Chapter 31
Chapter 31
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: Incompetent Minister Wants to Retire 31
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What's going on here?
"Great Sage?!"
Huh? Did she truly say the Great Sage?
Gideon Arbor?
Is this retching and puking old man actually the legendary Great Sage Gideon Arbor?
Startled by the Great Sage's sudden and violent vomiting, Angela tried to support his weight, but he raised a trembling hand to halt her. Staggering back to his feet with great effort, he finally spoke.
"I offer my deepest apologies for such rudeness upon our very first meeting. I am Gideon Arbor. Hmm, should I properly address you as Minister?"
"I am Erwin Barrmut. Please feel free to call me whatever you like."
After we exchanged our formal greetings, the Great Sage grandpa stared at me in a piercing silence for a long moment before finally opening his mouth.
"I... I see it clearly now."
"Yes, I suppose so."
I gave him a vague and non-committal reply, but in truth, I had no idea what he actually meant by that statement.
Was he referring to the idea of calling me by my name casually?
I was debating whether to ask him for clarification when the Great Sage grandpa suddenly whipped around with surprising agility.
"W-well then, I shall be on my way immediately."
Angela asked in a state of utter confusion at his abrupt and startling declaration of departure.
"On your way? To where exactly?"
"Uh, well... perhaps I shall head to the quiet countryside and take up a life of simple farming..."
"I beg your pardon?"
"A-anyway, please excuse me!"
With those final words, the Great Sage turned and vanished at a speed that was frankly unbelievable for an old man of his years.
This entire situation completely defied every shred of my common sense.
"Angela. I believe I am in desperate need of an explanation."
"I... I don't really know what happened either. He simply said he wanted to see you, Brother, so I brought him to meet you..."
Equally flustered by the turn of events, Angela explained the bizarre sequence of what had occurred at the Magic Tower.
Ah, so that is what the situation was really about.
He certainly hadn't brought the kind of man I had envisioned in my mind. Well, even so, a grandpa well over a hundred years old was a bit much for me to handle.
"What should we do now?"
"...Shall we just go and grab something to eat?"
And so, we went to eat.
I ran away as fast as I could.
Great Sage Gideon Arbor ran with every ounce of strength he possessed, over and over again.
His heart felt as though it were frozen solid, and the ground seemed to be crumbling beneath him as if he were plummeting into a void of endless darkness.
He desperately wanted to escape the capital city as quickly as it was humanly possible.
He needed to get as far away from it as he could manage.
Even if he knew deep down that running meant absolutely nothing.
"Huff... huff... huff..."
Utterly exhausted, Gideon collapsed in the heart of some unknown forest, leaning his back against a sturdy tree.
Struggling painfully to catch his breath, he finally looked up toward the heavens.
The sky was still there.
A perfectly clear and bright blue sky met his gaze.
Gideon stared blankly at the vast expanse for a very long while.
Then, without even realizing he was doing it, he let out a hollow and self-deprecating chuckle.
"I have been truly arrogant."
Recalling his brief "conversation" with the Minister moments ago, Gideon felt a crushing mix of emptiness and existential doubt.
He had been hailed as a genius since the very day of his birth.
He had never once slacked in his relentless efforts to master his craft.
He hadn't shied away from any lethal danger in order to hone his talents and accumulate unparalleled experience.
He had truly thought that he had achieved everything a mortal could achieve.
His abilities, his skills, his vast knowledge, and his profound wisdom—all had seemingly reached the "end" of the path.
He was absolutely certain that no soul could ever surpass his monumental accomplishments while he still lived.
He was dead wrong.
It was a catastrophic misjudgment.
He had been entirely mistaken about the nature of the world.
"To think that I would hit a completely new 'wall' at my advanced age."
It was that specific, overwhelming sensation he had once felt endlessly in his youth.
The sensation of inferiority he hadn't felt in countless ages.
It was one he never wanted to feel again, yet strangely, he found himself missing it.
"Heh. Truly, I am nothing more than a frog in a well."
Admitting it readily, unlike the prideful days of his younger self, Gideon felt no surge of anger.
When they first met, his entire world had seemed about to be devoured, filling him with a primal terror. But now, looking back on it, he even felt a strange sense of relief.
It was fortunate for him. That he was currently on "this side" of the fence.
He didn't even want to imagine the horror if he were on "that side."
The struggle would have ended before anything had even truly began.
"For now, this old man clearly won't be of any help to him."
Standing up with a groan, Gideon began to walk slowly forward into the woods.
He wouldn't need help right now, but who truly knew what might happen later.
He felt he had to prepare himself for that inevitable time.
"In the worst case, if he still doesn't need any help even after reaching the absolute end, that would be fine too."
If that were the case, then retiring to a quiet countryside for his remaining years wouldn't be a bad fate at all.
Wishing sincerely for that outcome, the Great Sage turned back toward the capital with a deeply worried expression, as if a new thought had just occurred to him.
"But if he is always like that, surely he must be..."
"Lisana!"
"Ah, Sis! You're here!"
Having promised to meet her family after a very long time, Lisana headed straight to the meeting spot after work and greeted her long-missed sister.
Not seeing each other often due to their respective busy schedules, the two sisters expressed their longing with a tight hug.
"Huh, Sis. Have you actually gained some weight recently?"
"I haven't at all! You're the one with even darker circles under your eyes! Are you actually getting any sleep?"
Teasing each other playfully, Lisana and her sister looked every bit the part of a close-knit pair.
Heading to a suitable restaurant her sister had scouted for their dinner, they chatted nonstop over their meal.
"How exactly is your work going?"
"It's fun. It is quite tough sometimes, but since it's what I love, I can keep at it without complaint."
