“You are!” The two nobles gasped, and Arad’s faces disappeared.

“I see,” The two Arads appeared sitting on the couch beside the village chief, reading the document the nobles brought.

“This paper looks old,” Arad said. “But it feels off,” Arad’s Gemini clone added.

The nobles slowly turned toward Arad, sweating buckets. They didn’t plan on him showing up, “Sorry about the intrusion. We have some things to take care of and must leave,” One of them extended his hand forward to take the document off Arad’s hands.

Arad’s eyes looked at the nobles with a purple flash, “I’ll ask someone who knows better than me,” He said.

ZON! Before anyone could notice, Arad teleported back to the wagon on Gin’s back. His clone followed him, carrying the two nobles. They landed right in front of Baltos, who was drinking his medicine for his wounds.

“Baltos, have a minute?” Arad asked.

Baltos gasped, almost choking on water, as he saw Arad pop out of nowhere. At the same time, the two nobles instantly recognized Baltos. In fact, it was the first time they saw the king in a pajama. It’s a green one with several lettuce sketches on it.

Arad handed the document to Baltos as he pointed back, “Those two claims they own a part of my land,”

“Your Highness?!” One of the nobles cried.

“This paper is forged. It’s not real,” Baltos sighed, “I’ve seen tens of such things in my life,” He put it on the table, “And even if it wasn’t forged. It’ll still mean nothing,” He looked at Arad.

“This is a kingdom, legally speaking. I own all of the lands, and lease it to people I deems worthy. Since I gave you the area, it doesn’t matter if someone owned it before or not. It’s yours now.” Baltos relaxed on the couch.

“The chain of ownership goes even deeper than that,” He looked at Arad and the nobles. “I’ll explain it from the start. The true owners of the land are the gods. They’re the ones who created it in the first place. Those gods granted dominion over it to the elemental high spirits to maintain order. Those spirits include Zephyr and the other royal spirits.”

Baltos pulled a pen from beneath the table and started drawing on the back of the fake document.

“Those royal spirits naturally only owned their element. Zephyr for example should only own air, and the earth spirit all the land. But, just like human they trade with each other, and their domains are one of their currencies. Zephyr bought this land from the earth’s spirit either for an equivalent of her wind or for a favor.” Blatos drawings were quite bad, but they got the message across.

“After thousands of years, Zephyr got tired of managing the lands, so she gave it to the humans and dark elves to live in. She didn’t ask for any payment besides some respect,” Baltos drew the kingdom and their neighbors the dark elf kingdom, “Now, you come to where I own the human kingdom land that Zephyr gifted to us,”

“And this is Loci’s back, so it’s more than just land,” Arad nodded, “It doesn’t matter who claims it theirs. You or Zephyr can always claim it back,”

“Technically, it’ll be Loci as it’s her back,” Baltos smiled, “We own the land Loci lives on, not her back. If we say it’s yours, it’s yours. Legal papers don’t matter here,” Baltos smiled at the nobles. “Claiming land is usually not a problem as it can be disputed, but forging documents like this, and especially picking troubles with Arad are serious crimes. It’s usually execution to the third degree,”

The two nobles paled.

“What’s that?” Arad asked.

“Execute them, their parents and siblings, their wives, their wives’ parents and siblings, and their adult children and grandchildren.” Baltos stared at Arad, “But it’s your land. I leave the ruling in your hand,”

Arad nodded, “Got it, thanks,” He teleported away with the nobles.

Baltos sighed, “I hope this ends well.” He sipped his tea, ^The execution part is only there so people don’t get any fun idea and start a fight with Arad…Those two idiots did it even though they should’ve gotten a notice from Alina’s lord.^ He leaned back with a sigh, ^I don’t care what happens to them, as long as Arad doesn’t get pissed enough to blast the kingdom as he did to Vlad’s kingdom,^

****

The two nobles woke up several minutes later in their mansion. “GAH! Where are we?” One cried, looking to the side to see the other one asleep in the next bed.

“My lord, you woke up,” A maid opened the door and walked in.

“What happened? We’re back here?” He gasped.

“Lord Arad dropped you in the garden drenched in blood,” She mumbled with a sad face.

