Chapter 127 Competition 5

The tension between Frigus and The Holy Kingdom had been rising quite a lot during the recent years. Dark magic was something the Holy Kingdom banned from being used. Most of its neighboring kingdoms didn't mind making some regulations and rules since it would improve their relations, and they could leech recourses of the Holy Kingdom.

But Frigus didn't want to bow down to any country, even if they were the most powerful. They believed that if they followed the Holy Kingdom, they wouldn't be rulers in the first place. They would be nothing but dogs following their master. Thus, they did everything in their power to defend their beliefs.

'To think we would get to this point.', one of the generals that lead the army of Frigus was Kasto. He was mostly neutral when it came to politics, he simply didn't care that much. Yet, nowadays, he doesn't have that privilege, he needs to take a stance. Normally there would've been two factions for him to choose, the princess or the prince. Both were natural leaders that brought many big nobles under their wing.

But out of nowhere came another faction from the youngest princess. As far as Kasto knew, it comprised of a bunch of smaller nobles that didn't have that much power. And yet, they stood strong, they had grown to the point that Kasto thought they were a worthy contender.

The only issue was that all three factions were constantly trying to get the military on their side. Once the most powerful mages chose a faction, the others would start to doubt their own and consider changing to theirs. It might've seemed like a great position to have. But to Kasto it just felt like everyone wanted his strength and wouldn't stop bothering him.

He was only about a few hundred years old, which was pretty young for someone his rank, but he felt like an old man that didn't want to be bothered. He had to run away from meetings and events in fear of being stalked by the three factions trying to get his attention. This time he was also running away.

'And here I thought I would be free from annoyances if I came to a rural city. A school competition would've been relaxing to watch, but here we are.', he let out a big sigh.

"Is there something wrong sir?"

"No it's nothing Cal. Let's just focus on the duels, your assignment will be to find potential soldiers who are willing to protect this country."

"Yes sir!"

Kasto didn't mind shoving his own tasks onto his subordinates, even if Cal was the only one he brought with him. He wanted to enjoy the competitions without having to think about anything for once. Sadly, one look at the other side of the courtyard, he could find multiple nobles from certain factions he would rather avoid.

He was interested at first, but the matches from the first years really weren't anything spectacular. There were a few that had some strong points, but they were already nobles that were part of a certain faction. If he tried to recruit them they would start asking him to support their faction in return.

In other words, he was bored and there wasn't any progress on his assignment. Cal did his best, but there were simply none that fit the conditions.

"Hmm?", a new match had started between some muscle maniac and some kid with a mask. Kasto didn't really care about their appearances, he knew plenty of weird characters in the military that had trouble following common sense.

The thing he was interested in was the fact that he was using a strange form of dark magic.

"Sir, why is he saying it's poison when it's clearly dark magic?", Kasto blinked once before realizing what was going on.

"To trick him into thinking his time is limited. Focus, he doesn't have any pathways in his body. He's following a path of body strengthening or reconstruction. Either way, he can't recognize the different types of magic."

"Ooh, that's why, but that's so dirty!"

"And? Are you going to complain when the Holy Kingdom poisons our water and air? Will you critique them if they turn our civilians into mindless husks that only want to destroy? Do you think anything matters when you're at war? Only the victory matters, if you can only reach that ending by using underhanded tactics, wouldn't you?"

"But... sir, weren't we discouraged from doing so in military school?"

"Those are just old geezers with their head up their ass. They would abandon all principles when their life is on the line, it's just that they love to spew righteous lines that make them like their ideals."

Kasto wasn't deluded by the stories and fairy tales. He had participated in enough skirmishes to know what it was really like. Facing death in the face you can only run and hide or fight with your life. Even if it meant stomping on your ideals or religion, surviving was all that mattered.

Luckily that was all in the past, but the gloomy future wasn't promising anything great either.

"From which family did that kid come from? If it's from the neutral party we might be able to convince them."

"Hmm, give me a moment to look him up.", Cal started to conjure up a spell, he wasn't allowed to chant it or use runes. He was ordered to never reveal any kind of information from his communication spells. Everything was meant to be prepared inside his mind and wasn't allowed to be revealed to the outside world. The spell was set up that it wouldn't hurt the user when the spell activated inside their body.

It wasn't long after he had gathered the information.

"Sir, according to the school's ledger his name is Conrad, other names aren't known or recorded. His background is unknown, his affiliation is unknown, his origin is unknown. There are only a few remarks left, would you like to know them sir?"

The remarks that were gathered by the Intel Department of the military weren't always the most reliable, but Kasto's options were limited.

"Fine, tell me."

"Yes sir, the remarks state that Conrad had to pay a dead body to a teacher to enroll. Where he got the body is unknown, but around the same time a small noble disappeared. Besides that there is information gathered from the Order of Light in this town."

"The Order of Light is here as well?"

"Yes sir, they are priests and have helped the slums get back on their feet. They are led by a man named Micheal who has become very influential. Since they are priests they aren't allowed to engage in combat without a justified cause for their religion. Thus making them a small threat to this city."

