Sage 25

“Do you like it that much?”

“Yes.”

“Gilbert said it wasn’t very pretty.”

“It doesn’t matter what Gilbert thinks, he’s not going to use it.”

Irkus really liked the magic tool I gave him as a gift.

He looked very satisfied with the fact that it was in the form of a ring. When he saw the obsidian embedded as a decoration, his face lit up. I don’t think there’s ever been a time when I haven’t done anything for him, but seeing him so happy made me feel unnecessarily guilty. I should have given him gifts more often. Maybe it would have helped with Irkus’s emotional development.

I had to adjust the size again because I had made it based on my estimate of Irkus’s finger size, and it didn’t fit the index finger he had originally intended to wear it on, but Irkus didn’t seem to mind such a trivial thing.

“There’s a usage limit, so it’ll corrode on its own after a certain amount of use.”

“What is the limit?”

“That’s a secret.”

Actually, there were two other magic spells added, but I told Irkus that it only contained the magic to change his eye and hair color.

When creating magic tools, no matter how skilled a mage is, I’ve thoroughly double and triple-layered security magic so that the flow of mana cannot be felt. So, no matter how much of a genius Irkus was, he wouldn’t be able to know exactly what magic was contained within.

I had also added several of my own formulas to prevent the disguise magic from being detected even by other mages.

It’s an improvement on the disguise function that I had used to hide my black hair and eyes when I was living among humans, so the chances of Archbold’s employed mages recognizing Irkus’s disguise were low.

“Why don’t you try using it now?”

“Because of the usage limit… I don’t want to use it for a test, it would be a waste.”

“Why are you being so stingy about this? If you ask me, I’ll make another one for you.”

“Still. This is the first ring I’ve ever received.”

“Why do you care about it being the first, it’s embarrassing. I promise to make another one for you next time.”

“Next time, too?”

“Why, don’t you believe me?”

Irkus didn’t answer immediately to the question of whether he believed me or not.

It was a wise move to keep silent instead of lying that he believed me. It also made it clear that he didn’t trust me in these aspects.

I didn’t persistently question Irkus about why he didn’t believe me and simply told him how to use the magic tool.

As soon as he properly wore the magic tool, Irkus’s eyes and hair color slowly changed as if they were being dyed. The process of the bright blond hair turning into a dull brown was quite beautiful.

“Unless you undo it, the disguise will be maintained.”

“This magic tool… its value would be immense. If there wasn’t a time limit.”

“If it were auctioned, it would sell for a very high price. But you and I are probably the only ones who can use it properly. You need to continuously input mana to maintain it, but with this level of disguise, your mana won’t run out.”

Since this magic tool was originally made for Irkus, it absorbed the user’s mana very quickly while in use.

If an ordinary mage used it, there was a risk that the magic tool would be damaged first because the user would run out of mana in a short time. I didn’t even add an anti-theft function because there weren’t many people who could use it even if it was stolen or lost.

Irkus, who had changed both his blond hair and purple eyes to brown, awkwardly brushed his hair back. Indeed, handsome people look good regardless of color. His brown hair and eyes made him seem a little calmer. Perhaps due to his large physique, he didn’t look seventeen but about twenty years old.

“I’m still pissed that you have to take this request.”

“Calm down.”

“How can I be calm right now? I want to castrate that Archbold bastard or whatever before killing him.”

Irkus responded to my tantrum with an unusual calmness for a seventeen-year-old, muttering that he would do his best.

“But are you really not going to tell me what you need from this request?”

“Yes.”

“How mean.”

“You also kept the magic tool usage limit a secret.”

“Is that the same as this?”

Even I could tell that it was a childish argument. If Gilbert had seen this, he would have nagged me about not acting my age again.

I glanced at Irkus, who seemed to have no intention of telling me what he was hiding, no matter how much I asked. You think I won’t find out just because you won’t tell me? I’m the Great Sage. I know everything except for what I don’t know.

***

When I first received the title of ‘Great Sage,’ I cringed so hard.

Even though I had lived a long life, at the time, I wasn’t that great of a being. I was just a bit older than other humans; there were some spirits and dragons with longer average lifespans who were older than me.

But over time, I realized the usefulness of this title. When I encountered a problem, I could just say, “Hey, I’m the Great Sage,” and get away with it.

