Chapter: 250
The Sage of the Deep Forest hadn’t moved since the last visit from the King of Knights decades ago—who on earth could have come looking for him?
I finally got to rest comfortably without any problems, but it feels like something annoying has come back to haunt me again… sigh…
Should I just pretend he doesn’t exist? This is the first person I’ve seen since the Knight King abdicated from his throne decades ago while roaming the country… Hmm.
Oh, come to think of it, the Knight King mentioned the Sage of the Deep Forest to the next king near the end… I think he said something like if a situation arose requiring wisdom, help could be sought from him…
hmph. I have a feeling something bothersome is about to happen!!
“What’s wrong?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
“You say it’s nothing serious, but your expression is serious.”
“That expression… It’s the expression of someone who’s had something happen to them…!”
At Hades’ words, Asherat’s expression turns slightly more serious.
hmph. Even if I look just a bit serious, it’s still my face, after all. Maybe it’s because I’m so cute, but even when I make a serious expression, I don’t look that serious.
It may sound like I’m complimenting myself, but objectively speaking, I am pretty and cute. Even though my hair color is different and I don’t have horns.
“Are you saying you’re going to ignore this situation even though it has occurred? I don’t remember raising the Goddess of Life to be such a responsible deity!”
“You don’t remember being raised by me? Well, it’s probably just something unimportant.”
Then Asherat brought her face right up to my nose and opened her mouth.
“You have handed over all your responsibilities as the Goddess of Life to me, and all your duties in the Underworld to Hades. The only thing the Goddess of Life does herself is her duty as the Creator Dragon! Even that is just a simple thing that wraps up once or twice a year! What are you going to do if you really become a slacker god? Even if it’s something not serious that just came up, please take it seriously!”
hmph… Did I appear that unreliable in Asherat’s eyes? Well, I’ve been pretty lazy for the past few decades.
There really wasn’t much to do unless I had to entertain other kids or deal with a Lizardman warrior or a grand shaman.
Well, how about I do something light-hearted for the first time in a while?
“Okay, I get it. Stop nagging me. Just let’s get to work.”
I continued to ignore Asherat’s whining beside me. Seriously, who did she take after to be so nagging?
Ignoring all the nagging voices that weren’t really entering my ears, I turned my consciousness toward the Deep Forest.
A dark forest where sunlight doesn’t reach. Thanks to a special barrier, intelligent beings can’t enter the forest unless they have a clear purpose in finding the sage.
What came into the forest were… children in a sorry state.
Two children who are not yet adults. A boy and a girl. It’s unclear how they ended up in the forest.
There must have been a barrier in place, but they somehow made it into this forest… Did the barrier break? groans What a mess.
Their clothes were filthy with dirt and dust, appearing tattered as if they’d been through hardships. On the other hand, the materials and the craftsmanship of the garments were of excellent quality.
In other words, they were wearing quite expensive clothes that inexplicably turned dirty and ragged.
This is… quite interesting.
The boy, seeming to be the older brother, was leading the way, while the younger sister was struggling to keep up. The girl also looked unwell, as her complexion was rather poor.
As the girl followed her brother, she eventually stopped and sat down, clutching her chest in evident pain.
The boy, concerned for her, examined her with worried eyes before picking her up to continue walking.
A boy carrying a girl slightly smaller than him. He looked utterly desperate.
As if he were running away from something.
hmph… running away? I slyly shifted my gaze to the outskirts of the forest.
“The horses are here! They must have come this way!”
“There are footprints leading into the forest! Start searching!”
“Yes!”
A few mounted soldiers were at the forest entrance. What are these guys?
They don’t wear any metal armor nor carry any insignia indicating their allegiance. Just unidentified soldiers in light clothing.
Despite their light attire, they had proper iron swords strapped to their waists. A rather contradictory sight for soldiers.
Those soldiers tried to enter the forest following the two children’s trail, but shortly after stepping into the forest, they ended up exiting on the other side.
If you don’t have a clear purpose of finding the sage in the Deep Forest, the barrier will prevent you from going further in and move you right to the opposite exit.
Wait a minute. The barrier is functioning normally… So the two kids who came into the forest purposefully sought out the sage? What’s going on?
“The traces are gone!”
“What? No way! It wouldn’t just disappear unless it suddenly shot up into the sky or sunk down into the ground!”
“But it’s really gone! I followed the tracks left in the forest, but now there’s nothing!”
“This is some ghostly nonsense… How should I explain this to him…?”
The soldier who seemed like the leader sighed as if he had a headache and addressed the others.
“First, let’s take the horses back. Go to the nearest village and gather information about this forest. There must be some reason why they came to it.”
“Yes!”
So, a few soldiers got back on their horses and headed out of the forest toward the nearest village.
hmph… What could the identity of the two children be that led these armed soldiers to chase after them?
Well, I should probably hear that info directly from them.
“Excuse me! I have come to see you, Sage! I seek help from the Sage of the Deep Forest!”
In front of a stone house that looked long abandoned and almost like a ruin. Moss covered the walls, making the house seem all the more gloomy.
At the entrance, the boy spoke.
“Please, help us!”
hmph. Sure enough, they came to find the sage in the Deep Forest.
Well then… Shall we let them in for now?
I began to control the body of the sage, long unattended.
“Please, come in.”
As the sage lightly moved his finger, the tightly shut door swung open by itself. The boy looked slightly surprised at this sight, but cautiously stepped into the stone house.
A small stone house dimly lit by the lack of sunlight. Inside lies a suspicious entity.
Originally created for the sole purpose of guiding Rychlen, it was a summoned body of a sage that was still being used for some reason.
Seriously… I planned to use it only for a short time during the Rychlen season and then discard it; how did it end up being used for so long?
You really can’t predict the workings of this world.
“Who are you? Why did you enter this forest?”
The boy didn’t respond to the sage’s question.
He simply gazed at the sage. Staring at the sage’s former self.
“My name is… Arthur. And this is my sister, Vivian.”
Arthur. And Vivian…
“I’m curious about how you learned about me. I thought by this point, you would have forgotten.”
“I-I heard it from my grandfather. He said that if I came to you, I could get help.”
Grandfather. Grandfather…
From his refined appearance, I can kind of understand the implication.
I continued to speak while hiding my recognition.
“Help. I don’t often offer assistance…”
“But… My brother and I had no other options left. Coming to you was our only way to survive.”
hmph. As for survival, it looks like they’ve had a rough time indeed.
“Well, I’m willing to listen to what you have to say. That’s something I can manage.”
A faint hope flickered in Arthur’s eyes at my words. He seemed greatly relieved that I was willing to listen.
But before that…
“First, before I hear your story.”
I interrupted Arthur, who was about to speak, and looked at Vivian who was grimacing in pain.
Her chest. hmph… Is her heart weak? No, it seems more like… poison?
While not highly toxic, it seemed the poison didn’t easily leave her body and wasn’t breaking down—it was accumulating in Vivian’s system.
As if someone had been feeding her poison over a long period.
I clasped Vivian’s hand. Arthur gasped at the sudden appearance of an ethereal hand but dismissed it since that wasn’t the priority right now.
First, I would extract the poison and restore her ravaged body… um… ah.
No, there’s a much simpler way.
The lineage inherited from the daughter of the first hero and the sealed magical power were resting within Vivian.
In other words, she had the potential to be infinitely close to my own being.
“This child… has the qualities of a Dragon Priestess.”
The power of her long-sealed bloodline had resurfaced once again.
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