The Indomitable Martial King Chapter 165

A woman in her early 40s was engrossed in writing in a cabin by the river.

There were already numerous manuscripts piled up next to her. She continued to scribble her pen as if possessed, but suddenly the woman blushed and stamped her period.

“Ah, it’s over.”

The woman, Trudy, looked at the desk with proud eyes. A thick manuscript piled up with over a hundred pages, the cover had the working title ‘Oak Man in the Orchard’.

Trudy was a priest who was dispatched to a local temple in the Diocese of Juran as a priestess serving the main goddess, Sayer.

This area, located in the central Juran River basin, was traditionally an area where grape and peach farming flourished. And as such, most of the territory was occupied by orchards.

Grains such as wheat, barley, and sorghum actually do not require that much work compared to their size. During the busy season, you are so busy that you don’t even notice, but when you enter the off-season, you become more free.

However, fruit farming has no time to rest all year round. Instead of cutting and threshing all at once like grain, the fruit must be picked one by one by hand, insects must be caught continuously even during the off-season, and trees must be taken care of during the winter so that they do not freeze to death.

In short, it is an extremely labor-intensive task.

So, the orchards in this area were all large-scale farms with hundreds of orc slaves. The more work it took, the greater the benefit of using slaves. Orchards cultivated by individuals could not possibly be compared in terms of productivity.

Since most of the residents in the parish are farm owners, Trudy naturally came into contact with orc slaves. And as I encountered their lives, I sometimes frowned.

Even though they were slaves, the life of the orcs was very miserable. It was a life of working non-stop and eating only three small meals a day.

The farm owners say that the orcs are so stupid that they don’t even know how difficult it is, but all the orcs that Trudy saw had expressions of pain.

The Sayre Church’s teachings were that they were not people but only livestock, but to Trudy, the orcs also looked like people.

But Trudy couldn’t say anything about this reality. She was not a legendary saint, but just a low-level priest from a local area. She did not have the courage or conviction to contradict the teachings of the Order. She lived her life thinking that she was just fortunate to have been born as a human.

The reason Trudy’s thoughts changed was because of rumors about the Crovence Civil War.

She wasn’t the only one who had this thought.

There was someone else in the world who thought like her.

That fact made the timid girl move. So she wrote. She did not add or subtract anything from the lives of the orcs she had always seen, but simply wrote it realistically. That was this ‘Oak Man in the Orchard’.

“With this… … “Will people change their minds just a little bit?”

Trudy muttered softly as she organized the manuscript. He has no intention of going against Sayer’s teachings. I just hope that by informing the world about the lives of orcs, their treatment can be improved even a little.

Trudy put the manuscript in a sack to show to the publisher. Then he knelt down and prayed.

“Sayer, although it is different from the teachings of the church, I believe that this truly follows your will… … .”

It was a time when Trudy continued praying with her hands neatly folded over her chest and a little nervous and excited.

Suddenly the cabin door burst open.

“oh?”

Trudy opened her eyes in surprise and looked towards the door.

“Who are you?”

He was a man with an ordinary appearance wearing a black jacket. Are you around early 30s? Trudy opened her mouth again, wondering if she was a traveler. she asked in her priestly, polite manner.

“My name is Trudy, and I am Sayre’s servant. “What brought you here?”

There was no answer. Her man just looked back and forth between Trudy and her manuscript with an indifferent expression. Her man muttered as he looked at the title written on her manuscript.

“Of course.”

Suddenly the man raised his right hand. Trudy looked wary. The man was wearing a metal glove, and electricity came out from there and struck Trudy.

Flash!

There was a flash of light. Although her status is low, Trudy is also a cleric of Sayre and has some resistance to magic. However, her electric shock hit her directly without the slightest interference from her.

“Ahh!”

Trudy screamed and died. It happened so suddenly that there was not even a trace of fear on her dead face. The only expression on his face was slight embarrassment.

The man nodded after confirming that Trudy’s heart had stopped.

“It’s been handled.”

The man walked over to the desk and picked up one of Trudy’s manuscripts. Then, he took out a metal rod about 30 centimeters long from her chest.

The man muttered after laying the stick horizontally and placing it on the manuscript.

“scanning.”

A curtain of light emanated from the rod and began to sweep over the manuscript.

After a while, the man put down the manuscript and picked up a blank piece of paper. He then sprinkled a few drops of ink on the paper and slowly moved the stick over it from top to bottom.

“Printing.”

The ink moved like a dance and began to engrave letters on the blank paper. It was writing a new text, perfectly reproducing the manuscript’s handwriting and Trudy’s handwriting. Suddenly, he sensed Sayer’s will and was going on a journey as a pilgrim, so he asked him not to look for him.

