Close Combat Mage
chapter-48

Under the Fourth Prince’s suggestion, Suo Jia clearly explained everything he wanted to do, as well as his future thoughts and plans. While hearing Suo Jia tell his story, the Fourth Prince’s eyes grew brighter and brighter.

The more he began to understand Suo Jia, the more the Fourth Prince admired him. He was only 8 years old, and he had already thought about winning over 100 water mages; the story of the fire wind warriors was even more ridiculous. The most terrifying part was that Suo Jia was completely capable of achieving his wish. Thinking about it, once Suo Jia really succeeded, just the 100 water mages combined with the 36 fire wind warriors would make such a formidable group. If he just added a few more personnel, he would have enough people to besiege a whole city!

Soon after, Suo Jia finished explaining his plans and tightly furrowed his brows. The Fourth Prince contemplated for a long time and did not say anything. Seeing the scene in front of him, Suo Jia uncomfortably tensed up. Was this task really that difficult to take care of?

While Suo Jia was in an uncomfortable state, the Fourth Prince suddenly slapped the table with a muffled sound. He began to shout in a loud voice, “Come, grab a pen and a piece of paper. I want to personally draft this letter!”

Under the Fourth Prince’s command, the servants at once delivered the pen and paper. Holding the quill pen, the Fourth Prince hesitated for a moment, and then quickly began to write.

“Under the authority of the Prince, I award the commoner Suo Jia the position of Holy Light Empire’s eighth ranked lord. This award entitles eighth ranked noble Suo Jia to bestow official attendant status to 100 individuals, and specially awards Suo Jia the ability to grant 100 village paladin titles.” Writing freely, a short official document quickly emerged.

Seeing the simple few lines, Wen Ya revealed a confused and embarrassed expression. Although she knew that Suo Jia did them such huge favors and that the Fourth Prince would not treat Suo Jia shabbily, to help out this much was not something that Wen Ya could have imagined.

First were noble titles. 8 years-old Suo Jia was already an eighth ranked lord. This was equivalent to immediately moving up four ranks. Historically, Suo Jia was most likely the youngest eight ranked lord. This was something that only the royal family was capable of accomplishing.

In addition, there was the right to recruit 100 official attendants. It must be understood that recruiting official attendants was a privilege that only baron ranked nobility and higher could have. Even princes had limited amounts of official attendants. In order to give Suo Jia these 100 official attendants, the Prince had to reduce the amount of his official attendants.

As a prince, the Fourth Prince could use his authority to recruit 1000 official attendants. Now that he had suddenly given Suo Jia the authority to recruit 100 official attendants, the Fourth Prince could now only recruit 900 official attendants. This was equivalent to gifting his own attendants to Suo Jia, a tremendously great gift!

Finally, he gave Suo Jia the right to grant nobility titles to commoners; this was another great gift. Although the noble rank village paladin was not a high rank, but the fact that 100 commoners were allowed to become village paladins at the same time made this a big deal. Even if it was the prince, he could not arbitrarily give out nobility titles. This still required the authority of a prince, and the Fourth Prince had to give a share of his rights to Suo Jia!

Since we are on the topic, let’s explain Holy Light Empire’s nobility title ranks a bit:

Commoner, village palladin, and then there are eight Lord ranks. Eighth ranked lord, seventh ranked lord, sixth ranked lord, fifth ranked lord, fourth ranked lord, third ranked lord, second ranked lord, first ranked lord, high knight nobility, highest knight nobility, baronet, baron, viscount, count, earl, marquis, duke, grand duke, and prince.

Now that the Fourth Prince has awarded Suo Jia these things with his authority, the things Suo Jia originally planned to do weren’t even a big deal anymore. Suo Jia originally did not have the power to recruit official attendants, and had to rely on the Fourth Prince’s authority. This was simply a matter of royalty; after being given this chance, who would really refuse royalty? Even if there were some fearless individuals, they would still immediately flee. Holy Light Empire not only did not tolerate such individuals, but would chase them to death as long as they still lived in this world.

Wen Ya opened her mouth several times before finally holding herself back. It was too late to persuade the Fourth Prince to change his mind. Although she didn’t know what the Fourth Prince was thinking, Wen Ya knew that it was better for women to not be so controlling over men.

For the sake of preventing Suo Jia from abusing his authority, Wen Ya furrowed her eyebrows and carefully explained the three uses of Fourth Prince’s authorization. Basically, as long as a person was a civilian from the Holy Light Empire, Suo Jia could use this Authorization Document to promote him or her to an official attendant. In addition Suo Jia had the power to promote him or her to a village paladin. Just this single Authorization Document gave Suo Jia an enormous amount of authority!

