I Became a Civil Servant Who Can Use Magic

Ferdin Goldpiece, Grand Duke.
Originally, he would have had to compete fiercely with his younger brother for the Grand Duke position, but thanks to the Inspection Corps’ help(?), he became a lucky one who skipped that process.

As they say, you never know how life will turn out.
Those words certainly applied to him.

“Chief Butler, have you heard this saying?”

A noble is one who can turn coincidence into necessity, and crisis into opportunity.

“It’s an old adage that has been passed down among nobles for a long time. What do you think?”
“I think the same, sir.”

The Chief Butler agreed with the Grand Duke’s words.
At that, Grand Duke Ferdin gave a faint smile.

From the moment his younger brother was purged, the crisis turned into an opportunity.
Now all that remained was to turn coincidence into necessity.

‘Loen Franz, 4-star mage and Inspection Corps rookie, and also the eldest daughter of the Franz ducal family.’

The Grand Duke repeated her profile information once more in his mind.

“Is that prepared?”
“Here it is, sir.”
“Good.”

Knock knock.

The sound of knocking on the reception room door.
The Grand Duke sprang up from his seat.
Soon the door opened and Loen appeared.

The Grand Duke greeted Loen with a bright smile and personally guided her to the table in the reception room.

“Come, sit here.”
“Yes.”

Loen sat down on the chair hesitantly.
The Grand Duke, seated across from her, took a deep breath and immediately got to the point.

“From now on, the Goldpiece Grand Duchy will always be on your side.”
“..?”

Loen just blinked at the Grand Duke’s abrupt declaration of support.
Isn’t this development too sudden?

The Grand Duke bombarded Loen verbally without pause.

“I heard you played a big role in resolving this incident. Despite being a rookie who just joined the Inspection Corps not long ago.”

The words continued endlessly after that.

“No matter how much one desires the Grand Duke position… To think my younger brother would join hands with demons. When I heard that news, how worried I was. Though he was my competitor for the Grand Duke title, he was still my family after all.”
…
“As an older brother, I’m just grateful that you corrected my younger brother’s wrongdoings.”
…
“Thanks to you, we were able to prevent the tragedy of the grand duchy being stained with blood.”

Loen simply did what she had to do as part of the Inspection Corps.
The Grand Duke knows this fact well too.

Nevertheless, the reason he is praising Loen excessively is to form a connection with her through this incident.

These days, the political situation in the grand duchy is chaotic.

Not only was it revealed that the Partisans and demons were involved in the conflict over the Grand Duke position.
Since the process of him becoming Grand Duke was essentially spoon-fed by the Inspection Corps, there were murmurs of discontent here and there.

Therefore, the Grand Duke felt the need to further solidify his legitimacy.

That’s why.
The reason he’s trying to form a connection with Loen is because.
While she belongs to the Inspection Corps, she is also of Franz bloodline…

As long as they become entangled in some way, that’s enough.
If that happens, unnecessary noise will be reduced to some extent.
After all, the Franz name is not a light one.

This was the background behind the Grand Duke’s sudden declaration that he would “take her side”.

Now all that remains is for her to nod her head.

However,
As the Grand Duke’s attitude was noticeably blatant, Loen caught on as well.

‘Isn’t this essentially a proposal for an alliance?’

Loen fell into contemplation.

Grand Duke.
The ruler of a grand duchy who governs part of the vast territory on behalf of the Emperor.
In terms of rank alone, they are a notch above dukes and are essentially kings in all but name.

In fact, until the current Emperor ascended to the throne, they were called kings.
Afterwards, they were demoted from kingdoms to grand duchies and various restrictions were imposed to strengthen imperial authority, but still.

‘This doesn’t seem like something I can decide on my own.’

Loen hesitated because the moment she accepted the Grand Duke’s declaration of support, it would entangle the grand duchy and the Franz family. Given their high status, she had to consider the aftermath as well.

Especially in noble society…

Even if it’s a one-sided declaration of support from one side, the moment the other party doesn’t reject it, people tend to assume there’s something more. Rumors would spread that way too.

That’s why she was being cautious.

At that moment, the Grand Duke gave a signal to the Chief Butler standing behind him and said:

“Oh my! I should have given this first. Chief Butler, bring that over here.”

Seeing Loen show signs of hesitation, the Grand Duke made his next move.

The butler placed a small box on the table.
The Grand Duke carefully opened the lid of the box, revealing a badge inside that gleamed with a mystical light.

“A badge?”
“It’s the ‘Seal of Protection’ that has been passed down through our family for generations. It’s also an active defense artifact that automatically blocks threats to the user.”

Loen’s eyes widened.
Such a precious item?

“After infusing it with mana, if you keep it on your person, it will automatically block attacks of 4-star level or below aimed at you. Of course, it can’t block all attacks occurring simultaneously, but it will still be very useful.”
“You’re giving this to me?”

As expected of a Grand Duke, is that it?
An artifact that blocks 4-star attacks, not even 3-star.

“It’s my gift to you. By the way, this is just an expression of gratitude unrelated to the declaration of support, so don’t feel burdened.”

That’s just lip service.
Unless one is a beast, there’s no way to just accept something like this without saying anything.

But still, I can’t resist artifacts.
I’ll accept it first and then talk to father or Johan about it later, right?

