Mind Controling In Another World

The carriage swayed with every bump and slip on the road, making the entire journey slow and painful. If the road from Hohenberg to the capital were a little better, it wouldn’t take two full days to reach the capital.

“We’re almost at the Emperor’s Way. Once we’re there, the road will be more stable,” Sophie commented as Alphonse gazed out the window.

She was right, but that wasn’t what Alphonse was focused on. He was tired of being cooped up in the carriage and playing with his sister.

During the first few hours, he had been teasing her, slipping his foot under her dress and keeping her on edge, arousing her but without letting her reach orgasm. But with their soldiers patrolling the carriages, they couldn’t go any further than that.

He then tried to read, but most of the books were packed in the other carriage for the journey.

Now, Alphonse was staring out the window, observing the landscape around him, and doing small tests with the spells he had learned over the past few days.

The empire's interior was quite mountainous, and Hohenberg was no exception. This meant that they had a good view of the vast territory ahead as they descended from the higher cities.

“Impressive,” Alphonse commented as he looked at the road ahead.

The downside was that the roads built in such terrain tended to get damaged quickly.

‘[Magics]’ the boy thought, pulling up a list of the spells he had learned.

Many of them had been obtained through his [Profession]. However, that wasn’t the only way to acquire magic. A person could train the movement of Mana until they learned how to cast a spell. Even a [Mage] had several spells that weren’t automatically acquired through their [Profession].

Alphonse looked at his basic spells listed:

| Fire Spark [Mana: 10]
| Mind Connection [Mana: 100]
| Mind Influence [Mana: 100]
| Demon Skin [Mana: 300]
| Branding [Mana: 200]

However, there were some new ones as well:

| Shadow Cloak [Mana: 300]
| Allows you to use the shadows around you to become imperceptible.

| Disguise [Mana: 100]
| You are able to manipulate your appearance, making yourself look taller or shorter or changing your hair color. This effect lasts for one hour.

| Lock & Unlock [Mana: 50]
| You are able to lock and unlock simple locks.

When not conducting experiments, Alphonse chose to train these spells.

‘Shadow Cloak and Disguise were easy to learn, though they consume the most mana,’ he thought. ‘I seem to have a knack for anything that involves manipulating someone’s mind, even through illusions.’

Alphonse tested his new abilities, leaning out the carriage window to add a mustache to his face, then making it grow before causing it to disappear.

‘On the other hand, simple arcane spells like Lock & Unlock are more complicated to learn. Though, to others, I learned them quite quickly,’ he mused. ‘I need to be better prepared for situations like the one with the Guard Captain. Outside my territory, breaking into the fortress would have been impossible.’

“BOOM!”
“BOOM!”

While he was still distracted, two loud booms shook the carriage. With no time to think, he and Sophie looked out the window to see what was happening.

Luckily, they weren’t attacking their carriage but rather the one just ahead.

There were at least twenty riders surrounding the carriage. However, it seemed to be protected by some artifact, preventing them from getting too close.

“Again, use it again!” one of the riders shouted.

“BOOM!”

Finally, they saw what was making the noise. One of the men on horseback must have been a mage, manipulating the earth to hurl boulders at the carriage’s protection.

Alphonse opened the carriage door and stepped out.

“Hey! Hey! Al! Where are you going?” Sophie asked.
“To handle this mess,” Alphonse replied.

As soon as he stepped down, one of the family’s soldiers approached him.

“Sir, that carriage bears the symbol of the Merchant Guild. It looks like some kind of robbery,” the soldier explained. “Should we do something?”

‘This isn’t good. They have twenty men, and we only have ten. They have a mage, and we have two,’ Alphonse analyzed the situation. ‘But what if they didn’t have horses?’

Alphonse approached the soldier. “Wait for my signal, then advance. Explain it to the others.”

The soldier gathered the rest of the troops, instructing them to be ready to move. Their faces didn’t show much confidence. Alphonse’s reputation hadn’t changed yet. To them, he was still the useless boy who couldn’t wield a sword in a family of [SwordMasters].

