Chapter 679: Arguments and Prejudices
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Two days later.
"Are you the messenger from the magic academy? You must be a very dependable person to win Benjamin’s trust at such a young age."
At the entrance of Gealorre’s palace, Benjamin was disguised as an ordinary messenger of the academy and was being welcomed by a tall and skinny middle-aged man.
It was not like he was addicted to putting on disguises, but he knew that if he showed up with his real identity, others will automatically put some distance between, as though they in fear of the name "Director Benjamin". They would become alert, which would be very inconvenient for Benjamin.
Therefore, he disguised himself as a nobody, so that others would act naturally around him.
"May I know who you are, Sir..."
The man smiled and replied, "My name is Spencer, a high-ranking adviser of His Majesty. I heard that the academy’s messenger would be arriving today, so I came to greet you."
Benjamin could not help but have his doubts.
A high-ranking consultant was a fairly high position. As the king said, most of the officers in Carretas were not fond of the magic academy, so when a high-ranked officer displays such a friendly attitude, Benjamin immediately became suspicious.
"Is that so, then I will need to trouble you, sir." With that in mind, Benjamin smiled and entered the palace with Spencer ushering him inside.
He was familiar with Gealorre’s palace; after passing through several corridors, Benjamin slowly stepped into the lobby. The lobby was filled with Carretas’ officers. There were some familiar faces, but Benjamin had not seen most of them before.
As soon as Benjamin walked in, the officers who had previously been talking nonstop suddenly fell silent. At that moment, they turned around and looked at Benjamin in unison. They kept glancing at Benjamin as the different thoughts raced through their minds.
Benjamin ignored them and continued walking straight ahead.
"Your majesty."
He had already informed the King in advance that the purpose of his visit today was to change the officers’ opinion of the magic academy. Therefore, the King had gathered all of the officers in the palace in the lobby this morning. While he sat on the throne, he watched the crowd below him and nodded from time to time.
"You're finally here! Come, do tell them the reason why the academy wants to set up a new branch."
After greeting each other and going through the routine formalities, the King seemed to not want to drag the affair on any longer. He supported himself with the armrest, then pointed at Benjamin and immediately got down to business.
The officers' expressions changed instantaneously. Even the smile of the high-ranked advisor who greeted Benjamin disappeared.
Benjamin nodded and slowly began.
"It’s like this. After the baptism of the church a while ago, the number of mages in Carretas fell drastically. I heard that His Majesty would like to establish a mage organization in Carretas but was not able to. Therefore, in order to repay His Majesty for giving us the piece of land, we have decided to set up a branch in Carretas to help train more mages for this country. "
He had already thought about this reason a long time ago and did not think that there were any flaws in it. The main issue was whether or not these officers would accept it.
"To repay His Majesty... you make it sound nice." At that moment, an officer with a harsh expression walked forward and said sneered, "If your academy really did care about his Majesty, then why did you not help his Majesty during the conflict with Icor."
"Our academy is also a victim of Icor’s incident. It was not easy to survive the Queen's attack, likewise, it was impossible to bring the entire Icor under your Majesty’s control."
"Oh really, but isn’t Icor implementing the magic academy’s system? Who would believe that there isn’t some kind of authority supporting you?"
"Well, isn’t Icor being taken over by Carretas at this very instant? Didn’t everything play out smoothly? I’m sure you would know if the academy had been secret manipulating Icor."
"Humph..."
The mage who was obviously trying to find faults was temporarily shut up by Benjamin. However, from the gaze of the crowd, he could feel that there were still many of them who believed that the Magic Academy had bad intentions.
How did the atmosphere turn out like this?
Benjamin had been abiding the rules ever since he became a Director, he was more loving, and he did a lot less damage than before, but why did he leave such a bad impression in Carretas?
He did not know why, but he felt like something had happened in Carretas during this period.
"Mister Messenger, there are indeed a very small number of mages in the territory of Carretas, but, we are able to train our own mages." A middle-aged officer slowly opened his mouth and said, "It is good that you are willing to help, but being overly enthusiastic raises suspicions, no?"
After he finished saying this, many officers returned their gaze towards Benjamin and nodded slowly in agreement. Unlike the officer from before who was harsh, they, in turn, did not look that hostile, but they were still skeptical.
Benjamin could tell that these words were what they were really thinking.
In that case, all of you should know how Carretas has gotten so far." Therefore, he decided to answer straightforwardly, "If our academy was really plotting against you, we had many chances to do so when we were helping His Majesty regain his throne. But, we kept our promise and returned the glory to His Majesty."
The elderly officer shook his head and said, "People change. Even if you previously did not have bad intentions, it does not mean that you are an angel now as well."
"These words... If our director hears them, he might get a little angry."
"But this is a genuine concern from the bottom of our heart." The elderly officer continued, "The Magic Academy is getting stronger day by day and will soon become stronger even than one of our countries, so please understand the dilemma that we are facing."
"The strength of the academy is directly connected the Carretas. We have already signed multiple treaties, and after the students graduate, many of them will stay in Carretas to help defend the country."
"So, are the treaties not enough? Why would you want to set up a branch which will cause trouble and raise suspicions?"
"The Church is watching closely; if we are to get rid of our common enemy, then the hard work that we do will never be "enough"."
"Mister Messenger..."
The officers were more stubborn than he had imagined, despite trying to convince them for a long time, Benjamin could not detect any changes in their attitude. He thought he would just have to have a heated argument and end up having to curse at a few old bastards – but alas, reality was not so easy.
As the discussion continued, the atmosphere gradually became awkward.
"Okay, if this goes on, it will only hurt the relationship between Carretas and the academy, and Benjamin will not be happy to hear about this. Master Vincent, please take a rest for now."
Benjamin thought the King would be the one to stop the argument, but what he did not expect was the high-ranking advisor who greeted him to be the one to interrupt the elderly mage.
"... Fine, Master Spencer."
The elderly mage heard this and nodded. Although he seemed a little unwilling, he eventually returned to the crowd.
"Some officers might be prejudicial to the Magic Academy, and that is not something that can be changed with words alone. So please, do not get angry, Mister Messenger." Spencer turned around and smiled at Benjamin.