LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 64
Chapter 64: Bite Down and Hang On Tight. (3)
Mana was sucked in with a whoosh, completing the magic circle.
Since Vanessa had mastered up to the 5th Circle, it was probably a 5th Circle spell.
Moreover, since it was fueled by Ghislaine’s Mana, its destructive power would be anything but negligible.
If all of this activated, the training ground would be obliterated, and the people outside would be seriously injured.
Whoooosh!
Ghislaine quickly began to block the surging flow of mana within Vanessa’s body one by one.
As the flow of mana decreased, the magic circles flickered and distorted.
‘This is dangerous.’
She couldn’t hold on like this forever.
But if Ghislaine let go, all of Vanessa’s life force would be drained.
As long as the magic wasn’t interrupted, it would keep activating endlessly.
Even if it was dangerous, she had to forcibly wake her mind.
“Ugh!”
Ghislaine spewed mana and instantly blocked all mana rods within her body.
As all pathways were shut off, the mana that had been swirling chaotically inside Vanessa came to a sudden halt.
Seizing that moment, Ghislaine shouted loudly.
“Open your eyes!”
Boom!
With a roar that shook the training ground, Vanessa finally regained her senses.
Shimmery…
The countless magic circles hovering in the air lost their light and vanished.
Ghislaine confirmed that the tumultuous mana had settled and slowly withdrew her hand from Vanessa.
“Ugh!”
Vanessa bent over and coughed up blood.
Despite the intense agony churning in her insides, she felt exhilarated.
She finally grasped what it meant to sense mana.
The trace amounts of mana lodged in her body bolstered her confidence.
“Ugh!”
Even while spitting out blood, she smiled. It felt like a blockage in her body had been cleared.
Through her dazed mind, she looked at Ghislaine.
The person who allowed her to feel mana—she felt an overwhelming gratitude at this moment.
Ghislaine smiled back at her, satisfied.
‘It went just as I thought. Still, it could have ended badly.’
To sense mana and then attempt multi-casting right away—an unexpectedly great result!
Seeing Ghislaine in such good spirits, Vanessa cautiously asked.
“Why… would you go this far for someone you just met?”
“Well, I need your strength. Are you going to help me?”
“Can I… really be of help to the Lord?”
Hearing that, Ghislaine responded with a grin as if she had heard something amusing.
“Oh yes, you’ll be a tremendous help. Now that you’ve sensed mana, I’m going to teach you the Mana Circulation Method. There’s something just right for you.”
Seeing Ghislaine’s playful expression, tears streamed down Vanessa’s face without her realizing it.
She was fortunate to have found a good mentor and entered the Mage Tower, the best in the North, but the reality was harsh.
Inferior talent, disdain from those around her, and a reality that didn’t change no matter how hard she worked.
The disdain of the people around her, a reality that wouldn’t change no matter how hard she tried.
It became worse after her master died.
Having fallen to the role of a maid, she suffered countless hardships, yet no one acknowledged her.
In fact, even the other maids bullied and ostracized her simply for being a former apprentice of a mage.
At the Mage Tower, she was nothing but an outsider, neither a mage nor a maid.
To her, who belonged nowhere, an unbelievable miracle was about to happen.
Vanessa’s lips quivered slightly.
“…I want to be helpful.”
“Hmm? What did you say?”
She genuinely felt a desire to help him.
“I…”
The noble in front of her broke all the chains that bound her with an unknown power.
She wanted to repay him for his kindness.
Gathering a bit more courage, Vanessa spoke again.
“I want to help you, my lord.”
“Don’t worry about that. I’m good at managing people. You should prepare yourself.”
Ghislaine chuckled cheerfully. Vanessa smiled too.
Ghislaine crouched down and looked into her eyes.
“Welcome to the Ghislaine Mercenary Corps, Vanessa.”
*
Under Ghislaine’s guidance, Vanessa began her training in the Mana Circulation Method in earnest.
He revised Perdium’s Mana Circulation Method into a safer way to accumulate mana.
If Count Perdium and his retainers found out, they would faint.
It was an unspoken taboo among nobles to tamper with a family’s vision or teach someone unrelated to the family.
But Ghislaine couldn’t care less about such trifles.
“If I could use the method I’ve been practicing, it would be quicker.”
