(Jason, 16)

Staying up all night was not the best of ideas, especially since I forgot to return home in time to get ready for university, which began a few hours ago. Thankfully, there are ways to be fine when late. Since it is not an academy but a university, they are not as strict on attendance in the first place, but teachers are not required to allow us to make up the work in most cases.

However, while all students are treated equal in most cases, the universities have rules when regarding missing lessons. If there is some sort of family emergency, certain types of family events, or something regarding business, then it is acceptable.

Since I was technically doing something for Sageson Magical Technologies, I can get a pass and be allowed to make up missing work.

So at the moment, I am lounging around in my office at the Sageson Magical Technologies office in Varil City reviewing some notes regarding one of the projects we might start working on. I could just write up a note and head to the university now, but it is currently in the middle of a lesson, and I decided to time things so that I arrive near the end of it, that way I do not interrupt it, but instead join everyone at lunchtime. Less disruption that way.

After a few minutes, I decide to look up at the employee sitting in the chair on the other side of my desk. He looks nervous enough already. Should I have decorated my office? I hardly use it. Would that have helped him feel more at ease?

Or would decorating the office have intimidated him more?

"Tiger Alpha," I realize the wandering golem might not be helping. The employee's eyes keep glancing over to it. "Would you mind settling down for a few minutes?"

"Sure thing, Boss," Tiger Alpha hops up onto a shelf and curls up.

He started calling me that about two hours ago, and I decided not to tell him to stop that. It was better than being called 'Papa', which he thankfully hadn't begun calling me yet. The other golems might once they're made, though. I technically am his papa, and will technically be theirs, too.

Now that the golem has settled down, I return to examining the papers. The employee is practically radiating nervousness, though, and it's distracting.

"You don't need to worry so much," I look at him. "Everyone makes mistakes, and the budget was designed with this in mind. It wasn't even your fault, but one of the other workers on the project. You're the project lead, but that doesn't mean you need to take the fall for everything others do. This can be fixed by the end of today, yes?"

"Yes, sir," he says.

"Then just get it fixed," I tell him. "Let me finish reviewing these notes, and we can talk about where to go from here on this project."

"Yes, sir," he responds.

I turn my attention back to the notes, glad he seems to relax a little. He even lets out a small breath of relief.

When I finish reviewing the papers, I set them down and turn my attention back to the employee, whose gaze is fixed on Tiger Alpha, who is currently grooming himself.

"That's Tiger Alpha," I say, and the employee returns his gaze back to me. "I made him yesterday. There's a golem core inside of him, shaped of a crystal forged of pure magic. Very potent. He's harmless, though. I wanted to show him my office. A weaker version of his core will be tested as creating potential 'living' toys for children.

"Now," I tap the papers I was just reviewing. "Regarding this proposed project…"

He starts looking nervous again.

"I am glad that some of our employees are trying to think for themselves as well," I tell him. "And not need to be handed every project given to them. I know my papas and mamas will be glad of that as well. Initial budget for the development will be three hundred thousand varru, no staff assigned to it other than you to start, unless you need an assistant as you work on it. Do you think you can manage leading two projects at once, or would you like to be fully reassigned to this new one?"

"I can manage both," he answers.

"Then do so," I tell him. "I expect a report on the progress in the next two weeks. That will be when it is time to review if you need an assistant or not as well."

"Yes, sir," he sits up a little straighter.

"Good," I tell him. "Give me a few minutes to write up the paperwork for it."

He nods, then I enhance my speed and quickly create the paperwork for this project before giving it my stamp of approval.

His idea is to create what amounts to a space heater. Most homes do not have heat-retention enchantments added during construction because of the cost, and the ones with them added after use mana batteries or mana crystals to fuel them.

Either way, such an enchantment is expensive to create and in the latter case, to sustain. As a result, most homes – especially poorer ones – either have no heat during the winter, or use a fireplace to warm the place. Beds might have a metal container with heated coals in it, to keep the feet of its occupants warm.

His proposal outlines his idea for the space heater, or what he calls a 'home warming block', which is essentially a block of stone that will emit heat at a steady rate and try to sustain the room's temperature at a consistent level through the winter's shifting temperatures.

Something that a commoner might be able to afford with extra work initially, but eventually might become mainstream for even poorer homes.

"Something to keep in mind," I pull out a mana battery and set it on the paperwork. "This is all that should be required to fuel it. Two at absolute most, but one is the preferred option."

