The Northern Grand Duke’s Crazy Son-in-Law

21. Smoke

“I’ve made up my mind!”

Gwen suddenly shouted, making Galahad wince.

“Private! Tom!”

“It’s nothing, go back to sleep.”

“Yes, sir!”

Tom fell back asleep. Gwen grabbed Tom and apologized, shaking him to say she was sorry for waking him up.

‘…Evil?’

Galahad chuckled.

“What in the world have you decided?”

“I’m going to become a really strong magician.”

It was good news that Gwen was learning magic. That was also why he had put Gwen in the Special Forces.

However-.

“A really strong magician is quite an abstract goal. Your goal should be more certain.”

“…Huh? Really?”

“First, let’s set a precise goal,”

Gwen, who had been blinking her eyes, suddenly pointed her finger.

Galahad winced at the called finger pointing at him.

“Do you want to be like me?”

“Yes! I want to be a powerful magician like Sir Galahad!”

Gwen’s answer was loud. Tom jumped up and then sat down again.

“That’s impossible.”

“Why not!”

“It’s a difference of mentality. I prefer a fast and efficient approach. A clean approach like bursting heads or piercing hearts.”

“A cle-clean approach?”

Gwen’s eyes widened.

“Your mentality is too kind for that.”

“Tha-thank you?”

“It’s not a compliment. It means you can’t be an efficient magician like me. Can you pierce a head?”

“No way!”

“I thought so. Someone as kind-hearted as you should just obliterate your opponent with overwhelming magic so that there’s nothing left of them.”

“…Whaaat?! Obliterate?!”

Tom seemed to have given up on sleeping and pulled out the leather he had put aside. Then he began to sew the leather with thick thread. It seemed like he was making a coat.

“Keep in mind that in order to protect someone, you have to kill someone.”

Galahad said in a humorless voice.

Tom nodded. The shape of the coat was taking form.

Then, Damian woke up. Tom handed him the meat he had set aside. Damian started eating again.

“……I know.”

Gwen hung her head. Galahad didn’t urge her.

He quietly opened the window next to him. It was a hole for smoking cigarettes that Tom had suggested they make. The moist, cold air of dawn blew in.

The scenery beyond it was the same as ever. Long, dry trees and white snow in between them-. It was so boring he could die, Galahad muttered.

“·······Then! I’ll become a magician who bedevils only the wicked!”

“Bedevils, huh? You may look innocent, but you have a cruel side to you.”

“What?! No, I don’t.”

“So, you want to learn magic?”

“Yes!”

Gwen nodded with a face as innocent as the squire’s.

“You have a great talent as a magician. With that enormous mana pool and your excellent mana sensitivity, you could be called a genius.”

“Hehe.”

Gwen scratched the back of her head and laughed shyly. She seemed to be weak to compliments.

“Now, let’s start with something simple. This is just Fireball. It’s a very simple spell that belongs to the 1st hierarchy. Follow me.”

Gwen’s eyes glazed over slightly. Then, a fire appeared on Gwen’s fingers.

‘Amazing.’

Galahad was genuinely impressed. It wasn’t easy to follow along just by watching.

‘She really is a genius.’

Aside from the guy in the Tower of Twilight, she was the first genius that Galahad had ever acknowledged.

“Now, the next step is to focus on the fire. Try to compress your mana while thinking of it as if you were squeezing it.”

“Compressing it?”

“Think of it as squeezing it tightly.”

Gwen’s eyes widened. She concentrated so hard that her fingers were trembling, but surprisingly, there was no reaction at all.

“I don’t really get it?”

“Try to think of it as squeezing it tightly. There’s an invisible muscle, and if you think of it as pulling that, it should work.”

“I don’t know, I don’t have any invisible muscles!”

“···If that doesn’t work, try bending your finger for now.”

Galahad absolutely hated compressing with his body, but he had no choice since she couldn’t get the feel of it at all.

The problem was that it still didn’t work.

When casting magic, one couldn’t help but feel the mana. If one could feel the mana, most of them would quickly understand the principle of compressing it.

She can’t even do that basic thing.

‘Ah.’

Galahad let out a small sigh as he looked at her innocent eyes.

“There’s one problem.”

“A problem?”

“You’re an idiot.”

“······What?”

“You’re an idiot.”

“I know!”

Gwen nodded. She was quick to admit it.

“So, is that a problem?”

Galahad shook his head at Gwen’s question of whether being an idiot was a problem. It wasn’t really a problem.

“I see. You don’t really need to pursue the truth of magic. Just watch and follow my magic.”

