Mage Veigar

Chapter 179 Hitchhiking (Two chapters in one)

Central Military Academy.

This is a military academy located in the capital of the empire. Its full name is the Imperial Central Military Academy. The academy has three branches: the Army, the Air Force, and the Navy. There is also an institution famous in the Jialan Continent, where the Imperial Military Research Institute is also located.

among them.

The Army Branch has the Elite Department, Professional Command Department, Master Operations Department, Army Aviation Department, Army Logistics Department, Army Reconnaissance and Intelligence Department... There are more than ten disciplines in total, and each discipline provides the Army with different types of middle-level officers.

The recommendation letter given by Foster is for the elite department.

Elite subjects are the most valuable of all subjects, because in order to enter the elite subjects, you must either have powerful military force or an extraordinary mind. This "powerful" and "extraordinary" represent an extreme.

As long as you enter the elite department, even if you apply for a position in the Central Army after graduation, the chance of passing will be as high as 60%. As for other group armies, there is almost no precedent of rejection.

Of course, this has a prerequisite, which is successful graduation.

Regardless of whether it is the elite department or other subjects, if you fail to pass the graduation examination successfully, your graduation will be delayed for one year. If you still fail to pass the graduation examination after one year, you will be sent back to your original unit and will never be able to serve as an officer above the deputy regimental level.

According to statistics, the annual graduation rate of the Central Military Academy is 73%.

Vega squatted by a small river in the wilderness, reading the introduction to the military academy brought out from Kareni City while chewing on his march rations. Today was the third day since he left Kareni.

Putting down the military academy introduction, Vega picked up the map.

The next city he was heading to was Balkan, a small city in the north of the empire.

The city has no regular military garrison, but has a law enforcement brigade of about one regiment. The highest administrative body is the Balkan Government, which exercises supervisory and procuratorial powers through the Balkan Procuratorate and the Balkan Civil Court.

In the plan made by Vega.

He needed to pass through the small Balkan town, and then go to the important city of Ropus, which was closest to the center of the empire, to take a civilian magic airship to the imperial capital. Otherwise, it would be almost impossible to reach the imperial capital on foot alone.

After having a good meal and a good drink, Vega continued on his way.

At the speed of his own two legs, he could reach Balkan City in less than three days. If he could use a carriage, it would naturally be faster. Unfortunately, his carriage had been "killed" yesterday.

That's the literal meaning.

When he was staying in a medium-sized city, the kingdom army's war airships suddenly launched a magical bombing, and the carriage he bought was directly destroyed in the first round of bombing. Fortunately, he was close to the city gate, otherwise he would have collided with the kingdom's airborne troops again.

Three days flew by.

Vega arrived near Balkan City. From a distance, he felt that this city was worthy of the word "small". The size of the city was estimated to be only one thirtieth of Kareni, and the total population that could be accommodated should not exceed 30.

Arrived at the city gate.

Vega found a long queue at the city gate. Many skinny, ragged civilians seemed to want to enter the city, but they were turned away by the law enforcement team guarding the city. Those who insisted on getting in were even treated violently.

"Please, please let us in."

"My child is sick and will die if he continues to sleep outdoors."

"The Kingdom Army destroyed our city. We have nowhere else to go."

"..."

Through the fragmentary sounds, Vega roughly understood the specific situation. It was probably that a nearby medium-sized city was attacked by the kingdom’s army, and even massacred and looted. These refugees had no choice but to flee the city and wanted to take refuge in a small town.

Small cities are not targets of attack by the Kingdom Army for the time being.

"Sorry, you are not civilians of Balkan City and cannot enter the city."

The law enforcement team guarding the city checked the civilians' IDs and said, "The city lord has ordered that in order to prevent the infiltration of the kingdom's spy organizations, this city will not allow civilians other than those registered in Balkan City to enter the city."

"Sir, we are really not spies. My child will die if he doesn't receive treatment!"

A woman was kneeling on the ground crying bitterly while holding her 3-year-old child, but the law enforcement officers did not react at all and even kicked the woman away rudely.

The civilians were all somewhat angry.

Seeing this, Vega felt pity in his heart. With his ability, it would be easy to save the lives of the mother and child, but he would definitely not help. Why?
First, he is not a hypocritical justice partner, and second...

