Black Iron’s Glory

Claude felt rather surprised that is much younger brother was far fiercer than he was!Bloweyk said he hated Viscount Felidos badly as he kept wanting to recommend him to serve in Bluefeather despite how often he had refused him. After the new year, the old man didn’t even pay a visit and personally got Bloweyk an enlistment order in an attempt to make it fait accompli, just like how he made up his own mind to recommend Claude for service.

What the old guy didn’t expect was when he happily went to the Ferd’s with the enlistment order from Bluefeather, Bloweyk took out his proof as a cadet of Ranger to show Felidos.  In other words, Bloweyk had long been drafted as a reserve member of Ranger. The moment the folk needed more men, Bloweyk would immediately have to report for duty, and according to the date of the proof, it was something he had settled during the latter half of last year.

The old guy lost interest almost immediately and left crestfallenly. Felidos had tried so hard to draft a member of Ranger into Bluefeather and now he had to deal with the consequences of his own actions. Bloweyk said that the old man must be sick in the mind for being so addicted to forcefully recommending others into Bluefeather. He also kept harping on about how Claude wouldn’t be able to achieve what he did had he not gotten his recommendation initially.

Claude shook his head nonstop as he listened. He only made it that far due to his luck. If he had really been serving in Bluefeather, he would’ve died a few times over. Bluefeather was the corps that suffered the most in the five-year war. First, they were heavily surrounded on Amilia Plains and only managed to break out after suffering heavy casualties, but then, they were completely wiped out in the battle on the Great Plains of Canas. They had already rebuilt themselves from scratch twice.

Claude was quite curious where his brother got the reserve member proof. He apologised for forgetting to get him one himself and allowing Felidos to cause so much trouble for him.

Bloweyk said that someone called Colonel Skri came to visit their home when the main force of Ranger arrived in Whitestag during the middle of the 10th month last year. He introduced himself as Claude’s good friend and apologised for not being able to come to his and Kefnie’s wedding. So, he decided to visit Claude’s son since they were staying in Whitestag and check on his family.

Skri had brought many expensive gifts on his visit. Though their mother had refused to accept them, Skri said that his relationship with Claude ran deep and the two had fought and covered each other’s backs on the battlefield, so he asked them not to mind the expensive gifts. During the visit, Kefnie and Angelina were cooking to serve up a meal for Skri while Bloweyk and his mother sat down and accompanied him. Bloweyk hadn’t decided where he wanted to serve yet, so Skri instantly recommended for him to join Ranger since Claude was there too.

The next day, Skri sent his adjutant to deliver the proof and uniform of a reserve member of Ranger. When Felidos came with Bluefeather’s enlistment order after the new year and wanted Bloweyk to go there to serve, he was rebuffed by the proof.

Claude breathed a sigh of relief at his brother’s luck and was thankful for Skri’s goodwill. Bloweyk had actually lucked out. As the proof was dated on the 10th month of last year, Bloweyk managed to join Tribe 131 just in time for the full staff promotion. He immediately went from private to corporal.

It truly was quite ridiculous. Even though Bloweyk hadn’t even held a gun for one day or spent a day in military camp, not even completing cadet training, he was promoted one rank right after he joined. It truly sounded ludicrous. However, that was how protocols worked. The date he joined as a reserve member was the day his service was considered to have started. When Myjack took Bloweyk away to fill in the paperwork, the date of his registration was listed according to the one of his proof. Essentially, his service had started half a year prior despite the fact that it was his first day in Tribe 131.

However, Ranger was currently fighting the Shiksan colonial forces on Nubissia. Claude wouldn’t want his brother to serve during such a dangerous time. With the proof in hand, Bloweyk could’ve waited till half a year later until his 20th birthday to report for duty. After all, the family only had his mother, Kefnie and her son at home and having a man around would be convenient if something were to happen. Not to mention, Bloweyk would become the head of the Ferd household proper after his 20th birthday.

Bloweyk said,”It’s all because Angelina couldn’t stand staying at home and forcefully took me to find you.”

“Huh? What’s up with Anna? Why couldn’t she stay home?”

