Idle talk of Growing Sage
“There is a demon coming your way! Take care of it!”
“Leave it to me, Nasseri. The chant is already done! Enchant Magic Boost! Earth Bullet!”
“As expected of Argus! It’s instant kill!”
The female canine beastman and the youth with a grimoire work together to round up and finish off a pack of Lesser Cerberus, the demon that a party of B-class adventurers are supposed to take on.
On that day, the little boy who continued his magical training in the nameless village grew into a youth, and although not of national scope, he is now a well-known A-ranked adventurer.
That’s right, he had successfully taken the first step towards his dream.
Sometimes, he traveled to the winged-men race settlements to eliminate the swarms of wyverns that plagued them.
At other times, together with his partner, Nasseri, he wiped out the triads that were constantly operating secretly in the city as opponents and made a name for themselves.
After leaving the village, his success never stopped. His calmness, thoughtfulness, and high strength have made him be given the title, and it was spread by word of mouth.
In addition, he was given the nickname “Lockhart” because he was particularly fond of using the earth system magic in the process of mastering all the many magic techniques.
The Adventurer’s Guild officially gave him a nickname, and he was called “Argus Lockhart”.
“I guess that’s it, our mission to eliminate the Lesser Cerberus is now complete. Even if it’s a B-rank demon, it’s hard to deal with them when they form a group. Their coordination are also good. But in next time…. certainly.”
“Moo! That’s how you get lost in analysis so quickly! You’ll win in the end, this is not good! You’re too rigid, Argus.”
She laughed jokingly at his ability to think in a way that could be seen as both a strength and a weakness.
She had been helped many times by the information he had accumulated through such analysis, and had seen him fail many times before, so she was able to say something funny.
“I don’t think so. Although our strength happened to surpass our opponent this time, if this is a stronger opponent than us, we must run away next time. All situations should be examined. It is not limited to this time.”
It is also typical of him to respond to jokes with an extremely serious expression, which it could be said that it was his usual style.
However, the expression on Argus’s face as he speaks this way seemed to be more serious than usual.
Of course, there was no way that Nasseri, who has been a long-time friend of him, not to notice that.
“You sure do care about that rumor.”
“Of course I do. Recently there’s been a movement to suppress subhumans not only in this town but in the entire country. Now that you are in the status of A-ranked adventurer, so there should be no problem … But if this suppression affects you too, Nasseri, then we should consider fleeing to another continent. This commission also contains the meaning of accepting to investigate the matter.”
It’s been more than five years since he left the village, and in the last year the country’s movements have suddenly become suspicious.
Perhaps influenced by the recent change of king, given the new king had begun to promote human supremacy as a state policy, and even the church had taken a ride.
If this had evolved slowly over decades, it wouldn’t be incomprehensible, but in just one year, such a drastic change had suddenly occurred.
That’s why Argus thought there might be a reason for this.
With that in mind, carefully considering the rumors and investigating the origins of the suspicious commissions given by the Adventurer’s Guild, the only conclusion he came to was that they all had something to do with the demons.
Of course there was no hard evidence.
It was just judging from the situation based on the results of personal investigations.
If there was evidence of a clear link to the demons, then you would have been able to condemn the government by taking the masses and the church into your confidence.
“Demon tribe. Is there really such a thing as a demon? It’s not just that the new king going crazy, is he?”
“…… Even if there is no evidence, there is still a basis. You really can’t be careless.”
He thought that the same was true for this commission.
First of all, the Lesser Cerberus was not a demon that acted in packs, but only one pair of males and females at most.
However, in this request that he was concerned about, there were so many of them, and there were several other clues.
It was clearly an unusual situation.
After that, Argus, who had raised his vigilance, returned to his basis for the time being. And based on the demons hunted with Nasseri, he negotiated directly with the adventurer presidents of each branch.
If this was a novice low-level adventurer, he would have been kicked out or would have added an iron fist sanction to it.
However, he used the trust and achievements he has accumulated so far, as well as the position of his own occupational “Sage” that he has determined as he took risks to convey his views.
“That’s what …… is all about. Everyone, there is a high possibility that this incident is related to the demons. Maybe it’s this big country, no, it’s a crisis of all over continent. I think we should take action immediately.”
“….”
The The guild leaders of various branch looked at each other and deliberated on Argus’s proposition.
Some reached conviction from the gravity of the matter and its basis, others had the same sense of violation and agreed.
There was no doubt in anyone’s mind who was present.
“Everyone! As Agus Lockhart said, we must take immediate action!!” (Nassery)
And, despite her earlier doubts, once she was officially on the field, Nassery believed in Argus, without a doubt.
She knew that in this situation, Argus would never get it wrong.
Sometimes he miscalculated, sometimes he wasn’t thoughtful enough.
But in the crucial moments, he never made a mistake.
“I see. Then I trust your opinions and speculations as an A-ranked adventurer and Sage.”
“Yes. As far as we’re concerned, it can’t be business as usual if it’s about the demons.”
“Right. And if the goal is to suppress all the subhumans, there’s no telling how many victims and tragedies will result.”
They unanimously nodded their heads in agreement and decided to support the new hero, Argus.
“Thank you everyone. …… But please be careful to note that the Demons are so deep entrenched into the power layer of this country that they don’t even let anyone catch their tails. Rather than trying to solve the demons itself, we should first gather the agreeable human species and at least build an organization that can fight against the suppression.”
It’s not known how much of demons it is, but defeating it itself might be manageable if you have the strongest people on this continent.
However, if the other party hides and we don’t know who the enemy is, there’s nothing we can do.
Therefore, the first priority was to strengthen the defensive forces and continue investigating, waiting for the moment when the other side would show a flaw.
That was his strategy.
He went on to say this.
“Fortunately, both of the neighboring continents with which this continent has concluded friendly relations have research institutions with worldwide authority. Let’s first contact there and form an alliance in terms of facing the demons. Secretly gather heroes and strongmen of various clans and then focus on defeating our opponents in one breath. …… Although it may be time-consuming, this is the most definitive method.”
This was the moment when the research facility for the opposing demon race that would later become the continent’s highest peak, the lair of heroes, or the base known as the Magic Countermeasures Department was born.
You may also like Childhood Friend of the Zenith