The whole day passed once the knights from Kant territory were sent off and the daily approval docunts were finished.
Gawain ca to the window and looked at the giant sun outside, gradually sinking. No matter how many tis he looked at this otherworldly sun, it always gave him a sense of awe. He gazed at the faintly visible patterns on the sun’s surface, possibly atmospheric turbulence, and casually pushed open the study window.
A blast of cold wind imdiately poured into the room, swirling through every corner of the study—although it was already Revival Month, it would take a long ti for the weather to warm up. At least during these days, the winds in the mornings and evenings were still quite strong.
Gawain didn’t mind the cold. He actually liked the feeling of his mind clearing as the cold wind blew. So he took a deep breath against the wind; however, there were others who feared the cold: A shadow almost instantly erged from the nearby air, rushed forward, and slamd the window shut tightly, muttering as it closed, "What’s wrong with you? Opening the window in this cold is enough to freeze a person to death..."
It turns out the best way to force a shadow grandmaster out of stealth, aside from throwing flash grenades, is by opening a window.
Gawain looked at the muttering Amber, amused yet helpless, "Guards like you usually don’t last until the end of the day under other leaders..."
"If you were a regular leader, I wouldn’t even follow you," Amber turned her head, hands on her hips, indignant. She seed ready to quip a bit more, but before she could continue, the aroma of food wafted through the door seam into the study. The half-elf bandit instantly sniffed without any dignity, "Wow... today’s roast slls amazing..."
Gawain also seriously sniffed the air, finding it a bit strange, "Seems like it’s not Betty’s craftsmanship?"
"I’m not analyzing with you, I’m hungry, need to eat!" Amber quickly said, waving her hand, and in the blink of an eye, she opened the door and ran out, leaving Gawain shaking his head helplessly as he too walked out of the study.
Many aristocrats habitually create a slew of dining rules, not only concerning the order of seats but also specifying the standing position of servants during als, the music played, and even the placent of dishes and the quantity and placent of candlesticks. They pride themselves on executing such strict dining rules, considering it as their "civilized" representation, but the dinners at Gawain’s ho were different from other nobles—The Cecil Clan’s dining etiquette had already greatly simplified after a century of decline, and after their ancestor revealed dissatisfaction with having a bunch of people blowing and beating around while eating, the remaining dining rules were further reduced to just "ancestors seated before starting the al" and "wash hands before eating."
When Gawain arrived at the dining room, he saw Aunt Heidi and Rebecca already waiting by the table, and even the sea demon who usually doesn’t leave her doorway was well-coiled by the table waiting for dinner, while Betty busily arranged the cups, plates, knives, and forks nearby.
Gawain walked towards the table and smiled at Tiel, "Rare to see you have an interest in coming out to eat sothing today?"
"I heard a new chef arrived," Tiel said, slightly waving the tip of her tail, "I’m curious, so I ca to try~~"
"A new chef?" Gawain paused, curiously looking at "Great Steward" Aunt Heidi, "What new chef?"
"Santis is back," Aunt Heidi explained with a smile, "He arrived with the last fleet into the city at dusk, this matter wasn’t yet reported to you. He also brought his family; his father Bob Sid is a chef. It happens that the family currently has a vacancy for a chef, so I asked him to try it."
"Santis returned... Looks like he indeed caught the start of spring," Gawain showed a slight joy, then murmured, "But they just arrived here, they should rest for a day."
"Mr. Sid insisted," Aunt Heidi said helplessly, "You should understand, he left the royal capital and ca to a strange place. He needs to settle his work quickly to feel at ease."
"True," Gawain nodded, then looked at Betty with a smile and asked the little maid, "How’s the new chef?"
"He’s amazing!" Betty said, nodding vigorously with admiration on her face, "Better than !"
The girl spoke frankly, without any sense of crisis from the threat to her "kitchen status." It seed as long as her frying pan wasn’t touched and her right to arrange cups, plates, bowls in the dining room and attend to the leader wasn’t hindered, she had no objections at all.
Gawain even suspected that even if soone touched these "rights," she wouldn’t understand how to resist.
anwhile, Amber couldn’t help herself; the half-elf, always unknowing of rules and accustod to freeloading als with Gawain’s family, quickly sliced a piece of roasted at and stuffed it into her mouth, exclaiming through the burns, "Hoo hoo... This... This is indeed delicious..."
"Really that delicious?" Tiel looked at Amber with skepticism, then poked at the dish with the tip of her tail, and tried a piece of at herself. After chewing twice, she swallowed the food with a blank expression, "Still tasteless, what a letdown."
"Nonsense, don’t you know you have no sense of taste yourself? You shouldn’t have expectations that defy natural laws," Gawain gave this sea caterpillar creature a glance, then tasted the new chef’s skills, nodding in satisfaction, "Good, let Mr. Sid stay here. But more than this, I want to know how many people Santis brought back?"
Aunt Heidi already knew what Gawain would be concerned about, and imdiately replied, "About a hundred craftsn of various types and twenty-three scholars entered the city with him, along with three Mage apprentices and a junior Mage."
