Chapter 43
***
Every autumn.
When the first frost covered the land, the empire's mages would gather in one place.
The Grand Arcane Academic Convention.
Also known as the Arcane Olympiad.
It was for the event conveniently called the Autumn Academic Conference.
For mages, this autumn conference was not merely a place to share knowledge.
A place where geniuses from across the continent proved their achievements and fought for supremacy in the magical world.
It was also a place where they could indirectly display the national power of the country they belonged to.
In Yulian's words, it was the Olympiad of mages.
Countless mages from all over the world flocked to the imperial capital for this conference.
There was no particular reason why, of all things, the empire's autumn academic conference became the mages' Olympiad.
"Ugh. Is today’s schedule over already...?"
Because the father of magic lived in the imperial capital.
And because this was the only event he took part in publicly.
By his mere existence alone, no magical conference in human history had ever surpassed the prestige of the Olympiad.
"Phew. At least I found myself a good disciple in my later years."
And after finishing the first day's schedule of this year's autumn conference, the Great Sage relaxed in a town house owned by the Mercure Merchant House.
"Then I hope you have a pleasant time, Great Sage."
After the attendant withdrew,
the Great Sage, with his feet soaking in a basin floating with herbs, recalled what had happened today.
It had truly been a good day.
He had seen his disciples' faces again after a long time,
— "The Mage Tower Lord of January, Adlen, greets you, Grand Master."
— "Have you been well, Teacher?"
They had also exchanged recent news,
— "Ah, right. Know this, you lot. I recently got myself a youngest disciple."
— "Huh? When?"
— "Come to think of it... about three years ago."
It had been a pleasure to see his disciple mage tower lords looking healthy too.
— "What?! Why are you telling us that only now!"
— "Yahoo! I'm not the youngest anymore!"
— "Is the kid cute?"
— "When are you going to introduce them to us?"
It had been a good day in many ways.
Though the presentations by rookie mages were boring, that was only natural.
There hadn't really been any presentations at the conference worth taking away, but watching the passion of promising young mages wasn't bad either.
'But the most satisfying part of today's schedule is... the evening schedule.'
The Great Sage gently closed his eyes at the warm herbal scent rising from his feet.
Across the table, a calm and elegant melody drifted from the gramophone's brass horn.
The Great Sage let out a languid breath and looked around the room.
On the floor lay a top-quality carpet that sank softly up to the ankles.
In the fireplace burned top-quality mana coal that gave off neither smoke nor any acrid smell.
On the table within reach sat 900-year-aged brandy in a crystal decanter.
It was the very pinnacle of luxury, something even nobles could not easily enjoy.
'The brat... he must be making obscene amounts of money.'
The Great Sage poured amber brandy into a crystal glass and gave a snort of laughter.
In his mind, the face of his adorable youngest disciple floated up.
"He must've learned exactly how to serve his teacher somewhere along the way."
With one sip of brandy, the rich cask-aged aroma lingering on his tongue was exquisite.
Along with that, Louis thought about the merchant house providing this lavish hospitality.
'The world really is unfair. It gave him that talent and that face, and now even business acumen like this.'
Recently, the name of the Mercure Merchant House had been the eye of a storm in the empire's commercial circles.
According to the Great Sage's investigation, this merchant house had been driven to the brink of bankruptcy by repeated sabotage and a business style that was too honest.
But five years ago, the merchant house suddenly unveiled three medicines and rose as a new power.
And now that merchant house had even unveiled vaccines.
'And after releasing it freely like that, they still ended up monopolizing vaccines.'
There was no patent or anything for the Schnabel formula or the vaccine manufacturing method.
Naturally, other merchant houses also rushed into vaccine production.
But the result was Mercure's monopoly on vaccines.
'Maybe it was a foregone conclusion.'
The reason was simple.
Mercure had already finished preparing before the vaccine was even made public.
Production facilities. Distribution networks. Skilled manpower.
While other merchant houses were scrambling to decipher the formula, Mercure was already mass-producing vaccines.
On top of that, there was the sense of reliability that came with being the original.
Vaccines are things that go directly into the body.
No matter how cheap it was, no one wanted to use an unverified medicine lightly.
Mercure, on the other hand, was different.
A supernova that had appeared like a comet five years ago and had been unveiling miraculous medicines one after another.
Recently, in the capital there was even a rumor that anyone who waited instead of using Mercure's new medicines immediately was a fool, so the merchant house had built up plenty of trust.
