"Murder?
You … "Claude was shocked." Who did you kill? "
"I don't know. They seemed to have just moved to Whitestag. I met them in the mountains. They were carrying guns and were probably hunting," said his sister.
"Did they find out you knew magic and you killed them to keep it a secret?"
"No." She shook her head and said, "I was picking herbs. It was September last year and Madam Maria wasn't here for vacation. I didn't want to go to the forest to look for herbs, so I went to the mountains in the west.
I wasn't planning to go into the mountains and was just looking for some herbs on the outskirts. That's when I met those two.
I didn't pay much attention to them and thought they were just passing by. I didn't think they'd use the excuse of asking for directions to approach me. They suddenly pounced on me and dragged me into the forest while saying some perverted things.
I was terrified at first, but when I snapped out of it, I shot two Magic Missiles at them and killed them on the spot. "
"They deserved it! Nice kill!"
Claude understood that the two people were killed because they saw his sister picking herbs alone in the forest. They were in the wild and didn't see anyone around, so they got the idea.
However, they didn't expect his sister to be a magus. They kicked a metal plate and lost two lives.
If his sister was just a normal person, they might've succeeded.
"… When I woke up after killing them, I was very scared. I was afraid that someone would find me, so I hid in the woods for the whole afternoon. After making sure that there was no one around, I used Hand of Magic to throw the bodies of the two people off the cliff.
Half a month later, he heard that the corpses of the two men had been defiled by wild beasts.
The patrol squad said that they died from running into wild beasts and falling off the cliff. Most of their corpses were eaten by wild beasts.
It was only then that I felt relieved and went to the prefectural city to take the exam to become a novice herbalist. "
Claude couldn't help but admire his sister's determination. Despite her weak frame, she had a strong heart. Even under such circumstances, she was still able to become a novice herbalist. It was doubtful whether he could have done the same. After all, it was his sister's first time killing someone. Even if the two of them deserved to die, it was still a huge psychological blow for an 18-year-old girl.
Fortunately, his sister dealt with the matter properly after the murder, and the patrol team's inspection of the body was relatively careless, so the matter passed just like that.
Claude reached out to stroke his sister's hair and she leaned against him and hugged him tightly.
No matter what, she was only a nineteen-year-old girl. The murder had become a sore point in her heart for more than a year.
Now that she had told her most trusted brother, the younger sister felt a lot more relaxed …
"I'm glad that the magic I taught you in the past gave you the ability to protect yourself."
"If you don't know magic and something like that happens, it'll be a tragedy for our family.
I don't dare to imagine how sad Mother and Brother would be, but I can't bear losing my beloved sister.
You did well to kill those two bastards. Had it not been for you, some other girl would've been the one to suffer.
So, you don't have to feel bad about killing people. In fact, they were just two animals in human skin. "
I don't think my beloved sister will lose her appetite or sleep over the deaths of those two animals. Besides, the patrol team already said that they fell off a cliff and it has nothing to do with us. "
"Then, then big brother, do you feel very sad when you kill someone? Do you often think about it …" The younger sister raised her head and asked.
"No." Claude shook his head firmly.
He shook his head firmly. "I don't have the time to think about those dead people. Didn't I tell you before that I killed quite a number of Blacksnakes in the slums after I learned magic? You should've heard that they're either scum or scoundrels. I don't feel guilty at all for killing them. I just treat myself as a cleaner, cleaning up the trash of Whitestag back then.
"Later on, I became a soldier and went to the frontlines. If I don't kill people on the battlefield, I'll be killed.
First, it's to save my life, and second, it's to kill for the kingdom. Even if the enemy has no grudge against me, I still have to kill them. That's the duty of a soldier of the kingdom.
A soldier is like a blade. The blade itself doesn't kill, but it's controlled by the giant known as the kingdom.
That's why I don't feel bad no matter how many people I kill on the battlefield. If the dead want to blame someone, they'll only blame the kingdom. It has nothing to do with me, the blade. "
Claude patted his sister on the shoulder. "Alright, Anna, let go of me. You're already a big girl, yet you're still hugging me like that. How shameless."