"Yes, sir," he says. "Having more than that can be expensive to replace when the batteries need replacing, and the idea is to create something for the average household. I will do my best to have the reports ready in two weeks, sir."

"Good," I smile. "I will make sure to inform Financing of it before I leave for university, why don't you go finish dealing with the issue?"

"Yes, sir," he stands. "Thank you, sir."

He leaves, and I look at Tiger Alpha.

"Are you ready to go back home while I'm at university?"

"Yes," he hops onto the desk, and I set him on my head, then make my way to Financing and give them the paperwork for the new project.

Then, I return to my office and write up a note for the university, before opening a gate to my room at my house here. I change into my university uniform as Tiger Alpha joins the stuffed animals in my chest and turns dormant, then I open a gate to the Attendance Office at the university.

"Hello, Mr, Jeshema," the secretary gives me an amused look. "Arriving late?"

"I was needed for testing of a project," I explain. "Then an emergency came about and none of my Papas or Mamas were around. Luckily, none of the injuries were too serious."

She blanches at that, and I smile. She waves me into the office of the Attendance Director for first-years. I had already sent a note ahead to let them know that I would be late and would be stopping by to drop off the official note before joining everyone for classes.

"Hello, sir," I say as I enter the office.

The Attendance Director is a man in his seventies, though he looks closer to it than my Papas do, and they're eighty or so. I suppose that is what happens when one is only middle green.

"Your note said things for Sageson Magical Technologies came up?" The director asks as I hand him the note.

"Yes, sir," I answer. "The mystery patent holder wanted to test something in our testing fields for privacy, and that took a fair bit of the night. Since I was the only person in the area capable of creating a gate there, it was necessary for me to accompany. I would have only been half an hour late, but as I was dropping stuff back off at the facility, one of the mana engines for a project exploded and two of the workers were injured. I only finished talking with the man in charge of that project a few minutes ago, and went straight from that to my house to change, then here."

"On the first point," he says. "Whether or not it counts is variable. On the second point, however, they probably would have sent for someone to pull you out over it, so we can excuse this. Are they okay?"

"Yes," I answer. "I was able to heal them promptly, and we are now implementing a policy where there must be at least two people in the building who know holy magics in case such things happen again, with current staff members undergoing training to learn at least the basics. There was a slight defect in the mana engine's enchantments that did not cause it to stop drawing in mana or let them know it was full, and so they continued to feed mana into it to draw it away from something else. The resulting explosion ruined the project they were working on, so it's a miracle they were in as good of a condition as they were in when I reached them."

Though one of them was lucky – had a piece of shrapnel been just half of an inch to the right, their heart would have been pierced, and another piece barely missed their left eye.

We are also implementing a policy that all enchantments are checked thoroughly before the items are allowed to be used. Such a flaw should never have existed, much less been in something someone used.

What if that was in someone's home? That would have been a disaster. As production is right now, we can definitely afford to have the extra checks on these things to make sure they are safe. I know they were probably more lax on it because the mana engine was designed for testing the project, but that was still unacceptable.

"That is good," the director tells me, then writes up a pass. "Make sure to show this to the two professors whose lessons you have missed so far, Mr. Jeshema, and try not to make a habit of this."

"Yes, sir," I tell him, then place the pass into my spatial storage. "Have a good day."

I make my way to the dining hall, as both of my professors currently have lessons they are instructing. I'll speak with them after lessons end for the day, before the training group enters session.

In the dining hall, I make my way to the serving counter and select several sandwiches, a salad, and a bowl of fruit, before grabbing a mug of wine. With my lunch chosen, I walk to the table with Lina, Niko, Tasha and their guards, and sit beside Niko, who is sitting across from the ladies.

"Hello, Jason," he says. "Where were you?"

"Busy," I answer.

"You look tired," Lina comments. "Everything okay?"

"Sageson Magical Technologies testing last night," I nod. "Then an incident occurred shortly after university began, as we were returning to the office. I only finished dealing with that during the last lesson. Since none of my papas or mamas are in town, it fell to me to put in some new policies and manage the situation, rather than waiting for word to reach my papas and mamas."

Now that I think about it, I could have just used the comm plate to inform Papa Jared. I really am tired. Looking at Lina, I notice a slight bruise on her cheek, concealed by makeup. My scan spell alone allowed me to detect it.

