Sage 15

At first, I thought Teriz had become young again. I stared at the mid-teen girl who was trapped by the tree spirits.

The blue eyes that resembled Teriz’s younger days were impressive. So was her reddish-purple hair. She looked so much like Teriz that I could easily guess her identity without asking who she was.

“Didn’t Teriz tell you not to go to the Southern Forest?”

“You damn Great Sage. I’ll kill you for sure.”

“Uh-huh, sure. I’d appreciate it if you could kill me…”

Even her fiery temper is the same.

At this rate, I could believe it if someone said Teriz had this girl by budding. She looked like a granddaughter, not a daughter, considering her age, and the way she was cursing at me without honorifics was exactly the same.

“But you can’t kill me. You’re not a descendant of a witch, and you’re not an emperor.”

“So what?”

“It means you have to be born with both bloodline and status to kill me. Being the granddaughter of an intelligence guild leader is not enough. The world is a harsh place.”

“Just die. Just die already.”

It felt great to hear someone tell me to die. I really want to die, too, so it was nice to hear exactly what I wanted to hear. Her malicious words, “Just die,” brought deep peace to my heart.

It was easier to deal with this kind of direct and blatant anger than with the Magic Tower guys who kept chanting about how I should live forever and contribute to the development of magic, or the imperial guys who just said they would wait and see but didn’t try to fight me head-on. It would be great if I could die at the hands of someone like this.

“What’s your name? You’re Teriz’s granddaughter, right?”

“I don’t have a name to tell you.”

“It’s too long to keep calling you Teriz’s granddaughter, so I’ll just call you ‘what’s her name.’”

“Don’t act friendly. It’s creepy.”

“Then, should I call you Perlburn?”

The child, who had been twisting her body while being bound by the tree spirits on both arms and legs, gritted her teeth at my words.

If she grinds her teeth like that when she’s young, she’ll have trouble when she’s older. People really treat their bodies carelessly, even though they don’t have permanently usable bones and eyes like me.

“…Adelaide.”

“That’s a nice name.”

“Fuck off.”

“But it’s too long. The names of the kids here are always too long. I wish they would all unify them into two or three syllables. So, I’ll just call you Adel.”

“Don’t call me by a nickname. I’ll kill you for sure…”

“Adelaide is too long. Anyway, Adel, why did you come here? Do you have nine lives, too?”

Even if Teriz hated me, she wasn’t the kind of person who would tell her granddaughter to kill me.

Unfortunately, Adelaide Perlburn wasn’t strong enough to kill me. She had spirit, but that was it. Even if I didn’t use magic and only used martial arts, I could subdue someone like Adelaide in a few minutes.

Besides, there’s no way Teriz, who knows that I’m immortal, would have told her to kill me. If I didn’t have the curse of eternal life, I would have died at least three times at Teriz’s hands already.

Even if that weren’t the case, Teriz thinks I lack humanity, so there’s no way she would send her granddaughter to the Southern Forest, where an inhumane Great Sage lives in harmony with tree spirits who hate humans. She’s strict, but she cares deeply for those within her circle.

So, Teriz must have told her family never to go to the Southern Forest. Even though she herself had come here on her own.

I looked at Adelaide quietly.

Does Irkus need a friend his age, too? She looks a few years older than Irkus, but compared to Gilbert and me, Adelaide seemed to be roughly the same age as Irkus.

Well, what’s a few years when you’re in your teens? A few years don’t matter much when you’re all going to grow old together.

Irkus will probably have his own harem when he becomes emperor, like a protagonist from a fantasy novel of that era, but right now, he’s surrounded by old people who will only have a bad influence on his character development. I heard somewhere in an educational program that children need to socialize with their peers when they’re young to grow up to be good adults. I don’t even remember when I saw that educational program.

I briefly considered taking Adelaide to my atelier. Since Adelaide had walked in on her own, it wasn’t kidnapping, but a kind of invitation. In South Korea, kids who are close to each other often invite each other to their homes after school.

“Because of you, my grandmother…”

While I was making a grand plan in my head to create a exciting friendship project for Irkus by making him friends with his peers, Adelaide’s furious voice shattered my plan before it even started.

“My grandmother… is in critical condition.”

“Oh, I was surprised for a moment because I thought she was really dead.”

“You damn Great Sage. I’ll definitely avenge my grandmother.”