"What?" She pushed him away. She was really embarrassed.
"Alright, it's fine now.
By the way, I haven't shown you the treasures I got from the black market in Efenasburg, "Claude said.
Claude recalled that he hadn't given the magic items to his sister yet, so he could only leave them at home for her to keep. He couldn't bring them with him to the royal military academy in the royal capital for training.
There were several tightly wrapped boxes piled up in the corner of the room. The first box was opened, and apart from a pile of rags and torn newspapers, there was only a transparent crystal ball about fifteen or sixteen centimeters in diameter.
Claude carefully took out the crystal ball and placed it on the bed. "Don't you think it's funny? This crystal ball is actually used by the peddlers as a toy for the children of the nobles. It's only sold for one crown, and that's only because it's so big.
I couldn't be bothered to haggle with them and bought it right away. "
The younger sister curiously held the crystal ball with both hands and used some of her magic power. Then, the crystal ball turned from transparent and flawless to colorful.
"That's enough. Don't play this game.
We're already magi, so we won't be able to use this to test our talent. It's only used to test children who haven't practiced magic before.
Do you remember how Magus Landes passed the test in his diary? He did it with a crystal ball like this.
I'm buying this for you to see if Borke has talent like us. Even though you said he couldn't see the hidden blue words in the cookbook, he was still young back then.
He's 14 now. Let him try again next year. If you find out that he has talent, you can see if he's more mature. It's up to you whether or not he wants to learn magic, "Claude said as he opened the other box.
His sister put the crystal ball away. "Alright, Big Brother. I'll listen to you."
Claude finally managed to open the box. Inside was a foot-long, oddly shaped staff. There were several jade-green gems embedded on it. "This is the staff used by magi. The peddlers are selling it as a noble's scepter. They don't even realize that scepters aren't made of gold or silver. Why would they be made of bone?
I'm guessing it's a family heirloom of some noble family. Sadly, it was sold by someone who didn't know what it was.
Casting spells with this staff can increase the power of a spell by a third and reduce mana consumption by a third. "
It was truly a priceless treasure. With the depletion of magic resources, a staff like this that could increase the power of spells had long since become a rarity.
After all, the materials used to make them were the bones of rare magic beasts. After the beasts went extinct, there were no other materials left to make them apart from the well-preserved wands.
"This wand is yours. I think you can disguise it a little. Put a small shovel at the tip and wrap the body with a cloth. That way, it'll look like a small hoe.
You're an herbalist, so no one would suspect you of carrying a hoe with you, "Claude suggested.
She fiddled with the wand lovingly and even tried casting a few harmless spells to see if they could reduce her mana consumption as Claude said.
"But Big Brother, will it affect the effects of the wand?"
"I don't know about that. Why don't you take it and test it out yourself?" Claude said rather irresponsibly before he took out five thick hides from a squarely wrapped chest.
"I've always suspected that these books and the wand came from the same noble family. They must have a close relationship with Higros," Claude said.
"Are these books about magic?" His sister asked.
"Uh, no," Claude replied.
"Technically, they're historical books. They come from the memories of a magus on Higros. They describe how the magi were chased out of Freia by mortals with guns six hundred years ago.
Of course, his perspective was different from ours. He believed that the magi were deceived by the nobles among the mortals and made use of the magi's negligence to form a spear-wielding garrison to quell the rebellions and uprisings on the continent.
Unexpectedly, the nobles among the mortals were already in cahoots with the rebels. They took advantage of the mages' negligence to attack and occupy the holy land of magic, St. Perth City, in the name of transporting magic materials. They destroyed the Babel Tower's teleportation array that was about to be expanded, cutting off the connection between the mages and the high-magic world of Kempeth Plane, and completely extinguishing the mages' hope of using magic materials from the high-magic plane to revive the magic era …
That was why he cursed the guns to be the weapons of the demons. It was the only weapon mortals could rely on to deal with the high and mighty magi.
