Chapter 24
A knight was moving somewhere, pulling a cart loaded with oak barrels.
He was an apprentice knight of the Wiesel Knight Order. He mumbled to himself as he looked around at the peaceful scenery of Wiesel, "I joined for honor, but I'm just doing slave work."
The apprentice knight couldn't understand.
Why did they have to call a knight for transportation when a servant could do it? And why make him wear armor with the Knight Order's seal prominently displayed and even put a flag on the cart so grandly?
It didn't seem like particularly valuable goods either. If it had been wine in the oak barrels, he would have stolen a few sips out of frustration.
As he passed a bend in the hill road, a large mansion in a scenic location came into view in the distance.
The apprentice knight compared the map and the surrounding terrain a few times and said, "That must be the place I'm supposed to go."
He hummed a tune as he pulled the cart.
After advancing for about two more hours, a crowd of people had gathered in front of the mansion that was now closer.
At the center of the crowd was a tall, slender woman. Next to her stood a boy and a girl. On either side, servants were lined up, waiting for someone.
The apprentice knight narrowed his eyes. The silhouette looked familiar.
What?
Upon closer inspection, the person in the middle was the Archmage Silveryn he had seen recently. Next to her was her disciple, the genius swordsman Damian.
The apprentice knight was dumbfounded.
This can't be, the place marked on the map was the Archmage's mansion!
Now he understood why they had put a flag with the Knight Order's seal prominently on the cart.
The Archmage herself coming out to greet him!
Is the Knight Order's status this high?
His chest began to swell with pride.
The knight entered the mansion grounds with a dignified air.
Stopping the cart a few steps away from Silveryn, the knight immediately ran to her and knelt on one knee.
"As an honorable knight of the Wiesel Knight Order and the third son of the Lahart family..."
Seeing this, Silveryn frowned deeply and gestured for him to move aside.
"Archmage...?"
The bewildered knight looked around at the reactions of those nearby.
They weren't interested in the knight; their gazes were fixed on something in the distance.
The knight turned his head to follow their line of sight.
In the distance, a line of black carriages bearing the Eternia emblem was approaching the mansion.
"...!"
Damian, Silveryn's disciple, called the knight aside and quietly guided him.
"This way, please."
***
After bringing all the griffin blood into the production room, I took a deep breath. It was a total of six oak barrels' worth.
It was a bit late, making my heart race, but I received more than expected. This amount would last over a year even if I made and drank one bottle a day.
It must be the amount from three or four griffins; the Knight Order seemed to have been generous.
The problem was that I had to use the potion in a real situation without being able to manufacture and test it first.
I didn't know what problems might arise. I needed to be mentally prepared.
Liria followed me into the production room.
"Is this the final ingredient?"
"Yes."
Liria took a flask, opened the lid of an oak barrel, and filled it with the liquid.
Then, she shook the flask and observed it.
Colorless, odorless, and highly viscous, it looked like colorless honey. It felt completely different from the blood of ordinary magic creatures and beasts that people knew about.
After quietly observing it, Liria asked me with a face that showed she couldn't understand at all:
"What on earth is this?"
"It's griffin blood."
"Oh my..."
Liria looked around at the oak barrels again in astonishment.
"So, anyway, this is the final ingredient, right?"
"That's right."
"Phew, what should I do... I'm so nervous."
"Why are you nervous, Liria?"
"I don't know either... Why am I like this?"
Liria had also seen the procession of Eternia carriages approaching the mansion. She couldn't help but realize this was no ordinary matter.
I took out a note from my pocket with the final combination formula written on it. The important work in manufacturing the griffin potion was finished, and only simple but labor-intensive tasks remained.
"Liria, I have a favor to ask."
"Yes?"
I handed her the note and said, "Could you make the potion according to this and bring it to me? As quickly as possible."
Liria took the paper, scanned it once, and nodded with a determined face.
"Yes!"
Judging by her expression, it seemed like Liria was the one taking the test, not me.
Urgent footsteps approached the production room.
A maid at the door of the production room announced the arrival of the examiners.
"The carriages have just entered the mansion grounds."
***
I was standing next to Silveryn, watching the carriages cross the main gate.
Among the five carriages, the one in the middle was particularly large and had elaborate decorations on its surface.
