"Young master, your departure to Fort Erosion will take place in 30 minutes. Please get ready."

 

"Alright, thank you for reminding me, Sisley."

 

Two years have passed since the second arrival of the black book, due to taking command over the nameless knight order (I need to be at least 14 to officially take over and name the knight order) I have many things to take care of. I'm really grateful for Sisley who took it upon herself to become my 'secretary' since it's difficult to keep up with everything.

 

Today, I'm going back to the old fortress which houses kids from all ages; the eldest are 16 while the youngest are 8 years of age. I, of course, couldn't let the poor kids be in the complete mercy of Hunter, so I've divided duties among the children according to their age. Anyone younger than 10 stays inside the fortress and do most of the housekeeping like cleaning and cooking. Those between 10 to 14 are taught basic fighting techniques to gauge their talents, while they also form groups to hunt for food around the safer areas in the Osmic forest.

 

Finally, everyone above 14 becomes an actual soldier-in-training. These guys are taught every basic non-magical fighting skill then divided into three groups where they become specialized. First group 'Sentinels' is made up of the hardiest bunch, given training in stamina and wielding a large shield taught by Hunter. Second group 'Snipers' has the sneakiest and most dexterous kids, they learn archery from an elf woman Hunter has recommended. The last group 'Chargers' is a bit special, while the last two groups have set criteria, this one is formed from those whom I personally choose. Mostly manaphobes with the highest talent get the privilege of joining it. I teach them everything they need to know to defeat mages.

 

"Captain Max has arrived! Open the gates!"

 

I reached the fortress, which has seen some improvements in the past 2 years ago and passed by some sentinels on guard duty who gave me a salute. Hehehe, it's only a matter of time before my regiment can take down clowns.

 

"Hey young cub! A fine day today, isn't it? Fort Erosion is getting a lot better thanks to your great effor-"

 

"Cut the crap, Hunter. What did you do wrong now?"

 

This dumb idiot has never changed with his lazy attitude. I'm afraid it might rub off on everyone in here, especially the sentinels.

 

"Alright captain, but it's not my fault this time, you know? Your little sister came by and decided to snoop inside the workshop even when I told her that she wasn't allowed inside."

 

"Again? Ugh, this is the fifth time this month already. Why is she so adamant on coming here and playing around?"

 

"If I may throw in a guess, I'd say that Alice feels lonely since you are always busy. Duke Magnus is rarely in the mansion due to the recent surge in Soul Corruption cases, while Lady Sarah has her hands tied since she took over the duke's duties while he is busy."

 

Yeah, I guess that's true. Now that I know how serious Soul Corruption is, I can't really complain about that. For now, let's convince Alice to get out of the workshop and find her something to play with.

 

I walked towards a small two-story building with a long chimney, took a deep breath, then opened the door-

 

"YOUNG LADY ALICE PLEASE DON'T TOUCH THAT!"

 

Yup, just as I've expected. A small group of kids around my age, who were wearing smithing uniforms, surrounded the 8-year-old Alice while she attempted to put her hand inside a cannon's barrel. That's right, I'm making special cannons made specifically to pierce through magic shields.

 

I'm getting sidetracked, Alice is about to get her whole arm stuck inside the barrel!

 

"Alice! Don't stick your hand there. It's going to blow up!"

 

"What!?"

 

Alice quickly took out her arm fearfully and looked at me with puppy eyes.

 

"Umm, brother, didn't you say that the cannon is safe as long as it isn't loaded?"

 

"Yes, I lied to make you stop messing around."

 

Alice frowned and approached me without breaking eye contact. Her pouting face and red eyes are really cute, maybe I was a bit to hars-

 

*WHAM*

 

"AAAAAAH! My stomach!"

 

"Lying is bad. Don't do it again."

 

What happened to my little sister? She looks like a frail little girl but hits like a truck! I almost vomited from that punch, and she didn't even use her full force!

 

"Yo captain! Thanks for taking care of the young lady. We've just cleaned the artillery piece, so you've just saved us some unnecessary trouble."

 

A short female? dwarf patted my shoulder as if we were comrades with a grin on her face. Narko, although a bit disrespectful, is also the one who built this masterpiece, so I don't mind her antics.

 

I suddenly heard a cough behind me.

 

"Ahem. Captain Max, you came at a good time. I would like to discuss the details on testing the shield-buster cannon. The expedition should start in the afternoon, correct?"

 

"Yeah, Hunter will prepare the troops so get the cannon running."

 

The black-haired boy who sneaked behind me is Martin Argenti, a disowned noble's child who wears glasses and cares way too much about details, especially when money is involved. He might be a kid, but he can only be thought of as a prodigy since he's so smart that I sometimes wonder if he has a computer chip for a brain. This is the reason why I consider him my right-hand man instead of a certain beast-man.

 

"Umm, can I come too?"

 

"Absolutely not. You are too young for that, Alice. I am going to fight monsters which can hurt you. There is no way for me to take responsibility if you get in harm's way."

 

"Booriiinnnnnggg"

 

"..."

 

This girl is too much. I must've accidentally spoiled her and she's now acting up. I'll send her back to the mansion to make sure that Alice doesn't get any crazy ideas.

 

Afternoon soon arrived and it was time for me to brief the 36 kids standing in front of me about the plan. I explained to them that our target would be a large slime which terrorized a nearby village. As expected, some of them seem shocked.

