BXBX NOVEL Chapter 107 - Jenni Perot
Chapter 107: Jenni Perot
Most of the things were tools for the drawing of runes or to carve magic circles: tools like corrosion-proof painting sticks, carving blades that were coated in adamantite powder, wedge-shaped scrappers, and brushes of various sizes. Apart from those, it would be those books and notes that were kept carefully for many years.
When she left the mage tower, she was only permitted to bring along these things. As for the other things, she only had two sets of clothes.
But Jenni Perot still arranged them seriously before putting her pitiful number of personal items on the study table, the closet, and the rack by the bedside. After she was finished unpacking, she sat on the chair in the center of the room and quietly observed this wooden cabin that could only be described as simple and crude.
As the highest-grade intermediate profession holder in the 100-person team, she was given extra attention: A solitary house. Even though it was a simple and crude wooden cabin and couldn’t be compared with the mage tower, Jenni knew that this was among the few good houses in this camp. Among the team, only the official craftsmen and the other mage were qualified to have a solitary house. Furthermore, she had the largest house among all the houses, so she was already very satisfied.
After all, even back at her mentor’s mage tower, she would only be sleeping in the junk room’s floor bed. Apart from the walls that were constructed of stones, that dwelling truly wasn’t any better than this place.
No, this place was better as this wooden cabin belonged to her, and she wouldn’t need to constantly worry that her mentor would ask her to test magical drugs or magic circles.
Jenni watched everything quietly before lowering her head to look at her hands while contemplating her future days.
She was very clear of her awkward position. She was the team’s highest-grade intermediate professional, but in fact, she was only a mage apprentice. Runemaster was ‘handicraft’ work, and if the spellcasting ability and magic-sensing ability were eliminated, she was not much different from those carpenters and stonemasons. Actually, according to mage custom, the grade-two arcanist in the team should be the one with the highest status. Thus, it was very obvious that… she was just an intermediate professional to fill up the numbers.
At the same time, she was very clear that the legendary duke from 700 years ago could see this in a single glance.
She was such an awkward person, but he still had to treat her seriously according to the rules. She was even provided with a solitary dwelling. How long could such a situation last for?
It would probably last until the moment the duke believed he had given the king enough face. Or until someone in the territory raised an objection.
But then, the only thing that would guarantee her the qualification to stand on this land would be her handicraft.
After all, the camp was in its construction phase, and there were plenty of things that were required to be constructed — be it production of magic tools or processing of runes. Madam Heidi couldn’t possibly be doing everything personally; hence, a runemaster like her would be useful. If she could complete her tasks well, she might be able to receive the approval of the madam. Jenni didn’t dare to have excessive expectations and would be perfectly satisfied if she could have a footing in this place.
Right at this moment, the sound of door knocking interrupted Jenni’s thoughts.
She looked towards the door with surprise and anxiety while guessing who would be looking for her at this time. But she didn’t stop moving just because of this as she stood up and went to the door while thinking: ‘It doesn’t matter who is outside the door. I must not offend that person.’
After opening the door, the person standing outside the door had caused her breath to slow down by half a beat.
It was a tall figure with brown short hair and abstruse eyes. It was this land’s lord, Duke Gawain Cecil from 700 years ago, who had revived. Beside the tall figure was the elegant and beautiful Madam Heidi who was wearing a red long dress.
The feudal lord and the chief supervisor had come to visit personally, causing Jenni to be at a loss. She couldn’t hold back her wild imaginations from before and started to be worried. Could this feudal lord already feel that he was giving me an excessively preferential treatment?
As Jenni was in a state of astonishment, Gawain was sizing up the young lady in front of him and couldn’t help but take two more glances. ‘This runemaster who came from the royal capital shouldn’t be more than twenty years old yet. She is tall but skinny, and it feels like she is weak due to illness. She has silver long hair, but due to the insufficient attention to her hair, they look dried up and are in a mess. Her hair is hanging over the two sides of her cheeks, and on her left cheek, there is a spot where the hair couldn’t cover, where there is a large and ugly scar.’
That scar was the reason why Gawain took two more glances.
The scar had utterly affected this young lady’s appearance that would have originally been considered delicate and pretty. The scar didn’t just cover a third of her left face, but it extended down along the neck. Due to the obstruction of the clothes, Gawain didn’t know how great of a surface area this scar, which looked like it was a scald wound, covered. But he guessed that the scar must have been due to some kind of horrific accident.
Soon enough, he realized that it wasn’t appropriate to stare at a young lady and immediately withdrew his eyes before asking, “Why? Are you not going to invite us inside?”
Jenni finally returned to her senses and stood to the side helplessly before asking cautiously with a soft voice, “Duke… Duke, what instructions do you have to personally—personally visit?”
