The young mage, Cohen, was standing in the mansion of the Duke, listening to the spellcasters whispering about the mysterious pioneering territory in the Southern Territory. He chimed in from time to time, but in fact, he was absent-minded.
Half of the people here were not serious about the recruitment, and Cohen knew this very well.
Behind them were the declining small families, the new nobles who were ready to fight for a higher status, and the wealthy merchants who were trying hard to establish good relations with the nobles. These people's real purpose was not to go to the pioneering territory in the Southern Territory to be construction workers, but they wanted to use this opportunity to establish a certain connection with the Cecil family. The Cecil family was declining, but the resurrection of the founding Duke had brought a glimmer of hope to this declining family. In the past six months, there had been news about the pioneering territory in the Southern Territory. The Cecil family was not destroyed in that barren land, but was gradually gaining a foothold, which made some people with ulterior motives active.
Almost everyone agreed on the fact that even if the founding Duke really went to the frontier to develop, the Cecil family would sooner or later return to the political stage of the kingdom. Whether it was for the orthodox symbol of the royal family or for the stability of the aristocratic system, the Captical must make the Cecil family a pillar of the royal family again. Could the king be afraid of Gwen? Cecil himself, but he had to face the family name "Cecil" seriously, which had regained the protection of the ancestors.
In this case, the Cecil family, which was still far away at the frontier, naturally had value as an investment.
But no matter what, the surname "Cecil" was still a sensitive one, and the value of their investment was still unclear. Thus, many of the large families were still observing the situation and carefully considering their options. Thus, some of the smaller families, who were vassals of the large families, were pushed forward. They took the opportunity of the Duke's recruitment of Extraordinaires to establish a connection and lay the foundation for their future investments.
Apart from these people who had a special purpose, the other people present were not simple, but one thing was certain, and that was that almost none of them really responded to the Duke's call.
If there was no family mission, there was absolutely no need for a professional who had obtained extraordinary powers to go to the barren land at the border to do some kind of development. Even if the reward from the duke was not low, what could he gain from that barren land? The most important thing for an extraordinary was the prospect of promotion in the supernatural realm, followed by the development in the upper class. Money was the third thing to them.
As for whether they could take this opportunity to make friends with the Cecil family … spellcasters without a family background would not count on this. This was a world that valued bloodlines and family inheritance. What value could a commoner, a little mage without a huge fortune, have to the Duke?
Cohen knew that he was the same. He had some personal friendship with Santis, and this time, he had decided to come and see the situation after receiving Santis's personal letter. In fact, he did not really intend to respond to the Duke's recruitment. His purpose here was the same as the other young, down-and-out spellcasters. He was only interested in the "networking" opportunity brought by this place. Those who wanted to invest in the Cecil family were only at the end of the aristocratic system, but for a low-level mage like Cohen, who came from an ordinary family and had average talent, it was still a rare connection. Now, two-fifths of the people in the hall were here to make friends with these people.
There were only two kinds of people here: the first kind, who wanted to make friends with the Cecil family, and the second kind, like Cohen, who wanted to make friends with the first kind.
A young man with brown curly hair, an aquiline nose, and exquisite silk clothes came over. Cohen recognized that he was a collateral member of the Straun family, so he immediately stood up with a smile, raised his glass to salute him, and tried to strike up a conversation.
They were not friends, so the conversation did not last long, but Cohen believed that he had left a little impression on the other party. After the young master of the Straun family left, the young mage put away the stiff smile on his face, exhaled softly, put down his glass, and left his seat.
The attendants in red vests immediately came up to him and asked if he needed help. These attendants were hired and sent by the royal family. In Gwen? After the resurrection of Duke Cecil, the royal family continued to provide money and manpower to help take care of this property while the Duke was in the south. Cohen waved his hand, indicating that he was just bored and wanted to go out for a walk.
He left the brightly lit living room and went outside to enjoy the cold wind. The giant sun was gradually setting, and the sky was getting darker little by little.
Cohen sneezed. He rubbed his nose and turned around, ready to drink another glass of precious Carna wine and go home.
But at that moment, he saw the slightly tanned young woman in a long dress, named Gypsy, walking towards him.
Santis is really lucky to have such a beautiful lady by his side, Cohen thought to himself.
Cohen thought enviously. He then nodded at the female wizard apprentice in front of him. "Miss Kiplee."
He wanted to greet the Duke's messenger, but he also had to maintain the dignity of an official Extraordinary. After all, the other party was just an apprentice.
Gypsy tapped her forehead with her finger and returned a standard mage salute. She smiled and asked, "Cohen? Mr. Bonat, is that you? "
"Yes, that's me. Is there anything I can help you with?"
