The Black Iron Glory
Truth

Chapter 22

Truth

Forgetit. I'll copy the rest before I go back to decoding.

Claude desperately wanted to know what the diary had recorded. The author was only a low-level magus, and he obviously did not comment on magic itself, but Claude felt he was uncovering the fog of history and seeing the truth.

Date: 20th day of the 8th month, 3341 NM. Weather: Bright, keep a small drizzle at night.

Senior Tawari came looking for me last night. He took me to the convoy camp. I was even more surprised to be greeted by the noble who assigned me to work on weapons. Baron Regius Au Syr, the largest provider of magic stones to many magic councils in the region. No wonder he was able to gather such a large convoy.

Senior Tawari hugged her as we walked. I don't think they're that close.

He asked me to develop a stronger gunpowder. So far I have worked that inserting earth magic crystals into the normal mix works quite well. I dabbled a little in the runes and found that you can reinforce things even further by walking on the gun barrel. You can even get an explosion at the same level as the forbidden nine-ring spell, through the runes and the resulting blow would be equivalent to the spell of nine forbidden magus rings: Permitialis Procursus.

There is no doubt why I met him last night.

He said he only wanted to use explosives to mine, but I still refused. He even took orders from the magic council. It was for the large number of magic stones he had to deliver over the next three years, and he said there was no way he could fulfill them. He wanted my new gunpowder so he could speed up his mining and fulfill the order.

I know he's lying. I believed him five years ago when he asked me to develop a way of making weapons and gunpowder without the need for a magi. I received and developed a step-by-step process and even designed a new type of firearm that could shoot up to 200 meters, even though it was barely accurate at that distance. He told me that normal people can hunt and defend themselves. Now, however, my own weapon was used to kill my brothers.

I would never do anything for her again.

. . . . . .

Wait, why 200 meters? Claude wondered.

He had a number of such questions, but he was too excited to spend any time thinking about them. Especially since he ended up reading the name he remembered, and it wasn't an old name either. The Baron Regius Au Syr.

History knows him as the brotherhood leader and later emperor of the first post-magus dynasty. However, now it was considering him to be a noble under magus rule, nor as one of the greatest suppliers to magi rulers, and thus, perhaps, not the least, not the least, responsible for their continued governance for at least decades.

He was eager to read more, but his mental energy ran out so he decided to take a bath first.

. . . . . .

Date: 21st of the 8th month, 3341 NM. Weather: Bright.

Date: 21st of the 8th month, 3341 NM. Weather: Bright.

I took down Baron Regius Au Syr again. Tawari didn't say a word about it. We returned to the inn after that.

I haven't slept in all night. I went to see Tawari this morning after all that business. She must have known I was coming to see her, because she told me to come in before I even knocked on her door. He also must have known what my question was since he chanted a muffling spell right after I closed the door behind me.

I asked him if he was the one who told the baron about my progress. He was the only one who saw my record.

He didn't say anything, but I could see the answer in his eyes before he even nodded. I was almost out of the office at that moment. I trust him implicitly, how could he betray him ?!

He told me to sit down before my feet got me out of the office, however. I think half the reason I didn't push him and stormed was how serious he was.

He told me this little story about a homeless boy who fainted in the snow in winter. A nobleman saves her and her parents, but adopts her. The two grew up together, like brothers. The bum found her magic when she was fifteen and her adoptive parents did not pay her to get a proper education.

"He's my brother" he said as I asked if the baron was the noble's son.

Calm my anger a little, but only a little.

I wanted to leave after hearing his story, I had to sort out my thoughts, but he wouldn't let me. He told me that I should know something, then tell an amazing story. I never thought that I could be as sick as what he said next.

I wanted to leave after hearing his story, I had to sort out my thoughts, but he wouldn't let me. He told me that I should know something, then tell an amazing story. I never thought that I could be as sick as what he said next.

