Chapter 823: Act 4 – Wizards, Dragons, and the Empire
Outside the study is a long corridor with a balcony, supported at intervals by stone columns covered in moss. Sunlight filters through the green shade of the oak trees, leaving spots of light like gold dust on the walls and floor. A few chirping sparrows have settled on the railing of the balcony. After thoroughly educating Romaine, Brendel opened the door and stepped out. The birds immediately fluttered their wings and flew away. Watching this scene, he instinctively turned back and shut the door with a soft ‘click,’ as if he wanted to say:
“Xi, prepare the coach. We’re going to Port Gris.”
But just as he spoke, Brendel was taken aback. In his memory, the girl with the long ponytail would always lean on the second stone pillar of the corridor with her long spear, sometimes tossing bread crumbs to feed the sparrows. He had seen such a scene several times. The girl was very quiet but beautiful like a figure in a painting.
Now, however, the second stone pillar stood empty, with only mottled sunlight reflecting off the moss.
Brendel sighed.
He couldn’t help but smile wryly.
At a distance, in the darkened spiral staircase at the end of the corridor, a young lady assistant holding a stack of parchment documents also sighed quietly. Seeing her lord standing there with a lost expression, she understood. Her knuckles tightened, nearly crumpling the parchments, which contained important documents that had yet to be reviewed by the lord. Startled by her own actions, she hurriedly loosened her grip but accidentally scattered the rolled-up parchments all over the floor.
Antinna stood frozen for a moment, biting her lip before bending down to pick them up one by one. She absentmindedly touched the necklace inside her collar, which had lost its pendant long ago, but she felt as if the pendant were still there and pressed against that empty space. Finally snapping back to reality, she looked at Brendel from a distance with a complex expression and silently retreated.
Brendel stood in front of the study door for several minutes before coming to his senses, as if he had grown accustomed to the silent mountain girl by his side. He used to tease Xi about how she would find a suitor in the future, but now that she was gone, he felt a bit lost. “What’s wrong with me…” Brendel couldn’t help but press his temple, “Brendel, Xi can’t be by your side forever. She has her own future.”
Yet thinking this way made him feel a bit stifled. He shook his head and temporarily pushed the thought from his mind.
Veronika and her party had settled into an inn in Port Gris. The carriage ride from Firburh to Port Gris took less than half a day, and Brendel understood that the lady likely had her own reasons for not wanting to linger in Firburh. After all, she was a legion commander of the Empire and couldn’t grow too close to a foreign earl. This was not surprising, especially considering that the Empire’s most wanted criminal, Gray Saint Mephistopheles, resided in Brendel’s castle. For both emotional and logical reasons, she should at least maintain a distance or posture.
However, what puzzled Brendel was why Veronika wanted to see him at this time. It had already been over two weeks since their arrival in Toniger; logically, she should have returned to the Empire by now. Her tasks here had supposedly concluded, and she was accompanied by the crown prince and the members of the Broken Sword Knights.
He genuinely couldn’t figure out the lady legion commander’s thoughts and didn’t understand what she was worried about. Internally, everything seemed calm; aside from some unrest at the borders, there were no signs of any significant events about to occur.
With such doubts, he traversed the corridor, thudding down the stairs, and passed through the outer hall, where several apprentices of Charles were debating some issues related to magic. Since Charles’ Mage Tower was built within the castle, his apprentices also lived here in the servant’s quarters. Fortunately, the rules of the wizarding world were strict, so these apprentices didn’t bring too much trouble to castle life. When they saw Brendel, the apprentices stood up respectfully to greet their young lord; he nodded in response. These youths had mostly been chosen from adventurers or the scions of local minor nobles. Their families were exceedingly grateful for this opportunity, as true inheritors of wizardry were scarce in Vaunte. Most academic wizards descended from the Bud family, but the knowledge of the People of Silver was not so easily acquired. Even in Cruz, it was only the talented Sue, like the scholar maiden Shi Do, who had the privilege of gaining the favor of the People of Silver. Therefore, inheritors of wizardry held high social status in both Erluin and Cruz, far surpassing that of wandering sorcerers.
Charles himself came from the Black Tower wizards’ lineage, albeit a branch of the Bud family, enough to be considered prestigious. For these impoverished young nobles, the chance to be a student of such a mentor was like winning the lottery, let alone for those destitute adventurers. Thus, it was no surprise that they thought this way.
Antinna also noted this point, and in her capacity as an assistant, advised Brendel to view it as an opportunity to win people’s hearts by allocating the scarce spots to those genuinely loyal to him, such as the daughter of the copper dragon Retao—Sue. By establishing such a connection, he could string trustworthy individuals tightly to his war cart of shared interests.
Yet Brendel didn’t see it this way. In his eyes, it wasn’t merely a profit and fame fest; these young wizard apprentices represented the future of Toniger. Without the wizarding corps, the military would forever rank as third-rate in Vaunte, let alone the enticing airborne fleets of the Cruz and wind elves, each piloted by wizards. To put it bluntly, wizards were the high-tech troops of Vaunte, and training each one required a hefty sum, but it was always worth it.
