Sage 29

There’s bound to be one person in ten for whom this kind of bribery doesn’t work, but I didn’t expect it to be Teriz Perlburn.

“Adelaide is out of the question.”

“Why? Because she has to take over the family business? She can just take over the family business and be the emperor’s aide at the same time.”

“No means no. Even if you offer to hand over the entire Southern Forest to Kaman, I can’t send my granddaughter to Robain.”

Teriz Perlburn is materialistic. This proposition is true. Teriz loves money. After she became able to live comfortably with enough wealth, she abandoned the beliefs of her younger days. Getting old means becoming numb somewhere, so it wasn’t something to be criticized.

People like Teriz were always easy targets for recruitment in my opinion. If I offered an appropriate reward, they would readily sell out, no matter what it was.

Considering that Teriz had planned to sell Irkus’s location, I thought she would lend me her granddaughter, Adelaide, for a few years in exchange for a hefty down payment.

It would be difficult to live in another country, but Adelaide wasn’t the type to die easily.

Even if she wasn’t a mage, she was strong like Teriz, and as stubborn as a witch. Now Adelaide was an adult who didn’t need Teriz’s care. Rather, it was the aged Teriz who needed care.

“There will be no danger. I bet Edel would like to go too, right? She may pretend not to be interested, but she enjoys adventures.”

“Imperial politics is not an adventure. And Edel won’t want to leave the Night Fellow right now.”

“Because she’s afraid you’ll die?”

“Yes.”

“What a special grandmother-granddaughter relationship. You were always strict with Edel; it’s amazing how she follows you so.”

Adelaide was an ambitious merchant like Teriz. Although she sold information, not goods, she was smart and spirited enough to succeed in any business.

Of course, she was also a perfect replica of Teriz from the time when she hadn’t been tainted by the world, so it was natural for her to feel attached to her grandmother.

Teriz’s Night Fellow would be inherited by Adelaide unless something went wrong.

Contacting the information guild belonging to the Empire was also an option, but I wanted to borrow the power of Kaman’s information guild, Night Fellow, as part of the imperial backroom politics. For that, I needed to place Adelaide, the next guild leader, beside Irkus.

Adelaide didn’t like Irkus very much, but because I was checking Teriz’s health periodically, she wasn’t as hostile to Irkus as before. It would have been great if a smart child like Adelaide could become Irkus’s confidante, because then I wouldn’t have to worry about things like information warfare after I die.

“Living a long life with an old body is a series of pains. Sometimes I resent the fact that Edel brought you to extend my life.”

“Why are you blaming me for your long lifespan again? You always blame others.”

“I have lingering attachments. Even though I thought I had let go of everything, when I look at Edel, I start to worry about what will happen after I die. Even though I won’t be able to do anything at that time.”

“Are you afraid of death?”

“Probably everyone but you is afraid of death. You don’t know what the world after death will be like, and you can’t know the future of those left behind.”

Human attachment was sometimes this scary. If Teriz just did the math, she would know that sending Adelaide to the imperial palace of the Robain Empire would be a huge advantage. Teriz was good at calculations like that.

But it was absurd that she was willing to suffer losses to keep her own bloodline by her side. It’s ironic that someone who cherishes her family so much once dreamed of revolution with the determination to sacrifice everything.

“I love my granddaughter. Even after I die, I want Edel to live happily in a better world.”

“Most people are like that. It’s rare not to cherish your own bloodline. Humans are just animals in the end…”

“I have a question, Yoo-an.”

“What is it?”

“Do you love Irkus?”

It was a sudden question. It also sounded absurd.

Does Teriz think that I’m capable of loving someone? That can’t be right. Teriz Perlburn is someone who has spent half her life resenting the Great Sage. She wasn’t someone who would expect anything human from me.

“You’re asking a ridiculous question.”

“Your words about helping a child in order to die are contradictory somewhere.”

“You probably think that because you don’t know much about the curse of eternal life.”

“No. Even if I knew everything about the curse, I would have asked you the same question. You don’t look like someone who is acting to die. Even though I haven’t lived as long as you, I’m old enough to know the difference.”

