(Alex, 17)

"Mind telling me what ya were thinking ya were doing?" I ask.

The street rat twists and looks at me, knives at the ready. I'd put him at about fifteen, maybe sixteen. Like most street rats, he's a little on the skinnier side, with leaner meat on his body, the bit of muscle he's built up by running around and fighting on the streets. He's a bit dirty, since most street rats ain't able to wash regularly, and wears just a pair of pants, along with a headband tied around his head, covering his forehead. His belt has a few pouches on it, too, but my scanning spell says they're mostly empty.

"What are ya doing here?" He shoots back. "Ya look like a noble, trying to mock me?"

"I ain't mocking ya yet," I take a step closer. "I just asked ya a question. Ya are in a building owned by my crew. By rights, I could kill ya and toss ya out into the streets, and the guards ain't gonna bat an eye if I did."

"As if ya had the heart to do that," he scoffs. "All ya nobles are the same, arrogant pricks who act big and tough, but ain't got a head for killing. No, ya leave that to the unwanted sons and daughters and to the guards who protect ya."

"Ya might be right," I say. "At least, when it comes to killing humans. But there are plenty of nobles who've hunted bandits or fought enemy soldiers. Those ones ain't bothered by killing a street rat. Your blood ain't gonna haunt any of them. Nor me. "

"Yeah?" He sneers. "Ya ain't that much older than me, ain't no way ya've done any of that before. And stop pretending to talk like one of us, I know it makes ya feel disgusting."

"It makes me feel at home," I tell him. "I did tell ya that ya are in my crew's property. When I say 'my crew', I mean the remnants of the street crew I used to run, back when I still lived on the streets, before I became a noble. And since ya are a street rat, it ain't a problem if I kill ya like I would any other rat stealing my crew's stuff."

I take another step forward.

"Better yet," I say. "I could just look into that mind of yours, find out all the secrets ya know about the crew ya are in, then bare 'em out for all of your rival crews."

"Ya-ya are bluffing," nerves radiate out of him. "Ya ain't able to do that! Ya ain't a former street rat."

"Really?" I ask, then drive a mental spike into his head from here, and he lets out a yelp.

The moment his mind is pierced, I rip through it, grabbing everything he knows about his crew and memorizing it. I ain't one to care about my victims when I do this stuff, and as I work, he drops to the ground, clutching his head and squirming around, letting out pitiful noises.

Normally, I'd call him pathetic for doing that over a little pain, but a mental attack ain't something just anyone could take. In fact, I'm sure most Magi would react the way he did to an attack that actually pierced.

Once I finish ripping through his mind, I pull out of it and take three swift steps to cross the distance to him, then I kneel beside him and place a hand on his chest.

"Calm," I speak in a soothing voice, using a mixture of mind magic and holy magic. "The pain is gone."

He stops wriggling around, and I feel his mind relax as well. Good, it worked.

"Now," I tell him. "Let me share with ya some of my memories."

I then push my mind back into his, but rather than driving a spike into it, I simply share memories, ones of me at my most brutal from when I was Leviathan Alex. Incidents from here, where I mercilessly strike down street rats who attempt to mug me. A show of my overwhelming might in the battle to defend Varilsy against a horde of ogres.

His face turns to one of horror as he sees just how much worse Leviathan Alex is over anything his crew has to offer, and when I finish this attack, I pull my mind back once more, but keep my hand firmly on his chest. As long as my hand is touching him, even without much weight behind it, he will not attempt to flee.

"Now," I say. "Ya will tell me what ya were thinking ya were doing, or I'm goin' to do something worse than turn ya into a body in the street. I'm goin' to leak that information I pulled out of your mind to your rival crews and make sure that street lord of yours knows it came from ya."

"Ya-ya already know it, don't ya?" He trembles.