"You meet the requirements. Mr. Santis asked me to give this to you."
The young sorceress handed over a folded letter and an ordinary-looking brooch to Cohen. After receiving the letter, Cohen couldn't help but frown slightly. He hesitantly said, "But … I wasn't prepared to …"
"This is not a registration letter to go to the south, but an invitation to the next party," Gypsy said with a smile. "Please don't miss this opportunity. Wearing the brooch is proof of your participation in the party."
Cohen wanted to ask more, but Gypsy just shook her head with a mysterious smile and turned away. Cohen had no choice but to lower his head and open the folded letter, reading it curiously.
There was only one sentence written on it: After the first ring of the bell tonight, I'll still be here.
But there was a small symbol at the end of the sentence, a symbol with a lightning bolt and an eye.
"The Secret Meeting of Mages? What was Santis doing? Was he planning to use this opportunity to organize his own private party while he was working for the duke? Is he planning to return to the Captical Mages? "
Cohen frowned and muttered curiously, but he still carefully put the letter away.
Regardless of what Santis was up to, it was necessary to attend a similar Secret Meeting of Mages. Communication between spellcasters was a good opportunity to improve their strength and gain knowledge, but it was not cheap to organize a decent party. Since someone had come forward to organize it, and they could continue to enjoy the fine wine and delicacies in the duke's mansion, Cohen believed that most people would not miss this opportunity.
He glanced at the sky outside and found that the sun had almost completely sunk below the horizon. The first ring of the bell was not far away.
He returned to the living room and saw that many people had already gotten up and left, but there were still some people sitting where they were. Cohen glanced around and saw that someone in the corner had a brooch pinned to his clothes.
Sure enough, he was not the only one …
Cohen was relieved and pinned the brooch to his clothes as well.
After another ten minutes, a senior attendant appeared and said that the party was over. All the guests had been registered and the visitors were invited to leave at will.
A few more people got up and left, but Cohen saw that there were still some people who did not move — they were all wearing brooches.
Attendants in red vests and maids in black and white dresses entered the hall and began to clean up the plates and wine glasses left by the guests. Cohen returned to his seat a little uneasily. A attendant walked past him, and the attendant's gaze lingered on the brooch on his shirt for a moment. Then the attendant nodded in respect and did not let him leave. Instead, he brought him a glass of sour grass water to sober him up.
Only then did Cohen completely relax.
After a while, Cohen saw some new visitors enter the living room. These visitors still carried the cold air from outside. The first thing they did when they entered was to rub their hands and walk to the fireplace. Obviously, they had just arrived.
Were they the "candidates" who came earlier in the day? Specifically to attend the party in the evening?
The party that Santis is going to organize this time is not small … As expected of someone who can spend the noble's money.
As his thoughts wandered, he slowly noticed something out of the ordinary.
Many of the people who came to attend the party were familiar faces. This was not strange in itself. After all, the number of people in the mage circle was limited. But none of these people were from noble families or mage factions!
After all, even if Santis was in dire straits, he should still know one or two members of the noble families or factions … At the very least, he should have some friendship from studying in the same mage tower, right?
Did he deliberately not invite them? Or … was this party really special, and all the members of the noble families and factions were excluded?
Cohen's heart skipped a beat, and he could not help but raise his attention.
He instinctively felt that tonight's so-called "second party" was not as simple as it seemed.
And in the process of thinking, the bell in the Captical rang for the first time.
The bell rang, and in the midst of the bells of the various churches that called for the believers to pray and praise the Lord, Cohen noticed that the attendants left the hall one by one, and the soldiers in Cecil's standard armor replaced the attendants to guard the various entrances and exits. The sound of the latches locking could also be heard from the direction of the main door.
The people present were a little uneasy, but soon, the side door of the hall opened, and Santis, who was wearing a black mage robe, walked into the hall accompanied by Kipley and Pierce.
Santis quietly scanned the people in the hall. He found that at a time like this, he was calmer than he had expected.
Then, he spoke.
"Everyone, is anyone interested in the magic techniques of ancient Gondor and the knowledge of the Lost Domain?"
In the southern territory, in Count Hoffman's castle, Karloff Hoffman, who was wearing a count's golden-red robe and had a sharp gaze, was seated at the banquet. Count Hoffman stood in the banquet hall, holding a golden glass full of Kana wine in his hand. He looked around at the guests with a smile.
Amidst the melodious music of the seven-stringed harp and tambourine, the count said loudly, "Everyone, is anyone interested in the Magic Net technology from Cecil?
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