As a result, even after vaccines were made public, people still sought only Mercure's vaccines.
'They'll be first-class soon.'
Among the current second-class merchant houses, it was an overwhelming number one, beyond comparison.
Considering the network and capital they had spread through the imperial family and noble society, it was obvious they would be promoted to a "first-class merchant house," the pinnacle of the commercial world, within one or two years at most.
And the Great Sage's youngest disciple was now a major shareholder and co-manager with a 15% stake in that merchant house.
"Good grief. My palate's become so refined that when I go back to the mage tower later, I wonder if I'll even be able to drink plain water."
A groan escaped the Great Sage's lips.
Even so, the pleased smile at the corners of his mouth did not disappear.
Warm herbal water, top-tier brandy, cigar smoke lingering at his nose, and a nocturne tickling his ears.
He had lived through long ages and enjoyed every kind of wealth and splendor.
But this sweet luxury, so carefully offered by his adorable disciple, naturally felt special.
'They said they'd give scholarships every year now too.'
This year, Yulian had sent 100 million mar to the Great Sage.
But the Great Sage remembered the promise Yulian had made last time.
— "I listened to your advice, Teacher, and recently set up a scholarship foundation, but right now the vaccine business has a lot of reinvestment going back into the company, so this is all I can support for the time being. But in three years, the business will be on track. From then on..."
From what he'd heard, the foundation was willing to invest 500 million mar every year.
When he heard that figure, the Great Sage couldn't help but laugh bitterly.
— "Yulian. Do you even realize how much money that is? What if you end up unable to use it when you really need it?"
— "Five silver coins per person."
— "?"
— "That's the price of a vaccine. If vaccines like this were mandated for everyone in the world, how many mar would I earn every year whenever I develop a vaccine?"
After hearing that, the Great Sage decided to stop worrying about his youngest disciple's finances.
Who was worrying about whose wallet, exactly?
It was obvious that before long, his disciple would become wealthy enough to stand shoulder to shoulder with a ducal house.
No exaggeration.
If Yulian said he wanted to enter into a political marriage with a young lady from a somewhat cash-strapped ducal house, wouldn't the duke agree without even thinking?
'From what I heard, his father still doesn't know Yulian's income.'
The only medicine the Nihirit family head held shares in was quinine.
Shares in the later medicines belonged solely to Yulian.
As a result, the family head only vaguely knew Yulian made a lot of money, but had no idea of the exact figures.
'Tsk tsk. It's not quinine, but insulin and vaccines that are the real deal.'
In any case.
Other mages were equally grinning from ear to ear at the huge donations and the hospitality services this giant merchant house was providing for the conference.
It got to the point where even those arrogant mages were praising Mercure as a "merchant house that knows honor."
'He's already got everyone on this side wrapped around his finger, the brat.'
Thinking of Yulian subtly holding the leash over the mages, the Great Sage clicked his tongue.
It was then.
'Hm?'
The Great Sage, luxuriating with his eyes lazily closed, twitched his brow.
The nocturne flowing softly from the gramophone in his ear grew faintly distant.
Instead, a sharp wave of mana flowed in from deep within his mind.
— Creak.
A very small, sharp animal cry.
A mansion in Sanctum Hill, dozens of kilometers away.
The field of view of the silk weasel he had left on the roof of the Nihirit baronial mansion was vividly overlaid in the Great Sage's mind.
'What is it?'
Fitch.
His grimoire and familiar.
He had originally meant to make it a mouse, but because it kept getting eaten by stray cats, he'd had to change it to a silk weasel.
The Great Sage set down his brandy glass on the table.
Then, with his eyes closed, he fully received the visual information sent by Fitch.
In the dark room.
A young girl, Freya, lay on the bed, hovering at death's door.
And beside her was his youngest disciple, Yulian, clutching a syringe while sweat dripped down his face.
["It's going to sting a little, Freya."]
After administering the medicine, Yulian continued to care for his little sister.
But cruelly, the world kept trying to take his little sister's life away.
Then Yulian sent the priestess out of the room and took a gamble.
He cast black magic on his little sister.
And then an utterly unbelievable sight unfolded.
"Huh..."
The demon plague had been cured.
By black magic, no less.
"Heh heh heh..."
Laughter spilled from between the Great Sage's lips.
The joy of having found what he had longed for so much.
