Mage? Magic Engineer!-Chapter 72 - 69: An Invitation from the Embassy
"Trading was explosive on opening day, leading to a stampede at twelve noon. Mr. Ah Le, a senior partner at the Lowe Commerce Association and one of the individuals involved, stated in an interview that he would be seeking damages from those responsible for the incident to cover losses from being unable to purchase shares in time...
At the five o’clock close, the share price settled at 531 Lang and 7 Livre. The general manager of the Shaleanna Mining Company has promised to raise the exchange rate for government bonds to 450 Lang per share tomorrow. Trading of Kingdom bonds remains active...
Sir Buffon, Director of the Holy Kingdom’s Museum and Supervisor of the Imperial Study, has released an analysis report on the highly anticipated natural gold nugget. The report confirms it is relatively pure gold, though a small amount of an unknown substance is adhering to it...
The Governor of the Shaleanna Region, Count Grenel, has promised investors that a stable passageway to the sub-plane will be constructed by next summer at the latest, and that plans for developing the gold mine are currently under discussion..."
A casual flip through the papers revealed that all the headlines were about Shaleanna Mining, specifically about its shares on the newly opened stock exchange.
There were far fewer reports on the sub-plane and the gold mine itself. Only a small blurb mentioned: "In response to the calls of the faithful, the Church has expressed its intent to build a church in the sub-plane, on territory directly administered by the Royal Family, and is currently in discussions with the Royal Palace..."
As for the *Elemental Truth Newspaper*, a publication of the Magic Guild, its front-page headline was about the adventures of Rorschach and his party in the sub-plane. The report was filled with exaggerated, fabricated descriptions, reading more like a third-rate novel. As the protagonist—who had been given the alias Loka in the article—Rorschach had certainly never given any interview. Interestingly, the article made no mention of gold or the gold mine.
"So, Rorschach, our little tycoon, how does it feel to get famous and have your net worth jump by three thousand Gold Coins without lifting a finger?" Kano began the group meeting by reading a headline from the morning paper. Pascal was green with envy.
"Master, it was the stock price that increased by three thousand Lang, and there’s no guarantee Lang and Gold Coins will hold the same value forever. Besides, I’m not the protagonist of that novel." Rorschach focused on two key points. ’Mr. Ah Le survived the fire and it sounds like he even got a promotion. And a key figure from the incident was completely left out of the report.’
"A Low Tier Mage from the north, a youth bright as the morning star... At the very least, all the Mages and Apprentices in the Guild know who they’re talking about. You won’t be able to keep a low profile now, even if you wanted to," Kano said, winking at Rorschach.
"By the way, it seems none of the other newspapers mentioned the Magic Guild."
"Two reasons." Kano yawned. "The Holy Kingdom and the Church have always tried to downplay our existence to the public, and that suits us just fine.
Second, Mage Rorschach, you underestimate our Guild. Why would we wade into such murky waters so openly? You won’t find the terms ’Magic Guild’ and ’gold mine’ in the same article in any newspaper."
Kano took out a few small booklets and handed them to Rorschach, Pascal, and Paulina. Rorschach accepted his copy and saw it was his own paper. It had a dark blue cardstock cover, a gold-stamped title, and a pressure-volume diagram for the Ka... Rorschach cycle.
"Thanks to the Count’s help, your paper received top-tier treatment from the Guild. It was published just as quickly as my own."
Pascal stroked the cover and blurted out, "I wish I’d gone to the sub-plane."
Paulina rolled her eyes. "We asked you to come at the start, but you refused. Besides, what good would an Apprentice like you have been there?"
And so, Rorschach formally reported his experiences in the sub-plane to the group. He didn’t hide many details—after all, Yina and the other mages had been there the whole time.
He only concealed the role of the Vibrating Quartz Powder, attributing his victory in the final battle to *Deryats Forest*, a Divine Art he had received in a dream.
"This is an image of the Deer-headed God, Deryats, along with the trees and leaves that were projected in the Deryats Forest. I checked the natural history archives and confirmed that most are common species from the Black Forest, but there was one I couldn’t find a match for."
