve ever been here before. At least not officially.

They all walked past me, and I followed behind them. Inside the living room, Joel had jumped up from the couch, and was looking at them warily. He turned to me.

“What’s going on here? Who are these people, Revy?”

“Friends. Make nice. Getting food.” I said, walking into the kitchen.

I listened closely to their conversation after leaving, noting that silence prevailed for the first few moments.

“So, uh…how have you found Jor so far?” Asked Sabrina.

“I haven’t been out into the city yet.” Came Joel’s brisk and slightly unsociable reply.

“Ah, well I suppose you’ll have more chances to do that later, right?” Sabrina said. I could practically see the mirthful smile on her face.

I could also envision the way Joel’s head would snap right back to her, after picking up the holo-screen again.

“What do you mean, I’ll ‘have more chances’?” He asked, trepidation in his voice.

“What—You mean Revy hasn’t told you yet?” Interjected Haven.

I chose this moment to re-enter the living room.

Joel immediately turned to me.

“What are these people talking about, Revy?” He asked, distraught.

I could immediately feel a headache coming on as I answered him.

“Joel’s going to school.” I said, instantly drawing a gasp of horror from Joel, and laughs from my friends who had already known what I intended for him.

Really, sending him to school is an all-round win. He has stuff to keep him occupied, I can keep an eye on him, and he can learn about that little thing known as common sense. Maybe he can also learn a bit about humility?

“No!” He shouted. “I’m not going to a fucking sc—umpf!”

Hopefully it can also keep him form acting in a way that makes me punch him. I picked up the groaning Joel from the ground, and propped him back up on the couch. I motioned for everybody else to sit as well. Luckily, the couch is fairly large for the apartment size, and I have a few other chairs arranged in the room.

Godard and Kormic put down a few boxes they were carrying, dropping them off near the kitchen. I thanked them, and turned to Sabrina and Haven, who were affixing me with curious stares.

“You know, we got the e-mails explaining most of what you want, but you never really told us what your relation with Joel is. How are you even aquatinted with the Al’Verath family, Revy?” asked Sabrina.

Ah, damn. Of course she would know Joel is a member of that family. Her father’s the city lord, she would have to. Especially since Joel was housed by her father before coming to pick me up from the Awakening. Even though she doesn’t currently live in the city lord’s manor due to some complicated circumstances, she would be sure to know what was going on, at least. Sabrina is too smart to be doing otherwise.

I sighed, unsure of how to answer. I could lie, and feed her a story about my father being a vassal of the family, and that I’ve been entrusted with the safe keeping of Joel.

But she would never buy shit like that. For one, she, and the rest of my friends, think that I’m relatively powerless. There are very few who know that I even have abilities, and no one knows just how strong I am.

Alternatively, I could tell the truth. Or a simplified version of said truth.

Since there are fewer ways that could go wrong, I decided to go with that. The whole truth is something I’m not willing to part with just yet. I’d hate to think of how people would look at me if they knew everything about me.

“Joel is relative. Ran away.”

“He ran away from the Al’Verath family? What a stupid thing to do.” Said Haven. I agree with her wholeheartedly, since I wouldn’t be in this mess if he had just stayed home like the good son he’s supposed to be. Hell, that woman never even experimented with him! What the fuck does he have to complain about?!

“Wait, wait! Before that, did you just say that you’re a relative of his!? Doesn’t that mean you’re a member of the Al’Verath family as well?” Asked Godard, who was looking at me wide-eyed.

I hesitated briefly, and nodded.

“No talent, exiled. Joel engaged.” I explained.

Unfortunately, it seems I was a little careless with my explanation, since the others took it in a way I had in no way intended.

“What!?” Practically screamed Sabrina. “You two were engaged?!” This was followed by a chorus of yells and disbelieving shouts from literally everyone else. Including Joel, who had regained his faculties after experiencing my haymaker again. Thankfully, he was yelling in order to clarify the situation for me. This alone made me kinda regret punching him earlier. But not to the point where I would be unwilling to do it again.