Bloweyk complained about his sister for the next half an hour, using colourful adjectives like female tyrant, dictator and demon witch to describe her, much to Claude’s laughter. It was apparent that Angelina affected Bloweyk greatly. It was probably thanks to her extensive care that the spoiled brat Bloweyk didn’t grow up into a failure of a family head.

After much complaining, Bloweyk finally revealed the reason. Angelina had been pressured so hard by their mother to marry that she couldn’t stand staying home any longer and decided to go all the way to Nubissia for a trip. She used taking Bloweyk to Claude to report for duty as an excuse. Before they left, their mother told Angelina to not come home if she didn’t find a husband.

Claude didn’t know how to react and slapped his forehead. He only had himself to blame for not paying attention to his family when he was serving in the military. His sister was four years his junior. Claude was now 28 and Angelina was 24. While it wouldn’t be all too uncommon for his sister to still be single at that age on old Earth, that age was akin to being a 30-year-old crone in Freia. It was no wonder Madam Ferd kept nagging her daughter nonstop to the point that she decided to flee to another continent.

He decided he would have a good talk with his sister tomorrow and ask her about what she would appreciate in a partner. However, he doubted that his advice would work on her. Ever since Angelina learned magic, she was no longer the meek, timid girl she used to be. Even her little brother was terrified of her. She had her own views and Claude wasn’t keen on forcing anything on her either.

After they were done discussing Angelina, Claude talked to Bloweyk about his magic training. His talent for magic was most likely much weaker than Claude and Angelina’s. Back then, it took Claude near a year of meditation to become a one-ring rune magus, but it took Bloweyk two years to do the same. He said that the reason he didn’t have any friends in middle school was he wanted to train his meditation instead of wasting time playing with the other brats. He didn’t need friends anyway, since he could just beat anyone into submission at school.

Bloweyk even said that he had gone to the magic tower on Egret after becoming a one-ring rune magus alone, but it was too bad he didn’t find any useful magic items after two days of searching. He did manage to hunt a cloud leopard, python, three wolves and seven wild boars there and hired someone to ship them to Whitestag, causing quite the uproar.

Currently, Bloweyk was a third way to the second ring and it would take him another three to four years to go the rest of the way. But he would be living in the army camp from then on and that would impact the frequency he could meditate. In Claude’s case, he had spent nearly six years training intermittently to become a two-ring rune magus.

Naturally, Bloweyk could no longer be considered to be a rune magus. He had chosen mostly combat spells for his basic spells rather than alchemical spells. He even used Magus’ Hands and Fine Control as his weapons for hunts. He said that he would go to the ancient forests to search for bear lairs during winter. He would cut open the belly of bears with the spells as they were hibernating inside tree holes effortlessly. Last winter, he went to the mountains and hunted two bears in that fashion.

Fortunately, Bloweyk was now serving as Claude’s orderman and could stay with him. With Claude watching after him, he could continue his magic training in camp. However, Claude wondered if a new class of magi called hunter magi would come about if his brother continued advancing in that fashion, just like nature magi like Sheila.

The talk lasted deep into the night and the two only fell asleep as dawn came about.

The two of them couldn’t get any good sleep as Claude was too busy and Bloweyk was serving his first day in the force. The moment the wake-up horn sounded, Claude told his brother what an orderman’s duties were. After having breakfast, he wanted to look for Myjack but was told that he hadn’t returned since leaving camp last night. He didn’t overthink it and called Gum over to give his brother basic ambush training. At the very least, he had to look the part of a soldier.

At two in the afternoon, Myjack returned with Angelina.

The first thing she said almost caused Claude to fall from his chair. “Claude, I’m getting married, and the groom is him.”

Angelina pushed Myjack to Claude. The poor guy wore a rather troubled expression.

“W-w-wait… SInce when did the two of you get along so well?” Claude had never imagined the two to be a match.

Objectively, Myjack was a rather decent candidate for her groom. He was only one year older than Angelina and was an orphan who had been cheated into joining the force to fill up the regional draft quota. Claude was the one who took him under his wing. Since then, he had loyally served Claude. Even though he wasn’t exceptionally talented, he was reliable and resourceful and went through life-and-death situations with Claude on the battlefield. He did everything Claude asked him to do flawlessly and was his most trusted adjutant and aide.