"Maybe," I answer. "Maybe I want to give ya a chance. Now answer the question, because my patience is low. This place is sacred to my crew. They spent months building up the funds to buy it and renovate it. I ain't gonna tolerate someone doing somethin' to it."

"Th-the boss," he says. "Said that when he had some guys check it, there ain't any defenses or traps to protect the goods. He sent me to nick some of the smaller stuff. But there ain't much here. It's weird."

"Of course there ain't," I say. "We're storing the supplies in our spatial storages. They're advanced versions of dimensional spaces. Much more secure than leaving it out and such. We're former street rats, we ain't that trusting. Now. Go get your boss. Immediately. If he refuses, let 'im know that it's under the orders of Leviathan Alex. He'll come running."

I pull my hand off of him, and he slowly gets up, takes a cautious look at me, then takes off out of the building. I stretch a little, then move to the counter, which was the first thing Sara put in after we finished replacing the walls and the floors the last few days. Apparently, they had it in the process of being made already when they bought the place.

Though the couple of days before that was spent putting in some proper plumbing and water storage and a generator for water, to refill the storage when it gets below a certain point. My crew really impressed me with that, considering they had to buy them from Sageson, and I know they ain't cheap.

Pointing at the center of the room, I generate an orb of light there, suspended a few inches under the ceiling to illuminate the whole room. In just a few days, the crew did some pretty good work. They managed to replace all of the floors and walls, and even had some windows put it. I guess when ya start work before actually buying the place, it's a bit easier.

Though what's really surprising is the street lord I just summoned. Talk about ghosts from the past. I know we've been in contact with many of the street crews of Varilsy, but there are still plenty we ain't. Perhaps I should have the crew check out all of the crews here, just to see if there's any other surprises.

It takes almost an hour, which is longer than I expected, for me to sense the rat's return, along with four other people. The rat looks like his hands are tied behind his back, and he's being escorted by one of them. Two of them are following directly behind the third, as if there to guard him. Standard formation.

They approach the front door of the place and one of the two guards opens it first. A man maybe a year older than me. Behind him, in the leader's position, is a man my age as well. A girl a year younger than us stands behind him as the other guard, and the rat is being escorted by a boy of maybe eleven. A ferocious-looking boy of maybe eleven.

As they enter, the leader stares at me, eyes widening as he pales, recognizing me.

"Hullo, Owen," I greet him.

"A-Alex," he stammers. "It's really ya."

"Yes, it is," I smile at him, gesturing with my hand to send a bit of force magic at the door, closing it. "And I believe that I summoned ya an hour ago. What took ya so long? Doubted he was honest, even though ya have surely heard that I'm here?"

He only pales further in response.

"My crew probably ain't aware ya are the street lord 'round here," I say. "Then again, they ain't really aware of your existence in the first place, 'cept maybe Barry. After all, ya did try to steal him from me."

Owen gulps.

Barry and I weren't actually walking out with each other at the time, but I was still fiercely protective of him. It was actually two years before Barry and I came here, so about three years ago. Didn't realize then what those feelings of mine meant. Once I did, I started walking out with him, then a few months later, we ended it so I could come here.

Then I met Jason and fell in love with him for the third time.

"Small world, eh?" I ask. "Though I guess ya are living proof that one should always make sure the target's dead, right?"

"Y-yeah," he responds.

It's amusing, the fear he's radiating, along with the utter confusion the rest of his crew is radiating.

"I ain't really caring how ya survived that, Owen," I smile. "We can let the past be the past, yeah?"

"Y-yeah," he responds.

"Good!" I say. "Barry and I ain't together anymore. I left him when I came here to study at the Royal Knight University. Though he's here. I guess your crew didn't do a good inspection if they didn't realize this was his place. Did ya hear about what happened in Varilar?"

"No," he answers. "I-I left Varilar after recovering, I ain't heard much since. I did hear that ya and some of the Leviathans were, here, though."

