CHAPTER 299: THE WEIGHT OF MANA AND THE PATH TO HIMMELN

"...Sorry."

"No. I’m just saying this because I remember the old days. You don’t have to worry about Sir Curtis’s abilities. If he’s skilled in battle, that’s great, but even if he isn’t, there’s a way to use him."

"I don’t think he has any magical talent."

Catherine was a little perplexed, wondering if Carl was going to teach Curtis magic.

First of all, you could say that he’s a genius just because he can use magic.

Magic requires much more talent and aptitude than something like swordsmanship.

Magic is something that you can’t even try if you don’t have talent.

Even Carl, who is equally talented in all areas, cannot use magic.

"There’s no need to make them use magic. Why not give them a magical tool or attach it to a wizard and have them use it as a mana tank?"

"...."

That kind of method...

’You’re having terrible thoughts.’

Eventually, even Catherine ended up thinking that way.

It’s a different approach, but the idea itself is quite cruel.

But even though he’s a knight by name, if he’s useless except for mana, he’s going to be used as a mana tank...

"Then, do you plan on using magic tools, too, Carl?"

Bill Ford, who had been listening silently from the side, opened his eyes wide and asked.

"Hahaha, isn’t that obvious? I just didn’t use it because I couldn’t get the magic tool."

Carl smiled calmly at Bill Ford’s innocent reaction and said.

If you have an abundance of mana, isn’t it a waste to just use it to strengthen your body and give it to weapons?

However, because magical tools are so incredibly difficult to make and store, it is very, very difficult to obtain magical tools suitable for combat.

So usually, magical tools are either experimental... well... really experimental items for wizards, or just luxury items.

Sometimes, well-made and useful combat magic tools are usually kept under strict control by families or nations with long histories.

Above all, it is much more cost-effective to just hire a wizard and drag him around.

Because it works well on its own without any management if you just give it money and food. And it even develops on its own—it couldn’t be better.

In other words, using magical tools in battle is only allowed in exceptional cases, like Carl or Curtis.

Of course, Curtis is a skilled knight, so it won’t go that far.

Carl looked at Catherine’s face, which showed a slightly embarrassed expression without answering, and thought to himself.

Curtis is neither a genius like Bill Ford or Ias, nor is he a tower-building warrior like Catherine.

However, in the original work, Curtis, who made full use of his explosive mana to perform brisk and soft southern swordsmanship, was a complete warrior with strength, speed, and flexibility.

If you work hard from now on, you can become much stronger than the original.

And swordsmanship and such aren’t that important.

The realms of swordsmanship and mana handling are separate.

Even if Curtis has no talent for martial arts, his mana is incomparable to that of ordinary knights.

Among the Masters, there are only a handful who can emit the Mana Blade for more than 10 minutes at full power.

The first thing you’ll have to struggle with when you become a Master is controlling the output of your Mana Blade.

But what if you become a Master based on your explosively increasing mana?

It is worth two or three Masters.

Carl guessed at the backstory of the original work that he had not yet seen.

Curtis will definitely become a Master.

It would be stranger not to make a character with such good settings and build-up into a Master.

You can wrap your Mana Blade around your weapons and armor to have fun swinging at your enemy’s formation, or you can just defend against the enemy Master’s attacks and induce them to consume mana, crushing them with your mana reserves.

It’s completely ignorant, but it’s like a bulldozer on a battlefield with no way to deal with it.

And all of this is what Carl will get when he becomes a Master.

"I guess I’ll have to get some magic tools."

Harmon, who was listening to the story, began to think seriously.

If you mobilize all your family and connections, you might be able to get one.

"I think it would be easier and faster to just snatch a naive wizard and invest a lot of money into making magical tools."

"Euuuuum..."

Harmon was troubled by Carl’s joke-like seriousness.

Such an idiot... so easy to use... a sucker... It would be really nice if there were a pure wizard, but there are so many people who keep their eyes wide open so as not to miss the birth of a new wizard.

"I wish there was a young, naive, and talented person who just happened to drop from the sky and become a wizard."

"I know that’s unlikely to happen, but I guess so."

"Hahaha, I was just saying. I’m really at a loss."

"It’s a bit daunting."

Carl and Harmon roughly finished their story about the wizard.

The journey continued.

Carl continued to break Curtis’ spirit, plant dreams in him, and then whip him harshly again.

"That is the heart of the Empire, Himmeln."

...

And when they reached Himmeln, the heart of the Empire that all the people of the Empire could not help but admire,

Curtis could only stare blankly at the beautiful castle, his face as if everything had fallen apart and collapsed.

The contrast between himself, who is nothing, and Himmeln, the amalgam of all the ambitious people’s dreams of success, was so miserable.

Curtis, who had been thoroughly destroyed by Carl throughout the journey, wanted to turn around and run away just by seeing the walls of Himmeln through the snow.

"Go quickly. You won’t be in Himmeln for long. Shouldn’t you quickly treat your fever?"

"Yes..."

Curtis was dumbfounded by Carl’s soft words and answered blankly.

Unable to run away, he followed Carl on his horse, Dolin, and began to head towards Himmeln.