Chapter 56 - Household Magician
After Zwei sent the arrogant guard flying into the air and falling into the castle moat, the other guards either went to fish out the unlucky bastard or ran into the castle. Of course, the majority of them still nervously confronted Zwei.
At this time, every one of the guards was inwardly cursing their squad leader: If a magician wishes to meet the lord, whether he gets his request fulfilled is up to the lord to decide! Why did you have to join in on the fun?! A magician reject? Would someone who ignores antimagic armor be a magician reject? Moreover, the magician in question even instantaneously launched his spell!
However, regardless of their complaints, since a grudge had already been formed, they couldn't simply let this magician freely enter the castle, no matter how fearful they were. If they did, they would basically be sullying the reputation of both Horador City and Lord Skange.
If they offended a magician, the most they would suffer was death (unless, of course, the other party was a necromancer). Their families would even receive a pension for their deaths. However, if they offended the lord, both themselves and their families would no longer have a good life in the Noeg Region.
Since someone had already gone to report his arrival, Zwei didn't intend to continue embarrassing these pitiful soldiers. He simply stood quietly by the gate together with Tio and Alyssa as he waited for news to return.
After a while, however, Zwei suddenly frowned.
An Intermediate Magician is approaching this place… Zwei was certain of this because the other party did not bother constraining the mana fluctuations from their body. On the contrary, they were even doing their best to show off like a peacock in heat.
That's probably the lord's household magician.
In reality, the Skange family was quite pitiful. Generally speaking, the lords of territories as large as the Noeg Region would mainly have Advanced Magicians as their household magicians. However, as luck would have it, the Noeg Region just so happened to be the frontier separating the humans and the beastmen. Whenever those green bastards decided to play tourist, the Noeg Region was the first to suffer.
If the Noeg Region fell, the beastmen would then have free access to the Southeastern Plains' central region. History had proven this point to be true. In fact, an invasion decades ago had even led to the creation of the Pan-Human Alliance.
Back then, after the humans had mustered all their forces to drive the beastmen back to the Southern Hills, the Huolian Empire had trained a super-elite unit and stationed it in the Noeg Region. This was the origin of the Border Guard Corps.
Aside from special troop deployments, the members of this army corps consisted mainly of the Noeg Region's young and middle-aged adults. Given that the safety of humanity was paramount, almost all men suitable to become soldiers in the Noeg Region had been recruited into the Border Guard Corps. As for the troops working directly under the Noeg Region's lord, they were basically the dregs of the Border Guard Corps. Even the so-called elites of the lord's troops were average at best.
According to a rumor from an unknown source, the lord's 5,000 troops couldn't handle even a 1,000-man logistics unit of the Border Guard Corps. While this rumor was slightly exaggerated, it also clearly pointed out how weak the lord's troops were.
Moreover, this wasn't limited to just soldiers but applied to magicians as well. Advanced Magicians from the Noeg Region would either head to some famous magic academy to become deans or professors or get assigned by the Seven Luminaries Mage Association to join the Border Guard Corps. Hence, the lord's household magicians were only at the Intermediate rank.
Despite this being the case, not just anyone could become a household magician of the lord. After all, even if a high-ranking magician were willing to work for the lord, the lord wouldn't necessarily be willing to entrust his life and safety to an unreliable fellow. Hence, the approaching Intermediate Magician had to have a reason for blatantly flaunting his power.
Shortly afterward, Zwei saw the Intermediate Magician in question walking out of a passageway.
The other party looked to be a man in his 50s. However, as magicians were constantly exposed to magical elementals, they generally looked much younger than they actually were. Hence, the approaching magician's real age should be in the 60s or 70s. The other party's slicked-back green hair inadvertently reminded Zwei of the green tortoise he had raised in the past. The Intermediate Magician also had a goatee that curled up at the ends, giving him a shrewd and cunning look.
Is he flaunting his mana fluctuations because of his confidence in his own strength, or is he an itinerant magician with some sort of special magic? Or maybe he managed to tell that I'm a Basic Magician, so he's deliberately flaunting his rank to scare me?
Zwei quickly denied his third conjecture.
Although the Magic Academy System often cheated him, the items it produced were genuinely good. Since his Apprentice Cloak's description stated that only Advanced Magicians and above could see his strength, then even an Intermediate Magician at the cusp of reaching the Advanced Magician rank wouldn't be able to. Not to mention, this green-haired magician was, at most, a practiced Intermediate Magician!
The green-haired magician also noticed Zwei. Uncertainty flashed across his face when he failed to detect Zwei's exact strength. However, when he saw how young Zwei looked, he immediately put on the appearance of an "arrogant senior."
Talent was very important in magic, but that kind of importance generally applied to the breakthrough of realms and the learning of new magic. In comparison, improving one's mana pool and tempering one's mana were time-consuming processes. Meanwhile, Zwei seemed to be only in his 20s. Even if he started increasing and tempering his mana in his mother's womb, he would, at most, be a Basic Magician at his age.
Well, from the standpoint of rank, Zwei really did give him a surprise.
After making sense of this point, the green-haired magician stroked his goatee while asking arrogantly, "So, you're the magician who wants to meet with the lord?"
Although the other party's arrogant tone made Zwei very uncomfortable, he wasn't traveling alone right now. He couldn't just pack up and leave after causing a scene.
Hence, Zwei endured his discomfort and nodded. "I'm Zwei Aldric. I have come here this time to—"
"No need to say it!" The green-haired magician waved his hand, rudely interrupting Zwei. "The lord will not see you."
"Oh?" Zwei was finally pissed off by the other party's behavior. He replaced the welcoming smile he had before with a sneer and demanded, "What if this person is here as well?"
Zwei then stepped aside and revealed Tio, whom he had been shielding ever since.
"Get lo— Young Miss?!" As if he had just seen a ghost, the green-haired magician paled with fright, so shocked that he even pulled out a few strands of hair from his carefully maintained goatee.
However, Tio didn't seem to be very close to the other party. Despite seeing the green-haired magician, she promptly hid behind Zwei once more.
Meanwhile, when the green-haired magician looked at the sneer on Zwei's face, his face wrinkled slightly before he conceded reluctantly, "Fine, you can come in first."