"All of the Leviathans," I answer, and starts shaking. "There ain't many of us left. The former lord of Varilar decided to go on an illegal purge of street rats, Barry, Sara, Mikey, Colin, and Jeddy managed to escape, and Peter managed to hide until he was able to. Other than them, as I think Chris was the only street rat to make it out of the purge alive. I ain't sure what Chris is doing, but my crew? They followed me down here, and are setting up a brew shop. I ain't a big fan of people tryin' to steal their hard work, either."

"S-sorry," he says. "My crew said it looked like another crew was trying to move into our territory, 'cause they were talkin' like us. Since they'd bought a coupla buildings, we figured they'd spent all their crew's wealth on doin' that and makin' it nice and pretty. I-I didn't realize they were yours."

"Not mine," I tell him. "My crew's."

"Regardless of who he is," the guy who entered first says. "We shouldn't let another crew move into our territory."

"N-no," Owen swallows. "We-we can let them move in. It's fine."

"Royal Knight student or no," the guy pulls out his knives. "We can-"

"Ya ain't able to kill him," Owen shakes his head. "Not Leviathan Alex. I doubt there's a crew in the world able to take him on."

"I'm green in magical power," I say. "And can cast spells without a word. I'm also a Royal Slayer, despite still being in university. Ya can ask your friend there, I shared with him some of my memories, including when I took out most of that horde of ogres that attacked Varilsy the other month."

"Ha!" The woman laughs. "As if ya-"

"He did!" Owen exclaims. "Leviathan Alex did. I heard the reports. It's Baron Alex Levirar now, your papa claimed ya during the winter, after being pressured to by his legitimate son. Then he was pushed out of the way and ya were promoted to baron by the king, and are the Royal Rival, the person meant to challenge Prince Jacob's abilities to keep him growing. Ya are one of Lord Jason's students, too, and his lover. Ya have your own companies, a toy company and an equipment company that makes wyvern leather armor."

It sounds like he's been keeping track of me ever since he found out I'm here. It just goes to show how deeply his fear of me runs, even though we ain't seen each other in a few years and I only treated him to a single night of suffering.

"Yes," I say. "I am his boyfriend, the one he is currently courting, and we are quite serious about it. If ya try to steal him from me, well, I ain't gonna have to do a thing. Jason ain't got eyes for anyone but me.

"That said," I tap the heel of my right foot against the counter, the sound of my boot thumping the wood causing Owen to jump in fright. "Barry ain't with me anymore, and I ain't sure ya would have an issue going after him."

As a street lord, he gets the first pick of food. He's got a healthy body, with his muscles defined rather than simply existing as his only meat. Owen actually has broad shoulders and a decent build, so I'd say Barry might actually go for him, too.

"What's past is past, yeah?" I ask. "It ain't forgotten, and it ain't forgiven, but let's move forward. And to the idiots in your crew, let 'em know that we ain't exactly a street crew anymore. We're something a bit more terrifying. Make sure they knew the brewery is off-limits to touching, too. Do so, and the Leviathans may just show ya some preferential treatment."

"Pr-preferential?" Owen asks, and I can sense the slight touch of confusion at the word.

"Favorable," I tell him. "Your crew makes sure nothin' goes wrong with the brewery, and not only will we let ya stay here, but we might give ya some food and ale from time to time, too. Maybe even some discounts on our goods."

More food for his crew means more members at strength. Not pissing off Leviathan Alex means his crew gets to live, too. I can see in Owen's expression that he's already accepting the offer.

"Send your crew outside," I tell him. "Let's talk, ya and me."

"Go," Owen says.

"Sir," the male guard says. "We shouldn't-"

"Leviathan Alex could level this entire district if he wanted to," Owen says. "There ain't a thing any of ya could do to stop him if he wanted to hurt me again. Go."

His crew is reluctant, but they do leave. Looks like they hold a bit more loyalty to him than most crews would. While they'd normally refuse to leave him if they felt they could put a stop to him being harmed, most crews would abandon their leader if they knew the leader was going to die. They know he's going to be alone with someone terrifying, yet wanted to stay.