A laugh of disbelief at his youngest disciple's overwhelming talent.
It was a laugh woven from countless complicated emotions.
"My goodness... to think the answer was black magic."
Over the past several centuries.
The Great Sage had witnessed countless miracles created by magic.
It had driven carriages without horses, lit fires without flame, conquered the seasons, and made it possible to regulate indoor temperature.
But no matter how much the age or magic advanced, magic could not encroach upon one single domain.
Healing and life.
It was a domain that, throughout history, only the sacred had ever been able to handle.
But at this very moment,
a boy was rewriting that history once again.
"Was it wrong to treat black magic as taboo...?"
Black magic is a form of magic that directly interferes with life.
Because of this, a little ignorance or a small mistake could cause tragedy, and just a touch of corruption could unleash a disaster remembered in history.
That was why the world, including the Great Sage, had developed in such a way as to fear and suppress black magic so intensely.
"Excellent."
Yulian had pierced through that prejudice and written a new history.
"Hahahahaha! Excellent! Truly excellent!"
The Great Sage's heart, dried up after nearly a thousand years of life, began pounding like mad.
The long-cherished wish he'd nearly given up on.
His disciple had achieved the miracle of healing through magic.
By curing the demon plague, something even that lofty holiness could not do!
It was a feat no disciple had ever accomplished!
"You're getting ahead of me!"
Up until now, his disciples had been busy simply following the path the Great Sage had walked.
Of course, each of them had also accomplished feats that surpassed the Great Sage in their own fields, but in the end they never escaped that framework.
But Yulian had broken that framework to pieces and soared beyond it before everyone's eyes.
The Great Sage downed the remaining brandy in one go.
The taste of the liquor sliding down his throat felt bland.
Because the new history of magic his disciple had just written was far stronger and more thrilling.
He was laughing in a haze of ecstasy and joy for quite a while.
Since his disciple had achieved such a historic feat, as a teacher he naturally ought to bestow a tremendous congratulatory gift in return.
But while he was wondering what he should give to make this lovable disciple happy,
a practical problem suddenly crossed his mind.
The Great Sage's expression stiffened ever so slightly.
"Hmm."
He set the empty glass down on the table.
The Great Sage sat in his chair and propped his chin on his hand.
'Fifteen.'
Yulian von Nihirit.
He was fifteen this year.
For a commoner, it was the age to be helping with farm work.
But in noble society, fifteen was about the time to start choosing an engagement partner and looking for a suitable marriage match for the family's future.
He couldn't say he didn't understand.
In a world where titles were influenced by magical talent.
Since talent as a mage was actually influenced by bloodline, it wasn't strange for nobles to already be looking for marriage partners at this age.
But when he thought of Yulian being that age,
'Tsk. He should be in the prime of charging ahead.'
The Great Sage frowned without realizing it.
The Nihirit baronial house.
Its head, Hendel, was a sharp-minded bureaucrat, but the house itself was far too weak to be called central nobility.
What's more, Yulian was thoroughly disguised to the outside world as the "talentless eldest son with no aptitude whatsoever for magic."
If things went on like this, Hendel would surely try to find him a daughter from some middling noble family with adequate wealth and power and send Yulian off as a live-in son-in-law.
"As if."
The Great Sage's one and only blue eye sank coldly.
Of course, as a teacher, he did want his disciple to enjoy ordinary, comfortable happiness.
But Yulian kowtowing to some nobody noble lady and going in as a live-in son-in-law?
And that girl becoming Yulian's shackles?
"That must not happen."
It would be a loss for humanity, and beyond that, the Great Sage's own tragedy.
He wanted to see a bird take flight.
Not have it shackled with restraints that didn't suit it and locked in a cage.
"A daughter from a marquess's house would barely be enough."
The Great Sage clicked his tongue and shook his head.
He wanted to find a match worthy of Yulian somehow.
But there was a fatal contradiction here.
'And I can't exactly reveal Yulian's identity to the world either.'
If it were revealed that Yulian was the true owner of the Mercure Merchant House and the creator of the Schnabel formula?
And if it were also revealed that he was the Great Sage's youngest disciple?
And if word spread that he could cure demon plague?
Not only the imperial family, but kings and mage tower lords across the entire continent would knock on the door of the Nihirit mansion, offering up their daughters and granddaughters.
But excessive attention is how you wither flowers to death.
