Chapter 7: Target …… no, sage.

“…”

After watching the video in the crystal ball, I was speechless.

Sylvia hadn’t died.

After the Hero and Saintess’s marriage, she lived alone in the Magic Tower for her entire life, dying while only loving the Hero.

Scars of the heart are endlessly deep, and the Hero who had healed one scar had also created another, larger one.

This was the memory reproduction magic [Memories].

That was why it could be shown through the crystal ball.

But how?

These were non-existent memories.

These were episodes from a time when my current personality didn’t exist.

Even the fact that I was speaking face-to-face with Sylvia now was because of my past self.

Unable to hide my troubled expression, I gazed at the crystal ball.

Beyond it, Sylvia was simply smiling.

It was her usual smile.

That made it even scarier.

How could she look at this version of herself and smile as usual?

Even after seeing what could become her own future.

I bowed my head deeply.

What could I say?

Even if I offered understanding filled with hypocrisy, Sylvia wouldn’t appreciate it.

“Sy-Sylvia…”

[Ain. It’s alright. If you have any sin, it would only be the sin of saving me.]

Her tone was gentle.

Sylvia gave a warm smile, as if embracing me.

However, in her blue eyes, I could only feel obsession intertwined like madness and a chilling emptiness.

More benevolent than the Saintess, yet more cruel than the Demon King…

Archmage Sylvia.

Later called the Wizard of Miracles, a magical prodigy who unified five Magic Towers.

[Let me ask you again. Do you believe in miracles, Ain?]

Sylvia, a miracle in herself, asked.

With a voice both endlessly chilling and endlessly warm.

“I…”

If asked if I believe in miracles, I do.

Because falling into this other world was a miracle in itself.

Because the Hero’s party defeating that difficult Demon King was also a miracle.

However, the miracle Sylvia spoke of wasn’t ‘coincidence’.

She was talking about a miracle she created herself.

“I believe…”

[That’s all that matters.]

Sylvia maintained her smile until the very end.

[I merely performed a miracle. Since you gave me a miracle, I merely performed one too. Since Ain saved me, I am saving myself so as not to disappoint myself.]

As Sylvia waved her hand, the surrounding mana scattered like water.

A level where magic power is perfectly controlled by emotion.

A stage even higher than a Sage.

Literally capable of directly realizing miracles.

“Grand Sage…”

[It’s all thanks to you, Ain.]

Sylvia gathered mana to create a single form.

Its shape was me, Ain.

Sylvia hugged the form tightly.

As if it might run away.

Then she subtly lifted her head and looked at me.

Her blue eyes held a peculiar light.

Love.

It seemed to be that emotion.

And a pathologically obsessive love at that.

[And I want to possess you, Ain.]

“…I.”

[You don’t have to say it, you don’t have to want it. I will achieve it myself. This time, I won’t be disappointed.]

Sylvia chuckled and said,

[Please bestow a miracle upon me once more, Ain.]

And then the crystal ball turned black.

****

…

Though it felt like I had witnessed countless memories, only ten minutes had passed.

I dispelled the magic nearby.

There had been a signal that someone was approaching since the middle of our conversation.

If it were Ariina, she could have easily hidden her presence and entered, but the signal came openly, as if deliberately flaunting her presence.

As I sighed and turned around, I saw Ariina leaning against the wall, arms crossed, gazing at me with cold eyes.

She asked in a voice as cold as her gaze.

“So, are you done cheating right in front of the person involved?”

“Cheating? Could you please describe me as a master listening to a confession for his disciple instead?”

I immediately retorted.

Ariina clicked her tongue, narrowing her eyes and glaring at me.

It was a look of clear displeasure.

“Enough. Your bullshit flows like water… You really are unfortunate.”

“Tell me about it.”

I let out a deep sigh.

Sylvia becoming a Grand Sage was certainly something to be happy about, but for her to use that power for obsession?

Ugh, it’s terrifying.

She wouldn’t stab me with a knife later just for looking at another woman, would she?

First, though, it seems I need to deal with the other yandere right in front of me.

Contrary to my expectation that Ariina would be angry, she merely showed strong signs of displeasure.

“Just like a Sugar Daddy. You’ve been laying your lecherous hands on other girls since they were young too, huh?”

“When you put it like that, I sound like a criminal, you know?”

“And meeting someone who likes you right in front of your girlfriend isn’t a crime?”

Ariina glared at me with icy eyes.

