[V9C4] Proposal from the Personnel Officer, Mage Count Miller

Ten days had passed since Elliott’s visit to Monica’s house. Today marked the scheduled meeting of the Seven Sages in the Jade Chamber of the Ridill Royal Palace.

Note that Isaac had returned to his territory shortly before Monica left Sazandol.

Nero had complained, “You’re leaving me behind again!” However, the two eventually succeeded in convincing him to stay behind and keep watch on Monica’s house.

There was technically nothing stopping Monica from bringing Nero to the capital, but her plan was to join up with Elliott and Benjamin once that was finished, then immediately proceed to the town of Rainfield.


Monica gave a brief report on her upcoming magical dedication at the beginning of the meeting. However, the only one to comment on this matter was the Barrier Mage Louis Miller, who said, “You performing a magical dedication? That’s rather unusual.”

Since today’s meeting covered numerous important topics, the other sages refrained from their usual idle chatter. As a result, they quickly proceeded onto the next topic under the lead of the Starseer Witch, Mary Harvey.

All of the Sages were seated at a round table. Starting from the entrance and moving clockwise, there was the Starseer Witch, Artillery Mage, Barrier Mage, Abyss Shaman, Thorn Witch, and finally, the Silent Witch.

With the exception of the New Year’s Ceremony, it was exceedingly rare for all of them to gather in the Jade Chamber. This only underscored the importance of today’s meeting.

“Now then, on to the next topic… the new Sage candidate. Louis-chan, please provide your report.”

“Of course. Finally… at long last…! I have found a candidate fit to join the Seven Sages.”

The weight of Louis’s voice clearly conveyed the effort he had put into this. After all, he had been searching for a Sage candidate for nearly two years, flying all over the country with flight magic.

“Initially, I had my eye on the Soaring Mage, the holder of the long-distance record for flight magic… but he kept slipping away and eventually fled the country.”

“You were pushing for him a lot, weren’t you, Louis-chan?”

There was a reason why Louis pursued the Soaring Mage so persistently. Among the current Seven Sages, Louis was the only one proficient in flight magic. The Artillery Mage could also employ it to some extent, but not as skillfully as Louis.

On the other hand, as the former commander of the Magic Corps, Louis excelled in flight magic and could easily perform long-distance travel due to his contract with a greater wind spirit.

As such, any jobs involving flying around the country were naturally assigned to him. To avoid taking the full burden, Louis was determined to find a new Sage candidate proficient in flight magic. The Soaring Mage would have been a perfect fit if he was willing.

“The candidate I recommend is Silas Page, the disciple of the Thunder Mage,” Louis continued.

“Huh? The old man has a disciple? First time hearing of that.”

The Artillery Mage, Bradford Firestone, replied while crossing his arms with a puzzled look. The ‘old man’ he mentioned was the Thunder Mage, Graham Sanders, who retired from the Seven Sages right as Monica joined.

He had constantly fought on the front lines during wars, saving the country from countless crises with his extraordinarily powerful lightning magic. In fact, he still held the all-time record for solo dragon subjugations, making him quite the impressive ‘old man’.

As far as Monica knew, the Thunder Mage did not have a disciple when he retired four years ago.

“Silas Page became the Thunder Mage’s disciple a year and a half ago, and has only recently obtained the qualification of an advanced mage. He is a relatively unknown magician who doesn’t even have an alias.”

Louis continued, and his words surprised several people, including Monica.

Advanced mages were usually granted aliases by the Mage Association based on their notable achievements, though sometimes the mages themselves decided on what they wanted to be called.

In fact, Monica’s title of ‘Silent Witch’ was decided by Professor Rutherford, who had helped her a lot during her time at Minerva.

There were also some aliases passed down through family, like in the case of Raul and Ray, or passed down from master to disciple. Either way, obtaining an alias was equivalent to being recognized by the Mage Association.

And yet, the new Sage candidate Silas Page did not possess an alias. Meaning, he had yet to be recognized for his achievements.

“If you’re going out of your way to nominate someone without an alias, he must be something special, right?” Bradford interjected.

Indeed, Louis was not the type of man to nominate someone just because he studied under a famous mage.

In response to Bradford’s question, Louis nodded with a graceful smile.

“Silas Page is a mage who specializes in dragon subjugation. He learned magic on his own, rising to the level of intermediate mage, and continued hunting dragons independently… Until he ended up achieving the third-highest record for solo dragon subjugations. At that point, the Mage Association had little choice but to make him take the advanced mage exam.”

The record holders for solo dragon subjugations were the Thunder Mage Graham Sanders in first place and Barrier Mage Louis Miller in second place.

While the Artillery Mage also boasted a decent number of dragon subjugations, his powerful single strike spells often led him to receive requests for subduing large dragons rather than herds of smaller ones. As a result, he hovered between fifth and sixth place when it came to subjugation count.

Somehow, Silas Page had already surpassed Bradford, despite being an intermediate mage at the time.

As Monica listened to his history, she gradually began to see how special this Silas Page was.

