Chapter 23
Chapter 23
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: The Earl's Sudden Visit
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Ludwig Everglow, the Earl, headed straight for the capital.
He wasn't angry.
He believed there had to be a reason why his daughter Gwendolyn had quietly raided the wine cellar.
...Still, it did bother him just a little.
'She's not the type to drink alone...'
Drinking itself wasn't the issue. The real problem was who she'd shared it with.
The well-maintained stone road absorbed nearly all the carriage's jolts.
But the earl's mood was far less smooth than the pavement.
"Halt!"
At the lead knight captain's shout, the comfortable carriage came to a stop.
"What is it?"
"My lord! There's an orc about a hundred meters ahead. We'll handle it immediately."
"An orc?"
An orc right on the outskirts of the capital, of all places.
Ludwig clicked his tongue.
"The capital guard's slacking off."
Normally, he'd leave it to the knights. But that would cause a delay.
Ludwig wanted to see his daughter as quickly as possible.
"Pull back the knights. I'll handle it myself."
"Yes, sir!"
At Ludwig's command, the knights stepped aside.
As he stepped out of the carriage, the air around him vibrated faintly at his gesture.
Gulp. The surrounding knights tensed up.
Ludwig Everglow was a former legion commander on the northern front.
His military nickname? "Crematorium."
Ludwig pointed his staff—embedded with top-grade mana crystals—at the orc.
His lips moved.
"Flame." "Form—Spear." "Fivefold Division." "Detonate, Haste." "Target, Launch."
⟨ High-Level Macro Chant ⟩
This chant was on a whole different level from the lengthy prayers of ordinary mages.
It was a sort of "shortcut command."
Honed over centuries by the Everglow family—and refined by Ludwig himself throughout his life—this was the most efficient "high-level language (macro)."
Each word was a switch calling forth an enormous bundle of concepts.
The moment the chant ended, five blazing spears of flame materialized in the air and hurtled toward the orc like a storm.
Krunch. Whoosh.
Two spears struck true, embedding in the orc's shoulder and knee.
The rest missed.
Kroooarrrgh!
The beast roared in agony, staggering.
Its body engulfed in flames, the orc charged straight at the earl.
Thud thud thud!
The ground shook with each pounding step, and the knights braced their formation for the impact.
But the orc never reached them.
Thud thud...
Thud!
Not even ten paces in. It collapsed dead before getting anywhere near the knights.
Crackle crackle.
The flaming spears consumed the orc's body as fuel.
In a few hours, only ashes would remain—this spot turned into a crematorium.
Ludwig muttered in dissatisfaction.
"Failed to kill it instantly."
The farther the distance, the exponentially greater the error in projectile fire. Even with five flame spears, only two had hit.
As he climbed back into the carriage, the earl pondered.
'If only there were a more efficient way to kill...'
Come to think of it, he'd heard calculus was all the rage in the Magic Tower lately. Maybe that could improve accuracy?
This was my second time visiting Gwendolyn's villa.
I arrived right on time for our appointment, but oddly, there was no one in the hall who looked like an etiquette instructor.
I asked Gwendolyn,
"Where's the teacher?"
"Right here."
She pointed to herself.
"...You're the etiquette teacher, Gwendolyn?"
"Yes."
"You tricked me."
"Hee hee hee."
Gwendolyn giggled.
Digging a pit to steal my weekend time, huh.
"What's the reason?"
If she wanted to learn calculus, she could've just asked at the Magic Tower.
"I desperately wanted to tease you, Isaac, but I didn't actually trick you."
"Pardon?"
"No one my age has mastered imperial etiquette more perfectly than I have. So, I'm the best etiquette teacher there is."
"..."
She had a point.
She'd kept her composure even under Valerius's scolding.
She was definitely perfect for this.
And so my bizarre etiquette lessons began.
"Relax your shoulders and keep your back straight."
Her finger poked my hunched back firmly.
"Like this?"
"Not too straight!"
"Like this...?"
"No... sigh..."
I awkwardly straightened my posture.
She grabbed my wrist or turned my shoulders to correct me.
But my body still moved stiffly.
"Whew... I've never seen such poor body control."
"Ha ha."
All I could muster was an awkward laugh.
She said,
"Did you gain your magical talent in exchange for a curse that keeps your body from moving properly, Isaac?"
At that moment, the guard captain burst into the hall in a panic.
"Miss!"
Gwendolyn jumped away from me in surprise. She cleared her throat.
"Ahem. What is it?"
"Sorry to interrupt at such an important time. The earl... he's on his way to the villa right now."
Gwendolyn's face went pale.
"Father? Why all of a sudden?"
"I don't know... No messenger bird came either."
Gwendolyn seemed clueless about the reason too.
Talk about a bolt from the blue.
Should I hide in the closet?
I started edging toward the hall exit.
"Too late for that."
Grab.
Gwendolyn's hand clamped onto my shoulder.
My escape attempt failed miserably.
She said to me,
"Face my father using the etiquette we just practiced."
