Sword of Dawn

Page 123

While thinking, Kamel suddenly remembered a name he heard when chatting with Jenny not long ago.

He left the institute and went straight to Cecil General College, located in the south of the institute.

Santis had just finished the afternoon class. After assigning the children homework to copy runes and recite the basic rules of runes, he packed up his teaching tools and prepared to go back to the dormitory to rest.

The young arcanist was used to life in Cecilland.

Prepare and attend classes every day, explain the mysteries of the magical world to the children, check the students' progress and homework, then get off work, go back to the dormitory, prepare for the next day's lessons, go to the cafeteria at mealtime, and go with the teachers of the college Have a meal, and discuss the progress of the students together by the way.Occasionally he is helpless by those students with poor grades, but most of the time, he is delighted by the progress of the students - sometimes some students bring some gifts, most of which are the pastries they baked at home Or a beautiful stone groped from the river.The second case is a bit more.

He was overwhelmed at first, but now those beautiful stones filled the windowsill of his dormitory.

Santis loved life in Cecil Land.

There is no intrigue in the king's capital, no suffocating and depressing atmosphere in the mage's tower, no cynicism and exclusion from the upper-level nobles and higher-level magicians, this is a place where he can feel comfortable—even though it is located on the border , although this place is regarded by the lords of the capital as "a barren land that only fools go to", Santis feels that there is no place where he can feel more comfortable than here.

Let those gentlemen in the capital keep narrow-mindedness to their heart's content, it would be better if they don't come.

Santis carried his teaching kit under his arm—a drawing kit, a textbook, a lesson plan, and a wooden box of rune "blocks" for demonstrations, in addition to the textbook Other than that, the others were all made by himself - he walked out of the main teaching building while looking at the scenery in the college.

The snow that fell in the past few days has been shoveled away by the students and janitors. In this coldest winter season, Cecil College is not deserted: Santis saw that the leaders who came to the night school were gathering in groups of three or four. Walking to another building, those are workers who have just finished work: Since more and more factories in the territory have adopted "literacy and numeracy" as the standard for senior workers, more and more people have taken the initiative to come to night school.

After all, only those who can read and write can easily learn how to operate the machines in the factory, and can understand the complicated work given by the foreman, and the workers who operate the machines... earn more than those illiterate laborers who can only carry bags and bricks nearly double that.

A group of shining arcane light suddenly appeared in the field of vision, and Santis stopped involuntarily.

That was Kamel - the most powerful spellcaster in the territory, a magister from the ancient Gondor Empire.

As a second-level arcanist, and an arcanist who grew up in the circle of magicians in the capital, Santis felt a little nervous subconsciously.

After confirming that the ancient magister was really floating towards him, Santis quickly took a deep breath to calm down, and offered to greet: "Good afternoon, Master Kamel."

"Mr. Santis, we met when the lord took me to visit the academy," Kamel stopped in front of Santis and said straight to the point, "I want to talk to you about something."

"You want to talk to me about something?" Santis froze for a moment, then nodded hastily, "Of course, of course it's no problem, please tell me."

"I need some assistants to help me complete a very important magic subject."

"Ah...ah?" Santis was stunned for a moment, and then he became even more stunned, "You need an assistant... Then you should be at least an intermediate or even a high-level magician to be eligible to be your apprentice... "

"According to what I know so far, most magicians in this era are idiots. As long as their thinking is fixed, intermediate and advanced levels are equally useless to me," Kamel commented unceremoniously, "I I want to ask you, do you still know friends like you in the circle of magicians in your capital?"

0298 Attraction

Santis reacted for a while before trying to understand what the other party meant by "friends like you".

He looked into Kamel's eyes (probably the position of the eyes): "Are you referring to a commoner who is not controlled by traditional mage circles or noble families, can freely join the Cecil Land, and has a certain knowledge base mage? ?”

Kamel nodded slightly: "There is still a lack of enough scholars in the territory - although we have recruited a group of down-and-out scholars and mages from nearby territories, it is far from enough, not enough in quality and quantity. I once talked to Jenny However, I know that her background is a bit... special, so she doesn't have any contacts in the capital, but you are different, Mr. Santis, although you are born as a commoner, at least... you are an orthodox, accepted A fully educated spellcaster."

An orthodox king's mage, even the worst one, is fundamentally different from a slave-born Jenny—Santis's "class" is destined to have his own mage social circle, There are other spellcasters who can talk to each other as equals.

If Jenny could only be locked up in the mage's tower to have limited communication with other slaves, then Santis was at least physically free.

