Claude didn't have much reason to refuse Angelina's request to learn magic.
He took out the diary he translated from the recipes and showed it to his sister so that she could understand some of the truths hidden in history.
He then took out two of Landes's diaries and the magic notebook and told his sister about how he obtained these items.
It was only then that Anna found out that Claude had risked his life in Egret in order to obtain the recipes Landes left behind. That was how the python from two years ago was killed.
Angelina covered her mouth nervously as she listened to Claude's story.
He picked up Landes's diary and notes and briefly explained the contents before explaining the difference between rune magi and battle magi to his sister. He also explained the situation of magi in Freia and Aueras as Maria said.
He also explained what it meant to be a registered magus, what it meant to be a rogue magus, and what he knew about the underground magic market.
After Angelina digested all that, she still insisted on becoming a magus. There wasn't much else to be said. Claude began teaching her how to train in Hexagram Meditation and even drew some pictures on a piece of white paper for her to see.
As for how to form a hexagram in the meditative space and how to use mental power to intercept mana photons that didn't belong to one's own properties, Claude did his best to guide Angelina through her first meditation with the help of his experience.
Perhaps Angelina's talent in magic was quite good, as she finished her first meditation in a little more than an hour and successfully constructed the hexagram in her mental space.
The only difference was that she said the elemental photons in the hexagram in her meditation space were light blue and looked like water ripples.
There was no need to test it. It was obvious that Angelina's talent was of the water element, which Claude couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.
He was of the fire element. If Angelina had the same magic element as him, he might have been able to give her some pointers when she became a first-rank rune magus. However, there would always be some differences between the two elements. It seemed that he would have to let her figure it out herself.
Claude recalled that Maria mentioned that her talent was of the water element as well. He couldn't help but have a thought as he looked at his sister.
"Angelina, do you want to learn herbalism?"
She looked at him curiously. "Herbalism?"
"That's right," Claude nodded, "Through studying herbalism, I can learn how to synthesize magic ingredients and potions. On the other hand, I can make magic potions.
For example, the Beginner Health Potions I have here are all of Perfect quality, which you can't buy outside.
On the other hand, maybe you can become a pharmacist in the future to hide your identity as a mage. "
"Then … I'll try to learn. I'm not sure if I can do it." Angelina didn't object to Claude's arrangement, but she didn't seem too confident in herself.
"It's okay. If you have time in the future, you can read the books about pharmaceutics in the pharmaceutical laboratory and understand the basic knowledge and scope of pharmaceutics. The most important thing is to understand the test materials and the knowledge of herbs. As long as you can distinguish the difference between freshly picked herbs and processed herbs, I don't have any other requirements for you.
"Also, when you meditate, don't forget to learn ancient Hez. Be it words or language, you have to be proficient in it, just like how we use the common tongue of Hebron now.
Hundreds of years ago, the Mages all used ancient Hez. They believed that ancient Hez had evolved from the Dragon Language and was a language with magic power.
Be it chanting incantations or carving runes, they all used ancient Hez.
So, if you want to become a real magus, you have to master this language.
Even though the grammar classes in middle school teach you ancient Hez, it's only a brief introduction. If you want to learn it well, you'll have to learn it on your own.
I bought these dictionaries and spelling books for self-study. I'll hand them over to you now. If there's anything you don't understand, you can ask me.
Don't worry, Angelina. You're still young and have plenty of time. Don't regret becoming a magus just because you have so much to learn.
There's no free lunch in this world. If you want to succeed, you have to rely on your own hard work. There's nothing in this world that comes without sowing, understand? "
"Got it, Second Bro. I'll work hard." Angelina hugged a huge stack of books and returned to her bedroom.
After his sister's magic studies came to an end, Claude busied himself with setting up all sorts of construction teams. Under his insistence, most of the young labourers in the slums were swept clean by Normanley Real Estate.
The thousand-strong construction team was something even Rodian couldn't handle. Claude gave each worker a high salary of two thales a month. That meant that they had to pay around four to five hundred crowns every month.
But there was no helping it. This world was different from Claude's previous world. Every young laborer was a potential source of manpower.
The most troublesome thing was that the countries of the continent placed great emphasis on the freedom of the citizens. Just the fact that they couldn't move freely was enough to stop the free flow of labor.
Only after Tomas's reminder did Claude remember that there weren't many migrant workers in this world. If he didn't plan ahead, he wouldn't be able to find anyone to work at the construction site.
At the moment, the construction of the eastern slums hadn't officially started yet. Most of the work was leveling the land, tearing down the old houses and picking out the good construction materials for later use.
At the same time, he had to organize people to cut wood at Normanley Wood.
On the other hand, Rodian had to contact the brickyard to provide a large amount of red bricks, sand, lime, ropes, clay and other building materials.
Seeing that the money he borrowed from the national bank was being used up quickly, the worried Rodian came to Claude again.
"It's fine. We can split the eastern sector into three phases. We'll build the first phase first and sell it to have the money for the second and third phases. There's no need to build everything at once.
Or we can let those who are interested in buying the houses pay half of the purchase price first and pay the other half when the houses are ready, "Claude said confidently.
