0002: I Don't Wanna Be A Warlock!
At the castle entrance, Hill's personal valet, Bonn, was waiting for him in a carriage.
Seeing Hill's arrival, Bonn smiled and said, "My Lord Baron! Everything is packed and ready! Let's leave quickly!"
Bonn's parents were former servants who had served Hill's mother in the past.
Hill couldn't possibly leave them behind in the territory of the Count, where they were unhappy with Melanie.
Moreover, Hill believed that his maternal grandfather was already an archmage, which would be enough to make the Count, who was a grand knight, kneel and bow.
However, Fran preferred to offer Hill a large sum of money rather than appear before the Count, expressing his disdain and hatred for him.
Hill understood this very well.
It would be best for Hill to stay far away from the Count's place and not leave anyone behind.
He got into the carriage and whispered, "Let's go!"
The carriage set off swiftly.
Bonn's parents, Locke and Lena, along with their two children, were waiting in another carriage outside the estate.
Upon seeing Hill's carriage, they followed along and headed toward the western border.
The Perast County, located inland within the Kingdom of Salar, was not far from the capital city. It was wealthy but lacked significant military power.
However, as a result, no one could sense Hill's identity as a sorcerer.
The capital city, on the other hand, worried Hill a little.
Before Melanie passed away, she had told him to visit his maternal grandfather in the capital city once he reached adulthood.
Hill had planned to take a look there first.
However, Fran suddenly appeared on the day before his adulthood.
Melanie used to send her alchemical products to the capital city every year for Fran to sell. He must have known that Hill possessed a considerable amount of wealth.
This time, Fran came alone, secretly delivering a large quantity of resources and enough spellbooks for Hill to practice and become an archmage.
Something must be happening in the capital city, and Fran believed that if Hill, a mere sorcerer, went there, there could be trouble.
But if Hill insisted on going, Fran had no objections.
Hill had to make his own decision, whether to take the risk or stay by Fran's side for protection.
So Fran left without saying anything, letting Hill consider what kind of future he wanted.
Hill understood that the bloodline of a sorcerer grows freely until it reaches legendary status. If necessary, he could simply focus on studying the spells from the scrolls Melanie had left for him, without delving into other magic disciplines.
Regardless of what may happen in the capital city, Fran, being an archmage, wouldn't have any issues.
On the other hand, if Hill were in the capital city, he could easily be used as a pawn against Fran.
Hill had no interest in being a hostage, so it was better to hurry to the border and venture out of the country.
The colonization permit he possessed was quite valuable.
The colonization permit is an agreement document witnessed by the God of Justice, recognized by all the gods and issued by the Temple of Justice in all the countries of this continent.
Once used in the wilderness area, it is automatically backed up in the Hall of Justice, and no kingdom can revoke it.
It is recognized as territory by the gods and automatically appears on the alchemical map.
However, if the territory colonized by the lord surpasses the scope of the alchemical map, it depends on whether the lord can protect those areas.
Only after a long period of occupation will the alchemical map recognize it as your territory.
In general, most of these colonized territories end up being destroyed by monsters.
Once the core is shattered, the portion backed up by the temple automatically dissipates.
Those fortunate enough return to their own countries as landless nobles, while those unfortunate enough become exposed corpses in the wilderness.
There are many successful individuals, and the Salar Kingdom was built this way.
But there are even more who meet their demise.
The wilderness area is boundless. In ancient times, even gods could perish when venturing into its depths, let alone in a time when gods cannot descend.
The aspect of this world that Hill is most satisfied with is the complexity of the divine system, where the major races have their own gods, making it the mainstream. Without a unified divine system, the wilderness separates all races, and only the strong can travel far and wide.
The opponents of all races are the monsters from the wilderness and the demons from the abyssal hell. Humans already have enough enemies, and human nations are all under the watchful eyes of the gods, so all conflicts can only be carried out within certain boundaries.
The gods can only attract followers and cannot force them. There are numerous pantheists among the strong. Hill respects the gods, after all, in human history, it was the gods who protected humanity from being devoured by the wilderness.
However, as a transmigrator, he cannot surrender himself to any deity.
It is normal for a sorcerer to not believe in gods. No one would find it surprising. Mages have some knowledge of the gods they believe in, but sorcerers are avoided by missionaries from all temples.
The chaotic inheritance of sorcerers causes many people to manifest their bloodlines only after becoming legends, and there are many cases of those who believe in gods experiencing setbacks, even causing the gods themselves to be greatly frustrated.
There was once a devout follower of the God of Justice who had a bloodline of demons as a sorcerer. His devotion before becoming a legend had earned the admiration of the God of Justice. However, once he fully manifested his bloodline, his life became a search for loopholes in the contract with the God of Justice.
As a former devout believer, he truly understood the God of Justice. The chaos he caused during that period is still a topic the church of the God of Justice avoids discussing to this day. And although this legendary sorcerer disappeared from the human realm, there are rumors that he went to the abyss.
Since then, whether sorcerers believe in gods or not has become a matter of personal choice. You can have faith, but the gods will generally not provide any rewards.
However, the nobles do hope that sorcerous bloodlines will appear in their families.