"I... do know some Wangdu mages," Santis said hesitantly. excluded from mainstream mage circles..."

"That may be in line with my requirements, and it also meets the requirements of the lord," Kamel said, "You are teaching the basic courses of rune logic and magic, and you should understand that what is developing in this land is a brand-new The magic technology route, in the face of this special field, the traditional mage level is not very meaningful. What we really value is the attitude of researchers to explore the unknown, the ability to accept new things, and the most basic mathematical and logical talents. I miss you There should be no lack of such people among my friends."

Santis thought for a while, then nodded slowly: "I can try it."

"Very good. But I would like to add one more thing - many times 'rejected by the mainstream field' is not the same as 'unique talent', most of the time a person is rejected by the social circle just because he is really stupid, It's just that this kind of person will always anesthetize themselves with 'my talent no one can understand'. I don't want my outspokenness to hurt your feelings-but I don't want to cause trouble for the lord. I have seen Too many self-excellent people, they are always difficult to deal with."

Santis couldn't help laughing, he didn't look angry at all: "Of course, you're right. I've seen many people like this too—in the capital, down-and-out mages always get married Form large and small circles, just like gatherings of mages and nobles in the upper class. In this kind of "bottom secret law meeting", there are often many people who complain about being unrecognized for their talents, but only a small half of them are really underappreciated for their talents. More than half of them really don't know anything. I have been in this kind of circle for many years, so I will naturally screen them out."

"That's good," Kamel felt relieved, "then let's go to the lord—this kind of thing should be known to the lord."

Gawain stood in front of the map of Cecil Territory and its surrounding areas, looking at the winding mountains, plains, and forest lines, lost in thought.

This map was drawn by him himself. He restored all the details of the satellite view as much as possible under the premise of being intuitive and easy to understand. He also marked the various mineral vein resource points discovered along the way by the pioneering legion 700 years ago. He I still remember what happened when I was immersing myself in drawing this map in my study—Hetty was beyond shocked. Amber said that the old rice dumpling must have prepared the map in advance to pretend to draw the map to scare people. Rebecca agreed Amber's point of view was knocked on the head by Hetty—but as Gawain tossed out more and more new things, he himself was the most unreasonable "resurrected person". What this incredible map brings The impact that came gradually faded away.

Gao Wen believes that as the drawing techniques he wrote are taught to others, everyone will be less surprised by this high-precision satellite image (hand-drawn version).

Amber stood beside him, staring at the map along with him, but she had no idea what Gawain was looking at, and after staring at it for a long time, she finally couldn't help it: "Hey, Gawain, what are you looking at? ?”

Gao Wen raised his hand and clicked on a certain position above the map: "This is Kant Territory."

Then his hand moved down and circled a large area: "This is the northern wilderness, and then the northern bank pioneering area, Whitewater River, Cecil Land... The mining town is here, and the western logging field and the land are on this side. The newly established 'Frost Forest Village'... is finally the southeast and southwest two plots that are ready to be reclaimed next spring, and Cecil's power is currently in this area."

Amber stared at Gao Wen: "Has the Kant collar been entered by you?"

Gao Wen ignored Amber, but continued to say as if he was talking to himself: "The current population of Lord Cecil City is 5000, including a large number of craftsmen and residents who migrated from Kant Land after winter, and The serfs and the last batch of refugees purchased from Lesley Territory and other places. However, due to the imperfect administrative construction in Kant Territory, the population statistics before winter has not been completed, and it is impossible to tell how many people there will be..."

Gao Wen didn't know how many people there were in a viscounty or earldom in medieval Europe on earth, but he knew that in this world, because human beings were inherently stronger, there were things like fertility spells and druid spells to ensure The basic output of food, so although the people at the bottom live a very poor and difficult life, their population is quite large. Even in this long-abandoned southern border, there are a large number of people scattered on this land.

It's just that these people can't be regarded as the citizens of the Cecil Land, even Kant Land, which has actually become a satellite town of the Cecil Land, is still independent from the legal point of view.

Amber stared at Gao Wen who was analyzing the situation of the territory with a serious face. After listening for a long time, she couldn't understand what the man in front of her was talking about: "So? Do you think the population is not enough? Let me tell you Hey, a city of 1 people is already quite scary! You..."

Gao Wen suddenly interrupted Amber: "Do you think this place is still a little too small?"

Amber reacted for two seconds, and her ears slowly perked up: "...you finally decided to hit someone! Think about it carefully, if you really go to regain the fief, the entire southern border will be..."

