Episode 26.15

"Don't get it wrong now, not all Royal Mages are as high-handed as that. That Roland brat is a special case."

It's the living room of the annex.

Lecan had told Vice Commander Neisan to stop by for a drink once he's free.

"Mwu. As fellow bodyguard, some coordination is in order indeed."

Thus Neisan spoke, he then dropped by the annex after reporting to Priest Amamir and giving instructions to his subordinates. A maid brought his meal there.

After two cups of high-class booze and perhaps a little help from a sense of intimacy between two adept swordsmen, he's opened up greatly now.

There were high-class bean pastry, jerky and dried fruits in the shelves. Good snacks to have.

"Are Royal Knights on bad terms with Royal Mages?"

"Nah, it's not really like that."

Zaka Kingdom was originally a magic-focused great power. The mages had a huge role in helping stave off an invasion perpetrated by Dresta Kingdom to the west during early days of Zaka Kingdom's founding. Then they played another huge role in the subjugation of the northern region afterward.

Of course, the mages weren't the only group dispatched to the front lines, they were always accompanied by knights whenever they went.

Afterward, the mages also helped in subjugating what became five baronies today, and building the kingdom.

However, no more large scale battle broke out for 60 years after that. There would be occasional skirmishes along the borders, and also suppressions of magic beasts and bands of thieves but those did not have a set interval. Some local nobles would also sometime revolt.

"About 30 years ago, Count Daina raised a rebellion. Those Royal Mages were thrilled to participate in a large-scale combat after so long. Got too much into it even. They blew away the enemy's headquarters with a large scale magic, leaving no trace behind. Since the masterminds all perished together then and there, there was no interrogation nor execution, the truth of the rebellion was forever lost in the darkness. It was a huge blunder. The Commander and Vice Commanders of Royal Mages got dismissed as a result, and taking some responsibility, the Royal Knights' commander also resigned. From then on, the relationship between Royal Knights and Royal Mages sits on a delicate balance."

Presently, Royal Knights have more people than Royal Mages.

The Royal Knights have one Commander, two Adjutants, two Vice Commanders, with each commanding five divisions. As each division consists of ten members, the Royal Knights have 105 members in total.

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Then with each member having one subordinate knight under them, the true total numbers in 210 members.

This includes cavalries, spearsmen and archers.

Originally, the numbers were much larger at ten times that, but as the age of wars came to a close, the order of knights got split into Royal Knights, Palatial Knights and Capital Guard, and while the Royal Knights gradually shrunk down, the Palatial Knights and the Capital Guard gradually expanded.

Presently, Royal Mages are staffed by one Commander, one Adjutant, one Vice Commander, with commander and vice commander each holding command on 25 members. 53 members in total.

The Royal Mages were bigger at one time. As when wars break out, every territories will send their soldiers to support royal knights and royal mages. If the war involves countries in earnest, all court-ranking nobles will have to send their knights, cavalries, spearsmen and archers. But those lords tend to loathe dispatching their magic forces, and even if they did, the huge discrepancies in abilities would make it hard for them to work in groups. The temples also dispatch <Recovery> users, but they can't be counted as war forces. Hence, Royal Mages had to be bigger than Royal Knights.

But with the absence of wars, the Royal Mages have been shrinking in numbers.

The final blow was dealt by the advance in Magic Tools development.

The very first strike let out by ordinary archers and spearsmen can be as destructive as magic soldiers if they have <Yacklubend Longbow>, <Yacklubend Explosive Arrow> and <Yacklubend Piercing Spear> respectively on them. And those soldiers could charge on as ordinary archers and spearsmen afterward.

"Hence why. Royal Mages just keep on bleeding personnel slowly. Nevertheless, whenever the knights mobilize in a division or more within the kingdom, the mages will always dispatch one or more of their members to go along, that custom holds true even now. But those folks just don't got the will to cooperate with us knights."

The organization only accepts those who can use magic. And on top of high salary, those who get accepted are given positions equaling nobles. There are many applicants and anyone who can use magic can get selected, but Royal Mages heavily favor those who can cast offensive magic.

"And well. Offensive magic is important and all, yeah. But y'know. I think even those who don't exclusively use offensive magic's got their merits too."

"Do the Royal Mages not have <Recovery> users?"

"Think they've got three mages who can use <Recovery>. But since the temples would dispatch their <Recovery> users if wars break out, Royal Mages don't select those with <Recovery> magic."

"Those temples will only dispatch <Recovery> users in large scale wars. I'm sure It'd come in handy if you got even one <Recovery> users among three mages accompanying one Knights division like now."

"Makes sense. Though since us Knights are always diving in Dungeon Finkel, our guys got some red potions with 'em."

"I see. By the way, what's this Roland guy like."

"Exactly as he looks, a brat, though guy's also the third son of a count family."

"He's higher ranking than you then."

"Standing-wise, he's much higher. However as Royal Knights' commander is situated higher than the Royal Mages' commander in the pecking order, naturally the Vice Commander, me, also sits higher than the mages' vice commander."

"What'd that guy come here for?"

"That brat didn't believe any of the reports submitted, not by Undersecretary-dono, Zaifad, nor Priest Amamir. The magic used by Shira-dono, and you Lecan, all of them must be fabricated, he said."

"Will those three men stand by getting accused like that?"

"Oh he's not gonna say it in their faces. Instead, he went around behind the scenes to put himself in the entourage. Probably thinking he's gonna get achievements if he finds out the trick behind the lies or something. Now then, think it's about time they're done with the written evidence. Thanks for the treat. Sorry for taking your time. Can I come here again?"

"Yea."

"You look the part with that necklace on you, just like a real mage."

"Yea."

Lecan has <Necklace of Intuador> on him.

He's gotta be ready to tackle any situation seeing there's some dangerous individuals like Roland Batt around. He'd really rather not show the necklace too much in public, but beggars can't be choosers.

There's still something else brewing.

His hunch told him.