For moral support.

"Good crew ya have there," I say once the door is closed and I've pulled out a grey crystal tablet activated the soundblocking enchantments to prevent them from eavesdropping on us.

"Y-yeah," he says. "Ya had one of the most loyal crews in Varilar. Even if ya scare the life out of me, Leviathan Alex, I still envied your ability to lead the crew. I've tried to be like that, have a crew that's loyal not just to their survival, but to me as well. It's made us strong, even if we're not a big crew."

"Strong bonds make it less likely for 'em to betray ya for another crew," I nod. "Ya are wondering why it was coincidental that I showed up while he was here, ain't ya?"

"Y-yeah," he nods. "I had 'em check for active enchantments and there ain't any. At least, we couldn't find any."

Checking for active enchantments in a crew is essential to being able to nick things without getting caught. If there is one, the rule is that it ain't a place to touch. Doing the check is nothing as fancy as Jason's ability to read magic, but it also doesn't rely on some sort of magitech device.

It's actually much more simple than that.

Magic crystals react to active enchantments that emit a field. Any form of alarm enchantment that's typically used does so, as well as any form of door-sealing enchantment or ward. So all they have to do is go around the targeted place with a magic crystal while keeping a careful eye on the crystal, and if it has some sort of protective enchantment, it will alert them.

I mean, they do need to push some of their magic into the mana crystal, so they can find the changes, but it's still not that difficult to do for someone who knows what they're doing.

Huh. Actually, does Jason know about this? If so, either he's not come up with a way to counter it, or he has, but hasn't implemented into his homes.

Okay, maybe I did try this at some point, just to see. By the soul of the Divine Leviathan, his home in the Unwild Lands triggers it even more than the royal palace.

The trick itself isn't always effective, as it's possible to pick up other places' protections, but it's still often a good judge for if someone should go somewhere or not. A place like the royal place is an obvious no, but a random building that used to be run-down in a poor district? Unlikely to have any magical defenses.

"Ya read that there ain't any because there ain't," I tell him. "Or at least, active ones. There's one right now, to make sure your crew ain't able to eavesdrop on us, but other than that, that's it. We can turn them on and off with this."

I show him the crystal tablet. It's nowhere near as fancy as Jason's, but I do know how to make them, and so did when my crew was discussing the enchantments they were putting in place. It allows me to remote-control the tavern's enchantments, picking which ones are on and which ones aren't.

The idea to do that isn't new, Jason mentioned months ago they could actually do it if he created a crystal tablet synced to the enchantments through a special set of enchantments where they all link into a mana generator, which is where I got the idea from.

My crew is using a mana generator to power the enchantments, and soon, the lights. We haven't put the crystals in yet, that was on the plan for later today. Hence the orb of light floating in the middle of the room.

I really want to know where my crew got the money for all of this from. Was it really just from jobs they did? The plumbing, the light enchantments, the mana generator, the enchantments, other things they've installed or plan on installing…

Something ain't right.

"But ya are still wondering why I showed up while he was here," I say. "If it was really coincidence. Ain't ya?"

"Yeah," he nods.

"Ya can speak on your own, Owen," I say. "It's been a few years, I'm with someone else, and ya realized the error of your ways. I ain't gonna keep holding it against ya. Maybe a little, but not enough ya need to be scared. Ya didn't realize it was my crew's place, and no harm was done, except maybe to your guy's mind. I was a bit rough with it."

He nods, and I know it will probably take him a little bit more time to adjust to not needing to be thoroughly terrified of what I might do to him. He's still seeing me as Leviathan Alex, not just plain Alex. But if we're in his territory, then he'll have that time to get used to it.

