Chapter 107 - Jenni Perot (1/2)

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

Jenni Perot, the grade-four runemaster who came from the royal capital was in her room and arranging her very little luggage.

Most of the things were tools for the drawing of runes or to carve magic circles: tools like corrosion-proof painting sticks, carving blades that were coated in adamantite powder, wedge-shaped scrappers, and brushes of various sizes. Apart from those, it would be those books and notes that were kept carefully for many years.

When she left the mage tower, she was only permitted to bring along these things. As for the other things, she only had two sets of clothes.

But Jenni Perot still arranged them seriously before putting her pitiful number of personal items on the study table, the closet, and the rack by the bedside. After she was finished unpacking, she sat on the chair in the center of the room and quietly observed this wooden cabin that could only be described as simple and crude.

As the highest-grade intermediate profession holder in the 100-person team, she was given extra attention: A solitary house. Even though it was a simple and crude wooden cabin and couldn’t be compared with the mage tower, Jenni knew that this was among the few good houses in this camp. Among the team, only the official craftsmen and the other mage were qualified to have a solitary house. Furthermore, she had the largest house among all the houses, so she was already very satisfied.

After all, even back at her mentor’s mage tower, she would only be sleeping in the junk room’s floor bed. Apart from the walls that were constructed of stones, that dwelling truly wasn’t any better than this place.

No, this place was better as this wooden cabin belonged to her, and she wouldn’t need to constantly worry that her mentor would ask her to test magical drugs or magic circles.

Jenni watched everything quietly before lowering her head to look at her hands while contemplating her future days.

She was very clear of her awkward position. She was the team’s highest-grade intermediate professional, but in fact, she was only a mage apprentice. Runemaster was ‘handicraft’ work, and if the spellcasting ability and magic-sensing ability were eliminated, she was not much different from those carpenters and stonemasons. Actually, according to mage custom, the grade-two arcanist in the team should be the one with the highest status. Thus, it was very obvious that… she was just an intermediate professional to fill up the numbers.

At the same time, she was very clear that the legendary duke from 700 years ago could see this in a single glance.

She was such an awkward person, but he still had to treat her seriously according to the rules. She was even provided with a solitary dwelling. How long could such a situation last for?

It would probably last until the moment the duke believed he had given the king enough face. Or until someone in the territory raised an objection.

But then, the only thing that would guarantee her the qualification to stand on this land would be her handicraft.

After all, the camp was in its construction phase, and there were plenty of things that were required to be constructed — be it production of magic tools or processing of runes. Madam Heidi couldn’t possibly be doing everything personally; hence, a runemaster like her would be useful. If she could complete her tasks well, she might be able to receive the approval of the madam. Jenni didn’t dare to have excessive expectations and would be perfectly satisfied if she could have a footing in this place.

Right at this moment, the sound of door knocking interrupted Jenni’s thoughts.

She looked towards the door with surprise and anxiety while guessing who would be looking for her at this time. But she didn’t stop moving just because of this as she stood up and went to the door while thinking: ‘It doesn’t matter who is outside the door. I must not offend that person.’

After opening the door, the person standing outside the door had caused her breath to slow down by half a beat.

It was a tall figure with brown short hair and abstruse eyes. It was this land’s lord, Duke Gawain Cecil from 700 years ago, who had revived. Beside the tall figure was the elegant and beautiful Madam Heidi who was wearing a red long dress.

The feudal lord and the chief supervisor had come to visit personally, causing Jenni to be at a loss. She couldn’t hold back her wild imaginations from before and started to be worried. Could this feudal lord already feel that he was giving me an excessively preferential treatment?

As Jenni was in a state of astonishment, Gawain was sizing up the young lady in front of him and couldn’t help but take two more glances. ‘This runemaster who came from the royal capital shouldn’t be more than twenty years old yet. She is tall but skinny, and it feels like she is weak due to illness. She has silver long hair, but due to the insufficient attention to her hair, they look dried up and are in a mess. Her hair is hanging over the two sides of her cheeks, and on her left cheek, there is a spot where the hair couldn’t cover, where there is a large and ugly scar.’

That scar was the reason why Gawain took two more glances.

The scar had utterly affected this young lady’s appearance that would have originally been considered delicate and pretty. The scar didn’t just cover a third of her left face, but it extended down along the neck. Due to the obstruction of the clothes, Gawain didn’t know how great of a surface area this scar, which looked like it was a scald wound, covered. But he guessed that the scar must have been due to some kind of horrific accident.

Soon enough, he realized that it wasn’t appropriate to stare at a young lady and immediately withdrew his eyes before asking, “Why? Are you not going to invite us inside?”

Jenni finally returned to her senses and stood to the side helplessly before asking cautiously with a soft voice, “Duke… Duke, what instructions do you have to personally—personally visit?”

“I am just here to take a look.” Gawain entered the wooden cabin along with Heidi and casually looked around. ‘The house isn’t big. The bedroom and living room are completely connected. All the furnishings in this place could be seen in a single glance.’ Gawain could see those simple furnitures that were made by the territory’s carpenters but couldn’t see any traces of personal items. He was immediately able to determine that Jenni Perot was in dire straits in the royal capital just as he guessed.