Magic Chronicles : Fallen Race

4/5

"Isha, come here quickly."

Inside the selection hall, the lord of Stoneheim City called a little girl and brought her in front of Reji.

At the city gate, Reji had refused the city lord's invitation to a banquet to "freshen up" and directly got to the point.

Now, in this hall, the descendants of various upper-class families in Stoneheim City were gathered. As long as they were under the age of ten, almost every family would try to send them over, even if it was just to try their luck.

After all, even if they weren't selected by Reji, the executor from the Upper Senate, getting a blessing or recognition would still be of great benefit to them and would be a topic of conversation and a way to gild themselves in the future.

For example, right now.

As the city lord, taking advantage of his position, he definitely put his own little daughter as the first candidate.

The graceful little girl stood in front of Reji. She was wearing a noble-style skirt, a butterfly tie, shiny little leather shoes under white stockings. She was obviously carefully dressed up. Just standing there, her well-behaved appearance could make people have a good impression at first glance.

Even later, under the city lord's suggestive gaze, Isha called Reji "Lord Executor" in a sweet voice, and her eyes full of respect and admiration made it hard for Reji not to suspect that she had probably been trained in advance.

"Lord Executor, this child has shown a special interest in magic since she was young. Other girls want dolls and stuffed bears as toys, but Isha is different. She buries her head in my study room all day. Her mother has called her to eat several times, but she wouldn't come out. It really worries us."

The city lord pretended to be chatting and complaining to Reji, but he was actually implying his daughter's talent in magic. Then, the city lord turned to his daughter and said, "Isha, didn't you recently learn a new spell and kept saying there were parts you didn't quite understand? Now that Lord Executor is here, why don't you take the opportunity to demonstrate it?"

The little girl immediately understood her father's meaning and came to the "testing" area of the hall. There were many wooden stakes here, specifically used for demonstrating magic.

Then, Isha closed her eyes and entered a state of meditation, as if gathering mental power. Immediately after, she quickly took out a magic wand, aimed it at one of the straw dummies, and chanted.

"...IGNIS!"

Instantly, a burning flame rose from the girl's magic wand and, following the girl's command, flew towards the straw dummy not far away. Although the flame was not very fierce, it seemed to be greatly enhanced the moment it touched the wooden stake, immediately igniting the entire straw dummy and starting a big fire.

Regardless of how good this spell was, at least on the surface, it was done well, drawing exclamations of surprise and envy from the surrounding nobles and children.

And it was when everyone was attracted by the "Flame Arrow" that the city lord took the opportunity to approach Trite, who was Reji's assistant.

He secretly took out a large gold ingot from his sleeve and stuffed it towards Trite.

Trite only glanced at it, but he was also very experienced in business. He was very professional, made no sound, and quickly accepted it. Afterwards, his facial expression didn't change, as if nothing had happened.

Seeing this, the city lord also seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, and a happier smile bloomed on his face again.

After all, there were indeed some relatively "strict" executors who did not accept bribes, but fortunately, judging from the behavior of this new executor's subordinate, he had definitely taken a lot of money.

Flame Arrow, the most classic basic spell among the first-tier spells. But being able to cast it from the hands of a seven or eight-year-old girl was still a remarkable thing. If it was real, then this little girl's magical talent definitely had the potential to become a mage in the future.

However, unfortunately, Reji's magical perception saw through this little trick at a glance. The Flame Arrow had nothing to do with the little girl at all. It relied entirely on the magic wand, which had been temporarily enchanted with the ritual runes of Flame Arrow.

And on the side of the straw dummy, some flammable material had probably been added in advance, which was why it caught fire with a single touch, making the spell's power seem greater.

However, Reji didn't expose it and handed over the subsequent process steps to Trite, the actual "rightful" executor.

The Demon Race's preparations for "all-out war" also required time.

So Reji was not in a hurry for this main quest of "dismantling the psionic wall".

Why not take advantage of this current identity as an executor to observe more and first understand the relationship between the Mage Nation and the psionic wall?

