Chapter 92: Old lady Archmage
Translator: Tseirp
“And then the self-proclaimed 『Drake Rider』 put the old lady down and ran away.”
I smiled bitterly after I heard about it from Tise. I turned a blind eye to him since he wasn’t an enemy but it seemed like he had a caring side to him as well. Maybe I should reevaluate my opinion of him a little.
“I didn’t get the chance to thank that person.”
The old lady said regretfully.
Even though Tise had defeated the stray assassins, Otto lowered the old lady and fled as fast as he could without even hearing the old lady plea to wait.
Tise was troubled and decided to bring her to my shop located at Downtown which was beside the harbor district.
“And then what about the stray assassins?”
“I tied them up and brought them to the guards.”
“You did? Won’t you be subjected to sanctions if you don’t kill them?”
“But Zoltan doesn’t even have an Assassin Guild branch anyway.”
Of course, an Assassin Guild branch would not hang their sign out in broad daylight. It would be a hideout camouflaged as an ordinary shop or private house.
An Assassin Guild was a guild of assassins just as the name implied. It functions to restrict random assassinations from occurring and to prepare escape routes for assassins so that they are not treated as throwaway pawns. Although they can’t boast to be on the side of justice, their official position and principle were that only by eliminating the inferior can the greater good be achieved.
Their inviolable rule was that they could only receive assassination requests through the guild. Only after the branch leader estimates the various effects of the assassination as well as the legitimacy of the aim of the request, will he then give the approval.
Such an organization was only tolerated because of the existence of divine protections. As long as the 『Assassin』 divine protection existed, it could be interpreted as God Demis’ approval of the existence of assassins and their actions. Although the main faction of the Holy Church criticizes the management of the Assassin Guild, they do not criticize the existence of it and there exists a certain level of trust in it as an organization that will not be influenced by the various countries and powers.
Nevertheless, the fact was that many still hold contempt toward the Assassin occupation.
In contrast to the Assassin Guild that wishes to bring order to assassinations, there always exists a force that compels the ones who hate the strict rules and feel that they should be given the freedom to assassinate. Such people are those who once belonged to the Assassin Guild but then fled to perform their own assassinations or set up their own organizations.
Those people were called stray assassins. The sole assassination target set by the Assassination Guild itself.
【Pyon】 Ugeuge-san leaped from Tise’s shoulder to the ground. It seemed to have caught an insect.
Tise continued while looking at Ugeuge-san who began eating happily.
“Their leader was a stray assassin called Harks. I conversed with him once so I remembered him. I did consider killing them there but without the Assassin Guild, explaining myself would be troublesome so I felt that handing them to the guards was the best option.”
“Yeah, I think that was a good choice. And so did that Harks guy reveal anything?”
“Even if he’s rotten, he’s still a 『Assassin』. He would not reveal the name of his requester even if he is subjected to torture. He tried to escape by saying some nonsensical names.”
“I see.”
Lit went to call Ruti who had returned to her own house. We would be fine even if we didn’t call Ruti but she would probably be peeved if we didn’t.
“For the time being, she should probably stay here for tonight. The assassins might not be limited to those three after all.”
“That’s true.”
The two of us turned to look at the old lady.
“I sincerely apologize for inconveniencing you.”
The old lady apologized to us in a polite demeanor.
She seemed to come from an upper-class background.
“It is fine. This might be an Apothecary in the Downtown but Hero Lit and Tise here as well as Ruti who is on the way are all B-rank adventurers. Be at ease and rest well, erm, I’m called Red. May I know you name?”
“Yes, I am called Mistome.”
Mistome?
“Are you, by any chance, Master Mistome? The previous mayor as well as Zoltan’s previous generation strongest party’s 『Archmage』 Mistome-san?”
“Yes, I have been called that in the past. But now I am just an ordinary old lady.”
An elegant smile appeared on Mistome’s wrinkled face.
☆☆
“I’m back! I brought Ruti.”
“Onii-chan, did something happen?”
Lit and Ruti returned so I was about to explain but ...
“Eh, is the old lady in the room? Has she fallen asleep?”
“No, I entrusted her to the Adventurer Guild’s Garadin.”
“To Garadin? If that guy had to come out then it means that she was some noble retiree?”
“Well, you can think of it that way. She was the previous mayor, Master Mistome.”
“Eh? She was such an amazing person?”
Lit was shocked. Ruti had no clue and was receiving an explanation from Tise.
Previous mayor Mistome was a lady who once stood at the top of Zoltan. Furthermore, along with Adventurer Guild Executive Garadin, Holy Church Priest Shien, and Guard Captain Moen, they resolved high difficulty requests as the sole B-rank adventurer party before Albert came to Zoltan.
The fact that she was capable of continuing her work as the mayor while operating in the strongest adventurer party told of her degree of ability. Her divine protection was 『Archmage』. A superior-rank divine protection in the magic-user system which possesses, in addition to the usual magic system skills, their own unique skill called ‘Higher grade Magical Art’.
It was another strong skill which could improve spells on the go in ways such as reflecting spells, altering single-target spells into area-of-effect spells, and altering power output to balance with magical power consumption.
In contrast to the 『Sage』 who are capable of using both Magical Art and Covenant Magic, the 『Archmage』 is a divine protection that specializes in the Magical Art. But the 『Sage』 possess an enormous magical power increase so I believe the 『Sage』 is still superior in extended battles.
“Even if you guys didn’t help her, she probably would have defeated them without any hardship.”
Despite being elderly, she was once a B-rank adventurer magic-user. Unlike martial arts, the effectiveness of magic does not decrease with age. Magical power regeneration might be slower but for a single fight, she would be capable of displaying power similar to her prime, which was a trait of the magic-user type divine protections.
If they were opponents that Tise could defeat in an instant, the old lady should have been able to somehow cope on her own.
“Then, that self-proclaimed Drake Rider wasted his bet on his life.”
“I guess you could say that.”
Furthermore, if he stayed behind instead of running away, he probably would have received a letter of appreciation as well as gold from the Zoltan authorities.
In that cold weather, we thought of that large man who ran away from the luck that finally fell into his lap and laughed.
“Now then, since Ruti came all the way here, do you want to have some hot milk?”
“Yes!”
“I’m guessing Lit would like coffee. With the same amount of sugar and milk?”
“That sounds good.”
“What about Tise?”
“Could I have cafe au lait?”
“Hot milk, coffee, and cafe au lait. Okay.”
I stood up and thought of toasting some garlic bread as well as I walked toward the kitchen.