“Oh! Yes! Thank goodness!”

Galahad lit the fire again. A flame appeared on Gwen’s finger.

“You do it yourself this time.”

Gwen looked down at her finger. She knitted her brows as if concentrating, but unfortunately, there was no reaction.

“Didn’t you do it well on your own when it was demonic?”

“I did it in a hurry at that time-. I don’t know how to do it now.”

I guessed the reason. It seemed that the problem was the subconscious rejection of magic.

The way to overcome this was simple.

It was repetitive learning.

There was no problem that couldn’t be solved with that.

“Now, concentrate.”

A fire burned on Galahad’s finger. A fire appeared on Gwen’s finger as well. It was small. It got smaller.

“Good job. Then again-.”

The fire turned on. It got smaller and then bigger. It went out.

“You did a good job this time too. Now, again-.”

“Again-.”

“Again.”

Gwen followed along well without complaining, even though we repeated it quite a lot.

How many times did we repeat it?

By the time Tom finished the coat, and Damian patted his stomach and closed his eyes again-.

“Burn! Fire! Yes··· Yes!! I did it!!”

A fire burned on Gwen’s finger.

‘It takes forty repetitions to equip it.’

Compared to the time it took to learn magic, memorize the principles of magic and spell formulas, analyze the concentration, and use magic-.

‘It’s overwhelmingly fast.’

It was an incomparable speed.

“Good.”

Gwen smiled subtly.

It was like the face she made when she realized she had a natural talent for gambling, after being born to a gambler’s child and suffering her whole life from her parents’ gambling.

“It’s okay, you can even follow your parents.”

“······Yes?”

“Now, the next one is the 4th-tier magic Explosion Crater.”

“It was 1st-tier just now! Isn’t it going up too fast?!”

“It’s okay, you don’t understand the principle anyway. It’s more beneficial to learn higher-tier magic.”

Gwen nodded after thinking for a while.

Gilbert looked at Damian, who had come on the horse carriage.

The two of them went for a long time without speaking.

****

“The battalions on the northern front each have their own bases.”

Gilbert said, pointing ahead. There, soldiers were gathered in groups of three or five, making a fire. It looked like a checkpoint.

“They look like nobles.”

“Yes, similar. Authority is stronger than nobility. After all, it’s the military.”

“It wasn’t for nothing that they called it a Grand Duchy.”

White snow had piled up on his shoulders. I didn’t know it would snow this much in the North. Galatia muttered and shook his shoulders.

“Halt!”

A soldier shouted, looking at this side. They quickly pulled out their spears.

“The 5th Battalion Commander is a bit of a loner among the Commanders.”

“Is he being ostracized?”

“Yes, his conduct was different to begin with, but he’s being ostracized because of the recent rumors that he’s raising a wizard.”

At that moment, the soldiers approached right up to them.

The spears held by the soldiers had quite large tips. They looked like whaling harpoons.

“State your affiliation.”

The soldier held out the spear to Galatia like a microphone.

“I’m Galatia, Commander of the Special Forces.”

The soldier frowned with thick eyebrows.

“Special Forces? Have I heard of it?”

“No, it’s the first I’ve heard of it.”

The soldiers’ conversation went in an unexpected direction.

“Show me your identity badge.”

At the soldier’s question, Galatia looked at Gilbert. I’ve never received anything like an identity badge?

“Identity badges take time to make because they use the bones of monsters.”

It wasn’t something he couldn’t understand. The capital was a world where even paperwork was slow. How much more so in the North.

“Show me your identity badge for now. Don’t you still have the 1st Battalion identity badge?”

“No.”

“Why not? Weren’t you in the 1st Battalion until recently?”

“Because I’m not in the 1st Battalion.”

“You’re more honest than I thought. What were you planning to do if you were stopped?”

“The 1st Battalion doesn’t get stopped.”

“You’re not in the 1st Battalion now, are you?”

“Identity badge!”

The soldier shouted. At that, Galatia clicked his tongue and rummaged through his inside pocket.

“Here, this is the appointment letter from His Highness the Grand Duke.”

Galatia took out the appointment letter. It was a document that had worked at the Commanders’ meeting.

The problem was-.

“I can’t read!”

“Me neither!”

“It’s suspicious that you’re showing us a letter!”

The problem was that the soldiers were illiterate.

The atmosphere suddenly became tense. It was because they had shown them the letter. How the hell do you read an identity badge?

Gilbert gripped the hilt of his sword.

“We can just fight our way in. Didn’t you make an appointment with the Commander anyway?”

