Chapter 20
Chapter 20
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Job Selection (1)
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"Duchess, tell me everything in as much detail as you can. Everything you remember."
Prince Ragna asked in a bored tone.
Canelian, wrapped in shock, recalled the first time she met Baron Caron, the Empire's Swordmaster.
Gentle, kind, resolute.
The epitome of a noble knight, brimming with the qualifications and authority of a Swordmaster.
'He lied to me?'
She couldn't believe it.
If she hadn't seen the prince calmly discussing Silvret's magic error, she might have thought he was deceiving her.
Submerged in shock, Canelian dredged up her memories.
"The first time I met Baron Caron was when I was eight years old..."
Canelian recalled her memories in as much detail as possible.
How happy she had been under the Swordmaster's guidance, and how quickly she had progressed.
It was her childhood before age ten, but the experience had been so intense that the memories were still vivid.
Yet the prince's reaction was indifferent.
"That guy must have had his eye on you quite a bit, Duchess. With only one frail older sister, he didn't care at all about the Elryad ducal heir."
"Thinking back, that might be why my parents didn't approve of the study abroad."
"And you, Duchess?"
"I didn't want to be separated from my sister, so I remember refusing Baron Caron's offer right away."
"Caron probably thought the ducal couple had already drilled into you to reject any proposals to leave the duchy."
"Pardon?"
"He must have figured you'd been warned beforehand to turn down any offer to depart from the Grand Duke. So he took it as an affront and retaliated."
"R-retaliation?"
Canelian tilted her head, unable to comprehend.
In her memories, Swordmaster Caron had always been kind and benevolent.
His relationship with her parents had always been good, too.
Retaliation out of nowhere?
"I don't remember anything like that."
"Two years after Caron left, the Empire raised tariffs across the board, which hit the duchy pretty hard, didn't it? And it's still in effect."
"Pardon? But that applied equally to our duchy and every other nation on the continent, didn't it?"
"They couldn't openly single out the duchy without it looking bad. And they timed it deliberately two years later."
"...W-why didn't my parents ever say a word to me about it?"
"They couldn't go around badmouthing the Empire's Swordmaster as petty, or it might escalate. That's why the ducal couple just quietly endured it."
That was the beginning.
Every time Canelian recounted an anecdote about Caron, the prince pointed out the issues one by one, methodically.
"That wasn't praise for the ducal family; it was a warning that there would be consequences if you didn't hand over the duchess as his disciple."
"Ha, that bastard was convinced you'd become the youngest Swordmaster. That's why he boasted that with his full guidance, you'd reach Swordmaster in your twenties."
"Suspicious, right? Those actions smack of ulterior motives beyond just taking a disciple. It was really the right call not to study abroad in the Empire."
The prince dissected it piece by piece.
And as she listened to his logic, her doubts grew: 'Did Caron really have those intentions?'
The prince's interpretations were just too plausible.
Looking at the stunned, frozen Canelian, the prince smirked.
"If you still can't believe it, go ask Duchess Ceres."
Canelian staggered to her feet.
Silvret also rose and bowed politely.
"Then, Your Highness, we shall see you tomorrow during Princess Raisha's lesson."
"You've worked hard."
"We are most grateful."
The two women left the prince's residence.
Before parting outside the prince's palace, Silvret bowed demurely.
"I look forward to the name of the spell you will create for me, Duchess."
"...Thank you for entrusting me with such an honorable task."
Canelian returned to the guest palace in a daze.
Her older sister Ceres was buried in mana herb cultivation logs and ledgers.
"Sister, I have a question."
"Hm? What is it?"
"A while back, the Empire suddenly raised trade tariffs and hasn't lowered them since, right?"
"Uh? W-why do you ask?"
Her sister suddenly looked flustered.
Canelian's heart grew cold with unease.
"Was that because of me by any chance?"
"..."
"Because I didn't go study in the Empire, so Baron Caron...! Gasp!"
Suddenly, Ceres clamped her hand over her mouth and glanced around.
Canelian gently pried her sister's hand away and spoke calmly.
"No one's listening. I've checked."
"Where did you hear that?"
"...From the prince."
"Ah, I see."
Only then did Ceres relax.
Brushing aside her earlier fluster, she patted Canelian's shoulder.
"You absolutely must not bring that up in front of others. Our duchy has no issues whatsoever with that person."
"...So the prince was telling the truth."
"Father told me later. He said it was the first time he'd seen someone so two-faced and insidious, and that a Swordmaster like that was a calamity for the entire continent."
"...That bad?"
"If you ever meet him later, don't show any sign of it—treat him with utmost courtesy. Who knows what vile thing he might do otherwise.
You can tell from how he's kept those tariffs raised for over ten years."
Canelian returned to her bedroom.
As she flopped onto the bed, she finally realized she was still clutching the legendary artifact.
'Oh, I need to return it tomorrow.'
And the next day.
Canelian went to the prince to return the sword, but he just smiled and shook his head.
"Carrying multiple swords for Aura Blade must be such a hassle. That sword is yours now."
"...Thank you. I won't forget this kindness."
A few days passed.
Similar days repeated every day.
The prince observed Raisha's magic lessons, then attended Silvret's private lectures afterward.
