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Volume 1 Chapter 1 Part 2

Saying so, the Earl got up from his chair and came over to Siluca’s side. He then smiled and asked Siluca for a handshake.

Siluca opened her mouth to return her words of refusal, with all sorts of swear words that she could direct towards such an outrageous proposition running through her mind right now.

However, a moment earlier than that, the urgent voice of Headmaster Sembros echoed in the room.

「I understand. In the name of the Mages Association and the Magic University, I hearby authorize Siluca Meletes’ contract with Count Villar Constance. 」

Siluca looked back at Headmaster Sempros with a look of disbelief on her face.

「Getting to know the outside world is also going to be a good opportunity for you to become a splendid Mage, Siluca. When you turn twenty-five, you should come back here. 」

The Headmaster said with a bitter expression. Siluca could clearly see that he was also trying to keep his real thoughts and emotions from flowing to the surface, so she followed suit and said nothing.

In order for her to live properly as a Mage, she has no choice but to obey the rules of the society. The peerage system was established by the Association itself in order for Mages to survive in the times of Chaos, and Lords who possess their own Crests and receive its protection are privileged class recognized by the rank system, so all that Villar Constance was doing here was just exercising his legitimate rights.

If Siluca was just a regular student at the Magic University, she could have simply refused his offer. However, she completed the Blue Summoning Magic Faculty and was about to transfer to the Violet Creation Magic Faculty.

And not only that, but in the current society the position of an individual was infinitely weaker than that of a Lord, so she understood that she was in no position to decline the direct request of Earl Constance, who was one of the leaders of the Fantasia Union.

That’s why, even though Siluca was reluctant to do so, she had no choice but to agree.

As a result of that, she was now on her way to Artuk, where the estate of Earl Constance was located, so that she could swear an oath of allegiance to his Crest in order to seal her contract.

Rocking back and forth in her carriage seat, Siluca felt like a prisoner on her way to death row.

「Lady Siluca. 」

Irvin, who was the carriage’s driver, called out to her without looking back.

「What happened? 」

Siluca responded with a disinterested voice.

「Just now, there were signs of people running through the woods. I have a bad feeling about this. 」

「Just like I had for the past 10 days. 」

Siluca sighed heavily.

「Don’t worry about it. If anything happens, we will deal with it accordingly when the time comes. 」

「Understood. 」

Irvin nodded his head at Siluca’s words.

「Well, I wonder what’s going to happen now… 」

Siluca pulled out her magic wand inside of the carriage and shook it a little to get a feel for it, since she remembered that it has been a while since she last used it before it was decided that she would be contracted by Count Constance.

(After all, he’s not looking to make a contract with me because of my abilities as a Mage.)

Thinking that, she didn’t feel like using magic at all.

To add insult to injury, right now Siluca was wearing the uniform that Earl Villar sent to her, which was more like a set of underwear that was barely covering her breasts and waist, which is why she insisted on wearing a cloak that covered her entire body over it. She was free to choose whichever gloves and shoes she wanted, so she ended up choosing the longest ones possible to match the rest of her current getup.

If she is going to be serving the Earl’s family from now on, she will berequired to wear this robe anyway, so she has been wearing this robe ever since it was sent to her.

If she were to walk around the streets of Elam looking the way she is now, that would be suicidal, and a fatal blow to her own dignity. Actually, she was sure that you had to be at least somewhat suicidal in order to dress like that in the first place.

Siluca looked out through a small window in the carriage and checked the Chaos concentration around them.

(For such a rural area, the concentration of Chaos is relatively high… no, that incident must have increased the concentration of Chaos on the entire continent.)

At the very least, it means that she should be able to use high-level magic without increasing the density of Chaos all that much. But just to be on the safe side, Siluca was wielding her wand and using it with fine movements every time she was able to find even a smallest fluctuation in Chaos.

Gathered by the movements of her wand, the fluctuations in Chaos gathered and billowed around her like smoke. Now that she had it around her, Siluca raised the density of the Chaos to the highest possible level that she was able to freely control. Now she was the one to decide what to do with the gathered Chaos, not the gods.

However, even if she had the Chaos from the surroundings at her beck ad call, she has yet to decide how exactly she wanted to converge it. That decision is going to have to wait until she sees how their current situation is going to develop. She was hoping that nothing would happen, but now that Irvin himself said that he has a bad feeling about this, something was inevitably bound to happen.
And that feeling of his would soon become a reality.

A group of about ten people suddenly appeared from the left and right sides of the road and blocked the path ahead. Each and every one of them was also armed with a sword. However, it did not look like there was anyone who would be either a Lord or a Mage among these people. There was still a possibility that some of them could have been Artists, but if that was the case, then Siluca would definitely feel an increased concentration of Chaos around such individuals.

In other words, these guys were either common soldiers, or bandits.

Siluca tilted her head, wondering what the purpose is of this ambush was.

「What would you like to do? 」

While slowing down the carriage, Irvin asked Siluca for instructions.

「I wonder where did these guys even come from? 」

「They are probably soldiers who belong to a Lord who owns a territory around here. Maybe some Lord is less than happy that Lady Siluca is coming to Artuk? 」

The carriage that Siluca rides bares the insignia of a rainbow flag of the Mages Association and the unicorn, a symbol of the Constance family, and the rumors of her arrival in Artuk have undoubtedly spread around the nation already.

Rumors are probably spreading along this street.
「All the Lords around here belong to the Alliance. 」

Most of the areas to the north and east of The Magic City of Elam are the members of the Factory Alliance unified. By the Kreische family throughout the last 100 years.

On the other hand, the areas to the west and south of Elam are the territories that have been integrated into the Fantasia Union. They all came and banded together in an attempt to oppose the rapid expansion of power of the Factory Alliance, and eventually all of the main power of the Union was concentrated in the hands of the Doucet family.

However, for some reason Artuk and Regalia, located to the south of Waldrind, which is ruled by Marine, the current head of the Kreische family, and the southeastern regions of Haman, Kirchis, and Mansur have joined the Alliance recently. For the Union, this was like having a giant sword pointing at their back.

Immediately after 「The Tragedy of the Grand Cathedral 」, the tensions of the Great War have heightened, and Siluca heard that skirmishes have already begun near the border of Artuk.

「Wouldn’t it have been better to go by sea from Ismeia? 」

In that case, they would not have to pass through the territory under the control of the Alliance. Irvin recommended doing so before they left, but Siluca didn’t agree to that suggestion of his…

「I hate ships. They rock, get wet, and sink. 」

… because of all of the reasons above, and there was also the fact that Siluca does not know how to swim.
「No, I am pretty sure that ships do not sink all that often… 」