Noble titles must be inherited by those at the knight level or above. If the direct line loses the title and becomes a professional, the collateral line can also inherit the title. As for mages, they need both talent and extraordinary willpower and wisdom. Those who cannot even achieve knighthood can probably only be apprentices for their entire lives.
So, for nobles, it's really attractive to have a sorcerer who awakens as a formal mage right away.
The result is that many young sorcerers are treated as breeding stock before they even grow up, and female sorcerers have an even more miserable fate.
This chaotic situation lasted for almost a hundred years, and the senior sorcerers had to step forward for their own future.
However, sorcerer bloodlines are diverse, and even legendary sorcerers capable of organizing associations cannot guarantee that they won't fight each other when they meet. Individual legendary sorcerers can only protect those around them.
In the end, it was the only legendary female sorcerer at the time, Dylant, who built a magic tower in the wilderness to receive all the female sorcerers seeking refuge.
This small territory gained the protection of all legendary sorcerers, and the nobles understood that this was the limit.
This tower survived in the wilderness and, after thousands of years, became the present-day kingdom of female sorcerers, Dylant.
However, male sorcerers are left unattended. They either struggle to survive within the kingdom of female sorcerers until they grow into archmages and are then expelled, or they find a corner to quietly survive.
In reality, there are not many sorcerers who can't live independently even at the archmage level. However, among male sorcerers, there are also those who don't mind being used as breeding stock, marrying and having children. Such individuals can never step into legend, and thus, no one cares about them.
Hill didn't know why he was reborn in this world, but after being born, Melanie's stormy actions left him stunned during the adaptation period.
The furious female mage ended the argument with the count with a fiery storm and moved Hill and the maid's family directly out of the castle.
The female mage's passion for life seemed to disappear along with the frantic love affair, diving headfirst into the alchemy laboratory, not leaving the house for a year or two.
Luckily, there was Lena to take care of Hill.
His personal male servant, Bonn, was already 3 years old at that time. Lena devoted all her attention to taking care of Hill and never had a second child.
It was only when Hill returned to the castle that Lena, who stayed on the estate, gave birth to a pair of twins, Dean and Sunny.
After Hill turned 3 years old, Melanie began teaching him the knowledge of mages and literacy.
That period was really tough. Melanie didn't care how much he could learn; she just taught with a serious face.
Fortunately, having a background in civil engineering from his past life and having the ability to remember everything, Hill knew his uncertain fate and could endure the monotony.
Melanie only taught him for two years before going back to alchemy once he learned magical runes and mathematics. Hill had to self-study.
If he didn't have memories from his past life, he definitely wouldn't have been able to persist. When feeling frustrated and powerless, Hill would bring Bonn over to study together.
Bonn was the designated butler who was supposed to accompany Hill. He had to learn many skills from his parents and be pulled by the young master to learn mage knowledge. It was actually quite tough.
But for Bonn, who had the status of a servant, even if he could awaken a bit of magical power, it meant that his descendants had the potential to become mages, so he could only grit his teeth and persevere.
Bonn's persistence gave Hill a stimulus: no one wants to fall behind!
After meditating to the limit every day, he read the book and tell Bonn about it, and then used the conclusion from teaching Bonn to sort out the context. Hill organized the knowledge of spells from simple to profound.
When Melanie was injured and lay on the bed and started teaching Hill, she found that her son seemed to be very talented, and she began to pour her knowledge toward Hill.
That kind of gratification from his mother was actually very heartbreaking. Fortunately, he had memories since he was born, and he had no expectations from these two people. If he was an ordinary child, he would have been tricked to death by such parents.
His parents in his last life gave him a lot of love. Melanie was very young, and she was only 16 when she gave birth to him. Hill did not regard her as a mother and did not seek any maternal love from her, so he was tolerant of her. A lot, after all, Melanie was much better than the Earl as a father.
And Melanie was really rich as an alchemist, and her love for her son can only be reflected in the wealth she gave him. Hill had 4 storage rings.
Bonn's mana was awakened a year ago and he could become a mage apprentice. Although he could only recreate a small spell, Hill let Bonn work more slowly in purchasing supplies during the year.
Although they thought would spend a period of time in the capital with Frank, the habit of the civil engineers making a lot of plans helped a lot. Now they only needed to buy some special products along the road, and everything else was ready.
Salar always issued a pioneering order to the landless baron in the kingdom, and no one would be stupid to refuse to accept it. After all, even if you couldn't accept the risks, just in case your descendants may need it.
It’s just that there would be a difference in the development order. As a father, the earl still gave Hill the best kind: Hill could own territory with the size of an earldom.
Hill also had some advantage while he's been inside Perast castle for 4 years, as he read the entire castle's books. In the earl's private small study, there were many ancestral manuscripts that were only allowed to be read by the direct descendants.
When Hill looked at these ancestral manuscripts, he always thought that the earl would stop him, but even Manton didn't come. The word that knowledge was wealth was probably forgotten by these people long ago, and as a beneficiary, Hill could only make a fortune in silence.
NOTES:
I want to start retranslating this novel because there are some parts that, in my opinion, feel a bit problematic and awkward to read.
Comments