The Great Sage

When Serge was voluntarily disciplining himself due to raising such a fuss, in truth, he was meeting with a certain individual during that time.

Who was this individual? The greatest mage on the continent, the man given the title Great Sage—Azelford.

Reaching an elevation of ten kilometers, Serge had been invited to a certain garden on the summit of the Sacred Mountain Cyrus.

By the way, to say how he got there—

"That's… a big bird…"

A huge brown bird with somewhere around a hundred meters long wingspan landed in a field on the outskirts. Its head resembled a pterodactyl's.

"It is one of the three servants who serve Azelford-sama, the Wondrous Bird Laplace."

The person to answer Serge had come together with Laplace, a black-haired butler.

Even so… Laplace…

That has nothing to do with the laplace devil, right?

"I am also one of the servants, Radam."

Nn?

"Umm, is the last of you three named Poseidon by some chance?"

"Yes, they are names given based on a legend from a Hero-sama's world."

That's the world of BaXXruni…

They headed to the top of Cyrus like that, but what was there was a place built like an outdoor stage in an area covered flowers, neither of which you'd expect to see that high up.

"The lord is waiting over there."

Moving forward said, they went over to the stage seating.

Serge already had a bad feeling about this.

… then it happened.

Cha~ chara cha cha~ cha cha~ cha cha~ cha~ cha~

A beautiful youth with fair skin appeared together with music.

The youth was singing enthusiastically.

"Hidden by~ the~ fresh fallen~ snow~"

The lyrics were wrong, but with that line, it was definitely that song.

"Living in~ the magic tower~, super powered, sage~ Azelfoooooord~"

He knew. He knew the song.

He'd watched it on Animax or something, so he knew.

He knew it from that line.

"To protect the continent's peace, three servants were ordered."

"YAH!"

His expectations had already vanished.

"Wondrous Bird Laplace~, soar through the skies~ Poseidon~, swim through the seas~ Radam~, transform, don't give up~"

That's a parody!

 

*

 

After singing it properly on the second time, Azelford greeted him with a big smile.

"I am Azelford. I don't mind if you call me Azel."

Maybe it's not the first generation Azel?

Shaking hands with him and smiling awkwardly, Serge decided to forget about what just happened.

"Using space-time magic, that's pretty interesting. You're a reincarnator right?"

"As expected of someone called the great sage, you put it together just from that huh."

"Even as fellow reincarnators, I am different from Labyrinth. Having chosen genesis magic, that one's had to work quite hard."

Ah, I see. They lived in the same era so it's natural that he'd know about Labyrinth.

Right… they're from the same era.

"It looks like you made it through the labyrinth, but how's she doing? Well?"

He guided me from the stage towards the tower. It seems to be his residence.

"She was energetic, but, how should I say this… It felt like it was all a bravado."

"She's been like that for a long time. Everything considered, it's amazing that her spirit hasn't worn away…"

There were various lab instruments and books placed everywhere inside the tower.

The thing Serge took an immediate interest in was the mountain of books. They were piled into a huge mound without being properly sorted.

For Serge, someone who made sure to maintain a properly organized collection of books in his former life, it was a sight he couldn't endure for long.

"Sorry. With it being so hard to organize, even if I asked someone else to help out with it, the people who are able to come here haven't been too capable at organizing."

Serge had come to the place of the man called the great sage because of Azel's invitation.

Being the only one to destroy the crystal ball since the Dragonslayer had that much of an impact.

"Please, take a spot that's open. Radam, prepare some tea and sweets."

As he said that, he took a seat on a sofa. As though waiting for it, the pile of books collapsed.

"I would have arranged things a bit more usually, but recently I've been too busy with preparing for the Millennium."

It was brought up. The Millennium.

The person who was the top of the magic academy. What did he think of the Millennium?

Serge spoke frankly, saying that everyone felt too little of a sense of crisis when it came to things regarding the Millennium.

"It's as you say. We are much lacking in that. Perhaps the human race will be soundly defeated in this next Millennium."

Serge froze from the man's frank pessimism.

"Ah, don't be too troubled about it. This'll be between you and me, but in truth, I recently fought against the Demon King."

Eh?

Isn't that something that should be top secret?

