Chapter 32

Before starting work at the General Affairs Bureau, Ricardo decided to go to the Yorgul territory.

Before that, he met with Bernardo to confirm the demand for the magic-forming rods.

"The demand for magic-forming rods... Yes, I think about two hundred are sold annually in the capital alone."

The number was more than Ricardo had expected. Since there would be demand outside the capital as well, he thought it would be safe to produce more magic-forming rods.

"Magic-forming rods are weapons. They are consumables that break or wear out, so the demand never ends."

Bernardo, wanting to stock up on as many of the popular Yunavolta magic-forming rods as possible, said this to reassure Ricardo.

The main customers for Yunavolta's magic-forming rods were combat mages, but collectors who appreciated their artistic beauty were also starting to desire them.

"Well, I'm off to the Yorgul territory."

Ricardo said this to Bernardo and left the store.

He entrusted the experimental breeding ground to his older brother Antonio. The apricot demon tree and the demon tree Kumiri were growing well, so it would be fine to just feed them weeds.

Although Antonio's hand was still in rehabilitation, he could manage to cut weeds.

He took a stagecoach to the capital of the Yorgul territory, Yaro, and booked a room for the night. Monta, who had been playing around in the carriage, seemed tired and went to bed early.

The next morning, as soon as the sun rose, he headed for the second magic realm gate.

He paid a silver coin to the gatekeeper, passed through the second magic realm gate, and headed towards the rocky mountain. On the way, he discovered many demon trees Kumiri and collected the fruits from those that had them.

Seeing this, Monta also started searching. Perched on Ricardo's shoulder, he looked around for demon trees Kumiri, and when he found one with fruit, he jumped down to the ground and started chasing it.

"Kyu-kyu, kye-kyu" (Wait, don't run)

He made a big fuss, leaped onto the demon tree Kumiri, and climbed onto its pumpkin-like body. From the branches with maple-like leaves, he threw the red fruits into his mouth. It wasn't just one or two; Monta's cheeks swelled up like those of a cheeky old man.

When Monta's mouth was full, he jumped back from the Kumiri and came to Ricardo, spitting out the fruits with a "pupupu."

Monta looked at Ricardo with sparkling eyes, demanding praise.

Ricardo smiled wryly and praised Monta.

"Good job. You did well."

When he stroked Monta's shoulder and back, Monta made a contented purring sound.

After that, Ricardo washed the sticky fruits with water from his canteen and put them in a bag.

He entered a small cave in the rocky mountain and climbed up a rock shelf to check on the divine precious tree.

He had hoped a little, but it wasn't there. It had only been a few months since he last collected the fruits, so it was natural that it wasn't there yet.

When he climbed down from the rock shelf and left the cave, he saw many demon trees Kumiri running towards the cave.

"What is it, are they being chased by wind-cutting birds again?"

He looked up to confirm, but saw no sign of them.

Looking behind the demon trees Kumiri, he found the cause. Two large lizards, about the size of a human, were chasing the Kumiri on their hind legs.

They were tree-biting lizards. These lizards were about 150 centimeters long and walked on two legs with a thudding sound. Their main weapon was the sharp teeth in their large mouths, which could even bite through tree trunks and chew them up with their powerful jaws.

Demon trees were food for tree-biting lizards. They were the natural enemies of demon trees Kumiri.

Ricardo took out the catalyst for the "Flying Spear" from his catalyst pouch and aimed his magic-forming rod at the tree-biting lizard.

Just as he was about to cast the spell, something flew from the trees and blew the tree-biting lizard's head off.

"Ah!"

Sensing danger, Ricardo retreated into the cave and peeked out from the edge of the entrance.

Whoever had blown off the tree-biting lizard's head... If it was a monster hunter, that would be fine, but if it was another monster, he needed to be cautious.

After hiding and observing for a while, a demon tree Tamiel appeared cautiously.

It had a thick trunk about 30 centimeters in diameter with octopus-like roots, and six wiggling branches protruded from the trunk, which would likely knock down anyone who approached.

On the upper part of the trunk was a bump like a tree liver, and on the head were three snake-like vines that wriggled like vines.

Ricardo was reminded of Medusa from Greek mythology.

"It doesn't have eyes, so it won't turn me to stone. But how did it kill the tree-biting lizard?"

While observing with magic detection, he saw a demon tree Kumiri pass by the side of the demon tree Tamiel and approach the cave.

One of the vines growing from the head pointed at the demon tree Kumiri and shot something invisible.

The pumpkin-like body of the demon tree Kumiri exploded.

Thanks to his heightened sensitivity to magic, Ricardo felt a powerful magic emanating from the snake-like vine.

