(Alex, 17)

When I reach the Amarxik Mansion, I notice a royal carriage. Not the sort the royal twins or their father uses, but the sort a royal messenger would use. This is not what I wanted to deal with after celebrating with Barry and Sarah on their probable admittance to a warrior's university.

I suppose it's time to deal with whatever trial I have to go through. They probably figured out what they'll do with me because of the weird mess of a situation I'm in. I haven't even properly met my papa yet, either, but Jason said he was still here.

That's actually part of why I stayed a bit late, but I needed to return to the mansion before going on the job with the crew.

When I enter the mansion, I'm greeted by a messenger in fine clothes. There are also two Royal Knights and two Royal Mages present. While I can probably take them, it's best to just cooperate for now.

"Alex Amarxik," he approaches me, handing me a letter. "You have been summoned to the royal palace by His Royal Majesty the King, Zachary Varil."

The letter states I am to report to the royal palace immediately for judgment for my crimes. An official statement that I am being charged. I nod, then follow them into the carriage. The ride to the palace is silent, and I am quickly shown to a trial chamber.

Rather than His Majesty standing at the pulpit, it is Prince Jacob. His Majesty is seated to the side. They are making Prince Jacob read off my punishments? Is this his punishment for interfering with His Majesty's attempts at having the warrant for my execution written? For interfering in justice?

"Alex Amarxik," Prince Jacob says once I am in the accused's stand. "Formerly Alex xan Richard xal Varilar, you are brought here today before me, Jacob Varil, Crown Prince of Varil, to stand trial for the following crimes-"

He then begins to read off crimes, lumping several of them together for essentially being the same thing. As he does, I glance around the room. Princess Lina, Niko, Jason, and Sage Alyssa are all present. I don't recognize anyone else, but they are likely all nobles of some sort. I'm surprised to see the foreign nobility and royalty present, and am concerned for Jason. He looks pretty bad.

There's also a scribe nearby, who will write down everything which is said here, for the official records.

"Alex," Prince Jacob says when he finishes reading off my crimes, and I return my attention to him. "There is no defense allowed for your actions. As such, judgment will be issued. As acting judge, I, Jacob Varil, Crown Prince of Varil, have determined your punishment under the code of criminal nobility and commoners."

It ain't until he says that do I realize he never mentioned the crimes of me attacking him. At all. Yet King Zachary does not look bothered by it in the slightest. Then again, nobles and royals are good actors, and he'll probably put those crimes forth separately because Prince Jacob won't say them.

"Though you were a commoner when you committed the crimes," Prince Jacob says. "Your papa performed a full instatement of your heritage from birth, legitimizing you as a noble for that time period. As such, you will be judged under the new act issued on this seventh day of the first month of the year 1648 of the Varilite Calendar, which applies due to the charges not being put forth until after its signing. Under the Altered Inheritance Act of 1648, you will be punished according to which code applies with a lighter sentence due to the retroactive nature of your instatement as nobility."

Wait. Does that mean that depending on the crime, the punishment might be either a noble's or a commoner's?

"After assessing your crimes," Prince Jacob continues. "I have determined an appropriate punishment for you. Alex Amarxik, on this seventh day of the first month of the year 1648 of the Varilite Calendar, I, Jacob Varil, Crown Prince of Varil, declare your punishment to be a fee of one million Varilan varru, one hundred hours of unpaid city guard duty in this city of Varil City, and ten unpaid hunts against ogres and corrupted with the Royal Guard. Matthew Enlin, one of the Twelve Captains of the Royal Slayers, will be your reporting officer for your punishment. You will have thirty days to pay the fine, and Captain Enlin will work with your schedules to arrange the hunts and guard duty. Failure to comply with this will put you under the Restricted Noble's Act."

His stern expression softens just a little.

"As you have come from a street rat's background," Prince Jacob says. "You likely do not know what that means. The Restricted Noble's Act means you will be put on the Restricted Noble's list. While on it, your travel will be limited to only approved areas, with a certified escort, and you will be denied entry into any events for nobility. Crimes committed while on that list have a more severe punishment, and you have six months to exit it. If you fail to make up for what put you on that list in six months, you will be stripped of your status as nobility and exiled from Varil."

He returns to his stern, formal expression.

"This concludes this hearing," Prince Jacob announces. "Thank you all for witnessing this event, and enjoy the rest of your evening."

Prince Jacob steps back and returns to his papa, yet nothing is said about my attacks. Why is His Majesty allowing this? Because of his secret thing? But then that'd bring suspicion, wouldn't it?

I meet with Jason and Niko outside, and they both give me amused looks.

