I Became a Civil Servant Who Can Use Magic

In the lord’s chamber of the corps fortress.

“Corps Commander. A letter delivered by the messenger.”

The corps commander, who was watching the training process from the window, picked up the letter held out by his adjutant.

The letter’s content was only four lines.

[ Operation failed ]
Duchess deceased.
No casualties on the Inspection Corps side.
Loen Franz confirmed as a triple casting mage.

The commander’s eyes stopped at the last sentence.

“….”

Eventually, his mouth opened.

“Useless woman.”

Despite hearing the news of his wife’s death, he wasn’t particularly sad.
It was just a political marriage after all.

A relationship formed to expand the family’s influence.
Nothing more, nothing less.

Moreover, she had the fatal flaw of being unable to bear children, so what more needs to be said?

Aside from her background, his wife was just uselessness itself.
Honestly, if she hadn’t been from one of the prominent marchioness families in the south, he would have cut ties long ago.
So he didn’t feel anything in particular.

Anyway, that wasn’t what was important right now.

At first, when he saw the second sentence of the letter, he doubted his eyes.
No casualties on the Inspection Corps side.

Even after deploying the elite knight order that the family had painstakingly nurtured.
To not have inflicted any damage? Does this make any sense?

However, the moment he read the next sentence, he could immediately grasp what had happened.

“Loen Franz.”

She was the cause.

“Triple casting? I know for certain she only recently reached 5-star rank. How on earth?”

He even had the silly thought that she might be some final weapon the Franz family had been secretly nurturing.

The corps commander snickered.
How could that be possible.

As someone who had reached the highest level of 5-star rank, he knew well.

No matter what method is used, it’s impossible for a 5-star mage to use triple casting.
This was an issue related to the caliber of the soul.

Even if one forcibly used it through some method, it’s obvious that they would suffer extreme mental damage or completely break down. So it was a meaningless act.

Therefore, there’s only one answer.

‘She had been hiding her true ability all along.’

Truly a meticulous and cunning person.

Loen Franz.
A rising power player in the Inspection Corps and even rumored to be receiving the Emperor’s trust recently.

To think she was actually a 6-star mage….
It’s truly monstrous.

And now.

Such a monster is heading here with the magic-armored knight squad. The implications were all too clear.

The Emperor’s sword was flying towards the neck of the turncoat.

He suddenly let out a hollow laugh.
Despite having taken the utmost care in joining hands with demons over a long time.

“So they had already noticed the betrayal.”

In fact, he had sensed something was amiss from when the Emperor broke his seclusion three years early.

That’s why he didn’t attend the imperial banquet.
On top of that, he had fled to the corps fortress under the pretext of observing training.

In the end, this was the right choice.
But at the same time, it was a meaningless judgment.

Because no matter what, he wouldn’t be able to avoid death.

‘This will become my grave.’

The corps commander sensed his end.
It was a fact beyond doubt.

‘However, I won’t die meekly.’

The corps commander, who had closed his eyes for a moment and opened them, called his adjutant.

“Adjutant!”
“You called, Corps Commander.”
“Is the check on corps control rate complete?”
“Yes. You can consider it about 48%.”

The control rate mentioned here refers to the proportion of those who would follow orders to attack the inspectors without hesitation.

No matter how much of a corps commander he was, it was merely a position delegated authority from the imperial center.
The level of loyalty was different from the private soldiers directly trained by the family.

Nevertheless, he had steadily attempted to gain control and drew loyalty from nearly half of them.
In numbers, it was about 24,000 people.

“Divide them into 8,000 each and deploy them to the left, right, and front of the fortress, and position the remaining troops around them.”
“Yes!”

After issuing a few additional orders, the corps commander immediately went outside.

Standing on top of the fortress wall, he took in the vast expanse of the plains.

While watching like that for a long time, he spotted their figures near the horizon where the land met the sky.

And the black-haired woman walking at their lead.
Without a doubt, it was Loen Franz.

The one coming to behead him.

Down there, she was approaching.

One who chose betrayal despite his position as a duke.

Up there, he was standing.

After Loen, who had discovered someone standing on the fortress wall, enhanced her eyesight with mana and confirmed,
It was undoubtedly Duke Donnelly.

His gaze was directed precisely at Loen.

Their gazes met for a moment and then separated.

“….”

Loen’s group, having crossed the plains, eventually arrived in front of the palisade’s main gate.

