Chapter 15: The Mage Guild (1)

The Mage Guild of the City of Rain, whose full name is the Brittany Branch of the Mage Guild of the Kingdom of France, is in turn run by the Mage Guild of the Alpine Duchy. In fact, the entire Alpine Duchy serves the Mage Guild.

Of course, it is generally referred to as the Mage Guild of the City of Rains, or just the Mage Guild, since there is only one in the entire duchy.

The Wizards' Guild is not a small place. It is surrounded by various functional buildings, such as reception halls, inns, shops, warehouses and servants' quarters. The core area consists of five Mage Towers.

In the centre is a seven-storey intermediate Mage Tower, surrounded on either side by a five-storey junior Mage Tower. In the event of war, the five Mage Towers can create a shield to protect the entire Mage Guild, capable of withstanding attacks of up to sixth level spells or equivalent.

A mage is never one to take a beating without fighting back. The Mage Tower also has a Spell Amplification Array, which can increase the attack range of any spell by ten times. For example, Fireball has a maximum range of 1,000 metres.

The Mage Tower also has a teleportation array, so if you get stuck, you can teleport to another Mage Guild and retreat.

All of this power comes from the four elemental energy pools in the Mage Tower's basement, which also provide the energy for the Mage Tower's daily research and experiments.

The Teleportation Array is an adjunct to the Teleportation Array. The Mage Guild is usually open to the public, and the teleportation array costs 50-100 coins per use, depending on the distance. The Teleportation Array costs 500 to 1,000 coins per person, depending on the distance, and is only available for domestic use.

The Transnational Teleportation Array is only available in the Mage Guilds of each country's capital, which is also for convenience of administration to prevent other countries or races from teleporting over to attack the country.

With these two technologies, and a two-thirds share of the mainland's magical equipment market, it is inevitable that the Mage Guild will have money.

The guards at the gates of the Mage Guild did not stop the carriage when they saw Baron Stewart's emblem on it. There is also an Evil Detection Array above the gates, so no one with evil intentions can get in.

The coach stopped in the central square. To get further inside would mean walking, so Christine told Elena and the guards to wait here.

Ordinary people can only move around the outer area, and only mages and apprentices can go into the core area. This is because many of the items there contain magical energy, and ordinary people will get hurt if they are not careful.

The apprentice mages they encountered along the way all stepped aside and greeted them respectfully, even though they were only first level mages and apprentices, they were still two classes apart.

The official mages they met, regardless of rank, all greeted Christine politely. Everyone knew about Baron Stewart's title, this was the future Baron, and he was also the lord of two baron-level lands.

Moreover, this person was also a descendant of Dragon Vein Blood, and even if he persevered, he would eventually reach the level of a 5th class mage or higher, so of course he had to be given enough attention.

The head of the Mage Guild is a high-ranking 11th level mage, who alone occupies the central Mage Tower. The day-to-day management is the responsibility of a council of three intermediate mages of 5th rank or higher, one of whom is Dubois D'Erdo, a 7th-rank mage who is a friend of Baron Stewart.

When they arrived at the door of Master Dubois' room, there was fortunately no 'person in laboratory' sign, so Christine knocked gently.

The door creaked open.

The door was opened by an elderly man in his sixties, with a white beard and wearing a robe.

The picture found online is a rough idea of what a mage looks like, but the colour of the robe is based on the book.

Master Dubois,' Christine gave a magician's salute.

Master is just a respectful title here, Dubois is actually just a senior mage.

Christine, you're back,'

Master Du Bois led Christine into the room and rang the magic bell to summon the apprentice to prepare a drink.

Master Du Bois, the territorial matters have been settled and I have returned this time to continue my studies,' Christine said.

It is good that things have been settled.

Then Master Du Bois told Christine about Baron Lorient's visit to the Mage's Guild before the war.

It turned out that after the news of Baron Stewart and his wife's shipwreck spread, Baron Lorient had the idea of annexing Baron Stewart's territory, and so began to make preparations in secret.

The military strength of the two sides was about equal. Baron Lorient was still a 5th level mage, and he had one more knight than Baron Stewart's territory, so he believed he would never lose in a head-to-head battle. However, Baron Stewart had a good relationship with the mage Dubois before he died, and although he is no longer here, he could still help Christine, which had to be taken into account.

So Baron Lorient secretly came to Rennes and sent someone to secretly keep an eye on Christine. After she left Rennes with Knight Eric, he immediately went to the Mages' Guild.

Baron Lorient must have had a teacher to become a fifth-level mage, and one of the members of the Mage Guild Council was a student of the same teacher as himself.

After Baron Lorient explained his plan, the mage agreed that Lorient would definitely win the war if there were no outside influences. So, after taking a large amount of the other side's benefits, he approached Master Du Bois.

Master Du Bois didn't know that Christine was already a fourth order magician. He thought that even if he joined the war, his side's one seventh-order and one first-order magician would definitely not be able to defeat the other side's one seventh-order and one fifth-order magician, and there would also be a high chance of casualties on his side. So he agreed to the other side's terms and remained neutral.

Master DuBois then immediately sent someone to Baron Stewart's territory to inform Christine. However, Baron Lorient had already prepared to intercept the person, for he was sure that Master DuBois would not turn against him over such a trivial matter.

Baron Lorient waited until Christine had left for her return journey to do this, partly because he was afraid that if he did it too soon, it would reveal that he was going to war with Baron Stewart's domain, and partly because if Christine really did ask Master Du Bois for help and found it useless, it would waste the other party's time and demoralise them.

Baron Lorient, travelling with a small entourage, returned to his domain almost at the same time as Christine, although he left Rennes later than she did. He then sent the knight Jules Weber to make the journey overnight so that the declaration of war could be delivered the next morning.

Christine understood what Master Dubois had done. He had a good relationship with her father, but not so good that he would knowingly go to his death.

Even if the two sides are at war, according to the agreement between the Mage Guild and each country, mages will not participate in a fight to the death. In other words, mages have the right to withdraw if they feel there is no way to win.

This is, of course, because there are too few mages and they need to be protected, and the reason why each kingdom agreed to sign the agreement is also because there is no other way.

If the kingdom of France did not sign the treaty, most of the magicians would not take part in the battle if it broke out. How could they win against a country supported by mages?

Of course, there are prerequisites for allowing the mages to withdraw. You cannot just run away in the middle of a battle. You have to withdraw from the battlefield, even if it is between battles.