It was raining, the sky rumbled occasionally with thunder, and an elf was napping in a hammock under a pair of trees. Eli finished his usual routine of chores and decided to enjoy the weather outside on his break. He always thought the sound of rain was relaxing. A combination of trees and magic kept him dry. The nap was going well, and Eli was having a wonderful dream. Then an alarm rang out in his head.

Eli opened his eyes and used his magic to check the barrier surrounding the estate. One of his duties was to keep watch, so Bernard gave him management rights to the home's security protocols. The alarm that woke him up was an alert that someone had been detained. Sighing, the elf rolled out of the hammock. He muttered a few words and walked into one of the trees. Instead of bumping his head, Eli faded into the tree and emerged from another one to the east. It was a complex spell that used a lot of magic, but the elf was too lazy to walk all the way to the other side of the estate.

The tree he walked out of was near the location of the intruder. After walking for a couple of minutes, Eli saw a man in a brown raincoat and wide brim hat. He was suspended in the air and bound by vines, unable to get past the first perimeter barrier. There was a camera on the ground, so Eli picked it up before walking over to the intruder.

"Hey dude, is this yours?" Eli held up the camera.

"Yes. Uh.. what are you going to do to me?" This intruder tried not to sound scared. It didn't work.

"No need to freak out man. I'm just looking for some answers." Despite his laid-back attitude, Eli kept himself alert in case this intruder was just pretending to be harmless.

"Whatever you want, can you let me down now?" The man in the raincoat grunted. The vines were really uncomfortable.

"No problem." Eli snapped his fingers, and the vines lowered the man to the ground. However, they didn't free him. "So, what brings you to the fabulous estate of Lord Malston?"

"I'm a reporter. My boss sent me here to try and get a picture of the new heir and his fiancé." The captive didn't want to resist the elf's questioning. It was raining. He was getting cold, and his wife was waiting for him at home.

"Interesting, where did your boss learn about the new heir and his fiancé?" Eli was sure Zeph wouldn't be happy about that. Somehow, a rumor spread about Zeph getting engaged with the granddaughter of the Phillips family. This was the third intruder since Ronan and Liliana arrived. They all had the same story.

"He said a source of his in the capital knew a few nobles." The reporter didn't want to spend any more time tied up, so he cooperated as best as he could.

"I see. Anything else you can tell me?" Eli asked a few more questions. The reporter's name was Dave, he was a newlywed, and risked getting caught because he needed the money to buy a new house. That seemed to be one thing all the reporter's had in common. They needed money. Why else would they trespass on a noble's property in the rain to get a picture of some children? It made little sense. Eli suspected someone was testing their defenses using a borrowed hand.

"Did you get paid to come here in advance?"

"Yeah, the boss gave me a week's paycheck to do this. Not many people were interested, everyone else said it was stupid to try and get a picture of noble kids in this weather. I figured I could come in and take a peek. That way I could tell the boss I tried. I just didn't expect your barrier to be this far away from the house."

"Okay, now let me ask you something very important. Who is your boss?" Eli suspected he knew the answer. The last two reporters came from the same place.

"His name is Charlie. Charlie Kezwick." Dave was startled as the vines loosened around him.

"Alright, go home to your wife. This is your first and final warning. Don't come back here, otherwise..." Eli gave Dave a grave look. The reporter got the message and left in a hurry. He even forgot his camera.

The elf made his way back to the hammock while thinking about what he should do. 'I guess I need to head over to the Asperitus Daily News building and pay this Mr. Kezwick a visit.' Eli looked at the camera in his hands. 'I should probably give this back to Dave while I'm there. Cameras are pretty expensive after all.' The elf typed up a report and sent it to Bernard before lying back down.

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Bernard and Zeph were in the training room that Bianca set up. They were here to let Zeph practice with his new weapon. Shortly after arriving, Bernard's tablet beeped. It was the message from Eli. Zeph watched Bernard read his tablet for a minute.

"What's up? Something happen?" Zeph noticed that Bernard looked annoyed when he read the message.

