It took Santis a while to understand what Roland meant by "friends like you."
He looked into Kamel's eyes (probably where his eyes should be). "Are you referring to the mages who were born as commoners, not controlled by the traditional mages or noble families, who can freely join Cecil's territory, and who have a certain foundation of knowledge?"
Kamel nodded slightly. "The territory still lacks enough scholars. Although we have recruited a group of scholars and mages from nearby territories, it's far from enough, both in terms of quality and quantity. I've talked to Jenny before, and I know that her background is a little … special, so she doesn't have many connections in the Captical. But you're different, Mr. Santis. Although you were born as a commoner, at least … you're an orthodox, well-educated spellcaster. "
An orthodox the Captical mage, even the worst of them, was fundamentally different from Jenny, who was born as a slave. Santis's "class" meant that he would inevitably have his own social circle of mages and other mages who could talk to him as an equal.
If Jenny could only have limited communication with other slaves when she was locked in the mage tower, Santis was at least physically free.
"I … do know some of the Captical mages," Santis said hesitantly. "But the people who can associate with me are basically downtrodden people who have been ostracized by the mainstream circle of mages in the Captical for various reasons …"
"That may meet my requirements, and also meet the lord's requirements," said Kamel. "You're teaching runic logic and basic magic engineering courses. You should know that this land is developing a new line of magic technology. In this special field, the traditional mage ranks don't mean much. What we really value is the attitude of the researcher to explore the unknown, the ability to accept new things, and the most basic mathematical and logical talent. I think there should be no shortage of such people among your friends. "
Santis thought for a moment and nodded slowly. "I can try."
"Good. But I want to mention one more thing. Most of the time, 'being rejected by the mainstream' is not the same as' having a unique talent. 'Most of the time, a person is rejected by the social circle because they are really stupid. It's just that this kind of person will always say that "no one can understand my talent" to numb themselves. I don't want my outspokenness to hurt your feelings, but I also don't want to cause trouble for Thane. I've seen too many people who think highly of themselves. They're always difficult to deal with. "
Santis couldn't help but laugh. He didn't look angry at all. "Of course, you're right. I've seen a lot of people like that. In the Captical, the fallen mages would always form circles of various sizes, just like how the mages and nobles of the upper class would hold gatherings. In such 'low-level secret meetings', there would often be people who complain about not being able to meet their talents, but only a small portion of them were truly untalented, while the rest were truly clueless. I've been in this circle for many years, so I naturally know how to distinguish them. "
"That's good." Kamel was relieved. "Then let's go to Thane. This kind of thing should be known to Thane."
Gwen stood in front of the map of Cecil's territory and the surrounding area, looking at the winding mountains, plains, and forest lines, and fell into deep thought.
He drew the map himself, restoring all the details of the satellite view as much as possible under the premise of making it easy to understand. He also marked the various mineral veins and resource points that the pioneer army found along the way seven hundred years ago. He still remembered what happened when he was in the study drawing the map. Heti was shocked beyond words, Amber said that the old man must have prepared the map in advance and deliberately pretended to draw it to scare people, and Rebecca was knocked on the head by Heti because she agreed with Amber's point of view. But as Gwen came up with more and more new things, and he himself was the most unreasonable "dead but alive", the shock of this incredible map gradually faded.
Gwen believed that as the mapping technique he wrote was taught, everyone would be less surprised by this high-precision satellite map (hand-drawn version).
Hu Po, on the other hand, stood beside him and stared at the map with him. However, she had no idea what Gawen was looking at. After staring at it for a long time, she finally could not help but ask, "Hey, Gawen, what are you looking at?"
Gwen raised his hand and pointed at a position on the map. "This is Kant's territory."
Then he moved his hand down and circled a large area. "This is the Northern Wilderness, then the North Shore Development Area, Whitewater River, Cecil's territory … Quarryton is here, and this is the Western Sawmill and the newly established Frost Village … Finally, there are the two fields in the southeast and southwest that will be reclaimed next spring. At present, Cecil's territory is in this area."
Amber stared at Gwen. "You've already taken Kant's territory?"
Gwen ignored Amber and continued as if he was talking to himself. "At present, the population of Cecil's territory is 15,000 people, including a large number of craftsmen and residents who migrated from Kant's territory after winter, as well as the serfs and the last batch of refugees bought from Leslie's territory and other places. However, due to the incomplete administrative construction in Kant's territory, the population statistics before winter have not been completed, so it's hard to say how many people there are there … "
Gwen didn't know how many people there were in a viscount's territory or an earl's territory in medieval Europe, but he knew that in this world, due to the strong physique of humans, and the Fertility Magic and Druil Magic to ensure the basic production of food, the people at the bottom of the hierarchy lived a very poor and difficult life. Even in the deserted Southern Territory, there were still a large number of people scattered across the land.