Now, Myjack was 25 years old and had a rank of second lieutenant, rather decent for his age, though obviously not comparable to freaks like Claude. In contrast to the other officers in camp, the greatest benefit he enjoyed was staying by Claude’s side and having his trust. He would have far more chances to get more achievements under his belt and get promoted. Not to mention, he didn’t have any attachment to his hometown given his circumstances, so he was more than willing to follow Claude around.

“I’m growing rather old and it’s about time I found a man to marry. Myjack’s a close acquaintance who doesn’t have a girlfriend and has a rather clean background. I think he’s a good candidate, so I asked him if he’s willing to take me as his wife and he agreed. So, Claude, you have to give us your blessings,” Angelina declared.

It was true that Myjack was close to their family. He had stayed at the Ferd’s house for quite some time when Claude went on his family visit and Angelina would order him around like a servant back then to get him to drive her to the market for her shopping trips. Sometimes, she would even take Gum along if she needed someone for heavy labour.

However, Claude hadn’t seen any romance spark between the two. He looked at Angelina, then at Myjack, and felt that something was off, especially how he seemed like he was about to cry as if he was being forced by Angelina.

“Myjack, tell me, what happened/”

“Sir, I was forced– ouch…”

Angelina slapped the back of his head hard. “Don’t go back on your word. Don’t forget what happened last night. You have to take responsibility.”

“Quiet, Anna. Let Myjack finish.” Claude felt his head hurt. Bloweyk was right. Angelina had changed much from back then. Perhaps she was a little too violent. But what in the world happened last night for Angelina to call Myjack to take responsibility?

Myjack looked outside the office window and didn’t speak. Angelina closed the door and raised her hand to cast Silence. Claude’s gaze cooled. Myjack wasn’t a magus, but Angelina had used a spell in front of him.

“He already knows I’m a magus,” Angelina said.

It was all to blame on Myjack and Angelina’s carelessness. When Claude instructed Myjack to get Angelina a place to stay in Lanu, Myjack rented her a wooden house since he knew she would be staying for a time. It was a rather rural place, but the environment was great and to Angelina’s satisfaction.

However, he was worried about her as she didn’t understand the local culture and wouldn’t put up guard around the nikancha, so he went back to camp and took two muskets to her so that she would have something to defend herself with.

Angelina, ever the frantic alchemical experimenter, hadn’t been able to perform any experiments during the month and a half she travelled from Whitestag to Tyrrsim, then to Lanu in Anfiston. Now that she had finally gotten her own place, she began cleaning the place with Magus’ Hands the moment Myjack left and set up the alchemy array she packed in the luggage.

When Myjack returned, he noticed that something was odd. The windows were shut tight and even the curtains were pulled over. He suspected someone broke into the house. After all, it was Angelina’s first day there and she should’ve left the windows open to freshen the place out and clean up instead of making the whole place airtight.

Afraid something had happened, Myjack quickly loaded his gun and busted his way into the house, only to see the Luminous Pearl floating in mid air and the silent Angelina synthesising herbs without actually moving her hands.

Myjack’s sudden entry almost shocked Angelina to death and the ingredients she had in her array were all wasted. When Myjack saw that Angelina was fine, he put down his gun and his attention was caught by the floating ball of light. The enraged Angelina immediately bound him with Magus’ Hands and gave him a good beating, before she considered how she would deal with the matter.

Myjack had barged into the house with good intentions and was someone closely associated with their family, not to mention Claude’s trusted adjutant. Not to mention, Angelina couldn’t kill to silence him even if she wanted to. With a spark of inspiration, Angelina decided to tie the thread with him and marry Myjack of her own initiative. First, it would solve the problem of her mother’s constant pestering. Myjack would also keep her secret as her husband.

So, she ensured that it became a fait accompli. Myjack was forced to sign a really unreasonable and unfair contract to take her as his wife. Naturally, he was incredibly terrified of his terrifying magus wife. It was only after Angelina assured him that she didn’t have the power to turn him into a frog or some other monster that he breathed a sigh of relief and went to see Claude with her during the afternoon.