"I'm going to be honest," Jason says. "I'm rather glad Jacob found what he did."

"What do ya mean?" I ask.

"He means," Prince Jacob approaches me, and I glare at him. He has his two stiff guards behind him, looking as stiff as they ever do. "That you are unable to be tried for attacking me, unless you attempt to actually kill me. While we were at training camp, I had my valet looking into any possible way I could get you out of that."

"Jacob informed us of this while we were there," Niko informs me. "And then told us what he declared before you arrived."

"What ya declared?" I look at Prince Jacob. "I ain't able to think up a way ya could get me out of that, as much as ya are insistent on it."

"It was rather easy," Jacob says. "I declared a new position created and granted to you, applied backwards to the first day of the ninth month of last year, around two weeks after we began at university. That extends well before the time in which you attacked me."

"I ain't interested in some fancy title," I glare at him.

"Not even 'Royal Rival'?" He asks.

"What?" I ask in confusion. "The heck is a Royal Rival? Because it sounds like a contender to the throne to me."

Jason starts laughing as Niko chuckles, and based on Prince Jacob's expression, he did not realize that, but has realized they both thought of that when he first told them about the position.

"The Royal Rival," Prince Jacob looks at me. "Is someone who challenges me. Not for the throne, but my abilities. My magic, my combat skills, and in other ways as well. It is nothing less than fact that someone to compete against makes growth more ready and available. In both of our lives together, we were rivals in some way. Even at the start of the term, you and I were competing against each other, despite being in two separate classes. Because of you, I found myself challenged, and that caused me to grow more than I would have had I not found a rival in you."

"And ya somehow made it retroactive?" I scoff. "As if!"

"Actually," Prince Jacob says. "I was able to use another law in order to apply it retroactively. Because you are my Royal Rival, Alex, your attacks against me were changed from being attacks on royalty to simply performing your duties."

I bet his papa pissed himself when Jacob made that announcement, then. I look at Jason and Niko.

"And ya two knew about this?"

"He only told us while we were waiting for you to arrive," Jason says.

"I was wondering why you two were holding back laughter," Prince Jacob tells them. "The creation of the position had very little time for me to think about, so I did not consider the name. Due to the law I was creating it under, it had to start with 'Royal', though."

I sigh. Prince Jacob went out of his way and risked a bunch of issues for himself just to protect me from something pretty severe. I've already been killed for one crime against royalty, too, and Niko seems to have forgiven me for that.

"Thank ya," I tell Prince Jacob. "But don't go thinking that I'm going to let up on ya. Ya are still an ass."

"You are still Alex," he smiles.

"At least-"

"Okay!" Jason steps forward, holding a hand between us. "Jacob, I think you mentioned you were doing something tomorrow morning and needed to rest? Alex, you should probably go celebrate that you aren't suffering as bad of punishments as you could be. Actually, Alex, want to visit the amphitheater with us? Niko and I were heading down there in a few minutes."

"No," I tell him. "I was picking up some stuff from the mansion when I was told to come here. My crew and I were going to have some celebrations for making it through your personal hell, and I wanted to sneak some of the expensive drinks from the mansion for it."

We're not going to drink too much until after we do our job, though. It should be a quick and easy one, but we still want to be careful and not really waste alcohol by sobering up from a fight. I just hope no one thinks the Leviathan is me again.

We're all hoping for a miracle in that we somehow leave no trace of our magic behind, making us untraceable once more. That would only add to the theory of an actual god being present.

"Well, have fun," Jason smiles. "Come on, Niko, let's get going. I heard they're serving a new treat there tonight."

(Jacob, 16)

Losing my guards this time was not easy, but I managed to do it, and am now at Jason's home. My guards would protest what I am going to do, as would Papa as well. While they are busy attempting to locate Franklin, I am going to do my own thing.

"Hello, Your Highness," the butler greets me when he opens the door. "Jason and Sage Alyssa are not home at the moment."

"That is fine," I smile as I enter. "I was actually hoping to speak with Eden here."

Eden looks at me from his spot on the couch, where he was reading a book. Judging by its topic of monsters, he is likely preparing himself for the upcoming term.

"Eden," I say. "I am about to open a series of gates to visit somewhere. This is not something I may bring my normal guards with me on, and I know my Papa would be more upset about this if I went alone than he will be already for me doing this. I have come to see you as a friend, and I trust you quite well, especially after the incident in the Meti Duchy."

"I'll come with you," he stands. "Just give me a few minutes to change."

I wait for Eden to prepare himself, then he joins me. We exit the house, and I open the gate. It takes us six gates to reach the royal castle of Vel, and I open the last one straight into the throne room. At this hour, on a Felday, it was quite easy to know where their king would be.

