Chapter 654: The First Meeting
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Benjamin's doubts did not last that long.
After giving the order, the information network of the black operation was more reliable than he imagined. In just a few days, they managed to find the group of mages from the Kingdom of Helius.
"They're in Ferelden?" Benjamin put the report that he got down and was puzzled.
The mercenary nodded and said, "Yes, the report shows that they entered Ferelden a month ago or so, they set up their own mercenary mage guild, and their group was registered as Elizabeth."
"…Okay then."
Although he did not know why they did so, it was clear that the mages were reluctant to accept Benjamin's goodwill. They did not want to rely on the academy, they wanted to depend on themselves to survive in this complicated mage community.
Benjamin shrugged helplessly.
Since they did not appreciate what he had offered, there was no need for him to worry about them. Therefore, he wrote a letter about what he observed from the Wood family and sent it to Elizabeth to fulfill the promise that he made.
Subsequently, he continued to participate in the rebuilding of the academy and make preparations for the new semester.
"… Mage Benjamin, you're amazing."
As time passed, the townsfolks who escaped gradually came back. They saw their town being slowly rebuilt into how it used to be, watched as Benjamin used magic to the fix the damaged town bit by bit, and they could not help but sigh.
"It's actually very simple, I do not have to do anything, they will move automatically." Benjamin smiled and said, pointed at the rebuilding materials floating in the air,
This town was his territory, it went without saying that he would do his best to defend this place.
"After rebuilding the academy, can all of you write to those who left the town, ask them to come back and continue living here?" He asked the crowd while using magic to move the bricks around.
"Of course!" A young man answered with excitement, "The tax standard you set for us is the most lenient one in the whole world. We... we all love it here, and we hope to live in this place forever."
Benjamin heard this and nodded.
"All of you also need run this town well."
In fact, this town only existed for less than a year, yet in the people’s minds, this town was already their "home", which was by no means an easy task to achieve. Although Benjamin built this town to support the academy, after developing to this extent, the town had gotten its own purpose.
It became significant, and its existence deserved protection.
Three days later, the town proclaimed that the reconstruction process was completed, and the people walking on the streets gradually increased. Many students came back to the academy before the end of the holiday, and this place finally became lively again.
Benjamin was floating above the academy and looked at the town below him, he could no longer tell that it was being terribly attacked two months ago.
Although rebuilding cost a lot of money, he was at peace when he saw the scene in front of him.
So far, everything was on the right track. The academy’s results in the first semester were very good, and the students would definitely improve this coming semester; whereas the issue in Icor could finally be settled.
The first four years would be ruled by Carretas; by following the system, it would be a continuous cycle. The Judgement Parliament had also been set up. In a couple days, Benjamin and a dozen academy mages would attend their first meeting as representatives.
Of course, it was just a brief meeting, it would not take up too much of the member mages’ time.
In addition to the 150 mages who had the rights to make decisions in the Judgement Parliament, there was also a detailed monitoring organization. They came from Ferelden's political community, each of them would keep their eyes wide open and monitor every move of the Carretas while they ruled Icor. If they found that something went wrong, they would report it to the member mages here.
And when it was Ferelden’s turn to rule, the monitoring organization would be replaced by the people of Carretas.
Under such a mutual restriction, no matter how clever a guy was, it would be difficult to find a loophole. Therefore, the superiors could steadily rule the land and be unable to play any tricks.
However... In fact, there was no need for Icor and Carretas to hurt each other.
The alliance formed to govern Icor brought the countries closer. Previously, Benjamin had already met quite a number of Ferelden’s rich businessmen, so he took advantage of this opportunity and facilitated the simplification of trade barriers and the tax reduction of the two countries. Now that the businessmen from the two countries were doing business, their economic relations got closer, and their profits were being tied together, naturally making it difficult for them to oppose each other politically.
Otherwise, the so-called alliance that was based solely on a written paper would just be a fragile spoken speech.
Benjamin was naturally very satisfied with this situation. There would be no need for a civil war, and the whole world will unite together to fight against the Church, which was the way to go!
When it comes to the Church, Benjamin sneaked the few members of the black operation into the Kingdom of Helius. The information organization located in the enemy zone was developing bit by bit.
However, due to the strict management of the Kingdom of Helius, they did not even manage to enter the gates of the city, so they could only wander around in the towns located at the borders. Therefore, they had yet find out what was happening inside the church.
This was not something that could be rushed, so Benjamin had no choice but to wait patiently.
There was no need to be nervous; perhaps at this moment, the Church was in chaos from their own civil war, and they did not have time to deal with them. Any organization would have to experience a downfall, and since the Church had existed for such a long time, it would be normal for them to go downhill.
Therefore, he peacefully brought the dozen of academy mages to attend the Judgement Parliament, and steadily gave a speech in the parliament as a representative. Although it was his first time for them to have such a meeting, everyone was a little confused. Fortunately, however, the Guild Master took care of it nicely and he clearly explained the workload of the upcoming four years.
"Usually, we would be scattered in all countries and be able to do whatever we wanted to freely. Every sub-monitoring group will keep a detailed record of what each governor has done quarterly, as long as there is not an emergency, we will only have this meeting once quarterly. Therefore, our task is actually not that heavy."
The mages of the parliament heard this and could not help but to look relieved.
"His Majesty thought that the workload of the parliament would be very heavy, so he intentionally paid us a lot more," A mage smiled and jokingly said, "Let’s not spread this, or we would not be paid this much."
The others smiled.
On the bright side, the atmosphere of the meeting was still quite harmonious. In addition to the discussions, they exchanged experiences about magic, and countless mages went to Benjamin to try to get acquainted with him.
"Your age surprised me, Director Benjamin, your talents were beyond anyone I've ever seen."
"Director Benjamin, is there sufficient manpower in your academy? When do you plan to hire a new batch of teachers? Please do not forget to write to me."
"I've heard about your public classes, even though there were all entry-level contents, the idea behind it is very fresh and interesting. When do you plan to reopen your academy?"
Benjamin was surrounded by mages who were twice his age, they kept asking questions, so much so that Benjamin could no longer bear it. However, they did not really mean it when they asked these questions since it was just a commercial interactive talk, Benjamin just laughed it off.
Soon, he left the crowd, walked to the balcony and took a deep breath.
"What happened? Did you not make this parliament up? How could you not be able to deal with it?
Suddenly, a mocking voice came from behind and interrupted his peace.
Benjamin was a little surprised, so he turned around.
He saw a figure hanging upside down on the top of the balcony, smiling and waving at him.
"...Miles?"