Chapter 78

—"I'm listening, sir."

—"There's a lot of work in the village, and I would prefer not to come to you every time to hear a request in person. Don't think that I find you unpleasant, but such minor tasks can be delegated through messengers. It would also be faster. If you passed the request with a messenger, the scouts would already be heading to the place, but now it will only happen by evening."

—"That's a very reasonable request, sir. And I will gladly comply with it."

After Alexander closed the door behind him, a knight approached the baron.

—"My lord, isn't this herbivore taking on too much? And you address him as an equal! Shouldn't I teach him a lesson?"

The baron looked at his vassal. Sir Wilhelm Bark, from Bark Castle. One of his three vassals and the only one who carried out all his lord's orders. Loyal. The other two knights—Tanok and Faltz—always found excuses. The first sat on the only ford across Savoyardi and justified himself with its defense, while the second had a castle in the mountains where his people blocked a cave from which goblins could emerge.

—"You know, Wilhelm, I strongly suspect that this, as you put it, herbivore was a magistrate in Valeria not long ago, which, as you know, corresponds to our..."

—"Count, your grace. Yes, I know. But are you sure?"

—"What can one be sure of? Just this spring, I was sure there wouldn't be a city army in these parts."

The baron paced around the office.

—"These strangers who settled on my lands are very peculiar. They have fewer than one hundred and fifty warriors and have defeated a five hundred-strong vanguard. And yet they claim there are no mages among them. Ridiculous! Any idiot can see that such a feat isn't possible without mages. And who would hide their mage nature?"

—"A hidden mage, your grace!"

—"Exactly. I strongly suspect it's a Valerian magistrate with his order, or they've fallen straight from the sky onto my land!"

The knight smirked and pondered. A Valerian magistrate! That would be a stroke of luck. Valeria. The kingdom of mages, lying to the west. There, like in any decent country, there was a king and a nobility with splendid titles. But there were differences from civilized countries: they were not the rulers.

Magicians ruled everything, headed by the Council of Magicians, consisting of 14 advisors. Valeria had its own hierarchy of mages—Archmage, Magistrate, Mage, Adept, Apprentice—which also set it apart from neighboring countries, where anyone who could cast any spell was called a mage, and only the greatest were called Archmages, with no further gradations.

Each of the Archmage advisors had a certain number of magistrates under them, which usually determined the political weight of that advisor. Magistrates typically led a so-called "order"—a group of gifted individuals who swore a magical oath to the magistrate and were his subordinate mages.

Personal mages—paladins, alchemists, and artifactors—were also included in the order, highly respected in Valeria. The advisors often feuded among themselves, and as a result, individual orders of magistrates fought each other. The fate of the losers was unenviable, and neighboring countries occasionally harbored fugitives.

Despite such infighting among the magicians within Valeria, the country was attractive to the gifted from around the world. The best magic schools were in Valeria, where the strongest magicians studied.

—"I hope you understand that it's not worth talking about such things?"

—"Of course, your grace!"

—"It's not worth talking, but you can use it!"

Alexander returned home and calmly went to sleep. Only in the evening did he tell the others about his visit to the baron. Leonid started demanding information from Sergey, but he just shrugged. Until the scouts returned, he knew no more than the others.

—"If it's a detachment, it needs to be scattered in the field," Leonid finally backed off from Sergey and switched to everyone else.

—"And if it's an army?"

—"Night attacks on their camps along the way to the city! Every night!"

—"Let's get to work. When the scouts return, then we'll talk," Eugene set an example with his words and left the tent first.

The scouts returned only the next night. The news they brought was heartening. The city's army was effectively stuck at the pass. Goblin attacks, finding such a feast of meat right under their noses, followed one after another. There were almost no horses left. The wagons carried soldiers. And as luck would have it, it rained in the mountains. The soil was washed away and the movement of the army almost stopped.

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