Gunmage-Chapter 299: The cost of greatness

"You just said each family has to contribute their greatest talents."

"Yeah."

"Then why is there a selection process in the first place?"

Thinking about it, the contradiction became painfully obvious. Lugh frowned slightly. It was definitely confusing.

Sela scratched the tip of her nose with a lazy motion.

"Ah, that."

She paused.

"Well, to understand it properly, you’ll have to recall what I said earlier."

Lugh didn’t respond. He simply stared straight ahead, expression blank. His face had returned to that eerily neutral mask. Sela continued anyway.

"I told you—each family contributes their most talented people."

He gave a curt nod.

"This naturally meant that only the strongest became enforcers."

Oh.

Now he understood.

Sela glanced at him, her eyes lingering. Now that Lugh wasn’t actively showing expressions, it became surprisingly difficult to tell what he was thinking. Which was exactly why she continued without pause.

"Over time, after successive years of this practice... things just ended up that way. We are mages, and above all, we value strength.

Naturally, the enforcers—who represent the very best of the best—became the ones with the most influence in our society."

Her tone grew slightly heavier.

"Enforcers became a position of great prestige. Any one of them would hold immense sway, not just over their own family, but over the kingdom as a whole.

It reached a point where people made it their life’s goal to become enforcers. Power plays, internal schemes, and bloodline politics followed. In response to all that, an age limit of fifteen to twenty was set."

She paused briefly before continuing.

"Also, the method of becoming an enforcer changed. It stopped being direct family contribution and became a lot more... formal.

A rigorous selection process was introduced. And that’s how it evolved into the system we have now."

"I see,"

Lugh murmured, nodding.

"So the enforcers are in an entirely different league... and everyone’s trying to become one."

"Exactly,"

Sela replied.

Mirelle, quiet up to this point, added softly,

"Not everyone."

Lugh shot her a questioning glance.

She didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she diverted her gaze toward Sela, who already seemed tired of talking and simply shrugged.

Mirelle groaned softly and took the initiative to explain.

"Firstly, only five candidates from each family are allowed to take the selection."

Lugh raised an eyebrow at that.

"Secondly,"

She added,

"Half the time, you might not even get five."

That made Lugh frown slightly, puzzled.

"Why?"

"Because most people don’t want to participate in the selection."

He let out a low hum, the sound deep and almost amused. Then he turned.

"You’re being very contradictory right now."

She pursed her lips. Before she could respond, Cassius joined in, his tone smoother.

He spoke.

"While the position of enforcer is greatly coveted, not many people are willing to risk participating in the selection process."

"Risk?"

Lugh echoed the word, his expression sharpening.

"Yes,"

Cassius explained, a strange look crossing his face.

"The selection is famous for being very brutal. It has a... high death rate."

Lugh stilled.

"You mean... people actually die?"

"Yes. A lot,"

Cassius said flatly.

"In fact,"

He began,

"it’s suspected that the royal family uses it as an opportunity to weaken the other noble houses. The last selection, for instance, was... terrible.

More than sixty percent of the contestants were killed. The ones who survived came back with varying degrees of physical and mental trauma. None passed."

"Okay, that’s just ridiculous,"

Lugh said, voice low.

Cassius chuckled under his breath.

Sela chimed in next.

"Indeed it is. Suspicious, even. Either way, the next selection didn’t hold. They said it was because of the war, but I think otherwise.

Maybe they were just trying to quell outrage... or get people to forget what had happened. Either way, the age limit was raised from twenty to twenty-five."

"Oh?"

Lugh murmured, recalling that part of the article. He raised his eyes.

"So... are any of you going to participate?"

"No thanks,"

Cassius responded immediately.

Lugh turned his gaze toward Sela and Mirelle. They glanced back.

"Why are you looking at us?"

Mirelle asked, already bracing.

"Well? Are you?"

"No, we’re not,"

She responded instantly. Then, after a moment, added with a reluctant shrug,

"At least... I’m not."

She turned to her sister.

"You?"

Sela gave a short exhale.

"I don’t want to die. But... if it’s necessary for the family, then I would."

"Peculiar choice of words,"

Lugh said, his voice even.

They all turned to look at him.

He asked,

"What exactly do you mean by ’necessary for the family’?"

The sisters both turned to Cassius.

"What?"

He asked defensively.

"If you want me to leave, I will."

"No. You can stay,"

Sela replied after a moment’s thought.

She turned to Lugh and began.

"We’re the main branch of the family."

"I’m aware,"

He replied flatly.

"It wouldn’t do if members from the branch family participated in the selection while we cowered behind. Win or lose, they’d gain significant power over us.

This is doubly so, considering none of the previous generation of the main family—Father and his siblings—became enforcers."

"Oh? So there was something like that,"

Lugh thought aloud. Then a new thought struck him.

He asked,

"Hey... Is Isold—your mother, an enforcer?"

Both girls flinched.

Sela responded slowly.

"Well... yes. How did you guess?"

"It wasn’t really that difficult,"

Lugh said.

"...I guess it isn’t,"

She admitted after a pause.

An awkward silence settled over them.

Everyone present understood the unspoken context. Their grandmother, Selaphiel, had essentially strong-armed House Caldreth into giving up their daughter for marriage.

The messy fallout of that union had led directly to Lugh’s existence.

Turns out there was a concrete reason for doing so—rather than something vague like "talent."

If her son couldn’t make it as an enforcer, it was only natural to arrange for his wife to be one.

That meant one of two things.

Either Isolde had been the most exceptional female in her age group.

Or—more likely—she had been exceptional, but also conveniently from a house the Von Heims could bully without consequence.

Lugh leaned toward the latter.

There must have been others as good, if not better, than Isolde. But their backgrounds made them untouchable—people from the Church, or the royal family, for instance.

"Hey,"

Lugh called again.

They looked at him.

"Does anyone from the royal family participate in the selection?"

Sela responded immediately.

"The royal family doesn’t know magic."

"Then..."

Lugh narrowed his eyes, voice dropping.

"...where exactly are the royal guards from?"

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