Chapter 28
The story continues off the page
The Last Dance Before Midnight
A masked dragon asks the lanternwright for one slow dance
The title of Sage is one of those titles that can never be claimed for oneself, and its criteria are applied strictly.
Among the Sages known across the continent of Cerdes, Helus Fobidas took an unusual path to becoming one.
He was neither from Escolleia, the city of scholars, nor a commoner mage singled out for his genius.
Helus left behind this anecdote about what had led him to become a Sage.
He said that while sleeping as usual, he awakened and came face-to-face with something absolute.
That absolute being appeared in the form of a god and told him to choose between two things.
The potential to rise to the position of a Seventh-Circle Archmage.
And wisdom and knowledge encompassing all things.
He could rise to the Seventh Circle, a level at which he could dominate everything, but Helus claimed he had chosen wisdom and knowledge so that he could help everyone.
It was an utterly unoriginal load of bullshit.
Yet no human dared challenge that story.
In any case, he was a man called a Sage, and he possessed knowledge and wisdom bordering on miracles.
Though he was a vulgar man, people said his wisdom was utterly unshakable, and in that sense, he could be called a superhuman.
But the real Helus Fobidas was no such superhuman.
He was a man so honest about his emotions that he was no different from ordinary people.
And Helus was currently wearing an extremely displeased expression.
His gaze looked down upon a woman kneeling before him.
His eyes held such fury that it seemed she was the source of all evil.
The middle-aged woman had once been his attendant.
Helus had spent half of the fortune he had amassed searching for this woman.
Skilled mages and trackers had followed her trail, and at last they had succeeded in bringing her to his mansion.
When she first entered the mansion, she was beaten like a dog.
After being beaten by the servants all night, every bone in her body had been broken, leaving her barely able to stand.
She trembled in terror with her head lowered to the floor.
She opened her mouth.
“P-please spare me, Master….”
“Master?”
Helus snorted.
“Yes, I was your master. That’s right. Do you know what happens to an attendant who abandons her master and runs away?”
He tapped the club in his hand against his palm as he spoke.
“She gets beaten like a dog.”
“P-please spare me. I beg you….”
The middle-aged attendant pressed her broken hands together as best she could and begged desperately.
Only a few teeth remained in her slightly open mouth.
“Fine, I’ll forgive you if you tell me where the little brat you stole from me is.”
“I don’t know. I was only deceived and had the child taken from me!”
Helus kicked the attendant in the head.
“Do I look like an idiot!? Do you think I’m doing this because I don’t know where those two gold coins that fell from your pocket came from!?”
“Agh! Please, just spare me!”
“Yes, I’ll spare you if I can find that little brat! So hurry up and use whatever wisdom you have, or don’t have, and think! Think! Think!”
Helus could barely suppress the urge to cut off her breath then and there.
But he could not do it.
In any case, she was his only clue to recovering ‘that.’
Just then, someone knocked on the door.
A man wearing a black hood entered.
“Sage. I have completed the assignment you entrusted to me.”
It was the best news Helus had wanted to hear lately.
He ran toward the man as brightly as a child who had just received a toy.
“Oh! Show me. What exactly is the result?”
“After searching with a composite sketch made from the attendant’s description, we concluded that the person was the Regent of Valdrowa.”
“Valdrowa… the Regent?”
“We expected you to be surprised. We didn’t expect it either.”
He was not surprised by the person’s identity.
He had heard that Valdrowa was a dragon, but he had no idea what a regent was, which was why he had reacted that way.
“We confirmed it in the Far East, and they said they were the regent and a maid, so it should be certain.”
“What sort of people are they?”
“As you know, Valdrowa’s consort recently began running the Grand Duchy, and—”
“Ah.”
Helus waved his hand dismissively and cut him off.
“Enough. I can take it that those damnable people took what belongs to me, can’t I?”
“That is correct.”
Helus could roughly understand.
It meant that the person who had taken it was the Grand Duke’s consort, did it not?
‘They came from the Far East and took it? Why? Could they have noticed what it was for?’
Helus nervously bit his nails.
It was the reason he had been able to become so famous, and the source of his income.
That was why he had cherished the child while also using it as an attendant.
It was better to hide a tree in a forest, after all.
‘All because of that stupid woman….’
He had never imagined that the attendant would sell the little one.
Helus looked down at her with fury in his eyes.
