Chapter 514: Long River Town’s New Look
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Benjamin was not in a hurry to return to Long River Town, and stopped for a while between Gealorre and Hill City.
The Church would definitely send another messenger. If the messenger they send were more eloquent, or if he had not enraged the Queen enough, with the real messenger going over to explain everything, it was very likely that the entire plan to divide them would fail.
Of course, Benjamin could not let this sort of thing happen.
Because of that, on a mountain path, he found the messenger that the Church had sent.
Without saying much, Benjamin hid in the shadows and killed the messenger with a shot— There could be monitor crosses on him, so Benjamin had better not reveal himself, and could only use this tactic.
After that, he left without looking back, not staying in the area any longer.
Killing the messenger would definitely delay the Church’s movements for a while. And after a few days, when the Queen’s army launched an attack near Gealorre, the conflict would be aggravated, and it would be impossible for them to ally anymore.
Having done all this, Benjamin spent another half day to return to Long River Town smoothly.
There was still no news about Miles, but Benjamin had lowered all expectations. This fellow had always been elusive like a phantom, and had always kept disappearing. There was nothing anyone else could do.
And in Long River Town, everything seemed to be developing well.
"A lot of villages have sent letters signifying their willingness to support His Majesty The King— Carmo, Angus Village... In just a short few days, actually, a lot of places have surrendered. Some cities have also sent envoys here to check out the situation, and they seem to have intentions of surrendering."
The ten man elite mage team had entered and were stationed in Long River Town, Tony reported as such to Benjamin.
Hearing that, Benjamin could not help but nod his head.
It looked like the king could recapture many regions in Carretas without firing a single shot!
Of course, there were all places in the corners and on the sides, the most important were still the central region and Gealorre. If they could defeat Gealorre, it would be equal to the success of re-establishing the kingdom, and the rest of the places in Carretas would yield themselves automatically.
However, it was definitely not going to be easy for them.
"About magical talent... How is it going?" After thinking, Benjamin asked again.
"Rather well." Tony, looking really determined, answered, "His Majesty had drawn out a huge area in town for us, and even found some people on the name list. Now, there are thirty to forty people altogether; if we add in the students who are coming back bit by bit now, we have almost a hundred students!"
"...only almost a hundred? Nevertheless, Benjamin was not especially satisfied with it.
These were only students; it was impossible for them to be sent onto the battlefield in such a short time. He had started developing magic trading now because he wanted to scout for those who had greater talent, and quickly nurture them into mages, so that they could be part of the backbone in the resistance against the Church.
And that kind of great talent could probably only be found in one student out of twenty or thirty of them. Because of that, a hundred was not enough.
"Many more will come." However, Tony said with a firm face. "When His Majesty made his public announcement to the entire nation, he had also mentioned this matter of ours. So now, the whole of Carretas knows that we have magic here that they can learn. Those who have been inspired by the Declaration of the Freedom of Magic will hurry here."
"Let us hope so..."
Benjamin nodded his head.
"So, Mage Benjamin, having these people here now with us, is it enough?" Tony spread his hand out, saying, "Yesterday, Diana has already started complaining that there are too many students, she can’t cope with the teaching. The mages battalion are still on the grass plains, shall we get them to come over too?"
Hearing that, Benjamin gave it some thought, and said: "No, let the battalion stay on the plains. Just get another ten or so people to come over and help. Our position on the grass plains is extremely secure now, we cannot simply give it up."
"Alright..."
Thus, after the situation had been reported in detail, Benjamin was starting to get familiar with Long River Town. He followed Tony to a place the King had given them— a residential area in the west of the town. The renovations were still going on, but the appearance of a mages’ residential area was beginning to form. Tony pointed at the biggest building there, and told Benjamin that the King had given it to Benjamin for residence.
Seeing that, Benjamin could not help but nod his head.
Not bad... He was, at least, a King who knew how to show gratitude.
In the center of this "mages district", there was a rather wide square. It used to be deserted, but after some sorting out, it had become the best place for students to practice their magic.
The moment Benjamin walked into this square, countless of people set their sights on him.
"That man... Is the mage who had summoned the castle in the sky that night! He is really powerful, can we ever get to that level?"
"He is our leader, he had brought us all the way from Carretas to the east."
"Teacher Benjamin, you’re finally back!"
Amongst the people here, there were locals of Long River Town, who had only seen the scene of Benjamin fighting the Bishop that night, but had not yet really known Benjamin; there were also students who had followed Benjamin through countless of villages, and, upon seeing Benjamin, had immediate reverence in their expressions; and there were the ten mages who had, visibly, been teaching until their heads were fried.
Countless of people surrounded Benjamin; it was a little too much for Benjamin to handle.
"That... What is everyone supposed to be doing? I’m just here for a quick look."
Those who were familiar with them, he was not much bothered with, but the new students who had just been added in, all watched him curiously, causing him to feel very embarrassed.
"Teacher Benjamin, what magic did you use that night?" A newbie asked.
"En... It was an icebreaking spell." After some hesitation, Benjamin still spoke the truth.
For a moment, everyone there fell silent.
The ten mages looked helpless; they were obviously used to Benjamin’s "beginner level magic". As for those students, they were somewhat at a loss, perhaps wondering if the magic they had learnt was a fake icebreaking spell.
"Don’t be discouraged, everyone. All magic has potential that you can dig into." Seeing that, Benjamin could only give a few coughs and open his mouth to speak words of encouragement, "What is important, is to find the direction that suits you best. Think about it often and dig in diligently; everyone definitely can become stronger."
He felt like he was a class teacher, however... What else could he do? If one wished to be the boss, one must learn how to boil up some chicken soup for the soul.
Also, seeing the expressions on the students, who looked rather hopeful, Benjamin gave a sigh of relief. That look means that his old trick of a chicken soup had worked very effectively, as always.
Because of that, he nodded his head and simply spoke a few more words, dismissing everyone to go back to their magic practice. He then secretly slipped out from the square.
After resting in his new home for a while, he once again headed towards the center of town to see the King, to pass on the information he had gotten this time to him.
Nevertheless, what Benjamin had never expected, was to walk through the big doors and see that the King had a guest.
"Mage Benjamin, you are finally back! Come, come, meet General Hawk. After hearing of my news, he had immediately rushed here, ready to bring his troops back under my command."