Chapter 74
Chapter 27 The Power of a Spirit Summoner (2)
“Even the children of noble families?”
“Yes.”
At the chancellor’s answer, Jade looked surprised.
When he heard that even noble scions unrelated to the reason he had come to the Department of Magic had gathered, he could not understand it.
Squeeze!
But then Della tightly clutched Jade’s clothes.
She had grown tense because so many people—and, on top of that, students from the Department of Magic whom she had not dared even look at until yesterday—were staring intently at her.
“It’s all right, it’s all right. I’m here.”
Jade immediately understood how she felt, turned around, and gently stroked Della’s back.
Surprisingly, Della quickly calmed down.
“I’ll hold Della. Come on, come on! Stay with your big sister. Jade has things to do.”
Arellia smiled warmly and opened both arms.
But Della did not readily go into Arellia’s arms.
Instead, she looked back and forth between Jade and Arellia with a troubled expression.
“Go play with big sister for a little while. I’ll be back as soon as I’m done here.”
“Uu.”
At Jade’s words, Della loosened her tightly clenched hand.
But her gaze remained fixed on Jade.
Kkyuu! Kkyu!
At the sight of Della like that, Whid climbed down from Jade’s back and approached her.
It comforted Della as if to say it was there too.
Moreover, although the others could not see them, Silestin and Elestra were also beside Della.
“I think we’ve made this a little too big.”
“We were planning to set up a small gathering too, but when word got around that Marquis Kang was personally recruiting talent, they flocked here like clouds.”
The chancellor smiled awkwardly at the mildly reproachful remark.
He, too, had not expected matters to grow this large.
But it was not difficult to understand how the magic students felt.
‘If you look at it one way, this is clearly an opportunity.’
The royal knights had splintered into four factions because of the 2nd Prince’s Rebellion.
So, to fill the vacancies, the Crown Prince and Haynes personally toured the Department of Knight Studies and gathered talent.
Some of them had even become Haynes’s disciples.
Yet when word spread that Jade had come to recruit mages, the magic students who did not come from noble families could not help but take an interest.
‘It’s the most secure path to power available right now, too.’
The Crown Prince’s faction was small, but in terms of quality, it actually overwhelmed the nobles’ faction.
It was certain he would become king before long, too.
Naturally, even those from noble families could take an interest.
If they belonged to the neutral faction, joining the Crown Prince’s faction was not a bad option.
The Crown Prince had already drawn many people into his fold, after all.
“The atmosphere in the Department of Magic is completely different.”
“It feels even more heated than when I came last time.”
“Are you upset about that?”
“A little?”
Lloyd answered jokingly.
But Rainy knew.
She knew there was truth mixed into his joke.
As she did so, Rainy looked at Della, who was nestled quietly in Arellia’s arms.
‘Marquis Jade’s disciple.’
At first glance, Della looked no different from any ordinary girl.
There was nothing special about her grimy, unkempt appearance.
Yet Jade had made Della his disciple the moment he saw her.
Jade, who had taken in ten children in Baden Village but had never made any of them his disciples.
‘That must mean she possesses incredible talent.’
Arellia’s reaction alone showed how great Della’s talent was.
That was why she felt disappointed.
If she or Lloyd had discovered Della first, things would certainly have been very different from how they were now.
Moreover, she and her younger brother had visited the Royal Academy several times.
‘If we had discovered Della first and helped her grow in the Department of Spirit Studies…… No. Would that have been difficult?’
Rainy smiled bitterly.
The clothes Della was wearing now were the sort commonly worn by odd-job workers.
Enroll a child like that in the Department of Spirit Studies?
It probably would not have been easy.
There would have been many obstacles to enrolling her in the Royal Academy based on mere potential.
The students themselves would have objected first of all.
‘Only a marquis could make that possible.’
It was unfortunate, but that was reality.
Unlike Jade, neither she nor Lloyd had the ability to be certain of Della’s potential.
That was why Rainy felt even more disappointed.
If Jade stayed in the capital with them and took charge of the Department of Spirit Studies, he could have given it the distinction of being the best on the continent in a single year, not ten.
“Who’s that child?”
“Are those the clothes the cleaning workers wear?”
“Ah, is that why she looked familiar?”
“But how is she being held by an elf?”
Rainy heard the magic students whispering softly nearby.
They seemed to be whispering quietly, but perhaps because they were close—or perhaps because Della was involved—their voices, though faint, reached her clearly.
“When they first entered the great hall, she was in the marquis’s arms.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I saw it too.”
“Why didn’t I see her?”
“Because you went to the bathroom. That’s why I told you to go beforehand.”
Most of them were looking at Jade and his younger sister, but some showed interest in Della.
It was not only her familiar clothes; everyone was surprised to see her being held where Whid had been.
But suddenly, the murmuring grew louder.
Perhaps some of the nobles had heard what happened in the Department of Spirit Studies, because the word disciple quickly spread throughout the hall.
“Amazing.”
“Talk about turning your life around.”
“But just how talented is she for the marquis to take her in?”
“She must be unbelievably talented for him to take her in after meeting her only once.”
The ripple spread through every corner of the great hall in an instant.
Della’s situation was that shocking.
A child who had been at the very bottom was becoming the disciple of the most influential person in the kingdom.
“But I heard there’s something wrong with her body?”
“I heard she’s mute.”