But there was no response from beyond the palisade. Not even guards protecting the main gate were visible. It was just quiet.

‘Surely they must have noticed we’re inspectors..’

Loen, who let out a small sigh, gestured to Psyche.
Psyche, who nodded, clenched her fist and walked forward to knock on the palisade gate.

Bang!
With a sound like a bomb exploding, the thick wooden gate shattered into pieces.

The group walked through the space created like that.

“Wow~ Seeing it up close, it’s really teeming with people.”

As Loen’s group entered inside the palisade, a sea of soldiers filling all directions greeted them.

Just the number visible right in front of them seemed to be about 5,000. Behind them, to the left, and to the right, the same number of troops were waiting in unit formations.

It was truly an overwhelming number.
The scale was so tremendous that it seemed breath-taking.

“There are so many I feel like I might stop breathing?”
“I have a similar thought.”

However, this was just a figure of speech.
None of Loen’s group showed any reaction beyond surprise.

In fact, it was the soldiers who had expressions like their breath might stop.
It was because they felt a sharp aura from the enemies before them.

“Don’t tremble and hold your positions.”
“It’s the corps commander’s order. Never retreat.”

In a large-scale battlefield, the life of an ordinary soldier is truly like that of a fly.
They were mere insects before superhumans who wielded the power of mana.
The higher the realm, the greater this gap becomes.

Because of this, the soldiers’ fear before superhumans was only natural.

“Evidence has been revealed that Duke Donnelly colluded with demons, so we’re going to eradicate him. Therefore, step aside.”

At that moment, Loen shouted towards her surroundings.
But despite her words, wearing the Inspection Corps uniform, not a single person stepped back.

‘I knew this would happen.’

Judging by how they were trembling yet steadfastly holding their positions, it was clear that soldiers with high loyalty were blocking the main routes.

‘In that case, we have no choice but to go according to plan.’

Loen, who nodded, ordered her companions.

“Wedge formation.”

At Loen’s words, the magic-armored knights took cone-shaped positions. And the mages were positioned inside.

Right after that, the moment Loen took out an artifact and infused it with mana.

Crash!
The artifact shattered and the magic activated.

Soon after, a thick night fog began to spread over the vast plains under the bright sun.
A dark red fog like the mist of death spread rapidly with Loen at its center.

Hiss—

The soldiers fell into panic at the night fog that was encroaching everywhere and expanding its territory.

“Hold your positions!”
“Shut up!”
“Those who flee will be severely punished!”

While some soldiers turned and fled, the majority steadfastly held their positions.
It was because of the corps commander’s orders. There was a strict command not to retreat no matter what.

Just as the spreading dark red fog was about to swallow the soldiers at the front.

One soldier, who had fallen into extreme panic, rushed forward and spat out curses towards the fog.
It was an instinctive movement to overcome fear.

Everyone’s attention focused there.
To witness the result of one swallowed by the fog.

“S-son of a b—”

The moment he was swallowed by the fog, his booming voice was cut off abruptly.
No sound at all could be heard from within the fog.

“..!!”

At this sight, everyone became certain.
This was no ordinary fog.
It was a mist of death that took the lives of the living the moment they were swallowed.

No wonder the color of the fog looked ominous….

Realizing this fact, a considerable number of soldiers couldn’t endure and deserted their positions.
Now the number of those fleeing gradually increased.

As the soldiers’ desertion increased like this,

A soldier who tripped and fell flat on the ground urgently called for help.

“Save me! Save m—”

But his voice was also soon cut off abruptly.
Because the mist of death had devoured him.

Gulp.
Finally, that word burst from the mouths of the unit commanders who had been encouraging the soldiers.

“Retreat! Everyone retreat!”
“Don’t just stand there blankly, I said retreat!”

If they were to die fighting the enemy, that would be one thing.
This was just a meaningless dog’s death.

Knowing this fact well, the unit commanders ran like mad to escape from the mist of death, leading their soldiers.

Fear of the Inspection Corps was firmly engraved in the minds of the fleeing Southern Corps soldiers.
They were now confident they would have seizures just seeing an Inspection Corps uniform.
That’s how much of a shock the dark red fog was to them.

Eventually, the fog that had continued to expand stopped its advance only after colliding with the fortress walls.

Meanwhile, Loen, who was watching this scene, was truly flustered for the first time in a long while.