However, these people could not be regarded as the people of Cecil's territory. Even though Kant's territory had become a satellite town of Cecil's territory, it was still legally independent.
Amber stared at Gwen as he analyzed the territory's situation with a serious face. After listening for a long time, she couldn't understand what the man in front of her was talking about. "So? Do you think the population is not enough? Let me tell you, a city of 10,000 people is already quite scary! You … "
Gwen suddenly interrupted Amber's words. "Don't you think this place is still too small?"
Amber reacted for two seconds, and her ears slowly perked up. "… You've finally decided to beat people up! Think about it, if you really want to reclaim your fief, the whole Southern Territory will … "
"I don't have such plans for the time being." Gwen glanced at the half-elf. "I think the strategic depth is too small now, and the potential of the population is far from enough …"
Amber was confused. "Strategic depth? What's that? "
Gwen thought for a moment and shook his head. "Forget it, you won't understand."
Amber's eyes widened. She wanted to refute something, but before she could speak, Betty's clear voice came from outside the study. "Master! Master Kamel and Mr. Santis are here to see you! "
"Oh?" Gwen was a little surprised that these two unrelated people would come to see him together. He walked to his desk. "Let them in."
Amber pursed her lips and stood obediently beside Gwen. A few seconds later, the door of the study opened, and Kamel and Santis came in.
A few minutes later, Gwen heard the purpose of the two's visit, and he couldn't help but show an interested expression. "You plan to start with the Captical Mages and attract a group of talents? Through Santis's network? "
"My Lord, that … is not a network," Santis said a little nervously. "Only the gatherings of the great mages can be considered a network. The ones I know … are at most the private gatherings of some unhappy mages, and I don't know many people …"
Gwen waved his hand. "It doesn't matter. As I said just now, our original goal was not those great mages, as long as they were intellectuals, it would be fine. But I'll be honest, it's not that I haven't thought about recruiting talents from the prosperous areas of the kingdom … including the Captical Mages. I've also thought about it. "
Kamel: "You tried to recruit them? You didn't succeed? "
Gwen nodded. "That's right. Although I didn't use Santis' network back then, I offered a very high price. It's just that almost a year has passed, and no one is interested in recruiting Cecil. You should know why. "
"The borderlands are desolate and cold, and it's next to the Gondor Wasteland. No one would think that being a 'magic consultant' here would have any future." Santis figured out the reason in an instant, and his voice became bitter. "The Captical people don't know the real situation here. They only judge based on their imagination. To them, Cecil is not attractive. Even if the reward is high, the Captical mages won't easily leave the center of the kingdom … After all, for most mages, the Captical is a center of knowledge and a channel for promotion. No matter how poor they are, they are unwilling to leave."
Although the reputation of the founding hero was high, mages were a group of pragmatic people. They did not see any hope of going to the Southern Territory, so the reputation of the founding hero was not enough to sway them. Although Gawain had also offered a very high price at the same time, he was not so generous that he did not care about the cost.
"Mr. Santis, do you think that with your influence, you can persuade your friends to leave a 'magic center' like the Captical and come to Cecil to be pioneers?"
Santis hesitated for a moment and began to tug at the buttons on his chest subconsciously. "I …"
He wanted to confidently say that he could, but after a little hypothetical, he realized that he did not have the confidence to do so.
Leaving the Captical was not so easy. Even if he personally went to persuade his friends, with his "reputation" in the Captical Mages' circle, he was afraid that he would not be able to convince anyone.
He did not have the kind of friends who could accompany him to explore a new land with just a few words. If he did, he would not have been pushed aside by the Captical Mages to join the rescue team in the south.
The young arcanist's face turned gloomy. The courage and enthusiasm that he had worked so hard to muster were greatly damaged. However, at this moment, Kamel suddenly opened his mouth. "My lord, the Captical Mages are not interested in Cecil, so they are not willing to come, right?"
"That's right." Gwen nodded. "If they want to recruit talents, Cecil is attractive enough."
"We are attractive enough," said Kamel without hesitation.
Gwen raised his eyebrows. "Huh? Tell me about it. "
"I …" Kamel opened his hands. Bright arcane electric arcs jumped around him, and his voice was humming. "Is an ancient Gondor Magus attractive enough? Is the personal guidance of a grand sorcerer from a thousand years ago attractive enough? Would the lost ancient magic techniques be enough to attract them? I don't believe that the sorcerers after a thousand years have fallen so low that they no longer have any desire for magic! "
Santis, Gwen, and Amber's eyes lit up at the same time. Gwen put on an imperceptible smile and leaned forward. "What if the sorcerers who come for the ancient secret skills come here and find that the situation is different from what they imagined? Many of your ancient spells can't be used in this era. "
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