133 — 13 (14)

Ding. As soon as two lights appeared in terrifying succession, points as precious as blood vanished before his eyes. At the same time, a new panel appeared before him.

‘Mages…..’

When he thought of mages under his ownership, one man came to mind, someone who looked somewhat like an innocent young man. Having had his talent forcibly opened through the System’s benefits, he was currently a 5-Circle mage. Considering the time involved, those around him had caused a stir, saying that a genius had appeared, but once the Great Mage Acquisition buff ended, Jerome’s growth potential had dropped by one layer.

Even so, 5-Circle was enough skill to take disciples, so, though only slightly, Jerome had accepted several disciples under Louis’s pressure. Jerome had, unusually, gone against Louis’s wishes, saying that he had learned magic for far too short a time to be able to teach others, but that resistance had been brief, and now he already had fifteen disciples. Since there were also eight wandering mages who had newly joined after hearing of Louis’s fame, Louis made plans to leave the rough work to them and send fifteen mages, including Jerome, to the Mage Tower.

To prepare for such matters, Louis had broadly examined talented people with Talent Insight, and whenever he found someone whose Intelligence stat exceeded the standard, even if their innate physical aptitude for using mana was poor, he had them undergo a simple test and continuously sent them to Jerome. For Physics and Magitech, what mattered was not simply people with high mana, but those with high comprehension and application ability. The more of them there were, the faster the conditions could be fulfilled.

‘Ah. So this takes effect immediately?’

Louis had thought that the Magitech Age the System warned about would begin only after the two traits had been fully activated, but that was not the case. If there was a variable here, it was that it began operating the moment he invested and the points vanished.

‘This makes me a little uneasy, but there is nothing to be done.’

The more mages he sent to study abroad, the more evenly they could learn Physics and Magitech. In truth, even if he sent them, no one in a normal real world would teach such disciplines, but since the System adjusted that kind of causality disguised as coincidence, it was enough for Louis simply to send as many mages as the status window told him he could send.

A new world…. This would not be easy. With this, it had become clear that this did not always benefit only him, and for the moment, he needed to read those books. Surely there was a mage in the Duchy of Eron as well who was connected to Euclid. When he thought about who was most likely to have such a connection, the answer came quickly. The most likely candidate was House Orsini, which had formed the strongest alliance with him.

‘From this moment on, my actions and judgments must be precise.’

Since he did not yet even have a kingdom, this matter could become an overreach, and if he failed to make good use of the situation, he could be left behind. The gap in development could widen even further.

Louis went to find Spessart. He could have summoned him, but once Spessart entered into experiments, he had the habit of asking Louis’s understanding and only emerging at night, and Louis was also curious what exactly he had been shut up doing lately. Louis walked inward between the soldiers who saluted the moment they saw him. As if he had heard the news, the door opened at just the right time, and a man with a fairly neat-looking face emerged, having thrown aside his usual long hood and wearing only a light tunic. A complicated smell came from inside, and most of it was a burnt smell, as though something had been scorched.

“Oh, Duke. What brings you here? You seem to have been quite busy lately, so I have not been able to see you even at mealtimes.”

“I came to ask one question. You all wait outside.”

When the five soldiers accompanying Louis went outside, it became a space with only the two of them, and Spessart, smiling, invited him into the inner room. It was not a fine place fit for the son of a marquis to stay in, but aside from the building where Louis stayed, most of the buildings were made by barbarians, so they were single-story, simple in structure, and poor. It had not been long since things had been piled up here, yet it already felt musty, and crystal balls were placed here and there like symbols. Complex rune patterns had been painted on the walls. Two sounds of regular breathing echoed alternately. Perhaps they had been asking and answering something of those who looked like shamans, and for prisoners they seemed to be treated well. They were prostrated on the ground as though welcoming a god, and they greeted Louis in refined language. Just as he was beginning to wonder at the unfamiliar words he had never heard before, Spessart casually told Louis that it was their ancient language used to address one who was great. When Spessart told the shamans to leave as well, they lowered their heads and filed out one after another, and now only Spessart and Louis remained in the room.

“Yes. What is it?”

“Do you know Euclid?”

“Euclid…… Is there any mage who does not know the Thirteen Great Sages?”

“No, what I want to ask is whether you have any connection to him.”

Spessart wore a thoughtful expression for a moment, then spoke.

“Yes. He is quite a difficult person, but he is the master of one of my distant relatives.”

