Chapter 75: I Have A Friend

This left Morin completely bewildered.

He truly hadn’t expected that he would have to sue the Imperial Patent Office for patent compensation…

“No, Lieutenant Colonel, you’re not joking, are you? Me, suing the Imperial Patent Office and the military?” Morin said, his face full of disbelief.

“Who said you should go and sue them yourself?”

Ludwig rolled his eyes at him and took another sip of wine.

“Of course, you hire a lawyer to sue them! Do you think the Imperial Patent Office’s compensation is easy money? Their initial offer will definitely try to squeeze the price down to the absolute minimum! At that point, you need a professional lawyer to argue on your behalf and fight for the maximum benefit.”

“It’s just that you haven’t dealt with this before. This is actually quite common practice in the Empire~ The inventor will try every means to prove that their invention is priceless, while the government will desperately drive the price down.”

“The lawyers for both sides will engage in heated debate in a private court, and finally, the judge will rule on a final compensation amount based on the actual value and influence of the patent. This both protects the inventor’s interests and prevents the loss of state assets. It’s very fair.”

After listening to Ludwig’s explanation, Morin vaguely recalled that the Germans in his previous world had indeed paid secret compensation for the Enigma machine and a certain type of poison gas.

“Alright… I think I roughly understand.”

Morin nodded, feeling his head was a bit scrambled.

“Don’t worry, I’m familiar with this.”

Ludwig patted his shoulder and said in a matter-of-fact tone:

“Once we’re back in Dresden, I’ll help you find a good lawyer! I guarantee we’ll squeeze a large sum of money out of those tightwads!”

“Well… thank you then, Lieutenant Colonel.”

What else could Morin say? Although he didn’t know why Ludwig was suddenly so good to him, he raised his cup to toast him.

Although Morin initially only allowed Ludwig one cup, once the drinking starts, the rhythm often slowly slips out of control.

And at some point, Ludwig had poured himself a second cup.

When Morin realized this and was about to say something, he heard Ludwig speak in a very serious tone.

“You’ve really changed a lot, Morin… I always thought you attending military school and joining the army was entirely General Mackensen’s coercion.”

Morin: “Wait, how do you know so much?”

Ludwig looked at Morin as if it were the most obvious thing in the world and shrugged.

“That’s hardly a secret in Dresden’s aristocratic circles~ Plus, my father is quite familiar with General Mackensen.”

“…”

Ignoring Morin’s speechless expression, Ludwig continued: “Anyway, I see what a real soldier should be in you now—brave, decisive, and very smart.”

Ludwig’s words resonated with Morin.

From their conversation, Morin gathered that Ludwig, as a Teutonic Knight from a distinguished family, had a level of insight far beyond the average person.

Moreover, their fighting side-by-side had established a trust that went beyond ordinary colleagues.

Asking him about the Mage issue seemed like a good option right now.

“Lieutenant Colonel, I actually have a question I’d like to ask you.”

Morin put down his glass and spoke casually, pretending it was an offhand remark.

“Oh? Tell me about it.” Ludwig became interested.

Morin organized his thoughts and began his probing with a classic ‘opening line.’

“It’s like this, I have a friend…”

“You, a playboy, have friends?”

“…”

Ludwig cut him off immediately, teasing him with disbelief.

“Female friends?”

Well, the opening line was brutally interrupted.

“…Ahem,” Morin choked a little, forced to continue, “I genuinely have a friend who recently ran into some trouble.”

Ludwig stared intently at Morin, his gaze seeming to pierce right through him.

“Does your friend look exactly like you, is also named Morin, and is also a Second Lieutenant?”

“Fine, Lieutenant Colonel, I confess.”

Morin raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.

“Yes, that person is me. I suddenly discovered I seem to have become a spellcaster…”

Morin admitted it cleanly, and the smile on Ludwig’s face froze.

“Wait, what did you say?!”

“I discovered I became a spellcaster, right after the fighting ended a few days ago.”

Ludwig: “No… did me praising you go to your head, or has your tolerance dropped so much you’re drunk and talking nonsense after just one glass?”

“Lieutenant Colonel, I’m serious.”

“Alright then, show me.”

Ludwig placed his glass down on the table, eagerly saying: “Cast one of those… ‘cantrips’ or whatever, let me see if you’re bluffing.”

Hearing Ludwig’s words, Morin stopped holding back. He dragged a chair with a broken backrest between them, then immediately cast

[Mending]

.

The crack in the chair’s backrest was repaired instantly after a flash of arcane light.

“My God… Morin, you’re serious?!”

Ludwig shot up from his seat and stared at Morin in amazement, scrutinizing him up and down.

After a moment, he sat back down, poured himself another glass of wine, and quickly drank it, seemingly trying to calm his nerves.

Morin: “Lieutenant Colonel, I suspect you are trying to trick me into giving you more wine…”

Ludwig raised his hand to stop Morin’s words, then continued: “Don’t change the subject. Tell me the truth. How did you suddenly become a Mage?”

Morin had nothing to hide regarding this matter, so he briefly recounted how he had captured the two Mage Apprentices in combat and later found the spell notes on the body of the High-Level Mage Eldridge.

“…I was just curious, so I flipped through them a few times, and then, as I was reading, I suddenly felt… like I could do what was written in the notes myself.”

