Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 299 - 298: Attraction

After a moment of hesitation, Santis finally understood what the other person meant by ”friends like you”.

He looked into Kamel’s eyes (or at least at the position where his eyes would be): ”Are you referring to Mages of common birth, not under the control of traditional Mage circles or aristocratic families, free to join Cecil and possessing a certain base of knowledge?”

Kamel nodded slightly: ”The territory still lacks enough scholars—although we’ve recruited a group of down-and-out scholars and Mages from nearby areas, it’s far from enough, both in quality and in quantity. I once talked to Jenni, and I know her background is somewhat...special, so she doesn’t have many connections in the royal capital, but you’re different, Mr. Santis. Even though you’re of common birth, at least...you’re an orthodox Spellcaster who has received a complete education.”

An orthodox Mage from the royal capital, no matter how badly off, is fundamentally different from someone of slave origin like Jenni—Santis’s ”class” inevitably means he would have his own Mage social circle, with other Spellcasters with whom he could converse as equals.

If Jenni back then could only be confined in a Mage tower with limited interactions with other slaves, Santis at least was free.

”I...do know some royal capital Mages,” Santis hesitated as he began to speak, ”but those who associate with me are mostly also down-and-out individuals, ostracized by the mainstream Mage circles in the royal capital for various reasons...”

”That might actually meet my requirements—and the leader’s as well,” Kamel said, ”You’re teaching rune logic and fundamental magic courses, so you should understand that what’s developing on this land is a brand-new magic technical route. In this special field, traditional Mage rankings don’t mean much. What we truly value is the researcher’s attitude toward exploring the unknown, the ability to accept new things, and the most basic mathematical and logical talent. I think there should be no shortage of such people among your friends.”

Santis thought for a moment and slowly nodded: ”I can give it a try.”

”Good. But I’d like to add one more thing—often, ’being shunned by the mainstream field’ doesn’t equate to ’having outstanding talent.’ Most of the time, someone is shunned simply because they’re genuinely foolish, yet such individuals often use ’my talent is beyond understanding’ to numb themselves. I hope my frankness doesn’t hurt your feelings—but I also hope not to cause trouble for the leader. I’ve seen too many self-proclaimed brilliant people, and they’re always difficult to deal with.”

Santis couldn’t help but laugh, appearing not at all offended: ”Of course, you’re absolutely right. I’ve also seen many people like that—in the royal capital, down-and-out Mages always form small and large circles, just like the aristocratic Mages from high society holding gatherings. In these ’bottom-level Mystic Associations,’ there are often many who complain about their talents not being recognized, though only a small portion really have unrecognized talents, while the rest truly know nothing. I’ve mingled in these circles for many years and naturally learned to discern them.”

”That’s good to hear,” Kamel felt relieved, ”Then let’s go find the leader—this matter should be brought to his attention.”

Gawain stood before the map of the Cecil territory and its surrounding areas, gazing at the winding mountains, plains, and forest lines, lost in thought.

This map was hand-drawn by him, and while ensuring clarity and ease of understanding, it attempted to restore all the details of a satellite view, marking the various mineral resource points discovered along the way by the pioneer legion seven hundred years ago. He still remembered events in the study while he was engrossed in creating the map—Aunt Heidi was utterly shocked, Amber exclaimed that the old man must have prepared the map in advance and just pretended to draw it to scare them, and Rebecca got a knock on the head from Aunt Heidi for agreeing with Amber. But as Gawain came up with more and more new things, and he himself remained the most inexplicable ”Resurrected,” the impact of this incredible map gradually waned.

Gawain believed that as the drawing techniques he developed were taught to others, the astonishment over this High-precision Satellite Map (Hand-drawn Edition) would decrease.

Amber stood beside him, her eyes also fixed on the map, following his gaze, but she had no clue what Gawain was looking at. After a long time of staring, she couldn’t help but ask: ”Hey, Gawain, what are you looking at?”

Gawain raised a hand and pointed at a position on the map above: ”That’s Kant.”

Then his hand moved down and circled a large area: ”Here is the Northern Wasteland, then the northern banks Development Zone, White River, the Cecil territory... the Mining Town is over here, and to this side is the western logging village and the newly established ’Frost Wood Village’... Finally, these are plots to be cultivated next spring in the Southeast and Southwest. Currently, Cecil’s influence covers this whole area.”

Amber stared at Gawain: ”You’ve already included Kant!”

Gawain didn’t respond to Amber but continued as if talking to himself: ”Currently, the main town of Cecil has a population of fifteen thousand, including a large number of craftsmen and residents who migrated from Kant before winter, as well as the serfs purchased from places like Leslie and the last batch of refugees. But in Kant, due to the imperfect administrative setup, the population count wasn’t completed before winter, so it’s unclear how many people are there...”

Gawain wasn’t certain how many people a viscount or an earl would govern in medieval Europe on planet Earth, but he knew that in this world, thanks to the naturally stronger human physique, along with fertility theurgies and Druid spells ensuring basic food production, even though the lower-class citizens lived extremely impoverished lives, their numbers were still considerable. Even in this long-neglected southern region, a large population was scattered across the land.