"It seems we were visited by another reporter today. Eli took care of it again, and decided he would pay their boss a visit." Bernard put the tablet up.

"That's the third one in two weeks. The reporters and this engagement thing are really starting to get on my nerves. Someone is clearly trying to cause trouble, and I feel like it's only going to get worse."

"Yes, it will. Kevalia will be back in a few days. She'll help us prepare a press release to introduce your information to the public. Once you're no longer a mystery, their interest will lessen."

"How much do you think it will help?"

"Not sure. It depends on what's newsworthy. You'll be in the public eye from now on, but don't worry about it. Act the way you want. 'Not caring about what others think' is the Malston way."

"The Malston way, or your way?" Zeph gave his grandfather an accusatory look.

"Well since I was the only Malston, it's both." The old man smiled. "But now that you're here, you can change it if you want. I don't recommend it though. Trying to appease the public is annoying, and they'll always find something to complain about. Just live your life the way you want."

"What if paparazzi start stalking me?" Zeph asked.

"What are paparazzi?"

"They're a type of reporter." Zeph gave a few examples of the bad paparazzi in his world.

"That sounds very infuriating. Luckily, we don't have those in our world. If a reporter starts giving you some trouble, just send him away with a little magic. Eli will also act as your bodyguard once you start going out in public. He'll be able to handle any problems you might have, aggressively if he needs to." Bernard assured the boy.

"Wouldn't that count as attacking them? Isn't that against the law?" Zeph was having trouble thinking of Eli as a bodyguard. The image of him in a black suit didn't seem right.

"Remember son, the laws here aren't the same as they are in your old world. Here, people have a right to privacy. You have legal cause to defend your privacy with force when you are being harassed. People are free to investigate the truth, but not when it infringes on the freedom of another. Anyone becoming an investigative journalist acknowledges the risks that come with the job. Reporting the truth isn't always easy. Most reporters don't harass others for a story because of the possible danger. When they do, it's because the truth is worth risking bodily harm. I don't think anyone wants to interview a couple of noble kids bad enough to risk getting beat up by their bodyguards." Bernard was configuring range while explaining all this to Zeph.

"Isn't that too domineering?"

"Right, I forgot you don't have nobles where you come from. Remember this Zeph. The most powerful people in this province, legally speaking, are us. We are the Lords of Asperitus. Asperitus the province, I mean. I still don't know why my great, great, great, great grandfather gave the capital city and the province the same name." Bernard shook his head at his ancestor's naming sense. "Just remember to be a kind lord, not a weak one."

Zeph took Bernard's advice to heart. He wasn't just a regular person going about his day to day life anymore. Now he is a young lord and mage with all the power and responsibility that entails. Though, it seemed that Bernard pushed the majority of his responsibility onto others, so he could stay inside and tinker with magic experiments.

Bernard was finished getting Zeph's weapon ready when he got the nagging feeling that he was being judged. He looked at his grandson. "You're thinking something rude aren't you?"

Zeph reacted a little too quickly. "No! Of course not, you're a great lord."

The old man scoffed. "Never mind, come over here so."

Zeph walked over and picked up his new weapon focus. "Wow, this is a lot lighter than I expected. So, how does it work?"

Bernard realized it was time to brag. "Well, I took some of your ideas and incorporated it into this modified gun. Usually, a gun can only hold one type of spell. That's because a spell diagram for an attack is much larger and more complex than simple cantrips or illusions. Your idea of using interchangeable clips allows for more variety, but required me to make some alterations to the weapons internal designs. Now that the grip of the gun is hollow, I created several reinforced layers of magic alloyed metal, so that it could withstand the strain of high magic input. I've also done the same with the barrel. There are also several points of contact that needed to be added so that it could connect your magic with the spell clips properly.

Speaking of the spell clips, they were an interesting puzzle. It took a while to get the spell diagrams to work with such limited room. It did give me a few ideas about how to make those..revolvers, I think you called them. I ended up using a layered method to engrave the spell diagram throughout the clip instead of only on its surface. It's an interesting way to enchant something, but extremely difficult. I think I could spend a few months just developing the basic programming language to make three-dimensional spell diagrams."