I'm just a mere student though…

"Even though I prepared enough for it to be a complete victory, it ended in a draw. Really though it was like I lost. We might have to drag out Kuoh from Oomori Woods as well as mobilize your queen and that dragonslayer… even so, it might not be enough."

The human race's loss was certain?

"Our defeat in this Millennium was practically decided the moment Clarice disappeared."

Serge nearly dropped the cup in his hands after hearing Azel say that in a carefree manner.

"Then… isn't it going to be super bad?"

"Bad things are bad, but… it's just that the structure of human society will change. That Demon King-san was originally a human, I don't think he'd drive mankind to extinction."

H-huh?

Wasn't the Millennium supposed to be a huge invasion of human territory by the demon tribe?

"Ah, you didn't hear?"

Azel continued speaking after wetting his lips with some of the tea in his hand, speaking simply.

"The past two Millenniums were caused by a massive overcrowding of the demon tribe's population. This time, however, is different."

He stared at Serge in a discerning manner.

"His goal is for human-demon symbiosis. In other words, he wants to invade so that humans and demons can live together.

It was a huge surprise!

 

*

 

It wasn't hard for ogres, beastkin, or even other demi-humans to distribute and live with humans.

Even though practically all of human territory was on the southern side of the continent, the Demon King was aiming for a total racial mixing.

Ah, I see.

Serge understood.

As a hero that came from Earth, moreover as a Japanese citizen, it was possible he'd try it as the Demon King.

Even when they were overthrowing Cordova, he sent Asuka and the rest to help out to support them, so it was convincing.

And in truth, it was an answer that Serge himself preferred.

"Umm, isn't that not such a bad thing? That is of course if people could actually live in peace I mean."

"It's good. If you're only thinking about the Millennium, that is. However, then there's…"

Just as he was about to say something, Azel stopped speaking.

"You're an Ogress aristocrat, but what does your queen think about joining hands with the demon tribe?"

"It'll work out… maybe. She has a bit of a personal grudge, but she is a person that became the ogre queen after all."

"That so? I give up… What kind of personal grudge?"

He didn't know?

"You probably know about how our Joou-sama and Carla-san are all lovey-dovey…"

"Ah, right. I don't know too much about it, but even though both of their body's are mainly female, they married."

I see, so the great sage already know about that huh.

"Then, well, one of the Demon King's subordinates went to kill Carla-san, but that just caused our Joou-san to flip and and wreck him."

After hearing that, one would probably think relations between the two sides would break down.

However, even though Ria defeated Cordova, if one knew just how much help she had from the demon tribe, it wouldn't be weird if it was taken that her killing the offender worked as a reconciliation.

And from what he heard after that, it seemed like she didn't just feel like killing them.

However, from an objective viewpoint, joining hands with the demon tribe would be a risky venture.

"Then it looks like the ones properly fighting against the demon tribe are going to be Lemdria and Casalia huh… I give up…"

"Umm, Azel-sama, why are you so troubled about humans and demons not fighting against each other?"

This was a fundamental issue.

Wasn't it a good thing to live together with the demon tribe, just as the former hero was aiming for?

"That's… it's no good. Doing that… will only birth bad results."

He was being evasive with his wording. There was probably something he still didn't know.

"Well, there's still a bit more time. For now, how about I entice you, the queen's confidant?"

He sounded like he was joking, but his eyes were completely serious.

"I'll give you the right to enter this tower. However, the third floor and up are dangerous, so don't enter them. The laboratory equipment is dangerous as well."

A single floor was still wider than a full library, and he could use it freely.

As a mage, these conditions were still something to covet.

"The ways to get here are to call for Laplace, or once you are able to teleport, by using the inner teleportation magic formation. Do you have any questions?"

"Umm, why are you doing so much for me?"

"To strengthen our war potential. Even if the Demon King overcomes the Millennium as he's intending… well, at any rate, I pray we have even a single extra powerful warrior or mage."

And he was back to being evasive.

"Radam knows what's where, so ask him if you need."

Oh well. Either way, Serge's purpose here was to strengthen himself.

No matter how the process went, that was his one goal.

And thus, Serge was blessed with the most advanced magical education on this continent.

… What embarrassed him was that the person teaching him would sometimes jovially break out into anime songs though.

Fortunately, Azel wasn't tone-deaf.