"What are you doing?"

At this time, a girl in Lolita clothing, accompanied by the housekeeper, helped the woman holding the child up and glared at the law enforcement officers. Vega's eyes flashed with helplessness, and the righteous partner finally appeared.

"As law enforcement officers, isn't it your job to protect the interests of civilians?"

The woman loudly demanded: "Please give me a reason why they are treated like this and why they are restricted from entering the city."

The law enforcement officer rubbed his forehead in pain: "Ms. Qi Lisi, this is an order from the city lord. If you have mercy on her, you can recruit her into your caravan. In this case, I will certainly not stop her from entering the city."

"you!"

Celis blushed, but she could not interfere in the politics of Balkan City.

She was just a novice businessman. In order to complete her family's business trial, she brought the capital's precious coffee, wine, porcelain, silk... to a medium-sized city in the north for trade. However, war suddenly broke out and she had no choice but to return the same way.

What should I do?
She looked at the woman, and finally gritted her teeth and said, "Grandpa Fok, let's recruit her into the caravan."

Butler Fok looked very embarrassed. He absolutely disagreed at first, but seeing the innocent face of the girl, he finally said, "Miss, I understand. It just so happens that the kitchen is short-staffed, so let her work in the kitchen first."

"Thank you, miss. Thank you, sir."

Upon hearing this, the woman thanked him repeatedly and said that she would do a good job.

Qi Lisi smiled and said, "You're welcome. From now on, you will be a member of the Rodney Caravan. My name is Qi Lisi Rodney, and he is the butler Falk Rodney."

"Thank you, Miss Celis, and thank you, Mr. Butler." The woman thanked again.

Qi Lisi smiled and nodded, then said to the law enforcement team, "Now she can enter the city, right?"

"Of course."

The law enforcement officer gestured to invite them in. "But your caravan can only stay for a month at most. You must leave Balkan City after a month. Of course, you can also apply for an extension from the city administration office."

"Of course I know that."

Celis snorted, turned her head and was about to instruct her butler Fok to lead the caravan into the city, but she saw Vega in the crowd, wearing tattered clothes and looking like a refugee.

This is also impossible.

After experiencing the magic bombing of the Kingdom Army not long ago and walking in the wild for several days and nights, it was natural that he was covered in mud. However, for Vega himself, this was not a big deal because he was used to military life.

But the spoiled Celis doesn't think so.

In her opinion, the 12-year-old Vega was a child who was completely homeless because of the war. If she didn't lend a hand at this time, Vega, who could not enter the city, would surely die tragically in the wild.

Such a cruel thing must never be allowed to happen.

At this moment, Qi Lisi thought of a stray dog ​​that died a few years ago. She walked up to Vega, not caring about his muddy body, and touched Vega's head affectionately and said, "Do you want to go into the city too? But you can't go in like this, why don't you go to my sister's caravan?"

"..."

Vega was speechless. Did he really look so pitiful? He had become the pitiful object of pity for such a righteous partner. No matter from which angle he looked at it, he could not have anything in common with such a selfless person.

"Thank you, but I have to go to the imperial capital."

Vega replied politely that he didn't want to have anything to do with such a person.

"Imperial Capital?"

Qi Lisi smiled and said, "Want to go to the imperial capital to visit your relatives? But the ticket price of the magic airship is not affordable for ordinary people, and it only takes off once every half a month. It is hard to say whether there are extra tickets during this war. But our caravan also happens to be returning to the imperial capital, so you can follow us on the commercial airship docked in Ropus City to the imperial capital."

After imagining a lot of things, Silis felt more and more pity for Vega.

In her mind, she even imagined that Vega couldn't afford the boat ticket and missed the civilian airship, and eventually couldn't see his relatives, and then ended up on the streets, living a miserable life as a homeless child.

He had no idea what the other party was imagining, but when he heard this, Vega's eyes lit up.

Whether it is a war airship or a civilian airship, they are all a type of magic airship. This type of airship requires 1-2 wind magicians to drive it. Therefore, a civilian airship usually only has a flight once every half a month, and the tickets are relatively expensive.

Of course, all of this income belongs to the government.

In addition to these two types of airships, the Empire's super-large chamber of commerce also has its own airships.

