(Alex, 17)

"Yeah, you can use it," Jason tells me. "We've patented the actual core enchantments themselves, but there is a baseline I can give you that you can adjust to your own needs. There are some regulations on the types of golems which can be produced, and you'll need to apply for a license to make golems, but other than that, you should be fine."

"Thanks," I tell him, and Jason turns his head to look at me for the first time since I showed up. His hairpins are black today, with a gentle, thin streak of gold in them. They must be new, as I don't remember seeing them before. He's also wearing an earcuff, a small, thin piece of metal on the side of his ear. It's less than a half an inch tall, and is strange. What is with this random new accessory? "Should I head to the company to pick them up, or…?"

"I can drop it off at the mansion later," Jason tells me, then checks the time on the clock over his original worktable. The second one is new, and I guess he decided he needed it here. "You should probably head home. You'll be getting a visitor soon."

"A visitor?" I ask.

"Yeah," he answers. "A visitor. They'll be there in about twenty minutes, actually. Do you want me to drop off a few books on enchanting when I'm dropping those documents off?"

Thank ya, Jason, for thinking of that. I've been trying to figure out what to do about my lack of enchanting skills. I could always take additional lessons, but Jason has other stuff to do, I'm not going to ask his mamas and papas, and it costs for a professional teacher. I'd forgotten they make books on the subject matter.

"Thanks," I tell him.

"They'll come from our library," he tells me. "So please try to not damage them. Most of them are older than we are."

"Okay," I say. "Thank ya, Jason."

"You're welcome," he says, then turns his attention back to working on… I'm not going to bother asking, but it seems to involve the guts of some creature, and Zevenas is held in some sort of cage made out of grey force magic. "Do you want me to open a gate back to your home?"

"Do I have to be there?"

"It's a messenger who wishes to speak with you directly," Jason tells me. "He will wait until you arrive."

Crap.

"Fine," I groan. "Who is it?"

"A messenger from the palace."

"Why is he coming?" Of course Jason would know in advance who it is.

"That's for him to tell, not me," Jason says as a gate forms in front of me. "That takes you to your room, put on something a bit nicer, would you?"

"When have you been in my room?"

"I opened a gate to Fox Alpha," he tells me. "He's snooping in your room hoping to find something secret hidden away."

There are lots of things in there. I hurry into my room and find Fox Alpha napping on my bed. It's as the gate disappears that I remember that the stuffie can just use a scanning spell to find my hidden stuff, and probably has before.

Deciding to heed Jason's advice, I strip off my outfit and pull on a nicer one. As a baron, it's better if I present myself nicely to a royal messenger, even if I hate the position and the idea of actually reporting to the king.

With some extra time on my hands, I make my way to my office, where Connor is sorting through some papers. Over the past week, we have created the Levirar Toys Company, set up a small shop to begin work on the game I patented, and have set three employees to working on them in the production-line style.

"You're back," Connor looks at me in surprise. "I thought you were going hunting with your crew, since the week's been stressful and you have all of today and tomorrow off."

It's a poke at my desire to avoid this work, and I choose to ignore it.

"I was going to hang out with Jason," I tell him. "Except Jason informed me we have a messenger coming from the palace. So I thought I'd see how things were here."

"Worse than I expected," Connor frowns, leaning back in his seat. "Papa didn't leave us with much, it turns out. Amarxik Toys was barely making sales, it seems. He had a deal with Sageson Magical Technologies, except that fell through and he got nothing."

"A deal?" I ask.

"I'm not sure the details," Connor shrugs. "But it seems Sage Harold didn't like Papa. We were already running on the family's reserve funds, something Papa managed to keep secret from me. He can manage on his own with Amarxik Toys and not having to fund the family, but we… are out of luck. Unless we manage to find a way to make plenty of money, we might turn impoverished in just a few months."

Back to my roots, then. Not a bad situation for me, but for Connor… this is the life he has. And I've grown attached to this particular blood relation of mine. I'd rather not see him living as an impoverished noble.

If Richard was already running the family into the ground even before this, then what were his plans once the family ran out of money? There would be nothing for us except the land His Majesty gave us.

