“My lord. I could do it. Please give me another chance,” Damon begged, but instead of sympathy; he got a glare.

“Hardt, it had been seven months since you have this position, but you have barely made any progress,” said Count Darrow angrily.

“It is not true, my lord. The shadow trade had started, and its volume is increasing every day,” he said, but the Count just shook his head.

“You did little about it. It was the prince, and me, who did that, while you squabbled in petty politics, instead of doing some actual work,” accused the Count.

Damon wanted to deny it and opened his mouth to refuse, but closed it, upon seeing the Count’s expressions. Instead, he turned to Lancel and begged him with his eyes.

“Father, you have been unusually hard on Hardt. He is trying his all. Give him another chance,” Lancel requested, and Count's eyes softened as he turned to his son.

“Since you said it, I will listen, but I can’t let this go, without any punishment,” he said and turn back to Damon Hardt, with his gaze hardening again.

“You will still be responsible for merchant cities, Damon,” he said, and relief flooded into Damon’s heart. He couldn’t lose his position; it had brought huge profit to him in mere months.

Most importantly, it is a question of prestige.

Losing it will make him the laughingstock in the city and give that bastard Soren a chance to vie for his position of Guild-Master of the Merchant Guild.

He can’t let that happen.

“But your failure shouldn’t go unpunished; I am taking away the responsibility of Oksall from you,” stated Count, and he looked adamant about it.

So, once again, he looked at Lancel with pitiful eyes.

“Father, it is too harsh. Just give him another chance,” said Lancel, but this time, even his son’s words fall deaf to his ears.

“You cannot tolerate the failure, son, even of the person you trust the most. There should be a clear line between the reward and the punishment,” said Count.

Lancel opened his mouth to protest, but closed it, seeing the expression on his father's face.

He knows when his father would listen and when he will not.

“Damon, consider this punishment and work hard. If I didn’t see the result, I will take all the responsibilities from you,” he warned.

If it had been his territory, he wouldn’t have been this forceful. You can’t force such a matter, but this is not his territory. It is a temporary place created by my nephew to earn money.

Money that will help him fund the battle of the throne.

Till now, they are barely earning anything. They have not even got what they have invested. They need to earn more, and they have little time.

The Emperor won’t be alive for long; the moment he dies. The real battles will start, where not only the survival of his nephew, but his survival will be on the line.

“Thank you for the second chance, my lord. I will work harder this time,” Damon said and bowed, before looking at the Count again.

“If you don’t mind me asking, who would you give this responsibility to?” he asked, and a smile appeared on the Count’s face.

“Someone who could do what you weren’t able to,” replied the Count.

….

Click!

I sat down in a hidden room in the hall. Directly in front of me, on the other side, is a table on which a blue crystal ball is placed, with girls lining up behind it.

I wanted to do it in my office, but seeing the establishment having over two hundred girls. The big hall is a better choice.

So, we paused classes for an hour and sent everyone except the girls out.

I am feeling quite nervous; mage talent is rare, but I hope to get at least five to ten girls. Though, even that seemed impossible, considering only around one in a thousand have this talent.

I shook those distracting thoughts and focused ahead. Danielle, the tall woman, placed her hand on the ball gently.

A second later, the ball turned white. I could see the sadness and disappointment appearing in her eyes, but she took it gracefully and walked away and immediately, the girl behind her took her place.

She placed her hand on the table ball and a second later, it turned white. The same thing happened with the fourth, fifth, and sixth girls.

I had kind of expected it, but it had still couldn’t help but feel sad seeing it happening.

I felt like Margaux might be the only girl in the whole establishment who has any mage talent.

Hun!

I was wallowing in disappointment when suddenly the battle turned green.

It is Lenore, who did it. The beautician.

Seeing that, a smile couldn’t light up on my face. Finally, someone other than Margaux had shown a talent.

I was smiling when another girl placed her hand on the ball, and it lit up green again.

The smile on my face froze for a moment before becoming even bigger. I quickly noted their name, while watching the next girl, who drew blank, and the one after that.

Three more girls drew blank before Cath lit up green. The humorous girl made a joke, making everybody laugh on the spot.

Five more girls passed and once again, green-lit up and it was none other than my assistant Jill. After her, another green lit up. It was a young elf-blood girl, Elah, from the fourth batch.

To my shock, even a girl after them drew green. Stan said something to Zela and checked the ball before making the young girl place her hand on it again and once again.

It drew green.

The next couple of girls lit white, before a crystal lit green again, this time by Mina, who jumped in joy, like a little girl.

