Embracing Magic - E.M Chapter 11 (Part 1)

Mercenaries

Mercenaries are professionals who take on dangerous jobs for money. They handle tasks ranging from simple escort missions and security to monster subjugation and participation in wars. There was almost nothing they wouldn’t do. Given the nature of their work, they were very sensitive to assessing their opponents’ strength.

If their opponent was strong, they would quickly bow down; if the opponent seemed weak, they would press them down as a matter of course.

“Mercenaries… They put up quite a fight, didn’t they?”
“Yes, their ranks were quite high. There were two gold-badge mercenaries, and the rest were silver-badge mercenaries.”
“Despite their high ranks, the interrogation was easy?”
“Because they are mercenaries.”

Mercenaries often say that “trust” is important to them, but few are truly trustworthy. It was common for them to be swayed by more money or to betray when a knife was at their throat.

“What did you do with them?”
“Nine were killed in the capture process, and seven were detained for now. It looks like one or two of them won’t make it to see the morning due to their severe injuries.”
“Hm, the Beros Kingdom and the Perry Kingdom… Those two countries always act together.”
“Because they are weak nations.”

Compared to the Ingram Empire, the entire Union of the 13 Nations was considered weak. If they hadn’t united, they would always have to be wary of other countries. However, even within the Union of the 13 Nations, there were differences in strength.

The Randel Kingdom was by far the strongest in the Union of the 13 Nations. It had more than twice the territory of the Riyaz Kingdom and nearly three times the population.

On the other hand, the Beros Kingdom and the Perry Kingdom were the weakest within the Union of the 13 Nations. They lagged behind in every aspect: territory, population, economy, and military strength.

“This is troublesome.”
“If it weren’t for the Ingram Empire, we would have dealt with them a long time ago.”

The Riyaz Kingdom had a military strength ranked around 4th or 5th within the Union of the 13 Nations. It wasn’t weak, but it also wasn’t strong enough to act independently.

However, there was a significant difference between it and the Beros Kingdom and the Perry Kingdom. Even if those two countries combined their forces, they would barely match the Riyaz Kingdom.

“What should we do?”
“Deal with the captured ones before morning. Burn the bodies as well.”
“Aren’t you worried about the Beros Kingdom and the Perry Kingdom finding out? They must have learned everything through the communication orb that was found.”
“There’s nothing to worry about. Are we doing something that other countries would deem inappropriate?”

The Special Forces training facility was a place where orphans and abandoned children were raised to become soldiers. It wasn’t illegal, and it wasn’t something other countries would see as problematic.

“Ah!”

“We are not hiding this because of other countries’ views. It’s because of the high-ranking officials in our own country.”
“Indeed.”

Keeping the Special Forces training facility a secret was absurd but necessary due to the nobles in their country. If it weren’t for their obsession with class, there would be no need to hide and train the children in this manner.

“The nobles might make things troublesome, but what can we do? We have to bear it.”
“I will take care of the mercenaries today.”
“What about the security level?”
“Keep it as it is. But we should remain vigilant. Make sure the guards are not negligent.”

Despite the intrusion, the security policy did not change. There were no real damages.

“Ah! The children run in the exercise yard in the morning, right?”
“Yes, they start running at seven.”
“Dispose of the mercenaries’ bodies at that time. It will help keep the children on their toes.”
“Hahaha, that will surely give them chills.”

The next morning, the bodies of the mercenaries were loaded onto a cart during the children’s run. Over a hundred children watched the scene intently.

As expected, from that day on, the children became much quieter. Their focus during classes also improved.

But children are children. The underlying tension quickly dissipated. As they couldn’t maintain focus for long, within ten days, they were laughing and talking more than before.

* * *

Lately, Rodin had been reading books about ancient times. From the most famous tales of the ancient Magic Empire to the era of dragons before that, he read without discriminating between periods.

‘I want to learn the language.’

Many books related to mythology were written in scripts other than the common language of the continent. Some were entirely in scripts he didn’t recognize.

To read these books, he needed to understand the scripts. Unfortunately, information related to ancient languages was stored in the advanced archives, which Rodin couldn’t access yet.

‘I’m stuck here. Sigh.’

There were about 200 books related to ancient times. Half of them were entirely in unknown scripts. Without learning these scripts first, he couldn’t read the books.

Moreover, there were at least five different scripts. He needed to understand more than five different ancient languages to read all the books.

‘I give up.’

This time, he headed to the section with math books.

He had been reading math books for a month, one or two at a time. He had long surpassed the progress of the afternoon classes and was venturing into more specialized areas.

Groaning, he barely managed to pull out a math book from a high shelf.

The library tended to store more difficult or specialized books on the upper shelves. He had only recently grown tall enough to reach the book; a month ago, he would have had to wait until he grew taller.

The little boy who read books every day seemed amazing even to the library assistants who practically lived there.

An assistant who was cleaning peeked through the bookshelves.

A small trainee wearing brown clothes from the third batch was reading a book.

“Still the same.”

The more the assistant watched, the more amazed they were.

It was certainly the youngest trainee from the third batch, using the library every morning and evening.

None of the trainees from the first or second batch used the library consistently. Less than twenty had even visited the library once.

But here was a regular from the third batch.

As someone in charge of the library, it was a touching sight.

‘It’s a pity he hasn’t chosen a specific field yet.’

The little boy didn’t stick to one book for long. He randomly picked books, flipping through them briefly. From history to math, herbs, and more, his interests were diverse.

It seemed he hadn’t found a favorite subject yet. But he was still young, so it was understandable.

‘He’ll change as he gets older.’

* * *

Hyung_Otaku2

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