But Alphonse had a plan. Once again, it would be a gamble, but it was worth trying.

‘Let’s try tweaking [Mind Influence] a bit,’ he thought, visualizing the mana flow needed to connect with a target. But this time, he made small adjustments.

His forehead was covered in sweat from the effort of manipulating pure mana.

‘Almost there,’ the boy began to tremble, feeling his body weaken, but he was using the technique he had trained. ‘Done!’

The moment he finished altering the spell, he created a magical subsystem that re-applied the effects of the same spell to multiple targets. His main modification was for [Mind Influence] to work on animals.

[MIND INFLUENCE] FEAR!

It was the only command he gave, but he unleashed it on all twenty horses at once, with all his mana.

As soon as the spell was cast, the twenty horses reared up and started neighing loudly, some bolting away in fear.

“Now!” Alphonse shouted.

The soldiers were still in shock at what had just happened. Only two of the twenty riders surrounding the carriage remained on their horses. The rest were either on the ground or being dragged by their terrified beasts.

“ADVANCE!” the soldiers yelled in unison.

Sophie watched from a distance. She cast a spell to take down anyone trying to flee the battle whenever necessary.

The conflict ended quickly after the soldiers advanced.

Alphonse leaned against the family’s carriage, catching his breath. Some of the soldiers were still confused by what had happened. The boy was exhausted after issuing just one command.

‘He should train more.’
‘How will he become the heir to the house?’
‘It’s absurd that he didn’t even participate in the fight.’

Some of the soldiers thought as they watched him in that state. But Alphonse didn’t care. He preferred to be underestimated. That’s how he managed to slip in and kill the Guard Captain. No one suspected him, as they believed he didn’t have the strength to pull off something like that.

The door of the carriage ahead finally opened. Four people stepped out: a girl and three men, all dressed in long, colorful robes, even covering their faces. The girl approached Sophie and Alphonse.

“Thank you so much for what you did. My name is Lina,” the girl introduced herself. “We are from the Merchant Guild.”

“Pleasure to meet you. I’m Alphonse, and this is Sophie. We’re the heirs of Hohenberg,” Alphonse introduced himself. “Are you all right? Do you know who they were?”

“Unfortunately, we don’t know, but they were likely bandits. It’s not uncommon for our carriages to be targeted,” Lina explained.

“But you don’t seem to be carrying cargo. What were they trying to steal?” Alphonse asked.

“You must not know much about our guild,” Lina commented.

“Unfortunately, no,” Alphonse replied.

“The guild usually sends its representatives to form contracts. So, although we don’t carry coins or spices, we transport the contracts themselves. The contract artificat is valuable on its own,” Lina explained. “Another valuable asset is us four. They may have also been after us, as we know much about the guild.”

“I see,” Alphonse nodded.

“Young Master, if possible, I’d like to request your escort, at least until we reach the Emperor’s Way. In return, I can offer the guild’s services,” Lina proposed.

“We’re headed the same way. We can accompany you to the capital. I don’t need the guild’s services for now, but I’ll remember your offer in the future,” Alphonse responded diplomatically.

Lina nodded and started to move back to her carriage.

“Lina, we’ve been on the road to the capital since yesterday, and I can’t stand staring at the ceiling of our carriage anymore. If you don’t mind, could I invite you to join us in our carriage? That way, we can talk,” Alphonse invited her. “I’d like to learn more about the Merchant Guild, and in exchange, I can tell you about Hohenberg and the empire’s borders.”

The girl glanced at the other guild members, who nodded their approval.

“Of course,” Lina said, walking toward the Hohenberg carriage, noticing that it seemed larger and more comfortable than the one she had been using.

Soon, the three carriages resumed their journey.

“Where were you coming from?” Sophie asked.

“From Wittenstein. For some reason, the heir decided to expedite the engagement.”