Under normal circumstances, Kike's little moves, carried out covertly through psionics, would have been hard for anyone to notice.
But right now, these recruits' "wilderness survival performance" had become the object of attention—and betting—among all of Zelandia's upper echelons. Red Robe Fischer had placed a heavy bet on Herbert's squad.
Whether he could double his savings this spring, buy a good plot while land in the new territory was still cheap and build a farmstead, then use that to catch the eye of some young lady from a down-on-her-luck noble house—it all depended on this gamble!
Yes, back when Fischer had been a Red Robe Mage apprentice in Torei, he had been filled with envy, jealousy, and hatred toward those noble second-generation rich kids who enjoyed all kinds of privileges among the Red Robes.
Yet it could not be denied that those who hated not having such treatment themselves probably still made up the majority. Fischer was no exception.
Now that he had achieved some success and accumulated a modest estate in Zelandia, the thought of marrying a noble young lady and, once the doors were shut, thoroughly getting his own back could no longer be restrained in its wild gallop.
He was already a middle-aged man in his mid-thirties, nearing forty. Although mages generally had all sorts of methods to extend their lives, the task of carrying on the bloodline still had to be completed.
Especially after he had gone to Water-Drawing City and been stuffed to bursting with Garvin and Vina's dog food in every flavor, that thought had become impossible to stop.
As for the joke some rotten-hearted fellows had once made about simply waiting for little Anna to grow up—
That was far too depraved!
At the very least, Fischer could never do such a thing!