Sage 7

Maybe I’m cut out for teaching?

I never once dreamed of becoming an educator. Irkus learned well whatever I taught him.

I’ve had many occasions to teach others while living a long life, but this is the first time someone has so easily understood my vague and often lacking explanations.

When I was an imperial mage, the disciples I was forced to take all complained and said they wanted to quit being mages, so I didn’t have the qualifications to be a star instructor in Daechi-dong.

Perhaps it was more likely that Irkus was a genius. Like a parent whose child has just taken their first steps, I concluded on my own, ‘Is my child actually a genius?’

Objectively speaking, I couldn’t be a good teacher in any field. Because I’m a gifted student. If you can’t do it, just keep trying until you can, so I couldn’t understand those weaklings who asked me to teach them an easier way.

But when I told Irkus that if you try two hundred times, you’ll succeed at least once, and then pushed him, he succeeded on the twentieth try.

The test-taker radar that had been active during my entrance exam days stirred within me. If this guy had been in the Korean entrance exam system, he would have been the kind of infuriating genius who could cram the night before and still get a perfect score.

“So, it’s because you’re the protagonist…”

“What?”

“It’s nothing. Concentrate and finish the formula.”

“Okay.”

“Also, your speech is getting more informal again? I told you to call me ‘teacher’ every time. Use honorifics.”

“…….”

“Cheeky brat. You really don’t know how to use honorifics.”

Irkus never used honorifics, perhaps because he wasn’t born and raised in a Confucian country, but he was surprisingly obedient in other ways.

When I told him not to leave the atelier, he really didn’t go out, and when I told him to study hard, he studied diligently. He didn’t complain or show any pickiness about what I gave him to eat. Are all twelve-year-olds so mature? I don’t think I was like that when I was twelve.

I leaned against Gilbert, who was sitting between me and Irkus and watching Irkus construct the magic formula. The hard tree bark felt particularly foreign.

Perhaps because Gilbert was a mild-mannered oak tree, he didn’t complain even though I had brought a young human into the atelier.

Well, I’m the owner of the house. It would be strange for a tree spirit renting from me to complain. Still, I thought he would dislike living with a human other than me because he was a tree spirit, but Gilbert was surprisingly friendly to Irkus.

It was very gentlemanly compared to Dane, who lived outside the atelier and tried to harass Irkus whenever he had the chance.

He even brought tree nuts that he had never given me, and he helped Irkus with the magic formula assignments that I had given him because I didn’t want to teach.

“Gilbert, do you like that child?”

Because I had given him a difficult magic formula for a twelve-year-old to solve, Irkus’s attention was elsewhere, so I lowered my voice and asked Gilbert.

[How could I like a human? I’m a tree spirit.]

“You’re treating him pretty well, unlike what you said. I thought parenting might be your hobby.”

[It’s because you’ve seemed more lively for the first time in decades.]

“Me?”

[Yes, you. You haven’t even been getting out of bed lately.]

That was true. Before Irkus crawled into the Southern Forest, I was really living like garbage. I just lay there and didn’t move.

The good thing about being immortal is that you won’t die even if you spend several years like that. The bad thing is that you can’t live a human life.

“I was getting tired of magic research, too. When you get tired, you just have to lie down and sleep.”

[Don’t you think you’re sleeping too much?]

“I have to enjoy the few privileges of being immortal.”

My words seemed to displease Gilbert, as several of his leafless branches swayed up and down.

[Still, I think you won’t be so lethargic while that young human is alive.]

“You’re talking like a prophet. Do tree spirits know how to prophesy, too?”

[Of course not. Even witches can’t prophesy.]

Indeed, that guy who told me not to read fantasy novels when I was in my third year of high school was more amazing than a witch.

[I hope you can finally die this time, Yoo-an.]

Gilbert whispered in a low voice, just as I had done. This time, I picked up the protagonist of this world, so maybe I can really die.

Irkus, who had been burying his head in the parchment with the formula, seemed to sense my gaze and suddenly looked up. At the same time, thin snowflakes began to fall inside the atelier.

I thought it would take him at least three days to solve the formula, but he did it in one day. Are all naturally born science-types like this?

Or maybe I really do have a talent for teaching. I just didn’t know I had the talent. A talent discovered after 400 years.

I stared blankly at Irkus, who was smiling brightly at his success. The magic formula I gave him to solve was to make it snow heavily temporarily but seeing him so happy just making it flurry made him look very cute.

“It’s rewarding to teach Ir.”

Because I died on the day of the college entrance exam, I never even got close to a university, but I think I know what it feels like to be a university professor when a research student achieves great results.

The snow falling on my face was cold, but I didn’t want to undo the magic that Irkus had succeeded in.

From now on, grow up to be a great, strong protagonist, sit on the emperor’s throne, and then kill me. I looked at Irkus with satisfaction and thought about a wonderful death.

It might not be so bad to die in the arms of the child I raised.

* * *

Being someone’s teacher or guardian is very difficult. Even if it’s just a relationship bound by a magic contract, the moment you get the title of ‘teacher,’ you have a responsibility to make sure the child doesn’t go astray.

I thought I had almost abandoned the basic ethics and morals of human society, but when I ended up living in the same space with a child who had to go back to society, I couldn’t help but care.

I can go without eating or sleeping without any problems. I won’t die even if I sleep for 20 years, but Irkus will die if he doesn’t eat or sleep for a few days. Because he’s not immortal.

The Southern Forest is full of tree spirits, so there are tree nuts everywhere. Even if I don’t take care of him, he won’t starve to death. It would just make me a little uncomfortable.

Irkus is twelve years old, but he has a lot of mana and a good physique, so if tree nuts aren’t enough, he could hunt small animals himself. It might be a little dangerous, but the protagonist won’t die hunting a rabbit, will he?