Unless he planned on abandoning us.

Well, that's a wonderful thought.

"A few months ain't enough time to build up funds," I say. "We would need something major."

As I speak, I notice my brother's outfit. He's wearing light leather armor. It's normal leather, just a chest cover to protect his heart from the front and back. Probably a few thousand varru at most. But what about one made out of something better? Something like wyvern leather? The only problem with that is that Varil ain't got someone who can work it well.

But Mar has someone who can, and who can do it more than well. And his son happens to be here in Varil, learning to be a mage under Jason's tutelage. I know this 'cause Niko mentioned it back when we did the wyvern hunted practical training.

In Mar, children usually learned the crafts of their parents. That means that Jason's student might know how to work wyvern leather.

"You have an idea," Connor says.

"Ya and I," I say. "What if we hunted a few wyverns? There's always a small bounty for those."

"It wouldn't be enough," Connor shakes his head. "Not to pay the taxes we owe, nor-"

"No, not just that," I tell him. "We happen to know someone who might be able to work the wyverns' hide into proper leather and gear. If he can, what if we hired him? A quality protective vest made of wyvern leather runs… how much did Jason say it was? Erm."

"Fifty thousand varru," Connor says. "For a piece of chest armor made of wyvern leather. You're thinking of two companies? What if Pine leaves?"

Pine was his name? Like the tree?

"He's planning on staying for university," I say. "And even if he leaves after a couple of years, what if he taught someone else the craft? It's not like it's a secret, it's just not easy to work wyvern leather. We should at least be able to retain him long enough for that."

"I'll look into it," Connor nods. "You're thinking of having two companies, then. One for toys, one for gear?"

"Wyvern gear, specifically," I say. "A piece of wyvern leather armor currently goes for fifty thousand varru. But what if it's made by an expert? And what if we have the only experts in Varil?"

We would hold a monopoly on some of the most protective light armor around. Especially if we made it as vests, which are more suitable for mages. And if Jason gave us something that would let us know how to properly enchant wyvern leather, too, the value would go up even more.

"More than a hundred thousand," Connor says. "You're right. It takes what, three or four weeks to make leather? Then cutting and working it would take what, another week? As long as we have a few pieces ready for sale before our funds run out, we can pay our dues and last a little longer."

"Want to go catch a few wyverns after the messenger arrives?"

"Yes," he nods. "I'll talk with Pine first, though, and see if he will agree to it. If he does, we'll need to figure out how to pay him and what we need to work with. I already spent our disposable budget getting Levirar Toys started. The wyvern leather gear, if it works out for us, will enable us to invest into Levirar Toys more as well."

"We'll probably need a second building for that," I think for a few moments. "It would probably cost a few hundred thousand, possibly a million, for a building just for the wyvern stuff."

"We can't afford that," he shakes his head. "And the building I bought for the toys company won't be big enough, I don't think."

"I can take care of that," I say.

"I really don't think you can," he tells me, leaning forward. "We could theoretically use the mansion here, it's large enough, but that will come with its own problems considering that the Amarxiks were just minor barons in the first place, so it's not that large. Speaking of going places and this mansion, I'm taking you to ours before we go wyvern hunting. The one in the barony, that is."

"Alright, "I say. "And Connor, I can take care of it. I can probably net us an old warehouse. Not a large one, but one that could probably work."

"And how do you plan on doing that?"

"Nothing illegal, I promise ya that," I tell him. "Let me see if it works out before I tell you more."

He sighs, but nods. Before we can discuss anything else, there's a knock at the door.

"Enter!" Connor calls, and a butler enters. "Yes?"

"There is a messenger from the royal palace here requesting to speak with both of you, sir," the butler answers.

"Let us go talk with him now," Connor tells me. "Then we can resume this later."

I nod, then we follow the butler to the entrance hall, where a man dressed in the garb of the royal messengers stands at attention.

"Alex Levirar," he says. "Connor Levirar. Next Felday, one week from today, your presence will be required at the royal palace to accept your Grand Knightings for military services rendered to Varil. Lord Connor, you were nominated for it by Princess Paula for your actions at the border of Vel during a training mission and your rescue of the fortress she was staying in. Lord Alex, you were nominated for it by Matthew Enlin, a Captain of the Royal Knights, for your services in the defense of Varil City against a horde of ogres, corrupted, and an ogre lord."

