Have Magic - Chapter 73



Only Noblemtl

Embrace the Magic (73)

After returning to his room, Rodin thought back to what he had heard during dinner. The person who had said that the fortress city of Flanders had fallen was not a merchant, but a mercenary.

‘There’s no way the mercenaries would have heard the news through magical communication.’

There was a high probability that he had seen the collapse of Flanders himself or heard about it from other mercenaries. If so, it must have been quite some time since Flanders actually collapsed.

‘If the mercenary had traveled lightly, it would have taken him about four or five days to get here. In that case, it would have fallen five or six days ago.’

From the Empire’s perspective, Flanders was not a particularly attractive city. The fortress city was a place where it was rare to see wealthy merchants or wealthy nobles.

‘I’ll just kill the ones I can kill in one day and then head south again.’

Unlike Flanders, Bontis was a place where merchants who traded with Beros and the Kingdom gathered. There were many wealthy merchants and a considerable number of high-ranking nobles.

‘Bontis is a city coveted by the Empire.’

War puts a strain on the finances of a country. No matter how wealthy the Ingrem Empire was, its finances would have been devastated by the long war.

In such a situation, the wealthy city was an unmissable prey. To attack it, Flanders was merely a small obstacle to pass through.

‘The Imperial Army will be here soon. They will be here in three days at the earliest, or five days at the latest.’

There wasn’t much time to spare. We had to hurry so as not to run into the Imperial Army.

Rodin immediately packed his bags and checked outside. The sun was slowly setting.

“I don’t want to move at night, but I can’t help it.”

Rodin came out immediately and told the innkeeper to bring the horse from the stable.

“Where are you going, sir?”

“Yes, I have an appointment, so I’ll be back shortly.”

“Be careful. There is talk that the Imperial Army is already nearby.”

To the Ingram Empire, the wealth of Bontis was like rain in a drought. If they could just take Bontis, their already sagging livelihood would improve.

So, as soon as Flanders was destroyed, he sent the knights. He wanted to capture the rich men pulling carriages, even if he let the shabby ones go.

“Really? Already?”

“Yes. I heard that several people have already lost contact.”

“Oh. Where are you going, sir?”

“I was born here and have lived here my whole life, where would I go? The Ingram Empire says they won’t touch the commoners, so I guess I’ll have to trust them.”

This was a rumor spread on purpose by the Ingram Empire, in order to prevent wealthy commoners from escaping in advance, but many people fell for it.

‘There’s no point in telling you.’

The innkeeper had no intention of running away from here anyway. His base was all here and he had no intention of leaving.

“Then let’s go. Be careful.”

“Yes, sir.”

Perhaps because he had been resting for more than two months, the horse tied to the stable was too thick. It had gained so much weight that it seemed to move slowly.

He climbed onto the horse’s back. The sudden weight made the horse stumble.

“Oh my, I should have taken you for a ride more often.”

There was no one to blame.

I was so absorbed in my new studies that I skipped exercise and neglected my speech. It was all my fault.

Rodin rode his horse first to the general store. It was time to sell the potions.

It was obvious that the Ingrem Empire army that had destroyed Flanders would come here. Now, before the war, the price of potions was at its highest.

Some people, like Rodin, were willing to leave the city, but there were more people, like the innkeeper, who had no choice but to fight.

Potions were the lifeblood of those who had no choice but to fight.

“It went up as expected.”

In front of the general store, there was a sign that said, “Buy 45 gold unlimited wound healing potions,” along with the additional words, “Negotiation available.” It seemed like they were willing to buy it if they could.

“I came to sell potions.”

“Yes, it’s 45 gold.”

“There are quite a lot of them.”

Rodin had no intention of negotiating. He didn’t want to do it because it seemed like he was driving a cornered person into a corner.

“how much……?”

“It’s a 400 gap.”

“Huh? 400? Is that true?”

“Yes, we have 400.”

