At that moment, Claude felt a strong urge to know what was recorded in the diary. Even though it was only the diary of a low-ranked magus and didn't contain any magical secrets, he felt as if he was peeling away the fog of history and seeing the truth of it.
20th day of the 8th month, year 3341 of the Nomartin Magic Calendar. Sunny. It drizzled in the evening.
Senior Tawari came to find me at night and asked me to accompany him somewhere.
I didn't expect him to bring me to the main camp of the convoy.
What surprised me even more was that the person who welcomed us in the tent in the middle of the camp was the noble who asked me to improve the gun. His name is Baron Regus O 'Shil and he's the biggest supplier of magic stones to the magic associations in the region. It's no wonder he's able to organize such a large convoy.
Tawari hugged him tightly. I didn't know they were that close.
He hoped that I could provide him with a very powerful explosive powder, which was to combine explosive magic crystals with a barrel of gunpowder, and then inject magic power into it through runes, causing it to explode. Its power was equivalent to the forbidden spell of a ninth-circle mage — Annihilation Explosion.
That's why Tawari brought me to him.
I rejected his request, even though he said he was going to use the explosive powder to open up a mine.
He also took out the order from the Magic Board. It stated that he had to provide the Magic Board with all kinds of magic stones within three years. The quota was astronomical.
He said he couldn't complete the task because he didn't have the manpower, resources, or financial resources to do it. That's why he came to me for help, hoping to use the powder to reduce manpower losses.
I didn't believe his promise at all. Five years ago, he wanted me to provide him with an alchemical method that didn't require magi's help and could be completed by normal blacksmiths.
I dissected the steps of the gun's creation and improved the forging process of the barrel. I even followed his request and increased the gun's range to 200 meters.
I believed it would be like he said, a weapon for the common folk to defend themselves against wild beasts in the mountains.
But now, guns are everywhere on Freia and have become the most threatening weapon against magi.
I finally understand why he wanted the gun to have a range of 200 meters.
That's right, why does the range of a gun have to reach 200 meters?
He had his doubts as well, but he was rather excited. He saw the name of another famous historical figure on that page.
Baron Regis O 'Hill.
He was the leader of the Brotherhood, the underground organization that fought against the evil magi and stirred up an uprising against the magi's rule. He led the people of the continent to fight hard for eight years before finally banishing the magi from Freia and establishing the Amslan Dynasty that ruled over the continent. He enfeoffed three thousand nobles to guard the continent …
However, the history books only stated that Regus O 'Hill was a stonemason leader, not a noble, nor the largest magic stone supplier in the entire continent … It seemed that many historical truths had been buried in the river of time …
Claude really wanted to continue copying and deciphering the eleventh page, but he didn't go bask in the moonlight after copying the tenth page. Instead, he immediately deciphered it.
So, he felt that it would be better for him to lie on the roof and bask in the moonlight. That way, he wouldn't run out of mental power and fall into the uncontrollable darkness again.
21st day of the 8th month, 3341 Nomartin calendar.
Last night, I rejected Baron Regis O 'Hill's request. Senior Tawari didn't say a word and only bade the baron farewell before bringing me back to the tavern.
I didn't sleep well the whole night.
I went to look for Senior Tawari in the morning. There were some things I had to ask him.
Senior Tawari seemed to know that I would go look for him, so he immediately cast a soundproof spell after I entered his room.
I asked him if he was the one who told the baron about it.
He was the only one who had seen my plan to use magic crystals and runes to increase the explosive power of gunpowder to achieve the effects of forbidden magic.
Tawari nodded.
I was heartbroken. I trusted him so much, but he …
Senior Tawari told me to sit down with a dark expression. I've never seen him so stern before.
He told me a story about a homeless child who fainted in the snow due to hunger and cold. A noble child saved him and they grew up together, studying and playing together.
When the homeless child turned fifteen, he was discovered to have magical talent. The noble child spent a lot of money and favors to hire a magus to take him in as an apprentice. Twenty years later, the homeless child had become a fifth-circle magus.
I knew that the waif in Tawari's story was himself. "Is Baron Regus O'Hill that noble child?" I asked. "Is that Baron Regus O'Hill?"
"He's my elder brother," Senior Tawari replied.
"I understood why he was so close to the baron. I wasn't angry anymore.
However, Senior Tawari didn't let me leave. He sighed and told me that there were some things I should know.
The rumors were true!
I looked at him in disbelief. "Why?
I didn't expect the truth to be so cruel … "
Senior Tawari said that Faslan had a history of five thousand years from the primordial era to the current era of magic. That was the history of magic.