Ghislaine’s Mana Circulation Method was tailored precisely for his body, so he couldn’t pass it on.
Even he found it hard to control the unstable flow; if someone else tried to learn, they would likely burst.
“A war is going to break out soon. Your magic will be really important then.”
Ghislaine explained to Vanessa about the upcoming events.
When something happens suddenly, it’s easy to flounder and miss the timing.
Being prepared in advance would allow her to respond properly when the time came.
“I… I still can’t use magic properly.”
“It’s okay. You’ve mastered spells up to the 5th Circle, right?”
“Y-yes, but I don’t have enough mana…”
Vanessa hadn’t gathered enough mana yet.
No matter how talented she was, there wasn’t enough time to develop it.
With the amount of mana she had collected, she could only cast very simple spells.
Flicker.
A light the size of a fist floated above Vanessa’s palm.
1st Circle spell ‘Light’. This was her current limit.
She looked at Ghislaine with a pout.
How could this possibly help in a war?
“W-What should I do? This isn’t much help…”
“Lack of mana can’t be helped. I’ll take care of that, so just focus on your training.”
Despite feeling anxious, Vanessa nodded her head.
“When is the war going to happen?”
“Probably within a month at the earliest? At the latest, it should happen within two months.”
It had already been a month and a half since they came out of the Forest of Monsters.
The enemies must have started preparing for war upon hearing the news.
Ghislaine hadn’t been idle during that time.
For the first month, he gathered mercenaries with the money made from selling Runestones.
The following two weeks were spent teaching Vanessa the Mana Circulation Method.
Although it took a long time, it was a necessary preparation to win the war.
*
As Vanessa reached a stage where she could gather mana on her own, Ghislaine began to reduce the time he dedicated to her and started handling the backlog of tasks waiting for him.
As they reached a certain point, Ghislaine began to cut down on the time he spent with her and started handling the backlog of tasks.
“Gillian, how’s the training of the mercenaries going?”
“No problems here. They’re now better than the average soldiers of any territory.”
Gillian replied with a satisfied expression.
Instead of focusing solely on individual strength, the mercenaries trained to move more organically together.
They had gathered individuals with a basic level of skill, so results were visible in no time.
Ghislaine pondered for a moment and then ordered Gillian.
“Then let’s slowly take them to the Forest of Monsters.”
Ghislaine led about three hundred mercenaries back into the Forest of Monsters.
When they initially charted their path, they had destroyed all the monsters’ habitats, but it was only natural that monsters would regroup in the empty spaces.
They needed to regularly clear the surroundings to prevent the monsters from establishing themselves.
“This time should be easier than the first, so don’t worry.”
The mercenaries who had been in the forest before laughed comfortably.
The newly recruited mercenaries followed behind them with tense expressions.
Having already cleared a path and secured the flesh and blood of the Blood Python, it should be safer than before as long as they stayed on course.
Thanks to the increased numbers, Ghislaine and the mercenaries easily cleared out the wandering monsters around and brought back a pile of runestones.
Ghislaine counted the remaining runestones and let out a deep sigh.
“We’ll need to save some for the future.”
Runestones weren’t an unlimited resource. While there were still plenty left, hauling in bulk twice had visibly reduced their numbers.
Ghislaine left the management of the mercenaries to Gillian and Kaor and returned to the castle.
“Alright, then maybe it’s time for me to train a bit.”
If he could grow even a bit stronger, he could save even one more person.
As he tried to head towards the training ground, his retainers rushed over.
Having heard the news about the new runestones, they had come running with eagerness.
“Grand Duke! Please give us some runestones!”
“We have things to do with them.”
“Just give us some! Hand them over!”
The retainers stubbornly held their ground. Reluctantly, Ghislaine parted with a tiny amount of runestones.
He had brought them with plans for their use, so he couldn’t just hand them out freely.
Right now, it wasn’t possible to battle monsters and gather resources every day.
The retainers made a fuss, claiming it wasn’t enough, but Ghislaine simply scoffed at them and sent them away.
Then, for a while, he focused solely on training.
Physical training, honing swordsmanship and weapon skills, and mana cultivation; only after finishing all this was his day’s training considered complete.
“It’s really a shame to have just one body.”
