LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 45: Recruitment
A week later, letters arrived from the Theocracy of Mana, reporting that Baron Kharn and his family had been assassinated by over 20 assassins, resulting in the deaths of 10 knights and 5 mageknights of the Theocracy. The Theocracy expressed anger and held our empire responsible for the loss of their precious knights. Mageknights, ranging from level 3 to 5, had fallen in the attack, causing a notable decrease in their national power, although it was a modest loss considering the Theocracy's size.
Our empire, predictably, ignored the blame and, in turn, accused them of killing our noble. The news circulated in the newspaper. I couldn't help but smile wryly when I heard Safira crying over the incident. We all knew it was the doing of the reapers. The bounty on their heads had soared to 600 points. R25B informed us of numerous casualties on our side, and his managers chastised the reckless operators and reapers for their imprudent actions.
"Safira, what are your plans for the future? Will you come to our house?" I asked directly during our lunch.
"Well, I am no longer a noble. So, I guess if you would employ me, I would accept. Please treat me well."
"Hmm? You are still a noble, though. Baron Kharn was never dismissed as a noble. So, when you come of age, you will be officially recognized as Safira Kharn. Right? Prince Ludwin?"
"Lady Eli is right. Safira, the death of such loyal subordinates was regrettable. It was all because of the reapers. Someone must hold a grudge against your family. If you come as our court mage, I promise I will protect you," Prince Ludwin said as he interrupted our lunch. "I promised to honor your loyalty to the empire. You can succeed your house when you come of age."
"I thank you, Prince Ludwin. But I guess I will stay with Lady Eli. She has experience dealing with reapers…" Safira said. I tilted my head at her. She chose our poor and countryside county over the royal court? Well, a boon is a boon. I should not deny her. Let's just smile as I welcome her to our house.
"Don't worry about reapers. I will be sure to guard you. We could even have knights guard you here. It is your right. We had the new law specifically for this," Prince Ludwin said as he continued to solicit her. Well, every leader always wanted capable workers. Was he trying to recruit her?
"Well, um… Thank you, Prince Ludwin… maybe—"
"Safira, what would you like to be? I shall accommodate you as best as I can!"
"She would become a doctor, of course! What else?" Prince Ludwin scoffed at my seemingly stupid question.
"Um… if possible, I want to learn how to make a cake. O-of course, I would not neglect my healer training… but… I want to make sweets… is it okay?"
"Of course! I will give you a shop! Your ice cream was delicious the other day! My father could arrange for a cake store to be opened. If that is what you want, Lady Safira. Alicia, let's write to Father about the circumstances. Moreover, I would also like to pen Narwhal to cater to her. She would need a place to work too. We can't hire a baron's daughter as a maid like you, right?" I clapped for Alicia, and she bowed to me, affirming my decision. Her smile was a bit stiff, though.
"Urgh… we need more doctors… why make cakes of all things. You could become a magic tool inventor, a doctor, or an environmental caretaker. Making cakes… even commoners could do that!" Prince Ludwin complained, and when I looked around, even Alicia tried to force a smile at me. Did I misspeak?
"Sorry…" Safira nodded down in shame. "Yeah. It was a stupid dream…"
"Don't worry, Safira! You could become a cake maker and a doctor at the same time! Just have this kind of store on one side and a clinic on the other! Everyone needs a hobby! Helping others is a must. But that doesn't mean you should abandon a hobby!"
"Thank you, Lady Eli."
"Well, Lady Eli, please take care of Safira. And Safira, if you feel inadequate, don't forget that our doors will always be open for you," Prince Ludwin smiled at her. It seemed like he had given up recruiting her for now. He couldn't show such blatant favoritism to a single individual as royals, so I guess he would let me have her? He won't ask for ridiculous requests later, right? "If you plan to become a doctor and make cakes as your hobby, we also could support you. Well, I apologize that we couldn't support you directly. It would affect our impartiality as royals, after all. Lady Eli, I trust her in your hands. Please protect her from reapers."
"T-thank you, Prince Ludwin, and also, Lady Eli. Please take care of me."
Letters came back to me in the following week. Both from Narwhal and Father. R663, or Narwhal, said he had already procured a store in my county along with lands to grow fruits. He also said that he could lend a portion or even all of the store to Lady Safira if I wished it. I knew I funded his store. But could I really do that? I mean, should I directly order him to lend his store to Safira?
"Children, I hope you have a fun holiday. You have learned about magic enchantment up to the two-circle command. Now, I shall teach you about a higher-order 4 command. By the way, you may use up to medium-grade feystone for this. After this, you will learn how to fix magic tools, and then you can graduate."
