Chapter 74
Chapter 74
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: Little Sage
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I slowly descended from the ramparts.
“…….”
An eerie silence blanketed the inside of the castle.
The cheers and screams that had echoed just moments ago were completely gone.
The soldiers had all stopped what they were doing, staring blankly down at the sand pit beyond the walls.
The spot where the orc horde had been was so clean it was hard to believe they had ever existed there at all, as if a massive tsunami had swept everything away.
The silence was broken by the sound of one soldier dropping his sword.
Clang-.
That small noise became the signal.
Someone burst into tears.
“W-We survived….”
With that, the suppressed voices erupted one after another.
“Waaaaaaaaah!”
Cheers shook the entire ramparts.
The soldiers embraced each other, shouting at the top of their lungs.
Relief from escaping the terror of death, excitement from witnessing an unbelievable miracle.
Soon, all that fervor focused on one spot.
Right on me.
“It’s the Great Sage!”
“Doesn’t ‘Little Sage’ suit him better than Great Sage?”
“You think so? The Little Sage saved us!”
People swarmed around me.
But none dared to touch me, merely gazing from a few steps away.
Their eyes brimmed with pure adoration.
Some even dropped to their knees right there and began to pray.
An incredibly awkward situation.
“How can such a small, skinny body hold that kind of power….”
“It’s not human strength. He must have received a god’s blessing.”
“What if he’s actually an angel?”
“Exactly!”
An angel?
I had to suppress a grimace.
Just hearing it made my skin crawl.
They say excessive praise is unbearable. It was true.
As I worried my face might be beet red even to their eyes,
Seymour and the other commanders, even the king wearing his crown, hurried toward me.
Their faces couldn’t hide their excitement either.
The king approached me and, forgetting his status as monarch, bowed deeply.
“I know not how to repay your grace, great sage. You have saved our entire kingdom.”
“Ahem. Please, raise your head.”
I cleared my throat softly.
It was right then.
“N-No way….”
A dying voice came from behind everyone.
It was the court mage, Gerard.
He was barely propped up against the wall, his expression utterly vacant.
Gerard’s gaze turned to me.
His pupils shook violently, as if struck by an earthquake.
“This… this isn’t magic….”
Gerard pointed at me and screamed.
“Don’t be fooled! He’s no sage, no angel! He’s not using magic!”
A reaction even more intense than in the meeting room.
“This scale of magic can’t be manifested in an instant! It’s a power that defies every law of magic!”
“…Gerard?”
“An angel? No, that’s a demon! A demon disguised as a child, deceiving us all!”
The surroundings fell silent at Gerard’s wail.
The soldiers looked at the court mage as if he were mad.
There was no way they could understand him screaming “demon” at the benefactor who had just saved them.
The king shouted in fury.
“Court mage! Are you in your right mind? What nonsense is this toward our savior!”
“It’s not nonsense, Your Majesty! Open your eyes! That thing is beyond what we can handle! We must seal that demon right now…!”
“Drag him away. Seems the shock of battle has driven him mad.”
“Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Let me go! Mmph…!”
Before Gerard could finish, two soldiers under the general’s orders clamped his mouth shut and seized his arms.
Even as he was dragged away, the court mage thrashed desperately, shrieking unintelligibly at me.
“Why’s he suddenly like that?”
“The court mage has always been a bit… petty, hasn’t he?”
“Probably exploded with jealousy at the appearance of a superior, younger mage. Tsk tsk….”
People clicked their tongues as they watched.
They seemed convinced the kingdom’s grand mage had lost his mind to jealousy and shock.
Watching him, I felt an inexplicable unease.
He was an irritating guy, but seeing him like this left a bad taste in my mouth.
Plus, it would likely affect the next floor, or the one after.
No need to make enemies unnecessarily.
I turned to the king.
“Please forgive him generously. It doesn’t bother me.”
“Indeed, a true sage has a broad heart. If that is your wish, so be it.”
The king bowed to me once more.
“Once again, with all the kingdom at stake, I thank you. Your name will be etched eternally in our history.”
No sooner had his words ended than a system message appeared before my eyes.