“Really? Then why did he accept her as a disciple? Is her talent so incredible that he accepted her even knowing she’s mute?”
“I wish someone would recognize my talent too. Just because we’re mages doesn’t mean we have no spirit affinity, right? The marquis is a spirit swordsman too.”
Though they were trying to whisper quietly, dozens of people were talking, not just one or two, so it was impossible not to hear.
If I can hear them, Jade can certainly hear them even better.
“I’m sorry! I’m a little late.”
“Huh? Baron Steven?”
“Haha! It’s been a while, Marquis Jade!”
While Rainy kept stealing glances at Jade, the door to the great hall opened.
The door through which the group had entered swung open in a hurry, and a familiar figure appeared.
Apparently having run there in haste, Steven wiped his forehead with his sleeve, greeted Lloyd, Rainy, and Haynes in turn, then flashed Jade a broad grin.
“It seems you’ve been doing well.”
“As expected, nothing escapes your discerning eye, Marquis Jade. I’ve made a small breakthrough.”
“It doesn’t seem small.”
Jade shook his head.
The aura Steven gave off was one thing, but Jade could also feel that
the mana emanating from Steven’s heart was completely different from last time.
“Thanks to you, Marquis Jade, I was able to break through the barrier. An insight happened to come to me by chance while I was studying the gift you gave me.”
“Congratulations.”
“Haha! I should be the one thanking you. But I ended up being so late.”
Steven wore an embarrassed expression.
Rather than arriving early to wait, he had arrived late, and Steven was genuinely sorry.
“It’s all right. You’re not actually late yet.”
“It was worth running here. But weren’t only sixth-year students supposed to gather?”
Still wiping the sweat beading on his forehead, Steven tilted his head.
As a graduate of the Department of Magic, he recognized at once that
not only the sixth-year students, who could be called prospective graduates, but students from every year had gathered in the great hall.
“Can you tell them apart?”
“Ah, in the Department of Magic, you can tell the year by the color of the scarf. Six colors rotate in a cycle, and this year’s sixth-year students are……”
“Blue.”
The chancellor quietly spoke up in Steven’s place.
He had been just about to explain that point anyway, so he naturally joined the conversation.
“I see. I thought the students wearing blue gathered at the front were sixth-years.”
Nodding, Steven slowly looked around at the magic students.
In the past, he, too, had stood in the great hall wearing the same clothes as the students.
Born a commoner, he had suffered much discrimination and persecution, but in the end, he had proudly become a noble.
A hereditary baron at that.
‘It’s easy to tell them apart.’
Countless eyes were turned toward Jade, but the emotions reflected in them fell into exactly two categories.
Curiosity and yearning.
Those from noble families were filled with curiosity, while those from commoner backgrounds were full of yearning.
They wanted to be chosen by Jade, become his retainers, and rise in status.
The number of nobles had sharply decreased because of the 2nd Prince’s Rebellion, and Jade was unquestionably the most influential noble in the kingdom, so it was not entirely impossible.
After all, although he was a marquis, he currently had not a single retainer family.
‘It’s enough to make anyone greedy.’
He himself had become a hereditary noble through loyalty alone.
So it was only natural that they would want it even more.
The problem, however, was that Jade was not an easy man to deal with.
“This has grown bigger than I expected. I was only planning to pick a few graduates.”
“Many people are curious about you, Marquis. If anything, I think fewer people gathered than expected. The students from the Department of Knight Studies didn’t come, after all.”
“Ahem! Many have asked about it. Even the professors from the Department of Knight Studies hinted that they wanted to attend.”
“You heard him. If anything, this is a small gathering.”
With the chancellor chiming in as though to reinforce his words, Steven continued with a faint smile.
Steven thought so too.
With the current number, it was by no means a large gathering.
Of course, not all of them had applied to Kang Marquisate.
“If that’s the reason, then that’s a relief. Even if they’re rejected, they won’t be too disappointed.”
“Do you have any specific requirements? Such as at least 3rd Class, or no applicants from noble families.”
“There is only one thing I look at: whether they are mentally strong. As you know, my territory borders the Great Forest. For one thing, we’re also short on mages at present.”
“Even so, you can’t take just anyone on.”
Steven was smiling, but his eyes were cold.
He would not permit anyone to be selected carelessly and brought along.
Since this involved none other than Jade, Steven intended to scrutinize the students more carefully than ever.
“That’s true. The more urgent the matter, the more carefully one should proceed.”
“There are many applicants, so we can select talented people who possess both ability and character. The problem is what criteria to use for the selection……”
“I’ve already thought of that.”
Fwoosh!
Flames suddenly sprang up in midair.
Then they quickly took on a single form.
A lion with a flaming mane appeared in midair, poised as if it might roar at any moment.
“Th-that!”
“A high-ranking fire spirit!”
“I never thought I’d see Salaim in person!”
Grrrrr!
Though Salaim had appeared suddenly, everyone was more fascinated than surprised.
They knew all too well how rarely one got the chance to see a high-ranking fire spirit.
But their excitement did not last long.
When Salaim roared and released the intimidating aura of a high-ranking spirit in every direction, everyone stiffened.
“Ghk!”
“W-what is this!”
Some even sank to the floor.
They were quite literally overwhelmed by the aura Salaim emitted.
The professors were no exception.
At the unexpectedly intense aura, even the fifth-class professors—high-ranking mages in their own right—went rigid.
“I’ve selected them all.”