"Isn't it actually because of someone you like?"
"S-Sis! Stop that!"
Watching Lisana blush with visible amusement, her sister couldn't hold back her curiosity and started prying further.
"So, what is this rumored Minister actually like in person?"
"Like how exactly?"
"His abilities, his hobbies, his tastes, his habits, his likes and dislikes, and so on. I bet you have a lot to say on the matter."
"Well... Ugh?!"
[Don't.]
A sudden, sharp headache hit her, and Lisana grimaced, clutching her head in pain. Her sister asked her with a worried look.
"Are you okay? Do not push yourself too hard if you're tired."
"Yeah. No, it's really nothing. Just a quick, sharp throb. What were we talking about just now?"
Shaking her head to dispel the lingering pain, her sister smiled gently at her younger sibling.
"We were talking about the Minister you love."
"W-what are you saying so suddenly?!"
"Is it not the truth?"
"It's not... but... well..."
Her sister patiently waited in silence as Lisana hesitated to find the words.
"The Minister... is actually really kind."
"Kind? The Iron-Blooded Minister is kind?"
"Yeah. Whenever he comes to the archive, he brings hot tea, and if I fall asleep, he drapes his own jacket over me before leaving."
"Hee, that is an interesting side to him." Her sister sounded genuinely impressed and kept asking questions.
"Anything else? How exactly is he when he's at work?"
"I don't know much besides his insanely fast and efficient processing speed."
"You attend the meetings too, right?"
"Yeah, but my job is usually just organizing the files, so the others are the ones who present."
Answering absentmindedly, Lisana suddenly felt a strange and odd sensation.
"Sis, you're being awfully and strangely interested in the Minister today?"
[Suspect her.]
At Lisana's probing words, her sister casually tapped the rim of her cup with her spoon.
"He's the guy my dear little sister likes. Wouldn't it be weirder for me not to be interested in him?"
"I guess that makes sense?"
Nodding, convinced that she'd feel exactly the same if her sister had a crush, Lisana agreed with her.
"That could very well be."
"By the way, the Minister is truly amazing. He even received the Grand Marshal title recently, right? Have you heard anything about what he plans to do with it?"
"I have no idea. And even if I did, I wouldn't be allowed to say... Eek?!"
[Don't say it.]
Something was profoundly wrong. The headaches were getting exponentially worse.
"Your head hurts quite a lot, doesn't it? Perhaps you should see a doctor soon?"
"It's not that bad... No, maybe I really should see one."
Her sister looked sadly at Lisana, who smiled weakly, claiming she'd simply overdone it with work lately.
"What exactly does the Minister plan to do going forward from here?"
"Huh? What do you... Ow!?"
[Nothing.]
It hurt intensely. Lisana groaned as her head felt like it might literally split open.
"S-Sis. I am feeling really bad now. I am sorry, but I think I truly need to head home early today."
"Yeah, it looks like that's for the best. Oh, then can you do just one small favor for me instead?"
"A favor?"
"Yeah. It's nothing big at all."
Her sister slowly and deliberately stirred her tea with a teaspoon as she made her final request.
As per my usual routine, I headed to the archive to slack off, but I freaked out the moment I saw Lisana's face.
"Are you truly okay?"
"Pardon me? Ah, yes. I-I am perfectly fine...?"
How on earth is that fine? It's not fine in the slightest.
Her dark circles were always prominent, but today her face was a deathly, ghostly ashen color.
With bloodshot eyes and a layer of cold sweat, she seemed to be in a pretty serious medical condition.
"That is a direct order. Go to the infirmary right this second for a check-up. Then you are to rest at home for three full days before coming back."
"What?! N-no! Everyone is so busy, I simply cannot...!"
"I said it is a direct order."
I was being firm this time. I wasn't going to let her cry her way out of this one.
But oddly enough, Lisana wasn't crying—she had started trembling violently instead.
"I cannot go... Sis asked me to do it..."
"Your sis?"
Did she actually make a close friend recently?
I don't track every aspect of my subordinates' personal lives, and Lisana was kind and hardworking except for her workaholism, so new friends weren't out of the ordinary.
Hm? Wait just a second.
What does my telling her to go home have to do with her sister's request?
More importantly, what exactly is she doing right now?
"Lisana."
"Yes?"
"I told you to go home for the day."
"Yes, you did say that...?"
"So why exactly are you starting to work again?"
At my sharp question, Lisana, who had been hastily sorting through documents, began to stammer in a panic.
"I-I simply forgot some files..."
"You forgot some files?"
You forgot them, not lost them?
Her, with her legendary perfect memory?
A chill ran down my entire spine. I restored my normal field of vision and asked her directly.
"Lisana. Around 11 PM on XX Month XX Day, what exactly were you doing?"
"Then... I just went home after work and went to sleep...?"
No. That was the specific night of the Intelligence Department banquet.
Her memory has been fundamentally messed up.
"Lisana. Who exactly is this 'sis' you speak of?"
"S-Sis? She is just my sis..."
"What is her full, legal name?"
"Ba-Basti..."
"And her family name?"
"She is my sister, so it is Simon...? Minister, what is wrong with you...?"
I glanced around the archive room with a wary gaze.
A few agents looking for files were side-eyeing the two of us with curiosity.
I beckoned them over with a hand and pointed directly at Lisana.
"Restrain Lisana immediately."
The agents swiftly bound her and slammed her down onto the desk.
"Aack?! M-Minister? Why... why are you doing this to me...!?"
"Listen to me very carefully, Lisana."
"It hurts, it really hurts...!"
"Shut your mouth and listen to what I say."
"Hic?!"
Sighing at the terrified and broken Lisana, I told her the truth.
"You are an only child. You have no sister."