A Sorcerer’s Journey

The key to this assessment was the rise in population as opposed to the previous base number!

One month later.

Grimm took all the various data and information collected from the Moth Frog Town and racked his brain in contemplation. The sorcerer’s knowledge of researching sorcery felt useless in this regard.

“There’s a need to reduce the murder rate!”

Under the premise that both birth rate and mortality could not be changed in a short period of time, Grimm had reached such a conclusion.

In some cities outside the central area of less prosperous Holy Towers for humans, there were not many homeless Knights doing desperate trading. The assessment lasted for a total of fifty years. It would be time where ordinary humans replace two generations of youth labor, where a baby becomes a grandfather, at the end of Grimm’s assessment.

“Caw caw caw. Master, there are people all over the Moth Frog Town who go to the mountains to mine stones and build roads. Are you the one who organized this?”

“Brother Grimm.”

It was Vivian who had returned along with Little Myna.

“Yes.”

Grimm answered, with his mind still full of questions about how to increase the population.

“Wow, caw caw! Master, how long do you plan to use to fix this road?”

Little Myna landed on Grimm’s shoulder and asked.

“It should be possible to fix the road in the first plan between three to five years. How are things between you and Vivian, and what was up with those bandits?”

Vivian replied, “It’s just a group of bandits made up of some wandering Knights. After the unsuccessful recruitment, Mavrica Nevichy and I drove those guys to the Dawn Protector City just like Brother Grimm instructed.”

“Yes.”

Grimm nodded, and suddenly asked the accountant behind him, “How many gold coins do we still have in the accountant’s office for transfer?”

After calculating the amount, the accountant said, “Sir, the gold coins previously accumulated need to be used as wages for road workers in accordance with the plan. Your instructions are not to owe anyone even one copper coin, so now we can only muster about three hundred gold coins.”

“How many days are left for this month’s taxes?”

Grimm asked again.

“There are seven days left. At that time, about a thousand two hundred gold coins can be collected, and according to the usual practice, it takes about a thousand gold coins to maintain the city’s operation. As such, up to two hundred extra gold coins can be transferred.”

Grimm frowned and said, “We can think of other ways in regards to the gold coins. The matter of running a Knights Teaching Academy can no longer be delayed. After the announcement, children in this town between seven and sixteen years old must be forced to attend the Knights Teaching Academy. Offenders will be dealt with on the charge of theft.”

After saying so, Grimm gave the plans for the first orphanage planned in this town to the accountant. As an orphan who did not know much about his own life, Grimm had unspeakable sympathy for the other orphans.

As for the Knights Teaching Academy, Grimm had long thought of candidates who could teach in the academy.

Due to limited resources and Grimm’s main concern which was to cope with ordinary human warfare that might occur in some future plans more than a decade away, the opening of the Knights Teaching Academy offered only two courses.

The first one was the Knight Combat Course, with the instructor being an old Knight in the town guard squad.

These old Knights had often lost their combat capabilities, but the experience as a Knight could be passed on. It was also Grimm who had spent money to increase job opportunities and support these veterans.

Otherwise, once they leave the town guard squad and lose their source of income, these veteran Knights, who could only execute killing orders, would only become a scrooge in the town and might even become a wandering Knight.

After a few years, if not more than ten, these nurtured children would become a new generation of power in the Moth Frog Town. By then, the relatively strong Moth Frog Town would be able to form a stronger Knight army and recapture both the steel mine and the Blood Agate Mine.

The second course was the Literacy Etiquette Course.

The purpose of literacy did not need further explanation. The imparting of knowledge was inseparable from the written records, and etiquette was the oldest and most fundamental way to reduce crime rate. As for the teaching candidates, it was quite difficult.

There were no so-called downcast nobles in this backward town.

After thinking about it for a long time, Grimm finally thought of someone, Little Myna!

The thrill of managing students would definitely make Little Myna more than addicted. Sure enough, when talking to Little Myna about this, he was simply overjoyed to the point where he was about to go nuts.

“Caw caw caw. Master, really? You mean it!?”

Grimm nodded and said, “Go get ready, and handle the wild children in this town with care.”

“Caw caw caw. My dear Master Grimm, don’t worry about it…”

Little Myna took flight and left the place.