"Because rather than an alarm," I say. "We put in a trap. It emits a very small enchanted field, so it doesn't result in the trick to check for enchantments working on it since you'd have to have the crystal pretty close to the actual trap itself. When he entered, he triggered the trap. Rather than hitting him with a spell, however, it sent me an alert."

It's something Sara came up with, and actually reminds me of something from Earth. Set into the bottom corner of the door on the side that opens is a small, enchanted item. Underneath the door and in the door frame are two more enchanted items. Hidden on the side of the frame is small switch.

If the switch is set to 'off', the trap is deactivated. If the switch is set to 'on', the trap is activated. When the door is closed, the enchanted items are in close proximity to each other. As long as both the item in the frame and the item under the door can detect the item in the door, the alarm remains simply as active.

However, if the item in the door leaves the range of either of them – and it would generally leave the range of both – then it trips the alarm. It then turns on an enchanted item that I had in my room, which begins "screeching", or emitting a really annoying sound by vibrating the air.

Which woke me up.

I'm going to have to talk with Sara about the screeching. Or put it next to her head while she's asleep and then come here and open the door specifically so that she can find out how freaking annoying that was.

There are better ways to wake someone up.

I suppose she paid attention in the lessons Jason, Sage Alyssa, and Sage Jared gave us in regards to enchanting, though. Most street rats know at least minor basics, sort of like the orphans being taken care of by that angel and Ben. But for there two be two decent enchanters in a crew? That's rare, and we Leviathans have me and Sara.

I'm curious how Sara afforded it, though. We have it installed with every window and entry door in this two-story building, and they want it in the back building, too, for obvious reasons.

The magic fields they emit are minor – much smaller and weaker than the fields that trigger the check for enchantments. Even with so many of them set into the building, they would pretty much need to have the crystal right by it to trigger it, and if they only got the reading briefly and in a small spot, they probably wouldn't think it counted.

Those aren't the only traps we've put in, though, and now I'm really wondering the cost of everything, as well as the method of affording. Sara and I are going to have some words when day comes.

"The alarm trap," I tell Owen. "Is actually why I wished to speak with ya in private, by the way."

"Wh-what do you mean?" He asks.

"It's simple," I tell him. "Once my crew opens for business, they'll be selling a little more than alcohol and snacks. They'll be selling some more, well, illegal things as well, in addition to a few different types of traps, for a little extra money. They ain't gonna advertise it, of course, but since ya run the crew that runs this area, it might benefit ya to know in advance. But ya better not go and spread word of it. Let it happen in rumors after the first sales occur, okay?"

"Y-yeah," he says. "I'll do that."

"Good," I smile. "If ya are lucky, they may even sell ya the trap we used to know ya were here."

And if so, I'll tell Sara to keep the screeching in. Just 'cause I feel like it.

"Thank," he says.

"That's all," I tell him. "Go back to your beauty sleep."

Owen nods, then hurries out of here, and I flip the trap back on. I turned it off before speaking to the would-be thief, he didn't notice me enter at all. Mostly because I opened up a gate outside, then teleported in using my scanning spell to pinpoint the spot.

We don't have to worry about most people teleporting in or using a gate in due to the wards Jason and Sage Alyssa put up to blanket Varilsy in blocks for those. Unless someone is really powerful or keyed in to the city's wards, no one's using those to get into the brewery that way.

With the trap back on, I open up a gate and leave, returning to my room, where I change back into a nightshirt, then collapse onto my bed, passing out in moments. When morning comes, I take a shower, dress, then take a gate to Jason's mansion, since we're supposed to have breakfast together today.

When I arrive, Cecilia is putting our food out, Jason already seated, looking as handsome as ever in his usual style of outfits, his vest today grey leather. Zevenas is sitting on the chair next to him, and Rufus is sitting on the other side of him, eating from a bowl of meat chunks.

"Good morning, Alex," Jason smiles at me. "How did you sleep?"

"Like a baby," I answer.

"The calm kind or the fussy kind?" He asks.

"The calm kind," I answer.

