Embracing Magic - E.M Chapter 89 (Part 2)
“And we’d also like a space suitable for training.”
“Are you a certified mage, by any chance?”
“Yes.”
“Oh! One moment. I’ll check the listings for you.”
A domain as large as the Marquess of Richmond’s certainly had mages. Rodin had already encountered three on his way there.
However, certified mages were rare. The mages Rodin had seen were all apprentice mages, no higher than 2nd-circle.
“Hmm.”
“Ah! I apologize. What are you all doing? Stop staring and get back to work!”
Noticing that Rodin was uncomfortable with the constant stares, Clerk Frail scolded the other staff members.
The Marquess of Richmond himself was a swordmaster, and the domain had a much higher regard for swordsmen. As a result, mages above the 3rd-circle didn’t receive any special treatment and weren’t particularly drawn to the Marquess’s domain.
A short while later, Frail returned with a large ledger. It contained the listings of vacant houses in the main city of the Marquess of Richmond’s domain.
Rodin spent a good deal of time discussing the layouts of the houses with Frail, and eventually, they narrowed down their options to a few suitable properties.
“Shall we go take a look now?”
“Yes, that sounds good.”
They followed Frail to inspect several houses, all of which were to Rodin’s liking. The properties were well-maintained, requiring no additional work.
“We’ll take this one.”
By chance, they ended up choosing a rather large house.
The property had a main house and an annex. The main house had five rooms, and the annex had three rooms and a kitchen.
The basement of the main house was quite spacious, making it ideal not only as a training room but also as a workshop for artifact crafting.
Additionally, there was a sizable garden between the main house and the annex, perfect for exercise. There was even a storage shed in one corner of the garden.
‘The walls are high too. I like it.’
Once he saw the house layout, Rodin made his decision. The fact that he wouldn’t need to make any major structural changes was also a plus.
“You’ve chosen a great place.”
From there, everything moved swiftly.
They returned to the government office, where Rodin signed the contract and received the documents proving ownership of the house.
After that, they visited the residency registration office, where Rodin registered his new home as their place of residence.
“This is for you.”
“In the Richmond Marquessate, there’s a separate identification badge for residents. Having this badge means you’ll receive full protection from the territory’s security force. It also allows you to request mediation in case of fraud or disputes.”
After registering their residency, Rodin received a special identification badge unique to the Richmond Marquessate.
This badge was only valid within the Richmond Marquessate but came with several benefits and served as proof of their rights as residents of the territory.
“Thank you.”
“Welcome once again to the Richmond Marquessate as official residents.”
Rodin then led his siblings to their new home. The house was so large that it felt a bit empty.
“I’ll take this room. What about you two?”
“Big Brother, I’ll take this one.”
“And you, Larry?”
“I’ll take this side.”
With five rooms in total, two were left unused. They decided to think about how to use them later.
* * *
The next morning, Rodin began moving early. It was time to assess Larry’s potential.
Being a city filled with swordsmen, the Richmond Marquessate had many places where one could test their swordsmanship talent. For a small fee, anyone could have their aura potential assessed.
“This is interesting.”
The Richmond Marquessate didn’t only train swordsmen within the castle. Across the entire territory, there were countless sword-training centers known as ‘sword halls.’
The place they had just arrived at was called the Cardos Sword Hall. It offered aura potential assessments and, for a fee, swordsmanship training.
“That’ll be 500 gold.”
“Here you go.”
Rodin paid the fee to have Larry’s aura potential tested. The rest was up to Larry.
“You can pick him up in five days.”
“Will he stay here for those five days?”
“Yes. At our sword hall, we test aura potential once a month. The next test happens to be in five days. Rather than going home and returning, it’s better for him to stay here and practice the basic aura cultivation methods.”
Basic aura cultivation methods weren’t secret techniques. They were common and could be bought cheaply at stores.
But memorizing and mastering the method still required time.
Larry would stay here until the aura potential test and learn the techniques during that time.
“Alright. Larry, are you ready?”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Then I’ll see you in five days. You know where the house is, right?”
“Of course.”
It was about a 40-minute walk from the sword hall. With the good security in the Richmond Marquessate, Larry could safely return home on his own.
“Brother Larry! Good luck!”
“Thanks, Bianca. You study hard too.”
“Okay.”
On the way back home with Bianca, they stopped at a nearby restaurant for a light meal. After eating their fill, Rodin noticed Bianca shaking her head slightly.
“Not to your taste?”
“Big Brother, the food here is just like yours.”
“It’s not *that* bad. Anyway, we’ll have to find a better place next time.”
It was essential to find a restaurant that served good food.
After enduring bland meals throughout their journey to the Richmond Marquessate, Rodin was eager to enjoy delicious meals in their new home.
“Bianca, did you finish all your studies?”
“Big Brother, it’s too hard.”
“I did all this when I was much younger than you. You can do it too. Our Bianca isn’t a fool, right?”
“Right. Bianca’s not a fool.”
They arrived home.
Leaving Bianca to study on her own, Rodin got to work on fixing up the house.
He walked along the perimeter of the house, casting reinforcement spells on the walls. He even embedded mana stones into the walls to ensure the spells would last for a long time.
Next, he engraved a Mana Accumulation Magic Circle throughout the house. This way, the entire house would be saturated with mana, aiding in their training efforts.
“All that’s left is the cultivation room.”
He still needed to set up a proper cultivation room. Until now, they had relied solely on the Mana Accumulation Magic Circle to gather mana, but that method was slow.
‘What would happen if I combined the Mana Accumulation Magic Circle with a mana gathering room?’
The result would likely be the rapid accumulation of mana. However, overuse of the mana gathering room could make the mana a bit unstable, but this could be controlled by limiting its use.
For example, using the cultivation room once every three or four days would strike a good balance.
“Especially with Bianca here.”
Bianca didn’t have exceptional mana talent. A score of 16 was even lower than Cory’s.
Given the situation, not using the Mana Gathering room would slow her growth considerably.