Rodin opened his backpack and showed off the potions inside. He took one out and handed it directly to the general store owner. It was to check the potion’s effectiveness.

“Sleep, please wait a moment. I will check it right away. And I will check 10 randomly.”

“Yeah, right.”

You don’t use the entire bottle to check the potion’s effect. You can check the potion’s effect by pricking it with a needle, applying just one drop, and dropping it on a special copper plate.

The general store owner took out nine more randomly from his bag. He held ten bottles, including the one Rodin had given him, and checked the potion’s effects inside the store.

“Oh, the quality is good. Is it made in Marshall Matap?”

“Would you like to buy it?”

“Of course. Just wait a moment. I’ll get some money. It’s a lot of money.”

I decided to sell 400 potions for 45 gold each. That’s 18,000 gold in total.

The general store owner went into the basement of the house attached to his store and took out the money himself. It was a gold coin with the inscription of the founding emperor of the Ingram Empire.

“Count it yourself.”

“Yeah, right.”

18,000 gold coins alone. It was much larger and heavier than the 400 potions.

Rodin counted out all 18,000 gold coins and stuffed them into his backpack. It was now three times heavier than it had been with the potion.

“Thank you, sir.”

“Yes. Okay, that’s it.”

Rodin rode his horse slowly out of the city. Fortunately, he was able to leave Bontis before the gates closed.

The horse couldn’t keep up the pace. An hour had passed since we left the city, but we hadn’t gotten very far.

“Stop!”

At that moment, a group of people appeared before my eyes. I thought they were imperial soldiers, but they were not. They were bandits dressed like vagrants.

“Hey, let’s go and put the bag down…”

“Fireball.”

Boom!

Before the bastard could finish his sentence, he fired a spell. The most famous fireball landed at the bastard’s feet.

“Eww!”

“If you block me again, I’ll die.”

At the softly murmured words, the thieves scattered to the left and right. The thieves who were indirectly hit by the fireball almost crawled to the side to avoid it.

“Here it is!”

I lightly kicked the horse’s waist. It seemed to loosen up a bit, and the horse moved a little more briskly than before.

“But where are you going?”

As long as the war continued, no matter where you went, it was not safe. You might have to make another midnight escape like today.

“I have to go to the central continent.”

If I had known this would happen, I would have moved with Bronn and his party. At least then I wouldn’t have been bored while moving.

“Melcos or Lance, which one should I go to?”

From here, the easiest way to get to the central continent was by boat. It was expensive, but I could comfortably focus on my studies on the boat.

There were two port cities close to Bontis.

Melcos, a port city at the southern end of the Kingdom of Riaz, and Rance, a port city in the southern part of the Kingdom of Beros.

The distance was closer to Lance in the Kingdom of Beros. It was a distance that could be reached in ten days even by horseback at a leisurely pace.

Also, when I boarded the ship, the voyage distance was a bit short. It was natural, since the ship departed from Melcos and passed through port cities in 13 countries, including Rance.

Instead, there was the problem of having to cross the border.

Although this was near the border, it was Riaz Kingdom territory. In order to cross the border, a rather complicated procedure had to be followed.

“The procedure isn’t the problem. If you’re not careful, you could get drafted.”

Normally, mercenaries would not be forcibly conscripted and sent into battle. The mercenary guild would not stand by and watch mercenaries suffer like that.

But the situation was too bad right now. The country was on the verge of collapse, so who would have the presence of mind to worry about the aftermath? It was clear that they would try to use every means at their disposal.

“Let’s go to Lance.”

I decided to just cross the border. It wasn’t hard to cross without being detected using magic.

* * *

The Ingrem Empire was pressuring the 13-nation alliance as a whole, but at some point, they concentrated their forces to the west. With these concentrated forces, they pushed back against the Kingdom of Riaz, which was the westernmost of the 13-nation alliance.