Five thousand years had passed since the primordial era ended. Magic has been a part of this world all the time. Many people became the magi of twelve rings during the primeval era and some even rose to become gods. One of them is the Nomadine, named after its calendar, the Nomadine Magic Calendar.

There was enough magic back then that even dragons still existed and many powerful ferocious beasts that could use magic swam in the ocean and crawled on land as well.

Dragons had died now, however, and most of the magical beasts, definitely all powerful ones, were also lost. Some ferocious beasts might still be hiding in the dense forest of Nubissia, but they were all extinct elsewhere.

Magic has disappeared from this world. There were almost no magical beasts left, and the materials needed to make magic items were also very quickly becoming almost impossible to find. It has also become very difficult to obtain powerful magi like we have in the past. The magi of ten rings and above were common things several thousand years ago, but there was hardly a person who only had nine rings. I only know about the two, and they're both on the board. There seem to be five more, but I don't know who they are.

Is that why we were sent to Kenpus? I asked Tawari that, but he laughed. I've never heard such a wry laugh before. But I understand why he laughs like that. Yes, we are being sent to Kenpus, but as I have already written, the magic there is much stronger, and so are the top magi. We'll be regular workers there, lucky ones. The less fortunate would be cannon fodder.

I never knew a magi could be stripped to such a hierarchy. I always thought we were brothers and sisters. Yes, sure, some have more power than others, and sure some are stronger than others, but under all of that, we are brothers and sisters, aren't we?

I think I was wrong. The original council had twenty-four nine magi rings. They each formed a household and took part of the continent as their territory along with all the resources within it. They called themselves nobles, or white magi. They only taught their children their magic and only let them benefit from their entire resources. They had become the ruling class on the continent and they controlled the council.

I would argue that if that were true, then he would never be allowed to become a magus. However, he told me that not all of their families have the gift of magic. They were lucky if one out of every hundred children born in the family could use magic.

Although each of the children was nurtured to become one of the best magi of his generation, they were not close enough. So, they raised some commoners with the ability to use magic to become their servants and do the dirty work.

the stirring nobles were at the top of the magi's food chain, and the five ring magi at the bottom, the iron farmers. None of the latter was allowed to raise further than five rings. No matter how much talent you have, you need as many resources to improve as a Magus, so they only cut off those resources when you become a five-ringed Magus.

Although each of the children was nurtured to become one of the best magi of his generation, they were not close enough. So, they raised some commoners with the ability to use magic to become their servants and do the dirty work.

the stirring nobles were at the top of the magi's food chain, and the five ring magi at the bottom, the iron farmers. None of the latter was allowed to raise further than five rings. No matter how much talent you have, you need as many resources to improve as a Magus, so they only cut off those resources when you become a five-ringed Magus.

They would never give their resources to the iron magus, because every bit they did, was slightly less than their offspring.

I now know why Tawari stopped improving after he became a five-ringed magus. It's been ten years, but he hasn't gone any further.

He then told me that the baron family used to be a branch of one of the 24, therefore their sobriquet, Au, represented a mysterious spell. Their families did not produce a single magi in hundreds of years so they were expelled and now only normal nobles.

I asked him why he was the biggest supplier of magic ingredients, then. He told me that because the stones were not originally considered as magical resources because they did not have enough magic power in them. They used to be used as ordinary building materials. However high-level magic materials, had become so rare that these stones were now classified as magic materials.

The board had decided that half of all their members should study alchemy and runes. They wanted to transmute common materials into magic materials, or use runes to be able to magically use ordinary materials.

I don't know how I got back to my room, but here I am. I just remember I forgot to ask her about the reason she wanted gunpowder when I lay in bed. Which is also when I remember I still have to write my diary entries.

. . . . . .

So tired, Claude's mind whispered to him. His hands ached and his mind felt heavy, like a stone that could not move when pushed. The last entry is much longer than the others, it fills two sides of the page. It took me two hours to translate it.

He decided to rest. He didn't think he had the space in his head now to read more even if he had the mental energy and physical energy left to complete another entry. This one contained too much information that he needed to ponder.