Sage 8

I lifted Irkus into my arms. It hadn’t even been a few weeks since I brought him in, but they say kids grow up fast, and he felt heavier than before.

It was amazing how he was growing so quickly even though I wasn’t giving him any special nutritious food. Was it because he was a descendant of a witch? The twelve-year-old, who was quite heavy, struggled in my arms, saying he could walk on his own, but I didn’t put him down.

“Don’t stray from me.”

Irkus gave up struggling and buried his face in my chest, holding tightly onto the collar of my robe with both hands.

He learns ten things when I teach him one, so I forget, but at times like this, he was every bit a twelve-year-old. Twelve years old in Korean age would be 5th grade in elementary school…

I began to calculate the coordinates for the Kingdom of Kaman with the feeling of an uncle taking his nephew out to play during the holidays.

* * *

I hate the Kingdom of Kaman.

As I mentioned before, the first contractor of my magic contract was a member of the Kaman royal family.

That royal bastard, whose name I can’t even remember properly now, was a complete package of being overly greedy and not knowing his place.

That guy knew that his kingdom was constantly being invaded by neighboring countries and that the Empire was eyeing the full ownership of the Southern Forest, but he didn’t immediately grab the helping hand I offered. The reason was that I was from the Robain Empire.

His one-sided claim was that if I, a person from the Robain Empire, helped the Kingdom of Kaman, the Empire would use that as an excuse to demand reparations from them after the war ended.

I don’t know if the emperor of the Robain Empire at the time really intended to do that or not, but since I hadn’t been involved in international affairs since I was over a hundred years old, the Kaman royal’s bullshit was quite annoying.

Is this stupid royal thinking I’m helping them because of him? Why can’t he think that I could just kill everyone, including him, if I wanted to and conquer the continent?

Because I wasn’t born with a benevolent nature, I got so pissed off that I burned all of that idiot’s abundant hair.

I only meant to scare him, but humans, who are less durable than tree spirits, couldn’t put out the fire themselves, and so his precious hair was burned to the ground like a thatched hut hit by a match.

Only after I made him bald and asked him if he wanted me as an ally or an enemy did the guy, who had been demanding this and that political condition, finally prostrate himself before me.

The Kaman royals were typical members of the establishment. They are the first to flee when war breaks out, and while the troops are starving because there is no supplies, they don’t even know what it’s like to be hungry.

It was pathetic to see that they didn’t realize the seriousness of the situation until their hair was burned, even though they were living off the taxes paid by others, let alone protecting the weak and vulnerable.

Because these idiots were at the top, the children and the elderly of Kaman were often taken as prisoners of war and forced into labor or reduced to slavery and exploited.

The reason I, who had come from the 21st century, couldn’t just stand by and watch that happen was because I had studied world history so hard to maintain my high school grades.

Even in that situation, the King of Kaman had some nerve. He asked me for this. He asked me to make a magic contract so that I couldn’t attack the Kaman royals or change my attitude even after the war and invasion were over.

The reason I readily agreed to that request was because I didn’t want to deal with that acquired-bald-head anymore. Anyway, I wasn’t going to unify the continent, and I had no intention of helping the Empire or the Magic Tower… I wasn’t going to help them with world conquest or continental unification, even if they begged me on their knees.

So, I just made the contract.

I shouldn’t have.

Whenever I look back on the actions of my past self, all that’s left is frustration. Just thinking about those fools who had the audacity to point their swords at me, saying I couldn’t use attack magic on them after I had saved them from war and invasion, made me feel sick.

“Why are you like this?”

“It’s nothing.”

Irkus, excited about his first outing in a very long time, walked about a step ahead of me, who was walking slowly.

For someone who was a prince, I wondered what kind of life he had been living, since he said this was his first time visiting the Kingdom of Kaman, which was located nearby, with only a forest as a border.

While I was thinking that it was a good idea to bring him along since he was enjoying it so much, I also found it annoying that he kept looking around the crowded squares and stalls.