The concentrated power of the Ingrem Empire was terrifying. The front lines of the Kingdom of Riaz collapsed in an instant, and just five days ago, even the capital fell, unable to withstand the swords of the imperial army.

The choice of the King of the Kingdom of Riaz was to flee.

Two days before the siege of the capital, he took all the royal property, the royal family, the knights of the guard and the knights of the guard with him and escaped to the south.

Externally, they were planning to move the capital to the southern port city of Melcos and fight to the death. However, no one believed them.

Melcos was the departure point for ships that could cross to the central continent.

If they were the royal family of the Kingdom of Riaz, there would be several royal ships here. They could escape to the central continent at any time.

The news also reached the Kingdom of Beros.

The Kingdom of Paris, which borders the Kingdom of Veros, was considered the weakest nation within the 13-nation alliance. Furthermore, it lost most of its troops and gave up more than half of its territory to the continued attacks of the imperial army.

In this situation, you are fighting the Ingrem Empire, which has gained momentum by occupying the capital of the Kingdom of Riaz? It is a fight with no chance of winning.

In addition, the Kingdom of Beros had a terrain that was high in the north and low in the south. The Ingrem Empire, which occupied the north, could easily attack the low-lying Kingdom of Beros.

The troops were insufficient and their training was poor. Furthermore, the terrain was unfavorable.

Because they were so cornered, they originally planned to forcibly conscript mercenaries. They thought that if they could at least increase their numbers, they could do something.

But ultimately, that opinion was ignored.

The Kingdom of Beros moved east with all of its remaining troops and the royal family’s relatives and relatives. It was because they were not confident in doing it alone and wanted to join forces with other countries.

“Huh?”

Rodin rode hard eastward. The sun was rising, and just after noon he reached a place where the border was in sight.

But the border was empty. Nobles and merchants were coming and going freely without any checks.

“Hmm, maybe you decided to empty the land?”

It didn’t seem like a very good idea. A king who abandons his people would lose his position even if he won the war.

‘I understand if you’re thinking of running away instead.’

Rodin did not yet know that the King of the Kingdom of Riaz had fled to Melkos. However, seeing that the Kingdom of Beros had emptied its borders, he thought, ‘What if?’

“That’s great. That saved me a lot of trouble.”

Rodin entered the kingdom of Beros, mixing in with the people crossing the border.

Even after entering the Kingdom of Beros, Rodin continued to move south. He did not stop by the city near the border.

Rodin, who was riding south, pulled the reins. The horse came to a sudden stop and its weight shifted forward.

Rodin jumped down from his horse and looked ahead. More than thirty corpses were strewn everywhere.

“Huh, are they thieves?”

The king of a country disappeared, taking all his soldiers with him. Naturally, this led to a security vacuum, and crime ran rampant in the meantime.

The gruesome scene before my eyes was the result. Those who fled to the outskirts of the city to escape the authorities were looting and killing refugees.

“About five families?”

They were all dead, old, grown-ups, and children. They were even stripped of their clothes.

Depending on the situation, clothes can also be considered property. The thieves who attacked this place treated even the clothes as property and swept them all away.

“There was no need to kill the children.”

Rodin had vivid memories of being a slave when he was young. So he had a strong belief that children should be protected. He also got doubly angry when children were treated unfairly.

This time it wasn’t unreasonable. He was killed brutally on the spot without any guilt.

“They’re after me too. It’s better this way.”

A presence was felt from afar. At least a few dozen men were running madly toward them.

“Kill him!”

“He who kills first takes possession!”

“Ugh.”

They didn’t even say things like, ‘Stop’ or ‘Put what you’ve got down here.’ They just kept charging forward, each holding a weapon.

The attitude was to kill first and then take it away.

“Then I have no reason to look after you either.”

I chanted the runes while lightly forming a hand gesture. The spell was completed before they arrived.

“Shock wave.”

A shock wave of five circles spread out in a fan shape and engulfed the running men.