However, these people still couldn’t be considered citizens of Cecil, even though Kant, which had effectively become a satellite town of Cecil, was still legally independent.

Amber continued to stare at Gawain as he sternly analyzed the state of the territory, spending quite a while not understanding what exactly the man in front of her was talking about: ”So, what? Do you think the population is still not enough? Let me tell you, a city of ten thousand is already quite terrifying! You...”

Gawain suddenly interrupted Amber: ”Do you think this area is still rather small?”

Amber took two seconds to react, and her ears began to perk up slowly: ”...You’re finally thinking of fighting, are you? Think it over, if you really take back the land, the whole southern land would be...”

”I don’t have such plans for now,” Gawain glanced at the half-elf, ”I just feel that the strategic depth is still too small, and the potential population is still far from enough...”

Amber looked puzzled: ”Strategic depth? What’s that?”

Gawain thought for a moment and shook his head: ”Forget it, you wouldn’t understand even if I explained.”

Amber’s eyes widened, ready to retort, but before she could, Betty’s crisp voice came from outside the study: ”Master! Master Kamel and Mr. Santis are here to see you!”

”Oh?” Gawain was a bit surprised that these two seemingly unrelated individuals would come to see him together. He walked over to his desk, ”Let them in.”

Amber pouted, dutifully standing by Gawain’s side, and a few seconds later, the door to the study opened, and Kamel and Santis walked in.

A few minutes later, after hearing what they had to say, Gawain couldn’t help but show an interested expression: ”You plan to recruit some talent from the royal capital’s Mage community using Santis’s network?”

”My lord, I wouldn’t really call it a network,” Santis said a bit nervously, ”Those gatherings of archMages are what you’d call a network. Who I know... it’s mostly just some downtrodden minor Mages who gather in private, and I don’t even know that many...”

Gawain waved his hand: ”That’s fine. As I just said, our original target wasn’t those archMages, as long as they are intellectuals, that’s enough. But to be honest, I had considered the prospect of recruiting talent from the prosperous parts of the kingdoms before, including the royal capital’s Mage community.”

Kamel: ”You tried recruiting there? Without success?”

Gawain nodded: ”That’s right. Although I didn’t use Santis’s connections back then, I did offer a high reward. But nearly a year has passed, and no one has shown interest in the recruitment to Cecil—I’m sure you understand why.”

”Frontier lands, desolate and bitter cold, next to the Gondor wasteland. No one would see much of a future in being a ’magic consultant’ here,” Santis quickly grasped the reason, his voice turning bitter, ”The people in the royal capital don’t know the true conditions here; they only judge by imagination. To them, Cecil has no allure, no matter how high the pay. Mages in the capital won’t easily leave the kingdom’s center... after all, for most Mages, the capital means a hub of knowledge and a path for advancement. Even if they are in dire straits, they are unwilling to leave.”

The prestige of a founding hero is high, but Mages are a pragmatic bunch. They don’t see any hope in going to the southern borders, so the renown of a founding hero isn’t compelling enough—although Gawain also offered a generous price, he wasn’t lavish enough to ignore cost entirely.

”Mr. Santis, do you think with your influence, you can persuade your friends to leave such a ’magic center’ as the royal capital and come to Cecil to be pioneers?”

Santis hesitated immediately, subconsciously fiddling with the buttons on his chest: ”I...”

He wanted to confidently say he could, but as soon as he imagined it, he realized he didn’t have the confidence.

Leaving the royal capital isn’t that easy. Even if he personally persuaded his friends, with his ”reputation” in the capital’s Mage community, he probably couldn’t convince anyone.

He didn’t have friendships deep enough to join him in pioneering with just a few words—if he did, he wouldn’t have been sidelined by the capital’s Mage community and sent to the southern borders’ aid team.

The young Arcanist’s face dimmed, and the courage and enthusiasm he had just managed to muster took a huge blow. But at that moment, Kamel suddenly spoke: ”Leader, Cecil doesn’t attract those royal capital mages, so they are unwilling to come, right?”

”That’s right,” Gawain nodded, ”To recruit talent in, Cecil needs enough allure.”

”We do have enough allure,” Kamel stated categorically.

Gawain raised an eyebrow: ”Oh? Let’s hear it.”

”Me,” Kamel spread his hands, bright arcane arcs dancing around him, his voice humming, ”Would an ancient Master Mage from Gondor be enough to attract them? Would personal guidance from a thousand-year-old archMage be enough to attract them? Would ancient magic skills, long lost, be enough to attract them? I don’t believe that the mages, a thousand years down the line, have fallen so much that they lack thirst for magic!”

All three—Santis, Gawain, and Amber—felt a light bloom before their eyes. Gawain let a barely noticeable smile cross his face and leaned forward slightly: ”And what if those who come for ancient techniques find that things are not as they imagined? Many of your ancient spells are unusable in this era.”

”Then let them walk back!”