“That is enough. Then is he one of Euclid’s disciples?”

“One of the thirty-two disciples.”

“Where is he?”

“Of course, he serves under our house.”

“Good. I need to meet him. Send word.”

“What on earth is the reason?”

Louis made a meaningful expression.

“Something that could shake the world is about to happen. How should I describe it? In your terms….”

“……….”

“Revolution.”

The outermost district of the city of Gedria. Though Gedria was covered mostly in trees, for some strange reason the land around here was barren, with not even the commonest grass in sight. According to the barbarians, this land was cursed. They said that from generation to generation there had been a punishment where those among the barbarians who committed the most savage crimes were bound here and left to become feed for beasts. As if to show proof of that, bones that appeared to be human lay among the dust on the desolate, dried-up land. It was a severely dried place. Yet it seemed this was indeed the right place. Louis narrowed his eyes and looked up at the sky. In the sky, things too extraordinary to be called birds were circling around. They were probably creatures that usually stayed here and filled their bellies. Not only did the barbarians repeatedly fight often among themselves, but when Atila waged civil war, the prisoners who died here would be too numerous to count without making one’s mouth ache.

‘So it is here.’

The information window Louis had raised was announcing the appearance of a new resource. Black Water. Louis himself did not know exactly what it was or how it would be useful. But because the System had informed him in advance that it would be useful, Louis instinctively knew that this would become a precious resource that would trigger all future wars.

“Dig here.”

Behind Louis, hundreds of soldiers stood in line. When Louis gave the order, they began to move in perfect unison. The mages he had brought were also put to work. As though it were a construction site, the sounds of the ground collapsing and being dug up in all directions were clamorous. It would have been nice if only dirt had come out, but because so many people had died here, every time they dug, heaps of ghastly skeletons emerged.

The shamans had told Louis that if he touched this place, a curse would fall upon them for generations, but Louis ignored them at once. If this thing called Black Water was concerned, this was the only place within Louis’s territory where it appeared. Even to the barbarians, it was a land no one cared for and no one considered useful, but if Black Water came out here, that would change the matter.

However, even Louis doubted whether Black Water would be a resource more valuable than iron or salt. If even Louis thought so, then it was certain that other rulers and nobles would have even stronger preconceptions. In any case, the soldiers were diligently at work, and then a sharp cry rang noisily around them.

Those huge masses he had seen in the sky earlier, far too large to be called birds, had swooped down to snatch up the soldiers. I forgot for a moment that this was Pantalist. And besides, this was a forbidden zone even within the city of Gedria, so it was only natural that monsters were running rampant here.

Louis took out the Horn Bow hanging from his saddle, tested the bowstring, then drew an arrow from the quiver and set it to the string. Though it had been a long time since he had handled a bow because of his heavy duties lately, the sensation was vivid. As if assisting Louis’s narrowing eyes, mana flowed into the arrow. The bow limb made from gorgon sinew snapped upward once, roughly, and the arrow flew like lightning, piercing the eye of the monster as it descended to attack a soldier. Kiek. It let out a sound that was certainly unpleasant to hear, yet certainly also a cry of pain, then dropped straight to the ground and raised dust. As if they had been waiting for it, six spears stabbed into its neck and rib-wings. The struggling monster bled profusely, then stopped.

‘You should pick your opponent before charging in. Shouldn’t you?’

“Do not panic. Form ranks and clear this place. Brave soldiers.”

When Louis uttered a single line, sharp battle cries shook heaven and earth. They were so spirited that it seemed the monsters might flee, but perhaps because they had seen blood, the creatures lost their reason and began to attack. Then it happened. Clear mana flared brightly enough to be seen, and a long tail of flame was left hanging in the air.

It was Fire Wall magic, ranked a step above Fireball. Gasps of admiration flowed from nearby. The flames, flowing as if crushing the dry, brittle air, spread to the monsters’ wings. About two of them became fireballs and fell to the ground. They burn well. Louis drew and released his second arrow. This time he had aimed for a wing, but it struck deep into the leg instead, so the creature did not fall. It circled the area, then came crashing heavily into the middle of the soldiers. Beneath the fallen monster, several bloodied soldiers could be seen, apparently pinned beneath it.

Something like a whistle could be heard, and more and more monsters were coming in.

‘So you want to do this?’

Louis moved the rear unit as well. He gathered the Horn Bow unit here.