"I don't have this plan for the time being." Gawain glanced at the half-elf, "I think the current strategic depth is too small, and the potential population is far from enough..."

Amber looked confused: "Strategic depth? What?"

Gao Wen thought for a while, then shook his head: "Forget it, I can't explain it to you."

Amber stared, and immediately wanted to refute something, but before she could speak, Betty's crisp voice sounded outside the study door: "Master! Master Kamel and Mr. Santis are here to see you!"

"Oh?" Gao Wen was a little surprised that these two unrelated people would come looking for him together, and he walked towards his desk, "Let them in."

Amber pouted, and stood obediently beside Gao Wen. A few seconds later, the door of the study opened, and Kamel and Santis walked in.

A few minutes later, Gao Wen heard the two people's intentions, and he couldn't help showing an expression of interest on his face: "You plan to attract a group of talents from the mage circle of Wangdu? Through Santis' network? "

"My lord, my ... is not a network of contacts," Santis said a little nervously, "The gatherings of great magicians are considered a network of contacts, and the ones I know... are at best some unsatisfactory little mages. It's just a private gathering, and I don't know many people..."

Gao Wen waved his hand: "It's okay, as I said just now, our original goal is not those great magicians, as long as they are intellectuals. But let me tell the truth, it's not that I haven't thought about recruiting talents from the prosperous areas of the kingdom before... ...Including the mage circle in the capital, I have also thought about it."

Kamel: "Have you recruited? No success?"

Gao Wen nodded: "That's right. Although I didn't use Santis' contacts at the beginning, I offered a very high price, but nearly a year has passed, and no one is interested in the solicitation of Cecil Ling— —You should know why."

"The frontier land is desolate and bitterly cold, and it is next to the wasteland of Gondor. No one would think that being a 'magic consultant' here will have any future," Santis immediately figured out the reason, and his voice became bitter "The people in the capital don't know the real situation here, they can only judge by their imagination. For them, the Cecil Land is not attractive. Even if the reward is high, the mages in the capital will not leave the kingdom easily. The center... After all, for the vast majority of mages, the capital means a knowledge center and a promotion channel, no matter how poor they are, they are unwilling to leave."

Although the prestige of the founding heroes is high, mages are a group of pragmatic people. They don’t see any hope of going to the southern border, so the prestige of the founding heroes is not enough to shake them—even though Gawain also offered a very high The price tag, but he is not generous enough to ignore the cost.

"Mr. Santis, do you think with your influence, you can persuade your friends to leave the 'magic center' like the capital and come to Cecil Land as a pioneer?"

Santis hesitated for a moment, and began to subconsciously pull the button on his chest again: "I..."

He wanted to say confidently that he could, but after just assuming a little bit, he realized that he didn't have the confidence.

Leaving Wangdu was not so easy, even if he went to lobby his friends in person, with his "fame" in Wangdu's mage circle, he might not be able to convince anyone.

He doesn't have that kind of friend who is so deep that he can come to accompany him to open up wasteland with just a few words - if he had, he wouldn't have been squeezed out by Wangdu's mage circle and stuffed into the southern border aid team.

The young arcanist's complexion darkened, and the courage and enthusiasm he had managed to muster were hit hard, but at this moment, Kamel suddenly spoke: "Lord, Cecil leads the king's capital against those mages. It's not attractive, so they don't want to come, do they?"

"That's right," Gawain nodded, "If you want to recruit talents, unless Cecil is attractive enough."

"We have enough attraction." Kamel said firmly.

Gao Wen raised his eyebrows: "Huh? Tell me."

"I," Kamel opened his hands, bright arcane arcs danced around him, his voice buzzed, "Is an ancient Gondor magister enough to attract them? The great magician thousands of years ago personally Is the guidance enough to attract them? Is the lost ancient magic skill enough to attract them? I don’t believe that magicians after 1000 years have fallen so low that they don’t even have the desire for magic!”

Santis, Gawain, and Amber felt their eyes light up at the same time. Gawain showed an imperceptible smile, and leaned forward: "Then if those mages who came here for the ancient secret technique find that the situation is not the same as What if I think differently? Many of your ancient spells can no longer be used in this era."

"If they have the ability, they will go back!"

Chapter 0299 Santis' Mission

Kamel's last sentence was full of momentum, but Gawain didn't take it too seriously.

No magician could resist what Kamel mentioned—not even the most self-important traditionalist grand magician.

