"Ars, you're going into town today?

　The moment I left the mansion, my father spoke to me.
　He was dripping sweat from his face, as if after a sword swing.

''Yes, I'll go find the best people for you.''
I see. As a matter of fact, I was hoping you'd be good at magic.
Is it magic?
Yes, magic will be the key to the future of warfare. You can't use magic without talent. I can't use magic properly either. I have a few vassals who can use magic, but they are still lacking, so if you have any talent, please bring it to me.

　Magic.
　I don't know much about magic.
　My father told me to use it once. I filled a strange tool with a red liquid and cast a short spell that triggered it. A small fireball was generated and flew towards the target.
　But then my father said to me, "Looks like you're not cut out for magic," and I was never allowed to use it again after that.

　I was pretty impressed when the magic was activated, so I'd like to use it again.
　Does that mean I didn't have the talent to use magic? It's a good thing that you don't bother asking me if you can tell just by using it once.
　I'm sure he used a magic that he doesn't feel very talented in.

''I understand. I'll go find someone skilled in magic.
You're on it.

　I gladly accepted my father's request and left for town with Reetz.


　○


　We use horses on the way to town.
　I can't ride, so I'm riding two of them, with Leets holding me up.

　Reetz is a quintessential cavalry aptitude S.
　He was so good with the horse that it made my father groan.

　Using the horses, they would reach the town in about two hours.

　I intend to stay in the town for about two days.

''Rietz, since I don't know much about magic, can you teach me?''

　Using the time on the road, I decided to ask Leets to teach me about magic.

'Magic? Do you know the basics?
'Yeah, I've used it once. I put a red liquid in some weird equipment, cast a spell and it went off.
'Yes. That strange equipment is called the catalyst machine and the red liquid is called magic water. When you fill the catalyzer with magical water and cast a spell, the magic water is consumed. The magic water you put in it will be consumed.

　It's called a catalyst machine and magical water. Let's remember.

Originally, magic was used as a sideshow because the spells were thought to be too long and too weak to be used in battle. However, with the development of the catalyst, the spell was shortened and increased in power, so it came to be used in warfare. It seems that about ten years ago, it started to explode within the Samaforce Empire.
Is that recent?
''Yes, even when I was in the mercenary corps, the old soldiers were lamenting the recent development of something so outrageous that it was troubling.

　It wasn't something that had been used in warfare earlier. It was unexpected.

''Is it often possible to get magical water to fuel it?
''Magic water is made by melting a stone called magic stone. The magic stones themselves aren't that rare, but the price seems to be rising due to the increasing demand, and it costs a lot of money to operate a magic unit.
Money.....the Loebent family doesn't have much of an income.

　As it is a small territory and has no specialties, its income is small every year. It's just a matter of managing to make ends meet.

''Even if you don't form a troop, it will make a lot of difference if you have one competent magician. We should be able to hire at least one person. Let's go find one this time.
Yeah.

　Then I was rocked by horse for a while and arrived at the town.

　The town I visited this time is called Kanare.
　It is the main town in Canale County.
　It is surrounded by a magnificent wall, a walled city.
　There are quite a few houses outside the walls.
　This is probably because it was peaceful for a long time and there was no need to defend it.
　Naturally, the castle was built in the era before the unification of Samaforce, so it is quite old and seems to be in a state of disrepair.

　In the center of this town stands Canale Castle, where the chief family of Canale County and the Pyles family live.

　I walked around the town outside the castle.
　Nowadays, only people of high status are allowed inside the castle.
　Well, I can go in because I'm the son of the lord, but I have no use for the inside of the castle for this search for personnel.

　The town outside the castle is quite busy. There are a lot of people here.

　The entire population is about 50,000 people.
　It's going to be quite eye-consuming to look at all of them. But you don't have to look at them all. Just look at the poorly dressed ones.

　There is a good chance that we won't be able to hire any of the talent in this town, even if they are good.

　We would invite them to come to Landruk, but many of them would not want to come all the way to the village from the town. They can't pay that much for it either.

　You can only hire those that are very much in need of money.
　If they are living in the village from the start, they are basically willing to accept the job.

　Anyway, those that look wealthy are not likely to come, so we can only look at the poor ones.

''Well, let's find them.''
Yes, sir.

　From my horse, I went over to the poor people on the street, looking for them in the street, lividly.

　It's not that easy to find them.

　I found a few that were reasonably good, but this time I didn't call out to them since my goal was to find those with high magical soldier aptitude.

　Unless they were as good as Rietz, but if the best ones were in the upper 60s, there would be no need to hire them.

　My eyes were getting tired and, incidentally, I was getting hungry, so I took a break.

　Once I got off my horse, I decided to go to the market to buy something to eat.

　When I reached the market.

It's....

　A person with a bill hanging around his neck is in the prison.

'You're a slaver........'

　Slavery, which once existed on Earth, is real in this world.

　But so is slavery.
　There is some resistance to the idea of buying someone else, but there might be some good people in slavery.
　There's no need to go to the trouble of negotiating to make them vassals, and it's easy to do.

　The problem is the price.
　In the meantime, I have money in my possession to pay for it as an advance, but will I be able to buy it with that?

　Let's see for now.

Let's look at the slaves before we eat our food.
Do you buy slaves?
There might be some good people out there.
Yes, I'm here...

　Rietz didn't seem inclined to do so, but he didn't object.

　I went through the slaves in their cages one by one.

　There was no such thing as a good person, and just when I was about to give up on the idea that it was no use.

　Charlotte Lace, 11 years old.

　Status
　Leadership 65/92
　Valor 93/116
　Knowledge 34/45
　Politics 31/40
　Ambition 1
　Aptitude
　Infantry D
　Cavalry D
　Archer D
　Magician S
　Castle D
　Weapons D
　Navy D
　Air Force D
　Plan D

　I witnessed this amazing status.