“No! You guys have it all wrong! I was engaged to someone else because of my parents, and ran away! I came to Revy because she seemed nice enough to take me in!”

Ah, so Joel can lie a little as well. We both know that I’m not nice, for one, and that he only came here because I can beat up his parents.

“Is...that so?” asked Kormic dubiously.

Joel nodded vigorously.

“Yeah! That’s why I’m here.” Said Joel. “Beside, Revy and I are too closely related to even think about stuff like that.” He added, almost as an afterthought.

Luckily, everyone bought it. I nearly lost it when he mentioned the closely related stuff, since that could raise too many questions for my liking. It seems that everything was resolved quite well.

Next, we had to convince Joel to go to school in the first place. My friends tried convincing him with logic, but he seemed to refuse to listen. Then, he happened to look at me while they were talking, and saw me smiling in a way that convinced him to go to school—since it would likely be the less painful route for him. I had him open up the boxes brought by Godard and Kormic, revealing the school uniforms held within. He tried them on to ensure that they fit—they did—and we had a bit of a giggle seeing him acting so grumpy and unwilling. I could see the look behind his eyes though. He was a bit excited about the whole thing, no matter what he would have the rest of us believe.

Time passed pretty quickly, and night fell. I said goodbye to my friends, and made dinner for Joel and I. He stayed fairly silent throughout the whole meal, and I enjoyed it while I could.

Then, we stayed up a little while longer, before heading our separate ways to bed.

Too soon, the next day came, and Joel started his first day of school. It was a day of hectic hilarity, and many social pit-falls. Many of which were stumbled into by Joel. Somehow though, by some fucking miracle of heaven or whatnot, he became the ‘Campus Prince’ a day after that. I’m just so…done.

Starfall team left Jor after regrouping at the hotel. It was a call made by all the members, after realizing that this particular job was one impossible to complete. Even more, the leader of the mercenary group felt that perhaps, they had been a little hasty in accepting the job, even though the pay was supposed to be spectacularly good.

Really, he didn’t know all the details about it, and the target. He was only able to find out due to the fact that the girl had gotten the group in contact with the target’s immediate family branch. Once he found out that the target’s parents were numbers 301 and 419 on the MD* list, he realized that perhaps the group should look into jobs more carefully in the future.

And to think that this came about due to the mercenary guilds policy of privacy protection. The leader really cursed the fact that the higher-ups didn’t care if a group got caught up in bad politics—as had almost happened with this job. They just wanted profit.

Anyway. Since Starfall had technically failed to complete the mission, the leader was required to call into the guild proper and let them know about it.

That had been a pleasant conversation, full of overbearing civility and pay-downgrades. While it wasn’t exactly rare for a group to fail a mission, the guild still made damn sure you felt the consequences of it.

Starfall team’s leader sure felt the hurt after ending the call. Though, he made sure to let the guild know that the Al’Verath job should not be taken up, under any circumstances. Due to the fact that his team has a stellar record, and is among the top 50 in the guild, they listened, and pulled it down. No sense in sending teams to utter destruction, after all. He hadn't even needed to give any details to them.

After that, he got the oddest job offer. It was the antithesis to the one they had just failed, and given to them by the father of the target.

So, the team turned the ship around, and prepared for an extended stay at Jor in order to protect Joel Al'Verath, and keep an eye on one Revian Snow.

Unfortunately, as they would find out, they weren’t the only mercenary team going to Jor. The guild may have taken the request down, but that doesn’t stop the employer from going directly to the teams themselves. And even worse, was the identity of the team that took the job.

*MD list: Most Dangerous list. A list containing a ranking of the people you least want to fight, as well as the main reasons it would be a bad idea. Only contains rankings for people under the deity level, and is periodically updated by Mana scholars.