Although some of Kamel's ancient spells are indeed unusable in this era, and although many of the ancient technologies known to Kamel are the products of the deep blue well, this ancient magister still has countless skills that can make him As long as one-tenth of the knowledge that contemporary spellcasters are eager for, those long-lost magic formations, rune knowledge, and classical spells, is still usable, it is enough to cause an uproar in the circle of traditional mages.

What's more, Kamel himself, an ancient magister who has survived from the age of Starfire and transformed into an arcane body, is enough for the mages in the capital to experience a shock.

What Gao Wen has to consider now is not whether Cecil Territory is attractive to the mages in the capital, but whether Kamel should be exposed to the traditional mage circle now, and whether those attracted mages will spread the news to what extent.

He didn't intend to let the traditional mage circle notice Cecil as a "land of deviant" prematurely, because the order promoted in this land was contrary to the traditional mage world from the very beginning, although Gawain was not afraid Those guys are already rotten, but now is the critical stage of the development of the Cecil Territory, attracting hostility prematurely will only disrupt many of his plans.

But he will not give up the opportunity to recruit talents from the capital - just strike a balance between these two things.

He said what he thought, and Kamel immediately understood Gawain's concerns, and the ancient magister let out a deep laugh: "Lord, you are right, if those mediocre people know that Cecil leads A craftsman who can weld things with a searing ray would probably go mad."

"So we have to control the spread of the news, and also control the content of the news." Gao Wen looked at Santis, "You said that the downcast mages in the capital have their own small circle, then you can ensure that the news is only in this small circle Is it flowing? At least for a few months or a year, news only flows in small circles."

Santis tugged at his buttons a little uneasily, but after thinking for a while, he still gave an affirmative answer: "My lord, I can assure you—and I don't even need to deliberately control it, as long as you give it a little guidance, you will be fine." No one will spread the word..."

"Oh?"

"Mages will not let resources fall into the hands of others," Santis showed a helpless smile, "especially 'knowledge'.

"Just tell them that I was lucky enough to be favored by the lord in Cecil Territory, and I got a little knowledge about ancient magic, and got some pointers from ancient magisters, so that they realize that these resources and opportunities are quite limited, then The news will naturally be restricted to a small circle, and even if you want to spread it to the outside world, it will take a lot of effort..."

While speaking, the young arcanist couldn't help but sighed softly.

He thought of the children in the school, the eyes thirsting for knowledge, the textbooks that were published in volumes that everyone could read, and the sense of accomplishment when sharing knowledge.

The longer he lived in Cecil, the more he couldn't adapt to the way of life in the capital—even if those lives had become memories for him.

"Well... It's also a problem that it can't be spread at all, but as long as you pay attention to the guidance, it seems that all of this can be operated," Gawain didn't know what Santis was thinking, he was just weighing who should hand over this matter To complete, "Amber, is there any suitable candidate for the first phase of the operator?"

"The witch Jibri, she is a woman who can speak well, and she knows some wild spells. Let's count as a magic apprentice. There is also fast-legged Pierce. He doesn't know magic, but he is very clever. He can pretend to be a guard. But it is definitely not acceptable to let them go to the capital to perform tasks alone - they have never been to the capital, and there is no way to enter the circle of mages in the capital."

"Of course, they are only responsible for fooling around, and the ones who are really responsible for leading the way..." Gawain said while looking at Santis, "Mr. Santis, would you like to go back to the capital?"

If you want to recruit talents smoothly, and you also need to control the flow of news and select recruiting targets in the process, then it is obviously not enough to rely on a few letters. Santis is the best person to go to the capital to preside over this matter in person— —Of course, this introverted and lacking confidence Mr. Arcanist is probably not good at doing things independently, so Gawain will arrange one or two helpers for him, those operators who have received a lot of training in the Military Security Intelligence Agency It's just right.

After hearing Gawain's words, Santis was stunned for a moment, appearing a little hesitant.

He didn't want to leave the academy, and he didn't like to go back to that dreary and depressing place-but he knew he had to obey the lord's orders.

"You don't need to stay in the capital for too long," Gao Wen said upon seeing this, "you just need to be a guide, and the people I send will set up a longer-term stronghold in the capital, and wait for you to successfully negotiate with the capital." You can come back after establishing contact with the mage circle. You set off in a horse-drawn carriage, escorted by soldiers, and if you hurry along the way, one month is enough to make it back and forth—plus the time you stay in the capital, you should be able to come back just in time. To catch up with the new round of immigrants in the territory, there will be a batch of new students in the college."