Super-large chambers of commerce often recruit magicians to serve them at several times the price, but the Empire stipulates that chambers of commerce cannot sell commercial airship tickets privately. This is because the Empire's business department is afraid that chambers of commerce will endanger the Empire's civilian airship business.

Therefore, Vega was also afraid that he would not be able to buy a ticket.

After all, it is a time of war, and some of the wealthier nobles and merchants may indeed flee to other parts of the empire.

"Please help me along the way. I will pay you."

Vega finally decided to take advantage of the Rodney Chamber of Commerce. Although the Central Military Academy did not set a time for reporting, and he could even report two years later with this letter of recommendation, Vega wanted to graduate early.

"Pfft."

Celis smiled happily. She once again touched Vega's dirty head affectionately and said, "You really look like a little adult. There's no need to reward me..."

He had only said half of his words.

Qi Lisi suddenly felt that she had an obligation to teach Vega that there is no such thing as getting something for nothing in the world, so she immediately changed her tone and said, "Although I don't need your reward, you must work hard for the Rodney Chamber of Commerce along the way."

"I understand. My name is Vega Ka..."

“Vega Ka?”

Vega shook his head and said again: "My name is Vega, I don't have a last name."

"What a cute name. You can just call me Sister Celis."

Qi Lisi turned to the butler Fok and stuck out her tongue and said, "Grandpa Fok, I'm sorry. I acted on my own again."

Fok shook his head and said it was okay, then he glanced at the half-exposed spell medium on Vega's neck and said, "Maybe this is the most successful deal you have ever made, Miss. The president will definitely be very happy if he sees it."

There was confusion in Silis's eyes.

But Falk had no intention of continuing, and walked towards the caravan in the distance: "Miss, I will go to organize the caravan and get them ready to enter the city."

“Veiga, let’s go into the city first.”

Taking Vega’s hand on her own initiative, Silis led Vega towards the city.

But after taking just two steps, she was surrounded by refugees.

"Miss, please take me with you. I have plenty of strength."

"My lady, you have already taken them in. I'm sure you don't need one more."

"Yes, yes, we all have plenty of strength and will definitely work hard for you."

"..."

A large group of people surrounded Celis and Vega and prevented them from leaving, including some strong men.

"Hug, sorry."

Qi Lisi held Vega's hand tightly and refused: "I'm sorry, I can't help so many people with my ability, but their situations are special. If they don't get help, they may die."

"Miss, are you saying we're not miserable enough?"

One of the men, who was about two meters tall, looked down at them and said, "Miss, why do you only help them and not help us? If we can't get into the city, we will probably freeze to death outside the city."

"Yeah, yeah, we might die too."

"..."

"Everyone calm down, I..."

Before Qilisi could answer, questions came one after another, all of which were asking Qilisi not to be partial. Since she had helped two people, she should take them on the road together. Some of the stronger civilians were obviously threatening.

Silis grabbed Vega's hand even harder.

It just so happened that the butler Fok had gone to a distant place to organize the convoy and could not make it in time. Now she was extremely nervous and scared. She had never thought that things would turn out like this. She obviously had good intentions, so why were so many people targeting her?

Bah, bah, bah—

Tears fell from her delicate cheeks, because the questioning from all around had made Qi Lisi extremely scared.

Seeing this, Vega sighed.

The so-called human nature is unconventional, unreasonable, and illogical.

In Vega's eyes, the truly kind person was not the kind-hearted girl in front of him, but the law enforcement officers who had kept the woman and all the refugees out, and the city lord who had issued a notice prohibiting refugees from entering the city.

It does seem cruel, leaving a woman and child to die in the wild.

But think about it from another perspective. If all the refugees are allowed to enter the city, more refugees will flock in, and the end result will be that the small city will be dragged down. Whether they are refugees or indigenous people, everyone will die together.

This is why Vega stood by and watched from beginning to end.

But now it seems that he has no choice but to take action. After all, he still has to take advantage of others. Moreover, if the situation continues to develop, it is possible that Qilisi will abandon him due to pressure and fear.

You want to ask why?
Celis's tight grip on his hand had begun to loosen. After all, how could a 17-year-old girl stand being criticized by so many people?

(End of this chapter)