"Hold on grandpa, you're getting into stuff I don't understand. I think I have an idea about the programming language. But what's a spell diagram?"

"Oh sorry, the programming language is a written way to invoke magical phenomenon. Like I've said before, runes are one of the oldest ways to use magic. They're one of the first programming languages. There are others, like glyphs, magic script, and talisman symbols. Over the years we've improved on them and added others. Most of our technological and magical advancements were in the last hundred years. Before that, we were still using basic magic foci like wands, staves, amulets, and talismans.

The spell diagram, also known as a magic diagram, is a completed spell using a programming language. It outlines how the spell will form. That's the reason a spell focus can cast a spell quickly without the caster needing to focus on it. The spell diagram does all the work, and the caster only needs to put in magic.

In fact, the first gun came about because a wandmaker wanted to make them more compact and ergonomic. Her name was Samantha Gunry. She decided to create a grip for the wand and put the spell diagram in it. Later, she created a hollow barrel to contain and direct the spell. A trigger was added so that the spell wouldn't shoot before it finished forming. Once it was pulled, the runes on the barrel activated and propelled the spell at a target. People started calling the new invention Gunry Wands, or guns for short."

"That's pretty cool. They're a lot different to how guns in my world worked." Zeph thought about how strange it was that two weapons ended up looking so similar even though they were made completely different. His grandfather's hobby was slowly starting to become his as well. Magic crafting was intriguing, and he started looking into it during his free time.

Most items used in everyday life used a combination of technology and magic. Limited space restricted the use of most spell diagrams, so non-magic based technology advanced rapidly. The progress lasted several decades. Magic script was just now starting to come back into focus, because non-magic technological advancement was slowing down. The most recent advances had to do with entertainment. Spell diagrams having to do with imaging were relatively simple, and technology made up for what they couldn't do with magic. That's why CV projectors and tablets could be so small.

Zeph seemed to be lost in thought so Bernard coughed to get his attention. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I was just trying to wrap my head around this whole magic diagram thing. So each clip is a functioning spell diagram, and all I need to do is give it magic?" Zeph was trying to make sense of spell diagrams.

"No, the spell clip holds the majority of a functioning of a spell diagram. The beginning of it needed to be inscribed inside the grip of the gun. That's why it was so challenging. I had to make the start of each diagram the same, or have it on a different part of the grips interior. The only easy part of this whole build was the barrel. Since it only needed to contain the spell and direct it after forming, I only needed to reinforce the crystal stag horn, and engrave a few runes along the side. The whole process did lead me to several new discoveries. When you first mentioned a revolver type gun to me, I thought it was impossible. I don't anymore. In fact, I could probably devise a larger magic canon based on the revolver you mentioned. This is all in the future though. I'd like to develop a new three-dimensional programming language first. After that's done, I could fit spell diagrams into smaller spaces. There are a few colleagues I can contact. It's going to be so much fun!" Bernard's voice was getting louder and louder as he became more excited.

Zeph smiled at the old man nerding out. "Alright, I get it. This could revolutionize the way magic enchanting works. Until then, how about you show me how to shoot this thing."

"Alright, let me explain. Since I've made the gun out of several layers, a few of those are used to make function similar to other spell foci. This allows you to use the outer layer as a regular focus and receive any backlash that may occur. At the same time, the inner layer functions as a magic weapon. The principal is similar to my gun in which--------." Bernard went back into teacher mode, while Zeph sighed.

Rin was walking through the house looking for Zeph. She tracked his scent to the training room. When she entered, she heard Bernard explaining something to the boy. The kitten knew what was going on from experience, so she slowly backed up and out the door. Zeph noticed his little familiar bail the moment she realized Bernard would be talking for a long time.

'I guess those children's shows are working. Rin's getting pretty smart.' He looked at his grandpa and sighed again.

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