When I step through it, I see him upon the throne, a man in his late forties, who looks both surprised and annoyed at our arrival.

"Paul," I walk forward, ignoring the staring nobles and the guards and mages ready for battle. "I believe we sent you a message informing you that we were looking into any potential Varilan responsibility for the assassination. As it is, we believe it to be a traitor to the kingdom. The fact that you have sent an assassin after me, are requesting my death, and have kidnapped my cousin means you are unwilling to act reasonable."

"Blood must be spilled for blood," he says. "My heir was killed, so your family's heir must be slain. You made a mistake coming here, Jacob. You may have used that strange magic to enter, but we will not allow you to pass through it once more."

He signals his guards, and I sigh.

"I did not want to do this."

"I didn't want to do this," Eden corrects, despite our situation.

"Most right," I say as the guards begin to approach, mages preparing spells. "I didn't want to do this. But I was prepared to."

I draw my sword, having already enhanced myself and prepared the eye-shielding spells. The moment I grip the hilt to my sword, I enchant my sword with the power of light, so as I draw it, nigh everyone present is blinded.

Eden and I move swiftly, our layered enchantments granting us a far greater speed than their own knights and mages can keep up with. The battle is not even a challenge, and takes the two of us under a minute to finish. Forty guards, forty deaths.

As soon as it ends, I approach Paul, who looks thoroughly frightened.

"Perhaps you have heard of the Magi?" I smile. "I am the reincarnation of Magus Ethan, King of Spring. Even your best knights will fall to me, your strongest mages finding their spells ineffective."

He swallows hard, pale and starting to sweat and shake.

"If you really wish to go to war," I tell him, now standing only a foot in front of him, Eden standing behind me, watching those watching us. "Varil will not hold back. I will personally set foot into the battlefield, and I will personally ensure you fail. I have proven that I am able to penetrate through the wards against teleporation magics. This makes your entire kingdom vulnerable to Varil. No longer do we need to perform a blind teleport outside of the ward range, then hold a siege. Now, we can simply enter whatever settlement or castle we wish.

"My family," I state firmly. "Is not responsible for your daughter's death. If you want to hold to the blood for blood tradition of your people, find the person who actually is responsible for it and exact that punishment upon them."

"We should take something less than a princess for-"

He silences when I draw my sword and point it at his throat.

"I already know," I say. "That Sar is no longer able to assist you in a war, Paul. That was the result of them angering a Magus native to Mar. Varil does not have only one Magus native to it, and I am far from its strongest."

I sheathe my sword, then stare him down for a full minute.

"You have two options here," I say. "Return Franklin to me and decide to wait for the results of our investigation, then deal with the person actually responsible for her death. That is your first option. Attempt a war with Varil, and be the reason the world remembers why we are the largest and most powerful nation even before the Magi act."

"If you really believe your cousin will be returned to you without my conditions being met," Paul says. "Then you are mistaken, Jacob. Either you die, or we kill him and go to war."

"In other words," I say. "You do not know where Franklin is being kept, and will not going to order the assassin to return him. In fact, you cannot do such a thing, due to the distance. There was never any plan to return him the moment he was taken. Understood. Eden, let us return home. Now that the Magi have returned, we can locate my cousin much more quickly. We still have four days to locate Franklin, which is more than enough time."

As long as the assassin did not kill him immediately and is only claiming he still lives.

(Jason, 16)

While Jacob is off in Vel attempting negotiations, I was busy, too. Bear Alpha says things are going quite well over there, and I would say that things are going over quite well here, too.

"Hello, Franklin," I smile at him. "We've only met the one time, but I'm Jason Jeshema."

"What did you do to them?" Franklin looks at the guards who were meant to keep him from escaping.

"I killed them," I gesture at him with my real hand, shaping the spell to cut his ropes with air, and his ropes drop to the ground, cut. "Yellow-level guards are rather weak, and they can't do anything against someone like me."

"No," he stands ups, rubbing his wrists and arms. "How did you kill them? They just dropped dead!"

"Oh, that," I say. "That's a secret."

Mostly because nearly everyone is vulnerable to having force magic applied to their brains. That's why I run an advanced form of the aural sheath at all times. Rather than coating my body in my magic, I run the aural sheath within me. It has all the benefits of the aural sheath, and no glow which shows it's active.

Once we are sure there won't be any new additions to the training group and everyone is at least upper green, we'll teach this trick to all of them. It's a technique from the Delvarkari which we ordinarily don't teach others, but I received permission from Fael Mira to do so for my training group.

"Come on," I gesture to the gate which appears. "Step on through."