“Then?”

“You’re acting for the sake of the future of those who remain after you die. Just like I am now.”

I truly want to die.

This is an immutable truth. It would be a huge problem if a person who lived for 400 years thinks they want to live more. It means that they still haven’t come to their senses after experiencing all that chaos for four centuries.

There is even a saying that death is the greatest gift that life can give. I am still sane enough to not throw a tantrum about how much I don’t want to receive that greatest gift.

So, Irkus’s appearance was like salvation to me. Irkus was a person who had a high chance of becoming emperor, a protagonist who could kill me, and he willingly made a magic contract with me.

“Even if it’s not love, it must be affection. You’re giving too much to Irkus. It’s not like you.”

“Are you criticizing me now because I said I would take Adelaide?”

“This is a separate issue. This is the advice I can give you before I die.”

“…..”

“If you think that someone who has given up on being human can properly live as a human after just mixing with people for a few years, you’re a real fool.”

The fact that I’m doing all this for Irkus is merely an investment in the hope that appeared like a gift.

It is true that I gave him some affection, but it wasn’t love. I didn’t intend to give him everything and live the way he wants, like Yekarina did for Darwin.

“You have to relearn how to acknowledge your feelings.”

“…..”

“Both of you will surely suffer because of your stubbornness.”

I knew these kinds of words well. Because I had heard them many times.

It was in the same context as my high school classmate’s words, ‘You’ll die after being hit by a truck,’ and Yekarina’s words, ‘You will also fall in love someday.’

Those words of Teriz were a kind of prophecy.

***

I failed to recruit Edel after all.”

“The information guild doesn’t have to be the Night Fellow.”

“There are plenty of information guilds, so that’s true. But it’s better to have someone you can trust by your side.”

“Do you trust Adelaide Perlburn?”

“Why shouldn’t I trust her? Edel is one of the few people who have witnessed your genius firsthand.”

Irkus stopped swinging his sword at the wooden training dummy and looked back at me.

Since successfully completing Archbold’s assassination request, Irkus had seemed to be in a low mood. I thought it was a common mood swing during puberty, so I left him alone for a few more days, but he still seemed noticeably low in spirits.

“Has anything happened lately?”

“No.”

“It doesn’t seem like nothing. You’ve been depressed ever since the last request. You said it ended without any problems…”

“…..”

“You can’t fool me. I can tell what you’re thinking just by looking at your face.”

“You can?”

“Yes.”

Irkus smiled at my words.

It would have been cumbersome while wielding a sword, but then I noticed that he was still wearing the ring-shaped magic tool I gave him.

“As if you know anything about me.”

That’s ridiculous. I’ve been raising him diligently in my own way for five years, so how can he be so sure that I don’t know him? I’m definitely the person who knows Irkus best in this world.

“Whenever you persuade people for me and grasp my feelings faster than anyone, it feels strange.”

“Why, because you’re so grateful?”

“No. I’m confused whether you’re doing it for me, or because you want to die.”

Of course, it’s because I want to die.

But I didn’t say those words out loud like before. Irkus said that he was no longer hurt by my words, but he couldn’t hide his distorted expression every time I talked about dying.

If it were like before, I wouldn’t have cared about Irkus’s feelings. But for some reason, I cared now. Because a guardian should pay special attention to their child, especially during puberty.

“There will be many good people around you in the future.”

“That’s true, because you are trying your best.”

“Among them, there might be someone you can rely on more than me.”

Irkus was still looking at me with a smiling face. It was a face that neither affirmed nor denied.

Irkus slowly turned his back to me and started swinging his wooden practice sword at the wooden dummy again. His movements were sharper than before, and the sound of the wooden sword cutting through the air pierced my ears sharply.

“I hope you regret this moment someday.”

Buried under the sound of the sword swinging, Irkus’s low voice was barely audible, like a voice heard in a dream.

I didn’t miss that small voice and swallowed it whole, but I couldn’t bring myself to ask Irkus what he meant.