Sage 17

My heart sank heavily. A bad feeling is never wrong. Irkus had already grown fond of me, even though I hadn’t done anything particularly nice for him.

Was I too harsh when that kid got his collar grabbed? Or was it that Irkus felt I was being kind, even though I thought I was being strict?

“Are you mad at me now? Because I keep not listening to you.”

“….”

“Be more mad. I like being hated. I’m more used to malice than goodwill.”

“I don’t hate you; I just hate being young.”

“How cute.”

I deliberately ruffled Irkus’s blond hair with my hand.

If I can’t hurt him with those words, I had to push him away from me with these words. When I saw Irkus’s terribly furrowed brow, I finally felt a little relieved.

I didn’t dislike the affection of others, but Irkus’s favor often made me afraid. Just like when Yekarina died, it was clear that a part of my heart would be empty when Irkus died.

To think that I would have to watch the genius disciple who depends on me and follows me grow up wonderfully, grow old wisely, and eventually enter a coffin. The world was indeed too cruel to immortals.

What if I’m ruining the child.

I don’t know how Irkus Robain became emperor. <The Book of Irkus> is a 17-volume series, but I only read the first volume. Irkus escaping from the Southern Forest and returning to the imperial palace was all I could remember from the first volume.

One thing was certain: there was no Great Sage in the original. Irkus was not destined to become a mage at the age of twelve. In the remaining sixteen of the seventeen volumes, he might have met a better teacher than me, or, like an overpowered protagonist, he might have broken the rules of mages and learned magic on his own.

I was anxious that I might be cutting off the many future connections that Irkus should have.

What if the protagonist’s life, which would have been smooth sailing even if he had some hardships in between, was ruined because of me? The reason why this anxiety came so late was probably because I was so distracted by Irkus that I had grown fond of him again.

“Don’t worry. You’ll always be a child to me.”

Irkus’s bright blond hair, which scattered messily at my fingertips, shone even more brilliantly in the light. I slowly withdrew my hand and sighed as small as Irkus wouldn’t notice.

The worst-case scenario was that Irkus would follow me like this even as he got older. It would be really difficult if he showed this kind of blind affection even in his last hope, puberty.

I need to raise him quickly, make him emperor, get him married off, and then make him focus on his family, not me.

I tried to ignore a certain anxiety that was quietly rising in my chest.

Irkus and I lived on different timelines. The first person to approach anyone would be special. It would be a problem if I became more than just the ‘first teacher’ or ‘the Great Sage who took me in’ to Irkus.

If he met more people and had more experiences, Irkus would surely become independent from me soon. Just like the other witches, he would find his own life.

It became a little more difficult than before to imagine the future where Irkus would kill me.

* * *

It had been a few weeks, not even a few months, since I had last visited the capital of the Kingdom of Kaman, Carabel, and it was as lively as ever. It was even more bustling because I had Adelaide and Irkus on either side of me.

“You’re a prince, and you don’t know about international relations? I see, you’re good at magic, but you’re a fool.”

“Who are you calling a fool? I just asked because it was different from what I learned in history class.”

“Seriously. Hey, obviously the Empire invaded first. Would the kingdom have rebelled first? Use your common sense.”

I looked sadly at the two teenagers actively fighting on either side of me.

People say that children get closer by fighting, but seeing how passionately they were calling each other stupid and belittling each other, it seemed unlikely that they would develop a close relationship. Still, there’s such a thing as growing fond of someone even if you find them annoying, so if I kept them close together, they would probably get used to each other because of the physical proximity.

When they were silent, I wondered if they were shy with each other, but once they started talking, I wished they would be quiet again.

Both of them were above average in appearance, so they stood out even without doing anything, but no matter how much they wore their hoods, it was impossible not to be noticed if they were fighting loudly in the street like this.

“You two, stop fighting and…”

“If you don’t know in the first place, just ask the Great Sage. That guy must have been alive during the war 200 years ago. Since he doesn’t die.”

Adelaide was right. I was alive during the war a few centuries ago. Was I just alive? I even participated directly.

I don’t know how they teach history to children in the Robain Empire, but at that time, the Kingdom of Kaman was an incredibly small country compared to now. It was so small that the Empire and other surrounding countries didn’t even bother to invade the Kingdom of Kaman.

The reason the Empire became interested in Kaman was because of the Southern Forest. In those days, as it is now, the Southern Forest was a colony of tree spirits, so it was just as dangerous, but at the same time, it was the best place to get good timber and excellent soil.

Because of the timber and soil from the Southern Forest, the Empire claimed that the Southern Forest was their territory. There was no official agreement, but they didn’t think that the small Kingdom of Kaman would dare to claim ownership of the Southern Forest against the Empire.