After creating a perfectly fake letter, the man took the bag containing the manuscript. She searched the house thoroughly to see if there was any paper on which the contents of the manuscript had been written.

After removing all traces, the man carried Trudy’s body on his shoulders. And she walked out of her cabin in silence.

☆ ☆ ☆

There was a huge circular venue, where many magicians were sitting and looking at the center of the venue. In the center, a middle-aged man in his early 50s was speaking to the wizards with a huge chart floating next to him.

“… … So, I searched and studied various artifacts in Dungeon Pieta. And we were able to achieve the desired results.”

This was Mara Grande Tower, the historic magic academy of the Kingdom of Grime. It is one of the three major magic societies on the continent, along with the Mysterious Council of the Halein Kingdom and the Sun Tower of the Holy Vashtalon Empire. New magical theories and news of the discovery of new Silver Age relics are all announced to the world through those magical societies.

The name of the middle-aged man who was currently speaking on the podium was Atres, and he was a member of the 9th Circle, of which there are less than ten people on this continent.

People in the world usually refer to wizards who have surpassed the level of the 8th circle as great wizards. Atres, renowned as the Grand Wizard, was also famous for his unique personality. When most great wizards reach that level, they spend a comfortable retirement by building a magic tower, raising disciples, or serving as court wizards. However, Atres, who had particularly strong wanderlust, did not stop his activities as a dungeon explorer even after entering the 9th Circle. Even though he was over 50 years old, he was still on active duty and was continuing to explore and research dungeons across the continent.

“What I discovered in Dungeon Pieta… … .”

Every time Atres announced the results of Dungeon Pieta, the wizards gathered at the venue looked at him with jealous eyes.

“The author achieved great results again… … .”

“As expected, the archmage of the 9th circle can achieve such a feat on his own… … .”

In fact, exploring dungeons was a dangerous task that even if you were an Auror user, you could end up losing your life if you tackled it in a small group. (The story of Sir Altion, a foolish Auror user in the Kingdom of Vasily, is quite famous.) However, after Atres entered the 9th Circle, he did not form a large exploration party like other dungeon explorers.

His actions of exploring dungeons with only a couple of disciples, without warriors or priests, were often called eccentric, but the benefits were enormous. This is natural since you can have all the relics to yourself without having to spend any money.

Atres is not only a powerful wizard, but also one of the richest men in the Kingdom of Grime.

“From the performance and magic flow of these artifacts, I was able to come up with the concept of an operation method that could modify several existing magics to be faster, consume less magic, and increase power.”

Atres flipped through the chart with an arrogant smile. On the diagram, the magical theory of the new concept was written comprehensively.

Until a thousand years ago, wizards never shared their knowledge with others. However, times have changed so much that it is now possible to present new theories through academic conferences.

By sharing each other’s knowledge, the level of magic has also greatly improved, and the number of wizards has also increased significantly. One of the biggest contributors to humans’ hegemony over the continent was the three major magic societies.

Of course, even so, it was still closed, and the magicians who could attend this presentation hall were limited to those from the 6th circle or higher. Additionally, in order to belong to the association, one had to pay a huge membership fee every year. The theory of magic that was announced was only rough, and important parts were still hidden.

Knowledge is power, and the belief among wizards that only the qualified can possess it has not changed.

Atres raised his voice and began to calmly explain the theory of new magic.

“What makes this theory different from the existing one is… … .”

On the balcony of the second floor of the venue, where many magicians were concentrating on the presentation, there was a royal seat where only VIPs could sit. Even though they were not magicians, it was a place reserved for high-ranking nobles who had made a lot of contributions – donations, to be precise – to the Mara Grande Society.

Unless you’re a wizard, even hearing about difficult magic theories is just boring. So this royal seat was usually left empty. But today, for some reason, two men were occupying the royal seats and looking down at the podium with serious faces.

The black-haired young man looked around and muttered.

“At this time, Mara Grande was also quite prosperous.”

The middle-aged nobleman sitting next to me asked in confusion.

“huh? What are you talking about, Mr. Tethron? “When did the Mara Grande Society fail?”

“Oh, I didn’t mean that. Duke Iranad.”

Tethron shook his head.

In fact, in his previous life, the Mara Grande Society had lost its reputation as one of the three major societies and had lost quite a bit of power. This is because Delphia, the magic tower under Maragrande, produced the worst wizard in history.

Emperor of the Dark Empire, Reppenhardt.