"That bruise wasn't there yesterday," I comment as I pick up a sandwich and take a bite of it, chewing slowly as Niko looks around, trying to figure out who had the bruise I mentioned. I swallow my food. "And you aren't a physical combatant, so I doubt it was from training."

"What bruise?" Niko asks.

"The one on Lina's cheek," I answer.

"How did you notice it?" Lina asks.

"A magician has his secrets," I tell her. "What happened? And why did you not heal it? I am certain there are people in the palace capable of doing so, yourself included. Tasha also possesses the ability to do such a thing, considering her affinity for holy magics."

"Things were busy, and I forgot," Lina asks as Niko leans forward, concern on his face. "It is nothing, Niko. Jacob and I deal with assassins all the time. None succeed."

"You were almost assassinated?" Niko jerks back in horror, his eyes wide. "Why did you not tell me, Lina? What if-"

"She is fine, Niko," I tell him. "How is Jacob?"

"He is well," Lina answers. "His assassin was not competent enough to even touch him. Mine, however, wore an anti-magic ward, so it took me a little more effort to disable him. It was Isabelle here who did it."

She gestures to one of her guards.

"She and Abigail charged into my room as soon as she heard the scuffle from hers," Lina informs me. "Had they not, I probably would have suffered more. Both assassins are currently in the interrogation dungeon for questioning."

"That is good," I nod. "Did I miss anything important? I'll visit the professors after lessons end to receive the work I missed, the Attendance Director approved the absences."

"We have an essay due tomorrow in Magical History," Niko informs me. "And our Magic Basics lessons went to the training hall today. I believe you will be fine."

"There was that packet we had to do," Lina reminds Niko. "In Magical History. There is something you should know about our professor for it, as when it comes to students missing lessons, even when they are excused and given a pass to allow them to perform the missing work, he often refuses to allow them when dealing with the wealthy. If he gives you any trouble and refuses to allow you to do the packet, inform me so I can have the university's headmaster-"

"Thank you, Lina," I smile, then pull out of my spatial storage a grey crystal tablet seven inches by fifteen inches by half of an inch in size. "But I am sure that with this, I can deal with the situation on my own."

"What is that?" She asks.

"The master control tablet for all mana engines produced by Sageson Magical Technologies."

They stare at my blankly, unfamiliar with the type of item.

"It allows me to shut off any mana engine in existence," I explain. "No matter where they are. And not only does it require a specific magical signature – mine – to operate," I turn it on and show them. "But it is also written in a language only one other person in this world can understand."

English.

"You would shut down the university's power," Lina asks. "Just because a professor would not let you do an assignment you are allowed to do?"

"Correct," I turn off the tablet and return it to my spatial storage. "After all, two members of Sageson Magical Technologies were injured, and I am the heir to the company. This is the same company that provides the mana to the magical lighting and the defenses of the university and the royal palace. The same company that cut the university's annual expenses in half with the invention of the mana engines and the leasing of them to it. If any professor or other stuff member here believes that attending class is more important than the safety of my employees and it is known enough that students are warned of it, then my company will not provide this facility with its resources."

"Someone nearly died?" Niko asks.

"Yes," I answer. "Someone nearly died. Otherwise, I would have been in our second lesson of the day, which is our Magical History lesson."

"I still think that is a bit extreme," Lina tells me.

"I agree with Jason's decision," Tasha tells her. "People were injured, and he is the heir to one of the major companies in and out of Varil whose magical technology has not only revolutionized Varil, but also begun to make things easier for people on all levels of society. To say that a lesson is more important than the safety of someone working to better our society, a lesson would need to be made to enforce the point that it is not."

"That would be punishing the university," Lina says. "For the actions of a professor."

"But if this is a prominent issue," Niko says. "Would that not mean the university is not taking sufficient action to put a stop to it? Should they not ensure all students are treated equally? If this professor is regularly doing this to wealthy students to the point where they are warned in advance and will probably need to seek higher authority to deal with the situation, then that is a problem. It also says that the university does not care that much regarding the issue or its own policies, as they allow it to continue."

"I agree with that," Tasha tells Lina. "If it were me and not Jason this happened to, my father would either cease selling cotton for the uniforms or increase its price. The fact that this is a common occurrence due to a prejudice when it is strictly against the rules and the law is a major issue with the university itself. Such a thing should have been stamped out. It would serve the university right to suffer for allowing it to persist."

"I… see," Lina says. "I should probably inform my father that something should be done, then."