One by one, more and more girls placed their hands on the crystals. Most of them drew white, but a small minority lit up green.

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Far more than I had expected.

Mage talent is very rare. So, they shouldn’t be able to have over three or four girls and even that would have been quite a lot, but till now, we have already had ten girls with mage talent and there are still many girls, who have yet to be tested.

Once again, the ball lit green. The one who did surprise me.

It is Senar, the orc blood girl. I am surprised because orcs are the species with the lowest mage talent. It is over ten times worse than humans, but that doesn’t mean they do not have magic.

They have shamanic magic, but it falls into a different category.

So, unconsciously, I thought, she wouldn’t have one. I didn’t consider, she is more human than orc. She has a quarter or less of orc blood, while the majority of her is human.

She seemed very happy seeing it feels like it is more than just about having magic to her.

One by one, every girl is tested, till only three have remained. Della and Lola and Andrea.

Della is the first who went to the ball, and a moment later, it turned white.

She just sighed and moved away, and Lola placed her hand on it and a second later, it had turned white too. It seemed to have hit her quite hard as her eyes watered.

She may look tough, but she is quite emotional.

When Andrea placed her hand at the last, it turned green, bringing a small smile to the young woman’s face.

“Twenty-two girls. It is quite shocking,” I said as I looked at the names of twenty-two girls.

“It is a large number,” said Carla.

I smiled and turned to the two mages in front of me.

“How much time will they need to learn to cast the most basic spells?” I asked them. They didn’t seem surprised by it, likely expecting it.

“It depends on many factors, like the learning ability, age, teacher, and resources,” replied Zela.

“Still on average?” I asked and didn’t receive an answer immediately.

“An average student, with average resources and conditions, would take a year to two years to cast their first Grade 0 spell,” replied Zela after a few seconds of silence.

I nodded, and it was about what I had researched.

This plan isn’t born out of thin air. I had researched all aspects of it before taking the permission. Though, most of the research about it had already been done, years ago, when I had wanted to mage.

I wasn’t willing to accept this null-mage talent and tried to find ways to gain it before giving up.

I understood the reality.

It is not like one couldn’t gain mana attributes artificially, but it is too much hassle and a very dangerous process. I didn’t want to risk my life, just so I could sling some spells.

I was about to dismiss them, when a thought come to my mind.

“Do you know the mage personally?” I asked. Of course, there are tutors, I have my eyes on, and I had also planned to post the job for it.

Though before doing that, I had wanted to ask Valentina, and since these two are also mages; I am asking too.

“We indeed do know someone,” said Shaun, and turned to Zela. “I had received a message from Leopold Mage Aldridge students. He said his teacher had thrown him out of another academy at Belnin,”

“I am not surprised, given the nature of that man and it seemed to have become even worse, after what he has gone through on the island,” said Zela and sighed, while Shaun smiled before turning to me.

“We know someone. It is one of the people with whom we have escaped from the island,” said Shaun, turning to me.

“Is he good?” I said.

I just heard that man getting thrown out of the academy and likely suffering psychologically due to the war on Mayhurst island, where these people fought, before escaping.

“He is the best teacher; I had ever seen in my life. He was a teacher at my academy. Though he was very strict and demanding.”

“Most people leave his class due to the sheer pressure he put on them, but those who stayed benefited tremendously,” said Shaun.

“Were you in his class?” I asked. “Yes, I had taken his basic magic theory class and was one of a few people who had completed it in a semester,” he replied.

I don’t want girls to learn from a stressful teacher, but Shaun is not someone to praise anyone lightly.

“Contact him and tell him about the job. If he is interested, ask him to come for an interview,” I said. He will not be the only person I will interview; I will ask Valentina and also post a job notice in the mage guild.

They left soon while I turned to Margaux and Carla. For one last important thing of today.

“I think we could take one of them off, now,” I said and the two of them smiled. “Yes, many girls have leveled and doing good,”

“Taking one of them off wouldn’t affect the establishment too much,” replied Margaux.

I am talking about the assistant madams. I can’t always have them do both jobs together. It was a temporary thing, till we have enough top girls and now we have and could afford to take one of them out.

I hope this month I could relieve all three of them. So, they could focus solely on being assistant madams.

“Who do you think, we relieve first?” I asked, giving the decision to her.

“Della,” Margaux replied. I am a little surprised. I thought she would choose Lola or Andrea first.

Though I could understand why she had chosen Della; the older woman had the best relationship with the girls.

“Inform her of it then,” I said. “I will do it immediately,” she replied, and her eyes were black for a moment before returning to normal.

I know she did. The telepathic skill is really amazing.