Rorschach handed over his sketches.
"You can draw, too? Are you sure you weren’t born into the nobility?" Kano joked as the three of them passed the sketches around.
"This image... I’ve never seen anything like it. It looks like the attire of the Druids who once lived in Istani, on the Northern Continent."
After some discussion, Kano gave Rorschach a reading list, telling him to search the library for any relevant materials on his own. Finally, he said:
"An agreement with a so-called Divine Spirit... I remember your hometown is in the mountains, right? When you go home, make some time for a trip to the Black Forest. You can apply to the Guild to organize an expedition. Hmm... I can write to the Tower of Forest to explain the situation; those folks will be interested. I’ll extend your Saints’ Day Festival vacation by ten days.
Worst-case scenario, even if you can’t fulfill the agreement, don’t panic. The age of Divine Spirits is long past. As long as I’m around, some old bag of bones trying to stir up trouble can’t cause any major disasters. Of course, you must report anything unusual to me immediately."
His mentor was always so thoughtful and reliable in a pinch. A warmth spread through Rorschach’s chest, but it was immediately followed by another thought: ’Wait, wasn’t this whole string of problems caused by a certain someone?’
He recalled someone’s chest-thumping guarantee that they wouldn’t put a student in harm’s way. "Respected Master Kano, if I may ask, why did none of the High Tier Mages detect the danger in the sub-plane?"
Kano started to hem and haw, spouting a stream of excuses: something about the sub-plane being too vast for even a Great Mage to do more than a cursory scan; something about the unique nature of the Divine Remains; something about the natural disasters being purely coincidental; something about how, aside from people like Granor who were angling for a fiefdom, no one really cared about a barren wasteland...
"Ahem! Let’s not talk about that. Let’s move on to happier things. Next month is the Saints’ Day Festival holiday, and as is tradition, I’m giving you your stipends for this month and next. Spend it wisely. You don’t want to be strapped for cash during the festival."
With a grand wave of his hand, three leather pouches floated out from his Storage Ring. JINGLING with the coins inside, they wobbled through the air and came to a stop before the three students.
"Thank you, Master Kano!" "Thanks." Kano beamed, looking for all the world like a grandfather handing out holiday money.
Finally, he announced, "One more thing... this is the last time you’ll be receiving Metal Coins. Starting next year, in accordance with His Majesty’s new decree, we’ll be issuing Paper Currency. Hmm... the amount will still be calculated based on its value in Gold Coins, of course."
The last group meeting of the year was rather laid-back. Aside from the discussion of Rorschach’s paper and his report on the sub-plane at the start, the rest was just mundane business. What was heartwarming was that Kano clearly wasn’t interested in his students’ paltry stipends; he didn’t pull any tricks like withholding a portion or demanding a cut after handing them out.
Back in his dorm in the Tower of Stars, Rorschach prepared to write the proposal for the next phase of his research, which would focus on the problem of Magic Power conversion. Of course, the research itself would have to wait until after the break. He calculated the days he had left; before the holiday, he needed to research Deryats and the Black Forest—the more detailed the information, the better. Plus, there were a few other things to take care of.
The Tower Spirit’s voice reminded him, "Mage Rorschach, you have a letter in the mailroom."
The sender was unexpected, yet at the same time, it made perfect sense—the Empire Embassy.
Dear Mage Rorschach,
Congratulations on the continent-wide publication of your paper, "An Inquiry into Thermodynamic Conversion and the Efficiency Limits of Heat Engines," by the Magic Guild. We are proud of your accomplishments and have also heard of your thrilling adventures in the sub-plane.
We sincerely invite you to an ambassadorial reception to be held later this month. The event will take place at eight in the evening on the twenty-first, hosted by Ambassador Viscount Gottfried and attended by many distinguished individuals from the Empire who are currently in Valuva. Please reply to confirm your attendance. We eagerly await your response.
... The Empire Embassy in Valuva, No. 26, Muxi Street, District 7