When Gao Wen went to the king, he deliberately slowed down his pace. He basically stopped at every village along the way, and made a lot of detours. As a result, he walked for almost two months, but in fact Ansu is a north-south land. In a narrow country, it is not a long journey from the southern border to the capital.

After learning about these arrangements, Santis was relieved, and he nodded vigorously: "I will not let you down."

Gao Wen nodded slightly: "During the time you leave the academy, your courses will be temporarily taken by someone else. I will let Jenny choose a suitable substitute teacher. You can hand over to her when the time comes. In addition, when you arrive at the capital Afterwards, I can live in the mansion at No. [-] on Crown Street and use it as a base for activities, it is my mansion in the capital, it is very safe, and can avoid the disturbance of other people."

When he heard that he was going to live in the duke's mansion, Santis couldn't help feeling nervous again...

At this time, Amber mentioned a sentence beside him: "Say, you suddenly sent someone back to the capital, do you need to arrange an explanation? The nobles in the capital are prone to nervousness..."

"What's the point of making an arrangement? Just make it clear that it's for recruiting people, there's no need to explain or cover up," Gao Wen said indifferently, "Anyway, no matter how many excuses I think of, as long as I send someone to the capital, then Helping neurotic guys come up with piles of intentions, it’s better to be upright, I can save a lot of thought, how they like to think about it is their problem. And recruiting talents is not a shameful thing. "

Amber's ears trembled: "It's true..."

"As long as I don't return to the capital, neither the king nor the nobles of the capital have any right to intervene in the affairs of the Cecil family. The title of duke is still very useful in this regard," Gawain said, While pulling out a piece of parchment from the parchment that is specially used for writing noble certificates, he wrote a certificate and stamped his own emblem, "Mr. Santis, take this, you are the one I sent Recruit the mage's envoy to the capital—this is your public identity. As for the 'secret' of the Cecil Territory, you need to find a way to organize a secret meeting, and the officers of the Military Intelligence Bureau will guide you on how to do this kind of thing .Don't be nervous and pressured, as long as you hold this, you represent a duke, and those 'little mages' standing in front of you should be nervous."

Santis took the document handed over by Gao Wen in a little panic, and tore off his buttons like last time in the process: "Yes... yes, my lord!"

"Remember, you have to come from a clean background and have no 'worry about the future'. We don't need mages who are fighting power, let alone aristocratic mages who are façades. Although those with family ties and school backgrounds can also be recruited, we must Get to know their details—it doesn’t matter if you don’t know how to inquire, the officers of the Military Intelligence Bureau will know how to talk, and you have to consider their opinions more.”

"I understand," Santis put the documents solemnly close to his body, then hesitated, and said a thought that had been lingering in his mind for a long time, "My lord, in fact, I hope... The family also took over."

"Your family..." Gao Wen recalled a little, "ah, it's your parents, right?"

"Actually... there is also a younger brother who is an apprentice for others and a young younger sister," Santis lowered his head, "I hope to take them all over."

Gao Wen showed a sincerely happy smile on his face: "Of course there is no problem. In fact, you are not the only one who wants to take over your family. More than half of the 100 people who came with you from the capital have already applied to me. I hope I have agreed to take the family to Cecil, but I haven't had time to organize the escort team, this time you just took the opportunity to do it in the past."

Santis and Kamel left satisfied, while Amber looked at Gao Wen's expression and couldn't help saying, "You seem to be in a good mood."

"Is there?"

"The smile is too obvious," Amber raised her eyebrows, "He wants to take his family over, why are you so happy?"

"Wishing to stay here is different from wishing to bring my family here," Gao Wen patiently explained, "The former can be driven by loyalty, honor, responsibility or profit, but the latter There is only one explanation for the readers: Cecil Territory has truly become a beautiful place in their minds, and they have completely taken root here."

"Is that so..." Amber blinked, seeming to understand, "Even if this place is next to the wasteland of Gondor and was attacked by monsters not long ago, they are still willing to take their family over... that is really desperate of."

"It's better to say that not long ago we wiped out all the monsters outside the city walls without anyone being killed, which strengthened the confidence of those craftsmen and scholars from the capital." Gawain nodded, "In this era The people's sense of security comes from whether the lord and the lord's army can protect them, if they can, then the Dark Mountains can also be a livable kingdom of heaven, if not, then even if they live in the Holy Spirit Plain, they are still at risk."

Seeing Amber start to think about it seriously, Gao Wen couldn't help laughing: "Okay, don't think about it. Help me take care of it again - I want to 'meditate' again."

"Again? Or the same as last time?"

“Free Wi-Fi, no rubbish, no rubbish.”