Franklin steps through the gate, and is immediately tackled by Wolf Alpha, who is sobbing and apologizing for letting him be captured.

"Uh…" Franklin looks at me in confusion, and Uncle Zach gives me a startled look.

"I told you," I tell Uncle Zach as the gate fades. "Mama Alyssa's adjustments to the wards don't work against grey-level mages."

When she updated the palace wards while I was gone, she didn't key me into it so that I could get through, which she informed Uncle Zach about. Wolf Alpha counts as a grey-level mage, so the wards don't affect him.

"At least all grey-level mages are our allies," he says. "Or disinterested, and same with those who could hope to reach it anytime soon."

"Don't worry," I tell him as Franklin rushes over and hugs him. "It's unlikely that even once weaker grey-level mages are locked out, anyone would actually become powerful enough to not be affected. The Delvarkari are the most powerful group of people in existence, bred and trained for magical might over tens of thousands of years, and they have less then five greys."

Uncle Zach sighs, knowing I'm right. He gives Franklin a hug, then surrenders him to the examiners to make sure there's nothing placed in Franklin's mind. I checked that before I released him, but I know Uncle Zach wants to have the royal staff check as well.

"Where was he?" Uncle Zach asks.

"Outside of Varilsy," I answer as Puppy Alpha jumps up onto my head to watch Wolf Alpha continue his apologies. "Wolf Alpha, it wasn't your fault, he wasn't kidnapped from the palace."

That would be a miracle in and of itself.

"How long has Puppy Alpha existed?" Uncle Zach asks. "He found Franklin rather easily."

"I made him after Niko and I returned from the performance," I answer. "I already had the core ready, I just had to finish doing enchantments on it and a few other things, then put him together. Once I finished, I asked him to look for Franklin."

I would have liked to have sent Dragon Alpha out, but he's busy doing other stuff. He probably would have found Franklin faster.

"He still found him rather fast," Uncle Zach gives me a pointed stare.

"Dogs are good at finding things."

"Yup!" Puppy Alpha exclaims. "It's even easier when we have a sample of their magical signature, too!"

I only realize as he's saying it what he was going to say, and I quickly reach up, but don't manage to silence him in time. Uncle Zach raises an eyebrow.

"I, ah, brought him to," I pull Puppy Alpha down and clamp his mouth shut. "A place where Franklin had used magic here in the palace grounds, and had Wolf Alpha show him the residue that was Franklin's."

Puppy Alpha tries to speak, but my grip is firm. Uncle Zach pulls out a comm plate and contacts Mama Alyssa.

"Hello, Zachary."

"Your son has a sample of magical signatures for myself, my children, and for Franklin," Uncle Zach tells her. "I do not know where he is storing them, but he likely also has ones for each of you."

"Uncle Zach is imagining things," I tell Mama Alyssa. "I don't know why he thinks that, I had Wolf Alpha show Puppy Alpha some of Franklin's magical residue."

"Then why are you keeping Puppy Alpha from speaking?" Uncle Zach asks.

"I forgot to enchant a verbal filter," I answer. "So he's going to end up talking a lot for no reason at all, saying whatever comes to his mind. Thanks for reminding me, I should probably head home and get that fixed. Mama Alyssa, could you have Tiger Alpha open a gate to me?"

"Puppy Alpha?" Mama Alyssa asks. "Is that why you didn't sleep last night? You were making another stuffie golem?"

"In my defense," I say. "Someone kidnapped my cousin, and Puppy Alpha can-"

"Found them," Mama Alyssa says.

"How did you get in my workshop?" I exclaim.

"Miralandis created a key to it before she left."

I am changing the locking enchantment.

"Jason," Mama Alyssa says, and a violet gate opens, my mama stepping through it a moment later while holding up the box. "There are more than fifty marbles in here."

"There are?" I ask. "Huh. I thought I only had five."

"Jason," she says as her gate fades. "This includes marbles for not just your family, but every member of your training group and several other people, including the butler, maid, and valet."

Sometimes, my mamas and papas scare me with how quickly they can recognize magics. In this case, it's magical signatures. She had only a few seconds.

"Care to explain why you have records of magical signatures of so many people?" She asks.

No, not really.

"Well," I say. "I think the fact that me having that enabled us to find Franklin should act as proof that it's good I did, right?"

"You could have explained this to us," Uncle Zach said. "And requested permission to the official record of Franklin's register, Jason. I would have allowed Puppy Alpha to examine it."

"Yeah, but those are sealed up in a high-security vault in the royal records building here in the royal palace," I say. "Just to get to them-"

"Jason," Uncle Zach says. "How do you know where we are keeping those?"

