[V10C8] An Unspoken Issue

After the magical battle, the three of them returned to the reception room of the Magic Corps, where the Starseer Witch, Mary Harvey, welcomed them with a smile.

“Good work out there, everyone~. Now, have a seat, have a seat.”

Monica and Louis took their seats as prompted by Mary. Silas, however, remained standing. He walked over to his elderly master, Graham Sanders the Thunder Mage, and bowed his head.

“Forgive me, Master. I fought under your name and suffered a disgraceful defeat.”

Silas was serious. Way too serious. Everyone in the room was astonished by his sincerity.

The Thunder Mage, though still nestled in cushions, moved his lips under his beard and spoke in a low voice.

“You were too slow to move after the initial strike. You should have launched a surprise attack to divide the enemy, preventing them from coordinating with each other.”

“Yeah.”

“In aerial combat, you allowed the Barrier Mage to lure you into unfavorable positions. Falling for such tricks is a sign of inexperience.”

“Yeah.”

“And…”

The mage once known as the strongest man in Ridill opened his eyes wide and continued…

“Have we had breakfast yet?”

“…Master, it’s already lunchtime.”

Silas scratched his head while pointing that out, and Graham nodded in realization.

“Oh right. We were talking about the magical battle,” Graham mumbled while stroking his beard, then turned to Monica.

Why was he looking at her? Monica nervously met the gaze of Graham, who began speaking in a friendly tone, as if to his own grandchild.

“You can expect great things from Silas when pitting him against a dragon… but he is a bit soft on children.”

“Fweh?” Monica involuntarily let out a sound.

“I hope you will forgive him for that,” Graham continued.

“Uh, by children, you mean…”

Monica timidly glanced at Silas, who promptly returned with a sharp glare. He was still incredibly intimidating. This made it difficult to believe Graham’s statement of Silas being ‘soft on children’.

“There’s nothing I hate more than making kids cry! All of you better remember that!” Silas suddenly declared to everyone in the room with an angry tone.

Louis placed a finger on his chin, deliberately tilting his head in a theatrical manner.

“Kids? Hmm… If you are referring to the little lady over there, she is already nineteen, you know?”

“…Which means she was barely sixteen when she fought the black dragon! How could you send a little girl on such a dangerous mission!? What were you thinking!?”

A shock ran through everyone in the room, including Monica herself. No one had pointed this out until now.

The people present here were members of prodigious families who had practiced magic since childhood, or outliers who had been flying around and hunting dragons since their teens.

Thus, none of them noticed the issue of Monica’s age during the black dragon subjugation.

(S-So… he was glaring at me earlier because…!)

As if confirming Monica’s expectations, Silas groaned while grinding his teeth.

“Just imagining a kid like her in front of a dragon is disgusting. It makes me sick… Why didn’t any of you stop her?”

“Such is the responsibility of those with power. You just witnessed Silent Witch-dono’s abilities firsthand, no?” Louis retorted.

As a reminder, Louis did nothing to stop it. In fact, he was the one solely responsible for dumping the black dragon subjugation on Monica.

Silas grimaced and fell silent with a bitter expression. Having been defeated by Monica, he understood that he was not in any position to complain, but he couldn’t help but feel dissatisfied.

Meanwhile, the current and former Sages in the room seemed astonished by Silas’s surprising amount of common sense.

“H-How can this be…? He purposely made himself look unpleasant, only to come out as a regular nice guy… Was it all a trick to improve his image…? Dammit, how sly…!”

The mumbling of Ray was followed by the Roseberg siblings, Raul and Melissa.

“In other words, Page-san seems pretty cool!”

“I’m not a fan. Stuffy guys aren’t really my type.”

Acting as the moderator, Mary put on a wry smile and tapped the floor with her staff. The restless room fell silent, save for the jingling of the staff’s decorations.

“Now, everyone, have we reached a conclusion?”

Mary looked around the room and passed the floor to each of them in turn.

The first to speak up was Ray’s grandmother, Adeline Albright, the Second Abyss Shaman.

“Hehe, nothing wrong with bringing in more lively youths. As an old woman who has already retired, I have no intention of interfering. Right, Verde?”

“Yes, I have no objections,” Bertrand Verde, the Aquamancy Mage, nodded back.

Meanwhile, Melissa, who had been leaning lazily on the sofa with a lack of enthusiasm, casually waved her hand in agreement.

“Same here. I don’t really care. Just let the active Sages decide.”

“Little miss. I never said that I didn’t care,” Adeline interjected.