The lectures turned into scholar-like debates toward the end, and Canelian stuck it out to the finish, even as she dozed off.
Silvret marveled at the prince's profound theoretical knowledge while also feeling regretful.
"Your Highness, is it truly impossible? Is even this simple Magic Missile that difficult for you?"
"Professor, I think I need to learn magic a different way."
"What other method do you have in mind?"
"By hunting monsters in real combat and observing their mana flows, which differ from humans'."
"How do you plan to hunt monsters when you can't even cast Magic Missile properly?"
For several days, I experimentally received magic instruction from the elf Object.
And it confirmed my suspicions.
'As expected, I can't learn magic the same way as the NPCs... no, the humans in this world.
I need to level up and choose a job.'
Dragon Defense starts with no job at character creation.
After progressing through the Tutorial [Extinction of the Fallen Kingdom] linked quest and hitting level 2, you choose your job.
Completing the tutorial gets you exactly to level 5.
Then you start the main story with 2 attack skills and 1 utility skill.
I need to hit level 2.
No quest EXP, so I have to hunt monsters first.
'Obviously can't do it solo; I need a bus.'
The lowest-level monsters in this world are level 5.
Scaled to the player level at tutorial completion.
I subtly asked the Object, whose favorability seemed pretty high.
"Your Highness, no. That would be pointless killing."
She refused outright, which stung.
"Professor, do elves consider monsters lives that must be protected too?"
"That's not it. Monster subjugations must be limited to only what's absolutely necessary.
Preventive hunts, city expansions, farmlands or mines—without practical reasons like those, they shouldn't be done for sport."
The Object glanced at me cautiously and persuaded calmly.
"The more monsters you kill, the sooner stronger ones are born or monster waves are triggered.
That's why subjugations must be strictly necessary."
Ah, she's talking about the respawn system.
If you hunt too many in a specific area, respawn speeds up gradually.
Population increases bit by bit.
It's an excellent population control respawn system to prevent users from fighting each other over hunting grounds.
"That's exactly why I want to subjugate them. I want to observe what happens when monsters die using these eyes enhanced by the Ancestor."
This excuse should win her over.
"Indeed...! If it's for scholarly reasons like that, I'd be happy to assist!"
I'd originally planned to ask Canelian.
But going around alone with Canelian feels a bit burdensome.
'Xante? Would that Royal Shadow Guardian secretly tail us too?'
Come to think of it, I haven't seen him since.
Can't exactly ask the King when he's barely conscious with ceremonies every day.
"Ob... Professor Silvret, since this experiment requires secrecy, let's move quietly, just the two of us."
"Just the two of us?"
The Object flinched slightly, then bit her lip as if steeling herself.
"...Understood. I'll prepare accordingly."
"I trust only you, Professor."
A minor issue arose.
Places like the royal castle, full of people, are that much farther from monster habitats.
The closest is the Karbalon Mountains.
'If the level gap exceeds 5, there's an EXP penalty; over 10, you get zero. So head to where the weakest ones cluster.'
Before departure.
I summoned the Prime Minister to check the royal finances.
The Prime Minister's face brimmed with vitality, no trace of his near-death pallor.
"All debts nobles owed to foreign nations have been settled.
The royal debts to nobles remain mostly, but thanks to mana herbs, we're in the black—no worries at all."
"Good. No need to fret about rebellions then."
"Your Highness? How could such...! No fool would dare rebel against the royal family of dragon blood in our Arcana!"
The royal legitimacy was far sturdier than I'd anticipated.
Even after that holy site pilgrimage fiasco, no one but me worried about rebellion, apparently.
'This is the symbolism of the continent's oldest house, descendants of the dragon?'
"Prime Minister, has the Empire proposed mana herb trade yet?"
"A formal request should come soon."
"Sell to the Empire at minimum ten times the price."
"Your Highness?"
"No, even tenfold won't curb their buying frenzy. Just refuse to sell mana herbs to the Empire outright. Make up the reason yourself."
"Wh-why? The Empire is the biggest market..."
"The Empire crawls with insidious snakes. Stable mass supply of mana herbs would make them stronger over time.
Then they'd try dominating all the kingdoms and duchies on the continent, including our Arcana."
The flustered Prime Minister's eyes lit up in understanding.
"Brilliant...! You're thinking 100 years ahead. Understood—I'll craft a suitable pretext to refuse the trade."
Boosting the national power of that snake pit full of schemers would just make headaches later.
It's also petty revenge against that Caron bastard who messed with my companion NPC Canelian.
Wonder how much this decision will shave off Canelian's dislike for me.
As usual, Canelian went to visit the prince but was puzzled to hear from the maid that he wasn't in the prince's palace.
"Do you know where he went?"
"No, Your Grace. His Highness said nothing."
After a moment's thought, Canelian went to find Princess Raisha.
"Princess, where is Professor Silvret?"
"The professor said she'd be organizing magic theory in the study today."
For some unknowable reason, an ominous premonition.
Canelian hurriedly headed to Silvret's residence.
No need to check visually—her Swordmaster senses clearly told her.
No one was there.
"Ha, these guys...? W-wait! What did I just say?"