The Maragrande Society, which produced the demon king who descended at that royal age, has since been subject to constant checks from other countries on the continent. Most of the authority they enjoyed was lost to the Mysterious Council and the Tower of the Sun, and the high-ranking members of the society were also monitored as if they were criminals. It was the act of those who were afraid that such a monster would be born again.

‘Honestly, it would be unfair on Mara Grande’s part.’

Tesron chuckled as he recalled the information from his previous life.

The reason why Demon King Reppenhardt rose to legendary status is purely because of his own pride, and has nothing to do with the Mara Grande Academy.

‘To put it bluntly, no matter where I put that guy, he would have reached that level in the end?’

When Reppenhardt left the Mage Tower at the age of twenty-seven, he was a wizard in the late 6th circle. Compared to his talent, he should have been considered at a very low level. The wizards of Delphia, fearful of his talent, limited his knowledge and gave him little instruction after the 4th Circle.

After coming out into the world and being exposed to the knowledge of magic, the growth rate of Repenhardt was incredible. He broke his records every year, breaking through the 7th and 8th circles in succession, and eventually became a 9th circle archmage at the age of 30. He probably might have reached the peak of his magic in his early twenties if he had not been limited in his knowledge.

‘But why am I not making any progress?’

Suddenly, Tethron looked down at his hands with dissatisfied eyes.

Even though he had clearly taken over the devil’s brain, he was still in the latter half of the 6th circle. He is like this even though, thanks to the Silver Sage, he can access as much magical knowledge as he wants. I think I can join the 7th Circle if I just do a little bit more, but it’s very difficult to move forward that ‘little bit’.

‘Ah, we have the same brains, but some of them quickly advanced without being taught, while others whined because they couldn’t understand even after opening the answer sheet… … .’

If you think about it, the Demon King can’t handle his body properly, so there’s nothing wrong with it, but it was still bitter.

While Tethron was making a sullen expression, Atres had just finished presenting.

“… … “This concludes my presentation on the new magic theory.”

The wizards applauded. The new magic theory was named ‘Atres-style magic management method’ and his name was officially recorded.

It is an extremely honorable thing for wizards to officially leave their names in the history of magic. Everyone looked at Atres with eyes full of envy.

Atres, who was preparing for the next presentation, suddenly smiled. This was the main topic of the day.

“Most of these artifacts are already known to the world, and it is not these that I have seen any results from.”

He took out a small necklace from his pocket. It was an ancient artifact, the Necklace of Warmth, whose name was discovered by deciphering the ancient language.

“This is a necklace of warmth, an artifact that keeps the wearer at optimal body temperature in any cold environment.”

The wizards began to mutter in puzzlement. It is an artifact that does not seem that great compared to the presentations made so far. As if he knew that would happen, Atres continued.

“This necklace of warmth doesn’t just protect the wearer from the cold.”

He flipped through the diagram.

“as you see… … .”

The chart recorded the body measurements of several samples wearing the necklace.

Before wearing, while wearing, and after wearing.

It is clearly written in numbers that the more often the necklace is worn, the more the wearer’s body measurements visibly change.

“We discovered that even if you do not wear a necklace of warmth, your constitution improves and you become more resistant to cold.”

Only then did the wizards’ eyes shine. There are many magic and magic tools that change the status and conditions of the wearer. But that is only temporary.

For all existing magic, when the magic disappears, the body returns to its original state. The only way to permanently change the body itself is through a cleric’s holy spell.

“This artifact can permanently change the wearer’s body. The triggering principle for this is not yet known, but… … .”

Tethron frowned and looked at the artifact in Atres’ hand. It was quite a familiar item. This is the relic he used directly in Freezeland.

“Wasn’t that a taboo item?”

“That’s right, a taboo item.”

“But is it okay to let it be announced like that?”

“What can I do? “If I had known in advance, I would have done something, but it was already announced.”

“Then are you going to leave it like that?”

“The author is a wizard of the 9th circle. It’s so unnatural for someone of that caliber to die suddenly. “If you do it wrong, there is a risk that the existence of the Silver Sage will be revealed.”

Duke Iranad, who was listening attentively to the announcement, smiled softly. He muttered as he touched his arms.

“With that level of knowledge, it’s within the acceptable range. Fortunately, we were able to avoid the worst-case scenario of assassinating the author here.”

Duke Iranad looked down at his feet. Hidden behind the balcony was a large crystal panel that illuminated all the wizards in the venue.

“But I still have to retrieve the other necklaces of warmth.”

Tesron also recognized the identity of the modified version. It was a relic of the Silver Age called the ‘Window of Truth’. It was an artifact that had the function of understanding the psychology of the person reflected through biological reactions such as subtle facial expressions and changes in pupils.

Some of the wizards reflected on the crystal surface were highlighted with red light.