Chapter 5

This is the second chapter of today.

Dian Leroy had been feeling a bit frustrated lately.

The girl Dian had his eye on, Noel Vion, had made a friend.

Dian is the third son of a marquis family.

The Leroy family is wealthy and has a decent network.

However, as the third son, he had to think about his future on his own.

Dian was confident in his appearance and thought he might marry into a wealthy earl's family.

He was naive.

He didn't understand the reality.

He didn't realize that the Anzela Kingdom wasn't a particularly wealthy country.

The country invested heavily in the training of mages because the number of mages directly influenced national power.

However, the measures were too late.

They should have taken action 50 years earlier.

In the past, the Anzela Kingdom was a society that valued family status, where only family rank was important.

If a family with high status was also competent, that was fine.

But there were also families that were only good at gaining power and making money through cunning means.

For the country, it was not ideal for such families to be favored.

Mages were treated as "resources" to be exploited.

Those with power and money bound mages with contracts and exploited them.

However, they forgot one thing.

Mages also had the ability to escape.

Over a long period, the Anzela Kingdom, where mages continued to escape, became a country that could not function without importing a large number of magical artifacts from neighboring countries.

There were fields where mages were indispensable.

For example, the production of magical artifacts.

To create magical artifacts, it is necessary to infuse them with magic power.

The production of magical artifacts has evolved significantly from the old methods that relied entirely on alchemists.

In some parts, the transformation of materials using lightning magic or fire magic is used.

The design of magic arrays is also done with this in mind.

In return, the creation of a single magical artifact requires several mages skilled in magic power manipulation.

This is a much more practical way of making magical artifacts compared to relying on the few alchemists available.

However, there are few mages in the Anzela Kingdom.

Mages are also important for slaying magical beasts.

Knights who can enhance their swords with magic power are crucial.

A knight who can wrap their sword in fire magic or lightning magic can cut a magical beast in half with one stroke.

Mages who can use magic in combat are ideally those with a magic power level of "medium" or higher.

The ratio of mages among knights in the Anzela Kingdom is low.

It is a level that makes national defense worrying. The country is making up for the lack of mage knights by equipping them with magical artifacts that use attack magic. They are giving the knights magical artifacts that explode on impact.

Due to the lack of mages, the country has to spend even more money on importing attack magic artifacts and magical artifacts that are not being produced fast enough.

It was only when the Anzela Kingdom started to offer high salaries and favorable treatment to mages to prevent their escape abroad that it had become the country with the fewest mages in the region.

The Anzela Kingdom can only watch as its wealthy and secure neighboring countries thrive.

In such a situation, the Anzela Kingdom has long suffered from a shortage of high-ranking noble daughters.

"Brother's choice really surprised me..."

Dian recalled last night.

His older brother, the second son of the Leroy family, had finally become engaged.

Dian had never met her.

Last night, the fiancée came to the mansion.

He was surprised when he saw her.

—Why did he choose such a plain girl?

His older brother, like Dian, was a handsome man.

Moreover, the Leroy family is a wealthy marquis family.

Dian had assumed that the fiancée would be a beautiful woman from a wealthy family.

However, the brother was clearly much more beautiful.

After the fiancée left, Dian asked his brother.

"Brother, aren't you a bit of a looks person?"

It was a rather rude question, but his brother only smiled tiredly.

"There's no choice, you know.

With wealth, family status, and appearance... I don't have the position to choose."

"Huh? A Leroy family member?"

"Ah, Dian. You don't understand...

Father works hard at the royal palace and the income from our territory is decent, so our family is wealthy, but as the second son, my choices are limited.

The students from the Dolsen Kingdom and the Alres Empire are taking the daughters of our country's dukes and marquises as brides."

"...I see..."

Dian had a bad feeling.

"The Dolsen Kingdom and the Alres Empire are powerful countries. If they ask for brides from high-ranking noble families or royal families, any family would be happy to offer them.

These countries have money.

Moreover, such high-ranking noble families and royal families have established techniques for gender selection.

Which do you think the wealthy families' ladies and concubines would prefer, boys or girls?"

"...Boys"

"Right?

That's why they come to our poor country to look for brides.

We are just right for them to choose from beautiful women.

That's why all the beautiful women in the royal academy are already engaged."

"I see..."

Dian heard this story at the end of elementary school.

Therefore, he decided to enter the national academy from middle school.

He had given up on high-ranking noble daughters.

He was looking for a place to marry into a family with a baron or lower rank, wealth, and a beautiful bride.

That's how he found Noel.

Her appearance was his absolute favorite. Dian likes cute, beautiful women.

Noel has a promising face.

However, unfortunately, she is from the Vion family.

They have good bloodlines, but they are one of the poorest noble families.

Moreover, Noel is the second daughter.

—She is so cute, but it's a pity.

Maybe a candidate for a future concubine.

For that reason, he wants to keep her close.

They get along well, and talking to her is enjoyable.

Noel is honest, has a good personality, and is smart.

—But, she can't be my main choice.

Unfortunately, Noel made a friend named Liza.

Liza is a kind girl, and the two quickly became close.

Noel is clearly infatuated with Liza.

She might be more infatuated with Liza than with Dian.

—Damn it.

Dian reluctantly decided to focus on his studies and finding a place to marry into.

Dian's magic power level is "medium."

While there are various levels within "medium," his is about average.

It's a pretty good value.

—If I could choose a bride with a magic power level of "high," I might become a high earner.

They say that only one in 5,000 people have a magic power level of "high."

Perhaps there are some in the magic department of the academy...

However, unfortunately, the academy does not publicly disclose the magic power levels of the students.

In the Anzela Kingdom, where there are few mages, incidents of kidnapping children with high magic power levels have occurred.

Since children with high magic power levels are often from noble families, they are not easy to kidnap, but it would be a problem if it happened at the academy.

Therefore, student information is kept strictly confidential.

Students are also instructed not to share their own information with anyone.

They are told to do this to protect themselves and are required to sign a confidentiality agreement upon enrollment.

About five years ago, a student at the royal academy sold information about other students to a criminal organization, which was then used for student kidnappings.

Since then, all academies have been on high alert.

By observing the practical magic classes, one can roughly tell the high and low magic power levels, but the magic teachers are aware of this and do not teach in a way that makes it immediately obvious.

—From what I see, the children from noble families easily complete the practical classes, so they must have high magic power levels.

Speaking of which, the Vion family is an old line of mages, and Noel is also good at magic, I just thought.

Thank you for reading.

I will post again around 8 or 9 PM tomorrow.