More than a hundred craftsn and over twenty scholars—this is still an acceptable figure for Gawain. Such a number of intellectuals or technical personnel certainly plays a significant role in the territory today. However, upon hearing the count of Mages and Mage apprentices, he couldn’t help but frown: "So few Mages and Mage apprentices? Only one official Mage?!"
Amber swallowed hard on whatever was in her mouth, staring wide-eyed: "Could it be that even an ancient Master Mage like Kal has no appeal to the royal capital’s Mages?"
Aunt Heidi seed to be intentionally teasing, and after seeing the reaction from Gawain and Amber, she smiled before revealing what was to co next: "In addition, nine official Mages and more than twenty Mage apprentices led by them are on their way here—one of them is even a middle-ranked Mage."
Seeing the smile on Aunt Heidi’s face, Gawain understood that his usually composed granddaughter was unusually playful this ti, but he completely understood Aunt Heidi’s inclination to have a bit of fun—
Nine official Mages and more than twenty Mage apprentices! And inside this group was even a middle-ranked Mage!
Although, in the current Cecil magical industry system, a Mage’s personal spellcasting level is almost of little value, a higher Mage level usually indicates not only greater talent but also a certain passion for mathematics and related subjects, which can be quite useful!
Santis couldn’t have been unaware of the requirents of the magical industry, so the people he brought must have been ticulously selected and reviewed. This batch of Mages and Mage apprentices is truly a significant asset for Cecil territory, which is in desperate need of technical talents these days!
Arranging a visit to the royal capital for Santis was indeed the right decision. Compared to the remote, desolate southern borders, the kingdom center, where Anzu has been operating for seven hundred years, undoubtedly holds richer talent resources. In the city that boasts the kingdom’s highest magic skills and houses the Royal Mage Association, Witches’ Council, Magic Research Society, and dozens of other large and small magic organizations, lower-ranked Mages and Mage apprentices are not in short supply...
"Santis has already set up a base in the royal capital and is operating there under the guise of long-term talent recruitnt. As per your instructions, ’Witch’ Giply and ’Quick Leg’ Pierce will maintain the base’s operation after Santis departs," Aunt Heidi continued. "Thus, technical personnel should continue to be transported over in the future—as the Cecil territory continues to develop, the influx of talent will only grow."
Gawain nodded happily and contently as he listened. After Aunt Heidi finished speaking, he let out a satisfied sigh and then looked at his granddaughter: "Take it easy when you speak in the future."
Aunt Heidi bowed her head exaggeratedly, her tone especially serious: "I’ll follow your instructions—"
Gawain waved his hands, smiling: "Alright, alright, keep this up, and you’ll beco another Rebecca."
Across the table, Rebecca, who was busy battling with a steak, imdiately raised her head: "What do I have to do with this?"
The girl had been fervently wielding her knife and fork against her food, hardly listening to any conversation around the table. It was only when she heard her na that a reflex kicked in, making her respond.
Gawain was in an exceptionally good mood at this mont. Seeing Rebecca’s curious expression made everything seem even more endearing, prompting him to say to her: "You’d better get ready. Your Magic Guide Technology Research Institute is about to get busy—weren’t you complaining that you never had enough hands for practical projects? Well, now you’ve got at least a hundred apprentices to train. You need to quickly transform those rune craftsn, chanists, and Runemasters into Mage Technicians."
The more than a hundred craftsn and scholars brought by Santis are indeed talents urgently needed by the territory, but they must adapt to and learn the "technical requirents" of the Cecil territory. This is not sothing that can be done by words alone. Beyond instilling Cecil laws, they must also learn a large amount of foundational technical art and theoretical knowledge related to magical industry. Transforming from traditional craftsn to Mage Technicians is their first step toward becoming Cecil’s technical personnel.
However, fortunately, Rebecca had once led a team of less promising "problem individuals" and sohow managed to churn them into skilled Mage Technicians. Therefore, Gawain isn’t the least bit worried about this seemingly clueless yet actually brilliantly talented young lass handling a smarter and more obedient team.
The territory’s Magic Guide Technology Research Institute was completed just a few days ago, with several large laboratories and practical workshops set and ready. Now is the perfect ti to train apprentice workers.
Of course, not everyone could be cramd into the Magic Guide Technology Research Institute—Gawain also plans to select so suitable scholars to pass to Santis, to be transford into teachers in the Cecil General Academy.
If there are Runemasters with exceptional theoretical talent, a batch would be sent to the Rune Research Center.
Rebecca listened blankly to her ancestor’s words, not noticing the drops of gravy on the corners of her mouth, until she finally understood she was soon to have a large team. The girl beca instantly excited and cheered, jumping up with a shout: "Wow!"
Then she flung the fork in her hand onto the ceiling.
Gawain looked up at the fork stuck to the ceiling and then looked down at Aunt Heidi, whose face had turned dark.
He sighed: "Go ahead, but go easy on her."
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