So, I was just going to leave him alone. I thought he would do well on his own. A little neglect is important for fostering a child’s independence. I thought it wouldn’t be good for his education if I spoon-fed him everything.

[Yoo-an. Neglecting a child is child abuse. No matter how much you lack humanity…]

“Stop nagging, Gilbert. This is all part of education.”

[If you take in a child, you have to take responsibility.]

My dead conscience kept rising from its coffin at Gilbert’s nagging, saying, “Oh, did you call me?”

No matter how many reasons I could think of not to take care of Irkus, one nagging from Gilbert saying, “That’s abuse,” made me think, “What is a good teacher?”

Is twelve years old enough to foster independence? By my standards, it was so long ago that I even doubted whether my teaching methods were wrong. I became worried whether it was okay to leave Irkus alone like this even though he wasn’t complaining.

“I’ve never properly taken care of a child before.”

[Right, what have you been doing for 400 years without making a single child?]

“What child would an immortal have? How can I watch my child die before me?”

[You only talk like a normal human at times like this.]

Gilbert looked at me with an expression of disbelief.

His face was mostly covered in bark, so I couldn’t see his expression clearly, but it must have been something close to, ‘You can think like that?’

“What, what’s with that look? I’ll set you on fire.”

[Sometimes you seem to stand on the border between human and non-human.]

“If you have time to talk nonsense, go get something for the child to eat and wear.”

[You’re the one who took him in. You’re the one who made a contract with that human.]

Tree spirits are strict about these things. No matter how well Gilbert treated Irkus, if Irkus died because I didn’t take care of him, Gilbert would throw his body into the forest without a second thought.

And he would let the other trees use the corpse as fertilizer. Tree spirits are ‘non-human.’ Even if it seems cruel from a human perspective, it was natural in their society.

“I guess I’ll have to go out.”

Raising a child is really not easy.

* * *

“Why are you being so stubborn? Just stay here.”

“Do you have to say it like that?”

“Then how should I say it? If you don’t stay here quietly, I’ll abandon you, like that?”

Preparations for my long-awaited outing were stalled in a strange place.

When I asked Irkus, he said that there had been no currency reform in the Robain Empire in the last 100 years. This meant that the monetary unit hadn’t changed, so it was easier to get money.

I used magic to change my eye and hair color to an ordinary brown. It was a disguise that would be quickly discovered if there was a mage nearby, but this kind of shoddy disguise was necessary when dealing with ordinary people. What is it about that damn black color… Even if I wore a robe, I couldn’t ignore the possibility of something going wrong.

I hate it when things get annoying on a short outing. It was right to sort out all the potentially problematic elements in advance.

As I was getting money and clothes ready, Irkus hesitantly asked me if he could go out with me.

He had been quietly staying in my atelier and studying, so I thought he wasn’t that active, but it seemed like he was getting restless being cooped up inside.

“You can’t go out. There are still people out there who are hell-bent on killing you.”

“I can change my hair and eye color like you.”

“Disguise magic doesn’t work on witches or mages. You’re still on the run.”

“You’re a Great Sage, can’t you protect just me?”

“This cheeky…”

I was getting tired quickly because a kid who had been so obedient was now being stubborn.

Irkus probably knows that his insistence on following me is unreasonable. He’s not stupid enough not to know his situation. In fact, compared to an ordinary twelve-year-old, Irkus is excessively mature.

Even if we were attacked, it wouldn’t be difficult to counterattack or escape using magic.

The problem is that I don’t know if I can control it well or not. It’s been hundreds of years since I’ve cried over killing a few people, but it still makes me uncomfortable to hurt or kill someone. Humans are so weak.

“If we go around without any preparation and get caught by the imperial family, it will be very troublesome for both of us.”

“…I know that, too.”

“Then stay put. If you’re bored, explore the forest with Gilbert or something. I’ll be back soon after buying what we need.”

I was just going to buy some clothes and groceries, so I was planning to come straight back to the atelier since there was nothing else to do.

Space movement magic can be used by even novice mages if they know the coordinates well, but the difficulty of the magic formula increases exponentially when moving with another person. The amount of mana used also increases by the square of the number of people.

So, it was better in many ways to leave the dejected-looking child behind if I wanted to go easily.

It would be a waste to change my hair and eye color to avoid trouble, only to have Irkus, who stands out no matter where you leave him, with me.

No matter how much that guy is the protagonist and I am the Great Sage, I couldn’t ignore even minor risks. One of the truths I’ve learned from living a long time is that a very small variable can come back as a huge butterfly effect.

Aside from the cumbersome excuses, to be honest, it was just annoying. What if I take him out and he gets into trouble that I have to take responsibility for? I just want to live like a shut-in in the Southern Forest.

[Just take him with you.]

A useless tree spirit added from behind to my cautious action plan. Irkus, who had just been dejected, raised his head slightly again.

I sent a signal to Gilbert to stop talking or I would set him on fire, but Gilbert ignored me, even though he understood, and just said what he wanted to say.

[You can go out to the Kingdom of Kaman instead of the Empire.]

“Don’t talk nonsense. Do you think Kaman is safe? And, it’s farther from here.”

[It’s all magic travel anyway, so what’s the big deal.]

Irkus’s burdensome gaze landed on me.

Changing your hair or eye color doesn’t make such a pretty face any less noticeable.

I let out a deep sigh. No matter how much I thought about it, it was better to go out alone and quickly get the necessary supplies, but taking Irkus with me was inefficient.

I know it’s a really irrational decision…

“Will you be quiet?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You only use honorifics at times like this. You impudent child…”

It was hard to completely ignore those sparkling eyes.