Mage? Spell Engineer!

The weather was fine at this time. In the royal garden, every blade of grass and every tree gradually changed from tender green to emerald green and dark green. It was the flower season. Beyond the colorful flowers, two people were competing on the lawn.

"Your Majesty wins!" After the referee announced, Richard immediately stopped his sword.

William also stopped attacking. He made a sword flower and sent away the maid who wanted to wipe his sweat.

Richard called the maid who wanted to leave, took two flannel sweat towels, and threw them to William II naturally.

The emperor smiled and reached out to catch it. He waved again. At this time, not only the maid, but also the referee and other servants withdrew together. The guards walked back a few steps and hid in the flowers.

The emperor wiped his sweat and looked at the scoreboard: "My dear, you are not concentrating."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Richard admitted this generously.

William snorted in anger, but did not immediately ask Richard what he was thinking about. Instead, he said to himself: "When I was not the crown prince, I could still fight with people with real swords and swords, even if I was only 11 years old.

"Since I was appointed as the heir to the empire, fencing has become a boring game for me, with points and scores." He picked up the tip of the sword, which was wrapped with a small rubber ball and covered with velvet.

"I think it's good. It's not as dangerous as real swords and swords, and it's suitable for more people to experience this sport." Richard said his opinion seriously.

"Maybe, even rural urchins will fight with wooden sticks." The emperor suddenly asked himself with a subtle evil thought: "So they have wooden sticks, what do they need such blunt swords for?"

Richard did not express his opinion this time, but instead told the emperor what he was thinking: "A spaceship almost swept across the entire empire. As far as I know, it came from the air element plane, carrying a new variety of grain developed by the Forest Tower, which is said to be guaranteed not to be contaminated by the Mother Goddess. "

William nodded: "I already know that I have sent people to ask for an explanation from the Forest Tower before the match with you."

But this is not what Richard wanted to say most. He spoke again: "In addition, the Senate of the Arcane has announced a set of \u003cSafety Standards\u003e in response to the threat of evil gods in the mysterious field."

"Hmm." The emperor's face turned slightly cold.

"Rather than a regulation or law, it is better to say that it is a technical guide. It is said that the Magic Guild has also made public the supporting technical manual.

"In other words, a very advanced production system framework has been made public. And all complex industrial products that do not meet the relevant standards will not be able to circulate and trade in Valois and the eastern part of the empire.

"It is said that the Dwarf Confederation, Istani, and the southern countries will follow up. "

William II took off his protective gear: "Oh, my foreign minister and finance minister dare not take the initiative to mention this matter. They have to pretend to be stupid for a while before they are willing to tell me some information, but I have my own channels to understand. My dear, you are still the first minister who speaks frankly in front of me. "

Richard also took off his armor. In fact, he didn't need it: "This standard is completely built around a new spell system. And it relies on the support of Master Rorschach. In other words, magic cannot be avoided. Perhaps this is the concern of other ministers. Considering your attitude towards magic, they guess you don't want to hear this."

Now they are in the field of magic-forbidden devices, and Richard feels a little uncomfortable. During this period, the installed capacity of magic-forbidden equipment in the empire has increased rapidly. In the imperial capital and several major cities, dead magic areas that completely cover the urban areas have been initially built.

"Do these technologies have to be mastered and manipulated by spellcasters?"

"Your Majesty, I have an analogy, which is by no means discriminatory against anyone-can blind people paint?"

The emperor nodded slowly: ".I understand."

Maybe in the future, Richard felt that Rorschach was working towards this possibility. Since it is something he has determined, he will definitely be able to do it. Richard believes in his friend like this.

So he insisted on advising the monarch: "No matter what, the empire cannot lag behind others. Congratulations to your Majesty on the smooth progress of the ban plan, but the safety of our country cannot be tied to one plan. We need stronger logistics and military force to resist the Mother Goddess. We should cultivate a group of talents and enterprises to study and catch up with the most advanced technology, whether it contains magic or not, and use it in people's livelihood and defense.