And this was still in the 40s, before the Slate Wars even began.
Of course, some of Antinna’s arguments had merit. Moreover, Charles had mentioned more than once that Sue possessed exceptional talent, so Brendel adopted part of her advice. He was genuinely quite optimistic about the girl who seemed to be left with only healthy, sun-kissed skin and a head full of fine braids in people’s impressions. Her calmness displayed in the battle against Ampere Seale was simply awe-inspiring—one of the most basic qualities a wizard should possess, yet only a few excelled at it. Even before Sue became a wizard, she had shown more talent in this regard than most. Thus, as long as she could sense the lines of the law, she would undoubtedly have a bright future.
Furthermore, as an additional gain from this decision, as the assistant lady had said, the copper dragon Retao was indeed grateful to him. The old veteran, having experienced the November War, was unflappable in the face of life and death, but his daughter was his only weakness. He originally intended to leave Sue with an estate but hadn’t anticipated the invasion of Madara. Now, with an opportunity to become a wizard, while her future might not be particularly glorious, at least she would be food secure, and the most crucial point was that she wouldn’t have to depend on others and watch their expressions, which was especially satisfying for Retao.
However, there were some downsides. Several times, he had caught the dragon subtly probing his intentions, asking if he was interested in his daughter. The dragon seemingly thought he couldn’t see through his tests, which made Brendel feel severely underestimated. Several times, he had unpleasantly sent the dragon back to Mintai territory.
In fact, this wasn’t a unique case; it was an ongoing source of annoyance for him. For some reason, the chances of women possessing magical talents in Vaunte seemed significantly higher than those of men, even though male wizards often had a greater probability of becoming true geniuses, like Charles and Livwz. Still, the population base for female wizards was greater than that of male wizards, which was an undeniable fact. This directly resulted in an imbalance where the power dynamics were skewed, sparking doubts that this might be a stealthy method for their lord to build a harem.
Especially in these impoverished regions where magic wasn’t thriving, the rumors became even more outrageous. To his amusement and frustration, those petty lords and minor nobles happily sent their so-called “fairly good-looking” noble daughters to him, regardless of whether they were genuinely attractive. Anyway, he had already made Charles dismiss all those without magical talents. What troubled him was that this incident had become a joke within his small circle; both Medisa and Antinna had teased him about it more than once.
This truly was a failure of leadership, leading to reckless behavior among his retainers.
Thinking about this made him shake his head. As he walked out of the hall’s archway, he suddenly frowned at the aroma of roasted meat. He stopped and turned back, asking, “What’s that smell?”
The faces of several of Charles’ apprentices changed, and they began to stammer.
“Charles didn’t teach you the silence spell, did he?” Brendel guessed already, unable to suppress his irritation.
As expected, just as he finished speaking, one girl with a round face and cute freckles—reportedly the daughter of the silver guild’s president—whitened in fear. Stuttering, she replied, “L-lord Earl, it’s Mr. Shi Ta who won’t let us speak.”
Just as he thought, Brendel shook his head. Even Alorze was caught; yet, this guy still roamed free. However, this was a good thing for him, for Shi Ta had a contract with him. No matter how absurd that contract was, if Shi Ta were truly captured and returned to the dragon race, then he would suffer a great loss.
He waved his hand, signaling the girls not to worry, then turned and followed the aroma of the charcoal-infused meat, unsure of what the guy was cooking. He could only hope he didn’t set the castle on fire. Last time this guy secretly barbecued meat at the lumberyard, it resulted in half of it burning down, costing Little Romain a hefty sum, while Merchant Miss herself was fine, but the steward Antinna had been restless for several days.
He rounded a vine-covered corner of the castle and indeed found Shi Ta squatting behind a patch of grapevines, sneakily tending to a campfire. On the fire, there was an iron rack holding several almost fully roasted prawns. This glutton was applying seasonings to them with various jars and bottles, no doubt having stolen them from the kitchen. Despite lacking combat strength, this guy had an exceptional knack for sneaking around, perhaps even outshining the nightingale masters among the half-elves.
Just think about it; how could someone steal over ten carts right under Veronika and Mephistopheles’ noses and not be an extraordinary character?
Brendel approached and patted Shi Ta on the shoulder, startling the little dragon. He turned around, his round face covered in soot, and it was hard to imagine this face belonged to a dragon, as it looked just like those mischievous children. Upon seeing Brendel, Shi Ta turned pale and hurriedly said, “I didn’t chop the grapevines for firewood; I didn’t steal these from the kitchen; they were lent to me!”
“Very good,” Brendel scoffed. The flower garden left by Grudin was now Antinna’s treasure. Although he had never seen the noble lady lose her temper, he understood that the calmer someone appeared, the scarier they could be when angry. He couldn’t help but admirefully pat Shi Ta’s shoulder again, “You’re quite brave, Shi Ta. Do you know that it is Miss Antinna who’s in charge of daily living arrangements in Firburh?”
“What’s that got to do with anything?” Shi Ta blinked, caught off-guard by Brendel’s nonchalant tone, and suddenly felt braver.
