Episode 112: What Are We Making This Time? (3)
Alfoy participated in the large-scale construction happening in the territory every day.
With his magic power always running low and no time to recharge, fatigue piled up, making the bags under his eyes more pronounced.
But no matter how tough it was, he couldn’t stop.
If he was caught slacking off, who knew what kind of trouble he’d be in?
“What is this? You should give us reasonable work! This is too much!”
“Assigning us mages from the proud Tower of the Bloody Flame such trivial tasks! I didn’t come here to do this nonsense!”
The newly assigned mages shot complaints at Alfoy every day.
But no matter how much they protested, Alfoy just shook his head with a dying expression.
“Milord… I mean, since it’s the Lord’s orders, I have to do it…”
“That’s a cowardly excuse!”
The new mages couldn’t understand it at all.
Why had Alfoy, who was always overflowing with confidence as the heir to the Mage Tower, changed like this?
It wasn’t just Alfoy, either. The other mages were also silent, working away.
What on earth had happened?
“Speak up! Why are you so willingly doing this menial work!”
“Well… because it’s fun…”
“It’s fun, yet you’re crying?!”
“It’s so fun that I want to cry…”
“That makes no sense!”
Unable to contain their frustration, the new mages rebelled.
They had been told to follow the Lord’s words back at the tower, and even the branch leader had been working hard to set an example for a few days, but…
They couldn’t be used like this any longer.
It wasn’t just about pride.
The more they saw the state of the mages who had been there longer, the more ominous feelings crept in.
One and all had dark circles under their eyes, and they looked utterly disheveled, having been stuck at the construction site.
There was no way to think of them as the tidy and graceful mages they once were.
“Let’s go together!”
“Where to?”
“To confront the Lord about this! If he refuses, we’ll just return to the tower! Branch Leader, you should come too! Let’s talk some sense into him!”
“I don’t know… what’s that… I’m scared…”
“Yikes!”
The mages gnashed their teeth at Alfoy’s passive response.
At this rate, it’d be embarrassing to even call himself the heir of the tower.
“How pathetic. We will no longer recognize you as the heir of the tower!”
“I will definitely discuss this with the tower master!”
“Let’s go see the Lord ourselves!”
With a huff, the mages left their seats.
It seemed they were determined to either threaten the Lord to quit this or leave this place altogether.
Even as they faced severe insults, Alfoy could only stare blankly at them.
Despite being insulted, Alfoy merely stared at them with a blank expression.
However, once the Mages were completely out of sight, the gaze between Alfoy and the remaining Mages changed.
“Hehe, what a bunch of fools.”
They stifled their laughter, worried the departed might hear them and turn back.
It would be a shame if their acting efforts went to waste.
“I can’t be the only one to die.”
“Let’s see them try.”
With the mindset that they couldn’t be the only slaves, they had endured all the humiliations.
“Hehe, do they even know how terrifying the Lord is? They’ve really gotten themselves into trouble now.”
“How rude of them to act so tough here.”
“Oh, I was so anxious! Let’s pass all the work to those fools when we get the contract.”
“Yeah, they need to realize how we’ve been suffering.”
“Seriously, it seems like you only come to your senses after getting beaten up.”
The last hope, the Elder, had also left.
Since escape was not an option, it was better to at least increase their numbers. That way, they might get some sleep.
The Mages were now quickening their schemes.
As expected, Ghislaine was looking down with a sour expression at the protesting Mages.
“We can’t do this anymore!”
“Please treat us properly! Otherwise, we’ll go back to the Mage Tower!”
Ghislaine, stroking his chin, narrowed his eyes and asked, “Did I not tell Alfoy to manage things well…? Did Alfoy not try to stop you?”
“Stop me? He flat-out refused even when I asked him to come along. That guy has become a total idiot, just drooling and sitting there blankly! He’s turned pathetic just sitting around doing construction every day!”
