Sage 24

“Gilbert, aren’t you being too much?”

[Me?]

“Then who else? This crazy… the atelier has become a greenhouse. It’s not a place where people live, it’s a botanical garden!”

The atelier in the Southern Forest, which I had returned to after a long time, was a complete mess. To be precise, it was a mess ‘from a human’s perspective,’ and the problem was that from the tree spirits’ perspective, it looked relatively organized.

As expected, Gilbert shook his leaves in dissatisfaction, as if he didn’t understand what the problem was.

[You said I could do whatever I wanted since you’d be gone for a long time.]

“Hey, you should have at least left some space for a person to lie down before turning it into a botanical garden. I built this atelier. So, it’s mine, not yours, right? Huh?”

To be precise, I had transferred the entire building because I couldn’t bring humans into the Southern Forest. Anyway, I was the one who moved it, so it wasn’t entirely wrong.

I hopped onto the sofa, whose leather had been ruined by the plants, to avoid stepping on the flowers and herbs that had tenaciously grown through the floor.

“There’s nowhere to even put my feet. I came back to make some magic tools here.”

[What about Irkus? Why did you come back alone?]

“He’s busy with his own work.”

[Don’t tell me you…]

“I didn’t abandon him, you crazy bastard.”

Even though he saw me making the magic contract, Gilbert kept nagging me, saying I was neglecting Irkus. He’s probably so suspicious because he hasn’t seen the seventeen-year-old version of Irkus.

I took off my robe and stretched out completely on the sofa. Even though he had changed completely from five years ago, I still felt more at ease in the Southern Forest atelier, full of tree spirits, than in the capital city swarming with people.

Gilbert wriggled his roots and approached me, then set up my experimental tools one by one in a corner of the living room where the weeds hadn’t grown.

He seemed to have no idea what was wrong with turning the atelier into a botanical garden while I was away, but I was always grateful that he took care of me like this without me having to ask, because of the years we had spent together.

[The materials and stuff are all in the warehouse because you said you were quitting experiments and shoved them all in there before.]

“Can’t you get them for me?”

[I’m not your butler, Yoo-an.]

“Damn oak tree.”

I thought he was going to set everything up for me, but he drew the line here. Feeling the gratitude I had felt evaporate in an instant, I got up from the sofa again.

I’d spent so much time doing magic research and magic tool experiments that there wouldn’t be a shortage of materials to make something for Irkus, but it was too bothersome to go get them myself.

[What are you making? You haven’t properly given anything you already made to anyone.]

“Things made by a gifted student like me shouldn’t be carelessly circulated in the world. The kids I actually gave them to couldn’t use them for long, and after some time passes, they get sold at auctions with a premium.”

Even now, what I thought were amazing inventions are all cringeworthy in retrospect, and I didn’t want to witness the sight of them being sold at auctions.

[Irkus won’t be able to use anything you make for more than 100 years.]

Gilbert muttered behind my back as I was leaving the atelier to find the materials. It wasn’t a small voice, so it was clear he was saying it for me to hear.

It wasn’t wrong, but it made my heart sink in an instant. Even if he was the protagonist of a story called <The Book of Irkus>, Irkus was still a human who couldn’t escape mortality.

“I know.”

Even if I always knew that, I couldn’t control the feeling of disgust I felt when it was pointed out to me.

To avoid taking it out on Gilbert, I quickly headed to the warehouse I built next to the atelier.

***

Developing magic tool functions was a piece of cake for a long-lived, gifted student like me.

Of course, sometimes I create failures, since there is a universal truth that you can choke to death if you eat rice cakes while lying down, but it’s not a problem for me. Even if it explodes or gets hit by a strange curse, it doesn’t affect me much.

But the magic tool I was making now was not for my own use, but for Irkus.

To do various safety tests, I brought in a very unhappy European ash tree spirit into the atelier.

Gilbert, who had been watching me experiment right next to me for decades, refused to join me, so Dane was the only tree spirit strong enough and willing to help if I asked him to.

[What kind of idiot uses something on a tree spirit that’s meant for a human?]

“Here I am, you bastard.”

Of course, Dane flatly refused my summon at first.

But Dane was also one of the main culprits who turned my atelier into a botanical garden, so when I threatened to pull out the roots of the newly bloomed flowers, he eventually came into the atelier, grumbling.

[I don’t want to stay in a human’s dwelling for long. Even the air is unpleasant.]

“I’m just amazed that my atelier still looks like a human’s dwelling in this state.”

[The floor is made of wood. It’s creepy.]

From a tree spirit’s point of view, a wooden floor might be creepy.

I glanced at Gilbert, who was standing quietly like a tree without saying anything. I felt a newfound respect for Gilbert. He had never complained about the wooden floor of the atelier.

I tried out the functions of the magic tool I was developing, while trying to calm Dane, who was fuming.

Irkus had asked for a function to change his eye and hair color, but I didn’t want to give my disciple, who was walking into a perverted drug dealer’s house on his own, an item with only such trivial functions. My pride as a Great Sage wouldn’t allow it. I have a title to live up to.

So, I eventually added several defense functions. First, I cast a purification spell so that any poison, such as drugs, he might ingest would be immediately detoxified.

Since magic tools were often made in the form of small accessories, it was impossible to cast a permanent spell, so it would activate only three times, but even with just this function, this magic tool could be considered astronomically valuable. If this were to be auctioned, royals and imperials would be desperate to obtain it to protect their lives.

Another function was a one-time physical attack reflection. That’s why I called Dane. Contrary to my worries, all the functions I had put into the magic tool worked normally. As expected, I am an excellent Great Sage.

[Why does that young human need something like this?]

“My disciple can’t be killed by some weird pervert. It would scratch my pride as a Great Sage.”

[Humans are truly incomprehensible.]

Dane, who had been grumbling, quickly left the atelier as soon as the test was over. Judging from the fact that he took a few flowers and herbs that I was growing in the atelier with him, his main purpose must have been to find the plants he had left here.

Looking at the almost completed magic tool, I felt a bit uneasy.

Even I thought it was a bit too much to add several more functions. Detoxification and physical attack reflection would be useful even after he entered the imperial palace, but something like a magic spell that castrates perverts when detected was likely to malfunction, and above all, it would be difficult to keep it a secret from Irkus.

I decided to finish making the magic tool with the original functions of changing eye and hair color and the other two functions that I would keep secret from Irkus.

The most difficult part of developing any magic tool was the ‘design’. I’ve always just made basic designs, but for Irkus to wear, I felt like I should at least add a gemstone. With his flamboyant appearance, wouldn’t it be too conspicuous if he wore an overly simple accessory?

I stared intently at the magic tool, worrying needlessly. The magic tool, which hadn’t fully taken shape yet and was on the experimental table, had to bear the full brunt of my heated gaze.

Should I put a large amethyst in the center? Is that too old-fashioned? Should I break it into small pieces and decorate the perimeter like the Milky Way?

After thinking about it for a long time, I chose obsidian instead of amethyst. I had also considered an opal or a sapphire to help gather mana from the surroundings, but since Irkus already had too much mana, adding such gemstones would be a minus.

Obsidian didn’t have additional functions like opal or sapphire, nor was it purple like amethyst, which reminded me of Irkus’s eyes.

As its name suggests, ‘obsidian’ was black. In this crazy world with a long history of considering black an ominous color, it wasn’t a mineral that was traded at a very high price.

But I chose obsidian and put it in the center of the ring-shaped magic tool. Although the design came out simple, considering the long deliberation, and its value on this continent would not be as high as other gemstones, it was just right.

Just enough affection so that Irkus would remember my eyes when he looked at this magic tool, even after I died.