Chapter 348: Chapter 345: Fulfilling Everyone’s Expectations

Rorschach hurried to Munich. By the time he arrived, the entrance to the Magic Guild was already in chaos. An agitated crowd was confronting the staff who were trying to maintain order. They held up letters they wanted to send and Gold Coins, but the Guild wasn’t budging an inch.

"Damn it, do you know who I am? His Majesty the King wouldn’t be this rude even when meeting with me!" A middle-aged man adjusted his wig. The His Majesty the King he mentioned was Albert of Bayern; the man himself was an exiled noble from the Holy Kingdom.

There were quite a few exiled nobles like him. Besides the "Exiled Lord" Rorschach had met in Istani and this man now desperate to send a message, even more powerful exiled nobles were gathering in the other southern states of the Empire. The Emperor even tacitly permitted them to maintain their own small armed forces, preparing to "counter-attack Valois" and restore the "sacred order."

The staff were pushed back repeatedly by the tide of people. Finally, someone started Casting. A piercing shriek erupted at the entrance, leaving the unprepared commoners completely disoriented.

"Excuse me, coming through..." Rorschach squeezed through the crowd and presented his credentials to the staff.

"Rorschach Mage, there’s a letter for you here."

’A letter for me? I was just thinking about writing one myself...’ Rorschach took the message tube. It was from Kano.

"Can I write a reply here?" Rorschach asked, holding the letter. He wanted a quiet room to write back to the Master on the spot.

The staff member looked troubled and replied, "For now, we’re only allowing domestic messaging. International transmissions have been suspended for the past few days." The Empire had demanded that the Guild submit all cross-border information and material flows to government review under the state of war. The Elder Council hadn’t responded, so the Guild’s current countermeasure was to shut down international communications entirely.

Rorschach had received the last letter from the Holy Kingdom. By the time he wanted to send a reply, the communication node between Bayern and Valois had already been severed.

’You’re the Magic Guild!’ Rorschach was astonished, but he didn’t say anything more. He just took the letter to see what message Master Kano had sent.

After the opening pleasantries, the letter devolved into Kano’s complaints:

"Since the new authorities were established, nothing has been solved. From tax collection to the price of bread, everything is in a state of collapse... The Assembly, regardless of faction, has unanimously decided that a war is needed to end the current situation...

"So those newspapers... a pack of dogs, they are. First, they spent a full ten days all blaring the same tune: that grain was being smuggled abroad, that the Empire was harboring exiled nobles, and that it was preparing to attack Valois.

"Then, for the next ten days, they started trumpeting the Kingdom’s military strength, using the glorious victories from the era of the Fourteenth’s reign to embolden the populace and convince them that the Kingdom only had to attack to be victorious...

"In the past, war on this continent was a game played in the name of honor between nobles, especially between Lords and Knights. Mages could watch on with cold detachment. But now, these damn newspapers and this zoo of an Assembly are using banners like ’Kingdom’ and ’Nation’ to drag everyone into it, even us..."

What gave Kano a headache was that this war fever had also infected the businesses affiliated with the Guild. The factory owners were desperate to take on military supply orders to get through these terrible times. But the Guild, as a transcontinental organization, was supposed to remain neutral in this war. The Guild and many of its businesses would have to sever personnel ties, resulting in a significant loss of profit.

He continued: "With war on the horizon, this irrational course of action has given petty individuals within the Guild, and even within the Tower, an excuse for slander. Many have stopped practicing Magic, and have instead taken to attacking each other based on their political stances and backgrounds.

"I have grown weary of their squabbling. To quell the unrest, I’ve been forced to ask some Mages with sensitive identities to ’exchange knowledge’ elsewhere for the time being... A small group of these Mages will be coming secretly to the Tower of Secret Techniques. If you have the means, please take in a few of them as well..."

Kano provided a list. Besides their names, it also included their Caster Level and their recent research directions and subjects.

Interestingly, most of them were Mages with noble surnames. They had once united to oppose the head of the Tower of Stars, but now Kano had become their protector.

’Huh, this is no longer the Master’s handwriting.’ After finishing the list, Rorschach turned to the next page and found another letter, this one from Pascal.

He described the situation in the Assembly to Rorschach:

The representatives in the National Assembly were now largely divided into moderate and hard-line factions. However, they were united in the belief that Valois needed to mobilize for war. They intended to use the war as a pretext to restore the Royal Capital’s command over the regions and to unite the chaotic Kingdom through conscription and victory.

His Majesty the King had also cooperated with them. A month ago, he signed a royal decree reorganizing the Kingdom Army into three army groups and, in a manner recorded in the charter, granted the National Assembly the right to declare war.

"That cunning Charles XVI believes this war is doomed to fail. When it does, the populace will lose faith in the National Assembly. He then plans to retake absolute power when the exiled nobles, backed by the Empire Army, interfere and counter-attack...

"What is certain is that the court’s support for the war is by no means out of loyalty to the Kingdom. Anyone with any sense can see that, in the dead of winter, the Kingdom cannot afford the military expenses. The soldiers lack weapons, the fortresses lack provisions, and... I must admit, many mid- to high-ranking commanders with military expertise are currently in exile. They are diehard nobles, opposed to the National Assembly and the new system.

"The club is not the mainstream in the Assembly right now. The voices of reason from our representatives are simply drowned out by the roars of the fanatics."

Rorschach raised an eyebrow. He was now quite certain that while the handwriting was his senior brother’s, the contents of this letter were definitely not the boy’s own thoughts.

In fact, he had guessed correctly. The ideas Pascal expressed all came from the leader of their club, Maxim, "the Rock." This war fulfilled the expectations of almost all Valois people, but not Maxim or the club members he influenced.

Thus, Rorschach had obtained firsthand information from the Holy Kingdom. But both men were Mages, not military officers who made decisions, so Rorschach couldn’t expect to glean any real military intelligence from them.

Strangely, there had been no word from the Organization. But for him, the money from the Organization was insignificant now. It was best if they didn’t come looking for trouble.

’Sigh, it’s not like obtaining military intelligence is of any use to me. I’d be better off helping the Bayern Kingdom upgrade its armaments to protect my own assets here.’ Rorschach started to leave the Magic Guild, but just before heading out, he suddenly remembered that he did, in fact, need to write two letters.

One was for the old village chief, to ask about the situation in the Mercer family’s village and whether they needed help.

The other was for Teacher Caroline. He didn’t know how the heart of the Empire would react to an attack from the Holy Kingdom, but given that Teacher Caroline was from the Holy Kingdom, he feared her situation would likely become difficult.

Considering the two of them were likely on Istani’s wanted list, Rorschach suggested that his teacher could travel north to the land of the Dwarves. But it was winter now, so coming to the Bayern Kingdom seemed like a better option.