Ricardo changed the catalyst in his hand to one for the "Explosive Spear" and decided to take a chance. He judged that if he could defeat the unknown monster with a vine, it would only be if the initial surprise attack succeeded.

A huge stone spear flew towards the demon tree Tamiel. Realizing the stone spear, Tamiel tried to knock it down by swinging its branches. The moment the branch and the stone spear made contact, the stone spear exploded.

Thinking it had failed, Ricardo was about to retreat deeper into the cave when he noticed something strange about the demon tree Tamiel. Upon closer inspection, he saw that fragments of the exploded stone spear were embedded in the tree liver bump.

Tree liver oil was dripping from the bump. The demon tree Tamiel was swinging its branches aimlessly and eventually fell over, motionless.

Ricardo approached the demon tree Tamiel after leaving the cave.

When a demon tree dies, the branches that were freely moving become stiff and straight, making it easy to determine if it has been killed.

Looking at the three vines growing from the head, they were also straight. They were about 50 centimeters long and 4 centimeters in diameter, and when he examined the tips, he found holes.

They were tube-like and seemed to shoot out water or something, but the bottom of the holes was shallow, like a space where a test tube could fit.

When he touched the inside of the holes, it felt smooth.

Thinking it was dangerous to ponder here, he cut off the branches and vines and stored them in a storage crystal.

From the dead tree-biting lizard, he only skinned the teeth and hide, discarding the rest. The meat looked edible but not particularly delicious.

He later learned that the meat of the tree-biting lizard was similar to chicken and quite tasty.

According to the information Ricardo had gathered, there were no strong monsters like tree-biting lizards or demon trees Tamiel near the second magic realm gate.

He became worried that something might be happening in the magic realm.

"Being just a new member of the Mage Guild, it's not my place to worry. I'll head back."

He quickly put the materials he had skinned into the storage crystal and left the area.

Back at the inn in the capital of Yaro, Ricardo borrowed the backyard to process the branches of the demon tree Tamiel. The branches were short, so he made six rods.

He took out the strange vine-like things and examined them but couldn't figure out how they had killed the tree-biting lizard.

"The magic is definitely involved. I'll try channeling some in."

When he channeled magic into the brown vine, he found a part in the center that conducted magic well. There was a red part in the core of the vine, which was made of high-magic-conductivity fibers.

He tried peeling the red core like a pencil with a knife and channeled magic into it with his fingers. A shockwave-like force emerged from the tip of the vine and blew away the surface of the ground when it hit.

"Whoa, something came out."

He understood that when he channeled magic into the core of the vine, a shockwave-like force was emitted from the hollow tip, but the power wasn't as strong as he had hoped.

It seemed that there was a difference between the magic emitted by humans and the magic emitted by demon trees, and this difference manifested in the power.

"I thought it could be used as a weapon against monsters..."

He had thought it would be amazing if it could be used as a weapon that could fight without a catalyst, but with this power, it wouldn't be usable.

The idea of using a shockwave like a magic-forming rod came to mind.

Ricardo decided to coat the inner walls of the holes in the tips of the vines with magic.

He concentrated his mind, released magic from his fingertips, and coated the inner walls by crushing the cells. The difference between magic coating and regular magic release was that he channeled magic to crush the cells and fill the demon tree's cells with magic.

There was considerable resistance, but Ricardo's magic control was good, and he filled each cell of the inner wall with magic. The cells filled with magic formed beautiful frost patterns as if following a certain rule.

When he channeled magic into the vine after the magic coating, a much stronger shockwave was emitted from the tip, which looked like a gun barrel. When it hit the ground, the soil exploded, creating a large hole.

After several tests, he found that the range was about six meters, and the power was enough to kill a goblin at a distance of four meters.

If it could kill a goblin, it could also kill a human.

He named this vine a "Wave Generator" and thought about using it to make a gun-like weapon. His experience fighting many goblins in his hometown made him realize that such a weapon was necessary.

For a moment, he wondered if it was right to release a gun-like weapon into the world, but since magic and swords were already easily available, he decided not to think too deeply about it.

Since magic cannons were already developed, he thought the impact on society would be minimal even if this was added.

"This world has monsters, the natural enemies of humans. It's not a problem to develop a weapon like this."

Ricardo thought about his deceased father. If his father had had a magic cannon or the new weapon he was considering, would he have survived?

However, he realized that he could only do so much on his own, and that the help of a skilled blacksmith would be needed to make the weapon.

So, at the inn, he only completed the magic coating.

Back in the capital, Ricardo sold twelve Tril-made magic-forming rods to Bernardo's store and received 120 gold coins. He didn't sell the magic-forming rods made from the branches of Tamiel because he hadn't tested them yet.

