[V10C9] Nee-san, Nii-san

Silas Page the Dragon Slayer Mage was formally accepted as a member of the Seven Sages. Following this, the current and former Sages gathered for a banquet in the palace.

However, not all of them stayed. Melissa had casually left after saying, “Why should I have to eat while looking at the faces of some old folks.” Mary and Louis were also absent, claiming to have important work to do.

“Silas, where’s my tea?”

“Here you go.”

“Thanks, I like this blend… Silas, where’s my tea?”

“…In your right hand.”

As the guest of honor, Silas sat at what was essentially the head of the round table. Next to him was his master, the Thunder Mage, followed by the rest of the Sages arranged clockwise in order of age: the Second Abyss Shaman, the Aquamancy Mage, the Artillery Mage, the Third Abyss Shaman, the Fifth Thorn Witch, and finally, the Silent Witch.

In other words, Silas was also seated next to Monica.

Silas was a large man with a loud voice and an intimidating face, making him the type of person Monica was most nervous around.

However, he didn’t harbor any hostility against her, and even got angry at the fact that she was sent on a black dragon subjugation before reaching adulthood.

Above all, Monica was very curious about the anti-dragon spells Silas had developed. She wanted to hear the details from his mouth and, if possible, observe him casting the spells.

(W-Will he get mad if I ask him about that…? We’re going to be coworkers from now on, so it should be fine, right…?)

Almost everyone at the table had finished eating and was enjoying their post-lunch tea. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to strike up a conversation.

But as Monica hesitated about how to approach Silas, Raul, who was seated on Monica’s left, spoke first.

“Hey, Silas, can you come over here? You joining the Three Young Sages means we’re a quartet now, so we should come up with a new team name. Any good suggestions?”

Raul suddenly called Silas by his first name without any honorifics, then included him into some weird subgroup. Confused, Silas glared back at Raul.

Caught in between them, Monica involuntarily trembled with an “Eep!”

Silas clicked his tongue and bluntly replied, “Just so you know, I don’t intend to play around with you guys.”

This response caused Ray, who was seated to the right of Raul, to flinch. He widened his pink eyes and scratched his purple hair while screaming.

“Y-You thought we wanted to get along with you…!? How presumptuous… Dammit, dammit, all of you people who live in an environment where it’s natural to get along with others… Ah, I’m so jealous, jealous, jealous…”

Silas seemed taken aback by Ray’s reaction, as Raul burst into hearty laughter.

“Come on, don’t say that! We’re all friends here, Silas! Everyone is equal in the Seven Sages!”

“Even if the Sages are equal, you still have to respect your seniors… Respect me, respect me…!”

As Ray pointed out, the Seven Sages valued the length of tenure more than actual age. For example, Louis was older than Ray and Raul, but he treated them with a decent amount of respect, at least back when he joined the Sages.

One could argue that his respect has waned in recent years. Either way, this was why Louis generally took the initiative in handling miscellaneous tasks.

The cheerful Raul, the gloomy Ray, and the flustered Monica… Silas grimaced, completely clueless as to how he would deal with this situation.

Meanwhile, Bradford put on a mischievous grin and chimed on the banter of the younger Sages.

“He’s not wrong, Dragon Slayer. You need to start respecting the Silent Witch as your senior, especially since you lost to her in the magical battle… How about calling her ‘Silent-neesan’ or something?”

Silas glanced at the adjacently-seated Monica, mumbling, “Silent-neesan…?” with confusion written on his face.

Monica vigorously shook her head. “J-Just call me Monica Ebyarett!”

“Ebya…?”

“Everett!”

Amused by Monica’s garbled speech, Bradford poured some additional spirits into his teacup and burst into laughter.

“Come on now. You’re a senpai starting today, so better stand tall!”

“M-Me, a senpai…?”

“Besides, weren’t you going to ask Dragon Slayer about the formula he made?” Bradford continued.

Monica nodded eagerly, having forgotten her earlier anxiety.

“Right! Yes, I am. Um, so about the dragon capture formula. Even lesser dragons possess high magic resistance, so until now, the only way to capture them was confining them in a sealing barrier. At first glance, I thought your formula was just a sealing barrier morphed into a mesh-like pattern, but it seems to incorporate a regular lightning spell that reacts only to mana from dragons. I find that fascinating. If you have any documents on the mana arrangement of dragons, I would love to see them… Oh, and I’m also curious about what method you used to determine their mana arrangement.”

Silas frowned and glanced around the table.

Bradford simply grinned, while Raul said, “Looks like we’re already getting along!” with a cheerful smile, and Ray muttered, “Struggle more… Struggle more…” No one seemed inclined to help.