In the second volume, he described the battle of Sanpaz. Fifth-ring battlemages flew into the sky, only to be shot down by the mortal musketeers like wild ducks.
Even if they covered the area with fireballs and lightning, there were still gunners who were lucky enough to survive. They raised their muskets and fired at them …
The musketeers lined up in a phalanx to cover a large area in a single shot. Any fifth-ring battlemage that appeared in that area couldn't withstand the barrage of bullets and fell from the sky one by one, turning into a pile of meat paste.
After the fall of these five-ring Battle Mages, the rune mages were like sheep waiting to be slaughtered. They had no way of defending themselves against the bayonets of the musketeers. One by one, they were stabbed to death on the streets, in the rooms, in the laboratories and the magic towers … "
"I don't like books like this," Claude said.
"Keep it if you don't. It's true history, after all. We can learn from it."
The other magic items were small accessories that Claude prepared for Claude.
"Why did you buy them? I'm not used to wearing them."
"They're magic accessories. They've all been enchanted with small magic formations.
Even if you don't like wearing jewelry, you can still study them. For example, this pair of earrings. They're called Eavesdroppers. Wearing them allows you to hear conversations from far away.
For those noblewomen who like to listen to gossip, this is a divine tool for eavesdropping.
"Also, this necklace. The ruby on it has been enchanted with a calming formation. Try it on and meditate. I'm sure you'll get a good result.
"As for the other two bracelets, they each have a protective spell engraved on them. One is the Thorn Wreath. Once activated, it can force the person you hate to retreat a meter away from you and prevent them from harassing you.
"The other one is the Paralysis spell. Once activated, it can paralyze people or animals that come into contact with you.
Even though these two spells only have a short duration of a few seconds, they can save your life in times of danger.
"Also, I have another idea. I'd like you to study it and see if you can recreate the magic formation structure of the spells engraved on the accessories so that we can cast them directly."
Claude didn't buy the magic accessories for fun or for their value. What he wanted was the spells engraved on them.
Those were spells he hadn't mastered yet. Perhaps these magic items would become a source for him to collect more spells.
Compared to deriving the magic formation structure of a spell from thin air, it was much easier and safer to recreate the spell from these items.
Deducing a spell required continuous casting and experimentation in order to find the best structure of the spell's magic array. The slightest bit of carelessness would result in a mana backlash, which would injure the caster.
On the other hand, it was much easier to recreate the magic array structure of a spell from these magic items. As long as one copied the magic array engraved on the magic item, they would be able to understand the entire structure of the spell. Then, they would be able to cast the spell with their own mana, and the success rate would be 80% to 90%.
"I understand. I'll study these magic accessories carefully." His sister packed up all the things.
"What are you doing tomorrow?" she asked.
"Tomorrow, I'm going out for a day to visit Majordomo Felidos, Uncle Tomas and the others. I have to greet these people with connections.
Otherwise, they'll say I'm rude or something, "Claude grumbled. He would rather stay at home and sleep in.
But he had no choice. Most of the people in Whitestag would know that he was back after wiping out Langbark's gang. It would be rude if he didn't pay them a visit.
"Then take off this uniform, and I will wash it tonight and dry it. Tomorrow you will wear this uniform when you visit. It will be polite," said his sister.
"It's late. You should get some rest. This uniform doesn't look dirty at all. It'll be fine to wear it tomorrow."
"No, it's already stained. You'll be able to see it if you look closely.
I'll use a spell to clean it for you tonight. It won't be too much trouble. Hurry up, "she urged.
"Alright, alright. Whatever you say."
Claude had no choice but to take off the uniform and hand it to her. He actually brought another uniform with him, but it was a little older than the one he was wearing.
After she left, Claude collapsed on his bed.
It was the home he hadn't been to for five years. Claude felt rather at ease lying on the bed and soon fell asleep.