49 – Crudia Mountaineer Mercenaries – 2
Charles told Mariss to make a list of things she wanted to buy, and Maris made a list and brought it to Charles. Charles read the list.
“Shards of iron from the North, magic conductor, strong glue, soft mud from the Kingdom of Silonia, rubber extracted from the mulberry tree from the North, and gunpowder? This is not a magic tool, but a lineup that looks like it could develop a bomb?”
But it doesn’t matter. Developing a bomb would be even better. At this time, few monarchs were still paying attention to gunpowder weapons, and distributing advanced gunpowder weapons to the mercenary group that I would take over would give me a relative advantage over monarchs who had not introduced gunpowder weapons.
“price is… let’s see 27 Ducats 2 Thaler 12 Grossen? Isn’t it a big deal?”
This is slightly more than the monthly employment cost of Glacia. I expected about 50 ducats, but it cost much less than I thought.
“great. approved.”
Charles wrote a short letter and sent it with 28 ducats. It was because he had no change, and it was too cumbersome to go exchange gold coins.
And the next day, a long letter came from Maris.
[I got the material cost well! thanks for sending it! However, the material cost came much more than expected. Even after buying all the ingredients, there are still 2 Taler and 12 Grossen left. What is it? Since I can’t have enough money to cover my two-month living expenses, I’m sending it enclosed like this.]
After hearing that, I looked at the envelope and found that there were indeed several coins in it. Charles couldn’t help but burst into laughter. From Charles’ point of view, he didn’t have change, but it was annoying to change money, so he put in one more gold coin, but the change must have been quite large for Maris.
[And thank you so much for talking to me yesterday! It’s the second time I talk to other students after entering Arcadia Academy. In the first one, a girl asked for directions to the classroom, but after hearing from another girl next to me that I was a commoner, I gave up trying to ask for directions and just walked away. I’ve never been talked to by another cadet since. However, having a long conversation with a person for the first time after 6 months of entering the school, it felt like I had made a friend, so it was amazing and nice! I hope we can talk again next time!]
Seeing this, Charles laughed out loud, but at the same time felt sorry for him. Maris and the children of nobles were the same person, but to the nobles who were tightly united with a sense of privilege, Maris seemed to be regarded as something less than human.
“Well, even Charles Jean Rochepol was treated like that until I became possessed.”
Charles also rarely talked to anyone at the beginning of the semester. At least, even Charles, a fallen aristocrat who was better than a commoner, was like that. I’ve never seen Glacia talk to anyone else either, and the treatment of commoners at Arcadia Academy is probably similar.
“I’m going to go with Maris for a while.”
Glaciaya is so strong as a human being, but Maris seems to have a pretty soft heart. I felt sorry for him, and I thought that it would benefit me in the future if I became close to him, so I thought that there was nothing wrong with going with Maris half-heartedly and half-selfishly.
—–
For a few days after that, Maris and Glacia and I went together as a group of three.
Glacia, a commoner, Maris, a commoner, and I, a fallen nobleman, are like commoners.
As the three of them went together like that, naturally, among the children of high-ranking aristocrats, they were frowned upon.
“Look over there. Commoners are gathering among themselves.”
“Since the nobles won’t deal with you, did they decide to stick together?”
“Dirty things are clumped together, so the stench is even worse.”
If there is such a pointing gaze.
“That person is Charles!”
“He’s a war hero, but he fell in love with a commoner at first sight and proposed to her?”
“Kyaaak!”
There were also people who spread nonsensical rumors.
Either way, I decided to just ignore it. It might not be possible if there was direct violence like before, but now that there is Glacia, nobles can’t directly bully them, and they can only gossip.
At the cafe I arrived at, I asked Maris.
“How is the invention going?”
“yes! The thing you want is made. The destructive power is better than I thought.”
be destructive After all, it’s a military weapon, right? what to expect
“What did you make?”
“Look forward to the announcement day.”
I could have asked more, but I decided not to. He’s a genius inventor, but he tried to do well.
After chatting for a while, it was time for the next class.
—–
Meanwhile, Princess Lucrezia du Flos was drinking tea alone and thinking about Charles’ actions.
