Sage 23

A world where humans do not disappoint each other would not be beautiful.

Not being disappointed means not expecting anything, and not expecting anything from people means not being interested in them.

“Did I hurt you?”

“No.”

“I’d rather you were greatly disappointed.”

But no matter how beautiful this world is, if you let a long time flow by like I have, you’re bound to get tired of any aesthetic.

Irkus’s words, that he would rather I be disappointed, hurt me a little. It was funny that I thought I was the only one trying to hurt, but Irkus also wanted to hurt me.

Considering the slow aging of witch bloodlines, Irkus was growing fast. Both physically and mentally, he was changing rapidly every time I became aware of it.

Teriz said that I was making a fuss over Irkus, who hadn’t changed much because I was used to a world that flowed too slowly, but I disagreed.

Until he was twelve, Irkus was a child who tried not to disappoint me. He wasn’t a clumsy snake trying to hurt me even a little.

“If you don’t like it, you don’t have to help me. This is my job.”

“You never say you won’t do it. You only ever disobey me on things like this.”

“I’ve never been that obedient. Only you think I’m a good disciple.”

I don’t know how to react to Irkus’s sudden rebellion.

I just kept my mouth shut. If I had known this would happen, instead of memorizing English words or math formulas before coming to this world, I would have spent all day watching parenting programs and memorizing how to deal with adolescent children.

Why don’t they teach these things in school? This kind of information would be more helpful in living a long life than English passages that are useless in real life.

This was the first time in my long life that I had raised a child, so I had no idea how to relieve the frustration that seemed to clog my chest. It was clear that solving complex magic formulas would be much easier than resolving this conflict. Because they have a clear solution and answer.

“I’ll help you.”

“…..”

“I’m your guardian, after all.”

If you’re a little careless, it becomes neglect and abandonment, and if you’re a little careful, it becomes overprotection.

It was too difficult to find the middle ground. When he was twelve, I could still control him, but after he became strong enough and set foot in society, Irkus kept escaping my grasp.

“You still talk like a god.”

“Do I?”

“Yes, always.”

Instead of frowning or showing an openly dissatisfied face as before, Irkus simply smiled. A shallow shadow fell over his purple eyes.

“Even though I’m not a believer.”

I knew Irkus was upset, but I deliberately pretended not to know. That was the way for us.

* * *

“Those nouveau riche bastards always have to show off.”

“There are over twenty guards in the house alone.”

As I’ve said before, magic is the worst for assassinations. Because the mana around you moves while you’re solving the magic formulas, if there’s even one mage or witch nearby, you can’t dream of a stealthy assassination.

Of course, mages belonging to the Magic Tower are prohibited by law from using attack magic unless it’s during a war or an emergency, so they wouldn’t be mobilized for something like an assassination. Usually, mercenary groups don’t assign assassination missions to mages, but to skilled swordsmen or poisoners.

“That Red Hawk or whatever, he must be an idiot.”

“Tristan? He’s a bit gullible, but… I think he’s quite clever.”

“What kind of idiot gives an assassination mission to a mage?”

“……”

“Even a Great Sage like me can’t cast magic stealthily. Unless you plan to completely overturn the natural environment.”

“You seem to have forgotten… I can handle a sword, too.”

I didn’t forget. How could I forget when Irkus can handle a sword. One of the reasons he joined the mercenary group was to learn swordsmanship.

The mercenary leader of the Red Hawk mercenary group, Red Hawk Tristan, was insignificant compared to the mercenary king I knew, but he was a man who had made a name for himself in the world.

He was famous for his swordsmanship, but more than that, the title of being the only disciple of the deceased Dragon Slayer sold for more than his own swordsmanship skills.

He was able to take the position of mercenary leader at a young age and form his own mercenary group because of the halo of being the Dragon Slayer’s disciple. Indeed, whether it’s in South Korea or this world, family connections, social connections, and school ties do all the work.

I’ve never met this human named Tristan in person because of Irkus’s interference, but he seemed to have some talent as a swordsmanship teacher.

Although I was reluctant to admit it, Irkus’s swordsmanship skills had improved considerably under Tristan’s guidance, even though I was ignorant of swords. Although it was insignificant compared to his innate talent for magic, his movements were incredibly clean for a seventeen-year-old, and he could handle many types of swords.

Moreover, unlike other mages who were weak because they spent all their time in their rooms memorizing formulas, Irkus had become quite healthy from rolling around learning swordsmanship. Judging from his physique, I could tell that even though he was currently at eye level with me, he would grow taller in a year or two.

