Chapter 118
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 118
“Colin, you’re only human, so I understand wanting to look out for your fellow disciples. But asking me to hire someone useless just because they’re your peer is…”
“No, no! It’s not like that! I didn’t call for her; she came looking for me, insisting on an audience with Your Grace!”
Colin waved his hands frantically at Lucian’s words. He explained that he wasn’t trying to introduce a friend out of favoritism, but because of an unavoidable reason.
“I know Your Grace isn’t one to believe in astrology! It’s just that I owe her a debt I simply couldn’t ignore!”
“A debt? What kind of debt?”
“A debt regarding a divination. Do you remember what I told you when I first met Your Grace?”
“Ah, that.”
Lucian recalled the day he first met Colin. After burning Godfrey to death, Colin had abruptly asked Lucian to take him in. When Lucian had pressed him on where he got the nerve to do such a thing, the answer had been a divination.
Lucian still vividly remembered how speechless he had been, dumbfounded that Colin had come all that way based solely on a fellow mage’s prophecy.
“If I recall, you said that if I let you go, I would become a grim reaper, but if I took you in, I would become a benefactor?”
“Exactly. I clung to Your Grace based on that single divination.”
“And it turned out to be right, in the end. Thanks to clinging to me back then, you’ve even become the Chief Mage of Asagrim.”
“That’s the problem. If the divination had been wrong, there wouldn’t be any debt to speak of, but it turned out exactly as she predicted. Therefore, I still have an unpaid debt to her.”
“I suppose that’s true.”
Lucian stroked his chin, lost in thought. To be honest, he still didn’t believe in fortune-telling and had no intention of having his fortune read. However, Colin was no longer just an ordinary retainer; he was one of Lucian’s inner circle. If it was to clear a debt for one of his closest aides, meeting a single fortune-teller wasn’t out of the question.
“Fine. I’ll meet her once.”
“I thank Your Grace for your mercy!”
“However, keep in mind that a meeting is all it will be. There is no place for a fortune-teller in the White Palace. If she truly wishes to work here, she’ll have to prove she has skills beyond divination.”
“I will make sure she understands that.”
Colin bowed several times before scurrying away.
A short while later, Colin returned with a woman by his side. The woman, who had striking red hair, knelt before Lucian.
“I greet His Grace, Duke Grimaldi. I am Helen, and I studied alongside my senior, Colin, under the Celestial School.”
“Right, a pleasure. I heard you asked Colin for an audience with me. What is the matter?”
“I have come to serve Your Grace, even with my meager skills. Please, take me into your service.”
At Helen’s request for employment, Lucian glanced at Colin. His gaze asked if Colin had truly explained the situation properly, and Colin nodded vigorously.
Seeing this, Helen smiled thinly and explained.
“My senior explained everything clearly. He told me Your Grace neither believes in nor seeks out divinations.”
“You’re well-informed. Then what does an astrologer mean by wanting to serve me? Do you want me to use you for schemes?”
Lucian himself didn’t believe in such things, but there were plenty of people in the world who did. There were countless people who placed absolute faith even in the charlatans running stalls on the street. If that was the case for ordinary people, many would lose their heads over a mage’s divination. If he used her against a rival lord who was weak to superstition, she might be useful.
“The moment a false divination is exposed, your head will be on the block, so it would be a one-time role. But if that’s the kind of position you want, I can arrange it.”
“Forgive me. It may sound arrogant, but I do not speak false divinations. One who covers the truth they have seen with their palm will eventually find themselves unable to see anything at all because of that very palm.”
“I’m sorry, but I have no interest in divination. If you want to work as an astrologer, look elsewhere.”
“I did not come here seeking work as an astrologer. I wish to lend my wisdom to Your Grace as an advisor.”
“An advisor?”
Lucian chuckled and tapped the armrest of his throne. An astrologer advisor—wasn’t that a familiar trope?
“As far as I know, kings who relied on divination often took astrologers as advisors. And the countries those kings led usually ended in ruin.”
“This is not advice based on a divination, but advice based on my own pure opinion. If you find me untrustworthy, then please, at least listen to this one piece of advice I offer now.”
“Speak, then. But don’t resent me for ignoring it after you’ve gone to the trouble of saying it.”
“I will provide Your Grace with an army.”
Lucian blinked at the sudden, out-of-context statement. She said she was giving advice, and now suddenly an army?
“I have no need for an army. The elites dispatched by the Imperial Family and the Blue Rose Knight Order are already guarding Asagrim. Raising an army here would only waste more of the budget.”
“The troops borrowed from the Imperial Family are not Your Grace’s army. Their loyalty lies with the Imperial Family, not you. They are merely guests who will return the moment the Imperial Family calls for them. Is what Your Grace needs right now not an army that offers you absolute loyalty?”
“Hmm.”
She wasn’t wrong. In fact, that was why he had originally planned to raise an army once the territory stabilized. Although he had shifted his strategy toward fully winning over the Blue Rose Knight Order after realizing they were more dissatisfied with the Imperial Family than expected, her insight was not bad for an outsider.
Lucian tilted his chin, signaling her to continue, and Helen went on.