[You have saved a kingdom on the brink of destruction.]
[The kingdom’s people worship you, calling you ‘sage.’]
[Title acquired: [Little Sage of the Desert].]
‘Do we really need the “little” part…?’
Grumbling inwardly, I stared into empty space.
In the corner of my vision, the remaining time until 32nd floor clear was displayed.
[Remaining time: 21 minutes 17 seconds]
A 30-minute defense quest.
The timer had barely passed 8 minutes.
[Tower 32nd Floor (EXTREME) cleared. Congratulations.]
Moments later, a golden skillbook floated before me.
I knew what came next.
[First clear bonus applied!]
[1st place ranking bonus applied!]
The promised second-stage evolution.
A thick book materialized in my hand amid a burst of light.
Its cover shimmered with rainbow hues.
[Active Skill: Mirage]
[Grade: Rainbow]
[Hide the truth with light.]
***
The moment I got home, I headed straight to the basement training room.
I was exhausted, but my mind buzzed with curiosity about the new skill.
My third Rainbow skill, Mirage.
I’d noticed one thing lately.
The higher the skill grade, the more curt the description.
So, I had to figure out all the effects through testing myself.
“Well, it’s not like I have no guesses.”
This skill probably created illusions.
I activated Mirage on the sandy floor.
What illusion to make?
I recalled the face of Knight Commander Seymour from the tower and tried to form his image.
“Doesn’t seem to work like this….”
No form appeared at all.
This time, I tried inorganic objects like a computer or phone.
The phone worked, but the computer failed.
“Aha. Seems like it has to be something I’ve seen with my own eyes.”
Having grasped the condition, I ran a few more experiments.
Soon enough, I pinpointed the skill’s exact requirements.
“It can only be activated on sand, and the real thing must be visible to me.”
I moved to the living room and sprinkled a bit of sand on the floor.
Targeting Superlux, who was sitting on the floor staring at his phone, I activated the skill.
On the sand, an exact duplicate of Superlux formed.
“…!”
Superlux’s eyes widened at the sight of another himself appearing before him.
He cautiously approached and reached out toward his illusion.
Poke. Superlux prodded it.
His hand passed right through without resistance.
“…?”
Superlux alternated between his hand and the illusion, looking utterly confused.
This time, he touched the illusion a bit harder.
But the result was the same.
“…!”
Superlux, stretching his arm into empty air, tumbled over in bewilderment.
I burst out laughing at the sight.
It was just like a cat pouncing on its reflection in a mirror.
After amusing myself like that for a bit, I moved on to the next test.
I focused my mana on the illusion once more.
Superlux’s illusion began to grow enormous in an instant.
It expanded into a giant’s form, its head brushing the ceiling.
“!!!”
Seeing his illusion suddenly enlarge, the real Superlux yelped in shock and fell backward.
He stared up at his massive self with wide eyes.
It seemed I could freely adjust the illusion’s size at will.
I manipulated the enlarged illusion to circle the living room.
It moved smoothly according to my will.
But the moment the illusion’s foot touched the unsanded living room floor, the massive form dissipated like smoke.
The illusion couldn’t be maintained outside the sand area.
“How much sand does it really need?”
I swept away all but a handful of the scattered sand.
Then I cast the skill again.
Surprisingly, a perfect Superlux illusion rose once more from that single handful.
“Feels like a screen.”
Meaning, as long as I had a handful of sand, I could use this magic anywhere.
A brilliant idea suddenly struck me.
“What if I can make illusions from photos too?”
I scrolled through my phone’s gallery.
There was a recent photo of someone.
The double peace sign from the magic-sharpening young man.
“It works….”
The downside was I couldn’t change the pose, but an identical illusion formed nonetheless.
I stared at that creepy smile for a moment, then waved my hand to dispel it.
***
Having finished experimenting with the skill, I sat down at the computer with satisfaction.
It was too much of a waste to keep my new Rainbow-grade skill to myself.
News like this naturally had to be shared first on the mage gallery.
As I quickly started typing a post,
[Title: Wanna skip the lab visit this week?]
“Huh?”
Refrigerator had posted.