Chapter 9

The infamous reputation of Allen, who was known to be as strict in evaluations as the Mars Mercenary Corps was famous, was fully revealed in this moment.

And these people immediately proceeded to the second test.

They had to face a skilled battle mage of the same class.

Just then.

The door of the mercenary corps headquarters opened, and a group of people entered the training ground.

However, since it had nothing to do with him, Cain only focused on the test in front of him.

“Commander Alkaine, what brings you here?”

Allen, who was conducting the test, stopped for a moment and greeted him.

“Alkaine?”

At the familiar name, Cain turned his head.

After hearing it, he remembered the name.

His full name was Alkaine Cosbald. Unlike Duke Carlton, who represented the hard-line faction in the Rohan Empire’s magical world, he was one of the mages who represented the moderate faction.

He was also one of the few white mages who had opposed the war with the Magical Kingdom of Zergard.

However, just before the war, that had caused him to fall out of favor with the Emperor, and there had been rumors that he had withdrawn from the front lines at the time.

Now that Cain saw him, it seemed that he had entered the mercenary corps back then.

“You are working hard, Allen.”

“What do you mean by working hard…? These people will become the foundation of the mercenary corps. But the person beside you is…”

Alkaine had not come here alone.

Duke Radian, one of the most powerful figures in the Empire, was with him.

In fact, there was no reason for Alkaine Cosbald, who commanded all the mages of the Mars Mercenary Corps, to come here.

But this time was different.

Even though the mercenary corps did not get involved in politics, Frey, the son of Duke Radian, was here.

So they could not help but pay attention.

Officially, this visit was said to be for the purpose of encouraging and raising the morale of the mercenary corps.

But in reality, it could be seen as a silent pressure to ensure Frey’s acceptance and preferential treatment.

‘Duke Radian…’

Cain’s fist naturally clenched.

He was facing his mortal enemy right in front of him.

The man who had betrayed him and caused his empire to fall ten years ago.

As if that were not enough, Duke Radian came before the first-test passers and began shaking their hands one by one.

“You have worked hard. I hope you will become a light that brightens the future of the Empire. If you show outstanding ability, you can transfer from the mercenary corps to the Imperial Mage Corps or a magic tower at any time.”

“Thank you.”

When Duke Radian held out his hand, the applicants did not know what to do and hurriedly shook his hand.

Perhaps simply because his father had appeared, Frey seemed to gain confidence.

He straightened his shoulders and back and looked around.

Duke Radian seemed pleased with Frey as well. Instead of shaking his hand, he patted him on the shoulder and gave a satisfied smile.

Duke Radian’s footsteps gradually came closer to Cain.

Ten years ago.

Cain was now standing face-to-face with the man who had caused the downfall of his empire through a painful betrayal.

He was standing only one step away.

For a moment, countless emotions crossed his mind.

If he truly wanted to, Cain felt as though he could kill Duke Radian somehow.

Then perhaps the anger twisting inside his chest would finally disappear.

But reason moved faster than emotion.

Cain calmed his boiling emotions and looked at Duke Radian again.

“Young man, your eyes are quite unusual. You seem to be about the same age as our Frey…? You may become a rival to my son in the future. Do your best for the Rohan Empire as well. The path of white magic is endless.”

“Yes.”

“Let us shake hands.”

Their hands tightly clasped together.

Duke Radian’s rough and coarse hand felt more unpleasant to Cain than filth containing every dirty thing in the world.

At that moment, Cain wanted nothing more than to cut off the wrist of the hand that was holding his.

For an extremely short moment, no longer than the blink of an eye.

In Cain’s imagination, Duke Radian died and came back to life dozens of times.

But soon, Cain calmed himself and quietly lowered his head.

As he repeated to himself that someday he would have a chance to turn this frustrating anger into reality, he controlled his emotions.

And so, the second test was held while Allen, Commander Alkaine, and Duke Radian watched.

Since this was not a battle where they fought to the death, skilled mage applicants could earn a sufficiently good score.

However, because their opponents were so experienced, many applicants struggled.

Even though they wore protective armor, some were unable to make up for their lack of skill and suffered injuries.

But six mages, including Cain and Frey, were able to pass the second test with ease.

The reason was that the test was not graded based on whether they won the battle.

Instead, they were graded based on the systematic casting and use of magic.

And with that, Cain was accepted as a battle mage of the Mars Mercenary Corps, the number one mercenary corps in Romanes.

Cain was twenty-six years old.

It had been three months since he began dreaming of a new dream in a new world.

05. Moving Toward the Future

1

“Frey, what is the ultimate goal of white magic?”

“The eternal destruction of magic, with black magic at its center. Only when the power of light rules the world will peace finally take root.”

“Good. Then, Cain, what do you think?”

“The ultimate goal of white magic is for the mage himself to become a ray of light. Magic is a power that saves the world. It means becoming the one who wields that power.”

“Both are good thoughts.”

A week had passed since Cain had officially passed the final test and become a battle mage.

During that time, the five companions who had joined the Mars Mercenary Corps as battle mages alongside Cain were receiving training in the structure and tactics of the Mars Mercenary Corps, as well as other survival-related skills, before being sent into actual missions.