“Of course, Your Grace likely already knows this and has your own plans. However, no matter what method you use, training elite soldiers takes time.”
“That’s obvious. Surely you aren’t suggesting we bring in troops from elsewhere to shorten that time?”
Lucian’s eyes instantly turned cold. The reason he intended to train his own elites, even if it took a long time, was simple. In the process of turning a rabble into elites, they would become more loyal to the lord who supported them. In contrast, those who were already elites knew their own value and would demand treatment to match. To the soldiers he raised, the process of growth itself was a debt of gratitude, but for others, no such bond existed. There was a reason Lucian gave the best treatment to the Blue Rose Knight Order and the Imperial elites.
“That is correct. The political climate is too chaotic to spend time turning a rabble into elites.”
Despite the shift in the atmosphere, Helen didn’t even blink as she agreed. Just as a disappointed Lucian was about to speak, she continued.
“Beyond the snowfields, in the Frozen Land—the land of ice that only a tiny few can now traverse—those who share your ancestry are still alive.”
“…What?”
Lucian asked back blankly, caught off guard by the unexpected statement. At the same time, the last conversation he’d had with Norbeck flashed through his mind.
—Before our ancestors settled in Asagrim, back when they lived as barbarians. There were thirty-five tribes in the snowfields much further north than this land.
A secret history unknown to most Northerners. The true roots of the Northern Royal Family. And they were still alive?
As Lucian sat there stunned, Helen’s voice reached his ears.
“Embrace the tribes beyond the snowfields and become the true King of the North.”
Lucian decided to set Helen’s proposal aside for the time being. The immediate priority was the settlement of the commoners, not acquiring an army. Helen, naturally, agreed with his choice.
“I do not mind waiting, but I have no wish to be a useless mouth to feed. If there is any work left over, please entrust it to me.”
“Can you handle magic research with Colin?”
“I am sorry, but I do not think that will work. Even though we are both mages, what my senior and I learned are of completely different natures.”
“I heard you were from the same school. Are they really that different?”
“It is like the difference between a soldier thrusting a spear and one operating a catapult. Both are in the war, but their skills are different.”
When she put it that way, he had nothing to say, but there wasn't much else to entrust to a mage. Divination was out of the question since Lucian didn't want it, and physical labor was impossible with those slender arms. The only thing left was the administrative work of the territory.
“Do you know anything about territorial affairs?”
“Very little, but I pride myself on having received a basic education equal to that of any official.”
“Then gather the minor reports and sort them by department. That should be simple enough for someone with basic literacy.”
He said it, but he didn't expect much. Territorial work often became a mess no matter how well it was categorized. It wasn't because the officials were incompetent, but because handling one task often involved dealing with matters from other departments. It was technically an overstepping of authority, but for minor issues, it was much more efficient to handle it immediately and ask for understanding later.
‘In reality, asking them to meet and coordinate every single thing is a waste of time. Once one task starts getting delayed, everything else inevitably grinds to a halt.’
Lucian was aware of this, but since people were more important than paperwork, he allowed for a reasonable amount of flexibility. It was better to handle things quickly, even if it was a bit messy, than to have work pile up and cause confusion among the commoners. To put it another way, the moment the categorization went wrong, work would be significantly delayed, and all eyes would immediately turn to the person in charge.
‘If you truly aim for the position of advisor, you should at least be able to handle this much.’
Bringing incredible information was one thing; her personal ability was another. If she couldn't demonstrate proper competence, there was no reason to give her a high position.
A few days later, when Lucian went to check on the officials, he was met with a flood of praise.
“The number of useless reports has dropped drastically! There were so many clueless demands that just filtering them out took forever!”
“I checked the discarded documents just in case, and she had perfectly separated the important ones.”
“A truly capable person seems to have joined us. I’d like to train her as my successor; could you please assign her under me?”
“…I’ll think about it.”
Lucian gave a vague answer and called Colin aside.
“Does a mage’s education include an understanding of territorial affairs? Can you handle territorial work like that too?”
“How could that be possible?! I’m the one who’s most surprised! I never imagined Helen had such a talent!”
“I thought you were from the same school?”
“We were in the same school, but what we learned was completely different! My master told me that if someone who hasn't even matured yet tries to learn both, they’ll end up overextending themselves and failing at both, so I didn't even dream of trying to sneak a peek at her studies!”
In short, even her senior, Colin, didn't know exactly what she had learned.
After a month had passed, Lucian summoned Helen again. If she were just a fortune-teller with a silver tongue eyeing an advisor position, it would be one thing, but since she was a talent who had proven herself to some extent, her words were worth hearing in detail.
“I have one thing to ask. As far as I know, the path beyond the snowfields is so harsh that it’s impossible to cross without sacrifices.”
“It is as you say. Because it has grown even colder than before, now only a tiny handful of mages can manage to open a path and travel back and forth temporarily.”
“Then how am I supposed to cross those snowfields? Even if I cross, it would be meaningless if those tribes cannot follow me back to Asagrim.”
At Lucian’s question, Helen smiled and spoke.
“It is simple. You just need to obtain the Dragon’s Heart.”