"If one day such technology can be used by everyone and everyone can benefit from it, how can your Majesty's people be left out?"

"You are right, I will accept your advice. But since I promised you one thing, you have to promise me one thing accordingly." The emperor showed a triumphant smile, as if he had won another round.

"Why do I feel like I was tricked." Richard muttered on the way home.

He recalled the scene at that time. After practicing sword in the garden, the emperor immediately invited him to move to the study.

William II actually took out an almost complete plan. He wants to establish a border earldom in the north. This place will not be covered by the forbidden magic area of ​​the empire, but correspondingly, it will directly face the pollution of the mother goddess at the junction of the empire and the dwarf confederation. Since the destruction of the First Flame Tower, this place has often erupted in disasters caused by evil gods. It is jointly controlled by the imperial army and the dwarves.

In this special territory, any technology, trade and personnel circulation will not be restricted by the emperor of the empire, but will be determined by the lord. These relatively barren and cold lands will be distributed to spellcasters in the empire, where they can cast spells and conduct research without restrictions.

Economically, the earl also had almost the same freedom as the lords in the Middle Ages. William even promised to exempt the earl territory from taxes. Instead, the lord would completely determine and control the circulation of goods. With his own permission, he proposed a policy that was different from the empire. Legal provisions and are not subject to the supervision of the Imperial Parliament.

The ideal situation is to let the border counties defend themselves against the intrusion of the Mother Goddess's servants, while the rest of the empire defends these mages with the help of magic-forbidden devices. Of course, the above assumption is not a guarantee. Some ministers are worried that this will give birth to a second Byrne.

It is foreseeable that the border county here must be highly militarized, and it is allowed to accept advanced technology from the most dangerous "rebels" now, and can obtain resources from the Dwarf Confederation and trade with Istani by sea. . If those dissatisfied imperial spellcasters rebelled again, the consequences of the troops moving south would be disastrous.

Richard pondered that this plan had some merits, especially opening up a special area to introduce magic technology and serve as a bridge between the increasingly closed empire and the outside world. He advised the emperor that he had no illusions that the empire's ban on magic could be completely lifted, and that such a plan was acceptable.

But there is also a naive part, especially since the Empire almost completely let go of the Counties and gathered many spellcasters together. They were like unstable explosives, and the Emperor intended to put them in a barrel. In William's vision, the "explosive barrel" essentially only had one insurance, which was a trustworthy lord.

Richard von Dahlberg, of course.

It can be said that the entire plan is designed around his existence. Whether the entire earldom will lose control and whether the empire will be threatened from the north - whether it is the mother goddess or the rebels, all depends on one person.

When the emperor told Richard the whole plan, he held his head high and recalled: "I revealed this idea to the courtiers, prime ministers and marshals, but they did not think that I could find a suitable candidate for earl.

"The empire needs a powerful and loyal mage to control other spellcasters and resist the threat of the Mother Goddess. It also needs him to be able to understand military affairs and have the ability to manage a place. Everyone believes that in terms of ability alone, the empire is at a disadvantage. Only the youngest son of the Dahlberg family could take on such an important responsibility.

"But they doubt you, and they accuse you of being closely related to the leader behind the rebels, but I absolutely believe you, my dear." William II firmly believed that without Richard, he might have died on a winter night:

“I also once suspected that you would abandon the empire and join the so-called alliance.

"Since we can meet again, as a king and a minister, it proves your loyalty and my wrong assumption. I want to apologize to you."

He hesitated for a moment and asked a question: "But what are you loyal to, Dahlberg? This country? Its people? Or... Sometimes I even hope that you come back to me because you are loyal to our friendship. ”

"I don't know, maybe it's both." Richard answered vaguely at that time, and after expressing his willingness to accept the title and territory, he hurriedly left the palace.