The surrounding countries also naturally considered the Southern Forest to be the territory of the Robain Empire. They didn’t think that Kaman would be so crazy as to pick a fight with the Empire, which had a much larger military, over a mere forest.

But the Kaman royalty were usually crazy. And not just crazy, but properly crazy about money.

Those guys, blinded by profit and honor, began to claim that the Southern Forest was their land. The grounds were very diverse. From the argument that the Southern Forest was theirs because the area bordering the forest was several percent larger than the total area of the kingdom, to unrecorded mythological stories that a distant emperor of the Empire had given ownership of the forest to the Kaman royalty.

I don’t know where the truth ends and the lies begin, but the Kingdom of Kaman started to provoke the Robain Empire, which was already grinding its teeth and saying, ‘Don’t you keep messing around?’, by constantly saying, ‘It’s not your land? It’s ours?’ They even stationed people on the road that bypassed the Southern Forest and collected tolls.

The Robain Empire and the surrounding countries didn’t stand idly by and watch Kaman’s behavior, and so the Kaman invasion war began. As is the case with about 60% of historical events, this was also a mutual fault.

“It’s true that the Robain Empire hit Kaman first, right?”

Adelaide asked me with sparkling eyes. The first to strike was indeed the Robain Empire. I had nothing to add, so I just nodded.

I may be showing some talent as an educator these days, but my major is magic based on mathematics and science, not history.

But what can I say to the kids. Your ancestors were all crazy about land grabbing, and that’s why the tree spirits hate humans, it would be too unromantic to say that.

“See? The Empire guys are all thugs.”

“But, clearly Kaman started it…”

“Your teacher says it’s not true.”

As I watched Adelaide nagging Irkus from the sidelines, we soon arrived in front of the Night Fellow headquarters, disguised as a grocery store.

I put Adelaide, the leader’s granddaughter, in front of me and entered, just in case the intelligence guild guys had any malicious intent.

“Don’t be too down. From what I’ve seen, the Empire and the Kingdom are both jerks. When humans gather in national units, something always goes wrong.”

“…….”

“So, you must grow up to be a great and wise ruler.”

So that I can live a long life without a revolution even after I die.

I took Irkus, who was quietly thinking about the distant future, into the building.

* * *

Contrary to Adelaide’s claim that Teriz was on her deathbed, Teriz looked very healthy on the outside. She was a little thinner than the last time I saw her, but she wasn’t lying in bed, and she didn’t look sick anywhere.

“Is this what you call dying?”

“Can’t you see that my grandmother is thin?”

“Uh-huh, I can see that she’s thinner than before, but she still looks healthy.”

I thought she was really in a critical condition because she was sobbing and saying she would avenge her grandmother.

Teriz looked at Adelaide, me, and Irkus in turn, then put down the document she was reading and got up from her comfortable-looking armchair. When I looked closely, I saw that she was holding a cane-like object in one hand for support, which was unusual for her.

Teriz also took off her thick glasses, which she wore to read, and placed them on the desk. I didn’t know when I saw her before, but the cane and glasses made Teriz’s aging feel closer.

“Adel.”

“Grandma, this Great Sage said he could use healing magic…”

“Did you go to the Southern Forest?”

“…….”

“What were you thinking?”

Teriz Perlburn was quite strict with her granddaughter, as I expected. I glanced at Adelaide, who immediately lowered her tail and bowed her head.

It was strange that she was barking at me, but she couldn’t even talk back to Teriz properly. She seemed to love her grandmother quite a bit, and she seemed to be mindful of her as much as she loved her.

Even though she didn’t look sick on the outside, there must have been a reason why Adelaide made a fuss and came to the Southern Forest.

“You said she was in a critical condition, so I came to see her, but she looks a little too healthy than I expected.”

“I don’t need your help, Yoo-an.”

“You must be sick somewhere, right? Since it’s because of my lightning magic, I have to take responsibility. I made a promise with your granddaughter. In exchange for her being friends with Irkus, I’ll take care of your health periodically.”

“There’s nowhere that hurts. As you said, I’m a human who lives longer than expected. Adel made a fuss for nothing. I apologize on her behalf. You can go back now.”

“Teriz, stop being so stubborn. Adel is crying.”

At that age, there must be an illness somewhere. Even though she looked healthy on the outside, those thick glasses, wrinkled hands and neck proved Teriz’s real age.

Moreover, as soon as Teriz told me to go back, Adelaide, who had been keeping her mouth shut, even started to tear up. This was definite proof.

“Tell me what illness you have. I’ll fix it.”