"...Can't I just hide?"
"Next week you'll have to meet the princess too. What's so scary about the head of the Everglow family?"
"..."
No matter how I looked at it, running seemed better...
I extended a mana field, scanning a 1km radius.
'Damn... too late to run for real.'
Riding the mana field, I sensed a massive blob of mana closing in.
That must be the earl. He was already almost at the villa.
"Think of it as a test. You can mess up in front of Father. I'll protect you."
"Father, this is my Magic Tower classmate, 'Isaac Uphills.' Isaac, this is my father, Earl 'Ludwig Everglow.'"
Bow.
I drew on every bit of etiquette I'd just learned, bowing as naturally as possible.
"Greetings, Earl Everglow. I'm Uphills."
"..."
Hearing the surname "Uphills," Ludwig nodded silently.
"Uphills, eh... Must've had a rough life."
"Not at all."
Guess my background scored points again. War orphan surname Uphills for the win.
Ludwig looked me straight in the eye and said,
"Before becoming family head, I was a legion commander in the north. My oversight played a part in why you ended up with that name."
"...No, sir. Not at all, my lord."
Cold sweat broke out. Just hearing about the military made me jumpy even in my sleep.
Then Gwendolyn spoke to her father.
"You've heard about Sir Valerius's new theory, right, Father?"
"Of course. Calculus, was it?"
"The wave theory that contributed massively to that calculus came from Uphills here."
"Oh ho."
Interest gleamed in Ludwig's eyes.
"So you're the one who received the medal."
"My humble abilities earned a token of imperial gratitude."
Nod nod. Ludwig nodded approvingly.
Gwendolyn then explained our situation—how she'd personally been teaching etiquette to a commoner like me.
At the end, she added,
"It's nothing strange, so don't get the wrong idea, Father."
"..."
That just makes it weirder.
Fortunately, Ludwig's expression didn't sour.
He smiled comfortably and asked me,
"How do you think leveraging calculus will change mage-to-mage combat?"
An unexpected question.
I'd thought he'd grill me about being with Gwendolyn, but apparently not.
Maybe he was more open-minded than I'd figured.
Anyway, I welcomed this kind of talk.
I answered immediately.
"Calculus will change the nature of warfare, but not the chaos of close-quarters melee."
"Is that so? Care to explain why?"
"Calculus is sensitive—even small errors cause massive swings in results. It's tricky to use reliably in the heat of melee."
"So you'd eat rebound from computation errors and be better off trusting instinct like always."
"Exactly."
"I like that answer. Except for one thing."
"Pardon?"
Ludwig's smile faded.
Moments later, his voice echoed directly in my mind. Telepathy magic.
—'How was the wine my daughter shared with you?'
"..."
I was speechless.
So that's what the buildup was for from the start.
Starting with calculus to gauge what kind of guy his daughter's drinking buddy was.
Fair enough—if it were my daughter boozing with some random punk, I'd rush over too.
This... even if I did nothing wrong, I had to apologize first and foremost.
Telepathy question, telepathy answer.
I connected to my mana field.
Through it, I'd inject information straight into his head.
I used a Fourier transform to break my intent into multiple waves and flowed them into the mana field.
These waves held no meaning until recombined, so Gwendolyn wouldn't hear.
Now, reassemble those decomposed mana waves right in front of Earl Ludwig.
Inverse Fourier transform.
Protocol complete. Transmit.
—'My apologies, Your Excellency, Earl Everglow.'
Did it go through?
The next instant, Ludwig furrowed his brow.
He staggered as if hit by a headache. Gwendolyn rushed to her father.
"Father, are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Just a brief dizzy spell."
Squirt.
Cold sweat.
Ludwig looked at me and said,
"Damn... First time I've felt something like that since getting mind-blitzed by the dean."
"..."
Did I mess up the power control? No words for that.
Gwendolyn gasped.
"Telepathy magic? Impossible! That's top-tier mental magic that only a handful of senior grad students can even attempt...!"
Ludwig nodded at her words.
"Impressive talent, for sure."
He continued,
"Uphills, how about leaving the Magic Tower and joining my command?"
"..."
What now?
"I'll provide every support befitting your talents. Help me crush the empire's rebels and safeguard the southern peace with your power."
Totally unforeseen.
Shouldn't he be saying something like, "I can't hand my daughter to a punk like you"?
'Does he want to keep me close to beat me up?'
A chill ran down my spine.
I slowly opened my mouth.
"I'm sorry, my lord, but... I'm no good with physical work. And killing people? I have zero talent for that."
"I see..."
Ludwig looked genuinely regretful.
"Then how about another proposal?"
He grinned and added,
"Marry my daughter Gwendolyn?"
"..."
"..."
His words left both Gwendolyn and me speechless.
I asked him,
"...Are you serious?"
"No. I wouldn't give her to a prince, let alone you."
Ludwig chuckled heartily as he stood.
"Still, you grew on me. If you ever need the Everglow family's strength, we'll help."