This made Ghislaine clutch his forehead and chuckle.
“Ha, I can’t believe he’s not a Mage, look at how he’s scheming. What a funny guy.”
“Hey! My Lord! Doesn’t what we say make sense?”
The Mages, not understanding why Ghislaine was laughing, felt even more enraged, thinking he was mocking them.
“Ah, don’t get too worked up. So, if you’re going to keep throwing us into construction, you’d rather just go back, right?”
“Exactly!”
“Didn’t you hear from the Tower Master? We were told to cooperate with all matters of the territory. I’m sure they mentioned construction too?”
“Who in their right mind would push Mages onto a construction site? No noble would dare do that!”
“Even if it was an agreement I discussed thoroughly with the Tower Master? This is a breach of contract. I’ve been supplying a massive amount of Runestones. You all benefit from that.”
“We get that! But isn’t this going a bit too far? Even a Lord can’t force us to work like this! From now on, we’ll only focus on territory defense and research.”
Faced with twenty stiff-necked Mages, Ghislaine paused for a moment to think.
It seemed like they didn’t grasp the importance of the contract.
If he just sent them back, they would end up facing serious punishment from the Tower Master. It was a breach of contract after all.
“Ugh, did the Tower Master explain things too loosely? Mages and their pride are truly a headache.”
Sending them back to be retrained would get them back to their senses, but that would waste too much time.
With so much to do, delaying the plan by removing a Mage wasn’t appealing.
“Hmm, what to do?”
It was clear that Alfoy’s intention in sending the Mages to Ghislaine was obvious, but forcibly enslaving them wasn’t exactly enticing.
That wasn’t particularly appealing.
It wasn’t something for a non-violent pacifist to do.
But I didn’t have time to place bets like before.
“Huff. It hurts my heart, but I have no choice since there’s no time.”
“What on earth are you talking about?”
“Ah, just wait a moment.”
Ghislaine gestured for the mages to calm down and shouted towards the door.
“Hey, if anyone has a club, bring me one.”
Soon, the door opened and a soldier entered, beautifully crafted club in hand.
You could feel the artisan’s breath in every grain of the wood.
Seeing Ghislaine turning the club this way and that, the mages crumpled their faces and shouted.
“What are you doing right now? Isn’t this too rude?”
“Rude? I don’t know who’s being rude. Anyway, what’s important right now isn’t that. How about we make a bet?”
“What?”
“Attack me at the same time. If you manage to hurt me even a little, I’ll grant you whatever you wish. But if you lose, you’ll have to sign a contract.”
“What do you mean?”
“Ugh, I don’t want to drag this out. Let’s hurry up. If you even leave a little scratch, I’ll make life easy for you from then on. I’ll give you as many runestones as you want, and for those who want to, I’ll send you straight back to the Mage Tower.”
At that, the mages’ eyes sparkled.
They might be no better than level 3 circle wizards at best, but there were twenty of them.
No matter how low the circle, with that many, they could crush any knight in an instant.
“You’ll regret those words.”
The mages all simultaneously gathered their magic power.
Ghislaine had already built up quite a lot recently, so she couldn’t refuse such an opportunity.
As twenty mages summoned their magic, the items around them began to shake.
But Ghislaine just smiled at the sight.
“Oh, I was trying not to increase the number of slaves any further. I genuinely want to live a good life, but the world just won’t help.”
Cutting through the flow of magic emitted by the mages, Ghislaine’s club moved gracefully.
That day, twenty new slaves were added to the territory.
*
It had been a few days since twenty-six crying mages had been dedicated to construction.
Claude came to report to Ghislaine.
“The herbs you ordered have all arrived. The tools are also ready.”
“Good, let’s start right away.”
“What on earth are you planning to make? Is it some specialty… like a herb that holds mana like wheat?”
Claude asked genuinely curious.
Having looked through the blueprint Ghislaine gave him, it seemed like an odd combination that should only be used by alchemists to boil, break down, mix, and melt something.