 

"Huh!? We trained for two entire years just to slay some slime? I can do that alone!"

 

One idiot decided to complain, which didn't last long as Hunter gave him a death glare. Seriously, this is their very first mission and they decide that it's too easy, how arrogant. They should be glad that I'm giving them a tutorial mission instead of suddenly throwing them at a mage.

 

Slimes are actually very similar to mages since they enter combat states and have magic shields. Although slimes are weak, they have high physical resistance because of that shield. It's the perfect test dummy for my new anti-magic capabilities.

 

The cannon is actually useless on its own. The real purpose of having it is to shoot out anti-magic infused rounds that I can make using the black powder I made as a fuel. To make things clearer, I'll summarize the new 3 pages from the 'Anti-Magic Guide' in 3 points.

 

1. Magnetite and volcanic ash form a black powder called 'null dust'. Think of it as anti-mana, a fuel that is necessary for all your mage crushing needs. How convenient!
2. Because you definitely have a disappointing amount of null dust, you can only use it to either attempt bashing through weak magic shields or nullify a small part of a magic formula. Shame on you!
3. You can mix a small amount of the powder with fabrics and metals to give them small anti-magic properties, but it's pretty bad. You should get some dragon blood to actually use null dust correctly. Saying that, it's not like a loser such as yourself could get it easily. Good luck though!

 

Naturally, I threw the damned book down the toilet again after reading it. My blood pressure can't take all the anger I have against that piece of trash any longer. Alas, it still has some good information that I made sure to try out on Lilly right as she attempted to teleport away since her duty was fulfilled as my teacher. I won't miss that clown.

 

After confirming with Hunter and Martin that everything was prepared, we ventured out North where the slime was last seen. I looked around me while riding my horse and did a head count. Two groups of sentinels, each having 9 soldiers, marched close to the cannon that was being dragged by two horses. 10 snipers acted as a recon unit, while the remaining 8 were chargers who rode on horseback.

 

Perfect. They all have anti-magic coated equipment created in the workshop thanks to Narko. When my force proves that normal footmen can defeat mages, everyone will realize the fact that magic is an utter scam!

 

"Reporting in! The slime has been spotted in a grassy field north-east of our current position, sir."

 

Finally.

 

"First sentinel group will act as the frontline; the second group will protect the cannon. Snipers, your duty is to sweep the area and make sure that there are no other monsters around. Chargers, I know you can brute force this, but wait until the cannon takes care of the magic shield first. The goal of this fight is to test the shield-buster, not just kill the slime."

 

"Yes sir!"

 

With that being said, the strike force took a position where I got sight of the slime. It was large, alright. Almost the size of a horse, the green gooey creature was rolling around before it suddenly stopped and started to glow. Seems like it has finally detected our presence.

 

… Isn't it a little too big for some random slime?

 

Following my orders, all groups took their respective positions in a formation facing the slime which seemed to have entered a combat stance. It's probably going to shoot out an acid bullet, based on the magic formula it's attempting to create.

 

Just as I had expected, a ball of green liquid was launched out and hit the shield wall of the sentinels. No damage from what I can see, so let's prepare a counterattack.

 

"The cannon is loaded and ready to fire, captain!"

 

"Alright Narko, aim carefully and wait for my signal."

 

I'm starting to get a little nervous since this is the first time I've ever done this sort of thing. I've led others before, but commanding an army is completely new to me. It's just a slime, so I'll take my time to make sure I don't mess this up.

 

Even if I do mess up, Hunter is here to clean up after me so there's nothing to worry about.

 

I took out a pouch of null dust and doused my fingers in it before touching the cannon's barrel. I needed a connection with the ground for this to work, and it seems like the cannon worked for this purpose. I concentrated on the magic shield of the slime that continued shooting acid at the sentinels, then I swiftly swiped my fingers on the cannon. This action caused the null powder to crackle like electricity and turn brown, while the slime suddenly rippled as if it was confused. The magic shield had a crack.

 

"Fire!"

 

*BOOM*

 

Just as I finished the command, an ear-shattering explosion sounded as a black projectile headed towards the slime.

 

A direct hit.

 

Although the slime's crystal core wasn't hit, the magic shield shattered from the heavy impact. This acted as the signal for the chargers, who waited impatiently to show their worth, to rush on foot towards the slime.

 

Usually, using non-magical weapons to attack a slime is considered ineffective and a hassle to damage it, but the blades covered in null dust cut through the monster like butter. Once the core was hit, the slime stopped glowing and began dissipating slowly. A rather large green crystal was left behind.

 

Well, that was underwhelming, the cannon was cool, but the fight ended without any difficulty. I'm quite disappointed by how weak the monster was.

 

No wait, this is the result that I wanted. Of course the slime is going to be weak because it's using the trash named magic! I'm so gonna use this as evidence that no one should become a mage.

 

"Huh? This core…"

 

Hunter took the green crystal off the ground and inspected it. I'm not really interested in it, so he can have it as long as we show the thing later as evidence that the slime was slain. He can have it if he really wants it.

 

"... Max, go back to the mansion, I'll lead the soldiers back to base."

 

"Huh? Who are you to-"

 

"Now!"

 

What! Hunter has gone insane! I'll listen to him for now, but he better be prepared. I'm so gonna tell Magnus about this, if he's currently in the mansion, that is.

 

As I climbed on my horse, ready to leave and go back to the mansion, Hunter whispered a single word that I had barely caught.

 

Demons.