“Quite impressive. Bigger than plenty of noble houses I’ve seen.”
About an hour since Eris and her group had arrived in town.
Granted an audience with Viktor, they had been shown into a manor at the center of the city.
The stone manor was solidly and practically built — no lavish décor, but substantial in every way.
Eris and a few others were led into the reception room, and found themselves taken aback by the sheer size of it.
“That’s Great Boar fur on the floor. A piece this size — no less than a hundred gold coins……”
“Oh, wonderful — there are guard golems in the room! And hanging from the ceiling — magic tools for lighting!”
Sarmat and Eris catalogued the room’s contents with barely contained excitement.
Eris in particular had been running at an unusual pitch ever since they’d arrived, talking nonstop — quite unlike her usual composed self.
Meanwhile, Chili — accompanying them to carry the bags — felt no such lift in her mood.
“……I can’t get a read on this place.”
As she’d seen herself, this Great Forest was a demon frontier.
Building a city here — erecting a manor — was plainly not the work of an ordinary person.
She’d been treating Sarmat as her primary obstacle, but Viktor himself was beginning to look like the harder problem.
And the guard golems watching them from various angles were equally unreadable.
Something non-living — it was frustratingly difficult to assess their strength.
Her best estimate put them around the level of a capable adventurer, but she couldn’t be certain.
Unknowns like this were a serious complication for the mission.
“Excuse me.”
A red-haired woman entered the room.
Armor — probably an adventurer.
Sarmat’s eyes went wide at the sight of her.
“That’s — dragon scale, isn’t it……!”
“A gift from my lord.”
“Is that so — remarkable. I’m Sarmat; merchant and adventurer.”
He adjusted his manner immediately and gave a slight bow.
Eris followed with a pleasant smile.
“I’m Eris, Sage of the White Tower. A pleasure.”
“Likewise. I’m Alicia — I handle military affairs for the city of Isvall.”
Having no particular official title ready, Alicia went with something that sounded appropriate.
She shook Eris’s hand warmly.
“Were you one of the adventurers escorting Viktor?”
“Yes. My party served as his guards. Lately someone else handles that, for the most part.”
“I thought so. You look the part.”
Sarmat looked Alicia over from head to toe with a merchant’s eye and nodded with satisfaction.
Chili too assessed her from the way she carried herself, placing her strength roughly.
——One step short of heroic. Manageable, but not trivially so.
Finding Alicia’s ability within a normal range was a small relief.
As the military commander, she was presumably the strongest fighter available.
If Viktor himself wasn’t exceptional, there shouldn’t be a problem.
“And who is the young woman there?”
“My porter. She has body-reinforcement magic — small but strong.”
“Ah, I see.”
Alicia accepted Eris’s explanation without suspicion.
——Easy.
Chili suppressed a private smile at how smoothly it had gone.
“Before I bring you to Lord Viktor, could I see the Sage’s seal, as a formality?”
“Of course.”
Eris reached for the brooch she’d been careful to keep safe — a serpent devouring its own tail, the emblem of undying wisdom, the mark of a Sage.
Alicia examined it and bowed deeply.
“Thank you. Lord Viktor will be with you shortly.”
After Alicia left, a few minutes passed.
Then a slightly built young man with blond hair and a silver-haired girl entered the room together.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Viktor Stein.”
And so Eris and her group came face to face with Viktor at last.
――〇●〇――
……She’s striking. Intense presence.
That was my first thought looking at the woman who called herself the Sage of the White Tower.
Something in her eyes — forceful, almost overwhelming.
As someone at the very top of the magical world, she carried an unmistakable air of authority.
The moment I finished introducing myself, she came straight toward me.
“I’ve been wanting to meet you! I’m Eris, the Sage — lovely to meet you!”
“Likewise!”
I was slightly steamrolled by the energy, but took her hand and shook it firmly.
Then the man standing beside her stepped forward.
Wait — I’ve seen him before.
The clothes and the atmosphere were quite different from last time, but……
“Sarmat, is it?”
“Indeed! You remembered!”
“Of course. Though you look quite different from when I saw you at that dinner party.”
When I’d last seen him, he’d been impeccably dressed in well-tailored clothes.
Now he was every inch the weathered adventurer.
He’d evidently cleaned up enough to meet me, but the gear he was wearing had clearly seen hard use.
“I was originally an adventurer. I came out of retirement to accompany the Sage.”
“Ah — that explains it!”
I clapped my hands together.
So that was why he’d made it all the way out here.
His goal was probably forest resources, at a guess.
Impressive commercial instincts.
I was still taking that in when Makina spoke from beside me.
“And who is the young woman?”
“Oh, she’s my porter.”
“A porter?”
Makina’s brow furrowed slightly.
And then she said something startling.
“She seems considerably overqualified for that. She’s level eighty.”
E-eighty!?
That was a notch or so above Alicia!
The absurd strength hidden in that small figure caught me completely off guard.