"Please do," Tasha and I say in unison.

"Speaking of uniforms," Lina looks at me. "As S-Class students, we are permitted to override the enchantments on our uniforms and place our own on them. I know that ordinarily, we just buy plain uniforms without the enchantments and enchant them, but from what Jacob and I know, you did not do that. You have a way of actually erasing permanent enchantments?"

I suppose one of the things I will need to teach my advanced training group will be reinforcement of the types of enchantments and how they function.

Enchantments fall into two primary types: permanent and temporary. They can also be classed into active and passive.

Enchantments woven into something after its creation are always temporary, and also need an active mana source in order to be powered. Because they need an active mana source to function, they are called active enchantments.

Permanent enchantments are enchantments woven into something during its creation. They can fall into either active or passive. If a permanent enchantment projects something out – like a barrier or anti-teleport or anti-gate ward, they are an active enchantment, and also need an active mana source in most cases. If they don't project something out, but rather have its effect all times, like an enchantment for durability, heat-resistance, cold-resistance, or lightness, they are a passive enchantment and do not need an active mana source to function.

Any temporary enchantment can be removed or overwritten, because they are not woven into the actual item, but rather, set onto or into it. Any permanent enchantment is a fundamental part of the item itself, and undoing it or attempting to override it in any way would result in the item itself coming undone.

So if I were to 'override' the enchantment, it would be done by placing a temporary enchantment for enchantment nullification that ignores any other temporary enchantment on it. It would be both incredibly complicated and something within my realm of power, but not something I would bother with the headache of doing.

The uniforms have a passive enchantment, so that would be the only option I had. That was why I decided to leave my uniform's enchantments alone. It's everyone else who would have to worry about being hurt, anyway.

My advanced training group will have its own uniform, too, but that is for the extra protection that will be warranted from the training they will undergo, not as a group uniform or anything. Since the university uniform design belongs to the university, I cannot simply make copies of it, or I would just create my own version of it for them to wear, so that there would be no need to change from university to training.

I already have the design picked out, though, but am considering asking Alex for his thoughts on it. He might be useless for that, though, so maybe Lina or Tasha? What little I have seen of them outside of university, they look stunning enough, so I assume they have an eye for appearances. Well, they were raised as ladies, so that is to be expected. Almost all of nobility is raised to know how to look.

Maybe I should answer the question.

"No," I clear my throat. "I didn't do anything to the uniform, actually. My magical defenses are potent enough that it doesn't really matter. I could go into a training lesson butt-naked and be better-protected than everyone else in their uniforms, and I should not have said that in front of ladies, my apologies."

"You are used to just your papas and mamas," Lina's face is flushed a little, as are the faces of Tasha and of Lina's guards. "So it is understandable that you might accidentally speak as you would with them."

"Anyway," I say. "On the uniforms – were you wondering if I would do the same for the ones you wear?"

"No," she answers. "Jacob wanted to ask you about possibly adding additional or stronger enchantments to our rooms. At the moment, it is not easy for a magician to either breach them or make a tool to enter them, but if-"

"No," I shake my head. "Mama Alyssa can make even better wards than me, and she built that palace. Her permanent enchantments in it will likely be stronger than any I could layer over and connect to the palace's power network. I can take a look just in case, though."

"Alright," she smiles. "Thank you, Jason."

"You're welcome."

(Alex, 16)

When I enter the lecture hall for today's session, I let out a breath of relief. Jason wasn't home this morning when I woke up, and nor was he here before everyone went to their lessons for the day. We were all worried something had happened to him because of that.

Jason looks exhausted, and there are gentle dark spots under his eyes that only increase that look.

"Is everything okay?" I ask Jason, walking straight over to him.

"Yeah," he smiles at me. "Long night, had to take the secret patent holder to our private testing fields for something, then we returned, and there was an incident that I had to deal with."

"I heard about that," Jacob says. "One of the C-Class third-years was removed from lessons earlier because her mother was one of the injured. I was not able to receive word on her condition."

"There were two injured," Jason nods. "Both are okay, I was able to heal them. The Mad Witch kept drilling healing magics into me growing up, in addition to potion making."

The Mad Witch is Sage Elena, I believe. The Sage of Alchemy.

"I find it interesting," here comes Jacob's smirk-filled comment. "That Alex was the first between us to ask how you were doing."

