Beyond?

“I just need my lance and my spiky armour to teach my opponents what true terror is. Once I impale their ”

Sadly the rest of the inscription was removed by scratching it out. A true loss for history.

-Gerneral Trievus

***Free City States of Nict, Capital***

***Stella***

I enter the living room and all three kids who are playing on the ground jump up. “Mommy and Daddy are back!” They run towards me with tears in their eyes.

Ivy was sitting at the sofa and reading a book. When I entered she stood up and bowed to me. “I hope you two had a nice trip.”

“Everything went fine. I guess I have to call it the usual diplomatic mission by now.” Although I am not happy about getting accustomed to being attacked by people who are out to kill me.

My attention wanders to the children who are hugging my legs. “And you three? Why are you crying? Is something wrong?”

Zadkiel rubs his face into my robe. “Y-”

“No!" Sariel slaps him on the back of his head. "We are just so happy that you are back!”

“You'll never go away again? Right? Hic...” Zana clings to me desperately. “Why are you carrying Az... I mean Daddy?”

“Oh, you three are so cute!” I drop Azir unceremoniously onto the ground, carrying him on my shoulders is getting tiresome. Bending down I hug the kids. “Don't worry. Daddy is just a little sick.”

“Daddy is sick?” Sariel lets go of me and hurries to Azir's side. He is out cold and his face is as green as a plant. “Can't you heal him with magic?”

I shake my head. “This sickness can't be healed with magic, he has to get through it by himself.”

“Something that can't be healed with magic?” Zadkiel asks shocked.

“Yes, it's called stupidity and I fear it's hereditary.” I close my eyes and shake my head.

“Really?” Zana watches the twins with a sad expression. “You two... I am sorry.”

“What means herederety?” Zadkiel watches Azir with a troubled expression.

“It's hereditary and means that it is transferred from the parent to the child.” Sariel mumbles, pulling at Azir's cheek. “Daddy, you stink!”

I notice the sudden mood swing and hurry to clear up the misunderstanding. “It's not as bad as it looks. As long as you listen to Mommy there is no problem.”

The twins let out a sigh of relief and I get up to grab Azir. “I have to bring Daddy into the bath. He'll be sleeping there tonight. I think it's all out, but it's better to be safe than sorry.”

Shouldering Azir again, I stand up to face Ivy. “Thank you for taking care of them. It should be okay to take a day off.”

Ivy smiles and bows again. “It's no problem. I think I found out on how to deal with children. It's actually quite enjoyable. Don't hesitate to ask when you have a tight schedule.” Then she leaves, taking the corridor towards the servant's quarters.

I notice that the three kids are as pale as chalk. “Are you sure that there is nothing wrong?”

They nod in unison.

Hmm... they are clearly disturbed by something. No matter, if it's something really important they'll tell us. “Fine, if you say so?”

Dropping Azir into the bathtub goes without problem and I head off to bed. Then I realize that the trio followed my every step. “You need something?”

Zana is the first to speak. “Can we sleep with you today? We are afraid of sleeping alone!” Sariel and Zadkiel nod in unison at her sides.

Oh, the image. So cute! “Of course.” I grab them to carry them off to bed. Azir isn't available as a body pillow tonight. Having three smaller ones might do just fine.

***Free City States of Nict, Capital***

***Azir***

I am still feeling sick and yet I have to be up and working. It's the first day after we returned from our abysmal diplomatic mission in Quinn. According to Lucas we struck a good deal with them and managed to impress their royal family.

Once we start supplying them with resources they should be able to deal with the barbarians on their own. It's just a question of stopping their raiding. Once their border crossings are safe they should be able to handle the rest.

Coincidentally it's also Zana's first schoolday. In the afternoon Stella and I got a call over the mana net. It was from the director and she requested our presence as Zana's official guardians. But since Stella is currently wrapped up in her lessons I had to get out of the bathtub. I wonder how I ended up in there? Was Stella really heartless enough to simply drop me off in the bath? Ow, my back hurts. Sleeping in this hard, curved thing isn't good for my health.

I arrive at the director's office and enter without asking for permission. It was her who summoned me, so it should be fine.

Inside I find a rather strange scene. As the director, Clara Veit's office is big and spacious, but right now it's cramped with people. Clara is sitting at her desk, giving off the same impression which I always get when I have to pay her a visit.

There are four kids of Zana's age lined up at the right side of the room. All of them are frozen in various attacking postures and aren't moving. Upon further inspection I realize that they don't even breathe. Hm. Hm. Good work. It's a perfect execution of the spell frozen mind in combination with a little basic ice magic.