After completing his training, he reviewed how the development of the road and barriers in the Forest of Monsters was going.
Moreover, he also had to keep an eye on Vanessa’s training, so he couldn’t afford to waste even a moment of time.
There was a nagging issue, but with so much work to do, he couldn’t spare a moment to investigate it properly.
“I really can’t figure out why. What’s going on?”
Ever since fighting the Blood Python, his recovery rate had slightly improved.
With better recovery, his resting time decreased, and consequently, he had more room to tackle other tasks.
In a situation like this, it was a positive change, but not knowing the reason behind the change worried him.
A power that one did not know well and could not control was not true power.
“Could it really be related to that?”
There was only one possible reason for his body acting strangely.
Ghislaine sighed and shook his head.
There was a way to check if his assumption was correct, but it would require putting his life on the line.
With the uncertainty of when the war would break out, he couldn’t take the risk.
“I guess I’ll have to find out after the war ends.”
“I guess I’d better check when I wake up.”
For the time being, I had no choice but to focus on basic training.
While Ghislaine concentrated on personal training, the mercenaries continued their training together steadily.
Whenever he had free time, Ghislaine checked in with Gillian to assess the training status.
The newly recruited mercenaries felt quite pleased with the current situation.
In truth, all they were doing was training, occasionally dealing with monsters in the forest, and guarding laborers clearing the way.
The laborers were responsible for maintaining the road so wagons could pass and for stacking wooden barriers on either side.
Thanks to the blood spilled from the Blood Python and Ghislaine sweeping through to eliminate the monsters once more, there weren’t many opportunities for the mercenaries to step in.
“Wow, this is way easier than I worried about. All we do is train and occasionally deal with some monsters.”
“The Forest of Monsters isn’t as dangerous as the rumors say, right? They say it was tough when breaking through, but… who knows if that’s true.”
“And we’re getting paid like we are for war employment. Hahaha.”
With high wages and expensive equipment provided, the morale among the mercenaries was quite high.
However, not every mercenary followed Ghislaine wholeheartedly.
Ghislaine hadn’t done anything particularly impressive to win their loyalty, and the short time they had been together left little room for deep bonds to form.
Nevertheless, they couldn’t outright disregard Ghislaine.
Existing mercenaries loyal to Ghislaine kept the new ones in check through force.
From the moment Ghislaine began increasing their numbers, he intended to control and manage them through the existing mercenaries.
With money and strength met, he was managing the rough mercenaries without any issues.
“But seriously, they train really hard. Did someone get intel that an attack is coming?”
“Come on. Is war that easy? Just preparing for territorial wars takes at least a year.”
“Our young captain doesn’t have any battle experience. He probably thinks anyone can just waltz in if they feel like it.”
“If there’s a rumor about a Runestone, there must be plenty of lords drooling over it, so it’s not surprising to be a bit scared.”
“But if they actually did invade, could we stop them? This territory isn’t that strong after all.”
“For now, it’s fine. By the time the rumors get around and the lords start eyeing us, we can just sense it and pull back.”
Before signing contracts with Ghislaine, the mercenaries considered the time it would take for rumors to spread and for other lords to prepare for war.
They figured it wouldn’t be an immediate invasion, so they took the contract.
Of course, they couldn’t let their guard down entirely, but this level of risk was expected in mercenary work.
Aside from a slight unease, they were significantly satisfied with their rural life.
“Ah, this is really comfortable. I wish it could always be like this.”
“It’s all good, but there’s not much to do in this territory.”
“It’s a bit boring since it’s rural. Let’s play a game.”
One day, while the mercenaries were comfortably resting, one of them came running in a panic.
“Crap, big deal! Big trouble! There’s big trouble!”
The mercenaries preparing for gambling looked at the runner with indifference.
In this territory, “big trouble” meant little more than a laborer getting a minor injury, someone messing with Kaor and getting beaten up, or slacking off in training and getting scolded by Gillian.
“What’s going on? Did someone get hurt?”
“Did someone get bitten by rabid dogs again for getting too cocky?”
“Or is it that the training old man summoned everyone again?”
They chuckled and laughed.
But upon hearing the words of the mercenary in a panic, they couldn’t laugh any longer.
“It’s war! A real war has broken out!”