For example, if I was reported for having ominous black hair in the Empire or Kingdom, I could tell the soldiers who came to catch me that I was the Great Sage and get released. Or, when dealing with people from the temple or Magic Tower, just revealing my black hair made negotiations smoother.

So, over time, I found myself saying, “I’m the Great Sage, so…” My mouth would start saying this cringeworthy title, but gradually, I became proud of it. The habit of calling myself a gifted student wouldn’t go away.

So, befitting the title of Great Sage, I was now tailing my disciple who was on a mission.

Because Irkus had a genius that was beyond the comprehension of ordinary people, I had to use more complex formulas and elaborate magic tools to hide myself than I did during war.

Fortunately, there was an invisibility robe that I had made as a test a long time ago, inspired by a famous fantasy novel. I had to dig it out of the atelier warehouse. I had a hard time repairing it since it was something I made 100 years ago and was worn out, but it wasn’t bad for something I would use briefly and throw away.

I should practice recycling for the environmental protection of this world.

I changed into the robe while pretending to coolly send Irkus off, who had said he would handle it alone. Just in case, I shoved the robe I had been wearing into the inventory magic tool.

As befitting a commercial city where laws were poorly enforced, even though the slave system had been abolished for a long time, there were still people buying and selling humans in the shadows. They were truly scary people who were blinded by money and didn’t fear anything. The fact that the royals and nobles turned a blind eye to this was the problem itself.

These guys mostly bought and sold children. Poor families often sold their children for money, and wealthy children were kidnapped and sold in the shadows with their ransom as collateral.

And Archbold bought those children from the underground human auction and kept them as his favorites. Buying humans with the money he earned from selling drugs; he was true evil.

Teriz investigated this for me in exchange for a bribe, and found out that the name Archbold Jenics wasn’t even his real name. He was originally a businessman who failed once in a different business, and he seemed to have been planning this pharmaceutical business in the shadows for a long time.

And what was more chilling was that this guy had a wife and three children and was still buying children. Indeed, humans are the worst.

Irkus was planning to enter this underground auction house disguised as a ‘kidnapped noble son’ and be put on the auction block. And I had infiltrated the auction house before Irkus.

I was also planning to rescue the children trapped in this auction house and report it to the security forces. If the security forces tried to turn a blind eye, I was going to strike them with lightning. People who make money by selling humans needed to be electrocuted.

As I carefully made plans for my own personal enforcement of justice, the auction participants started to enter one after another.

Perhaps because there were some nobles mixed in, they were all wearing masks to protect their identities. It means they also knew that what they were doing was shady. It made it doubly disgusting.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the auction.”

As the emcee in a smart suit greeted us with a polite and smooth voice, the lights in the darkened auction house began to turn on one by one. The splendid chandelier in the center shone brightly.

This illegal auction house dealt in all sorts of stolen goods, not just humans.

From stolen artworks to brooches that were said to carry the curse of a deceased noblewoman, and body parts of extinct races, were all auctioned off.

Irkus was put up for auction after the body parts of a non-human race, which were said to be good for male virility when consumed, were sold at a high price to a middle-aged woman.

“The next item is a seventeen-year-old boy, alive. I hear he’s the youngest son of a provincial aristocratic family, so some of you might recognize this young master.”

The explanation was truly distasteful. They should return missing and kidnapped children to their parents if they recognize them. These people must be out of their minds.

While I was mentally reciting the mantra for patience about thirty times, Irkus’s price went up like crazy after his face was revealed.

Even I, who have seen enough beautiful people in my long life, think Irkus is beautiful, so it’s obvious how stunning Irkus must look to those who haven’t even lived for a hundred years.

Irkus stood there like a wax doll without a trace of fear even though his price was skyrocketing. It was absurd that not a single adult questioned the child’s condition, even though he was so unresponsive.

He doesn’t even seem to be putting on an act of trembling, and it seems that he is confident that Archbold, who was crazy about young children, will buy him.

“70 million gallons. Any higher bids?”

It was a truly exorbitant price. Enough to buy a castle even in the Empire. While the emcee was counting down, no one tried to stop Archbold’s purchase.

“80 million gallons.”

Except for me.