Chapter 469 – Working to Earn Money

Chapter 469 – Working to Earn Money

Goebel didn’t even have time to eat lunch before heading to the square to wait.

He’d already handed over the money — and in a moment of emotion, had even paid the full amount upfront. Even though he’d regretted it so much his intestines turned green, there was nothing he could do about it now.

He could only hope that a certain stingy scammer of a rogue mage would have some conscience and not swindle them out of the pooled hiring fee too.

If that happened, it would be very hard to explain to his fellow mage companions.

He hadn’t even told his fellow mage companions about being scammed out of one Magic Gold Coin.

Too embarrassing!

When he saw the familiar carriage slowly approaching — arriving considerably earlier than the agreed time, no less — Goebel let out a sigh of relief.

Good heavens! The scammer rogue mage actually didn’t cheat them this time!

Why did he feel a little moved?

“Instructor, it seems they’ve arrived early.” Sylph was driving the carriage this time.

“Ask them if everyone’s here. If so, we’ll depart immediately!” Mo Lan said.

Lilith opened the carriage door and went out to negotiate. She returned in just a few minutes. “Everyone’s here.”

“Then let’s go!” Mo Lan said.

After their carriage started moving, part of the other mages’ escort team split off and ran ahead of their carriage to clear the way.

After Sylph informed Mo Lan, Mo Lan said, “Tell them all to move to the back. We’ll take the lead.”

They were just getting in the way up front.

The guards hesitated. Their job was to risk their lives for advancement — they had always stood in front of mages, regardless of what rank that mage held.

“Go to the back! We don’t need your protection!” Sylph said.

They were all just ordinary warriors with combat training, armed with the most basic weapons. At best, they could handle Beginner magical beasts.

Against Intermediate magical beasts, they might be able to put up a brief resistance if they fought with their lives on the line.

Against Advanced magical beasts, they’d probably be dead before they knew what hit them.

Rather than staying up front to die, they’d be better off in the back.

The guards returned to their respective employers’ sides.

“They don’t want you as escorts?” Goebel felt uneasy.

Were they reliable or not?!

Scamming his money was one thing, but scamming him out of his life was another!

In the end, it was only when he recalled that terrifying venomous thorn vine from the magic test that he found some confidence, and he sent the guards back to their original positions in the convoy.

The convoy consisted of just two magic carriages, two ordinary carriages, and five horses.

Mo Lan’s magic carriage was at the very front.

At the center of the convoy was Goebel’s magic carriage.

Two mage apprentices were on his carriage helping him drive. His escort team also had three horses.

The remaining two Beginner mages each had an ordinary carriage, with two mage apprentices sitting outside the carriage doors serving as drivers to help steer.

They followed behind Goebel’s carriage.

Their guards were all on foot.

So in the end, the entire convoy could only move at the pace of those walking.

After Lilith took over driving — accustomed as she was to speeding — she was very dissatisfied with this pace of travel:

“Instructor, why do we have to travel with them? It’s too slow! At this rate, we really might fall behind Greta.”

“It doesn’t matter if Greta gets there first. The mission won’t be evaluated until a year from now anyway,” Mo Lan said. “Don’t forget our cover! How could a rogue mage possibly pass up a big commission during the journey? Once we reach Lance City, there’ll be plenty of places where we need money! When the time comes, all of you are going to work to earn it!”

“Huh?” Vasida turned her head in shock. “Us? Earn money?”

This wasn’t simply a matter of earning money — this was earning money without blowing their cover. Right now they were just ordinary little mage apprentices whose magical attacks were weaker than a warrior with no magic at all swinging a blade a couple of times. What could they possibly earn?

Mo Lan pointed at herself, then at the three of them. “What rogue mage would support three freeloading apprentices for nothing? Do they have so much money it’s burning a hole in their pocket?”

The freeloading apprentices: “…”

They had a feeling they’d boarded a pirate ship.

Why on earth had they agreed to play these roles in the first place?

Mo Lan had her own considerations.

Her little companions had accumulated wealth far too early. They lacked life experience and also lacked motivation to study and work hard.

This persona of being poor and weak would be better for them to experience real life.

“Don’t worry, I’ve already thought of a suitable way for you to earn money,” Mo Lan said.

“What is it?” Lilith asked.

She had experienced poverty before — though it was only a poverty of Mana — but it still made her more interested in earning money than Vasida and Sylph.

“The best way for mage apprentices to earn money — transcribing magic scrolls!” Mo Lan said.

Imprinting spells one knew onto blank magic scrolls was the most common way for mages to store magic.

After tearing open a scroll, the spell could be released instantly, much faster than casting on the spot.

For elemental Magic, the effect of a magic scroll wasn’t affected by the concentration of elemental force in the surrounding environment the way live casting was.

The only downside was that the cost was considerably higher.

Not only did a mage need to imprint their magic into it, but the scroll itself had to be made from magical beast hide that had been processed through Alchemy, making the cost much higher than direct casting.

“Your beloved Instructor — that’s me — just so happens to know a little about how to craft Apprentice-level blank magic scrolls.

And when you obtained Apprentice-level spell models from me, you already incurred a massive debt payable in finished magic scrolls!”

Mo Lan said with a smile, “Furthermore, I’ve generously included the method for transcribing magic scrolls as a free bonus for you — it’s in that book, 《Essential Survival Skills for Apprentices》. The road to Lance City is still long. The three of you should start studying right now!”

Mage scroll technology did have its own unique aspects, and it was worth learning about.

“…” Sylph asked in puzzlement, “Aren’t we playing apprentices who were saved by our Instructor, guided onto the path of Magic, and who are endlessly grateful to her?”

“That’s right! Knowledge of a single Apprentice-level spell structure, plus the guidance and instruction of an Advanced mage thrown in for free, all for just a bit of labor transcribing some magic scrolls — with the blank scrolls provided by me, no less — among mages, that’s practically like getting it for nothing, okay?”

Mo Lan said, “If you don’t believe me, I’ll go tell those mage apprentices in the convoy that they can transcribe magic scrolls in exchange for spell structure diagrams. They’d absolutely feel like they’d stumbled upon the deal of a lifetime and be grateful to me!”

“…”

It seemed these magic scrolls absolutely had to be transcribed.

“If we’re all going to study scroll transcription, who’s going to drive the carriage?” Lilith asked.

“Zhii!” Me!

“Clack~”

The little monkey and the little skeleton stepped forward.

“Can you two handle it?” Lilith asked doubtfully.

Zhizhi pushed the little skeleton behind her. “Zhii!” I can! It can’t!

“Zhizhi’s intelligence is quite high. At this slow pace, she should be able to manage it,” Mo Lan said.

It wasn’t unusual for a mage to have a magical familiar, so Zhizhi could be out in the open.

But the little skeleton could not — after all, Mo Lan wasn’t playing the role of a necromancer!