The road to the Capital.
I checked all my remaining assets inside the carriage.
“Let’s see, I have 23 Gold on me right now.”
This was the pure amount I had in my hand.
I had more before, but before setting out, I handed 20 Gold to Cal and told him to replenish the house with necessities and food supplies.
That was the remaining amount.
“And then, the Gold given by the Marquess.”
I put that pouch of Gold into my Inventory.
The Gold was automatically combined, and the moment I checked the amount, I was a little surprised.
“Five hundred and forty-eight Gold.”
The Gold from the Marquess was 525 Gold.
It was a much more considerable sum than I’d expected.
But even with this, it was still far from enough to buy all the slaves I needed and purchase the necessary items.
“Should I try selling one of the dreams I’ve been clinging to?”
Until now, I’d only sold spoils of war that I made for some spending money.
I’d been selling them off steadily, but I still had more than double left, so I was a little less worried about money.
I should keep some aside as emergency funds.’
I planned to store part of it carefully in my Inventory, my absolute secret vault that no one but me could access.
“Jenny, from now on, stop by every single village we can along the way.”
“Okay.”
I unloaded a batch of goods.
At every village we stopped in, I sought out the blacksmith and took out items to sell, releasing as much merchandise as they could buy.
At the same time, I didn’t forget to check the skills of the blacksmiths.
If any of them were decent, I intended to take them to my Garrison.
However, those with some skill refused to move, and those who looked a bit shoddy instead demanded sky-high prices from me, their eyes burning with greed.
Although I didn’t find any talent, my purse swelled considerably.
A total of two thousand Gold.
There was no talent, but that alone was enough to satisfy me.
So, before a month had passed since I left the Capital, I was already heading back to the Capital.
***
Upon arriving in the Capital, the first place I sought out was the Academy of another empire.
Every country had academies.
Normally, there were two academies: one for nobles, and the other for commoners.
The place I went to was the commoners’ academy.
In the case of the nobles’ academy, they taught administration.
Since they learned to manage the Garrison they would inherit, they didn’t teach very deeply, but just enough for them to understand the basic workings.
‘I would never hire those sorts.’
I wasn’t about to take in risky people just because they called themselves nobles.
Besides, most nobles only studied because they would inherit a Garrison; if they didn’t have one, they wouldn’t even bother.
They had the easiest way to command people.
Namely, Administration Officers who graduated from the commoners’ academy.
If you gave them a modest salary and provided a life just a bit better than that of an average commoner, many would dedicate themselves to their work.
That’s why, among commoners, those who were a little bit smart all wanted to get into the commoners’ academy.
If you caught the eye of a noble and secured a position, it was the very definition of turning your life around.
There was one reason I thought this way.
Why, you ask? Because in the end, only a handful of people were chosen as Administration Officers each year.
If one person was hired and worked until death, that was about 20 to 30 years.
That meant only one person would be hired in that time, but over 20 students graduated each year.
If you only hired one person every 20–30 years, then the number of graduates waiting for a job would easily exceed 400.
Usually, those who couldn’t find work after graduation either went back home to continue studying, or were forced to find other jobs.
“I really need to find some good talent.”
As soon as I arrived at the academy and stepped out of the carriage, I saw a crowd of people hurrying toward me from afar.
They rushed to me and bowed their heads in greeting.
“Welcome, sir. I am Bongre, the Dean of the Commoners’ Academy.”
“I am Baron Solo.”
“Ah! Baron Solo! To meet the person I’ve only heard about in rumors in person is an honor. Please, come inside.”
The Dean here, Sir Bongre, was a noble of commoner origin.
But he only held the title of Quasi-Baron, which wasn’t hereditary.
He had proven his ability when he was appointed as an Administration Officer in the Royal Palace in his youth, which earned him the title of Quasi-Baron. Now, he had retired from the front lines and was running the academy.
I was led into the Dean’s office, where only Bongre and I remained and had tea together.
“I’ve actually been waiting to see when you would come.”
“What do you mean by that?”
I couldn’t understand what the Dean meant.
“The Marquess Filton has praised you greatly. He says you are a rare talent in the empire and plans to promote your title from non-hereditary noble to hereditary noble. It’s possible since you’re already a Five Circle Mage.”
“Marquess Filton did?”
“Yes, Marquess Filton is known to be an extremely strict person, so this is the first time he’s ever given such praise. It seems the Central Nobles are very interested in you.”
I received information I hadn’t expected.
Suddenly, my rank was going up and I was attracting attention.
‘This is driving me crazy.’
Not exactly good news.
After all, I was supposed to be working hard to develop things and moving around busily, but now I’d have to pay attention to the eyes of those around me. It was the worst.
After hearing that, I started to get uneasy about the many people around me being picked up by my detection Skill.
Although the color shown by the Skill was all green, I still felt anxious.
And among them, the occasional flashes of red made my heart shrink even more.
“Since you’ve already received a Garrison from the Marquess, we had anticipated that you might come to our academy.”
Even the fact that I had received a Garrison had become a rumor.