“Then I’ll accept without hesitation…”

Loen quickly picked up the Seal of Protection and infused it with mana. She felt the artifact’s power within the seal connecting with her body. The user registration was complete.
Afterwards, Loen placed the badge inside her chest.

The Grand Duke watched her actions with a pleased expression.

“Why don’t you test its performance right now?”
“Should I?”

The butler handed a scabbard to the Grand Duke. Nodding his head, the Grand Duke immediately drew the sword.
And Loen.

I just need to stand still, right?
Loen stood up from her seat and remained motionless.

Whoosh!
Clang!

The Grand Duke swung his sword towards Loen. As the sword got close to Loen, an oval-shaped small mana shield appeared in mid-air and deflected the sword.

Then the Grand Duke infused mana into the sword and attempted another attack. This time, the mana shield couldn’t deflect the sword but only blocked it.

“As you can see, it automatically blocks attacks imbued with 4-star level mana, and even deflects weaker attacks.”
“The performance is certainly impressive.”
“In any case, it’s just a gift, so don’t feel burdened and use it as you see fit.”

The Grand Duke emphasized the word “burdened” in particular.

“Thank you. And regarding the declaration of support… I’ll discuss it with my family first after I return.”
“I understand.”

Afterwards, Loen left the mansion escorted by the Grand Duke.

“Really, there’s no need to feel burdened!”

The Grand Duke’s shout could be heard from far away. However, she pretended not to hear and went on her way.

‘From now on, when facing enemies of 4-star level or below, I can just focus on attacking.’

On the train returning to the imperial capital.

Ria, with her arms crossed, alternately looked at Loen and Ead talking across from her.

Hmm~ They’ve become really close?
I wonder what happened during that one month~

“So, Team Leader. When are you going to tell us?”

Loen and Ead turned their heads at Ria’s words.

“Tell you what?”
“What you’ve been up to~”
“Ah, I’ll explain that.”

Flying through the sky with flight magic and destroying enemy bases, then meeting Johan and entering the command headquarters, escaping from there again, and finally using the artifact.

Loen’s long storytelling began.
As time passed, the seniors’ eyes grew rounder and rounder.

You entered the Partisan command headquarters?
The corps commander became obsessed with you?
You stole confidential documents and had to use an artifact while escaping?
And it turned out to be an artifact containing 6-star meteor fall magic?

“Youngest, you really went through a lot.”
“I agree.”

Gilbert agreed with Ria’s murmur.

“If the magic contained in the artifact had been insignificant…”
“We might never have seen the rookie again.”
“Hey, that’s going too far.”
“I’m joking.”
“..”

The seniors exchanged conversation.
Then Ria looked at Loen and offered words of congratulation.

“Congratulations in advance~ Adding up your achievements in the viscounty and the grand duchy.. You might even get an early promotion, right? Team Leader, don’t you agree?”
“Who knows.”

Ead neither denied nor affirmed.

“It’s been…”

How long has it been since I joined? About two months, maybe?

“The time period doesn’t matter. What matters is what you’ve accomplished. Didn’t the Team Leader say something like that? ‘As long as the results are good, the process doesn’t matter.'”
“That’s enough.”
“Yes, ma’am.”

When Ria imitated Ead’s manner of speaking, Ead furrowed her brows and warned her.

“Anyway, once your promotion is confirmed, you’ll get an aide and can go on solo assignments~ It’ll be fun in its own way.”

A worried look appeared on Loen’s face.

Promotion aside, is it even reasonable for me to go on solo assignments?
Just looking at what I’ve experienced so far – a 5-star elf mage, 6-star corps commander, 4-5 star vampires…
I might return as a corpse if I go on an assignment alone?

Worry outweighed joy.

When she expressed her thoughts to Senior Ria, the team members’ expressions changed suddenly.
They all looked like they were trying hard not to laugh.

“Ahem, youngest. To summarize, the things you experienced are veeeery exceptional cases. In the first place, even encountering a 5-star is extremely rare, and it’s not easy to meet even a 4-star!”

Hmm, is that so?
Loen scratched her head.

“Let’s take the Pellon viscounty as an example. If there hadn’t been those elf guys there? If at most the Pellon knights were all the enemies had prepared? Then you alone would have been more than enough.”
“That’s true.”

Moreover, unlike then, she had now mastered double casting.
She had also received an active defense artifact as a gift from the Grand Duke.

Thinking that way, Loen’s confidence soared again.

“Just look at me and Gilbert, we’re 5-star swordsmen, but if the world was that dangerous, we would have been buried somewhere long ago, right?”
“That’s right. As you continue to go on assignments, you’ll realize. Where your position is.”
“And even for solo assignments, you can take an aide with you, so don’t worry.”
“I understand.”
“Anyway. I may have gotten a bit ahead of myself, but you might not get promoted, so don’t have too high expectations.”
“Yes.”

Clunk!

Before they knew it, while talking busily, the train had arrived at the capital.
As it was already late evening, everyone exchanged light greetings and dispersed to their respective homes.

The next morning.
When she opened her eyes in bed, a familiar ceiling came into view.

Loen, who had been blankly staring at the ceiling.
The first words that flowed from her mouth were—

“I like… going to work.”

After staying in the grand duchy for over a month, Loen had now come to welcome going to work.

And so, she returned to her daily life once again.