Sage 6

Because I was tired of humans and holed up in my atelier, dealing only with tree spirits, I had no idea how to treat this twelve-year-old human sitting uncomfortably on the sofa in my atelier.

It would be better if he cried or whined like a real child. But Irkus was very composed, perhaps because he was the protagonist.

“What purpose did you have in entering the Southern Forest? Even a five-year-old knows that you can die if you enter by mistake.”

“I came in just to avoid pursuit.”

“Pursuit?”

Radan… or whatever, I bet. The crown prince, or the first prince, or maybe both? The typical rival antagonist that appears in these kinds of fantasy novels, isn’t it?

I knew all this, but I pretended not to know and asked again.

“There are people who want to kill me… because of family issues. They kept chasing me even when I ran away, so I had no choice but to enter the forest.”

“How ridiculous. It’s like escaping from a fox’s den and entering a tiger’s den. Tree spirits really hate humans.”

“But you live here.”

“It’s ambiguous to say I’m human.”

In this world, ordinary humans usually die before they even reach sixty. Witches who mix with people die even faster. Also, long-lived races rarely lived in groups like humans.

So, it was really ambiguous to say that I, who had lived for 400 years alone, was an ordinary human.

“I’ll say it again, I don’t do charity work. Even if a child whines and asks for help, I have no intention of helping without getting something in return.”

“I didn’t ask for help.”

“What are you going to do without my help?”

“I can take care of myself.”

“Even if I kick you out of this forest right now? You’re the third prince of the Robain Empire, aren’t you? There must be tons of people who want to kill you.”

Irkus looked at me with wide eyes, as if asking how I knew. How do I know? Because I read the first volume of the novel you appear in when I was still a high school senior.

“…Do you know me?”

“You seem to have completely forgotten that I called your name from the beginning.”

I just put on a Great Sage-like smile.

This is what’s great about the title of Great Sage. It’s especially useful because you can vaguely gloss over any problem if you just pretend to know.

“I will win the throne on my own.”

“How can a child who can’t even use magic do that? Do you have a teacher? No matter how great your potential is, you can’t become a mage without a teacher.”

“I’ll learn from someone… It doesn’t have to be magic. There are things like swords, too.”

“It would be faster to cast an attack spell before drawing a sword.”

“If you stab a mage with a sword before they can use magic, they’ll die no matter how good they are.”

“Are you stupid? A skilled mage would obviously have cast a sword-defense spell in advance.”

A childish argument ensued.

I hate swordsmen the most. Even though I don’t age or die, I still feel pain, and being stabbed with a sword doesn’t heal quickly and it hurts like hell. Moreover, it hurts twice as much when it’s pulled out than when it’s stabbed.

That’s why I devised a sword-defense spell on my own while rolling around on the battlefield. It wasn’t a spell that ordinary mages could cast, but if you could cast it, it was a fraudulent spell that rendered swords useless.

In the world I lived in, there were bulletproof vests and stab-proof vests, so the idea itself was just a copy of existing items… but in this world, it was recognized as an innovative spell. Indeed, patents are all about being first.

Perhaps realizing once again that I was the Great Sage, a sullen expression appeared on Irkus’s face.

Whether it was because he was pretty, or because he hadn’t lost his baby fat yet, his sulky face was quite cute. A twelve-year-old human child is definitely cuter than a hundred-year-old oak tree spirit.

“…Don’t treat me like a child.”

“You’re twelve years old. I’m 400 years old. Use honorifics. Don’t you know how to respect your elders?”

“…….”

“There’s a 388-year age difference between you and me, so don’t be cocky.”

The way he shut his mouth and turned his head away was also a bit cute. Indeed, because the outer packaging is pretty, it’s worth putting up with his impertinence.

Irkus, his initial sharpness gone, got up from the sofa like a twelve-year-old and paced around my atelier restlessly.

“I won’t teach you magic for free, either.”

“What do you want? Wealth? Or status or power?”

“No. I want death.”

The child’s pacing stopped abruptly.

It was a bit awkward to say that I wanted to die in front of a kid who had come all this way to avoid dying in a fight for the throne, but who cares. I was too worn out by time to consider the feelings of a mortal I wouldn’t see again once they died.

“The Great Sage of the Southern Forest does not age or die. You already knew about me, so you must know this, too.”

“Yes. I heard that it’s because you reached some kind of state. That once you become a Great Sage, you receive the blessing of magic and do not age or die…”

“Which bastard spread that rumor again? Was it from the Magic Tower? Forget that nonsense. They keep trying to deify me. Because they keep doing that, the temple guys bother me sometimes, too.”

“…….”

“I’m under a curse of eternal life. It’s a curse that your distant ancestor put on me as a so-called blessing.”

I raised my left hand behind my back without Irkus noticing and drew a small magic circle for a contract.