“I am just here to take a look.” Gawain entered the wooden cabin along with Heidi and casually looked around. ‘The house isn’t big. The bedroom and living room are completely connected. All the furnishings in this place could be seen in a single glance.’ Gawain could see those simple furnitures that were made by the territory’s carpenters but couldn’t see any traces of personal items. He was immediately able to determine that Jenni Perot was in dire straits in the royal capital just as he guessed.
“How is it? You have been adapting to this camp for two days. Are you satisfied with life here?”
Jenni couldn’t possibly know why the feudal lord and the chief supervisor had visited her simple and crude house. She couldn’t possibly ask on her own accord and had no choice but to brace herself and answer Gawain’s question, “Very—very satisfied. To be honest, it is much better than I imagined.”
As she spoke, she shifted two chairs over so that the feudal lord and the chief supervisor could have a seat while she stood by the side. There were only two chairs in this place.
“Imagine?” Gawain looked at Jenni curiously and asked, “What did you imagine?”
Jenni heard this question and thought she had said something wrong, but she had to respond, “In the beginning… I thought this place would be harsher. I heard that this camp had only started construction for over one month and doesn’t really have sufficient manpower. I didn’t think there would be so many houses already constructed. There is also the dock to receive the supplies from Tanzan Town…”
“This is everyone’s labor and hard work.” Gawain smiled and said, “To be honest, this still isn’t considered fast. I have witnessed an entire city being constructed in a single month.”
‘That is on Earth where cement is available…” Gawain thought silently in his heart.
Jenni was shocked by Gawain’s casual comment, but she immediately used her own method of understanding and asked, “Ahh, you are talking about the Gondor Empire seven hundred years ago, right?”
“Almost the same meaning.” Gawain replied half-heartedly before looking at this simple and crude house. “Mm, the camp can only provide such living conditions now. But don’t you worry, the brick-kiln yard’s construction has already started. When there is sufficient bricks and tiles, I will have the people in the territory move into brick houses.”
Jenni: “…Ha?”
From the start, she had been waiting for Gawain to mention the problem about the ‘excessively preferential treatment’, but after waiting for a long time, the topic was deviating away until it was the direct opposite. She couldn’t help but suspect that this ancient figure was planning the operations of this camp by using Gondor Empire standards. But she immediately recalled that… Back then, Gawain Cecil had also developed a land from the ground up and had constructed the Anzu Kingdom together with the late king. He was a veteran with experience in this aspect and wouldn’t be making reckless analyses…
The confused runemaster had started to analyze with her wild imagination.
However, Gawain didn’t know what this runemaster named Jenni was thinking about in her mind. He merely wanted to use some casual statements to set the mood, but seeing that he wasn’t successful, he simply changed the topic. “We’re here today mainly to understand your living arrangements and to understand what kind of requirements our guests from afar would need. And also to understand a bit about you.”
“Understand about… me?” Jenni pointed at herself while feeling flabbergasted and asked, “What aspect are you referring to?”
Heidi took out a piece of paper and pushed it in front of her. “I will ask bluntly. We have seen your information. You are a grade-four runemaster but your mage grade… is that of an apprentice?”
Jenni’s heart throbbed.
As expected, what was supposed to come would eventually come.
The status of a grade-four runemaster wasn’t going to bring her any glory. It was her apprentice mage grade that was the truth. This drastic difference in grades didn’t indicate talent; it was only for people to associate her with ‘freaks’.
What’s even worse? A mage apprentice was actually filling up the numbers of intermediate professionals in the team. What was this founding duke from 700 years ago going to think? According to normal nobles’ thinking, he would definitely view this as a kind of deception and humiliation. It was possible he might be enraged too, but he wouldn’t vent his anger on the king; hence, he could only vent his anger on her, who was a ‘fake’.
The runemaster from the royal capital bowed deeply and used the most humble and most terrified tone to seek forgiveness. “I am sorry, Duke and Madam Heidi. I didn’t have the intention to deceive you. I am willing to accept punishment—”
But Gawain suddenly interrupted her, “How did you do it?”
Just as Jenni was doing her best to arrange her words to extinguish the ‘noble’s anger’ in her imagination, she didn’t expect that Gawain was calm and had asked a question all of a sudden. As a result, she was stunned.
Gawain thought Jenni didn’t hear the question clearly; thus, he repeated his question. “How did you finish the foundation practice of a runemaster as an apprentice mage? Are you able to sense the magic of complex runes? Are you able to conduct ‘magic tuning’ on runes?”
Runemasters were indeed ‘craftsmen’. In the eyes of professional mages, their work wasn’t any different from masons, but Gawain knew clearly that there was a difference and that it was a big one.
Runemasters didn’t just draw magic circles according to the blueprints. It was necessary for them to make alterations and adjustments to the runes’ positions. They had to also be able to conduct tuning tests on those uncertain runes, and in order to do such things, they had to be able to sense complex runes and to conduct ‘magic tuning’ after adjusting the runes.
This was something only grade-one mages could do!