What he says next is lost on me as my mind blanks out for several moments. All I can think about when I can think again is that I am being named a Grand Knight, which will allow me to join the Royal Slayers, but also places extra scrutiny on me. I both hate it and love it.

After the messenger finishes delivering his message, Connor tells me everything I missed listening to. It seems that starting Monday and going through to shortly before the actual ceremony itself, we will both be given lessons on how to act in the ceremony.

With the presence of several high nobles and royalty during it, we must act exactly. There are certain things we must say, and at certain times. Certain ways we must act. I hate this even more. If we do not follow the script, we can be shamed and lose the knighting soon after.

My attention turns to Fox Alpha, who I now notice sitting there, staring at me. Jason watched the entire thing. That brat! He's probably laughing his ass off at my shock, joy, and annoyance!

Before I can throw an attack at Fox Alpha, the stuffie golem disappears, probably teleporting somewhere I can't throw a spell at it. Connor just laughs at my reaction to that.

"Let him have his fun," Connor claps me on the back. "You know Jason meant nothing ill by it."

"Why did Jason know about this in advance?" I ask. "Ain't this something that's normally kept all tight up until it pretty much happens? Ain't we only being told in advance so we know the lessons will occur and to prepare for it?"

"Jason is the adopted son of Sage Samuel," Connor tells me. "Who is royalty by blood, even if he left that claim behind decades before we were born. As such, Jason is the third-cousin of His Majesty. And all royalty in the area attends a Grand Knighting ceremony. He was probably informed when any other royals nearby were told."

"Right," I say. "I forgot about that thing. Well. Whatever. Let me get changed out of this stupid outfit, then let's go to the other house, then vent against the wyverns."

"You're the one who's venting," he says.

"Whatever," I grumble.

(Jason, 16)

Niko is helping Kyron summon golems. He's using some of my training techniques, too. Rather than simply saying 'this is what you do, and this is how you do it', he's properly teaching the boy. Asking him what he thought and visualized, what else he could visualize, how else he could improve the spell, and so on. When Kyron is stuck, Niko either leads him to the answer, or simply gives it to him if that's the better choice.

I'm glad to see Niko is somewhat happy, but know it's also best if he confronts his feelings about himself. He's locking them away and throwing himself into stuff that distracts him from it.

Once Niko and Kyron take a break, I approach the pair of them. Niko's wearing a sleeveless tunic, letting his arm be seen by anyone around. When Gargoyle Alpha told me about it, I figured Niko probably did that to reassure himself. With no one looking at it in disgust, even with it fully visible, he's confirmed to himself that this is a land that accepts him.

He's still looking for acceptance, while rejecting the people who likely will accept it as well. The people who actually have meaning and care in his heart, not just a reverent worship.

"Hello, Niko," I pull out the stack of papers and hand it to him. He sends it into his spatial storage without a word. "Lina sent this, too."

I pull out an even bigger basket than from last weekend. This one contains more chocolates and candies, four bottles of wine, a black scarf with green trim and a silver wolf on each end, and a few other goodies, including a small wooden box containing a necklace Lina commissioned Monday. It finished this morning, much to her delight.

The necklace is made of enchanted silver, with a thunderbird charm hanging from it, a rich sapphire bead to either side of it.

"That's bigger than last week's," Kyron whispers to Niko. "Your girlfriend must like you a lot."

Niko's face turns bright red. So he's mentioned Lina to Kyron, then? That doesn't surprise me, I know Niko must be missing her something fierce.

"Can you tell her I said 'thank you'?" Niko asks as he accepts the basket and sends it into his spatial storage."

"Sure," I tell him. "Though you know you could, too."

"She will ask uncomfortable questions if I try to talk to her," he mutters.

"Your choice," I shrug. "Want to do a little training with me? I've got most of the afternoon free."

"That would be nice," he tells me as Kyron's face lights up at the thought of seeing the Benefactor show off in a fight against a friend.