“Nothing much,” Brendel chuckled, “For instance, if the kitchen didn’t prepare one dinner or one meal, it’s actually understandable since there are too many people, and occasional oversights can happen. Even if it happened for three or four consecutive days, it wouldn’t be a big deal.”
Shi Ta’s mouth dropped open, and his expression shifted. The little chubby dragon stared at Brendel with wide eyes, his face alternating between red and white, and beads of sweat glistening on his forehead, as if he had never seen the darker side of society before.
“In fact, this isn’t the worst situation; it’s said that someone accidentally ate something poisonous and died. You know the Black Forest is nearby; the castle’s storeroom has all kinds of materials, and some are particularly effective against dragons.”
Shi Ta nearly cried from fright. This little chubby dragon suddenly felt this was entirely possible. In his eyes, that lady assistant seemed gloomy and indifferent to everyone; she might have already found him very intolerable, wanting to eliminate him. He trembled, very reluctantly lifting a roasted prawn off the charcoal.
With snot and tears, he pleaded with Brendel, “Lord, please don’t expose me. I’ll treat you to prawns; if you eat them, we’ll be in the same boat!”
“Hey, if you’re dragging me down with you, don’t make it so obvious,” Brendel thought grumpily. However, seeing the mustard-smeared prawns in that little dragon’s greasy paws made him feel reminiscent. He couldn’t help but ask, “Where did you get these prawns?”
“The kitchen.”
“That’s not right; your first statement can’t be the truth.” Brendel analyzed with experience. “Have you been to Himelam’s room?”
The little chubby dragon’s eyes darted around, shaking his head like a rattle drum.
Brendel’s angry expression turned into a chuckle. The prawns in Himelam’s room were the prized possession of that priestess maiden, even though he didn’t understand why she liked raising prawns so much, but watching her cautiously carry the water tank every day for changing the water indicated just how important they were to her. Now, those prawns had turned into Shi Ta’s meal, utterly eliminating the need for Himelam to change the water every morning.
However, someone or some dragon would have to pay dearly for this.
He looked at Shi Ta with pity, then turned to leave. No kidding, who knows what kind of trouble would arise if he stayed with this disaster any longer. But unexpectedly, Shi Ta seemed very perceptive, as if he’d caught a whiff of his irreversibly tragic fate from Brendel’s expression. He hastily wrapped all the prawns in oiled paper and chased after him, not saying a word, as if he were determined to follow Brendel to the ends of the earth.
“What are you doing?” Brendel asked in annoyance.
Shi Ta popped a roasted prawn into his mouth, sucking his chubby fingers with gusto, and replied in a muffled voice, “Lord, you’re going out, right?”
“You’re quite clever,” Brendel sneered. “You know it’s time to escape?”
“No, my lord, I signed a contract with you, didn’t I? Now I have to fulfill the contract and protect your safety.” Shi Ta thoughtfully chewed on his greasy lips, “It’s very dangerous outside the castle.”
“Dangerous my foot!” Brendel thought. Sure, things outside had indeed been quite unsafe six months ago, but now the safety in Toniger could be said to be unsurpassed in the southern lands. There were patrolling knights on the main roads and troglodytes in the forest, leaving no room for monsters or robbers. Besides, how could most monsters and robbers possibly compete with him? This dragon was clearly making a mountain out of a molehill.
Yet he could be bothered. The two walked one behind the other toward the stables. As they passed by the patch of low roses maintained by Madame Camille, Brendel suddenly turned back and casually asked, “By the way, why didn’t the dragon race send someone to capture you and take you back?”
He had initially thought this question would make Shi Ta smug since even Alorze couldn’t escape, and yet he could continue to roam free. It seemed a rather impressive situation. Without the restraint of the young female dragon, he clearly could act even bolder. However, to Brendel’s surprise, Shi Ta blinked with a somewhat dispirited expression.
“What’s wrong?” Brendel raised an eyebrow.
“It’s because Alorze was willing to return with them. Actually, we rarely attack each other. If she wishes to stay here wholeheartedly, they wouldn’t force her,” Shi Ta replied nonchalantly. “But Alorze still acknowledges that she is one of them, so she must obey this rule.”
Brendel sharply caught the key point in this remark: “You wouldn’t be completely exiled from the dragon race, would you?”
“Hmph, what good is staying there? All they do is collect some nonsensical items,” Shi Ta replied somewhat proudly. “They don’t understand that food is the most important thing in this world. Collecting food is a creature’s instinct. No matter how precious gold, silver, or jewels are, you still need food to fill your belly.”
“Wow, that’s a pretty simplistic theory.” Brendel couldn’t help but laugh as he watched the little chubby dragon clearly reluctant but trying to act disinterested. “But for dragons, being obsessed with collecting food is indeed a bit… ahem, overly strange. In our legends, dragons should be standing proudly on mounds of treasure, breathing fire to incinerate any adventurers who attempt to covet their treasures. In our impression, dragons are beings associated with both beauty and danger.”
“But if the legend describes dragons lying on a mountain of rice, just imagine it; the spectacle would be greatly diminished.”
“That’s prejudice!” Shi Ta couldn’t help but stomp his feet.
