Chapter . 128
“Father, these two people also saved .”
Because Prince Leontes brought the two mages before the Emperor.
That fact alone made everyone gasp in surprise. Mages always guarded official events, but they always cast invisibility magic.
Unless it was a ti when people needed to see the process, like searching for holy relics or examining artifacts with the Crystal of Truth, it was considered proper etiquette to hide the mages’ presence.
“Have you brought your mages to , Leontes?”
Emperor Lombroso alone laughed. He showed his greed openly. He had never granted mages to the imperial family except for Prince Leontes, and this ti he had also taken all of the Empress’s mages.
Only the mages that Duke Lauderdale, who had bought the Prince’s rcy with his confession, had been granted by the Empress beca the Prince’s property along with the duke’s other assets.
Even before, there had been many words that if you exposed mages carelessly before him, they would be taken.
“They also rendered great service, so I wish to reward them.”
“Are you telling to grant titles to mages, my son?”
People were dumbfounded.
Prince Leontes was doing sothing excessive. It was only natural for mages to save their master, so to grant rewards for that?
“No. It is only that, since Father has welcod my return so grandly and is granting rewards to those who saved , I wished to tell Father of the mages’ rits as well. Because to Father, who worried for so deeply, I must tell everything that happened at that ti without leaving anything out.”
Prince Leontes had shown the qualities of an excellent politician until now, but at this part people could not help but smile.
“How naive… at this rate, he might even have the few mages he has taken by His Majesty.”
“He still lacks experience. But I understand completely.”
At the sight of a Prince who was capable and mature, and yet showed an unexpected gap precisely because of that, people laughed generously.
“So, who are the ones who saved you?”
And as he introduced the two mages to the Emperor, Prince Leontes did sothing even more amusing.
“My Chief Mage, Yolande, and my Deputy Chief Mage, Vincent.”
“Chief Mage? Deputy Chief Mage? Ha-ha-ha!”
“Ha-ha-ha-ha!”
“Ha-ha-ha!”
When the Emperor laughed, people laughed along with him. The mages were not the Emperor’s advisers, so why was he treating them like officials, calling one chief and one deputy as if they were bureaucrats? And they were not even wearing plain black robes, but luxurious, elegant robes, with Prince Leontes’s crest recently begun, embroidered in gold thread on their chests. And over that, they wore jeweled necklaces that were clearly artifacts.
Looking at this obvious favor, to the point of even granting jewels, it almost seed as if charm magic had not fully worn off. Even those who had been about to vent their displeasure at sothing without precedent hesitated.
The mages did not even cover their faces, but rather than pointing out such rudeness, many eyes were busy admiring their faces.
Yet the way the two mages pressed close to each other and held hands, at a loss, truly looked like a married couple, and unlike the usual impression of a mage wearing a mask in darkness, they looked harmless.
“Yes, they saved , so I granted them such positions. It is so that they will be even more loyal in the future.”
Prince Leontes said with a laugh as well.
“If you do not grant such clothes and positions, can you not receive loyalty?”
“If I treat even mages this well, how much better will I treat knights and officials?”
Ah, so that was what he was aiming for!
When people realized the Prince’s true intent, the Prince looked around at them and smiled gently. He used not to smile often, but he had been smiling more and more.
“I always welco good people. Look at them.”
And as the Prince nodded, the two mages raised their staffs. With music, golden clouds billowed up, floated lightly, and then burst like fireworks in golden letters above Michelon’s head, the new count. Along with Prince Leontes’s clear voice reciting those letters.
People stared in surprise, then burst into laughter.
The next golden cloud was Sir Rolf, the new baron.
Next was Marquis Montova.
With Jero, Baron Lagardie’s words, the golden cloud burst forth the largest and most splendidly above Prince Leontes.
“Ha-ha-ha-ha!”
“Ah-ha-ha-ha!”
People laughed and rejoiced. No matter how openly they fought the succession struggle, everyone was the Emperor’s people, and had to be loyal to the Emperor.
Even if they fought each other, they must not cross the line into treason, or they would only end up like the Empress Faction.
So even forming a faction had to be done cautiously, and even more so for a newly rising power.
Yet Prince Leontes did it in a way that was truly simple and amusing. As if he were presenting entertainnt to please the Emperor at the Emperor’s banquet.
It was certainly a solemn place, but the real investitures were all finished, and now only the celebration banquet remained.
“It is amusing, Leontes, ha-ha!”
Once the Emperor laughed, it was as good as settled.
“Do you like mages?”
The laughing Emperor even asked that. It was a question that sounded sowhat strange. Who would like mages, yet no one could say they did not want mages, either……
“Yes, I like them, because I like everyone who saved . If it were not for them, how could I see Father again?”
The Prince’s brave and candid words even lightly swept away the strange feeling behind the Emperor’s question, and they were pleasant to hear.
“So, Father, please permit them titles.”
What would the Emperor say?
The courtiers did not believe he loved anyone. When Rhiannon, who had received his favor the longest, fell, they had seen with their own eyes how cold, almost dry, the Emperor’s attitude had been. The Emperor had not even seed surprised, unlike them.
So they believed Prince Leontes, like the Empress, would only receive a temporary favor to be used according to need, but when the person himself spoke so calmly, could the Emperor truly deny it? After saying with his own mouth that he loved him?