Yulian had not yet grown enough to fully bear the greed and attention of that vast world.
Besides, he was a child who, lacking magical talent, already had trouble protecting himself.
Burdening him with all that was not something a teacher should do.
'What should I do...'
I need to find my disciple the best possible match while keeping his identity thoroughly hidden.
Even for the Great Sage, that was a very difficult problem.
The Great Sage sank into deep thought for a long while, burying his chin in his interlaced hands.
"..."
After a long silence, the Great Sage's closed lips slowly curved into an arc.
"Ah."
The Great Sage lightly tapped the table and nodded.
Just one person.
When Yulian's talent fully blossomed.
Someone who would suit him flashed through his mind.
"Yes... that girl would be good."
For whoever he was thinking of, a very mischievous smile spread across the Great Sage's lips.
But the Great Sage did not dare speak that young lady's name aloud.
Instead, he merely lifted the empty glass that had held the brandy and made a light clinking gesture toward the air.
"I should go to the imperial palace and ask for a cup of tea before long."
Just thinking about battling wits with that man made the Great Sage tired already.
What should he offer that old fox this time?
He had ended up with this title of imperial magical adviser because of a single slip of the tongue.
If he wasn't careful this time, he might end up as a lifetime chancellor.
But for his youngest disciple, it was work worth enduring.
Cutting off his thoughts, the Great Sage turned his attention to another issue.
'That said, I need to solve another problem too.'
By then, morning had already come outside the window.
While the Great Sage had been pondering for his youngest disciple, the moon had set and the sun had risen.
For an eighth-tier archmage, sleep was a luxury, so he did not regret the night that had passed.
Instead, he focused once more on the visual field connected in his mind through Fitch.
'My disciple's follow-through is sloppy, so it would be proper for this teacher to take care of it.'
In his eyes, his youngest disciple was an innocent fellow who didn't even know how to protect his own bowl of rice.
Too innocent, too kind.
Almost like that saint recorded in scripture.
But the Great Sage, who had lived for a thousand years, was not so naive.
'Forgive me, miss.'
Through Fitch's vision connected in his mind,
he saw the low-ranking priestess leaving the main gate of the Nihirit mansion.
It seemed she had been summoned by the family head, Hendel, warned, and then released.
She was hurrying out of the mansion while clutching the pouch of gold coins tightly to her chest.
Looking at her departing back, the Great Sage quietly gave Fitch an order.
'Follow her.'
The Great Sage tended to believe in people's potential.
But he did not blindly trust human goodwill or their ability to keep their mouths shut.
'There's no guarantee that after that priestess goes home, she'll keep silent for the rest of her life.'
Though there had been a cold threat from the noble family head, fear tended to dull with time.
For now, she would stay silent, chewing over that warning again and again.
But the human mouth was sly; at a drinking party she might make a mistake after getting drunk, or she might not be able to bear a secret and end up seeking out a confessional.
And that small lapse would spread the secret like a collapsed dam.
In that sense, Hendel Nihirit's method was far too soft.
You can't keep a person's mouth shut forever with fear alone.
It probably wouldn't even last a year.
The surest way to silence someone isn't fear, but giving them an incentive that makes speaking impossible.
The Great Sage's gaze slowly swept over the table.
Materials related to the conference, mountains of invitations sent by nobles.
And stacks of documents regularly sent by the Mercure Merchant House for reporting.
One sheet among them caught the Great Sage's single eye.
[Mercure Merchant Guild Talent Development Scholarship Foundation — Request for This Year's Scholarship Student Recommendations]
The Great Sage's eye narrowed like a snake's.
'Come to think of it, that priestess said she had two daughters.'
Swish.
The Great Sage picked up his fountain pen.
Neat handwriting flowed smoothly across the fine scroll.
Two letters of recommendation.
One was a special scholarship recommendation letter for the Sun Church Monastery's directly run seminary.
The other was an admission recommendation letter for the Imperial Academy's high school division.
Sender: Mercure Merchant Guild Talent Development Foundation.
Sponsor: confidential.
"Forgive me, miss."
Looking down at the two finished recommendation letters, the Great Sage smiled faintly.
If even a teacher could be this sincere for his disciple's future,
how much more so would a parent be?
"But I think it's not a particularly bad offer for you either."
The more a golden lifeline shines, the better it is to wear around your neck.
Repeating that maxim, the Great Sage carefully folded the two recommendation letters and put them into an envelope.