Salomon de Valverde became a Marquis in the Belbe Kingdom at the young age of thirty. He is the second cousin of the current King of the Belbe Kingdom, the Kingās advisor and an excellent general who has pushed back the Tomis Ashinaqui army on the frontlineā¦ and a good uncle to Rosalia.
Rosalia had been looking at some books with a grim expression on her face, but she brightened up when the maid told her that her uncle was coming.
āUncle! Iāve been expecting you.ā
āHey, Rosalia. I rushed here from the frontlines when I heard you had asked for me.ā
It was the truth. Salomon had watched Rosalia grow up since she was born and loved her like a daughter. Salomon rode his horse with all his might for the first time in a long time after having been summoned by this lovely girl.
āOh! I heard that Uncle is in command of the frontline. Is it alright for you to leave?ā
āOf course, Iāve been doing my job well.ā
That was a lie. This man forced all his work onto his subordinates. Right now, the command centre on the frontlines was filled with agonising cries.
However, this man assessed the abilities of each of his subordinates and distributed ājust enough work for them to do as long as they work hardā and came to the capital after concluding that Tomis Ashinaqui would not invade as they were focusing on helping the Theanabe Union.
He was an excellent person even though he mixed his private and public affairs a bit. Although, he is lenient on his relatives and sometimes misuses his excellence for the sake of his relatives. However, his relatives are the King and Princess, so in a sense, it could be said that he is extremely loyal.
āSo, why did you ask for me? Do you need me to do something for you?ā
āYes, Uncle.ā
Rosalia lifted the thick book that she had been staring at earlier.
āI want you to teach me magic.ā
ā ā¦ ā ā¦ ā ā¦ ā
Mages are mostly aristocrats in this era. The biggest reason for this is that the aptitude to be a mage is easily inherited. Since most aristocrats are mages, their children are also likely to be mages. However, even children born from mages might not be able to use magic, or even if they were able to use mage, some of them might only be able to cast very weak spells.
Likewise, a child with the aptitude to become a mage can be born to a non-mage commoner couple because of their ancestry. However, most of these ācommoner-bornā mages donāt survive. That is probably whyĀ mages are called aristocrats.
Children donāt know how to control their magic when they awaken to it, and those who canāt control their magic, go out of control. However, children from aristocrat families have their parents, guards, and maids who can control the childās magic and suppress it. Helping a child control their magic is clearly included in the job description for maids and guards.
However, children born to commoner families donāt haveĀ someone to help them control their outburst. Some parents will kill their children on the spot if they see any signs that they are awakening to magic, but few parents are capable of killing their own child. As a result, the child goes out of control, wiping out their whole family, and in some cases, destroying their village.
The only exception to this would be commoner families who serve aristocrats. Children mages are more likely to get success in life. For aristocrats, it is better to have as many mage children as possible. Therefore, children who can use magic are treated well.
āCommoner magesā may end up becoming āaristocratsā.
This kind of situation is common throughout the continent. However, there is one exception, which is here, in the Belbe Kingdom.
If a commoner has a mage child in the Belbe Kingdom, they can receive a huge reward if they entrust their child to the kingdom. Therefore, when commoners find out that their children are mages, they risk their lives to report this to the palace.
The reason why the Belbe Kingdom does this is simple. A mage is a valuable asset on the battlefield. It didnāt matter that they are justĀ childrenĀ as long as they can use magic proficiently.
The Belbe Kingdom had been pushed to the point where they were preparing to send child soldiers onto the battlefield, but the war situation did a 180 turn with one word from the Emperor and sending child soldiers to the battlefield was no longer necessary. Be that as it may, it was impossible to disband the child soldiers immediately since the Belbe Kingdom had spent an enormous amount of money gathering them. They were currently being trained to become an āelite forceā.
The person who was teaching and guiding this āyouth mage unitā was none other than Salomon. There was no one more qualified for being their magic instructor. This was the reason why Rosalia had asked for him.
āEmperor Carmine can use magic?ā
When Salomon asked Rosalia why she wanted to learn magic, she replied, āHis Majesty can use magic.ā Salomon concluded that this āHis Majestyā was not King Belbe, and immediately asked.
āIs thatā¦ true?ā
It was unbelievable. The rumours about Carmine said that he is a foolish Emperor, a coward, selfish, a puppetā¦ and that he is still unable to use magic.
āYes. Iāve actually never seen him use it before, but he can! There must be a reason why heās hiding it.ā
Incidentally, Rosalia also had the aptitude to become a mage. But her magic education hasnāt been considered important due to her position as Princess. Itās also important to note that there is a āsealing magic toolā in the palace even though the palace is poor.
āHmm. But if you say you need it, then you need it.ā
Salomon believes that Rosalia is intelligent for her age even though he may be a nepotistic person. It was possible that Emperor Carmine could use magic since she said he could.
(Do I need to look into thisā¦? No, I canāt risk Rosalia getting suspicious of me. I guess Iāll just wait and see.)
Like most Belbe aristocrats, King Belbe disapproves of Rosalia and Camineās engagement, partly because he doesnāt trust Carmine, but mostly because he loves his daughter. He began to think that there was no need to force her to marry Carmine now that the Kingdom wasnāt being attacked by Tomis Ashinaqui.
Salomon, on the other hand, approves of this engagement, but he believes that he has to make her Carmineās first wife at all costs for her happiness. It was normal for emperors to have several consorts, and some even lay their hands on maids. He wanted Rosalia in a position where she could control them all, no matter what.
Although Carmina had no intention of marrying anyone else other than Rosalia at that time.
āGot it. Iāll teach you magic starting from today.ā
āThank you, Teacher!ā
Salomon beamed at Rosaliaās bright smile.
(Cuteā¦ I have to make her his first wife no matter what. And if he makes Rosalia sadā¦ then I canāt let him live.)
At the same time, a certain Emperor was struck by sudden trembles.