CRACK! Arad rested the tree on his shoulder and thought, “I probably need a hat. I’ve seen mages wear one. Is it for that reason?” He looked toward the clown with a smile.

“What?” the clown gasped as the children rushed to look at Arad’s tree, jumping to try and touch it.

Aella approached Arad, “Put the tree away. You’re drawing attention,” She sighed, patting his shoulder.

“Sorry,” Arad lifted the tree up, sucking it back to his stomach in the blink of an eye. He then looked at the clown and smiled, “Thanks for the lesson,”

As Arad and the girls left, leaving everyone baffled. The clown returned to his show, trying to scrap what dignity was left for him as the children urged him to produce a tree as the strange man.

One of the children, a kid stared at Arad from the sidelines, smiling, “That power, and judging by his behavior, he isn’t a student of the arcane arts, but born with them. A sorcerer bathed in the raw magic of the world,”

The kid flinched, grabbing his eyes and heart, and stumbling back. He started sweating as pain shot across his chest, “Mommy and Daddy live in this city, would you disturb our peace,” He glared in Arad’s direction.

The kid’s left eye shifted, flashing with a dark green light as black magic filled his chest, “Shall I kill him? Hell guard?”

Arad stopped, staring behind him as he felt the gaze of a monster, but all he could see was a bunch of children. He looked closely, trying to find traces of magic, but nothing was left.

^Doma, did you feel that?^

^A curse from the hells, but it’s faint as if contained within a fragile case. I say it’s a low-level warlock. You don’t need to worry about such weaklings,^

Arad turned and left, ignoring the strange feeling.

***

The kid in the back sighed, sitting on the ground panting, “You live this day, intruder,”

Another kid approached him, “Are you okay? You’ve been acting weird,”

“The blade of the capital is always okay,” The kid replied, “I’m only basking in the glory of my land,”

The other kid stared at him, “Yeah, yeah, the blade, right? Stand up you’re getting your clothes dirty, aunt will kill you.”

The kid, self-acclaimed the blade of the capital rushed up, standing with shaking eyes, “I’m clean, don’t tell mom,”

***

After walking a bit, Arad finally saw an empty spot behind some houses, an abandoned back alley where people could get robbed. “That looks like a nice place to sit and eat,”

Eris stared where Arad was looking, and then turned at him, “You sure? That looks like the kind of place you go to when you want to send someone to their god,”

Mira looked at Arad, “We won’t get attacked there, would we?”

Aella smiled, “Don’t worry, that place isn’t dangerous to us. We’re the danger,” She walked beside Arad, confidently.

They walked into the back alley and looked for the cleanest spot. Arad pulled a large rag from his stomach and they laid it on the ground. Aella was about to start pulling the food they bought, but Arad stopped her.

“Wait a moment, I still have things to pull out,” He smiled, waving his hands and pulling a whole dining table, dishes, and candles. “Let’s get a proper meal,”

Mira sighed and started helping Arad set the table, and after a minute, a full dining table was laid in the empty street. With wine and candles, and everything that made it look fancy, unbefitting of the place.

“How much stuff do you have in your stomach?” Eris asked with a puzzled face.

“Till this point? Everything I ate,” Arad replied, “Even when I swallow someone whole, their clothes and armor get stored. I also swelled the whole camp of the idiots who tried kidnapping Mira, This is from their stuff,”

“You have their whole camp?” Eris gasped.

“I intended to only test the limit of my stomach, but I don’t seem to have reached them,” Arad replied, sitting on his chair, “I can pull their whole camp if I wanted. Could probably house a hundred people,”

Everyone sat to eat in silence, people avoided those alleys and rushed through them when they must pass through. But Arad was different, a lion doesn’t avoid the sheep’s way, they avoid his.

Thieves in the alley noticed Arad’s presence, but the strangeness of the situation kept them at bay. Who in the nine hells sets a fancy dinner in such a place?

After a few moments, and when Arad and the girls were in the middle of their meal, an armed man approached them, pointing a dagger toward Aella.

“Say, friend, what are you doing on my land?” The man growled, his gaze fixed on Arad.

Arad took a sip of his wine, his eyes meeting the armed man and flickering with a purple flame. “You do not own the street, it’s for the public,” Arad replied and kept eating. He knew very well the man was lying, he was the leader of a local gang, and Arad could sense his people in the houses around, ready to strike.

The man growled, swinging his knife, “Then I will slit her throat,”

Aella didn’t care nor bother to dodge, she knew the man was a fool. They are under Arad’s wings, and he isn’t reaching them.

Arad’s eyes flashed, “Kneel!” A surge of gravity magic fell on the man, dropping him on his knees. Thud! He tried supporting his body with his arms, but to no avail, his nose kissed the ground in the blink of an eye.

Arad took another sip of his wine, “I do not walk without a purpose,” He waved his hand, pulling a letter from his pocket, “I have a letter to the man called the fencer,” .𝒄𝒐𝒎

“You think you’re strong enough to meet the boss?” The man growled, “You’re but one mage, he has many,”

Arad smiled, “I wouldn’t take it otherwise,” He stared at the man, “Tell him the fencer of Alina is sending him her regards.”

“Alina? That lowly town,” The man growled, his nose bleeding on the ground from the sheer pressure, “Do you think she can protect you? The smaller towns have no power over the capital, neither in light nor the dark,”

Arad nodded, “That is true, but it’s not for you to decide. Go, tell him I seek a meeting. And if he refuses, I shall come to him on my own.” Arad stood, lifting his right arm, and the fire in his eyes grew stronger.

CRACK! The walls and windows cracked as all the thieves got pulled to one spot, smacking into each other. Arad clenched his fists, crushing them together till he heard the first bone snap, “I can crush you to death, just like that. If I don’t get a reply within a day, consider yourselves dead,” He then released them, and they all went running.

^Helping Sara expand her power over the underground business. I admit, she’s useful for gathering information and rare items,^

^I help those who help me,^