Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 124 Sedros
After the town meeting was adjourned, Conrad summoned Sumu and Maggie.

"Your defense of Kuraki Town was crucial in driving Isabel out of the plains. As a result, Isildur lost its springboard city, and the heartland of the capital is temporarily safe. You have made an invaluable contribution to the kingdom's strategic layout. I have already reported to the parliament to recommend Kuraki for credit."

The Knight Commander is a man of great integrity and virtue, who does everything for the sake of the kingdom. He appreciates talented young people and is willing to give them opportunities. What's even more remarkable is his impartiality in rewarding and punishing without any selfish motives. He is truly a breath of fresh air in the kingdom.

"Thank you, Sir Knight. As long as Kuraki Town exists, the Isidor Vanguard Army will never be allowed to set foot on the plains!"

"Okay, be ambitious!"

Conrad preferred straightforward and ambitious individuals to those scheming, manipulative types. The kingdom had been corrupt for too long and desperately needed fresh blood. This great battle might be an opportunity; if Elton could weather the storm, he might just rise from the ashes like a phoenix.

Conrad then looked at Maggie: "You don't need to blame yourself too much. Isabel led the vanguard in a surprise attack. Even the most powerful heroes in the kingdom wouldn't dare to guarantee that they could defend the city."

Moreover, I've also investigated privately. Longlet Castle has experienced several periods of chaos, and when you took over, your forces were insufficient, making it impossible to resist. As the lord, knowing you were outmatched, you still traveled to various places to organize resistance and ultimately achieved victory, which is truly commendable.

I will report the truth to Congress and will not allow anyone to tarnish the Garfield family's honor!

Maggie was deeply moved by the knight commander's words, and she glanced at Su Mu, remembering this kindness in her heart.

She understood that Conrad's politeness stemmed from the defense of Kuraki, a victory that allowed her to atone for her crimes. Furthermore, Su Mu's public support in front of all the nobles had convinced the knight commander to offer her protection.

Otherwise, as a woman alone, facing wolves and tigers, with no soldiers and having lost the city, she really had no chance at all.

Maggie secretly vowed to work hard to cultivate magic and repay Su Mu.

Now that Conrad had set the tone, no one dared to object. Maggie took over Longletburg again and assigned new personnel.

This time, apart from some inner fortress managers, she left the rest of the key positions to Cangmu Town. She planned to have Su Mu recommend several reliable officials to jointly govern the county town.

Su Mu readily accepted the proposal.

In chaotic times, harsh measures are necessary. First and foremost, it is essential to ensure the smooth flow of intelligence. He appointed Wayne, who had distinguished himself in this great battle, to manage the county town's thieves' guild and oversee intelligence gathering across the entire marquisate.

After a long period of recovery, Wayne's injuries healed, and the priest even reattached his broken leg, allowing him to stand up again.

【Wayne (Thief): Attack 3, Defense 3, Spell Power 2, Knowledge 2.

Loyalty 87, Element: None.

Characteristics: Knowledgeable in the industry, skilled in disguise and reconnaissance.

中级侦查特长（高级执政）：大幅提升盗贼公会侦查情报的能力，每周还会带来一些意想不到的消息。英雄每有4点攻击，则提升盗贼（包括升阶兵种）2点攻击力与2%暴击率（8攻击力与8%暴击率）。

Basic Logistics (Advanced Governance): Increases the hero's land movement by 10% (40%).

Basic Concealment (Advanced Ruler): Your troops are highly stealthy and secretive, making it difficult for the enemy to ascertain their exact numbers and characteristics. They also possess special magical abilities that allow them to disguise themselves.

Since no new sealing treasures have been placed in the Eight Kings Palace, Su Mu simply ruled over Wayne, but did not have him erect a statue.

However, for this newly crowned thief hero, this is undoubtedly a great reward.

No matter which hero it was, only when they gained power did they understand what Kuraki's true strength was, and why Su Mu was able to turn the tide so many times.

Wayne became even more loyal to Kuraki and the lord.

Maggie personally manages the finances. The parliament provides 2000 gold coins daily, and with the skill enhancements from her and Su Mu, as well as Kuraki's own internal affairs office, they can earn at least 5000 gold coins daily, which is comparable to the basic income of the parliament.

As for the management of the market and the city, they were jointly managed by the civil officials trained by Kuraki and the nobles of the marquisate.

In fact, this life-or-death struggle with Isildur purged too many nobles, and talented new people poured in, allowing the rigid class system to move freely.

There was originally a very suitable person for the most crucial city defense and training, but unfortunately he died on the battlefield.

"The shield-bearer commander, Mead, bravely sacrificed his life fighting against the alien race in the Battle of Kuraki."