Although this explanation sounded far-fetched, it was the most plausible explanation he could offer for now.

He couldn’t exactly tell him he ‘one-click upgraded’ using a system, could he?

Ludwig finished listening and clicked his tongue in wonder at Morin.

“Your luck is unparalleled, my friend.”

He shook his head, his tone filled with amazement and a hint of inexpressible envy:

“High-Level Mages are top-tier spellcasters. Their spell notes are extremely precious treasures. I can’t believe you managed to collect three of them, and one even belonged to a High-Level Tutor.”

“Even more unbelievably, you actually managed to figure it out and become a Mage just by reading them a few times!”

Ludwig’s reaction was not the kind of fear Morin had worried about, but more like the excitement of someone who had discovered a new continent.

At this point, the Teutonic Knight paused, then warned: “Remember to hand over the spell manuals to the brigade headquarters tomorrow. They are important war trophies… but I estimate you might be allowed to keep one of the apprentice’s manuals.”

Morin didn’t have much of a reaction to handing over the war trophies.

Since the three trophies, defined by the system as ‘Personal Training Manuals,’ had already been ‘consumed’ for experience by him.

And the knowledge within them was forcibly imprinted into his mind by the system, it really didn’t matter if he handed them over…

“I will hand over the three manuals, but Lieutenant Colonel, you still haven’t told me: is my situation… a serious issue?”

Morin asked the question he cared about most again.

“Serious? Why would it be serious?”

Ludwig gave him a bewildered look.

“Do you think you’re the first person to awaken magical talent after reaching adulthood? It’s only because you’ve been constantly preoccupied with socialites that you haven’t paid attention to these things.”

Seeing Morin’s confused expression, he began to explain.

“While the Mage community in our Saxon Empire is completely incomparable to the Britannians and the Gauls in terms of quantity and quality… people with magical talent still naturally emerge in this land.”

“Many of them only discover their ability to cast spells after reaching adulthood, often due to some accidental trigger!”

“While this situation is rare, it is not without precedent! The Empire has dedicated institutions to register and guide these individuals. Those who show exceptional performance are even recruited to serve in the military or government departments.”

Ludwig’s words completely dispelled Morin’s last concerns.

“However…”

Ludwig’s tone shifted, and the look in his eyes became complex again.

“I have never heard of someone like you, who never showed any magical talent, just reading a few of someone else’s study notes and becoming a Mage through self-teaching…”

He stroked his chin, as if evaluating a rare treasure.

“Morin, your talent in magic is likely far greater than you yourself imagine!”

Ludwig suddenly clapped his thigh, his expression becoming extremely excited.

“This means you and my sister, Patricia, are simply a match made in heaven!”

Morin: “???”

He completely couldn’t follow the Lieutenant Colonel’s train of thought. What did his acquiring magic have to do with his sister?

“Let me analyze it for you,”

Ludwig began his long-winded pitch, counting on his fingers.

“You’re now something of a combat hero. When the 16th Brigade rotates back for rest, and the brigade staff officers submit all the combat reports, your promotion to First Lieutenant is a done deal~”

Morin: “Wait, only one rank promotion?”

Ludwig raised an eyebrow: “My friend, you’ll be promoted to First Lieutenant less than a month after joining the company. If that happens, you’ll immediately break the Army’s fastest promotion record! Do you know how long a normal promotion takes?”

Morin: “I don’t know…”

“Oh, you just graduated from military school, so you might not know. Normally, it takes three years minimum to start. Promotion from First Lieutenant to Captain has even stricter service requirements. The rank of Captain is the final stop for 99% of Saxon officers, alright!”

“But I went through life-and-death combat this time! Yet, as you say, I only get promoted one rank, still an officer of low rank. You don’t look much older than me, but you’re already a field-grade officer…”

“Armored Knights and infantry are not the same thing, are they?”

“Shit.”

Seeing Morin’s disgruntled look, Ludwig quickly added: “Don’t be anxious. The 16th Brigade suffered such heavy casualties. So many senior officer positions are empty. When they fill those vacancies, they will certainly prioritize officers from the original unit. Even if the rank doesn’t immediately go up, you can serve as an acting commander. It’s only a matter of time~”

“Besides, you invented the ‘shaped charge anti-armor warhead,’ which is likely to change the battlefield ecology, and now you’ve become a spellcaster with limitless potential! With all three identities combined… what are you worried about?”

“And my sister, Patricia? A renowned arcane technology genius in Dresden, possessing both beauty and intelligence, and the apple of our von Seeckt family’s eye! If the two of you could get together, it would be simply magnificent…”

Ludwig became increasingly excited, as if he could already see Morin’s grand wedding with his sister.

“With our family supporting you behind the scenes… maybe even General Mackensen will give you a push. Combined with your own talent and ability, you will become the rising star of the Saxon Imperial Army!”

Morin was utterly baffled. He felt he wasn’t talking to an Army Lieutenant Colonel, but listening to a golden-tongued matchmaker giving an introduction.

“Lieutenant Colonel, aren’t we getting a little off track?” He tried to steer the conversation back. “Whether we can even get back alive is still an issue.”

“Bah, bah, bah! Don’t talk nonsense!”

(End of this Chapter)