Of course, it made sense since I had visited the Government Office to receive my Garrison, but for all the nobles to know in less than a month—it was a bit serious.
“I thought it might be troublesome for you, so I have already done a Selection in advance. You can pick from these candidates.”
The Dean went over to his desk, picked up several documents, and brought them to me.
I flipped through them one by one.
They contained information about the students’ grades, specialties, usual personalities, and so on.
Truly excellent.
Everyone here was outstanding.
They were all nearly perfect in every category.
The only issue was their age; no matter how I thought about it, it seemed the Dean had some reason for that.
“I would prefer someone a bit younger. I hesitate to say it, but the older they are, the more rigid their thinking tends to become. But younger people are different. It’s like they’re more awake, you know? Anyway, I’m looking for that kind of person.”
At my firm words, the Dean let out a heavy sigh.
What I wanted was different from what the Dean hoped for.
“I understand. I will gather the waiting graduates of the academy in one place.”
The Dean said this and left the room first.
Before long, following the Dean’s voice calling me, I entered another room.
There, ten people sat in chairs, with the eleventh chair left empty.
I sat facing them on the other side.
“Here they are.”
I checked their faces and names against the documents the Dean gave me.
At that moment, a notification window appeared.
-You have acquired the Skill ‘Selection.’
-You can now assess the abilities of your candidates.
‘Oh, a good Skill at a perfect time.’
I had been worried about how to sort them, but now such an excellent Skill appeared at just the right moment.
I immediately used the Selection Skill on all ten present.
Rejected.
I instantly tossed aside eight files to the side.
‘Petty, vain, greedy, selfish, underhanded, bad behavior. They’re all the same.’
No doubt, just as the documents said, they were all outstanding talent.
But the smarter they were, the more their minds were filled with all sorts of filth.
They were obsessed with success, always engaging in corruption and irregularities.
The core of the Selection Skill was that it revealed the true nature of the candidate.
It also displayed their latent abilities.
A very satisfying Skill.
-Name: Deckard
- Latent Ability: High
- Essence: Pure and upright
- Note: Wants to improve the lives of commoners.
-Name: Kane
- Latent Ability: High
- Essence: Good and gentle, helps those in need
- Note: Researching new ways of life for commoners.
Both were kind and capable people with excellent grades.
Without hesitation, I hired these two.
“Thank you, Baron!”
“We will serve you loyally until our dying day.”
I listened to their sincere words.
I had secured two out of the three I’d originally planned for.
Now, I needed to pick one more, but none of the others would do.
As I was about to stand up, thinking there was nothing more I could do, a man entered the room, opening the door with a knock.
“Sorry for being late.”
A man appeared, yawning with messy hair.
His beard was unkempt, so it was hard to guess his age.
Looking at the last file, I knew he was the final candidate.
‘Twenty-five years old. Took a break from school for tuition, returned just before graduation.’
If that’s not unusual, I don’t know what is.
The fees here at the academy aren’t even that high.
Did something happen?
I used the Selection Skill.
-Name: Kaishu
- Latent Ability: Supreme
- Essence: Pure evil. Wants to break down the current society for a better life.
- Note: Has anger at the world.
I smiled at the face I’d been waiting for.
“Lastly, I’ll hire Kaishu as well.”
The most surprised face at my decision was Kaishu himself.
“Are you talking about me?”
Kaishu asked in surprise.
The commoner questioned the noble.
This was something that could get him killed on the spot.
If it were any other noble, he would have been forced to kneel and shouted at already.
But I was different from those people.
“I think just like you. Isn’t that answer enough?”
At my words, his pupils shook violently in astonishment.
Standing up, I spoke to the three of them.
“We leave in two days. Come find me at the Sharfran Inn then.”
Without waiting for a reply, I left the room.
The Dean hurriedly caught up to me.
“That last one is not a good choice. He only came because I called him based on his grades, but he’s not the best person.”
“What do you mean?”
“He doesn’t interact with others, and the things he studies are about fallen countries or ideologies that don’t fit our society. He once wrote an essay that was just shocking. He argued that noble society should be changed, slavery abolished, and commoners should receive better treatment and learn together with nobles.”
I stopped and looked at the Dean.
“Is that a bad thing?”
“It’s not bad. I’m a commoner by birth, too. I also wish for a world like that, but it’s absolutely impossible. No one can change a world that’s already so well established.”
The Dean must have dreamed of such a world at least once.
Such a world.
But since he knew it was impossible, he instead did his best to protect these ideas from the nobles’ notice.
“It’s all right. Let’s hope for the future.”
With those words, I bid farewell to the Dean.
The reason I said we’d meet again someday was because I’d used the Selection Skill on the Dean.
-Name: Bongre
- Latent Ability: Supreme
- Nature: Pure good
- Note: Has aspirations but laments his lack of ability.
He was a very good person.
So good I wanted to bring him along one day.
That was the end of today’s business.
Tomorrow afternoon, I’d head to the Government Office for some matters, and then to the Slave Market.
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