"Alright," I say, switching into Varilan. "Hold on just a moment. Yes, Papa Samuel?"

Niko gives me a confused look, and I point at my ear cuff. It's a smaller, more portable version of the comm plate. Papa Jared made it, surprising me with it. I normally know everything he makes, yet he somehow developed this without my awareness. It's impressive. Both that he managed to do it without my awareness and that he was able to get the comm plate reduced to an ear cuff. All I have to do is send a little mana into it through my ear and activate it like normal, and it works. But the sound is transmitted differently, making it so that only I hear what's said.

Once he gives me another one of them, I'm going to break it down and figure out how he did that. I could ask him, of course, but my way is more fun.

"Would you mind coming to the Marran capital?" He asks. "Henry wishes to speak with you."

"Me?" I look at Niko. They figured out that something's going on with Niko, haven't they? "What for?"

"To discuss one of your inventions with them," he answers. "You'll find out more when you arrive, but please don't delay."

"Alright," I sigh, then end the call. "Sorry, Niko, but your papa and mama wish to speak with me about something I made. Let's put this on hold, shall we? I'll be back tonight for sure."

Niko thinks it over for a few moments, then nods. I'm sure there will be a crowd wanting to watch him train, and that makes him nervous. We can deal with that tonight, though.

"Alright," I say. "See you later, Niko, Kyron."

"Goodbye," Niko says.

"Bye!" Kyron waves.

I open a gate to the Marran royal castle and step through. After asking a nearby servant, I'm directed to a meeting room, where Emil sul'Kelrar is sitting, along with Henry, his wife, Derrick, and Papa Samuel. A map of the northern kingdoms sits on the table, the corners held down with stones.

"This seems especially formal," I say in Marran as I sit down.

"After the attack on Kelrar," Emil tells me. "Kelrar is weakened. We pulled soldiers from our border with Mar, as well as what we could from towns and villages, to protect our other borders. Other nations will likely wish to attack us now that we are weakened, as well as for accepting magic.

"As such," he continues. "I have chosen to hand Kelrar to Mar. In exchange for Kelrar becoming Mar, it will receive the military assistance of Mar. I will continue to lead the central portion of it as a duke. This was the best choice I could come up with for Kelrar and its current state. The other option was to use only our forces, with some assistance from Mar, as our neighbors attacked."

"We," Henry tells me. "Are beginning to take parts of Sar. We will likely manage to take around a quarter of it, extending our border from Kelrar all the way down to where Sar met Varil. With Niko eliminating its leadership and military, that should not pose too much issue. Other kingdoms are already working on claiming some of its territory for their own. This includes the once-independent land between Sar and Vel, which has declared itself the kingdom of Rel under the banner of a young soldier."

"With our magic," he says. "We have an advantage. However, it is taking some adjusting to accept mages into our forces and ranks. This push is necessary to protect our land a little, but also dangerous, as we will not be able to communicate as efficiently when attacks come. The northern kingdoms already stretch the furthest they can right now."

Meaning that if Mar does go through with this plan, then they will likely fall apart. Most of nations will suffer for a little while, then break up into smaller nations than they started out as. The same thing has happened to the Southern Conclave several times.

One nation will crumple, others will swoop in, then end up breaking up into several new nations because of the sudden expansion taxing their soldiers and not allowing them proper communication and reinforcements when necessary.

That leads me to realizing what they want. Comm plates, but not just that. Comm plates are a Sageson Magical Technologies thing. There's one thing that can make things a lot easier which I own. I developed it on my own, and own it. Sageson Magical Technologies produces it, but they have to pay me, the person, for each one they do. All income generated by it includes a payment to me.

"You own the gate enchantment," Henry tells me. "We would like to negotiate a deal so that we may have several built. While the train will be a blessing to us once it completes, able to move troops in hours if necessary, you are building it from Varil to here. The gate, on the other hand, will grant us much quicker travel than that."

"One here and one in Kelrar," I nod. "I can build one with around a day or two of work. If you give me a week, I can have both built."