On either side of that carriage, two knights in golden armor were escorting it.
I knew who was riding in it from what Silveryn had told me.
As the carriages finished entering, the one who seemed to be the captain of the escort knights shouted:
"Everyone in position!"
At the same time, the carriages all stopped in front of the mansion. Soon after, the coachmen got down as if performing a military drill and opened each carriage door.
For a moment, the world seemed to stop, and it became quiet.
First, a woman got out of the large carriage in the center, holding a knight's hand.
She had neatly rolled-up blonde hair, and on her small face, she wore thin, round glasses. Her dress, embroidered with elaborate patterns, had hems that reached down to her feet.
The maids unconsciously let out exclamations of admiration at her appearance.
Judging by her attire and adornments, she looked like an elderly high priestess or royalty, but her face had the fresh appearance of someone who had just turned twenty.
I couldn't believe my eyes.
Pointed ears I had never seen before in my life.
She was an elf, a race that had severed ties with humans.
Silveryn, who had been watching her, said to me, "You really were born with a strange fate, my disciple."
"..."
It truly was a strange fate, as Silveryn said.
Even though I had heard about it beforehand, seeing it in person felt completely different.
Erzsebet Tiers.
The very person who had made me so nervous.
She was the first Magic Engineering scholar I had ever encountered in my life, and moreover, she was at the pinnacle of the Magic Engineering field.
On top of that, I never imagined she would be an elf.
I recalled the epithets attached to Erzsebet in my mind.
Mother of Magic Engineering.
Queen of Trees.
Lord of The Plantera.
Heart of Eternia.
And the Communicator of Eternia.
She, who rarely showed herself even in Eternia, had come to see me for some reason.
***
Gael got out of the carriage with Flynn. And the masked examiners also started to get out of the carriages one by one.
Gael couldn't know the identities of the other examiners except for Communicator Erzsebet. The only information Gael had heard was that they were external figures who had been given honorary positions by the Academy.
The long three-week journey was nearing its end.
And the schedule for the Masters Class evaluation, which was the main purpose of this journey, would end in just one day.
Furthermore, the time spent on the actual evaluation was only ten minutes.
While Eternia's entrance exam was given a full week, the more important Masters Class evaluation only allocated an extremely short time.
Complicated and detailed tests were merely for gathering and distinguishing the abilities of many ordinary talents, but it didn't take long to identify a single genius.
Everything would be over in ten minutes.
Silveryn and her servants were waiting in front of the mansion to greet them. Silveryn glanced at Gael and then fixed her gaze on Erzsebet again.
A boy was standing next to Silveryn.
They had heard rumors since entering Wiesel.
This boy was the disciple that Silveryn had finally taken in after turning away so many geniuses.
The disciple of the Archmage, but a child holding a sword.
Gael couldn't understand. Whether she had taken him in on a whim, or if she had discovered something in the boy that other geniuses didn't have, or if she had some other scheme.
Silveryn herself was a being difficult to predict. If it was her, she was fully capable of using people to achieve her goals and discarding them without hesitation.
In any case, having come this far, it couldn't be taken lightly.
The boy would now be placed on a cruel judgment stand under the pretext of the Masters Class evaluation and being Silveryn's disciple.
Gael turned around and shouted to the escort knights, "Raise the Plantera!"
The knights approached the huge cargo wagon at the end of the carriage procession. They grabbed the black tarpaulin covering the loads and stripped it all off.
The wooden puppets that had been sleeping crumpled in the cargo wagon slowly began to rise as they received sunlight.
Crack
As they rose, the shaking cargo wagon finally couldn't withstand the weight, and its wheels collapsed.
Thud-Thud-
The giant wooden puppets walked out one by one with heavy steps.
They were so huge that even the well-built knights couldn't reach their chest level, and the pressure from their presence was suffocating.
The work of the great Magic Engineering scholar Erzsebet, and now a symbol of Eternia.
It was the Plantera.
On Mount Grace, which flanked Eternia's main building, thousands of wooden puppet troops were stationed, tearing apart anything that threatened Eternia, be it magic creatures or humans.
It was thanks to the Plantera Corps that Eternia could maintain its independent power without joining any empire, kingdom, principality, or city alliance.
Fear momentarily flashed across the faces of the maids watching the Plantera.