The noble looked down, seeing that he was missing both his hands and legs beneath the knee. “This!” He looked at the other noble, finding him in the same condition.

“That bastard,” He growled, “He won’t get away with this. Call Liona, we’ll get her family involved,”

The maid looked away, “About lady Liona…”

“What?” The noble’s face paled, “Where is she?”

“Arad took her and your daughters. He took Sir Garnold’s wife and daughters as well. That includes your and his parents, aunts, and their children. You two are the only one left in the family,” The maid said, looking away with a pale face.

****

Back in the village, Arad clapped his hand, “So!” He said with a smile staring at the two noble families, “As per Baltos’s judgment, you should be executed, but I don’t think that’s a fitting punishment, I mean you’re basically innocent.” He pointed at a house in the back, “I’ll be keeping you here for a month to give them a scare. You won’t lack anything so relax and enjoy your stay,”

Everyone stared at each other, confused.

^The nobles shouldn’t find it expensive to heal their hands and legs with potions, but it’ll hurt their wallets well. And for this, it was Doma’s idea. Said it’ll teach them how hopeless they are if they spend a month contemplating what they lost.^

“Sebas, keep them locked here and provide them with everything they might need. Don’t let anyone know they are here until a month passes, at that point send them back home.” Arad said, giving Sebas a thumbs up.

“You trust me?” Sebas stared at Arad, “You should already know,”

“I do, and you protected Ignis, I’ll trust you.”

“As you order,” Sebas bowed, “I’ll make sure it’s done,”

Arad quickly turned toward the noble family with a smile on his face, “If you wonder why, he tried to scam my people out of their land and homes. He even sent several agents through the village and scammed over fifty people. My animal familiers and I caught him and his men in action so there is no denying it.” He then pointed toward Sebas, “My butler here is quite strong, so don’t relax and don’t try to escape, unless you want to end up dead,”

Sebas looked around and found a finger-sized stone on the ground and picked it up. In front of everyone, he munched it like candy.

ZON! He teleported away, letting the nobles’ families in Sebas’s care.

Arad landed in his backyard, looking around only to see Gin finally making it through the forest. “It took you some time,” He waved his hand to her.

“Mountainous land, the knights and bandit guards slowed me down,” She looked at the exhausted men beneath her wings.

Arad looked at them with a puzzled face, “You tired?” He pointed toward the mountain, “You’re climbing that,” He pointed.

As the men’s faces paled, Gin smiled, “A lair on a high peak where you can perch and survey your land. A seven thousand steps,”

“Steps?” A soldier gasped, “That’s seven thousand meters in the air! How are we climbing that?”

“One tiny step at a time,” Arad looked at them with a stern face, “Get moving!” He shouted, and as soon as they started to move, he burst laughing.

“I’m joking, joking,” He looked at them with a smile, “I know you’re dead tired. You’ll only have to climb Gin’s wing. I’ll take care of the rest,”

Gin lowered her wings for them, and they slowly climbed onto her back, leaving the horses down.

Arad approached Gin and touched her claw, “Merlin, is everything stable on your end?” He called, and Merlin replied from the door of the wagon on Gin’s back.

“Go for it,”

Void Step

ZON!

In the blink of an eye, Gin and everyone found themselves standing in the middle of Arad’s castle yard, surrounded by walls at the peak of the mountain.

Arad panted, “That was at the upper limit,” He gasped for air, “I probably shouldn’t do it again,”

Arad usually can only carry up to his body weight in each void step. The people weren’t a problem, but Gin almost broke his back.

“You okay?” Gin stared at him, “I told you it’s not going to be easy,”

“Then lose some weight,” Arad sat down, “It’s not my problem to worry about carrying you around, is it?”

“Those are muscles and bones. I’m lighter than most dragons my age,” She stared at him.

“Then learn gravity magic and make yourself lighter.” Arad stared back at her.

“That doesn’t matter now,” She lowered her wing, “Let’s get everyone down and settled first,” 𝑖𝘦.𝑐ℴ𝘮

Arad stood, “I’ll leave that for you. It seems that works await me,” He looked at the corner of the yard, seeing a massive muscular man standing ten meters tall with long white hair and a beard, wearing a white cloth that looked as if it was from ancient Rome.

𝘪𝘳.𝒸𝑜𝑚