“It’s something the nobles would like. If I told you in advance, it would be no fun, so just wait in anticipation.”
‘Oh… should I believe this or not.’
Claude felt a strong urge to say something snarky but held back.
It hadn’t been long since Ghislaine had put him through the wringer. Right now, he had to lay low and observe her patterns.
‘Statistically, a person can’t succeed every time. I should watch the progress a little longer and get ready to make my next bet.’
It was a common delusion among gambling addicts.
They believed that since they succeeded last time, the chances of failing this time were higher.
Even the top of the academy could fall into that trap.
Claude eagerly thought about making another bet to get his slave contract freed, grinning at himself.
Ghislaine, casting him a look of disdain, clicked her tongue and immediately moved to another spot.
With a click of his tongue, he immediately moved to a different spot.
The area labeled ‘Herb Development Room’ was grand in name but lacked substance.
On one side, herbs were piled high, and on the other side, tools designed by Ghislaine were arranged.
“Isn’t this just like a alchemist’s workshop?”
Ghislaine marveled as he surveyed the development room.
In fact, what he was trying to create was a product developed by mages and alchemists working together in the future, so calling it an alchemist’s workshop wasn’t entirely inaccurate.
“Bring the mages here.”
The suddenly summoned mages began inscribing magic circles onto the tools at Ghislaine’s command.
Alfoy, whose complexion had turned a shade darker, clenched his mouth tightly as he drew the magic circles.
He noticed that some magic circles were meant to extract the effects of herbs or remove impurities, but beyond that, he couldn’t figure anything out.
‘Anyway, if I ask, they’ll probably just spout nonsense again.’
He was curious about where they would use the inscribed instruments but held back his curiosity.
‘I’m definitely not going to ask. Just wait, I really won’t ask. Asking would only be my loss.’
The relatively easy-to-draw magic circles were completed in just one day.
Curiosity is the instinct of mages.
Just when Alfoy, who had consumed a considerable amount of magic power and was about to leave in exhaustion, couldn’t hold back anymore.
“What is this? What are you making?”
“A mind-blowingly profitable item. Wanna guess? Get it right, and you win freedom; get it wrong, and it’s an extra 10 years….”
“Forget it! I’m not playing that game!”
Alfoy huffed and left, muttering curses under his breath.
“Seems like the shock of losing his first gamble is quite severe. To refuse so decisively like that.”
Ghislaine clicked his tongue, half admiring and half disappointed, and called over the laborers to get to work.
Some sorted herbs, others boiled water, and some managed the fire.
The laborers repeated the tasks assigned to them, clueless about what they were actually doing.
“What’s the lord making this time?”
“Maybe something like a potion.”
“Who knows? We just do what we’re told. It must be good for our health, right?”
Days passed, and eventually, thick black liquid flowed from the tool at the very end.
Ghislaine dipped a finger into the liquid, smelled it, and frowned.
“This isn’t the right color. Something must be off. It smells awful.”
The desired result didn’t come out on the first try.
Implementing a complex process with only the knowledge he had acquired in his previous life was bound to have mistakes.
However, Ghislaine wasn’t overly worried.
It should be easier than creating something completely new from nothing.
He had a firm grasp of the big picture, and tweaking the details wouldn’t be that difficult.
Over the next few days, Ghislaine, recalling his memories, gradually adjusted the herbal ratios and reaction times while tweaking the magic circles.
After several experiments, he finally achieved the desired result.
“Wow, perfect! Yes, this is it.”
Seeing the pure white extract, Ghislaine smiled contentedly.
Not only was he happy that the product was complete, but there was something even better.
In his previous life, this product had been the main source of income for Duke Delphine.
Thinking of those who were likely hard at work developing this product somewhere, Ghislaine chuckled.
“Let’s see how well you do, you bastards. It’s already too late anyway.”
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