“Yes, my most beloved son.”
And then the Emperor accepted the Prince’s request and permitted the titles of Chief Mage and Deputy Chief Mage. They were only honorary positions anyway, with no salary. Their treatnt would be handled by their master, the Prince, as he pleased.
The mages of the magic tower were flustered by this unexpected developnt. Until now they had held no positions at all. They were only called things like the Emperor’s mages, the Empress’s mages.
There had been a hierarchy among them, but it was only things like the eldest, a master, an apprentice mage. But now, even that existing order had been broken, and Chief Mage and Deputy Chief Mage had appeared, and they were all Prince Leontes’s mages. Did the Emperor not even care that neither the Chief Mage nor the Deputy Chief Mage was his mage?
But everyone else cared.
Prince Leontes could grant even mages such splendid titles and ranks. Then for us, higher positions would be possible! If he was a generous royal who even treated mages well, how well would he treat those who were not mages?
As soon as the splendid investiture ceremony ended, Prince Leontes, whose fa had already soared sky-high through this opportunity, was surrounded by people.
As the victor of the first battle of that long struggle, the succession war.
Tom stood in line. To et Prince Leontes.
He was a knight who walked on two feet with no horse. He lost his parents to a lord’s abuse, served a wandering knight, and after living as a slave-like squire for nearly more than twenty years since childhood, he finally beca a knight. When his master died, he inherited his master’s armor and horse, but the horse was old as well and soon died.
He had even tried to beco a so-called bush knight, hiding in thickets and raiding even soone else’s farm horse, but after he heard the rumor that Prince Leontes’s knight had beco a baron from a knight with no horse, he sold horsehide to gather travel money and ca up to the capital, Elan.
“Baron Graf, Sir Rolf from before, they say he did not even have a horse. The Prince should have provided him a horse, and so they say he could not even follow on the Prince’s outings. A knight with no horse is now the Prince’s Favorite Subject, beca a baron, and even received a territory.”
“The Prince was scorned back then, so he was lucky that even a knight with no horse was useful to him.”
“Lucky, my foot. Serving Prince Leontes since the days when he had no power is what is impressive.”
“Right. So how could the Prince not favor him? They say he is trusted even more than most nobles of the Prince’s faction.”
“Now that I think about it, Count Petrafis also was a commoner no one even knew where he ca from.”
“With him, because his looks and skill are extraordinary, there were always loud rumors from the start that he was an illegitimate child of noble blood. But Sir Rolf, I have seen him myself, and he has skill, but his circumstances were not so different from you and , or everyone here.”
“They say Prince Leontes obtained trendous spoils, but his hands are still short, so he is diligently gathering people. How many have risen at his side already? Michelon, Rolf, and even the mages, Chief and Deputy, they say the treatnt is lavish. If you have ability, it is a chance to rise by grabbing a solid connection with royalty!”
Tom, who had even spared his drink and pricked up his ears beside them, slipped out of the inn the mont those who had been chattering fell asleep drunk.
Walking through the night road, the dawn road, entering the next city when its gates first opened, taking a carriage, and so on, he barely managed to co to et Prince Leontes.
Of course, he could not et royalty. It was a world where even a noble needed a letter of introduction to et not royalty but even a high noble. But Baron Lagardie could be waited for, and truly t.
“His Highness Prince Leontes welcos everyone.”
Amazingly, he did not need a letter of introduction. He did not need to seek out the baron’s acquaintance, or that acquaintance’s acquaintance, to get introduced and obtain that letter.
“Swear that you will sincerely be loyal to His Highness Prince Leontes.”
All he had to do was swear before the Crystal of Truth guarded by a mage.
Many people ran away before it. Poor nobles or commoners who had rarely had a chance to encounter magic.
“The Prince cracked his head because of that crystal, so will we be fine?”
“It feels very unsettling. Maybe if it is soone like Prince Leontes, but we are in danger.”
“Then keep doing what we have done until now, gather money, pay bribes here and there, flatter this person and that person, and get a letter of introduction to approach the Prince.”
Even Tom, who said that, was afraid. In a world like this, if you were a commoner, it was hard even to et a low-ranking noble, and even then you would not be treated like a person. No matter how hard you said you would work, without that damned letter of introduction, no one believed you.
‘Without needing to break my bones working for all those long years like when I beca a squire, with just one oath to the crystal, they will believe my sincerity that I will work hard. It is easier than eating honey.’
Without hesitation, he put his hand on the crystal.
And so he t Baron Lagardie.
“His Highness Prince Leontes needs knights to dispatch to the territories he newly acquired.”
“You are a civil official. His Highness Prince Leontes needs officials to dispatch to the territories he newly acquired.”
Baron Lagardie divided those who applied, including Tom, like that, took the officials himself, and sent the knights to Count Petrafis and Baron Graf. They were already infamous with rumors that one was a Sword Master and the other a Sword Expert.
There were knights of various statuses. Even after the national law forbade commoners from becoming knights, there were still those who beca knights through loopholes. Like capturing peasants to form a band of robbers and conferring knighthood on them.
“What do you want? You are just an orphan taken in by a wandering knight. n like you are not even qualified to serve His Highness, so disappear on your own.”
“Do not show your face here again, understood! I warned you, so if you co again tomorrow, be prepared!”
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