Chapter 389 – First Stop on the Journey

“The Lance family even has a witch godmother who mentored three generations of Grand Dukes.

Moreover, this witch godmother was not only granted the title of Marquis in the Duchy of Lance, but has also been serving as the leader of the Governing Mage Council.

Do you know what it means to be the leader of a Governing Mage Council under the Mage Empire?” Lilith asked.

Vasida and Sylph looked bewildered. “What does it mean?”

Mo Lan said, “Throughout the entire Mage Empire, noble titles are determined entirely by magical rank. A mage apprentice can be granted the title of Baron. A Beginner mage can be granted the title of Viscount. An Intermediate mage can be granted the title of Count. An Advanced mage can be granted the title of Marquis. A Peak level mage can be granted the title of Duke. And a Beyond Peak level mage receives the title of King.

Starting from Viscount, each title comes with its own territory.

Duchies serve as the smallest national unit, and Viscounties serve as the smallest territorial unit.

Only if the title holder has children or students who meet the required magical rank can the title and territory be passed down. Otherwise, they are reclaimed.

Generally speaking, if an enfeoffed mage still has the potential to advance further, they will devote all their energy to studying magic and won’t spend much effort managing their territory.

In such cases, the mage lord will hire a regent with money to manage territorial affairs on their behalf.

At the Duke and King level, what needs to be managed is no longer just a single territory, but an entire nation containing territories of all sizes.

Ordinary regents lack understanding of magic-related affairs, making them ill-suited to serve as regents at the national level.

So Dukes and Kings began using magical resources as compensation to recruit mages and other magic practitioners to serve as regents, creating a new position: the Governing Mage.

Many mages with mediocre talent and unremarkable backgrounds choose the path of Governing Mage to obtain resources.

That is the origin of the Governing Mage Council.

The leader of a duchy’s Governing Mage Council is essentially the nation’s highest actual administrator.

The Governing Mage Council leader has the authority to handle all matters in the duchy, large and small, and answers only to the Grand Duke. They are the most powerful person in the entire duchy aside from the Grand Duke themselves.”

“So this witch is basically half the king of the Duchy of Lance?” Vasida asked.

Lilith nodded. “Probably more than that. The Duchy of Lance’s Supreme Governing Mage has been serving as regent since the Duchy of Lance was still a tiny Viscounty. Rather than saying the Duchy of Lance was established by Grand Duke Lance, it would be more accurate to say it was built single-handedly by this witch elder.

The tradition of Lance nobility asking witches to serve as godmothers also became popular after this witch trained three Grand Dukes.

Even some nobles in the countries surrounding the Duchy of Lance have been influenced by this tradition.”

“She’s that impressive?” Sylph asked. “Is there any information on this witch?”

“Yes. The first bookshelf on the left, number 027,” Lilith said. “Her name is Dayla.”

“Dayla?” Mo Lan glanced uncertainly at the file Sylph had brought over.

Dayla. Blessing Witch. Peak level Witch.

It all matched!

Lilith noticed something off about Mo Lan’s expression and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“This Dayla… might be my grandmother,” Mo Lan said.

“What?” Lilith, Sylph, and Vasida all stared at her in astonishment.

Mo Lan was no less surprised herself.

She had only met Grandmother Dayla once, shortly after she was born—a blessing witch.

However, during her first year at school, her mother Shana had mentioned in a letter that Grandmother Dayla had advanced to Peak level.

Grandmother Dayla had indeed always been over in the Duchy of Lance.

Before graduation, she had even received a letter from Grandmother Dayla inviting her to visit the Duchy of Lance after she graduated!

“If it really is Grandmother Dayla, she returned to the Witch Council just the year before last, and she has already learned all four of our Sorceress Magics,” Mo Lan said. “With her laying the groundwork, we might be able to spread our magic more easily.”

“Then take another look and see if this Elder Dayla really is your grandmother!” Lilith urged.

Unfortunately, the file contained only that much information about Dayla’s personal identity. Everything else consisted of the policies Dayla had implemented in the Duchy of Lance over the years, her achievements, and similar details.

“I’ll write a letter and ask my mother!” Mo Lan said.

It would take some time to receive a reply from her mother Shana, but whether or not this Dayla was her grandmother, as long as she was a witch, she was their natural ally.

Having such a powerful and influential elder in the Duchy of Lance was extremely advantageous for them.

Choosing this place as their first destination after leaving the Wilds meant safety was guaranteed, needless to say.

The very beginning of this journey was when they would be at their weakest and most inexperienced.

Safety was what they needed to consider most.

Once Sorceress Magic had gained a large number of contractors outside the Wilds and her own magical rank had risen, even if word leaked out and certain things were exposed, it wouldn’t matter much.

Because by then, they would have grown powerful themselves.

“Actually, besides safety, the Duchy of Lance’s greatest advantage is its number of nobles.”

Lilith directed their attention to a ranking table on the map showing the number of nobles in each duchy under the Mage Empire.

【1. Duchy of Lance: one Duke, one Marquis, three Counts, 2,382 Viscounts, 28,668 Barons】

【2. Duchy of Green: one Duke, one Count, 1,124 Viscounts, 15,372 Barons】

…

The Duchy of Lance had the highest number of nobles among all duchies under the Mage Empire.

Despite being only a duchy in territory, it possessed a number of nobles comparable to a kingdom.

In the Mage Empire, all nobles were mages, so the number of nobles represented the number of mages.

Being mages meant they had usable psychic power, could purchase magic, and could become contractors of their Sorceress Magic.

So the more nobles there were, the more advantageous it was for them.

“Let’s choose the Duchy of Lance as the first destination on our continental journey!” Vasida said.

Sylph agreed as well. “The Duchy of Lance really is the best fit.”

Mo Lan had no objections whatsoever—she was most satisfied with this choice too.

Lilith smiled happily.

“The right choice! And it just so happens that I’ve researched the Duchy of Lance in the most detail!

All the intelligence on the Duchy of Lance was sent back by Lady Dayla, so it’s very reliable. I’ve already sorted and categorized everything, which will make it convenient for us to plan further.”

Having settled on their first destination, they began studying the Duchy of Lance’s situation in greater depth, thinking about how they would approach selling magic when they arrived.

Lilith’s collected materials proved invaluable—more than half of them were about the Duchy of Lance.

Mo Lan, Vasida, and Sylph spent a considerable amount of time just reading through these materials.

Mo Lan finished first. After reading through all the materials once, they were automatically committed to memory.

While Lilith, who had compiled the materials herself, was still going through the Duchy of Lance files in detail with the others, Mo Lan was already able to synthesize and filter out the useful content from it all.