We hereby request the Kingdom to bestow upon him the title of Valiant Knight!

After Maggie finished writing the petition, she handed it to Su Mu.

Su Mu glanced at it and silently put the parchment away.

The defense of Kuraki was extremely difficult; even heroes like Orling and Wayne were nearly killed. Other extraordinary units suffered heavy casualties, with the Earth Bow almost completely depleted. The shield infantry formation, bearing the brunt of the Pegasus Lawbringers and Stormwind Centaurs' attacks, held the line and took the brunt of the damage. Those who survived were all severely wounded and only recovered thanks to the healing tents.

Unfortunately, Mead was surrounded and attacked by several Pegasus Lawbringers during the chaotic battle, and died with regret.

Although he was the commander of the shield infantry and possessed astonishing defense, swords and blades have no eyes, and the enemy's attacks and defenses were also extremely abnormal, making it impossible for him to withstand them.

Even at the very end, when Mead's shield shattered and he was stabbed dozens of times, none of the wounds were in his back, making his death truly heroic. Therefore, Su Mu specifically asked Maggie to petition Congress for a knighthood for bravery, so that he could receive the honor he deserved and his family could receive the care they were due.

"If one cannot become a hero, one will ultimately be unable to withstand unexpected events on the battlefield."

Even heroes cannot escape the relentless passage of time.

Mead was like that, as were Maggie and Sumu, and even those renowned legendary heroes have all become a thing of the past.

Once you embark on this path, you must be prepared to die on the battlefield.

After a brief moment of reflection, Su Mu quickly regained his composure and asked Maggie to recommend a few promising individuals for him to review.

The problem is that the quality of this group is really hard to guarantee. Maggie recommended a total of 3 people, and none of them were usable.

A spearman commander, a griffin trainer, and a swordsman commander.

All three are capable and ambitious, but their loyalty is shockingly low, not even reaching the basic level of 30. They are practically traitors with "traitor" written all over their faces.

Sumu immediately ordered Maggie to send them away to prevent them from contaminating the new troops.

There was no other way but to temporarily let Orling guard Longlit Castle and help Maggie stabilize the situation.

"Such a large prefecture, and all you have are these ugly and deformed people? Your ability to judge people is truly amazing!"

Su Mu had to complain about Maggie. Although these were all recommended by his subordinates, her talent for absorbing scum was too strong. She allowed these traitors to grow up and become another batch of Griffinson or Kyle.

This may be related to the characteristics of Maggie's dream world. After learning some magic, there may be unknown negative effects, but they are difficult to observe.

Of course, if Su Mu didn't possess the Governance Technique that allowed him to directly assess loyalty, he wouldn't have been able to make such a judgment. Therefore, he didn't blame Maggie, given the current precarious situation in the county town, a place teeming with all sorts of people.

"By the way, there is also a magic apprentice in the magic tower. He was a member there before the war, and returned to the tower after the war to continue his research on magic."

I think he's quite persistent, but unfortunately he doesn't have much talent for magic.

"Let's go take a look."

The two traveled light and entered the magic guild. Having survived the ravages of war, the magic guild was in dire straits, with only scattered books and basic spell blueprints remaining to sustain it.

A magic apprentice is tidying up books, putting the disordered books back on the shelves, and cleaning the magic tower to bring it back to life.

Even after Su Mu and his companion entered the magic tower, the apprentice remained focused, meticulously organizing the magic books, dusting them off, and treating the knowledge with reverence.

"what is his name?"

"Sidelos!"

Su Mu activated his Qi Observation Technique to observe Sederlos.

【Sidelos (Magic Apprentice): Attack 5, Defense 4, Damage 4-4, Health 15, Speed ​​4, Small Size】

Loyalty 60, Element: None.

Characteristics: Obsessed with magic, devoted to cultivation, and ignoring most temptations (including those of chaos and ancient gods).

Sage's Heart: Allows you to gain more knowledge from ancient texts and accumulate magical abilities.

"He's not a pure human, is he?"

"They have some blood of the gods and monsters, and they wandered over from the north."

Su Mu nodded, surprised that Maggie had such poor judgment of warriors, yet had a special sensitivity to magical figures.

This magic apprentice isn't lacking in potential; rather, his potential is too great, which is why he hasn't been promoted to hero yet.

Being able to ignore the temptations of other gods is something many heroes find difficult to do, demonstrating that Cedros possesses astonishing intelligence and insight.

But the more people are like this, the more likely they are to run into problems and fail halfway through their journey; their path to growth is much more difficult.

Su Mu approached Sederlos and waved his hand, finally bringing the other man back to his senses from his books.