"We were hoping for four," Henry tells me, indicating the map. "You can see what we plan to take of Sar, and the borders of Kelrar. The four violet dots are our planned location for the gates, if you will sell us some."

One here, at the Marran castle. One at the border of Mar with Sar, halfway between the castle and where their planned expansion will end. One in the northwestern portion of Kelrar, at their royal castle, and one in the southeast portion of Kelrar, closer to the border with another nation.

Strategic spots. It would normally take a couple of days to travel between them. Factoring in the terrain, even building train tracks would still require them to travel for half a day, at minimum. It would have to slow often for the turns.

If they put gates in those four spots, along with trusted soldiers, mages, and nobles with comm plates, they could easily communicate in case of attack, for decisions about the land, and other important things. It would also make transporting goods easier.

"We were also hoping," Henry tells me. "To maintain a permanent gate with Varil. I know gate travel is expensive due to the cost of running them, but we will pay it for ease of trade on a few things. The train will be the primary source of trade between the two lands, but I wish to equip our military with better armor before the train completes, especially with the Kelraran and the conquered forces."

New equipment and better goods can help to make a conquered land act more favorably. Other nations will likely wish to take over the gates and use them to attack Mar. But if Mar has a permanent gate to Varil, they can ask their ally for assistance, and then quickly move the forces around as needed.

As for equipment, Mar has its own mines. So does Kelrar. They can sell some of what they mine to Varil, and either have a portion of it forged, or simply purchase equipment. Likely the former option, as it would be cheaper. They would need to produce other materials for sale or trade as well, to afford the cost of actually outfitting their soldiers, but I'm sure they have a plan for that.

Their smiths might be good, but Varilan smiths are better, and they can enchant gear for better durability. With there being lands bordering the northern kingdoms, Varil also has smiths who know how to forge cold-weather armor, too.

"Have you spoken with Uncle Zach regarding a permanent gate?" I ask. "Gates in Varil have to be authorized by the king of it."

"We have already spoken with him," Henry nods. "He has given approval, provided the owner of the magitech agrees to have it constructed."

We spend the next half-hour discussing possible payments for the gates. Henry and Emil provide a list of resources they can pay with, in addition to simply giving me money. The resources are a better option, especially with some of what they have available.

There are some things that grow exclusive to regions, or are a pain for me to harvest in quantities. Things which I find useful or can sell to Sageson Magical Technologies for them to use in enchantments and other goods.

One important resource for me isn't in their list, though. Probably because they never really had a use for it, nor a reason to look into how to mine it. Near the peaks of some of the taller mountains here can be found a crystal.

A very special crystal, in fact. Mana crystals attuned not to air or water or light or any individual element, but a multi-elemental crystal known as a 'sky mana crystal'. As it's magic, the northern kingdoms wanted to avoid it, and so left it alone.

The pale, blue-white crystal is charged with a specific balance of air, water, light, and energy magics. A specific balance that allows for a possibility for me. I was planning on asking Henry about harvesting some anyway, since I can't find them anywhere but the northern kingdoms right now.

We might be able to use them in a skyship to keep it aloft. Even if that fails, I can always find other uses for them. Research using them with Papa Jared and Mama Alyssa and Papa Samuel. That alone would be worth the cost.

"We know of the crystals," Henry tells me when I ask about them. "But their tendency to generate lightning suggests they are magical, so we avoid them."

"I know how to harvest them," I tell him. "I could use twenty barrels' worth."

"Jason, no," Papa Samuel says.

"This is my negotiation," I tell him. "And I have a reason for needing so many. Henry, if you are willing, I can supply you with the information necessary to mine the crystals. If you agree to trade them to me exclusively for an indefinite period of time, I would be more than willing to consider part of the cost of the gates covered. After the first twenty barrels' worth, I will pay you to continue mining them for me.

"There is a catch," I say. "To protect the secret of how to harvest sky crystals, everyone who acquires the information must undergo a magical oath which uses mind magics. It will prevent them from revealing it without proper permission, and will also protect the information in their mind, should a mind mage attempt to pry it out."