The middle-aged attendant sobbed.
“Congratulations, Master. Now you know who, who it is, don’t you?”
She forced her broken fingers together and begged again and again.
“Now please spare me. I beg you. Wherever I go, I won’t utter a word about you and will live quietly. Please….”
Helus looked down at her with emotionless eyes.
A woman’s heart was fickle.
They said a person’s feelings when going to the privy differed from those when coming out.
Now that the information about his clue had become concrete, there was no reason to leave behind an unnecessary source of trouble.
Helus turned his head toward the black hood.
“Hey.”
“Yes.”
“Kill her. That useless woman.”
“W-wait, that wasn’t our agreement!?”
The black hood drew his sword and approached the attendant.
Unavoidable death drew near.
The attendant, who had done nothing but whimper and beg obsequiously, erupted in fury in a final act of defiance.
“You filthy bastard! I know your secret! I know what you did through that child! You’re no Sage! You—”
The old attendant’s head fell to the floor.
Her head rolled pitifully, her face still twisted in the expression she had worn while screaming curses.
The black hood shook the blood from his sword.
“It seems the mission is complete. Will you pay me?”
“Of course.”
A jewel box containing an amount equal to a quarter of his fortune.
The man checked it roughly and put it into his leather backpack.
“We sincerely thank you for using Black Bandana, customer.”
They did only the work they had been hired to do, received their payment, and left cleanly.
That was what the secret organizations called Black Bandana were like.
This brought the amount Helus had spent to three-quarters of his fortune.
‘It was something I had to do.’
If he tried to save money, he would only suffer for it.
Helus looked down at the two composite sketches the black hood had left behind.
A tall, handsome gray-haired man and a silver-haired girl with a side-up ponytail.
Helus’s fat face twisted with rage.
‘How dare something that looks like a mangy dog’s discarded bone covet what belongs to me?’
Helus began to scheme, vowing that he would never let those people off easily.
“How do I take it back from them….”
There were any number of ways.
Who was he?
A Sage.
A man to whom every kingdom sent offers, begging him to become their adviser.
He was a national-treasure-level figure, and naturally, even the Empire contacted him from time to time.
‘I can use the Imperial auditors. Regent or whatever he is, before the Empire he’s no different from a dog.’
Even if the other party was said to be the Grand Duke’s fiancé, there would be no problem.
Valdrowa had not shown herself to humans since the assassination of the Third Prince.
That had been the case until now, and naturally, it could remain so.
Helus placed his hand on the crystal ball on the desk.
The crystal ball began to flicker in response to his mana.
After a moment, the light of the crystal ball stabilized, and a voice rang inside Helus’s head.
-Greetings, Sage of Water! I am Hans, a communications mage of the great Arken Empire!
“Could I speak with Sir Karl Harvest for a moment?”
-Sir Karl Harvest? Understood. Please wait a moment.
After a brief wait, a lively voice came through.
-Oh, Sage! How are you!? Have you been well?
“Haha, I’ve been doing well. And you?”
-I’ve been losing sleep every night! I’m simply counting the days until you come to our Empire, Sage.
“Haha, is that so?”
Helus had a feeling they would get along well.
He decided to get to the main point.
“My friend, there is something that has been troubling me lately.”
-Something troubling you?
“I have a young maidservant, and she was kidnapped by some scoundrels. So lately, I’ve wracked this wisdom and knowledge of mine and finally managed to find her.”
-Where is she? Just tell me! We will help you.
“They say it’s the Regent of… Valdrowa?”
-The Regent of Valdrowa!
Karl replied in a startled voice.
“Why? Is there some problem?”
-No. I was just thinking what a coincidence this is! As it happens, I’ve heard that young fellow has been causing a stir lately.
“He must be rather famous, then?”
-Our Purge Unit was already planning to go there and restore order.
“Oh, is that so? He must be connected to the dragon, though. Won’t it be dangerous?”
-Haha! Don’t worry too much! You know that dragons generally cannot interfere in human affairs, don’t you?
“R-right, of course.”
Helus did not know that.
-That child will have to handle it alone, so what can he do? No matter how much he rants and raves, he is powerless under Imperial law! We have also heard that even the provincial lords are wary of him, so we need to show him who has the upper hand!
Helus smiled.