With two-thirds of the eastern slums already in their hands, Claude didn't have much to worry about. Money wasn't an issue. At the very least, Rodian had enough to last them until the first and second phases were completed.
As long as Stellin X's plan to upgrade Whitestag into a city was true, once the land and housing prices rose, the first phase alone would be enough for everyone to recoup their investment and all that was left would be profit.
Real estate had always been known to be a lucrative business in his previous world.
On the 12th of the 5th, twelve Grade 2 and Grade 3 ocean-going warships from the navy sailed through the winding waterway and docked at Lake Balinga.
It was said that they were the first fleet that had just cleared out the pirates in Stormwaters and were ordered to rest in Whitestag.
Almost all the residents of Whitestag flocked to the docks to see the heroic appearance of the royal warships.
On the 15th of the 5th of the 5th, Stellin X went to the assembly and announced that Whitestag would be directly under the jurisdiction of the royal capital. It would be upgraded to a city and developed on a large scale.
As for the construction of a naval base, that wasn't mentioned at all.
At the same time, the envoy who had rushed to Whitestag from the royal capital a day earlier read out Stellin X's decree in front of all the officials in the town hall.
That was an unexpected surprise for the civil servants of Whitestag.
From that moment on, they would be on equal footing with the officials of the prefectural city of Baromisse who always thought they were superior to the rest. Their salaries and benefits would be greatly increased and subsidized.
The most excited of them all was naturally the mayor, Baron Robert. He never dreamed that he would one day become the mayor of a city. He instantly felt that spending so much money to become the mayor of Whitestag all those years ago was truly worth it.
If he could contribute to the development and upgrade of Whitestag into a city, he would be highly regarded by the royal capital and might even be able to pass the title down to the next three generations.
Of course, there were plenty of opportunities to strike it rich during the development. Mayor Robert already had the authority of the town hall and he believed that any nobles from the royal capital who came to Whitestag in search of opportunities wouldn't be able to do so without his cooperation.
Perhaps he could even use that to build a relationship with the influential figures in the royal capital and have a reliable backer to rely on.
Compared to Mayor Robert, Sir Fux was rather disappointed.
The development and upgrade of Whitestag into a city meant that he would no longer be the only councilor in Whitestag.
According to the rules for the election of councilors, a city could have three councilors. That meant that Whitestag would have three councilors from next year onwards. That meant that Sir Fux would lose two-thirds of his political resources. How could he feel good about that?
However, it was only then that Sir Fux realized Maria's true intentions in investing in the development of the slums. He wanted nothing more than to point a finger at her face and curse at her for not seeking him out for such a lucrative venture. She was looking down on him.
However, all he could do was stay in his study and curse at her. He knew that he couldn't do anything to her.
It didn't matter if the other councilors didn't care about her. They weren't on the same side and wouldn't cross paths.
Sir Fux, on the other hand, was aware of her influence in the royal capital.
As a councilor, even though he could do whatever he wanted in Whitestag and all the councilors in the town hall had to look up to him, he was nothing but a bug in the royal capital.
However, when he came to the capital, he was just a little worm in the eyes of others. If it wasn't for Lady Maria who gave him a hand on account that they were from the same hometown, he didn't even know if he could get a foothold in the National Assembly.
So, Sir Fux couldn't do anything about it if Maria didn't bring him along, let alone cause trouble for her.
Now that Whitestag was under the direct jurisdiction of the royal capital, it wasn't something Sir Fux could solve with the big shots in the prefectural capital. Not to mention, the prefectural capital couldn't interfere in Whitestag's affairs.
Since he didn't dare to offend Maria, he could at least copy her.
So, Sir Fux discussed with Mayor Robert and decided to set up a real estate development company. They set their sights on the western slums.
At the same time, they gave Bidlir some shares and allowed him to incorporate the old street into the company. He was also put in charge of the relocation of the slums.
What Sir Fux and Mayor Robert didn't expect was that when Butcher Bill, the boss of Blacksnake, ordered his men to force the residents of the western slums to move out, the navy stationed on Lake Balinga sent out a brigade to seal off the entire slums and chase Butcher Bill's 4th Garrison Band out. At the same time, a few naval officers were sent to the town hall to announce that the slums were now part of the navy's construction zone and were now a restricted zone of the navy.
Mayor Robert was dumbfounded. What would happen to the new real estate development company he invested in?
Would he be compensated for the new land acquisition?
The officer took out a document and read it aloud. As part of the plan for the construction of the naval base, all property transactions made before the 15th of the 5th would be considered valid. Since the king had announced the development of Whitestag after the 15th of the 5th, all property transactions within the scope of the land acquisition wouldn't be recognized. The personnel in charge of the land acquisition plan would only compensate the property owners who registered their property before the 15th of the 5th of the 5th.
The news was like a bolt from the blue for Mayor Robert. It meant that his investment of nearly a hundred crowns had gone down the drain.
However, Sir Fux was much calmer when he arrived. He pointed at the slum's eastern slum on the map and asked, "Is this area also included in the acquisition plan?"