Emperor of Steel

Chapter 29: Taking the First Step 2

Todd, Gordon, and Humphry.

The three of them were friends from the same hometown and became wizards under the directions of the same teacher.

However, they had no famous background or financial power and their skills weren’t exactly that great. They weren’t able to belong anywhere.

Right then, in the Gigant arena, they lost the bet to Luke and were drawn to the Rakan viscount.

“Oh my! This is tiresome!”

“Huk huk, won’t we be dying if this goes on?”

The three iron mages took huge breaths instead of running around in the ground.

Even though he was making them do it, the young Lord knew how to use them.

It was because the iron mages with 2 or 3 circles were the ones who could maintain the Gigants. Even if they were in the most perishable territory.

However, from the first day in the estate mansion, the young Lord called them and began to make them run and torment.

Fists flew in when they couldn’t do the task, and when they protested, kicks came in.

Eventually, they surrendered to the violence and did as they were told. If they spoke too much, punches and kicks came in hard, which was why they worked hard.

“Man! Who was the one who placed the bet first?!”

“You agreed to it!”

“I was crazy to follow your words!”

If they could, they wanted to run right away.

However, the three couldn’t do so.

It was because all three of them had made a mana oath to serve Luke all their lives.

The mana oath was a kind of magic ritual which the wizards placed on their magic circles, and it was something that couldn’t be taken back or abused.

The mana was influenced by human will and words because of the spiritual nature.

Therefore, in response to the consciously built oath, if the wizard chooses to oppose it, the mana gets scattered and the magic circles would get destroyed.

The pain during the break of the oath was said to be much worse than death.

Which was why the wizards never take the mana oath, and if they did, they never broke it.

“Huh, even then I shouldn’t have just done the mana oath.”

“But we couldn’t even afford to turn into laughing stock in front of all those wizards, right?”

“We were stupid, stupid to have gotten tricked by that clever young lord.”

Shortly after the battle of Princess Reina was over, the three wizards had to burn off their robes as a penalty.

With numerous iron mages watching them, they had to deny themselves as wizards.

‘Sh*t! I can’t!’

No matter how skillful a freelancing wizard was, after burning their robes off, it would always be difficult to act as a wizard in their future.

Rumors would spread all around about not having the robe.

The three asked Luke if there was anything else they could do, and Luke gave them a vicious alternative.

“You wizards have that Mana oath, right? Pledge to follow me forever.”

At that time, the faces of the three wizards went pale hearing that the bet was lost.

However, they really wanted to avoid doing the mana oath.

However, the only way for them to protect their pride as wizards was to place something important in their magic circles.

Eventually, after a lot of internal conflicts, they swore by the mana and came all the way.

“Even if we try to escape, one small act and the designated knight who is watching will know…”

“What are you doing now? Have you forgotten the order of the young Lord about doing another 50 round?”

Todd was grumbling to himself when Philip who was keeping an eye from faraway rushed and shushed them.

Like a vicious teacher, Philip was making the three wizards run and run.

“Faster, faster, keep moving. Will you really be able to keep that mana oath on you?”

“Sir Philip, please. Just save me this once. We aren’t knights, we are wizards!”

“Wizards run too. Run fast, fast. If you don’t run, I’ll have to report you.”

Sadly, intimidated by the vicious teacher, Gordon lay down on the ground.

“I can’t! I feel like I’m going to die in this spot…”

Gordon who was trying to say that he couldn’t; immediately got up from the ground.

Luke was there standing in front of him, with a creepy smile on his face. And with a well-trimmed birch stick.

“If dying is your wish, I’ll grant that to you with my own hands.”

“No, no! I’ll run with all my might!”

With the complaining done, the three wizards, including Gordon began to run again.

As they strongly protested four days back, they were beaten so hard by the young Lord, that they thought they would die.

It was the very first time that they were hit so hard.

In addition, the young Lord only picked the places with very little bone density.

But what scared them the most was the look that Luke’s face had.

The eerie smile, which no one was able to make, something that was scaring them even in their sleep.

‘Huhuhu, if you run a little more, you’ll be useful.’

Looking at them running, Luke felt very satisfied.

He had no intention of bringing the three iron mages from the very beginning. He just thought of embarrassing them.

But soon he changed his mind.

In order to get his revenge, it was necessary for him to develop his estates, and to develop them; various things had to be done, which would include the strengthening of the Gigants.

‘I will need a lot of good wizards.’

Insufficient knowledge and magic could be filled in by him.

But, on his words he needed people to jump into the boiling waters, without having a second thought.

It was a good decision to make them run.

As they suffer like that, all the miscellaneous thoughts would vanish and they will begin to accept the reality.

And this was a method that Luke had learned from the non-devil human, the priests.

They found the effect in the strict percepts and the ascetics that were imposed on tier followers.

Luke stood at the side of the path and watched the three wizards run and then headed to the office.

On the desk of the manor’s office where a pile of documents recording the gathered land by Luke for the past week.

In order to develop the estate, he had to first understand the status of the estate, so he gathered all the materials related to it.

Luke couldn’t help but sigh as he looked at the documents which were brought.

“Hah, this is worse than expected!”

The estate land had barely over 20,000, and most of the young people were out of the estate making money.

Two third of the estate land was plain abandoned wasteland because of the difficulty of clearing the waste.

The other third was the forest, where monsters were lurking.

The best place was near the permanent manor and the castle.

‘There are less than 500 soldiers and 3 Gigants…’

Those three were also in very poor condition and were warrior classes.

The parts supply and the demand wasn’t that great either if those things broke down, it was totally acceptable.

“Shouldn’t miss out on the power of knights.”

The Knight General Roger was an expert and had as many as 10 experts.

The number of knights was 30; apprentices included there were around 50 people, and it was a great number to think.

‘This is the fallen place of the great warrior, right? Surely is a good place to train.’

Even during the time of Saymon’s, there were knights who were under his command.

They were unwanted, abandoned or outcasted by the superiors.

They practiced around, and then the group grew fast.

Cool guys talked about dark magic, they weren’t human, but the dark knights and the reason for that were different.

‘Do you know about the Rakan family? I’ll have to ask the sir later.’

Luke looked over at the document again.

The estate lands annual tax revenue barely surpassed 100,000 pesos. At the same time, they suffered from a chronic food deficit and starvation.

Because of the situation, it was hard to maintain the status quo instead of increasing the military.

“Can I fight with the imperial and the Veritas Magic tower with this?”

Luke had a meeting and soon changed his thoughts.

Wouldn’t it be better to start with bare fists?

So he decided to try out.

‘When the materials arrive, the golem workshop will start. When the golems get produced, the development of the territory will start.’

Luke was planning ahead of the future, laying all the plans in his head.

Knock!

The voice of a servant came from the outside of the door.

“Young Lord, a man has come from the Hades Chamber, and brought an order.”

“Really?”

The moment his thoughts were done, the things he had been waiting for had come.

Luke who was excited, had his heart beating fast at the thought of producing things in his own home.