“Then I’ll ask you to do me a favor. While you’re teaching him a lesson, bring that child here as well! In return, I’ll join the Empire as you wished!”
-Oh! You will? Then I would be delighted to grant that request! Haha!
“Yes, I’ll send you one of the composite sketches. Just bring the child to me. I’m counting on you!”
-Of course. Leave it all to me!
Helus cut off the communication with a satisfied expression.
‘This is the power and fame I can enjoy as a Sage.’
Once he had tasted it, he could never give it up.
‘If only I can bring that child back… I’ll become a real Sage again, not merely pretend to be one.’
That was why he had to get her back, no matter what.
* * *
“Your Excellency. A letter has arrived from the Empire.”
“Hmm, has what was bound to come finally arrived?”
The aged lord, Ulbera Consilius, stroked his beard and picked up the letter resting on a tray.
Seeing the Imperial seal stamped on it, he hoped that the supply department had come to apologize.
“Hmm….”
However, the moment Consilius saw the sender’s name, he felt his blood rise to his head.
-Purge Unit
“Heh heh heh….”
Consilius let that utterly absurd fury escape as laughter.
“Arwen.”
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
“A letter from the Purge Unit has arrived in our territory. At last, it seems even we have a meal to be had.”
“How dare that filthy rabble….”
Arwen raged as though he might draw his sword at any moment.
Consilius tilted the letter toward the brazier in front of him, as if he could not even be bothered to look at it, intending to throw it in.
“Hmm….”
But then he suddenly felt that there might be no harm in reading its contents first.
His intuition proved correct.
-What kind of person is Ferda Valdrowa?
They were not targeting Count Consilius, but Ferda.
“Those insolent wretches were targeting the regent.”
Arwen was startled.
“They would do such a thing to the man who is to become the dragon’s consort?”
“Do you think the people behind the Empire’s walls have ever seen a dragon? They are the sort who fear the trolls in the forest more.”
A nearby fist makes a greater impression than a distant sword.
People are told to fear a dragon’s wrath, but only a very small number of this generation have actually experienced it.
“And when you think about it, it isn’t entirely impossible.”
“Is that so?”
“Well, haven’t we also treated Her Highness Valdrowa as though she did not exist until now?”
“Ah….”
“And we also made light of him for being the Grand Duke’s fiancé.”
“That is true, but….”
Arwen only realized it then, and his face reddened.
“Even so, no mere knight would have dared send a letter like this, telling them to prey upon the regent….”
“That is proof of how thoroughly the Arken Empire is rotting.”
The nobles were steeped in pleasure, and the knights’ swords had rusted.
They were bleeding the provinces dry through taxes in an effort to control public sentiment in the heart of the Empire, killing people in the process.
They had attempted to start uprisings several times, but each time they were quietly suppressed and killed.
‘The pillar our ancestors built is sturdy. Even though it is being gnawed away, it will not collapse.’
But when the time came for it to fall, it would surely collapse helplessly.
Consilius, who was only a count, had tried to drift along with that current.
But things were different now.
“Ferda Valdrowa….”
A man like a ray of light, like a handful of salt.
Whenever he needed help, Ferda was the only one who supported him without saying a word.
He did so solely for the development and well-being of the territory.
Perhaps that was why,
“Insolent wretches.”
Consilius could not help but be angry.
He was an old man walking a tightrope, but he was a leader who protected the Empire and its subjects.
Now that something finally seemed to be happening in the Far East, he could not forgive those young upstarts for ruining it.
“We need to put a leash on the Purge Unit.”
Not a check or a threat, but complete domination.
They could not leave people who turned even decent lords into men deserving death at large.
What they needed to accomplish that was Ferda Valdrowa.
‘They do not know how great the man who will become Valdrowa’s consort truly is.’
So he decided to spread malicious rumors about Ferda.
More precisely, he would write about how Ferda had threatened the lords, then add that he was a man deserving of the wrath of Heaven and humanity.
“Send this to the Purge Unit. A reply will probably come soon.”
“Understood. Shall I inform the Regent of Valdrowa in advance as well?”
Count Consilius considered it for a moment, then shook his head.
“No, let us keep this between ourselves. Everything will be resolved once we arrive anyway.”
“Understood.”
He did not say so, but Consilius also wanted to confirm one final thing.
He wanted to see how Ferda would conduct himself when he faced the Purge Unit.
And his expectations were not betrayed.