In response to Adeline’s scolding, Melissa groaned like a sulking child.

“Oh, fine! I will follow Adeline-sama’s decision! That good enough for you?”

Melissa sighed and, as if urging them to decide quickly, turned to six active Sages.

“I say he’s good enough for a passing grade,” Bradford said, nodding with his arms crossed. “I was impressed by his quick response to chantless magic, and his ability to keep up with the Barrier Mage’s aerial combat.”

Bradford’s positive response caused Silas to widen his eyes in astonishment. Perhaps he thought that losing the magical battle would result in instant failure.

“But I thought Sages had to handle combat against dragons and other mages?” Silas muttered, leading Ray to roll his eyes.

“Yeah right. If that were the case, I would’ve been fired years ago…!”

“Hahaha, me too,” Raul cheerfully nodded from the seat adjacent to Ray. “I give him a pass! Oh, and the spell he invented for capturing dragons wasn’t half bad.”

“…? Invented?”

Monica tilted her head, as this was the first she had heard of any invented spells. Noticing this, Melissa casually grabbed a set of documents on the table and shoved them at Monica.

These documents had apparently been submitted before the interview, and one section listed the magical formulas that Silas had developed on his own.

Skipping through the part about Silas’s background, Monica focused on these inventions.

(An attack spell and binding spell specialized against dragons… This is amazing! Capturing a dragon with magic was said to be nearly impossible, but this magic formula is designed to react to the dragon’s mana and…)

“What about you, Silent Witch? Let’s hear your opinion,” Bradford asked.

“Ah, yes, I agree! I think he deserves a pass! These magic formulas are amazing…! Especially the one that increases accuracy by linking detection magic with offensive spells, and the binding spell that adjusts by reacting to the dragon’s mana! Both are incredibly innovative! Um, I’d like to hear an explanation of these later!”

Prompted by Bradford, Monica began speaking with great enthusiasm. The sudden change caused Silas to give her a look of surprise.

Louis chuckled and interjected, “Since I recommended him, I will refrain from commenting and leave the decision to the other Sages. Well, though it seems we already have three votes for passing. What do you say, Abyss Shaman-dono?”

“…Like I suspected, a violent guy will only bring more violent guys… But aside from his intimidating face and lack of respect, I can’t think of any real flaws… I’m jealous… Dammit, dammit, why is he so perfect…”

Ray still seemed dissatisfied, but he didn’t have any concrete reasons for failing Silas.

Louis shrugged and turned back to Mary. The eldest of the active Sages nodded back and opened her mouth.

“I also vote for passing. Now then, shall we formally welcome Silas Page as a new member of the Seven Sages? Any last minute objections?”

Everyone nodded instantly, except for Ray, who reluctantly nodded after a short delay.

Silas turned to Mary with a puzzled expression.

“…You really want me to join? But I straight up lost to two mages who were younger than me.”

Hearing those words prompted Louis to raise an eyebrow behind his monocle.

“I am actually twenty-nine, making me a bit older than you.”

“…Huh!?”

Silas exclaimed in surprise and stared at Louis’s face. Louis definitely looked much younger than his age, so his surprise was understandable.

(Huh? But he’s younger than Louis-san, then that means…)

Monica flipped through the documents and glanced at Silas’s profile, which was in the part she had skipped.

“Twenty-five…?”

Honestly, she had assumed he was thirty, or even in his mid-thirties. This realization caused Melissa and Ray to gasp in astonishment.

“Geh, he’s younger than me!?”

“W-We’re only two years apart…!? Is this a joke!? You look at least ten years older than that…!”

Silas glared at Ray with an even more intimidating face than usual.

“And what’s that supposed to mean…!?”

“Eek, h-have you ever looked in a mirror!?” Ray retorted. “No one has ever pointed it out to you!? There’s no way you’re in your twenties!”

“Come on now, you should have realized it when I called him a youngster earlier,” Louis said. “Though I suppose my apparent youthfulness may have confused you.”

The room was filled with confusion, aside for Louis, who was in high spirits from being perceived as young.

And that was how the Dragon Slayer Mage, Silas Page (Age 25), was formally accepted as the newest member of the Seven Sages. The comments about his slightly aged face and fondness for children need not be said.

The current ages of the characters are as follows:

  • Louis (29)
  • Melissa (26)
  • Silas (25)
  • Ray (23)
  • Ike (22)
  • Raul (21)
  • Cyril (20)
  • Monica (19)

As a side note, Melissa-oneesan generally says “I’m not that much older than Raul! Ohohoho!” whenever her age is brought up.

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