Episode 17
The oyster mushroom is a specialty product of Hebron, and is recorded in medical books as being good for preventing colds and treating cold symptoms.
“Thank you for your concern, Young Master.”
“It’s a given. I take care of what’s mine.”
“Tom, Mariam, Rahi, Jacques, Elil.”
Five of them were aspiring magicians. They were found to have an affinity for mana, but their talent was mediocre.
“Tom, how much have you learned about Mana Enchantment?”
“Oh, just a little.”
Judging from the reaction, it was clear that he had no idea.
“Mariam.”
“I can feel the mana. It’s hard to control, but I’m getting better little by little. If you give me a few more days, I think I’ll be able to master the training method you taught me.”
Unlike Tom, who devoted himself solely to studying magic, Mariam practiced mana from time to time.
“Mariam, can you read?”
“Yes, your highness.”
“Read this to them.”
But when it comes to first-class basic magic, I understood it better than any other wizard.
‘At least 500 gold. If you make only three copies as a limited edition, the Magic Tower, the Royal Family, and the Duke of Braio will each get one. At that point, you can either ask for the price or get robbed.’
As I was picturing a future that could be either glorious or catastrophic in my mind, Mariam asked me:
“Hey, what does this mean?”
“Didn’t you say you could read?”
“That’s true, but this is the first time I’ve seen letters like this. This one, this one, this one.”
Mariam pointed to almost every word with her finger.
As she was a maid to the Baron’s family, she barely had the basics.
“Someone who can read this.”
The slaves and commoners just blinked.
“… … I have to teach everything from A to Z.”
It wasn’t enough to just have magical talent. In order to raise them as magicians, they had to be educated to have basic skills.
“You are the ones who will become magicians. You must learn letters, arithmetic, and geometry. Magic theory is the basics. I will give you one month.”
“Uh, what do I need to learn in one month?”
Tom raised his hand and asked me.
Instead of answering, I frowned.
‘Average qualities and level, how pathetic.’
I wondered if this was how Duke Breyo looked at me. When I thought about it, I felt a pang in my heart.
“… … Special training is held every morning from 10 to 12. I will teach you myself.”
* * *
It didn’t take long for me to realize that I wasn’t cut out for educating the common people.
In my previous life, I lived in a noble family. The people I met there were well-educated, so I didn’t have to bother finding simple words they could understand.
‘Think in terms of Louis de Hebron’s standards.’
Louis de Hebron was a nobleman, but his education was only slightly better than that of a commoner. The thought of Louis de Breyot explaining magical theory to Louis de Hebron made my mind complicated.
‘Something I’ve never done before.’
If I were Louis de Breyot now, I could easily come up with a new theory. However, my current body was Louis de Hebron. With my intelligence, I couldn’t organize magical knowledge into the language of the common people.
While the five wizard candidates were struggling, the Serpens Upper House brought in a new upper house wizard.
He was an old man in his sixties.
I handed the book I had written to both of them.
The serpent’s master simply glanced at the title written on the cover, “Hebron Basic Magic Encyclopedia.” The master wizard clung to him and waited for the master to quickly turn the page.
“You wrote it yourself?”
I was suspicious of the top stock of Suspense from the start.
“It’s nothing.”
“It’s a magic book, but it’s nothing special?”
“As written on the first page, this is a first-class magic book that covers the basics of magic.”
The top stock of Suspense was not nitpicked.
He began to adapt to the people of the country.
The upper lord handed the book to the wizard.
“Wizard Batman, would you please take a look at this?”
While the wizard was looking through the spellbook, the upper lord explained to me the history of the upper wizard.
Batman was a 4th class wizard. He had not advanced to a higher class for over 10 years, and this year, he was 63 years old and had returned to his hometown. He was assigned to help out with the work because he was from the same hometown as the head of the household, but Batman seemed unmotivated, like an old man who had lived through everything in the world.
Clang.
Batman turned the pages. At first, he didn’t think much of it, but after three or four pages, he started to concentrate, and at some point, he was completely absorbed in reading.
“How is it?”
Batman ignored the words of the serpentine supremacist. No, he didn’t hear them.
Batman finally closed the bookcase. Before he knew it, he was sitting cross-legged and closing his eyes.
As the serpent’s upper body tried to put a hand on Batman’s shoulder, I grabbed the upper body’s wrist.
“Don’t touch me, if you don’t want to see the wizard you barely saved die from shock. What am I supposed to do if I enter a state of trance without any protection here… … . Tsk!”
Batman mumbled something unintelligible and occasionally chuckled, as if he was either enlightened or crazy.
Finally, Batman opened his eyes.
His white hair was shiny. His eyes had a new vitality to them.
Brrrrr.
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Batman shed tears. His mouth twisted and his nose turned red. His face looked like it was going to burst into tears at any moment.
Batman turned to me, knelt down, and bowed deeply.
“5th class wizard Batman, I owe you a great debt of gratitude to Lord Hebron.”
“Did you just say class 5?”
The top lord asked, but this time Batman did not answer. His prone shoulders shook.
I burst into tears.
I waited for Batman to calm down and then asked.
“Did you realize something?”
“My teacher used to always tell me not to neglect the basics. I now understand why.”