Silas had studied under a former Sage for only a year, and obtained his advanced mage qualification just the other day. Yet despite his lack of an alias, the sheer number of dragon kills clearly proved his strength. He was likely a powerful combat-oriented mage, perhaps even rivaling Louis.

Meanwhile, the Abyss Shaman Ray Albright muttered, “So basically, you recruited a dragon subjugation specialist because you didn’t want to do it yourself…”

“Of course I did,” Louis nodded forcefully without any sign of remorse. “I worked so hard slaying enough dragons to afford a mansion, and then after I finally bought it, I can never return home because of all of the dragon subjugation requests. What else am I supposed to do about that?”

Monica groaned and clutched at her chest.

She had been a complete shut-in when she and Louis joined the Seven Sages. As a result, Louis took on almost the entire burden of public tasks like dragon subjugation.

Recalling the time that Louis was sent on twenty dragon subjugations in a three month period, Monica could not find any suitable words of apology.

“So after considering all of these factors, I recommend Silas Page as the new Sage candidate. I would like to conduct an interview and practical examination using magical combat as soon as possible.”

No one argued against Louis.

Everyone present felt a sense of crisis regarding the vacant seat among the Seven Sages, mainly in terms of increased workload for themselves.

Acting as the organizer, Mary clapped her hands together and summarized the results of the meeting.

“Well then, let’s proceed with the interview and exam as Louis-chan suggested. Monica-chan, you’ll be headed to Rainfield after this, right? Can we proceed with the interview while you’re gone? Then we’ll save the practical exam for when you return.”

“Y-Yes, that’s fine.”

In the first place, Monica didn’t believe that she could contribute much as an interviewer.

In contrast to Monica’s obedient nodding, Bradford narrowed his eyes at Mary.

“That seems uncharacteristically impatient for you, Starseer.”

“You see, I have something to report as well,” Mary explained.

The melancholic expression on her face indicated that this report was not going to be good news. And whenever Mary delivered bad news, it was always related to an ill-fated star.

“Lately, I’ve been observing the twinkling of a foreboding star. A dragon disaster is likely to occur in the near future, in addition to…”

Mary paused her words, slowly looking around the round table to meet the eyes of each person. Monica shivered slightly when Mary looked at her last.

Mary’s eyes had always been that of a dreaming maiden, as if she was looking off into the distance. But now, they seemed to be peering into Monica’s soul, filling her chest with a strange unease.

“…Ominous signs for the Seven Sages.”

Her words sounded unusually heavy.

Mary lowered her long silver eyelashes, murmuring as if in prayer.

“Please be careful, everyone… so that none of you lose anything precious.”

Her foreboding prophesy brought a silence to the room.

The first to break this silence was Louis.

“Starseer Witch-dono, do these ominous signs also apply to Silas Page, the new Sage candidate?”

“No, it only concerns the six present here.”

“I see. Then once Silas Page joins the Seven Sages…”

Louis pushed up his monocle with his fingertip.

“…We can send him straight into the frontlines as a substitute for us, since we have this ominous fortune.”

His eyes were dead serious.

“Y-You’re heartless… Even worse than a shaman like me… Are you even human…?”

“Agreed, this Silas Page guy might be happier not joining the Seven Sages.”

“Even someone without ominous signs will meet misfortune if he falls into Louis-san’s hands!”

Ray, Bradford, and Raul interjected, but Louis simply put on an amused smile. Almost too amused.

But Monica knew. This smile had nothing to do with amusement.

“Hahaha! Dragon hunting, recruitment, fieldwork… the coworkers who dumped all sorts of miscellaneous tasks on me sure have a different way of thinking.”

The Sages aside from Louis offered their silent prayers for the new Sage candidate, Silas Page.

＊　＊　＊

Even after the meeting ended, Monica remained in her seat, contemplating Mary’s prophecy.

——Ominous signs for the Seven Sages.

This coincided with a prophesied dragon disaster, so the implication was clear. One of the Seven Sages may get injured by a dragon, or in the worst case, lose their life.

(I’m not afraid of dragon subjugation, but…)

Losing someone to a dragon was frightening to think about.

Only a few years ago, Monica had been afraid of the Dragon Knights accompanying her on a dragon subjugation. However, she now found the prospect of someone getting injured or losing their life much, much more terrifying.

Though this fear was only natural, Monica had to repeatedly clench her hands to prevent them from going cold. Meanwhile, someone tapped her shoulder.

She turned around to see Louis looking down on her with his usual cheerful smile.

“You have a business trip to Rainfield after this, correct?”

“Y-Yes. I’ll be meeting in the capital with Howard-sama, the lord of Rainfield…”

“Actually, I have a favor to ask of you regarding that.”

Monica instinctively tightened her lips, recalling Louis’s inhumane behavior at the end of the recent meeting. Not to mention the Black Dragon of Worgan subjugation request, and the top-secret Second Prince escort mission. The ‘favors’ Louis asked for tended to be impossible tasks.

Louis began explaining the details to the skeptical Monica, which caused her to widen her eyes in surprise.

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