In the primordial era, the number of magi who became twelfth-circle magi on their way to godhood was in the double digits, such as Grand Magus Sannormadin who created the magic calendar.
In that era, dragons flew in the sky and magical beasts roamed the land.
But more than three thousand years have passed, and we can no longer see the shadow of the giant dragons, and the magical beasts can only find traces of them in books and legends.
Perhaps there are still a few magical beasts hiding in the primordial forests of Nubissia, but there aren't any on Freia anymore. Their flesh and fur are top-notch magic materials, so they can't escape the pursuit of magi.
All the continents and islands of Faslan had been depleted of all magic resources in the past three thousand years by the magi.
To put it simply, our world of magic is deteriorating. During the primordial era and the beginning of the magic era, there were plenty of magi above the tenth circle. But now?
The Council of Nine Rings is the highest rank among us magi, and they only have seven of them.
I asked Senior Tawari, "Is that why the magic board wants to send us to Kampeth Plane?
I heard there are endless magic resources there … "
Senior Tawari smiled wryly. "They want to send us to Kampeth Plane, but we'll only be cannon fodder and hard labor there …"
I'd never known that there was such a difference in power between magi in the world of Faslan.
When the Council of Nine Rings was founded a thousand years ago, there were twenty-four Ninth Circle magi.
They established twenty-four magical families and divided all the magic resources in Faslan.
Only their immediate family members would be able to receive sufficient magic resources to nurture and advance in level.
They called themselves the Silver Magic Nobility and inherited their bloodline. The highest authority in Faslan, the Council of Nine Rings and the magic board, was in their hands.
"No," I refuted Senior Tawari. If it was as he said, the world of magic was controlled by the Silver Magic Nobility and they could decide the distribution of magic resources, he wouldn't have become a magus' apprentice, and I wouldn't have been chosen from a fisherman's son to become a four-ring rune magus. "
Senior Tawari smiled helplessly. "I'm so lucky to be so naive."
The Silver Magic Nobility controlled all the magic resources in Faslan. Over the past thousand years, their families had grown larger and larger, and they had more and more relatives. However, that didn't mean all of them had magic talent. One in a hundred was something worth celebrating.
That was why even though they controlled the higher ranks of magi, they still needed countless low-ranked magi to work for them and help them rule Faslan.
The world of magic in Faslan is structured like a pyramid. The silver nobles are the tip at the very top, and us wizards below the fifth ring are the base of the pyramid.
"They call us Iron Magi …"
All the Black Iron Mages were stuck at the Fifth Ring. Without the help of a large amount of precious magic resources, it was impossible for a Fifth Ring Mage to advance further, even if they were a magic genius.
The Silver Mage Nobles would rather spend their magic resources on their less talented juniors than help a Black Iron Mage advance to the next rank.
To them, helping a Iron Magus advance meant that they would have another share of the magic resources in the future. No one was willing to have another competitor for power.
I suddenly remembered that Tawari had been a Fifth Circle magus ten years ago.
"Is Baron Regus Aug Hill a Silver Magic Noble as well?"
I asked.
His ancestor was. I could tell from the word 'Zun' in the middle of his name.
Aug meant arcane magic.
Tawari replied that the baron had the bloodline of a Silver Magic Noble, but he didn't have magic talent and wasn't a magus.
His ancestor was a loser in the power struggle between the higher ranks of magi. His family had been expelled from the Council of Nine Rings and lost the right to distribute magic resources.
"But isn't he the biggest magic stone supplier on Freia?"
I asked.
Tawari shook his head with a bitter smile. "He said that magic stones weren't considered magic resources a thousand years ago. They were only basic building materials.
Now that precious magic resources are dwindling, we have no choice but to make use of materials that are related to magic and use them as much as we can.
"Now that we've recruited ten apprentices, at least half of them have to learn alchemy and rune drawing to become a rune magus like you.
The reason is simple. The Council of Nine Rings and the Magic Enforcement Board hope to use alchemy and rune drawing to reduce the usage of those precious magic resources.
"It's best to use low-grade magic materials instead of high-grade ones.
I returned to my room in a daze.
What Tawari told me was a huge blow to me. I never thought that the high and mighty world of magi would be so complicated.
It was only when I was tossing and turning in bed, unable to fall asleep, that I suddenly remembered something. I forgot to ask Tawari why Baron Regus O'Hill wanted the magic crystals and the rune-enhanced explosive powder for.
I'm so tired …
Claude was exhausted. Not only his hands, but his mind as well. He didn't expect the 11-page diary to be so long. Two whole pages were filled with recipes.
After copying and deciphering, he spent more than two hours translating the entire page into Hebraic.