“How can you assassinate with just a sword? That guy is a nouveau riche, so he’ll be heavily guarded. Besides, a seventeen-year-old doing such a dangerous…”

“Yoo-an.”

“Yeah, you’re not an ordinary seventeen-year-old. I know that.”

Archbold was just a petty villain who would appear in the early part of a novel, so there was no way Irkus would get into trouble with him.

If he was determined to kill twenty or thirty guards, Irkus could clear the situation with just one attack spell. Of course, that would be a massacre, not an assassination. I could take care of the aftermath, so there was little chance that it would become dangerous overall.

But I was still worried. How could he use a sword instead of magic? I felt like I was losing to the swordsmanship teacher, Tristan, whom I hadn’t even properly met yet.

“How are you going to infiltrate? You’re not just going to barge in at night without a plan, are you?”

“Oh, about that. Archbold Jenics’s tastes are a bit… yeah.”

“Dirty?”

“Yeah, he likes young boys and girls…”

“He’s even more of a crazy bastard than I thought? Then he should die without further ado.”

My true feelings came out before Irkus could finish speaking.

Child abusers and those who look at children in that way should all die. In particular, they should have their lower parts cut off first so that they can never perform sexual functions again before being killed.

It was absurd that I had told him not to kill people, but my mind changed as soon as I learned of Archbold’s tastes. It was important not to let Irkus get his hands dirty, but cleaning up that kind of human trash was a contribution to this harsh world.

“So, I’m going to infiltrate.”

“What?”

“I’m pretty, you know. Even you… even picky you said I was pretty.”

Irkus is pretty. No, is he just pretty? He looks like a beautiful boy who just stepped out of a famous painting.

There wasn’t a single flaw in the description of Irkus’s appearance in <The Book of Irkus>. The honey-blond hair that looked as sweet as spun sugar, and the purple eyes that you could believe were gemstones. Most processed amethyst products probably wouldn’t be able to be properly valued in front of Irkus’s eyes.

However, using that beauty to infiltrate and kill a perverted drug dealer was absolutely out of the question.

It was unacceptable as long as I was alive and kicking. I couldn’t accept the idea of the child I was protecting going to that perverted bastard on his own, not with a normal Great Sage’s mindset.

“Don’t infiltrate. I’ll just use magic to kill him without a trace. Assassination? What’s that? I can even make it look like spontaneous combustion.”

“Calm down, Yoo-an.”

“How can I be calm right now? I should really meet this Tristan or whatever properly. What kind of mission is he giving to a child? I should burn all his hair off or something.”

“I volunteered to do it, so please calm down. You told me not to make a scene in someone else’s country.”

He should have stopped him even if the child volunteered. I made up my mind that when I meet Tristan someday, I will burn his hair first to repay the dragon’s grudge and my disciple’s safety, no matter if he’s a Red Hawk or whatever. This guy needs to experience the pain of having his head on fire to get his act together.

“And your magic… the scale is always unexpected, so other people might get caught up in it. I can do it alone.”

“Should I develop a magic tool that makes humans impotent?”

“No. Just a magic tool that can change eye color and hair color, something that won’t be detected, is enough.”

“…I really don’t understand why you have to go this far.”

Actually, I didn’t plan to stop Irkus to this extent until I found out that Archbold had such trashy tastes.

If you can’t stop it, it’s also a way to let them try. Above all, since he promised me that he would go to the imperial palace on his own after this, I was planning to help him quickly and finish it in a way that would minimize the blood on Irkus’s hands.

But the thought of Irkus having to change his eye and hair color and infiltrate that pervert’s bedroom because of the target’s dirty tastes made my blood run cold. I wanted to immediately strike Archbold Jenics’s mansion with lightning 2,000 times to erase that bastard’s existence.

“I know what you’re thinking, but I really want to solve this request. This is my last mercenary job, after all.”

“Why this request of all things… why did you have to choose…”

“Complaining won’t do any good. I’m doing this because I have something to gain, too.”

Irkus’s words sounded meaningful. What exactly can be gained from the residence of a sex offender drug dealer?

I glared suspiciously at Irkus.

“If you touch drugs, you’re really in trouble.”

“Why would I touch drugs when I have you?”

“Ugh, seriously. You’re so smooth with your words.”

They say you can’t win against your own children, and that was exactly right.

I covered my head with my robe and started to move to make a magic tool that Irkus could use. To make an item that was elaborate enough not to be detected by mages, even a Great Sage like me needed at least two days.