He was worried that if the branches of the demon tree Tamiel were unsuitable for magic-forming rods, it would be a problem.

While Ricardo was away, his family seemed to be doing well and had started to get used to life in the capital. The experimental breeding ground was going smoothly, and the apricot demon tree was gathering the weeds Antonio threw in and basking in the sun.

However, he was concerned that children from the slums had started to come and watch.

The land Ricardo bought included a sandy beach, and the children were digging for clams to supplement their food. On their way back from clam digging, they would peek at the construction of the hut.

For some reason, the experimental breeding ground had become a topic of conversation in the slums.

The next day, it was the start of his work at the General Affairs Bureau. He headed to the lecture hall of the Mage Guild early in the morning.

Monta was left at home with Serge and Pamela because he felt it would be a problem to bring him to the workplace.

There was apparently a kind of orientation at the lecture hall. Twenty-one new mages had joined the Mage Guild, and the ceremony began with the twenty-one new mages, three board members, and four education supervisors from each bureau gathering in the lecture hall.

First, the representative board member, Jezualdo, gave a speech, and navy blue robes, the uniform of the Mage Guild, were distributed.

They were plain cloth robes, but people wearing them were treated with a certain level of respect because they were official mages.

After the boring ceremony, the six new mages assigned to the General Affairs Bureau were gathered.

The education supervisor was a beautiful woman in her early twenties named Clareta.

Clareta led them to the bureau's office in the guild building. A C-shaped brick building came into view, and it seemed that nearly 100 mages worked there.

The room they were taken to for their work was a dark room with two small windows near the ceiling. Clareta lit the tree sap lamp in the center of the ceiling.

There were about ten desks. There, the content of their work at the General Affairs Bureau was explained to them.

The Mage Guild received requests from all over the capital and nearby areas to solve problems using magic. At the reception, the requests were sorted and assigned to the Alchemy Bureau, the Hunting Bureau, or the General Affairs Bureau.

Incidentally, the requests assigned to the General Affairs Bureau were the leftovers from the Alchemy Bureau and the Hunting Bureau.

Therefore, the work of the General Affairs Bureau mainly involved the extermination of small monsters and investigation requests. When something strange happened, a request was made to investigate whether it was related to magic.

However, the well-paid monster extermination and investigation requests were sent to the Hunting Bureau or the Alchemy Bureau, so the requests assigned to the General Affairs Bureau were often low-paying or unclear.

Clareta brought a large stack of documents and piled them on the table.

"I want you to turn the notes written by the senior mages of the Hunting Bureau and the Alchemy Bureau into proper reports."

It seemed that the reports for the General Affairs Bureau were not written by the ones who accepted the requests.

The new mages looked exhausted at the mountain of documents, which seemed to be over a hundred.

At that moment, Remigio called out.

"Wait a minute, we don't have to do such work as mages, do we?"

Remigio, the son of a duke, complained about the assigned work.

"Every year, new mages say the same thing, but this is a task to help you learn the job. By understanding how the seniors solved the requests and organizing them into reports, you will remember them."

"But we can just read the completed reports, right?"

"Writing the reports will help you remember better than just reading them."

Remigio grumbled in frustration, having been outtalked by Clareta.

"Then I'll teach you the format and how to write the reports."

After listening to Clareta's explanation, each new mage received about twenty request documents and notes.

"Please finish these in four days."

This statement elicited groans from the new mages.

In a world without word processors or computers, writing a single report required considerable effort.

However, it was said that with practice, they would be able to write them faster. They were told they could leave after submitting the reports they wrote that day in the evening.

"I'll be in the second lounge on the second floor, so come to me if you have any questions."

With that, Clareta left the room.

The remaining new mages started reading the request documents and notes they had been given.

Ricardo also read them and felt that the extermination request reports were easy. The problem was the investigation requests. Some were thoroughly investigated, but others were left ambiguous.

When he asked Clareta what to do with such reports, she said that sometimes investigations were ended when it was determined that they were not related to magic.

He wondered if it was okay to leave them unresolved, but it seemed to be fine.

After about two hours of work, he wrote three reports. With twenty reports in four days, he was on track to write an average of five per day.

Remigio, after writing one report, seemed to get bored and was taking a nap with his feet on the desk.

Although it was none of his business, he was a little worried, but Remigio had said he was three years older than Ricardo, at fourteen, so he would take care of himself.

Around noon, Remigio picked up the stack of documents.

"I can't stand this stuffy place any longer. I'll work somewhere else."

With that, he left.

A young mage in his early twenties, Barnaba, watched Remigio leave and said bitterly,

"Those nobles have it easy. They'll definitely have someone else do it for them."

Six