"So you didn't get woken up by a screeching stone at two this morning?"

"How did ya know about that?" I ask. "Did Leviathan Alpha tell you?"

"Connor did, actually!" He laughs. "The soundproofing there isn't as effective as the ones here. It's much weaker, and he could hear it from three rooms away. He said he had a feeling it was strange, considering that it stopped in moments, then figured you had done something to some would-be assassin or something."

"Nah," I answer, digging into breakfast. Cecilia's breakfasts are way better than our cook's breakfast, though Jason's and the Sages' are even better. "Sara has some alarm thing and-"

"Seriously?" Jason groans. "I told her to turn that down. She added in an extra set of runes that wasn't necessary, and it resulted in a louder, higher-pitched noise. The vibrations it emits are designed to both wake you up by sound and by the actual vibrations of the air around it, since most people would get disturbed by that!"

"Ya knew about it?" I ask. "Wait, it ain't actually Sara's thing? Ya invented it?"

"No, Sara did," Jason says. "Mama Alyssa and I helped her with fine-tuning it, but the invention itself is hers, and she holds the patent to it."

"How did something like that get patented?" I ask. "I'm sure whoever King Zachary put in charge of approving that stuff would report a thief creating a trap-"

"It's an alarm system," Sage Alyssa enters the dining room and sits beside Jason, taking a plate and filling it with food. "Sara came to me a few months ago and asked if I could help her create it. She knew what she wanted, but didn't have the enchanting ability to make it. She also wasn't sure if the Crown would allow it, since she was looking at it as a trap, so she wanted to ask me about that as well.

"As long as it only sent an alarm," Sage Alyssa tells me. "It's not truly a trap, but an alarm. Because of that, I knew it would be allowed. I offered to help her create it, and Jason did give some input as well."

"We created two versions," Jason says. "One that activates a separate device, which you apparently have, using something I've patented, and one which activates a connected device. Because the three of us worked on it together, the patent is in all three of our names."

"I thought they could only be in one name?" I ask.

"No," Jason answers. "My papas usually just put my name on the ones that were my base idea, though many of our inventions have two or three names on them. With this alarm system, it was mostly Mama Alyssa who did the work, with me helping and Sara mostly just giving input on what she wanted out of it."

"It's been implemented in a few areas already," Sage Alyssa informs me. "Both in the palace and out of it. In fact, we marketed the connected version to shops. Probably three percent of the shops in Varilsy have them right now."

"Oh," I say, then realize something. "Oh! That's how Sara managed to afford stuff, isn't it? From the money she got from the patent?"

"Sort of," Jason answers. "I know what you're referring to. For the mana generator and the plumbing stuff, she, Barry, and Peter made a deal with me."

"I thought ya ain't introducing credit?" I ask.

"It's not," Jason shakes his head. "They just did some work for me, and I paid them for it. Then, they used that money to buy the generator and plumbing stuff."

"What kind of work?" I ask, quite suspicious. "That's a lot of money. Ain't those generators hundreds of thousands of varru?"

Sage Alyssa snorts, shooting Jason a look that asks if he wants to tell me or if he's going to keep it a secret. That means the crew likely ain't going to tell me if I ask them about it. That makes me really curious about what it is.

"No, Mama Alyssa," Jason rolls his eyes, then reaches down, and I assume he's smacking Zevenas by the motion and the noise the baby dragon makes. Jason looks at me. "If you want to know, ask them. I'm too hungry to keep talking about this."

Jason digs into his food, refusing to continue discussing this topic. I guess I ain't ever gonna learn unless I go into the head of one of my crew. But at least I know it was probably legal, and that at least some of the money came from a patent Sara apparently holds.

That's a relief. I'm glad they didn't rob some noble or something. They are former street rats, after all, and we ain't exactly left the street. I wouldn't put it past them to do that, but it's good they didn't.

I'm still going to ask them after breakfast, though.