Chapter 62 - Sixty-Two ... What Magic Can Do

Chapter 62: Chapter Sixty-Two ... What Magic Can Do

Chapter Sixty-Two ... What Magic Can Do

"Hm, so have you found your answer on how to treat it, Master Agphiel?"

"Well, I’ve found an answer... but we can’t be sure yet, can we, my lord?"

"Hm?"

"Why don’t you come with me to the canton city? If you help me treat the sick there and prove the method works, I think we could be quite certain."

"..."

"No, I’m not going back on my word."

Perhaps seeing the look on Jan’s face, Agphiel added quickly.

"In any case, what you want to know is what magic is and how it’s learned, isn’t it?"

"Oh?"

How did he know that?

"The questions young nobles like you ask are always the same, aren’t they? Especially when I see eyes as full of curiosity as yours, I can tell at a glance."

Agphiel grinned as he answered. The ease with which he replied suggested this wasn’t the first or second time.

"I’ll explain what you want to know about magic slowly, along the way. In exchange, help me out. The canton city is being laid waste. To be honest, I’m not strong enough to handle it alone."

"Hmm..."

"If you help me, I’ll give you a special reward on top of this one. What do you say?"

The System’s messages appeared before Jan.

[You have received a proposal from Agphiel, the Great Sage of the Forest. If you help him stop the plague in the canton city, you may receive a great reward.]

’Oh, a great reward?’

In a world where magic and mystery were real, what sort of reward could a mage offer? And a mage so powerful he was called a sage, at that. For a moment, Jan was sorely tempted.

’No. Get a grip. This isn’t my domain.’

Then a thought struck him, and he shook his head.

"Helping isn’t the problem, but I wonder whether the dwarves of the canton will take what I do in good faith, Master Agphiel."

"Heh heh. Is that all that’s worrying you?"

Agphiel stroked his luxuriant beard and laughed.

"The canton council has given me full powers. When it comes to treating the plague, not even the canton council can say a word about it. And if anyone does object, I’ll do my best to protect you, on my name as Agphiel, the Sage of the Forest."

"Hmm..."

Jan didn’t know how much weight a mage’s name carried, but it was a tempting offer. All the more so if it had already been settled with the canton council.

"If you really can’t, it can’t be helped. If it’s too much of a burden, you needn’t do it. I can hardly force you."

Having made up his mind, Jan held out his hand. It was a sign of agreement.

"No, Master Agphiel. I’ll gladly help."

Now that he’d decided, it was time to move at once. Jan immediately ordered his soldiers to march and prepared to head for the canton.

"We’ll restock our supplies in the canton. Steward! The food we have left isn’t much, but use it for the village."

"Ohh! Most merciful lord. Would that truly be all right?"

"You have no food to eat right now, do you? From the looks of it, you won’t be able to go about your lives for a while, so it’s fine."

In truth, it was hardly any food at all. But if giving it away earned him people’s goodwill, it would come back around as profit in the end.

"Ah! My lord is too merciful! If you give it away for free, they won’t know how to be grateful! You have to squeeze money out of them!"

"..."

"Why are you looking at me like that, my lord?"

"Because that’s such typical advice from you."

"Heh heh!"

Apparently taking Jan’s words as a compliment, the bishop let out a triumphant laugh. Watching from beside them, Agphiel clicked his tongue.

"That bishop won’t die a natural death, my lord."

"Still, he takes fairly good care of the people beneath him, Master Agphiel."

"I very much doubt it... but if you say so, I suppose it must be true."

Agphiel didn’t seem to believe it at all, but he appeared to accept it well enough.

"By the way, you’re a rather unusual one."

"In what way?"

"You look after the people beneath you better than I expected. Nobles with domains like yours are usually hopeless at that sort of thing."

"Sometimes their respect and gratitude come back to you as great strength, don’t they, Master Agphiel?"

Agphiel looked at him as if fascinated.

"You talk like a noble from the cities. But on the other hand, it’s very wise. Many nobles, especially young ones, ignore the strength of the people beneath them and treat them harshly, never realizing that in the end they’re tightening the noose around their own necks. Ha ha."

The nobles of this kingdom did tend to be like that. They looked down on the people of their domains. Most of them, just like Bishop Graham a moment ago, thought the harsher they were, the better.

Of course, to Jan, that way of thinking was appalling.

’And what are they going to do if a revolt breaks out?’

Peasant revolts were a regular occurrence. No matter how well trained a knight or soldier might be, if he was attacked in his sleep, he was dead. Jan had no interest in dying like a dog.

"By the way, you must have a great many questions. Ask whatever you like."

"About what...?"

"About magic."

"Ah! I’d forgotten."

Of all things to forget. Clicking his tongue, Jan asked Agphiel what a mage was and how magic could be learned.

Agphiel cleared his throat for a moment, then answered in a flash.

"It’s facing the mysteries of the world, grasping the principles behind them, and learning to wield those mysteries. If nature does not call to me, then I cannot wield nature either."

"Hmm..."

Jan let out a groan as he listened.

Magic here was a very strange thing, nothing like the orderly, ranked sorcery of the bards’ tales.

It was closer to what might be called witchcraft. But even so, he hadn’t expected an answer like that!

Wasn’t that more like a shaman than a mage?

Agphiel seemed to sense what he was thinking, because he responded.

"I am the Great Sage of the Forest. No, calling myself a great sage is a bit grand. I’m one who wields the magic of the forest. Broadly speaking, forest magic is no different from a shaman’s witchcraft, so to others they look much alike."

"Ahem, ahem. That’s not what I was thinking."

"Oh, it wasn’t? It’s written all over your face."

He was a mage, all right. He was very quick on the uptake.

"Magic isn’t all-powerful, the way people think. If anything, it can only do very limited, narrow things, bound by harsh restrictions. Just like with this plague. People think that because I’m a mage, I’ll solve everything with magic, but in truth, all I can do is rack my brains and solve problems with wisdom."

"Ah, I see."

The answer was more down-to-earth than he’d expected, and Jan was disappointed. In the stories he’d heard in his past life, a mage would always arrive and solve all sorts of problems with a flourish... but real mages seemed to be closer to scholars.