A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 357 Strange Phenomena and Strange Visitors

News of the gathering of paladins spread from the Holy Kingdom all the way, even reaching Bain and Rorschach's ears.

At this moment, he and Andre were in Kempson, the southwestern corner of Bain. This city was the "mining capital" of the kingdom. Unlike other places that were idyllic or quiet towns, it had long been transformed into a dark and gloomy place by coal stoves and chimneys. In Rorschach's eyes, this was another kind of "vibrant life".

Andrei picked up the newspaper from the hotel lobby: "Teacher, the kingdom's holy knights have set out. They..." Andrei quickly scanned the newspaper report: "They haven't concealed their movements at all, preaching as they march, and now even the Bain newspaper is predicting their marching route."

This confused Andrei: "What kind of war is this?"

"Yes," Rorschach replied casually to his student's question while checking the blueprints for errors. "Every Holy Expedition since the Silent Generation has been a grand affair."

He wanted to correct Andrei's misconception: "For ordinary military forces, strategy and tactics are important, but the strength of the paladins, as the armed forces of the church and the steel fist of the Lord of Order, comes from faith and divine magic. I think the current leaders of the paladins just want to replicate a small holy war, the bigger the better."

Indeed, despite the kingdom's chaos, every monastery has preserved its wealth and resources, and the church's followers remain numerous, so the "Holy Army" assembled within the kingdom has no need to worry about supplies.

Inspired by the hymns, whenever a knight's steed passed through a town or village, wealthy lords and merchants would sponsor him with goods, while some poor but faithful commoners would voluntarily join the ranks of servants.

Even thieves, robbers, and other criminals, either seeking atonement or to plunder the empire's villages and towns following the army, joined the ranks. In short, this army defending "the Lord's earthly kingdom" was now truly the same as during the Holy Crusade:

In the past, it was a vast army of monks, knights, commoners, and even bandits who, driven by faith or money, would march to attack the invisible god's territory in the land of sand, plundering wealth and "reclaiming" the holy land.

With each toll of the holy bell, the knight's armor grows stronger; with each day a sacred song is sung, the knight's sword grows sharper. As long as we are united and our faith remains steadfast, the Holy Knights are invincible!

But Rorschach felt that the church was somewhat path-dependent; the Empire must have considered the emergence of such an armed force and had a way to deal with it. "If Chancellor Deplesi were still in control, the Holy Kingdom wouldn't be in this situation."

But there are no "what ifs." I heard that the cardinal has already gone south, and so far the Apostolic of the Eternal City has not made any strong statement or appeal regarding the great changes in the Holy Kingdom and the war between the two countries.

He remained silent, just like his god.

The steel plant was still under construction, so Rorschach first had Andrei test the new system of spells. The effect was the same as that of the nearby tower spirit, but Rorschach found that his own senses were stronger when Andrei cast the spell, and he also had to expend some of his internal magic power.

So it turns out I can be a "server" too, which means I'm also a distractor. Rorschach regretfully declared the experiment a failure.

On his second day in Kempson, Rorschach received a letter from the "Air Cavalry" training officer. He told Rorschach that the unit had experienced several instances of motor malfunctions while training and patrolling the northwestern border of the Kingdom of Byrne.

In the letter, the instructor couldn't help but praise a female soldier named Tanya, who saved her teammate's life during a sudden fall. Although she broke her leg as a result, she still insisted on participating in training.

Moved by this, the instructor speculated that there might be ancient magical ruins or an unknown dead magic zone in the northwest corner of the kingdom, and invited Rorschach to explore it, hoping that Rorschach would improve the stability of the device as soon as possible.

"Relics? I don't have time for that." Rorschach put away the letter, thinking about how to politely decline the invitation while making it seem like he valued it. Just then, Andrei brought him a strange guest, who was accompanied by Mr. Hassai.

The residents of Kempson are all involved in mining; there isn't a single teahouse to be found, but there are plenty of beer halls. Rorschach met his client in a private room on the second floor of the beer hall. He was a lean man, dressed in a surprisingly light and efficient manner despite the winter weather.

As soon as Rorschach entered, Mr. Hassai left the room, taking Andrei with him as well.

When only the young mage and the man remained, the other party spoke: "It is an honor to meet you. I am Lieutenant Adov from the Logistics Department of the Imperial Army."

So blunt? Luo Xia quickly drank some water to calm himself down: "Your frankness shocks me, but I still don't know why you've come."

The man's eyes were a cloudy, pale blue, almost grayish. Rorschach knew this because Lieutenant Adov looked directly at him: "I represent the Imperial Army and wish to procure lightweight phlogiston."

"Tsk, how did the Imperial Army discover I had good stuff?" Rorschach couldn't help but drink some water again: "It seems the Imperial Army's intelligence network is very efficient."

"Light phlogiston is classified as a strategic resource, so we are paying close attention to it. First, the procurement department discovered that the price in the south of the empire has fallen, which is unusual—dwarves who have secured a monopoly have always considered any small profit as a loss."

"Then we discovered that since half a month ago, Bain has stopped importing light phlogiston from other parts of the Empire, but products that require it are still being exported. Therefore, the Logistics Department deduced that there must be companies within Bain producing light phlogiston or its substitutes. Finally, we found your Basif."

The lieutenant gave a restrained smile, which could also be interpreted as the triumphant smile of having peeled back the layers and discovered the truth: "After the initial contact, I was informed that neither Mr. Horn nor Mr. Hassai could make the decision. After I presented conditions that your company could not refuse, Mr. Hassai decided to introduce you."

"I never expected that the person in charge behind this is so young, and also a monk."

Rorschach was successfully intrigued by the lieutenant's explanation: "Unable to refuse?"

"Before our discussions with your company, our logistics department conducted some preliminary research and discovered that Fanta, the company that invested in Basif, is a food factory, primarily producing sugary beverages. I imagine that importing raw materials is currently facing some difficulties?"

With the Holy Kingdom in turmoil, the import of Hercules' energizing potion was impossible, and sugar imports were also threatened. Mr. Hassai was planning to establish plantations and collaborate with farms to produce sugar crops, but this would take time. "Fonda's" main business was now facing a raw material crisis.

"If the Imperial Army can procure phlogiston from you, we will provide sugar quotas. If you are willing to support us in building phlogiston factories on the front lines, then no matter how the war develops, the trading company's raw material procurement will be given priority by us."

"I see," Rorschach said, "such generous terms are indeed hard to refuse." He didn't immediately agree: "You and your colleagues have conducted a very thorough investigation of our trading company."

Lieutenant Adov, who was only in charge of logistics, was still not deep enough and kept smiling: "Even in the relatively independent Bain, don't underestimate our intelligence network."

"Oh, sir, you can't say that!" Rorschach thought to himself, while extending his hand: "I hope this is the beginning of a good collaboration. I agree. Please discuss the specifics with Mr. Hassai!"

(End of this chapter)