Chapter 211 (2/2)

Building their own large-scale Mage Tower was any Magician’s loftiest dreams!

“Don’t worry, Master Magician Link,” said the apprentice, “I will bring this news back to the academy immediately.”

“Good,” replied Link. “Here’s your reward.” Link then handed over a coin pouch to the apprentice.

The apprentice knew the moment he took the pouch that there were at least 20 gold coins in it. That was more than what he got for working hard in the Mage Tower for a month! He thanked Link with the gladdest heart and rushed back to the East Cove Academy immediately.

“Tell Magician Carrido that I’d like to see him,” Link ordered a guard nearby.

“Yes, my lord,” said the guard. He then swiftly turned around and rushed to get the Magician.

Soon, Carrido arrived.

“This is the Plowing Magic Puppet,” Link told Carrido while pointing towards the magic puppet. “It can plow as deep as five feet into the ground, and its operation is very simple. Take it to the flat plain in the southern part of Scorched Ridge and test how efficient it is.”

“Yes, my lord,” answered Carrido. He circled around the magic puppet once to understand the general operation of the magic puppet. Then, he activated it and brought it away.

Only then was Link free enough to talk to Eliard, who was waiting for him at the side.

“I’m sorry for making you wait,” he said. “Let’s go inside.”

“Not a problem at all, Link,” replied Eliard. “You’ve always been busy even when you’re in the academy. I’m used to it.”

The two then chatted freely as they walk into the wooden cabin. Suddenly, Eliard noticed a dark-haired woman with a fascinating air about her walking out of the cabin.

“Who’s that woman?” he asked, slightly surprised.

Celine stayed here on the pretense of being Link’s apprentice. Still, her unique aura and temperament naturally set her apart from other people, so she was apt to be noticed as soon as she appeared.

Noticing that Celine was wearing her camouflage pendant, Link didn’t need to worry that Eliard might notice anything odd about Celine.

“Her name is Celine Flandre,” said Link with a smile. “She’s a…good friend of mine, and she’s staying here to learn magic with me.”

“A good…friend of yours?” said Eliard confusedly. He then noticed the twinkle in Link’s eyes and was even more surprised. He’d always thought that his friend had no interest in women. It turned out that he’d just never met the right person after all!

“Ah, I get it now, Link” he answered with a good-humored laugh. He said nothing more about the matter and continued to talk to Link about magic as they usually did.

Once they’d gotten inside the cabin, Eliard took out his own magic notebook and consulted with Link about the questions and problems that he encountered recently. Link gave his answers and guidance clearly as he always did, and Eliard reaped many benefits from their discussion.

Time flew by quickly, and the two Magicians slowly changed the subject of their discussion from magic to the war in the North of Norton Kingdom. Link didn’t know as much as Eliard on this subject, so he was basically just listening while Eliard was the one talking most of the time.

“Ah, it seems that the war has gotten into a deadlock,” said Eliard.

“What do you mean?” asked Link intently. He’d been busy all this while with his own affairs that he was relatively clueless about what was happening in the North.

Eliard gulped and let out a long sigh before answering. He looked more than a little worried about the war.

“Two big battles happened recently, and they were both violent and terrible,” Eliard began. “It is said that 20,000 Warriors had died in those battles. Even some of the Battle Mages had suffered great injuries—many had even lost their limbs. Some of them returned to the academy, and I went to visit them. Many of them lost their legs and arms, and one of them got his chin cut off! They said it was because the Dark Elf Assassins were trying to slash the Magician’s throat, but he was fortunate enough to lower his head in time and escaped with his life…How brutal!”

Eliard shook his head again and again, his face full of sympathy and regret.

Because of his outstanding magical talents, Eliard was relieved of his military service and was able to concentrate on learning magic in the academy. Although he was grateful for this, he couldn’t help but feel guilty that he was hiding in safety while the kingdom was at war. To combat that feeling, he dove into his studies even more obsessively so as to relieve that guilt.

“With 20,000 Warriors dead and even more wounded,” said Link with a deep frown, “doesn’t that mean that the kingdom is losing the war?”

“Not exactly,” replied Eliard. “It’s more of a mutual defeat. The Dark Elves have suffered serious losses as well, but their resistance had gotten much more intense than before now. Every battle was fought fiercely and harshly that countless lives were lost and even more blood was shed with every mile that we advance to the North.”

After that, the two friends fell into deep silence for a while.

“Maybe the king has gone too far,” said Link finally. “The best thing to do now would be to stabilize and strengthen the line of defense. We shouldn’t advance north anymore.”

“While that is true,” said Eliard with a bitter smile, “now that blood has been shed, everyone has one thing in mind, and that is to kill. The ball has started rolling, and it’s very hard to stop it. I heard that the army is obsessed with the thought of chasing the Dark Elves back into the dark underground where they came from. Any suggestions of stopping would be instantly silenced.”

After speaking, Eliard seemed to sink into deeper misery.

“You haven’t seen how things are in Springs City recently, Link,” he said. “When I was there, I saw how the townspeople had been spurred by the victories in previous battles that they were stunned by recent setbacks. Now all they wanted was revenge. To be honest with you, Link, I’m really scared…”

The people had been blinded by rage and wanted nothing but to shed more blood now. That’s the scariest thing that could happen when a kingdom went to war.

Once the people wanted nothing but to bleed the enemy, things could get to the point where they’d fight until their enemies died or until they died themselves. When a kingdom got to this point, the people would get so fanatic that they’d forget the wisdom of taking a step back to save themselves. It would make it much easier for the enemy to break in through the cracks then, and there would be a high possibility that the whole kingdom would collapse. (Note: refer to the history of World War II Germany.)

There’s nothing much that Link could do in this regard. The royal army was composed of aristocrats, and the more military power a certain noble house provided, the more power they had. Link had little to no power right now. Moreover, he hadn’t contributed much to the war in the North, so he basically had no right to speak about the matter.

The only thing he could do now was to develop his own strength and that of his troop.

“Let’s not talk about this anymore,” said Link. “Why don’t you stay here for a few days? We still have much to talk about.”

Link was the pride of East Cove Magic Academy now, so naturally, the academy would put his matter as their priority. Which was why only four days later, the academy had sent a Mage Tower construction team consisting of two Master Magicians, eight high-level Magicians, and 25 mid-level Magicians to Scorched Ridge.

Hence, the construction of Link’s Mage Tower formally started.