“Strictly speaking, that’s not a crime… Kuaaagh!”

“You haven’t forgotten my personality, have you?”

Ariina kicked me in the shin.

I screamed, unable to help but shed a few tears.

My body, reinforced by magic, normally wouldn’t even feel pain, and the opponent should be the one hurting, yet Grand Thief Ariina’s attack far surpassed common sense.

To elaborate, that’s it; to put it simply – it hurts!

Ariina smiled cruelly and said,

“It’s been a while. I used to punch you when you talked nonsense.”

“Kuhh… Nonsense? That’s hurtful. I risked everything for the atmosphere of the Hero’s party… Kuaaagh!”

“Seriously, why does this bastard talk so much nonsense?”

Bone! Bone! She hit my bone!

This time, it was the other shin.

No other explanation needed, it just hurts like hell.

Ariina looked at me with a pathetic gaze, then sighed.

“…It seems I’ll have to have a big fight with that Sylvia.”

“Kuhh, kuhhhhh… She’s a Grand Sage now. A Grand Sage. There’s no way a mere thief like you could defeat a Grand Sageeeeee-!”

“Seriously. You. Would. Be. So. Much. Better. If you. Just. Shut. Up.”

After being hit six times, one hit per syllable, I finally shut my mouth.

Ariina now looked down at me, fallen, with eyes mixed with disdain.

‘Say one more word and I’ll kill you,’ her irritated red eyes seemed to say.

Still, she seems to have calmed down quite a bit.

I deliberately talked some nonsense to ease Ariina’s feelings.

In exchange, my pain was exchanged equivalently.

Pain for easing emotions… The exchange rate is garbage.

Ariina tucked her long black hair behind her ear and muttered.

“Hmph, well… yes, a mere Grand Thief of the Hero’s party probably can’t defeat a Grand Sage.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I have my own way.”

“Stealing?”

Isn’t stealing a thief’s specialty?

Ariina gave me a sharp look for my nonsense.

I gasped and shut my mouth.

If I carelessly ran my mouth, I might end up as a living corpse.

“Should I steal your virginity first?”

“That’s better than I thought…”

For Ariina, her small chest is a flaw, though.

Ariina raised an eyebrow, saying, ‘Oh really?’

“S-Sorry.”

“Well, I’m not so wicked as to take virginity without consent, you know.”

Ariina shrugged, as if uninterested.

She once said she’d steal everything I desired.

Why won’t she steal my useless virginity tag?

It’s the virginity of the Blue Magic Tower’s best… no, now the second-best.

Damn it, am I even second-best in my own Magic Tower now?

Sylvia, are you going to make me experience the sorrow of being second-best again?

“Well, anyway, I know ordinary methods won’t work against a Grand Sage-level opponent.”

“What, like a surprise attack on the Demon King?”

For reference, the Hero’s party launched a surprise attack on the Demon King.

With a strategy of putting the Hero in front, and the Grand Thief, Saintess, and Oracle behind.

Cowardly?

The Demon King, who was barely defeatable even if the Hero, I, the Grand Thief, the Saintess, and the Oracle all attacked, was the one who was cowardly in the first place.

If they hadn’t launched a surprise attack, someone might have died.

The Grand Thief’s performance was outstanding then.

She used the Hero’s holy sword from behind to stab him in the back of the head.

Reality isn’t a shonen manga.

Fair and square methods aren’t always the truth.

From the Demon King’s perspective, it must have been incredibly unfair, but that’s why he should have watched his back.

“There is such a method.”

“Wow, that’s a bit much.”

“Didn’t you come up with the plan to stab the Demon King in the back in the first place?”

“Sylvia isn’t the Demon King, though.”

I said, dumbfounded.

“So to speak, she’s your mistress.”

“Mistress, you say…”

Of course, I am dating Ariina, but it just started.

If you’re going to use the word ‘mistress,’ at least take my virginity first.

Of course, I shut my mouth because if I said that, she really might take it.

“And isn’t a Grand Sage at least as strong as the ‘Oracle’s Incarnation’ we met back then? We need to prepare.”

“Is there no way to not fight?”

“This is a battle to distinguish between the official wife and the concubine. There’s no way not to fight.”

“How did I end up with two wives?”

“I also saw Sylvia’s pitiful circumstances firsthand, so…”

Ariina said that and grinned.

“Even if you don’t want it, that’s how it’ll be.”