“But sir, I discussed with that merchant in accordance with your last request. The other party was unwilling to rent the manor for the price of one hundred gold coins.”

The accountant felt troubled.

“How much does he want?”

Grimm asked with a frown.

“The merchant requested that you recommend his daughter to the Sorcerer-Apprentice recruiter of the Hydra Wrath Sorcerer Academy once. After guaranteeing that she will be able to enter that Sorcerer Academy and become a Sorcerer-Apprentice, the manor will be given to you as a private gift, and you will be paid the amount you offered as a reward at the same time.”

The accountant extended his five fingers and smiled.

Hmph…

Grimm nodded and said lightly, “Arrange for him to meet me immediately. If there are other merchants with similar requirements, ask them to please come together as well.”

Grimm had decided to give these merchants some tiny “tips”.

Although this might be a threat to their offspring who might not be suitable for the path of being a Sorcerer, at least it would meet the common needs of both parties for the time being.

And maybe one or two of these people would really become Sorcerers.

From Grimm’s perspective as an official sorcerer, Sorcerer-Apprentices were the same as ordinary human beings. Life was short and constantly changing. The number of both humans and Sorcerer-Apprentice was just to give birth to more Sorcerers.

With that being said, it was not difficult to explain the rigorous trials of the Sorcerer Academies, be it the Bright Sorcerer Academy or the Dark Sorcerer Academy.

***

Three years later.

Three years might have been quite long for ordinary humans in the small town. Most of the stone roads from this small town to the Crooked Fang Mountain Gold Mine had been completed, and only the last one was left.

The endless stream of gold was being mined by miners. The first wave of merchants who had caught a whiff of the benefits from afar discovered this small city. Being in close proximity, they rushed into some commodity gold trade, and brought proprietary resources from foreign worlds to the small town’s residents.

People in small towns and villages near the Moth Frog Town had begun to gather at the town on a large scale. The originally small town had changed significantly from three years ago.

But three years was nothing for an official sorcerer like Grimm.

In Grimm’s shabby makeshift laboratory.

“What in the world is this stuff?”

Grimm had been using the time to study this strange material purchased from the Holy Tower of Six Rings for ten Sorcerer Essences.

This thing was not completely metal. Its structure was hard, and it could continuously aggregate small pieces of metal for absorption. It had no soul, no life, and there was some unknown extremely weak magnetic field energy inside.

Grimm thought to himself, ‘It seems to grow as the material continues to absorb metal?’

Except for this, there was no change in the unknown material. For its weak magnetic field energy, Grimm determined that it was a special electrical current, and it seemed to have a specific frequency that represented some kind of information.

Grimm felt that this material did not look like a natural substance.

Finally, Grimm made up his mind to dissect this material. Would the material within it be the same as the one on the outside?

With Grimm removing the material with a sharp scalpel, there seemed to be something soft under its thick exterior. Immediately after a blue light surge, Grimm found a broken square card with the size of a fingernail.

At the same time, due to the damage of this card, the weak magnetic field of this material disappeared.

“What is this? So delicate!”

Grimm looked at the two dense symbols on the square card, one crossed on the other, like some kind of patchwork. It seemed to have some kind of regularity ebbing faintly in between, and it was incredible.

Without a doubt, this was the artificial work of a highly intelligent person, and its birth was likely to have the highly advanced knowledge and culture of a Sorcerer.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

“Master governor, the Sorcerers of the Hydra Wrath Sorcerer Academy are here.”

Grimm’s thoughts were interrupted, and he woke up from his immersion in the experiment. Then, he remembered that it was the once-in-ten-years Sorcerer-Apprentice Selection Day of the Sorcerer Academy.

“Oh, got it.”

Grimm temporarily put down his research and left the room.

After a short welcoming ceremony, Grimm watched the long queue of inspection teams waiting outside the governor’s office. Could the chances of becoming a Sorcerer-Apprentice be higher after increasing the wealth of the residents?

After all, for poor towns and villages, not everyone was willing to use a gold coin to gamble on their children’s “sorcerer talent”.

But for rampant and relatively wealthy cities, people would no doubt have a greater chance of gambling for something as priceless as a sorcerer’s path.