As Gilburton was about to suggest the northern negotiation, the carriage door swung open.

“Oh, I thought I might need this, so I made a temporary identity plate.”

Tom handed him a crude wooden plate. The soldiers who checked him let him pass. It seemed that they were only checking the plate’s design.

“Tom, you’re really capable.”

“Haha, your words are enough thanks.”

Tom awkwardly smiled and put away the wooden plate. At his humble appearance, Galahad stared at Gilburton.

“Why are you looking at me?”

“······No reason.”

At Gilburton’s curt question, Galahad quickly turned his gaze away.

The 5th Battalion base was larger than he had thought. A long fence made of thick wood was erected, and there were pointed wooden barricades everywhere on the road between them.

On the barricades, there was an unrecognizable rotten flesh that clung tightly. Snow had piled up on top of it, giving it quite a bit of charm.

The fence was thicker and taller than it looked from a distance. It felt like a castle. There were also catapults in between.

As he entered, a musty smell greeted him.

‘A real army.’

Galahad put a cigarette in his mouth. The lemon scent pushed away the musty smell.

“The troops are better than I thought.”

“Is that a good thing?”

“Yes, the soldiers’ health is good, and their armament is also good. It seems that the 5th Battalion’s finances are better than I thought.”

After listening to that story, I looked around and saw that it was slightly different from the headquarters. The soldiers were clean. Of course, that was by northern standards.

In addition, there were quite a few people wearing the Empire’s uniforms. Among them were those who looked like merchants and soldiers who were loading wagons.

‘It feels like I’m on the border between the Empire and the North.’

In some ways, it was more active than the headquarters. The smell of magic was everywhere.

Then, a young woman greeted Galahad. It was the woman he had seen in the conference room.

“I am Lumian, aide to the 5th Battalion Commander, Mark.”

The building the woman took Galahad to was a large building between the barracks. The security was tight.

Galahad habitually looked at the structure and personnel deployment. It was an occupational disease.

Knock, knock, knock.

“Come in.”

Lumian opened the door and stepped aside.

Mark, the commander of the 5th Battalion, was a man with a tired expression. When he saw Galahad, Mark got up from his seat and held out his hand.

“You came earlier than I thought. Did you find something?”

Mark, who greeted him briefly, asked a question right away.

“Why do you think so?”

“Adrienne is a stickler for rules. She would probably finish after going around all the watchtowers, but it’s too short a time for that. Unless you found something and caught him to end the incident, there’s no way you would have come this quickly. “

He was a man who thought faster than he looked. Maybe that’s why he talked fast too.

“That’s right. On the way here, I caught an intermediate-level demon, two wizards, and sixteen earth dogs. I was late because Adrienne was late.”

Mark narrowed his eyes for a moment. It seemed like he was trying to figure out his true intentions.

“You have no reason to lie, so it must be true.”

Mark believed it surprisingly quickly.

“There’s a reason why His Highness the Grand Duke entrusted you with the troops. Hmm-“

Mark tapped his fingers on the table.

“Are you planning to set up your headquarters at my battalion base?”

Another change of topic.

“It would be an appropriate location, since it’s in the center of the 1st Battalion where Adrianna is and the headquarters. Isn’t that why you came here in person? Of course, it’s a bit of a leap of logic, but-”

Galahad nodded obediently.

“That’s right. It wouldn’t be difficult to give you a place, but there are a few problems.”

Knock, knock.

The door opened with the sound of knocking. It was a man in a robe. He had a goatee.

He wasn’t armed. That meant he wasn’t a soldier.

“Perfect timing. This is our unit’s external advisor, Cortan.”

Mark greeted him with a raised lip.

Cortan, the goatee, smiled like a merchant and held out his hand.

“It’s a pleasure.”

Galahad shook his hand and habitually poured mana into him.

‘He has considerable mana-‘

It was typical evidence of the Dark Mage Association. They weren’t hesitant to do anything to increase their mana, so they had large amounts.

“If you have a guest, I can come back later.”

“No, this is the Commander Galahad you were curious about.”

Cortan sat down in the seat next to Mark.

‘Things are getting interesting.’

Catching a Dark Mage wasn’t that difficult. It was a solved problem if they figured out their residence, drilled a hole in their head, and reported it.

Galahad expected it to be resolved like that this time too.

But the incident took a different turn.

“Cortan is someone who has been very helpful in improving the poor environment of the 5th Battalion.”

Mark introduced the bald man with a fairly warm voice.

‘So that must be the problem Mark mentioned.’

The two of them seemed to be on good terms.