How did I, who was willing to participate in a war for the sake of children and the elderly, become so worn out?

Time is truly cruel. I held out my right hand to Irkus. It would be a hassle to find him if he got lost because he was looking around too much.

Right now, he’s just a child, but in 10 years, he’ll have grown up. His attitude towards me will be different then, too. So, there’s no point in getting attached. If we become too fond of each other, it will only take longer to kill me.

Even though I knew that in my head, it was quite difficult to be harsh to Irkus. He was an annoying and ill-mannered child, but he was also quite smart. The occasional feeling of pride was proof that I was still human.

“Don’t go too far ahead. I told you not to stray from me. You’ll get lost.”

“Okay. It’s just… a little fascinating.”

“Let’s buy some clothes first. I don’t think you can keep wearing the same clothes since you’re growing so fast.”

The small hand that grabbed mine felt much more natural than before. See, everyone adapts and changes so quickly…

* * *

What is the value of money?

In South Korea, there was a time when you could buy a cup of tteokbokki for 200 won. That means there was a time when a skewer of tteokbokki sold at a snack bar cost 500 won.

However, at some point, street food for less than 1,000 won became something you couldn’t find even if you looked for it with your eyes wide open.

When the price of raw materials rises and labor costs rise, prices are bound to rise as well. And usually, this ‘price’ doesn’t easily go down once it goes up.

Even in a fantasy novel world, this cruel principle of price increases seems to apply, and the value of money was very different from the last time I bought something 20 years ago.

As Irkus said, there had been no innovative currency reform, but the price of a loaf of bread, which was about 25 zena 20 years ago, was now 2 gallons.

Since 1 gallon is 100 zena, that means prices have risen about eightfold in 20 years. If this is the level in the Kingdom of Kaman, prices must have risen about tenfold in the Robain Empire, where prices were always slightly higher than those of the surrounding kingdoms.

“You’ll have to govern well when you become emperor later.”

“Why are you saying that while buying tomatoes?”

“You usually feel the price changes the most when you buy groceries.”

I handed Irkus a basket full of groceries. I also gave him a 1-gallon coin in his other hand.

“Go pay for it.”

It’s really nice to go around with someone else. I don’t have to do the calculations myself.

Moreover, this mature twelve-year-old seemed to know that he had wasted my time and mana because he had insisted on going out with me, so he was much more obedient than he was inside the atelier.

Even when I told him to calculate the price or put this in the basket under the pretext of running errands, he moved quickly without any complaints.

It was probably more because he was curious about the Kingdom of Kaman, which he said he was visiting for the first time, rather than because he felt sorry for me.

As a kingdom, Kaman was much smaller in territorial size than the Robain Empire, but it was more developed in terms of commerce.

In the Robain Empire, it takes more than a month to get the paperwork reviewed if you want to start a business, but in Kaman, as long as you have enough operating funds and it’s not an illegal business (although sometimes they turn a blind eye to illegal activities), you can open a business as soon as you report your entry to the kingdom.

If you have a good business idea and try to open a store in the Robain Empire, you’re likely to get screwed over. You can open a store in Kaman with the same idea a few months earlier. Of course, there are patent lawsuits, but the Empire has strict regulations, so you have a lot to lose if you lose such a lawsuit.

That’s why there are so many merchants and scammers on the streets of Kaman. Unlike the Empire, which uses tax collectors to diligently collect taxes, the Kingdom of Kaman is quite lenient when it comes to tax payment.

It was a good example of collusion between politics and business. Because the higher-ups of Kaman, who were blinded by their own interests, were holding hands with the owners of large, profitable stores, Kaman was full of corruption whenever you visited.

I slowly looked around the busy streets of Carabel, the capital of Kaman.

Indeed, the world seemed to have developed rapidly even while I was holed up in the forest. The name of the capital hadn’t changed, but unlike the last time I came, there were too many buildings.

I don’t think carriages were like that before… and there weren’t this many cafes for the middle class before…

I thought to myself, “Back in my day…” and pulled the robe covering my face further down.