“Loen, wasn’t this supposed to be a non-lethal magic?”
“That’s right..”

One of the four artifacts received from her father,
A one-time ‘non-lethal’ large-scale area of effect magic artifact, Night Fog.

The effect is nothing special.

The moment one enters the widely spreading fog, visibility is extremely reduced.
Also, noise is blocked between the inside and outside, making information exchange between inside and outside impossible.
That was all.

The purpose of use was to prevent attacks from siege weapons and mages positioned on the fortress walls, and to cause confusion in the command of the corps troops.

Therefore, originally, after using the artifact, while the enemies were in confusion, the plan was for the group to form a formation and break through in one point.

However, due to the fog’s ominous appearance, the Southern Corps, slightly misunderstanding, retreated to the outskirts all at once. That was the current situation.

For reference, the soldiers swallowed by the fog were just floundering due to the extremely reduced visibility, nothing more.

“Isn’t this a good result in the end?”

At Seraphine’s words, everyone in the group nodded.
Meanwhile, the magic-armored knight captain opened his mouth.

“As the Night Fog magic is rarely seen even on the front lines, it’s understandable for the Southern Corps to be terrified. However, even I didn’t expect this kind of reaction.”

Loen, who was nodding while listening to the group’s conversation, hardened her expression again.
She was flustered by the unexpected reaction, but that was that. The battle wasn’t over yet after all.

Anyway, the real enemies were inside the corps fortress.

Loen said.

“Since it’s come to this, let’s quickly rush to the fortress’s main gate.”
“Yes.”
“Okay!”

The group maintained their wedge formation and ran quickly. Occasionally, groups of panicked soldiers blocked their way, but they were easily ignored.

Like that, when they reached the fortress’s main gate.

Creak, click.
Prepare to load!!
Watch the castle gate!

Along with the sound of siege weapons rotating, the voices of soldiers loading ammunition were heard. Inside the fortress, preparations were in full swing to block the incoming inspector group.

Loen, who had stopped at the fortress’s main gate, gestured to her companions.

Nod.
Everyone except Psyche retreated. Soon, various magic activation words poured from her mouth.

At the same time, Loen fiddled with the second magic artifact while doing a final check of the plan.

Since no knight forces were visible outside the fortress, it must be assumed that they were all waiting inside the fortress.

For reference, the Southern Corps has over a thousand knights and over twenty mages.
Moreover, the siege weapons positioned on the walls numbered over ten from what was confirmed.

In other words, the moment they enter the fortress interior, it’s clear they will face fierce resistance of a different dimension from what they’ve experienced so far.

‘So we need to respond accordingly on our side too.’

After all, we can’t collapse from exhaustion before even fighting the corps commander.

Loen, who moved to stand beside Psyche, said.

“Psyche, are you ready?”
“I’m done.”

Loen, who nodded, stretched both hands forward.

Towards the massive castle gate blocking their way, Loen shouted.

“Magic Bullet.”

Boom!
Thick gray beams extended from both hands and pierced through the castle gate. Immediately after, Psyche completely demolished the gate and leaped alone into the fortress.

“Fire!!”
“Shoot!”

With the enemies’ shouts, all kinds of attacks poured down on Psyche from all directions.

Clang, boom!
From huge ballista arrows and cannonballs.

Blades, magic bullets, fireballs, ice bolts.
To various magic that had been waiting on standby.

Beams and mana concentrations of various colors flew towards Psyche.

Thick smoke rose from the fortress courtyard that had been devastated in an instant.
Because of this, Psyche’s whereabouts were not visible.

However, Loen wasn’t worried at all.
Considering Psyche’s abnormal speed, she would have dodged most of the attacks.

“Did we get her?”

Listening to the occasional voices of the enemies, Loen held her breath. She waited for the right moment.

A little later, as the smoke from the bombardment began to settle,
Hundreds of knights waiting inside formed ranks and advanced into the courtyard.

Hearing the sound of their march shaking the earth, Loen was certain this was the right moment.
Now.

“Flight.”

Loen, who had lifted her body into the air, burst mana from her two feet and shot forward quickly.

Hundreds of knights all made surprised expressions towards Loen who appeared cutting through the air.

And at that very moment,

The second artifact activated.

A small lightning sphere floating beside Loen.

From the sphere smaller than her fist.

Soon, a thunderous sound that seemed to flip the world erupted.