Listening to Wen Ya’s explanation, Suo Jia finally understood that these lines had enormous value. This was too much; how could Suo Jia dare to accept such a precious gift? This was not as simple as gifting a villa, as all three of these awards were extraordinarily precious!

Nervously swallowing, Suo Jia sternly shook his head and said, “Fourth Prince, you are giving me way too much. These things are all too precious, and I cannot accept such generosity; let’s switch to something else okay?”

Hearing Suo Jia’s words, the Fourth Prince began to laugh, “For these three gifts of authorization, the first is my gratitude towards you for helping Wen Ya. The second gift is for helping me personally, and the last is one I’m giving to you as a brother-in-law. Since you call Wen Ya your older sister, then I am naturally your brother-in-law, and you must accept my gift.

“This…” Faced with Fourth Prince’s words, Suo Jia’s brain was in chaos. He couldn’t understand Fourth Prince’s thought process. Suo Jia was still too young, and could not understand the Fourth Prince’s intentions.

Before Suo Jia could completely comprehend the matter, he was quickly sent out of the residence. The Fourth Prince expressed that he was already rather tired and wanted to rest. While Suo Jia was still confused, the Fourth Prince tied him up to a boat. After all, even if Suo Jia completely understood what was going on, no matter what he could not refuse. If he refused, then how could he be sure that there was an alternate path? As for the people that the Fourth Prince appreciated, if they were not of any use to him, then he would kill them for sure.

After sending off Suo Jia, Wen Ya furrowed her eyebrows and said, “Your Majesty Fourth Prince, what exactly were you thinking? Why did you give him that much authoritative power? Are you saying that you no longer want to fight for the throne? Even if you no longer wanted to contest for that position, at the very least you would need to save enough strength to protect yourself.”

“Haha…” Smiling, the Fourth Prince said with sparking eyes, “Of course I wouldn’t recklessly gift him with so much authority. This child, although he is still so young, already has such scheming prowess and great strength. This kind of person will certainly become a well respected person in the future!”

In regards to Fourth Prince’s words, Wen Ya felt a sincere appreciation, but this did not ease the doubts within her heart. Seeing Wen Ya’s still hesitant expression, Fourth Prince chuckled and said, “Do you still not understand my intentions? No matter what, we need to establish a good relationship with Suo Jia. In addition, this needs to be the most stable relationship, and become his older sister and brother-in-law. As long as we preserve this relationship, if we ever need help in the future, do you think Suo Jia will simply watch on the side?”

“This…” Faced with the Fourth Prince’s analysis, Wen Ya slowly began to understand a bit. She still did not understand completely however, and asked worriedly, “But he is still so young, do you really think he is capable of helping you? Also, are you not afraid of him backstabbing you?”

Smiling while shaking his head, Fourth Prince replied, “It is precisely because he is young that I see value in him. Right now I have the power to influence him; if many people have their eyes on him, then it will be difficult to recruit him to our side. As for betrayal, everyone else has just as much of a chance of doing so. If we compare Suo Jia to others, since we have developed a relationship since he was young, it might be the least likely to cause betrayal; unless of course we mess up on our side.”

“En…” Nodding her head in agreement, Wen Ya knew that in this world, there was no such thing as absolute loyalty. As for why people believed in loyalty, it was because there was not enough situations of betrayal in comparison. Fourth Prince’s words made the most sense.

While Wen Ya was thinking, Fourth Prince continued, “If I had all of my official attendants at my side, indeed I would look mighty; however that is simply on the surface. Now that I have given Suo Jia some of my official attendants, this will allow him to rapidly develop. Once Suo Jia becomes more formidable, won’t that increase my strength as well?”

“Indeed!” Looking at the Fourth Prince with praise, Wen Ya excitedly replied, “I understand now; you are raising Suo Jia for the sake of a long term mutual development. That’s why you were willing to pay such a large price this one time!”

Profoundly nodding his head, the Fourth Prince narrowed his eyes and said, “Actually, originally I could not make this decision. However, as you’ve seen today, this 8-years old child is capable of such calculations. In addition… he already has the opportunity of having this generation of fire and wind dual element warriors under his command. Adding that to the water mages that he grew up alongside with, think about it; how secure and united will this team be in the future! Suo Jia represents a strong, united, and committed team that will be useful to me! This is the main reason why I paid such a large price!”