Henry looks a little uncomfortable with the idea of magic being used on his people for such a thing, but agrees, telling me it might not be easy to find people willing to have magic used on them like that. We return to negotiating the rest of the cost of the gates, and once it concludes, I inform him I can work on the first gate starting tomorrow.

I have the resources to build twenty of them right now, and can pull some of it away from Varil's gates. They can harvest the stone and other resources again for that, but Mar's thing has a touch more urgency than some of the gates we're building in Varil.

Though I might draft Mama Alyssa into helping me build the gates in Mar. I'll ask her when I return home.

The meeting concludes after a little more discussion, then I open a gate back to Varil. Mama Alyssa isn't here, so I head to my work room for a little bit, to do some work before returning to Garoyal.

Just as I'm about to open a gate to Garoyal, Alex shows up, so I head to the living room to greet him.

"Hello, Alex," I say. "You smell like wyvern."

"Connor and I were just hunting one," he tells me. "It's in my spatial storage right now, and I want to get started on working it. Connor is asking Pine – is that actually his name?"

"The Marran?" I ask, and he nods. "Yeah. Ah, you want to see if he'll help you with the wyvern leather?"

"Yeah," he nods. "Anyway, we ain't got much space, and were going to start this in the yard of our mansion here. However, we need a more permanent place for this work, but ain't able to afford it. It turns out that Richard was running the family's finances into the ground. An old warehouse would be acceptable until we can build our own place. However, we ain't able to afford even that right now."

"You're asking if I'll let you borrow the training warehouse?" I ask. "Sorry, Alex, but I don't think Mama Alyssa would like that, since it's meant for training."

"No, no," he shakes his head. "Jason, do ya remember on Earth, how someone could take out a loan? They would pay it back over time. That ain't really a thing here on Midlaris, but I was wondering-"

"If you could take out a loan with me," I finish. "For you to buy a warehouse, then you pay it back over time."

"Yeah," he nods, looking down with his face a little red.

"Remember when we first met in this life?" I ask. "You were so insistent on paying me because you thought it was charity. That Alex would never ask for a loan. He paid for his stuff, just like everyone."

"Yeah," Alex says. "But if we don't start producing some income now that Amarxik Toys is not under the family, we'll be broke in a couple of months. I ain't caring about me, but Connor? I don't want to see him poor. He's my brother, ya know. I feel obligated to help him stay out of a situation he can't handle, even if I can."

"A business loan, then?" I ask, and he nods. "I assume the business is yet to actually be set up?"

"Correct," he answers.

"Set it up," I tell him. "I'll purchase the warehouse and own it, and then the company will rent it from me. I'll give the company three months to start paying me rent, with the first three months' rent split between the first several payments. Once they have no outstanding rent, the company can buy the warehouse from me. Of course, it will need to afford it first. This is something that happens in this world already, between nobles who are attempting to help, say, their children get started. Or a friend recover from a company loss. It's not a loan, and it's best if we don't introduce those into this world yet, anyway."

Alex gives me a bewildered look at that comment.

"Papa Harold told me that, and I didn't quite understand his explanation of why," I tell him, then shrug. "Probably because of how awful loans ended up being back on Earth. I guess you could say there's a slight loan in this arrangement, but that's beside the point."

"Alright," Alex laughs. "We can do that. I'll talk to Connor 'bout it."

"Okay," I say. "Three months should be enough for the company to start selling goods. This isn't like on Earth. Do you need some information on how to properly enchant wyvern hide and wyvern leather armor?"

"Sure," he says. "Thanks, Jason. Do ya have the other stuff?"

"I already dropped it off at the mansion," I tell him. "I'll get this book to you in a few minutes. I need to pop back over to my house in the Unwild Lands. I wrote it up while recovering on the Shattered Isle out of boredom. Probably best to get it started immediately, and Pine can read Varilan moderately well, and will have you two to help him."

"Thanks," Alex says.

"You're welcome," I say. "Anyway, I need to get going. I have an appointment to keep. I'll bring the book directly to the house, so you can go do whatever else you were planning on doing."

Alex nods and gives me a kiss before leaving, then I open a gate to my personal house. I wish Alex luck in his business. And might give him an extra hand, even if he doesn't notice it.