“Let’s make a contract. I’ll make you emperor no matter what. Even if I have to build a new empire.”

“…What do you gain by making me emperor?”

“Death.”

It was clear that the inside of Irkus’s small head was busy turning.

He must be having a lot of thoughts right now. Originally, there was no Great Sage like me living in the Southern Forest. In the first volume of <The Book of Irkus>, Irkus escapes the Southern Forest on his own and returns to the imperial palace.

That means that, according to the original story, I shouldn’t be the one to teach Irkus magic.

Well, I only read the first volume, so I don’t know, but anyway, there must have been at least one episode out of the 17 volumes where he had a magic teacher. So, let’s just think of it as early education. The Korean education method is originally a spartan gifted education.

“How can you be sure that you can kill me?”

“Because you’re a descendant of Yekarina.”

“…Yekarina?”

“She exists, your distant ancestor. So, if you become emperor, what’s so hard about killing just me?”

“You’re immortal…”

“Even if I’m immortal, you can do it if you become emperor. Have some ambition. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work.”

Finally, a descendant of Yekarina who is not a witch… a descendant of a witch who will not get sick even if they mix with people. I don’t know what kind of relationship they have, but Irkus was already the third prince of the Robain Empire. All he has to do is seize the right of succession, and the path to becoming emperor is wide open.

Above all, isn’t this guy the protagonist of this fantasy novel world? He was bound to succeed no matter what. My intuition was strongly telling me. This guy is the best person to kill me.

“What if… what if I can’t kill you?”

“What do you mean, what if? You’ll die, and I’ll continue to live as I do now. Waiting for someone who will someday appear and kill me.”

At my answer, Irkus made a sullen face again.

This is why children are difficult to understand. When they hear that it’s okay to fail, they should be relieved, but he’s dissatisfied. He doesn’t know how the world works yet. I need to take good care of him and raise him to be an adult who is well-versed in the ways of the world.

Irkus rolled his purple eyes. He seemed confused by the sudden contract with the Great Sage that had come upon him.

But I couldn’t just tell Irkus, ‘You can do it because you’re the protagonist of this world.’ No matter how much of a Great Sage I was, it was difficult to recover from such a meta-comment.

“Tell me how you’re going to help me become emperor. You don’t even know what my situation is right now.”

“Well.”

“…….”

“Trust the only Great Sage on the continent.”

Thousands of question marks appeared on Irkus’s face, but it was too much trouble to explain in detail.

After all, the affairs of the human world are all about power struggles. There was nothing that couldn’t be solved with money, political maneuvering, and force. Fortunately, I had all three because I had lived for too long.

“Are all Great Sages like you?”

“I wonder. Since I’m the only official Great Sage, they must all be like me.”

I brought my left hand, which I had been hiding behind my back, forward. The magic circle of the contract was more than half complete.

The magic circle, shining purple like Irkus’s eyes, flickered ominously.

“What if you can’t make me emperor?”

“That won’t happen. If it doesn’t work out in the Robain Empire, I’ll unify the continent and make you emperor.”

“…Magic contracts have penalties for breaking them. Are you okay with not knowing what kind of penalty you’ll receive?”

“It’s okay because I won’t die anyway. What curse could be worse than a curse of eternal life?”

“…….”

“Are you done with your questions? You’re a really suspicious and annoying kid.”

This world’s protagonist will probably read insurance contracts carefully. He won’t have to shed tears of blood because he was tricked into buying a whole life insurance policy instead of an annuity.

I felt a little happy realizing that the protagonist of <The Book of Irkus> was not the type to be scammed by insurance. Yes, it’s better than being a pushover for some random bastard like Yekarina.

Irkus hesitated for a moment, then soon approached me. Come to think of it, it might be necessary to find out what the penalty is for violating the contract. I don’t know because I’ve never violated one.

I’ve never used a contract magic circle except when I made a contract with the royal family of the Kingdom of Kaman. And since I haven’t killed or attacked any of the Kaman royalty yet, there’s no way I would know. Indeed, I’ve lived too kindly.

Later, if I kill one of them and find out what the penalty is, I should at least inform Irkus what the penalty was as a contract service.

Irkus placed his hand on top of my magic circle.

“Then, from now on, you’re my teacher.”

“Yes, I’ll train you in a very spartan way. I’ll raise you to be a mage who can kill anything.”

“What’s spartan?”

“It’s something. You don’t need to know… Anyway, be honored to have the Great Sage as your teacher. The guys from the Magic Tower who have been chasing me for decades will shed tears of blood when they find out about this.”

The magic circle, which had been flickering wildly, soon calmed down when Irkus’s small hand touched it. The reduced magic circle settled on the back of my and Irkus’s hands, then turned transparent and disappeared from view.

The contract between the protagonist of this world and me was established in this haphazard way.