Upon seeing Maggie, even the slow-witted Cederos became somewhat nervous: "Maggie... Lady Maggie, I was just tidying up the magic tower and checking if they were arranged correctly."

Su Mu asked, "When you look at these ancient books, don't you hear any unusual sounds?"

Sedros nodded, then quickly shook his head: "At first there were some murmurs, like sea monsters singing, which were very pleasant to hear. But I was reading very carefully and as I read more and more, I gradually stopped hearing them."

Is this what you call sincerity? It's not that simple; perhaps there's another secret about Cedros.

"Would you be willing to serve Miss Maggie of Longletburg?"

Sederlos was taken aback: "Aren't I serving Longlet Castle right now? I love this magic tower the most, I could stay in this tower for the rest of my life."

Su Mu continued, "Currently, this magic tower is only level 2. If you were to go to other, higher-level magic towers, learn magical abilities, and become a hero, would you be confident?"

Sedros was somewhat excited: "My dream is to go to the highest level magic tower and learn all the magic in the world. I read in a book that there was a level 9 magic tower in the ancient era, which contained supreme magic that surpassed divine magic, called the Eternal Magic. If I could see it, I would be willing to die immediately."

This young man has ambition!

Even with Maggie's extensive knowledge, she had never heard of the story of the Supreme Magic, so she never expected that Cedrus would be determined to see it.

Su Mu was aware of this matter, but it was mostly just a legend, and no one had verified its authenticity.

"Then you can only follow a powerful lord. Building a level 9 magic tower is not easy. You need to obtain the resources of the entire world to have any chance of success."

"I've heard that Lord Su Mu of Cangmu Town is invincible. If I follow him, I might have a chance to fulfill my dream!"

Hearing the boy's words, Maggie burst out laughing. She was certain that Cedros had never met Su Mu before. He had just been acting like he was dealing with a stranger, but unexpectedly he praised him to his face. He has potential!

"The man before you is Lord Kuraki! Will you abandon me and follow him?"

“Miss Maggie…that’s not what I meant. I meant that if we have the opportunity to collaborate in the future…I…I’d rather focus on studying magic.”

"Hahahahahaha!"

It must be said that this magic apprentice is very pure; researchers like him are hard to find these days.

"Go to Kuraki's magic guild. They're researching special magic there, and they also have a lot of magic books. It'll be a good opportunity for you to put your talents to good use!"

After Maggie spoke, Cedros nodded blankly and immediately went back to pack his luggage, preparing to head to Kuraki.

Perhaps special magic can inspire him and help him grow into a true hero.

After Cedrus left, Maggie wondered, "Why not just put him in power and make him a hero?"

Su Mu shook his head: "Geniuses have their own ideas, and I don't want to interfere. Just provide a suitable environment."

Besides, I'm not in dire need of magic heroes right now. Training someone is a lot of work; let him figure it out on his own.

Unlike his initial situation in Kuraki, the current Lord Kuraki is a well-known figure in the plains region, with many people trying to curry favor with him.

Talented, ambitious, and capable people all want to board Kuraki's ship and sail together.

Therefore, Su Mu's mindset changed when selecting rulers. Unless there was a great need for such people, ordinary people were not very appealing to him.

As for geniuses, how do even the most brilliant individuals compare to heroes enhanced by the art of governance?
He wouldn't stoop so low as to mentor an unsuitable person, but if the opportunity arises, he will naturally step in.

Another important point is that human heroes share similar traits, and the art of governance can govern multiple races. Su Mu is interested in trying out heroes from other races, which might better help his skill development.

Of course, the current war between the two countries is still a life-or-death crisis, and we must get through this hurdle first.

With the completion of the strongest swordsman training camp, coupled with the barracks at Longlit Castle, a group of powerful swordsmen can be cultivated. In particular, the broadsword swordsmen who gain sufficient experience during the Kuraki Defense War can upgrade another wave of buildings.

If Ivan Argyle were to join Kuraki Town, the strongest swordsman would be invincible.

However, the Argyll family seemed to have encountered some problems. This time, when they went south to support Langlitburg, they also sent someone, but it was not Ivan, but his brother Soya Argyll.

Just then, Wayne slowly walked in. He glanced at Maggie and said directly, "Little Salman has summoned some nobles from the North at the mansion, and also invited some people from the Plains region, including the Angry Bear family."

Maggie frowned: "Didn't the Knight Commander and he reach an agreement after the meeting? What else does Little Salman want?"

Su Mu scoffed, "Agree? If we really agreed, he would have returned directly to the Northern Territory."

Ignore him and continue to manage the city as planned. If Salman wants to cause trouble, I'll just be testing my troops.

There's something very important that truly belongs to the Salman family!

(End of this chapter)