Perhaps it was because the mage had already settled down and it was difficult to accept another one.

“Are you perhaps the Galahad?”

Cortan said with his eyes wide open. An unpleasant blush appeared on his face.

‘The Galahad-.’

It was a title he hadn’t heard in a long time.

“I am.”

“That Galahad?”

“Ah, the one who graduated as the youngest valedictorian from the Capital Academy and is famous among mages.”

Cortan said in a voice that held back his true feelings. Mark’s eyes grew a bit wider.

“You’re from the Academy?”

“Yes, I actually saw you at the Academy.”

“Really?”

His reaction was a bit subtle. He felt a bit unpleasant.

“Yes, you entered when I was a senior, and you graduated before me.”

“Dude, you were in your senior year for four years?”

For Galahad, it took exactly three years from the time he entered the Academy until he graduated. That meant that this guy had been in his senior year for at least four years.

Galahad realized that his guess was correct when he saw the guy’s crumpled face.

“Usually, it’s around that long.”

The guy’s eyes turned ominous.

‘Inferiority complex.’

It was a familiar look to Galahad.

It was a look that had followed him ever since he entered the Academy as the youngest student.

Guys with that look in their eyes always had something to prove.

“I was only in my senior year for half a year, so I don’t know about that. Sorry.”

The guy’s eyes narrowed. Galahad raised the corners of his mouth.

“Oh, did it take you longer than four years?”

As if that was his weak spot, the guy’s face turned red.

“I didn’t know that Sir Galahad was such a famous person. I guess there’s a reason why the Empire sent you, Galahad.”

Mark interjected with a strange look in his eyes. Mark’s eyes seemed to be calculating something.

Who would benefit him more? He was a clever guy.

When Mark complimented him, the guy reacted immediately.

“When did you graduate? What’s important is what you did after you graduated. I haven’t heard anything about Galahad since he graduated. What have you been up to?”

The fact that he hadn’t heard anything was proof of how excellent an agent Galahad was.

Compliments right in front of his face? Galahad scratched his cheek and answered.

“I’ve been busy with this and that.”

“Oh, you’ve been busy.”

Mark interjected again. Then Colton snickered.

“Oh, I heard about that. You managed to survive.”

It was a natural reaction after hearing the rumor that the third son of a Count was marrying the eldest daughter of a Grand Duke.

They would think that he was being sent to his death for the sake of honor.

Originally, the Grand Duke had planned to put Galahad in the dungeon, so it wasn’t a wrong assumption.

“Colton, why?”

“I’m just glad to see my Academy colleague here.”

The guy snickered at Mark’s mediation. Mark seemed to be playing the role of a mediator who was trying to calm things down.

“I’m glad to see my colleague in this remote North.”

The guy gritted his teeth at Galahad’s meaningful answer.

“Unlike you, I came here for business. The North is a land of opportunity for me.”

“Oh, business in the magic-barren North? How impressive.”

The guy’s eyebrows furrowed even more at Galahad’s voice.

“Ha! There are three newly discovered magic stone mines. You know how valuable they are.”

He had only pressed him lightly, but the guy, who couldn’t overcome his inferiority complex, started blabbering.

He was a guy who had even entered the Dark Magic Society. He was a twisted guy even among magicians, so his violent reaction wasn’t strange.

“It’s a business with Captain Mark. I’d like you to join us, but… you’re such a capable person, aren’t you? You wouldn’t be able to work under an inferior student like me. What a pity!”

He smirked.

‘Inferior.’

He seemed to have said it before. He was quite sensitive in his academy days.

“The youngest to graduate from the academy, the pride of the academy, our great Galahad would never work under me, an inferior. Isn’t that right?”

He said so and held out his hand. He looked confident that Galahad would not accept his offer.

It was a clear provocation from him.

His eyes met Mark’s. The shrewd eyes seemed to be asking. Who would benefit him more?

Galahad smiled broadly.

“Well, we are alumni.”

He grabbed his hand swiftly, and the man’s eyes grew wide as if they were about to pop out.

Mark lifted the corners of his mouth slightly as if he had seen something amusing.

Belatedly, Cortein tried to pull his hand away, but Galahad would not let go.

Three quarries- Even one of them was enough to make as much money as an ordinary lord of the castle.

It was not simply a matter of money. If he had a lot of magic stones, it would be easier to teach Gwen. When she runs out of mana, she can use the magic stone.

In addition, if he had the magic stone, he could add various options when constructing the special forces headquarters.

In short,

“So, where should I go to work?”

It was a no-brainer.

To give him three quarries-

School ties were this important.