Batman broke through the 4th class barrier by reading my book,
Wizards are rare in and of themselves, and most of them do not go beyond class 3. Even class 4 can be of great help on the battlefield, and from class 5 onwards, you can become a guardian wizard who protects a large city.
Batman grew up to be a wizard who did not fit in with Hebron.
“You really owe me a lot.”
“Yes, your highness.”
“Stay in Hebron for a while and help with the work.”
Batman looked back at the top of the serpentine.
As the upper class nodded, Batman answered me politely.
“I will follow my benefactor’s orders.”
Batman was sent to the magic lab.
It was a place where five aspiring magicians practiced mana.
Batman would be teaching the wizards of Hebron and would be called upon often to do his bidding.
Until I felt like leaving Hebron.
“Baron Nurhya blocked the exit to the eastern forest?”
“Yes, my lord. You must pay a tax of 1 gold per person each time you enter or exit the exit. A carriage costs 10 gold.”
As the carriages on top of the serpent began to frequently enter and leave Hebron, Baron Nurha, feeling a sense of crisis, erected a fence at the exit of the eastern forest and stationed soldiers.
Strictly speaking, it was Hebron’s territory.
There is room for dispute, though.
“This is poor work. Call Sir Brown.”
After a while, Brown, the only knight of Hebron, arrived before me.
He was different than before. His eyes were sharp, and his posture was different. He was like a well-sharpened sword, so much so that even if you said he had been called back from rolling around in the battlefield, you would believe it.
“Did you call, Young Master?”
“The exit to the eastern forest is blocked. Break through.”
“insect!”
Brown didn’t argue about anything.
He called up his soldiers and headed toward the forest to the east.
Brown had previously mobilized his men to widen the road through the eastern forest. It was now wide enough to accommodate three carriages at a time.
The serpentine top came up to me and frowned.
“There are five knights in the Baron Nurhya army.”
“Did those five block the exit from the forest?”
“That’s not true, but… … .”
“Then it is fine. Even if two of Nurha’s knights come forward, they won’t be able to do anything to Sir Brown. If there are three, it will be an even fight, but if there are four, Brown will be at a disadvantage. There is no way that three or four knights will rush at Sir Brown in a group, right?”
Brown’s swordsmanship was influenced by the swordsmanship of the Duke of Braiot, and he modified his Aura training method accordingly.
By this alone, Brown’s skills had improved by leaps and bounds. It had become difficult to find a rival among these country barons.
* * *
Sir Brown returned. There were two knights who tried to stop him, but Brown won the duel with them. As a result, one knight was killed and the other was crippled.
There were three knights left in the Baron Nurhah household. One of them was practically retired, so there were only two active knights.
“Well done. I will award you 20 gold.”
“Thank you, Young Master.”
Brown’s response was lukewarm. He did not back down even after expressing his gratitude.
“Would you like something else?”
“I would like to have a duel with you, Master.”
Brown, who had been lying down, looked up at me.
His excited expression was like that of a boy in a dream.
Until recently, Brown had been on par with or slightly below the knights of Nurha.
It was because Hebron failed to properly support him.
But Brown had changed. He had overwhelmed Nurha’s knights, and based on that experience, he went one step further.
He felt his own growth. He faced the fact that my teachings were behind it.
“Save your strength for now. There will be a war soon. Let’s see after the war is over.”
“insect!”
Only then did Brown get up from his seat and stand next to me.
“Suppence top.”
“Yes, your highness.”
“It will take at most ten days. It could even start today.”
The serpent’s upper body shrugged.
There were only me, Lord Brown, and Lord Serpence in the office, but Lord Serpence lowered his voice.
“… … Preparations are complete.”
“Then there’s no need to wait?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Serpens was a shrewd merchant. Thanks to him, Hebron was well-equipped. The soldiers were armed with spears, swords, and shields, and they also prepared emergency food supplies, blankets, and makeshift tents in case of a long war.
“brown.”
“insect!”
“Gather the army. I will leave the territory to the standing army, and lead all the regular troops to the Baronial Territory of Nurhah.”
“insect!”
44 regular soldiers, 100 slaves, a knight, and a lord participated in the battle. Batman, a 5th class wizard, also accompanied them on the condition that he would not participate in direct combat.
It was a large army for a baron’s army.
The Serpens leader standing nearby shouted in an urgent tone.
“Waging a civil war without declaring war is against the laws of the kingdom!”
“I’ll go and do it. I’ll do it anyway.”
“That, that… … !”
The owner looked at me with a strange look.
It seemed like he was disappointed in my decision.
“How much interest would the royal family have in a country baron? At most, they check once a year to see if the taxes have been paid on time and in the proper amount. So the problem is that civil war is against the laws of the kingdom? No. The royal family wants civil war. That way they can collect huge taxes from the winner. That is the reality of Zeno’s royal family.”
“Baron Nurhha has a powerless estate.”
The Baronial Territory of Nurkha, which I visited recently, was peaceful. The market was full of people, and although there were minor disputes, there had never been a war. This was because there were no forces in the area that could threaten Nurkha.
“What do you think I am? A warmonger obsessed with murder? I am Louis de Hebron, a descendant of the founding father of the Kingdom of Zenon.”