The two times he saw me today, Jacob made some sort of comment about how I must be so worried about Jason being missing. I know he was, too, out of concern for his friend. Doesn't change how annoying it was.

"I find it interesting," Jason smirks back. "That you allowed your sister to attend university without having that bruise taken care of. Don't worry, I made sure it was taken care of before the next lesson after I arrived. One would think that you weren't doing your duties as a family member, Jacob."

"I thought it was taken care of," Jacob shook his head, looking at Lina. "You didn't heal it or have one of the staff do so before you left? Did you cover it with makeup?"

"Just a touch," she answers. "It was fine, Jacob."

"What happened?" I whisper to Jason.

"There was an assassination attempt on them last night," he answers, then clears his throat. "Training is about to begin, everyone take your spots."

We all move to various spots within the room, then Jason begins the magic control training. It isn't until we are twenty minutes in that I realize that he did not do any auditions for the group. Then again, no one seemed to show up for it, so I suppose that makes sense.

After the training session ends, Jason opens a gate to the room with his Marran students, and Niko and I follow him through. I suppose the royals can't attend every training session.

When we enter the room, Jason frowns before even looking at the Marrans, then he looks at Niko.

"Niko" he says as his gate disappears. "Are these ten youth here participating in combat training?"

"No," Niko answers. "They each desire to learn magic, even if it is against our beliefs and culture."

"Is physical punishment something normal among your people?"

"No," Niko answers. "Why?"

"Are those ten priests still here?" Jason asks, his expression dark.

Oh, no.

"Yes," Niko nods. "They be leaving soon, I believe."

Jason turns his gaze to the ten Marrans, then speaks in Marran. Whatever it is he is saying, his students seem to reject it at first, but then Niko asks the same thing, and they reluctantly admit it. Niko and Jason speak in Marran rapidly, then Niko goes to take a seat.

"What's wrong?" I ask Jason.

"The priests beat these boys while Niko and I were gone," he tells me.

"What?" I almost yell. "How can you even tell that?"

"I have my secrets," he responds. "Why don't you take a seat, Alex? Or would you mind passing out some rocks?"

"Rocks?" I ask.

"Yes," he opens up his dimensional space and pulls out thirteen rocks, letting twelve of them float in front of us as he holds the thirteenth. "We will be doing earth manipulation. I want to teach them the basics of the basic elements and have them obtain grasps of how to manipulate them as well."

"Alright," I take the rocks into my arms. "I suppose the other two are for Niko and myself?"

"Correct," he smiles. "And you aren't saying 'prince'. Getting more comfortable?"

"I suppose," I smile back, then hand out the rocks.

(Jacob, 16)

"Papa," Lina and I manage to track him down.

"Hey, Jacob, Lina," he gives each of us a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. "How are you two today? Did university go well?"

"Yes," I answer. "Lina brought something up, and we believe that you might need to intervene."

"What is it?" He asks. "And why?"

"Because if the situation isn't taken care of, Jason will probably turn off the mana engines powering the Royal Magic University's lights and defenses."

Papa gives me an unamused look.

"He promises that he is the only person capable of it," Lina informs Papa. "The issue, specifically, is a professor gives wealthier students trouble when they have excused absences, often not allowing them to make up the work they missed. This has been an issue for several years, and the students always need to speak to someone higher up in order to have everything taken care of. In addition, those students often find themselves earning lower marks in his course after doing so, as a form of punishment for challenging his authority. Despite this being reported multiple times, it is still an issue."

"And one that does need to be dealt with," I say. "It is unacceptable that such a thing has been allowed to go on, especially as it acts as a form of discrimination against the wealthier students. Should a student from a lesser background find themselves absent for a reason relating to the family business, they will be given an excused absence in most cases, as with the wealthier students, and from what Lina said, this professor does not grief them."

"I will make a summons," Papa tells us. "Do you really believe Jason could do such a thing?"

"Papa," I say. "We are discussing a genius raised by geniuses. I would be surprised if he did not have the ability to do such a thing. We already suspect he can ignore the wards on the palace, shutting down the property of his company would probably be something reasonable."

We also know Jason would never admit to his ability to ignore the wards on the palace, so proving that would be difficult.

"Good point," Papa says. "Do you two have any work to finish for university?"

"I do," Lina nods. "For the same professor who will likely give Jason trouble tomorrow."

"Let us eat dinner," Papa says. "Then you two work on your coursework. I will ensure Jason faces fair treatment, as what you said is unacceptable."