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An old man with a gray beard that extended down to his chest was questioning Karnak. This was Deltros, the court mage of Yustil and master of the tower.

“Are you really studying that kind of magic?”

The secret magic spell of the Dallas School, Redeemer of Necromancy.

It was an especially useful magic in the current era, where the Darkness of Doom ran rampant.

The more mages mastered this magic, the easier it became to fight necromancers.

Upon hearing the news, Deltros had no choice but to seek out Karnak as a priority.

“Hah, I didn’t even know there was something like the Dallas School…”

He didn’t particularly doubt its authenticity.

There was, after all, a court mage named Dallas 150 years ago.

The fact that Dallas had secretly left behind a magic tome, and that Karnak had stumbled upon it and become its successor, was not far-fetched in the magic community.

His only curiosity was this:

“At that time, there weren’t even many necromancers around, so why did he study this kind of magic?”

“I don’t know either. I simply learned it because it was there.”

Feigning ignorance, Karnak handed over the Redeemer of Necromancy magic formula to Deltros.

“This is the magic the sage left behind.”

Deltros, examining the parchment, stiffened slightly.

“This is quite a bothersome type of magic.”

As a 9th-circle mage, he quickly grasped the strengths and weaknesses of the magic formula.

To properly wield this magic, one needed an exceptionally keen ability to sense evil energy and instinctively exploit the gaps in the enemy’s magic formula.

Alternatively, the caster had to have an extraordinary understanding of necromancy to overpower their opponent.

Of course, no mage could master necromancy at the same time, which meant that the effectiveness of the magic would depend entirely on the caster’s natural talents.

“Isn’t this a method that heavily relies on innate talent?”

“Which is why I’ve only recently been able to use it in practice.”

Even with the need for talent, Redeemer of Necromancy was highly useful, especially against necromancers.

Deltros asked again.

“Are you really willing to give this to me?”

“What good would it do for me to hoard this magic? I’d just end up being targeted by cultists.”

“That’s true.”

From Karnak’s perspective, there weren’t many choices.

This was a magic meant to be known to the world. Therefore, the best option was to get some benefit out of it, but he didn’t have a way to directly turn it into money.

What was he supposed to do? Build his own magic tower and charge mages to come learn? A mere 6th-circle mage?

The best way to profit was to pass it to a powerful mage and take a commission.

“Alright, let me be honest. How much do you want?”

A broad smile spread across Karnak’s face.

***

Baros and Serati were waiting on the first floor of the tower. Laficel was back home, so only these two had come along.

As Karnak descended, Serati asked, “How did it go?”

He gestured for them to head outside, and they left the tower.

As they walked through the streets, Karnak slyly reached into his coat.

“I made quite a haul.”

What he pulled out was a magical check stamped with the royal seal of the Kingdom of Yustil.

It was a highly trusted document that could be exchanged for cash at any bank.

“How much is it?”

Baros, checking the number on the check, widened his eyes in shock.

“1,000 Terakel gold coins?”

Although Karnak’s cheerful expression had hinted at a good amount, Baros hadn’t expected this much.

“Wait, why would they give you this much for just a single magic spell?”

The currency commonly used was Kelin copper coins. While Karnak’s group carried Lakel silver coins for everyday expenses, gold coins were something they kept only for emergencies, and only about 20 of them at that.

A thousand Terakel gold coins were equivalent to half the annual budget of the Jestarad territory, which had become wealthy from copper mines.

Even though Deltros was a court mage, that amount wasn’t something he could easily hand over.

“Are the mages here all suckers?”

Karnak flashed a knowing smile at the bewildered Baros.

“Well, I did add a bit of bait.”

Besides Redeemer of Necromancy, the Dallas School had other spells specifically designed to counter necromancy. He hadn’t mastered them yet, so he couldn’t reveal them now, but once he did, he promised to give Deltros the first pick—of course, for a generous commission.

“…That’s how I phrased it.”

Redeemer of Necromancy wasn’t a particularly valuable spell for a mere King’s Order battalion captain.

But when it was in the hands of a court mage of a kingdom, the stakes changed.

Especially when dealing with empires, it became a powerful political weapon.

“I made sure to tell him it would give him a significant advantage against that arrogant imperial court mage, Elezar.”

This would be an irresistible offer for Deltros.

A 9th-circle mage like him couldn’t help but feel envious of anyone aiming to reach the 10th circle.

Serati tilted her head.

“Wait, doesn’t Elezar already know that technique?”

Karnak grinned.

“Deltros doesn’t know that, does he?”

And Elezar wasn’t in a position to flaunt that knowledge.

“In any case, Deltros will feel quite proud of himself.”

Baros suddenly asked, “But do you really have more magic spells to offer?”

“I’m developing a few chaos magic spells for public use.”

“So, it’s not a complete con, then.”