The professor continued his boring explanations. By the way, medium-grade feystones were counted as 10 feystone points according to the empire standard. Feystones were divided into several grades. The smallest one, the size of a marble, is the usual feystone the masses use. It is counted as 1 feystone. The medium-sized feystone is counted as 10 feystone points. The circuit for a medium-grade feystone is easier to make than connecting 10 small feystones together.
Then, there are large-sized feystones. The empire has a standard for medium and small feystones, but there is no standard for huge feystones. They were varied in size. In the novel, an airship that the empire uses five huge-sized feystones. Apparently, such an airship has yet to be built, even though the events in the novel should start next year when we are in high school. I wonder if they had begun to construct it now...
Lady Safira ended up under my protection. She would be provided with a guest room in my house, and my family would become her guardians until her graduation from high school; we would also pay for her tuition. Well, Safira would pay for her own tuition by filling feystones and doing some public service. However, an adult still needed to come to pay for her tuition. I sometimes felt annoyed that children couldn't do anything in this world. Some adults had to become guardians for them.
Many nobles opted to adopt Safira. However, she rejected them all and chose to be with me. I tilted my head at her. We were not that close. Why did she choose me rather than the more familiar central nobles?
"Ah, by the way, the upper management was quite pissed that you failed to kill Baron Kharn. He then chose to uplift your newbie protection. From now on, whenever you fail a commission, you will be punished at 20% of the commission rate," R25B informed me later that night. He also informed me that the protection removal was also applied to R663 and R661.
"Eh? They could do that?"
"Of course. You have been with us for more than six months. The newbie protection was considered a trial for reapers. If you fail many commissions during this time, you will be fired. But since your work was good, and the client was satisfied with it, Yes. Oddly, the client was fine with you not killing Baron Kharn but keeping Safira here and killing that traitorous Baron Denah despite his counter-offering. They put in some good words for you."
"Am I in danger of getting fired?"
"Not yet. The client was all satisfied anyway. How lucky you are. You failed, but your customers are still happy. I wish I had that kind of luck when I was a common clerk working for that arrogant seamstress."
"The client knew who I am?! You said no one knew my identity!"
"The client only knew you as Reaper 666, nothing more. Ah, they also knew the service you did for them, of course. Our handler gave a report to him under your reaper number after all."
"I see." I breathed a sigh of relief. It was rather late, but I seemed to get closer to this organization. Some of them were evil, but many of them were good guys to me.
Even though Safira had already been accepted into my county, our life was no different than before. We still had school, and right now, Safira and Nana were grappling with the infamous math exams about fractions and decimals. Safira was smart. However, her family circumstances have made her lose focus lately.
"Lady Eli, why is it when you said half of 20, you multiplied 20 by one per two? Half is divided by two, right?" Nana asked me. "It is supposed to be 20 divided by one per two!"
"How did you do it when you said twenty divided by one per two? Twenty divided by one per two is different from twenty divided by two. Twenty divided by one per two makes the number go larger, right?"
"What do you mean the numbers go larger?" Nana said. I glared at her while suppressing my wrath. She shut up and listened.
"But here, the next number said if half a kilo is 10 silver coins, how much is a kilo? When the question was 1 kilo is 10 silver, 2 kilos is multiplication, right? Why is this one division??!" Safira asked me. Nana held her head in frustration as tears started to gather at the corner of her eyes. Even Alicia admittedly had troubles in this part. I understood them because I am a high school student from Earth. But unfortunately, I was not smart enough to explain it to them.
"Um… if a package were to be divided by two, each half would be called half a package, right? If this half of a package was five. Then, one package is ten, right?"
"But why is it division?" Alicia asked.
"Remember, in fraction division, you need to switch the numerator and denominator of the divisor. To reach the 10 from five, it needed to be divided."
"But we don't know the answer!"
"This is the model. After you know half a package into one package, you can determine if it is one hundredth or one thousandth. It follows the same procedure. Division," I tried to explain.
"What is a thousandth? Why does five multiplied by two per one become ten?" Nana muttered. Safira also moaned. Girls, five multiplied by two per one is the same as five multiplied by two. Have you forgotten how to do basic multiplication?
"Nana… aren't you a merchant's daughter?" I said in frustration. "There are still harder questions. But how could you pass if you didn't even understand this."
"Don't bring my family into this, Lady Eli… just because my father is a successful merchant doesn't mean I will."
"Well… as long as we can fill feystones, you don't really need to work," Nana added her lazy piece. Safira and Alicia nodded. She was shy, so she didn't talk much. But after a year, she started to show her true nature.
"Don't say that! Have more pride! That kind of behavior is the reason commoners look down on us!" I exclaimed. On this rare occasion, it was me and not Alicia who lectured them this time.