Finally, Silas turned to his right. His master was his last hope.

The Thunder Mage, who was the oldest person at the table, nodded while spilling a bit of tea onto his white beard.

“Silas… You should respect your seniors.”

“R-Right.”

Following his master’s advice, Silas straightened his posture and turned to face Monica.

“Uh, Silent-neesan… I made a magical tool that reacts to the mana of dragons. That’s how I investigated their mana arrangement.”

Silas Page (Age 25) began respectfully addressing the nineteen-year-old Monica as “Nee-san” and diligently answering her barrage of questions. Honestly, he was far too sincere.

Seeing this, Ray’s grandmother, the Second Abyss Shaman, gave the Aquamancy Mage a sidelong glance.

“What an incredibly serious blockhead. Reminds me of your younger days, Verde.”

“…Is that so?”

“Perhaps the current Seven Sages needed someone like that. Not a bad choice after all. Hee-hee-hee.”

“My Silas is a good kid, you know,” the Thunder Mage said with a smile, as the aforementioned disciple wiped off his tea-stained beard.

＊　＊　＊

“This is my magical tool for detecting dragon mana. Well, it’s more like a mana meter that only measures dragon mana…”

Silas explained as he took something out of his pocket.

The device resembled a pocket watch, but was about twice the normal size. Silas opened the lid to reveal a panel with four different meters, each with their own needle.

“It can precisely measure the mana of both lesser and greater dragons. Plus, if you put a piece of magical tissue here, like dragon blood or scales, it can even track down the dragon it came from.”

The front panel could be lifted, revealing a container large enough to fit a dragon scale. Apparently, the device was capable of reading the residue mana in the scale, enabling the tracking of dragons.

A tool capable of hunting dragons to the ends of the earth. Sounded like a fitting invention for someone calling himself the Dragon Slayer Mage.

In addition to Monica, Bradford and Raul began observing the device with great interest. It was only natural for mages to show an interest in rare magical tools. The only exception was Ray, the shaman, who seemed pretty indifferent.

“I put great emphasis on precision, so it can catch the faintest hint of mana. The best part is that it can locate dragons suppressing their mana signature.”

“Hey, Dragon Slayer, it looks pretty different from a regular mana meter. How do you activate it?” Bradford asked.

“First you wind this screw, then put in some mana, and…”

Silas put his hand on the screw, but Raul abruptly interrupted in a raised voice.

“Hey, Silas!”

“…What is it, Thorn-niisan?”

Silas raised an eyebrow at Raul, who, for some reason, briefly averted his gaze. Then, Raul began speaking in an unusually hesitant tone.

“Uh, just out of curiosity… What’s the effective range?”

“It’s still a work in progress, so the range is pretty limited. At best, it would probably reach the courtyard from here. I intend to expand the range and eventually use it for dragon reconnaissance…”

“Oh, I see. Sounds good. Uh, can you hold on a sec? There’s something I want to check…”

Raul put on a strained smile and pulled the hem of Monica’s robe from under the table.

“Raul-sama?”

“Monica, can we talk for a moment?”

Raul whispered to Monica and the two moved to a corner of the room. His usual cheerful smile was clouded with a great deal of anxiety.

“Monica, this is bad, really bad. I saw Cyril in the central courtyard a while ago… and Thule was with him.”

Aghast, Monica covered her mouth to stifle a scream.

Thule was the white dragon contracted to Cyril. He usually took the form of a weasel or a young man.

The use of detection magic at close range could determine if someone was human or not, as non-humans would appear as a clump of mana. However, it could not easily differentiate between spirits and dragons.

On the other hand, the mana meter created by the Dragon Slayer Mage could apparently detect the faintest traces of dragon mana.

(So he might find Thule if he activates it…!?)

And if it got out that Cyril was contracted to a white dragon, he might be expelled from the country as a dangerous individual.

The realization caused the blood to drain from Monica’s face.

“T-This is really serious! We need to find Cyril-sama and Thule…!” Monica whispered.

“I’ll stay here and buy some time. You hurry and get Thule out of the palace!” Raul replied.

“Got it!”

Monica nodded vigorously and hurriedly excused herself from the round table.

“I need to, um, step out for a moment…!”

Monica rushed out of the room with the hem of her robe fluttering behind her. Meanwhile, Raul raised his voice, trying his best to divert attention from the curious stares directed at her.

“Hey Silas, have you seen the toilets here yet? The palace toilets are incredible, you know! That’s because my ancestors were like…”

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