Thanks to that, they had come into a windfall—a very large one.

Baros smacked his lips.

“So, what are you going to do with all that money now? Should we go eat something expensive?”

Serati gave a wry smile.

“You’re already eating expensive meals whenever you like.”

The pay from the King’s Order was quite generous.

Karnak was a battalion captain, and both Baros and Serati were treated as adjutants, which was no small role.

In addition, there was a personal maintenance fund from the Jestarad territory.

These people always stayed at the finest inns and dined on the best food, so it couldn’t be said they lived modestly. But given how much they earned, they hardly needed to touch the gold coins.

“But you never know when we might need a lot of money. That’s why I aimed high.”

His plan was to use the money for investments.

“If we invest in a good merchant company and become partners, things will be much easier in the future.”

“Business partnerships with a merchant company?”

Serati asked, puzzled.

“Sure, a thousand gold coins is a lot, but it’s not enough to gain significant influence over a merchant company.”

Terakel gold coins were indeed quite small—about the size of a fingernail.

One Imperial gold coin was worth about seven Terakel gold coins in value.

Karnak wiggled his finger.

“That’s why we’re aiming for a small company with high growth potential.”

“How would you know if it’ll grow in the future…”

Halfway through her question, Serati stopped speaking.

‘That’s right, these people are from the future. Of course, they’d know.’

This had always been Karnak’s plan.

To use his knowledge of the future to build wealth.

When he found that a copper mine had appeared out of nowhere after his return, he stopped worrying about it until now.

“At this point, Owent should have just started his merchant company and be struggling.”

Baros nodded.

“Indeed, there’s Owent.”

“Who’s that?”

In response to Serati’s question, Karnak smiled.

“The head of the Altas Merchant Company. Right now, he’s just a small merchant, but in ten years, he’ll be one of the top three merchants in the Seven Kingdoms Alliance.”

***

Owent Altas was originally a small merchant traveling between the Kingdoms of Yustil and Tarum.

However, with exceptional business acumen, he opened his own company at the relatively young age of thirty-five.

Like most merchant groups, he initially struggled, but quickly established himself and expanded his trade routes across the Seven Kingdoms.

In just five years, he would be one of the top two merchants in the Yustil Kingdom, and ten years from now, he would be one of the three major merchants, along with Shirud of the Felmyre Kingdom and Rigal of the Etrial Kingdom.

“My first target was actually the Tekas Merchant Company. But Owent seemed too big to handle.”

Upon returning, Karnak discovered that the Tekas Merchant Company was already the largest in Yustil.

In fact, Tekas was handling the mining operations for the Jestarad territory’s copper mine.

“Originally, they shouldn’t have become a major company yet, but I don’t know what happened four years ago.”

Unlike Tekas, Altas was still a small merchant group.

Karnak had already done his homework.

“They’re still in the early stages, so if we invest now, we can make a significant profit.”

Just having a foot in the door as a partner would reduce their financial worries significantly.

Plus, a merchant company would have connections all over the kingdom, offering conveniences during travels.

“He’s a proven talent, so he’ll grow quickly for a while.”

“True. In about ten years, they’ll nearly collapse due to a massive famine in the Southern Kingdom of Lifaul, but we can prevent that this time.”

Serati gasped at Karnak and Baros’s words.

“Oh my, a famine in ten years?”

She wondered if it was a bad idea to invest in something that would collapse in a decade.

But on second thought, it seemed there wasn’t a problem.

“Right, if you know in advance, you can prepare for it.”

Karnak shook his head.

“No, I’m not saying we’ll prepare for it. The famine won’t happen.”

“Huh?”

Seeing Serati’s confused expression, Baros smiled warmly.

“That famine? It was caused by the young master.”

Karnak scratched the back of his head, embarrassed.

“To be precise, I didn’t intend to cause a famine…”

He had originally planned to expand his followers with minimal effort.

“I released a plague on the crops, without anyone knowing.”

The plan was for people who ate the diseased grain to lose their minds and become his puppets under necromancy.

That way, he could easily gain tens of thousands of followers.

At the time, it seemed like a great idea, but when he tried it, there was a problem.

“The wheat and barley died before the people did.”

For his plan to work, people needed to eat the infected crops, but they all withered before the harvest.

Naturally, he didn’t gain a single follower.

All he did was cause a massive famine.

“Eventually, we ran out of food ourselves.”

“So, we just fled to the Empire.”

“The Seven Kingdoms Alliance became a hellscape because of the famine.”

“But things got easier later, didn’t they?”

“That’s true. With so many corpses lying around, it became easy to gather materials for the undead army.”

Nostalgic, Karnak and Baros nodded in unison, remembering those days.

Watching them, Serati could only sigh in disbelief.

“Wow, you two really are something.”

“Hmm?”

“Oh, nothing. The world really is… so colorful.”