A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 368 Hannah, the Iron-Hat Princess

People are always looking for compromises.

If we had previously asked those rich kids from universities to work for the trading company for free, under the guise of internships, they definitely wouldn't have been willing, especially since the first batch would have faced tremendous resistance.

But if you tell them that they won't get a diploma and that they'll have to go to the Holy Kingdom as cannon fodder after graduation, they'll feel that getting training in a company is a good and necessary thing.

Rorschach set the timeframe at three months. The general expectation within the Empire is that the war will last two months, meaning the "death threat" can continue for at least two months. Adding the normal tolerance limit, let's say one month, the total comes to exactly one quarter.

A single letter is enough to get college students across the country to work for him for free. Rorschach is a male sorcerer who is proficient in pedagogy, psychology, and the art of getting rich.

When King Albert showed Rorschach's letter to Prince Otto, the prince's expression was priceless: "You can do this?"

However, he knew that it was the urgency brought about by the war that made the possibility of great destruction and reconstruction possible. Otherwise, when everyone was at peace, why would they be so tolerant of Rorschach, this catfish? Therefore, Rorschach said that personal efforts should be combined with the historical process, and finally endorsed by the ability to cast spells.

Most students felt confused and dissatisfied with the new regulations, and they finally began to pay attention to the trading companies. However, one group was very excited and actively signed up for "Bassford," "Fonda," and the new steel mill.

At the Grammar School in Würzburg, there's an interest group called "Thoth Key." Although they're all ordinary people who never had the chance to enter the Magic Tower, that doesn't stop them from having a strong interest in magic. So, rather than saying they're after the corporations, it's more accurate to say they're after the legendary bosses behind the three companies.

The club occupied an abandoned classroom in a corner, deliberately drawing all the curtains and using candles for limited lighting. Scattered around the corner were spellbooks and ritual items they had collected. Perhaps the only genuine item was the "Greasy Spell" scroll they had bought with their spare change, the viscous grease they summoned stored as a treasure in a wax-sealed glass jar.

Because they even went so far as to boil a recipe they'd somehow gotten their hands on in a cast iron pot, there was always a lingering, strange smell in the enclosed space.

This club was just one step away from being forced to disband: a haphazard concoction of potions that resulted in an accident. It was Rorschach who gave these young people new hope.

"Martin, how are you?"

Martin enrolled in the new steel mill, but as a grammar school student, he couldn't connect with poetry and molten iron. Sure enough, when he opened Kempson's reply, it began with "I'm sorry":

"No, it was rejected. They suggested I go to a food factory to see if they have sales or marketing positions?" He didn't expect that some companies would have such positions.

"According to information from my uncle, Mage Rorschach has been appearing most frequently at the new steel mill lately." The club president scratched his head, as he and all the members had been rejected by three companies. The liberal arts students felt the malice of the science students from another world.

The members of the club all sighed.

"Let's go. We can go to other trading companies. My dad said he's already qualified and can issue us certificates." After saying that, they blew out the candles and left the club, discussing whether to drink sweetened white wine that night.

Martin wanted to go out too, but his clothes were tugged at.

"Vogel?" The one pulling him was a girl named Hannah, who had no presence in the club and focused on divination with cards and crystals.

Vogel means "bird" in Common, and Hannah's voice was indeed as melodious as a nightingale's. After confirming that only she and Martin were left in the classroom, she whispered, "Actually, I passed the application for the internship at the new steel plant."

Martin was startled: "Really? Vogel, tell me quickly." You know, in Byrne, most women study art. Does the steel mill need someone who understands art? Or does this Miss Hannah have some special connections?

Hannah and he analyzed that the steel mill didn't need people who knew poetry, art, or music, but it would need people who needed to do statistics. She happened to be good at bookkeeping, so she put it on her resume and got an offer.

Hannah comes from a wealthy merchant family. Her parents hired a tutor to teach her basic accounting so that she could manage the family finances when she became the lady of the house. Little did they know that it would become her stepping stone to getting a job at the factory.

"But I can't keep accounts. To be honest, numbers give me a headache." Martin shook his head. "So I can only congratulate you, Vogel."

"But I hope to go with Martin. You think, it would be terrifying for me to go to Kempson alone without anyone I know?" Hannah mustered a strange courage, her freckled cheeks slightly flushed. "There are still a few days left. I can teach you. It's actually very simple; you just need a little arithmetic and to be organized."

Martin hesitated for a moment, then agreed to Miss Vogel's request: "I'll give it a try."

Martin did indeed get the opportunity to intern at Kempson.

The two kept their tutoring a secret from other club members and from their families when they set off, sharing a carriage with Miss Vogel. Although neither he nor Hannah knew why they had to hide it from others, their relationship blossomed to the point where they were now sharing lunch face-to-face in the carriage.

After passing through the newly built bungalow accommodation area and arriving at the bustling "sinkhole" factory area, they were momentarily speechless: the people in the sinkhole looked somewhat small, while the expanded blast furnace and the central tower under construction were like the pillars of the entire magnificent building, seemingly waiting to be topped out.

"Like an open-air theater in the old empire, where operas to please the gods are performed." Martin struggled for a long time before coming up with what he thought was a brilliant description.

"Please come with me." The two were led to an office where a young man was playing with an iron bucket.

Martin was a little nervous: "Another interview?" If there was another hurdle, his mediocre math skills would be exposed.

"No, my friend. What follows is a simple test that won't affect your internship." The person in charge of the test, Andrei, gave a gentle smile, trying to ease the visitor's nervousness.

Rorschach's "mass-produced spellcasters" plan needs to be implemented. Simply targeting children will take too long to be effective. Therefore, all the college students who are interns at the three companies must be tested for their magical potential.

"Please put on this hat properly, it might be a bit heavy." Andre first put the activation device on Hannah. Ancient military nobles had the technology to stimulate the resonance of ordinary people's magic, so based on this "resonance" principle, the structure inside the iron hat, once charged, could stimulate the subject and activate their endogenous magic.

Hannah's breathing quickened slightly as Andre activated Arcane Vision to carefully observe the magical aura emanating from the test subject. Martin stood helplessly to the side, somewhat worried.

Andrei took out several sparkling crystals and compared them one by one with Hannah's magical aura, then recorded: 17 years old, female, amber magical aura, level three intensity, concentrated in the head and extremities.

That last sentence changed Hannah Vogel's fate forever:

It has the potential to cast spells.

(End of this chapter)