Their weekly schedule was as follows.

From Monday to Thursday, they received practical combat training.

Unlike mage corps belonging directly to a country, mercenaries usually did not have an independent mage corps. Instead, they were normally sent on missions together with swordsmen.

Therefore, practical training meant learning how to cooperate with swordsmen and how to use magic effectively in battle alongside them.

Although Cain and his fellow recruits were skilled enough to be called capable mages, they had not yet been properly tested.

Therefore, they were not being sent into fierce battlefields that could truly be called real combat.

Then, on Fridays, they received education about commercial transactions.

Although the Mars Mercenary Corps was enormous, many ordinary mercenaries could not even read or write.

Therefore, when carrying out independent missions, things such as writing contracts and making other agreements were usually handled by mages rather than swordsmen.

They were being taught the basics of commercial transactions in preparation for such situations.

Saturday and Sunday were rest days.

During this period, they were given plenty of free time.

However, since an emergency call could happen at any time, they needed permission from the Mercenary Corps Administration to leave the capital city of Romanes.

In this way, one month was spent getting used to the mercenary corps.

Now, Cain and his fellow recruits were soon going to be officially incorporated into the mercenary corps.

Until now, the six of them, including Cain, had been only “junior” members of Mars.

After successfully completing their adjustment period, they would now become full members of the mercenary corps.

From now on, they would be entering a fierce field of competition.

Currently, there were nineteen mages working in the Mars Mercenary Corps with the qualifications of fourth-circle mages.

Once the six recruits who had passed the autumn recruitment and completed their one-month adjustment period were incorporated, there would be twenty-five fourth-circle mages in total.

Considering that most mercenary corps generally had five or fewer mages of fourth circle or higher, this was an extremely large number.

“Cain is wrong. How can you say that magic is the power that saves the world? Does the word ‘magic’ not include black magic as well?”

Frey asked in protest.

Allen answered.

“Frey, do you think black magic cannot save the world?”

“Are you saying that black magic can also be helpful to our lives?”

“That is correct.”

“That is a teaching that would make His Majesty the Emperor furious if he heard it.”

Frey spoke boldly.

He had a ‘black magic complex.’

His father, Duke Radian, was currently revered as a hero in the Rohan Empire.

But those who were jealous of him often pointed at him and called him a person from the Magical Kingdom, like a permanent label.

Frey was happy that Duke Radian was now regarded as a hero, but he hated the fact that his own birthplace and origins were Zergard.

Because of that, he despised and hated black magic even more than most white mages.

He even considered it disrespectful to simply talk about Zergard and avoided the subject.

“Then what do you think of Frey’s opinion, Cain?”

“I heard that black magic was also originally created with the intention of making people’s lives more prosperous, just like white magic, although its methods and path were different. Its meaning was distorted by some evil black mages, but I do not think that is enough to condemn all of black magic.”

“Cain, can you say that in front of Duke Carlton as well?”

Frey, who had been listening, frowned as if he could not understand Cain and questioned him.

During the month they spent adapting to the mercenary corps, Frey had continued to feel a growing sense of competition toward Cain.

Of the six successful applicants, the other four were struggling just to keep up with the adjustment process.

But Cain understood magic at a level equal to Frey, or even faster than him.

Frey was a mage who had received high-quality instruction from skilled mages and had followed the best possible path.

On the other hand, Cain came from an unknown provincial family whose origins were unclear.

Of course, after looking into the Adrian family, Frey had learned that they had once been a family of mages.

But they were still a provincial family, and on top of that, they were merely a family in name without even a territory.

The status of their families was as different as heaven and earth, yet their abilities were similar.

There was no way Frey could feel comfortable about that.

Above all, whenever they expressed their opinions during class, Cain and Frey always ended up opposing each other and arguing.

As these incidents continued to repeat, Frey gradually developed negative feelings toward Cain.

He disliked the fact that Cain behaved as if he were Frey’s equal and did not bow his head even once, while even his fellow recruits bowed and scraped before him.

“There is no reason I cannot. One of the Ten Commandments of the Imperial magical world says, ‘All mages have the right to freely express their thoughts.’”

“If you acknowledge black magic, then you are also saying that you acknowledge the existence of the Magical Kingdom of Zergard?”

“Our ideologies are simply different. That ideology just did not fit the Rohan Empire.”

“This is getting more and more ridiculous. I will write down what you said and report you to Duke Carlton.”

“Quiet, quiet! Stop fighting emotionally. You are free to express your opinions. The problem is mentioning them in an official setting.”

Just as their voices rose and their emotions were about to become heated, Allen stepped in and stopped the argument between Cain and Frey.

Unlike Cain, who stared straight at the blackboard without even looking at Frey, his face expressionless, Frey glared at Cain as if he wanted to devour him at that very moment.

He could not stand Cain, who objected to everything he said.

Cain felt the same way about Frey.

But he did not respond emotionally.

He simply said what he had to say and then quietly closed his mouth.

For Frey, who had to accept all of this without being able to do anything about it, Cain’s attitude only made him more and more irritated.