"Erm, wouldn't that be the logical place?" I ask. "It's not like it couldn't be guessed. And if you're thinking I somehow broke into there, I've never been inside, so I can't gate in, and it's warded pretty strongly against other forms of entry. Had I managed to break those wards, you guys would have known about it. That, and the guards who are there at all times."

Their looks and Franklin's barely-restrained chuckles makes me realize what I said.

"I'm assuming all of this," I say. "These are just logical assumptions to make about a secure vault containing things relating to royalty. Plus, the light disrupters would make it impossible to do an invisibility spell without spending a lot of time studying it, and-"

"Jason," Mama Alyssa sighs. "As far as we knew, you've not known that such an enchantment exists."

"Erm…"

"And you have had a stuffie golem capable of reading magic here for an unknown period of time."

"Erm…"

"And you also know how to phase through objects."

"Puppy Alpha did it."

"Did not!" Puppy Alpha finally manages to get his mouth free. "Boss gave me a marble from that box and told me to find the person whose magical signature matched it, then open a gate to him!"

"Don't listen to him," I clamp his mouth shut again, binding it with magic. It should take him a little bit longer to get free, now. "He doesn't know what he's talking about."

"Papa," Lina enters the room, looking flustered. "Do you know where Jacob went? I cannot find him anywhere!"

She stops and sees Franklin, then swiftly walks over to him and gives him a brief hug, relief in her eyes.

"I do not know where Jacob is," Franklin informs her. "But I do know Jason is in trouble."

"What did you do this time?" She asks me.

"You know," Franklin grins at me. "They told me about how often you do something absurd, and how absurd they could be, but I believed they were exaggerating."

"They might have on some things," I shrug, then look at Mama Alyssa. "I will point out that Franklin was found quicker because I had those readily-available. In a locked room which only I should have been able to enter. I'm changing the locking enchantment."

"She assured me the key will work even if you change it."

"We'll see about that," I tell her. "If the key was made the same way keys were made back when I was younger, I know how to counter that enchantment she used."

And the countermeasures to that. And the countermeasures for that, too. I helped create that spell, back when I was Alorovos, which gives me an even greater understanding of the spell than Fael Mira could ever have.

"When you were younger?" Mama Alyssa asks. "You mean when you were Nolan?"

"Yeah, that," I say. "Anyway, can I please have the box back? I kind of need it."

"For what?"

"In case of emergency."

"You can acquire them through official channels," she tells me. "In an emergency. I think we'll be looking at your stashes of items more often."

"Erm," I say. "You do know that I can just make them and copy their signatures again pretty easily, right? And I interact with most of them six days a week. No matter how many you confiscate, you'll just cause an increase in these records, because I'll keep making them."

"Jason," Uncle Zach says. "I am officially asking you to not do such a thing. There is a reason this is strictly regulated, even if no one is able to falsely create someone else's magical signature."

"Which is why it's best if I just get that box back," I hold out one hand towards Mama Alyssa.

"Why do you need everyone's magical signatures?" She asks sternly.

"Can you please trust me with this?"

"This is coming from the man who used these in the past to sneak into the library when you weren't allowed," she says. "A man who is known for doing ridiculous things and performing experiments. Jason, what do you want them for?"

Knowing I won't get anywhere, I decide to come at least partially clean with them.

"I regularly use the marbles," I say. "To perform a trace on each of those people. Using the trace, I'm able to perform a complete scan of them for foreign magics or magical residues. This way, if someone has a curse placed on them or mind magics used on them to make them do stuff, we can know quickly and have it taken care of. Tiger Alpha runs the check every evening, and I perform it personally at least once a week. These are all people royalty interacts with on a regular basis or are royalty. It's… sort of a protection thing. I didn't want to alarm anyone about it, which is why I didn't tell anyone."

I created the spell back when I was still Nolan, when I was around four hundred years old. The memory of my notes on the spell came to me when I was eleven, but I never really used it until I started university.

"And how did you acquire these?" Mama Alyssa asks. "Especially Franklin's? I'd have noticed if you acquired it the last time you two me, and would have noticed if you'd sampled me as well. The only thing I can think of for that is to access our official records, and as you oh-so-know, Franklin's is not exactly easy to get."

"Tiger Alpha and Wolf Alpha did that for me," I say. "While you guys were sleeping."

"I am less comfortable with him being in the palace, now," Uncle Zach looks at Wolf Alpha.

"Would it help if I told you that he performs a scan of you every day to make sure no one's using magic to control you or has cursed you?" I ask.

"No!" Four people exclaim at once.

"Told you so," Wolf Alpha tells me.