"I see, what's their info?", Kasto knew perfectly well that if the Holy Kingdom decided to go to war, the priests wouldn't have a choice but to fight as well. Still, for now there wasn't a good enough reason to throw them out of the country.

"Well, Conrad carries proof that he has helped the Order of Light, and after gathering the info collected by the church we found several things."

Since the intel was gathered from a hostile source, it wasn't always the best choice to follow it blindly, but it was better than nothing.

"One priest found out that Conrad's name is most likely fake, and he is hiding his identity. Besides that there was speculation that he came from a nearby mansion ruled by a man named Havi, but that mansion has been overrun by monsters."

With that little bit of information there were tons of possibilities of what the truth was, but all of them lead to the same place for Kasto.

"So he's not in one of the factions yet?", a smile started to form on his face. Finally, he had found someone who could join them. He wasn't expecting a lot, but he needed Conrad for his assignment.

While Kasto was happy that he might've been done with his task Lucas had started his debate with Eliot. Kasto was someone that took his job seriously, even if he wasn't always the most strict or attentive person. He was someone who had completed every single task he was assigned to, making him a big shot in the military. But with all the attention Kasto felt irritated, his every move was watched. So taking on the easier and smaller tasks became a sort of hobby for him. Not that it stopped him from finishing them, even if only barely.

Kasto listened in to what Lucas and Eliot were saying, for the most part he wasn't interested. It was just because he wanted to take Lucas with him that he bothered to check it out.

"I didn't even do anything, yet you're so delusional that you think I'm some bad actor? Since when are tactics seen as dirty tricks? If you think that's the case why don't you tell that to the high ranking Mages that protect the country!"

'Hmm? Is he asking for my help? I guess I can provide a little push.', he released a tiny portion of his aura to only let Eliot and Lucas feel the pressure. It didn't do much, so it only served as a warning to both of them.

Kasto didn't like being used by others, but he also couldn't let them continue to look down on the country, hence the reason he pressured both of them instead of only Eliot.

The fight continued on and for once Kasto was paying genuine attention. The dispute between nobles and commoners was always an issue, which was only fueled by the commoner mages that used their power to damage the nobles. Sadly, that only gave them more reasons to strip every commoner of their status and power.

Kasto was a commoner himself, but through his exploits he gained a noble rank and some territory. For those living on his property things drastically changed, they were no longer forced to pay taxes, but didn't receive any protection in return. Basically, he left them alone and didn't want anything to do with them. He figured that if anything happened they would let him know.

He wasn't a tyrant or a saint, just someone who watched from afar. Although the people living in his territory saw him as friendly ruler since he removed any form of taxes, it's just that nothing terrible has happened yet.

The fight continued on with Lucas slowly losing his momentum, at this point he was down on the ground, but Kasto wasn't disappointed in the slightest. The more Lucas failed the easier it would be to coax him to his side. There were multiple people that he could recruit, but they were all halfbaked students that couldn't do much.

Sadly, his smile turned upside down the moment Lucas stood back up and started his barrage of spells.

"Sir, I have a question.", during the most intense moment of the duel, both soldiers were relaxed. This wasn't anything special in their eyes. To them it felt like two toddlers fighting it out, it was more hilarious than anything.

"Hmm? What is it Cal?"

"Why isn't he using Dark magic? Or rather, why are they both not using Dark magic?"

It was a valid question, Frigus was the only country that allowed it, so why weren't they using it? All the generals of Frigus were extremely well versed in the art of Dark magic, so they knew the costs and the power it contained.

"Eliot was his name? Probably ego, he has only used Fire magic, which is presumably the element the most compatible with his core. He's a noble and a high ranking student, why would he need to use other elements? He's just stupid, Conrad on the other hand can't."

"Can't?"

"He's in a good relationship with the Order of Light, using Dark magic would tarnish their bonds. On the other hand, he's not properly handling his magic right now. His core is empty, but the spells keep forming. Simply put, he's sucking the magic around him and forcing it through the core and pushed back out. He's going to be in dire straits after this. If he used Dark magic now, his body would take a lot more damage."

"I see, that explains a lot, thank you sir."

"There's only one thing that I don't understand."

"Huh?", Cal was surprised, Kasto was a pretty high ranking mage, nothing should escape his sight, yet he has doubts about a Rank 1 mage?

"The speed at which he forms his spells aren't normal. No, it's actually impossible. A Rank 1 mage doesn't have the mental capacity to handle so many runes or intentions at once."

"Then do you think he's using an artifact?"

"No, I don't sense anything magical. The speed at which he's producing his spells is the same as two people.", Kasto started to come up with possibilities. One of which was that some higher ranking mage was controlling Lucas from afar, but he didn't sense any kind of connection.

The only thing he could think of was that it was either an innate gift or he gained it through his belief. Kasto knew the way priests used their magic, and they could do a lot more than a mage of the same rank. They prayed to their Goddess and borrowed her power, but to Kasto it was just the Goddess controlling them. This theory fell into the water though since Lucas didn't pray, it just happened, which didn't make sense.

"I guess it's an innate gift, there's no other possibility. Cal, get ready to patch him up and protect him for a moment."

"Yes, sir!"