Great Sage 24 – Isn’t it obvious?

May 19, 2022Zathael

I catch the unconscious Maya-chan,

“You should rest for a bit, your complexion looks awful.
Let me and the cat girl deal with freeing the hostages and interrogating that scrawny onmyouji”

Yuikuu pats me on the back.

I didn’t notice before but my palms have gotten sweaty.
My breathing is rough and sense of mana is off too.

I manage to regulate my mana circuits and calm my breathing,

“Y…..
Yeah”
Maya-chan’s consciousness returns.

“Are you alright”
I peer into her eyes to confirm,

“Eh, yeah, um, I’m fine”
Her face slowly turns red and she averts her eyes.

There’s no longer any shadows hiding in the depths of her eyes and her body is shivering.
Concerned, I activate search magic but it doesn’t work like I expected.

In the analysis display, only the word [LOVE♡] is flashing.
There seems to be a big problem.

“Do you have a headache or chills or numbness in the body?”
I give up on using magic and swap to palpation.

I put my hand on her wrists and nape to check her heartbeat and temperature and find her heart rate increasing and body temperature rising.

“Ah, eh, what is it”

Maya-chan’s face turns even redder,

“I-I-I-I’m alright.
More importantly…..”
Maya-chan looks up to me, tears still in her eyes.

“Don’t worry about me”

“It doesn’t look like that to me though, Y- You know, when I slowly drew the darkness from mom I was assaulted with a cold and chills…..
To take it all…..”

“I am, the disciple of the master of wisdom, Kate Monblanchet, and the great sage who has inherited her skills and will.
Something of this level won’t be enough to break my body or spirit”

I’ve experience this level of darkness many times before.
In fact there shouldn’t be any damage or fatal wounds at all but…..
My sense of mana is off.

In terms of a map, it would be like being slightly off course.
Is this because of the Shimogami’s [Curse] that Yuikuu mentioned I wonder.

As I was thinking,

“I knew that there we’re no princes atop a white horse like in the picture books or superheroes in anime, so to protect auntie and the kitsune clan, and when I didn’t know what to do about mom who was turning into someone else, I’ve been trying my hardest on my own all this time…..”

As if to hide her tears, Maya-chan wraps her arms around my head.

“Although I’m neither a prince or a hero but a great sage.
I’ll save you and Kanako-chan without fail”

I wrap my arms around her back…..

“Could this be flirting?”
“Being young sure is great”
I hear Haruka and Yuikuu’s voices.

“W-W-W-What are you doing, hugging me so suddenly! While my mind is a mess”
Maya-chan yells in panic with her arms are still wrapped around my neck,

“Not to mention, isn’t it obvious?”
“Tsunderes sure are great”
I hear Yuikuu and Haruka comment.

What’s a tsundere?
While I continue to wonder…..

Maya-chan removes her arms from me in a panic and her face turns redder still.

　　　×　×　×　×　×

It seems that the onmyouji known as Yuugen we caught was skilled at manipulation magic.

“Katsu!”1

At Yuikuu’s shout, the thirty hostages in the conference room awaken from their sleep.
According to Yuikuu,

“Something like manipulation can be dealt with by guts”
So he says… I never heard anything like that from my master though.

The hostages are uninjured but, just in case, I send them to Inari along with the 3 beautiful girls.

Yuugen was bound by Yuikuu and beat up by Haruka so his mouth turned loose Just in case I give him some treatment before sending him to Inari so his life shouldn’t be in danger.

“According to him, that old man Ashiya is alone on the third floor it seems…..”
Was Yuugen not informed, or is he just working on his own I wonder,

“It seems there’s one more there.
There’s clearly a presence different from that old man, they’re not even trying to hide it”

Yuikuu looks up to the ceiling and sighs.

“A commander of the demon army?”
Haruka tilts her head.

“They’re trying to lure us”

That presence is unique to the demon race but there’s something bothering me.
“Yuikuu, did the Shimogami always have a lot of capital”

“No, they became rich over the past few years.
From my brothers’ investigation, it seems that they’ve been selling rare metals and divine class magic tools.
Not to mention they’re been taking second hand phones and computers to stock up on aluminum and copper”

That narrows down who the person up above is.
When I resolved to return to Japan, I collected things that would be valuable here.

“So these kinds of scrap metals are rare in your homeland, Great Sage-sama”
or,
“Would a cheap magic tool like this be that valuable”

The saint Ange would help me with shopping and always asked such questions.

Plus when we defeated the Demon Lord, there was more than one door capable of traveling worlds.
This is a story I heard from my master,

“Many strong human [emotions] are required in order to open the door, it is for that reason that over ten thousand humans were murdered and their [hatred] collected, thus an equivalent amount of [pity] or [love] would be needed”

I didn’t think someone would be able to do it but Ange’s qualities as a saint are second to none.

Not to mention the cut left on the knight by the mysterious person during the first attack.

“As expected, the one behind the Shimogami is an acquaintance of mine”

As I use search magic to analyse the mana, the floor begins to shake.

“D-Don’t come closer!”
Maya-chan gently holds onto me.

I feel like there’s a disconnect between her words and actions…..

“As a result of absorbing the kitsune girl’s [curse], it seems that the [curse] on you has been activated.
The old mans specialty curse that [slightly alters the emotions] makes it difficult to be self aware and obstructs your senses and perception.
It’s effect is greater on those with spiritual power”

Yuikuu looks at my face with concern.

“Is there a counter measure or way to remove it”

“The counter measure is simple, abandon your intuition and experiences, trust what you see with your eyes and hear with your ears.
The old mans curse doesn’t extend that far you see.
To remove…..
When it’s progressed to this level you’ll have to kill him or hear the way to release it directly from him”

“When you understand the method is quite simple huh”

I make a bitter smile,

“Then in order to deal with all my loose ends, I’ll quickly make my way to the third floor! “
Haruka raises her arm and Maya-chan, who is being supported by me, nods.

“If my intuition is correct, the person up there is my acquaintance.
It’ll be dangerous so Yuikuu, Maya-chan, and Haruka, you should stay back”

To be honest, I’m worried I’d forget about other people in this state.

“You still can’t move properly so just leave the ladies here and take me along”

Yuikuu walks up to me,
“Besides, that acquaintance could be the person I’ve been chasing after recently”

He whispers into my ear with a smile on his face.