There are also a few other people inside the room. From their age and appearance I suppose that they are the parents of the kids in question.

In the far right corner of the room is Zana with Mr. Pendragon, my old teacher for basic classes. Zana is on her knees and has to face the corner of the room.

“Ah, Azir. It seems like visits to my office run in your family.” Clara points at a chair in front of her. I take her up on the offer and sit down, deliberately ignoring the other parents.

She gestures at the frozen kids and their parents. “As you see we are facing a little situation. During the magic classes, a fight broke out between the kids and your daughter used a highly advanced spell to defeat her opponents. Such spells aren't supposed to be known to a child her age.”

I nod, contemplating the situation. “Of course. I am tutoring Zana. The spell she used on those kids is called frozen mind. A very basic mind magic if you ask me.”

“It's forbidden to teach dangerous spells to children. I hope you have good ties to a lawyer. Because getting out of this one won't be so easy for you and Zana.” Clara points at the kids. “Could you please undo the spell on them?”

“Let me first confirm something.” I stand up and walk over to Zana, giving Mr. Pendragon a nod of acknowledgement.

I turn Zana around and smile at her. “Everything okay? Would you like to tell me how all of this happened?”

“Hic... they said that I am just a motherless freeloader who is living off of her clan's generosity. And they called the Zait weaklings for not being able to defend Tri properly.” She wipes the snot from her nose. Apparently she cried a lot.

Geez, children are so much trouble. “Well. Tri is still standing and houses can be rebuilt. Why shouldn't you be allowed to be a freeloader as a child? Don't worry, you are a Zait and the Zait always take care of their own. I liked my aunt very much and I would never allow anything to happen to her child. You are Stella's and my daughter.”

Then I snort. “Though we have to train you a little harder from now on. You were far too nice on those bullies. Should I tell you a story? Actually I ran into a group of bullies myself when I was younger.

Such people only stop if you show them that you have the courage to fight back. You executed frozen mind perfectly, but it was the wrong choice in this case. When they wake up it'll be as if nothing happened to them.”

I take a deep breath while Zana is looking up to me, listening to my every word. “You need to cut them to pieces and heal them up again, keeping them on the verge of death for at least a few minutes. They have to experience what it means to face their end. Impaling them on the statue in the park area works especially fine. You know the one of that war hero? The one with the big lance?”

Zana nods. “You mean General Trievus, who single handedly defended the capital's eastern Gate for a whole day.”

Who cares, it's just a statue. “Exactly that one. And after you are done with them you have to threaten them with even more gruesome atrocities. Take their pride away, make them lick your shoes. If you leave them with a speck of self-respect, they will just return to take revenge. Of course you have to be careful of getting caught while doing so. There has to be no evidence. I am sorry, I think my lessons were lacking in that regard, but we'll make sure to correct that.”

I wave my hand at the frozen kids and their bodies relax. They drop to the ground unconsciously. “They will wake up shortly and remember nothing.” Pointing at them I continue explaining. “And that's why we have to approach this situation in another way Zana. When they don't remember a bad experience, they can't learn from it. It's our responsibility to ensure that they learn their place in the social hierarchy.”

I end my explanation there and place my attention on the parents. Most of them paled when I entered the room. Now they are as white as paper.

“Mrs. Clara. I think this issue doesn't have to be pursued.” One of the women addresses the director.

“What? You were the one who was insisting that this issue can't be left unattended.” Clara complains.

The man at the woman's side starts complaining. “Dear! You can't be serious! We-”

“Shush! That was then. We didn't know that Zana is Azir's daughter.” She grabs one of the boys and pulls her man out of the room.

The other parents also express their apologies for causing unnecessary problems and flee the scene with their offspring.

Clara's eyes turn into small slits, staring daggers at me. “It happened again.”

I shrug my shoulders. “No complaint, no redress. Your own words.”

“That doesn't change the fact that you are teaching your daughter dangerous spells.” She grumbles.

“Can you prove that the spell is dangerous? Obviously you don't even understand it, otherwise you would've dispelled it yourself.” I smirk at her. “If there is nothing else? I have to get home with Zana. Dinner is waiting.”

Mr. Pendragon raises a finger to get Clara's attention. “It'll be very hard to get any hard evidence if the used spell isn't even found in an official spellbook. We would have to register it properly and get the required doc-”

Clara raises her hand, gritting her teeth. “Have fun with your dinner.”

I bow to her and leave the room while Zana is properly waving goodbye. What a well behaved child. I just have to straighten out some small problems with her approach on life.

.