Trite first stood out and, in front of the many dignitaries of Stoneheim City, praised Isha, complimenting the little girl's outstanding talent and saying that she would definitely achieve something in magic, and so on.

Although the city lord was a bit disappointed that it wasn't Reji, the executor himself, who personally stepped forward, and it was only his subordinate apprentice, he was actually already satisfied.

His main purpose was this. This way, in the future, he could say that his daughter had been recognized by the executor from the Upper Senate, which would bring unlimited advantages to his daughter in the future.

Next, Trite took out a token, which was the item that could search for children with true magical talent.

He tested it on Isha, and needless to say, the token did not react. Isha and the city lord's little trick could fool others, but the token, which was transformed based on a relic, definitely couldn't be fooled.

Of course, Trite had taken people's money after all and wouldn't expose it on the spot. For those who wanted to save face, he would say that they weren't selected because they weren't lucky enough, giving them a way out.

After the biggest privilege of the city lord's daughter, it was the nobles' turn.

Wave after wave of officials and dignitaries from all walks of life in Stoneheim City began to rush over and bring their children to Trite for testing.

There were also many who, like the city lord, prepared some tricks for their children to deceive others, putting on a show of performing magic, and then taking the opportunity to stuff money to Trite.

What they wanted was for Trite to praise their children in person, just like he did for the city lord's daughter.

As for Reji, they didn't dare to approach him.

After all, they saw that even the city lord's daughter was only dealt with by this executor's subordinate apprentice. They, who were of even lower status, definitely had no way to reach Reji.

After a round, there were quite a few who could make the token react, a total of more than a dozen.

But under Trite's subtle manipulation, only three of them were selected as the "chosen children" and given spots, while the rest of the children, even if the token reacted, were all rejected.

Reji observed that the families of these three children basically did not belong to the top-tier nobility, and even in Stoneheim City, they belonged to the second or third-tier, barely able to squeeze into the middle-class of the nobility.

When everything was over, Trite, who had been surrounded by nobles and even the city lord in the selection hall earlier, quickly changed roles when he returned to Reji's side in private.

Trite hurriedly put away the infinitely glorious appearance he had in the hall earlier and even took the initiative to explain the ins and outs to Reji, this "replacement", without Reji having to ask.

Trite saw Reji's doubts about the selection and explained this first.

"My lord, you also know that these children we select are not going to the Upper Senate at all, but are completely sent to the psionic wall to be used as energy, so basically they won't come back."

"Even if they can come back, they will basically be completely different people, so the higher-ups require us to try not to choose those with power and influence when selecting people. Otherwise, a few years later, when they discover something wrong with their children, it will be troublesome if they make a fuss."

"So you see, we just choose these middle-class people who have just touched the edge of nobility. Although they have some achievements, their foundation and accumulation are not good. They are all people who have struggled up from the bottom. To put it bluntly, they don't have much power, so they are particularly eager to climb up and attach great importance to our selection."

"So..."

Trite obsequiously handed over all the bribes he had collected this time, various jewels, jewelry, precious metals, or the most straightforward checks, etc., to Reji.

If converted, they had produced nearly hundreds of thousands of gold coins worth of benefits in just half a day.

And almost a third of this came from the middle-class parents of those three children.

They were almost going to faint from happiness that their children were selected, all falling into ecstasy, and kept trying to give money to Trite, saying that they wanted Trite to take good care of their children no matter what.

In Trite's words...

"My lord, did you see? They should even thank us."

The nobility was the big source of earning benefits. The money Trite used to buy the "executor" position could basically be recouped a lot through this wave of harvesting.

But although the money was earned, the task quota still had to be completed.

They had to find fifty children who could make the token react with "white light" and send them to the Crown Prince's governor and then transport them to the core of the psionic wall. If there were children of "blue light" quality, the quota could be appropriately reduced.

These children who were destined to be sacrificed had to be found among the commoners. After all, it didn't matter if the children from commoner families died or lost contact. Even if they noticed something was wrong, it would be very difficult for them to make any waves.
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And just like the nobles, those commoner children with magical potential that Trite searched for with the token, their parents, when facing Trite, behaved even more exaggeratedly than the nobles.