“I’d appreciate it if you could avenge her, but from now on, don’t drag it out. No matter how immortal I am, I have a weak heart.”

Never mind friends, this is a bit off since I’m her grandmother’s enemy. It would be a bit awkward to be friends with the charge of your enemy.

I calmly took off the robe I was wearing. Whether it was because of my black hair and black eyes, or because I looked too young for my age, Adelaide was noticeably flustered when she saw my face.

“Why?”

“Black hair…”

“Uh-huh, I have black hair.”

I hoped the reason she was surprised was the latter, but it was probably the former.

I had completely forgotten because Irkus didn’t react at all to my black hair or black eyes. The humans in this world are always so surprised when they see black hair and black eyes. The reaction was always the same. I sighed and put my robe back on. Seriously, these consistent humans.

The problem was that I had overlooked Teriz’s age for a moment because she was so strong and looked so healthy for her age. Sigh. I should really refrain from electrocuting people for a while. I can’t control it well and it causes problems like this.

I forcibly suppressed the feeling of guilt that had sprung up again.

No matter how much I tried to rationalize that Teriz was in the wrong first, the truth was that I was in the wrong. Irkus’s words telling me not to do that again kept ringing in my head.

Was it because I had taken in a good kid as my disciple that I was being influenced? The humanity that I had half lost was saying, ‘Oh, master… I think I’m coming back,’ and it was appearing at an unwanted time. If it had been five years ago, I would have just said, ‘So what?’

‘But still’ and ‘She started it’ were not enough to overcome the guilt. In the end, I let out a deep sigh.

It was embarrassing to be told by Irkus not to live inhumanely, only to have me contradict my own words. I’m glad I didn’t bring Irkus with me.

“It’s nice to want revenge, but how about this? A free treatment service.”

“What are you up to?”

“What do you mean, what am I up to? I’d appreciate it if you could think of it as my… belated apology for casually electrocuting her.”

“Casually…”

“Ah, this, you see. Sometimes I can’t control it when I get a little angry.”

Would she believe me if I said it was an occupational disease from living as a mage for too long?

I smiled as harmlessly as possible at Adelaide, who was looking at me with a very suspicious face. Dealing with children was incredibly difficult, whether they were in their early teens or late teens.

“You? My grandmother said the Great Sage is a shameless bastard…”

“Teriz, that girl, has always hated me too much. She always talks bad about me.”

“Can you really save a dying person? Like, fix broken limbs.”

“Probably, as long as they’re not dead? I’m the Great Sage, you know. I’m good at healing magic, too. I’m a gifted student.”

“You’re really full of yourself.”

“I hear that a lot.”

I sent a hand signal to the tree spirits who were still restraining Adelaide.

The tree spirits, as if they didn’t like my request to let the human go, bristled their roots before reluctantly releasing Adelaide. I’ve been too lenient with children these days because I’m raising one.

“But Teriz was also in the wrong. She immediately reported the location of the child I was taking care of.”

“Grandma didn’t do that.”

“She did. It was a pain in the ass to send the knights back.”

“…….”

“So, let’s call it even if I treat Teriz. I’ll also periodically check Teriz’s health. Where else can you get the Great Sage as your personal physician? It’s a very special offer.”

“What’s your real intention?”

“Kids these days are so suspicious. Even when someone is being kind…”

“Just tell me your real intention.”

“Alright.”

Even though I didn’t reach out my hand, Adelaide stood up on her own, brushing off her clothes.

When I looked closely, she seemed to be between fifteen and seventeen years old. Her face, still young, was full of suspicion and wariness. Irkus and this girl seemed like they could be good friends in that they wouldn’t get scammed by insurance.

“You, make a friend.”

“…What?”

“I’m setting you up with the future emperor of the Robain Empire.”

Adelaide stared at me, speechless and utterly dumbfounded. The tree spirit that had been restraining Adelaide also shook its leaves, which should have been its face, as if it were flustered.

They really don’t know anything. To become a great person, you need to have many acquaintances. Irkus is outstanding in magical ability, but he has too few allies. He probably doesn’t have any friends his own age.

Even though they are of different nationalities, it is important to build up connections and plant people you can use from an early age. Imagine if he becomes emperor later and has no reliable subordinates around him. He’ll just end up like Darwin, who was immediately overthrown after losing Yekarina.

“No matter how much I think about it, homeschooling has its limits when it comes to developing social skills. And early education is all about building connections.”