“A romance story between a man who suddenly made a fortune and a poor girl who was ostracized from the academy. It’s a story that playwrights and minstrels would love.”
In fact, the women in the academy were burning stories in untimely gossip. In reality, it was far from romance, but it was.
“The classic Cinderella story has been popular throughout the ages.”
Regardless of whether they have a lot of money or not, whether they have the ability or not, whether they are old or young, women have a romance in the story of meeting a handsome man and rising in status. It’s like having a romance with the story that men raise their status and win beautiful women.
“However… ”
Lucrezia du Flos thought. Charles Jean Rochepole, whom he recognized, was a very meticulous person. His actions in the military march of the crown prince were meticulous in itself. Wouldn’t it be strange for such a character to act without caring about the repercussions of what he’s done?
Perhaps there is a hidden backside to Charles Jean Rochepole’s attempt to befriend Maris? said.
“Micheletto.”
As she called someone’s name, a man in black appeared silently from behind the pillar. He was the head of the thieves’ guild personally run by Lucrezia du Flos.
“Please conduct a thorough investigation into the person named Maris.”
“Johnny.”
The man called Micheletto started disappearing again.
—–
For several days, Charles acted with Maris. Of course, there were not many times when the two of them were alone, but there were times when they ate together or went for a short walk.
Then one day, Maris suddenly burst into tears. Charles was restless, wondering if he had done something wrong, but Maris said:
“This is the first time I’ve been this happy… ”
I didn’t cry because I was sad, I cried because I was happy.
When I asked what they were so happy about, when I was chasing the mercenaries, there were only grown-up men, and after entering the school, I felt lonely because no one dealt with me.
Charles was absurd. I knew a little about his story, but I didn’t know he was this pitiful.
They went out together for a few days, but after that, Maris started to keep an eye on each other. He locked himself in his room and wouldn’t come out.
Read at noblemtl
Naturally, he rarely went out with Charles, but Charles didn’t care.
‘It’s time to get busy.’
The fact that Maris didn’t come out of the room also meant that he was starting to invent.
After three weeks of Maris locking herself up in her room, the day of scoring came. Most of the students started presenting their own artifacts to the grader.
Artifact scoring took place in the Academy’s backyard. It was to set up wooden puppets in the backyard and use artifacts against the puppets.
Someone made a ring enchanted with attack magic, and someone made a belt enchanted with shield magic. There were many products on the market.
Most of the students copied these commercial products. What is a commercial product? It refers to a product that has already been proven as a product that people buy with money. Therefore, copying commercial products as they are was a route to earn stable points.
But from time to time, there were also people who announced new artifacts of their own creation. However, less than 1 in 10 of these people did. In a word, geeks. And Maris belongs to that type.
So when Maris and Charles set out to show off their completely new invention, nobody expected much. One was a war hero, but his magic ability was a failing grade, and the other was a dwarf wizard with no presence, who may or may not have existed.
Then Maris stepped before the examiner and presented her invention. The invention was of a rather peculiar shape. It was a round iron ball, made by attaching pieces of metal together with glue.
“Well… What is that item used for?”
When asked by the examiner, Maris began presenting her invention.
“When I was doing chores on the battlefield, I saw several gunpowder weapons. Gunpowder weapons are truly destructive weapons. So I developed a weapon that mixes magic and gunpowder.”
“You mixed magic and gunpowder? Is it already on the market?”
“No, my group developed it first.”
Maris looked at Charles proudly, and Charles nodded. The examiner raised an eyebrow in interest.
“Then shall we take a look? Try it.”
“Previously… ”
Maris said to the other cadets.
“Everyone, take 20 steps back, please. This thing has great destructive power.”
“No need to worry about that. Shields are deployed in the stands.”
“Because my artifact can pierce shield magic.”
“Puff… ”
“The bluff.”
When Maris said that, the cadets laughed. Isn’t it possible that only a 1st year wizard could create an artifact so destructive that it could pierce the instructor’s shield magic?
However, when the inspector told them to back off, everyone got annoyed and backed off as instructed, and Maris began injecting mana into her invention.