Emperor of Steel

Chapter 31: Taking the First Step 4

Mute’s magic lab was located on the east side of the permanent manor.

It was a small two-story building, the second floor was a hostel and also a study room, and the first floor was the lab.

Kiiik!

As the wooden door opened with a screeching sound, a middle-aged man sitting in the dark shouted loudly.

“Keuk, didn’t I tell you to not come in!”

“Sir Mute. The Young Lord has come here.”

The middle-aged man, confused with the answer of Hans, got up.

“The, the Young Lord has come?”

“Tch, seems like you had a few glasses early in the morning.”

Luke clicked his tongue and spoke a little firmly as he noticed a wine bottle in the lab.

Feeling ashamed at that, Mute quickly cleared the bottles and adjusted the appliances.

Luke looked at Mute with maximum concentration.

Mana Scan was a type of magic that could be used easily, but one had to be careful to make sure that the opponent wouldn’t notice that Luke was doing magic and that he was learning dark magic.

‘5 circles? He’s surely higher than I thought.’

As he was a small magic tower wizard from a small town, he expected the wizard to be around 3 or 4 circles at most.

In the meantime, Mute cleared the lab and handed a chair so Luke could sit.

“What did you need that you had to find this ugly man in the middle of the night?”

“I wanted to know how long are you going to be negligent.”

At those words, Mute laughed and shook his head.

“Please leave me.”

“Sir Mute…”

“That accident was because of me. No matter how many times I think about it, it wouldn’t have happened if I had only taken a closer look at the Gigant.”

After the fall of the Young Lord, Mute hadn’t eaten or drank anything properly. He was just praying to himself.

Thankfully the Young Lord miraculously woke up.

Surely he had changed a lot, but Mute didn’t know any of those changes.

“I have no intention of holding you accountable for the accident. The same goes for the other retainers. It wasn’t your fault.”

The Rakan estate was a small estate.

Mute was an Iron Mage too, and it was hard to find the necessary parts and equipment on time.

In those situations, Mute did everything that he could silently.

Despite the fact that the former viscount—the one he pledged loyalty to—had died.

Even in the poor conditions that he had to face afterward, he was able to manage three Gigants because of his efforts.

And no one denied that. Which was why no one asked him to take responsibility for the accident.

“Thank you, but I won’t be able to forgive myself.”

“So you are going to keep neglecting stuff? Would you rather be a worthless drunk the rest of your life?”

Mute nodded silently.

Luke frowned at him.

‘You used to wander around because you didn’t like being tied up to one place? This guy! This stubborn and knowledgeable guy just couldn’t get along with the other guys.’

Mute had decided to become the retainer of the former Rakan viscount because he liked his attitude.

The frustrating guy couldn’t be called out in a normal way.

“Okay. If you can’t forgive yourself. I’ll have to punish you.”

“Young Lord!”

Hans called him firmly, Luke raised his hand and stopped him.

Mute was already ready to face everything.

Luke had given him a bill of 70,000 pesos.

“Young Lord?”

Without getting hit with a knife in the neck, like he was expecting, but when the money came in, Mute was rather flustered.

“I order you, the Iron Mage. Use that money to build a Magic Tower in our estate. Purchase spellbooks and increase the equipment needed for repair and production. And then gather talented individuals and teach them.”

“Tha, that…”

“Unlike the other lords, I’m going to invest in magic. So contribute to the development of magic in our estate and try to prevent accidents from ever happening again in the future.”

They were just words, but it was something like an award.

Support for building the Magic Tower?

Of course, it was a matter of whether or not one could build the perfect magic tower.

When something that he had never even dreamed of happened before him, Mute wasn’t able to speak properly.

Luke gave him one last order.

“And never betray me or turn your back away from this estate. This is the punishment that you have brought upon you. Know your honor as a wizard and know how to perform your duties.”

Mute, who was still grieving, wiped off his tears with his robe.

He knelt before Luke and vowed to be loyal.

“I will accept the punishment from the Young Lord for the rest of my life.”

Luke smiled upon hearing Mute’s oath and spoke with a softer voice,

“There are three new Iron Mages. Do it on your own. Whether you want to crush them or grind them.”

“Thank you, Young Lord.”

Mute once again bowed to Luke.

Luke then moved back and began to head over to the office.

The butler Hans followed his Lord with a heartwarming expression.

“You did really well. You persuaded Mute much better than me, and I will never treat our Young lord as young anymore.”

‘Huh, there is no one much stubborn than him.’

Someone more stubborn than Mute.

Luke had met a stubborn man during his time as the warlock Saymon 500 years ago.

He was known as the Red Hammer Rommel. He was known to be the most stubborn man among the dwarves. He was known through the centuries for being stubborn.

Mute was nothing compared to him. He almost looked like he had no teeth compared to that dwarf.

‘The more knowledgeable you are, the more you desire to get identified, and the more loyal you will be to those who can see your worth.’

Which was why Luke didn’t force Mute to perform a Mana Oath.

He didn’t have to, but in fact, the mana oath didn’t work for the savvy.

If he felt something wrong, he could break off the magic circle anytime.

“But, Young Lord. Are you really going to invest in magic?”

“Yes, since magic engineering is at a new age.”

With the advent of the artificial magic stones, modern battlefields were with Gigants.

Wizards and knights weren’t worth the pain, but they still play a very decisive role in the Gigant battles.

In addition, various kinds of magic artifacts were being produced and used in various fields.

In the past, Artifacts were very expensive and were produced in small quantities, but with the emergence of magic engineering, the items were getting mass-produced and cheap materials were being made.

Artifacts with simple magic were no longer exclusive to the wizards or the nobles, and the magic lights which have been placed on the street corners were the symbol of progress.

Luke, who had traveled to Lamer and widened his knowledge, had no intention of ignoring those facts. No, he was planning to become more active since he was reborn at a whole new era.

“But the family of Rakan was originally the masters of swordsmanship.”

“Right. But the age of changing the world with just a sword in hand is gone. The traditional sword art is important, but we have to accept the power of new magic.”

That was 500 years ago.

The knights were trampled even before the emergence of the Gigants by the legions of Golems and such.

Of course, a rare monster like Rakan did appear.

But being the greatest person in history, he was the last known flame of the knights to have burned so brightly.

“I guess so. At the order of the young lord, I removed the portrait of past ancestors to renew the family.”

“Hmm, well.”

Honestly, Luke just didn’t want to see the stupid images of Rakan.

So he ordered the retainers to remove every portrait related to Rakan and asked them to not mention it.

Hans, who didn’t know Luke’s intentions, thought that the Young Lord was not entirely alright after he lost his memory during the accident and was running wildly.

But he was a bit worried and wanted to revive the name of the family!

“Since I am a bit old, my thoughts are old just like me. But if you want to do things your way, I will be happy to reshape the world with your orders.”

“Huh, I look forward to it.”

Luke watched Hans bow down and was very pleased.

He was currently a knight, but Hans was originally a Gigant rider representing the Rakan family.

In addition to that, he was the right hand of the Lord and the guardian of the Young Lord.

Such a figure had broken past his stubbornness.

Of course, his nature wasn’t going to change that easily, and a little nagging was necessary as long as it wasn’t going to be extreme.

‘Okay, I finally dominated the Rakan family.’

There was a lot of work that needed to be done for his revenge.

But he took a major step forward, and that first step was going to be a very important one in the long run.