Chapter 14 -
SIDE - Suzurland's Apparent Heir - Olbert
"Dammit! This shouldn't be happening! They should have been easy picks!"
In the secondary mansion of the Suzurland family, Olbert was pulling at his own hair and taking out his anger and frustration on the furniture and equipment.
Like every other time, he played his usual cards to obtain the wand, which could hardly match the young girl adventurer's height, magic bag, and the familiar beside her, the mythical beast Cat Sith.
However, it seemed to be the wrong move this time.
She directly refused to part with them, wasn't even perturbed about his status or influence, and even turned over to the guards his nurtured assassins whom he had sent over for assassination.
Due to this, the guards that had stepped in to handle the matter managed to make the assassins spill out their client's name, Suzurland, after their interrogation.
"Please calm down, Olbert-sama!"
"How the hell can I calm down when our magnificent Suzurland Clan has been driven into such a corner!?"
He had despised the young girl as an ignorant young mage who didn't even know the value of those tools, but it turned out he was the frog in the well for she turned out to be a high-ranking adventurer with ties to other nations and the church. Besides, she was equally important to the guild for her abilities, enough for them to protect her.
The assassins handed over to the guards were a valuable hidden battle force for the Suzurlands.
Had it been another time, they could have just bribed the guards to release the assassins and switched them with any matching corpses that the slum would have in abundance.
Though the problem was that the ones who stepped in as the mediator were the knights of the Lovile Kingdom themselves.
"Had I known about her identity, I would have left her alone! Shit and that bastard ran away at the first chance at such a critical moment!"
His other aid, the court sorcerer who had the unique skill «Flame Manipulation», fled from the royal capital with all the money after sensing the failure of the assassins and the worsening situation of the Suzurlands, and before the knight's order increased their surveillance to keep an eye on his house arrest.
*Well, let's just keep it brief and say that he became a wanted criminal and met his demise as a thief later.* (Author's thoughts)
"Have they forgotten we are the ones who resolved the problem that had been haunting them?! I can't believe this is happening even after all the contributions Suzurland has done for the kingdom!"
That said adventurer was apparently a benefactor of the kingdom. It was she who lit the spark that gave the knight's order, who maintained the public order in the Lovile Kingdom, an opportunity to eradicate the underground organization.
Now, it was obvious anyone would link the assassination attempt against such a person to retaliation from the remnants of the underground organization, sparking the knight's order to intervene and interrogate, which was basically where the whole matter blew up.
"And it isn't like Suzurland has done this for the first time either! Why the fuck does it have to happen on my try!"
Although he was lamenting at his own misfortune, not even in the slightest bit he was reflecting on the evil deeds his family had done.
Whether it was the current head, his father, or his grandfather, they had done the same thing in their time. That was why they couldn't just discard the next heir, Olbert.
As of now, he bought himself some time by deliberately refusing the noble's trial to search for a way to weather out this storm, and by sending a protest to the guild on the pretext of 'attacking a noble and illegally raising a monster' as a count family.
"That brat, don't we have any other information about her?! Any weakness that can give me a way to survive!"
"I do have some, though this is hastily gathered information at best------"
Olbert skimmed through the information his aid presented which talked about their background, an adventurer party that goes by the name of «Flying Carpet» that had come traveling from the Gard Beastkin Nation, with an intense glare.
The report was a mess of information collected from various sources like the info in the Adventurer Guild database, bards, or other people that came from the Gard Beastkin Nation.
"In the adventurer records, it has been, huh......? It has been 35 years since Chise and Teto registered as adventurers at the age of 12 and 17 respectively!?"
He was aware that high-ranking adventurers and magicians usually have their lifespan extended due to their huge mana reserve. However, never has he heard that they stopped aging, too.
His father's mana reserve, the head of the court sorcerer, was over 40,000 units, but even then, his aging had only slowed down and did not stop. The lifespan of the other top-notch court sorcerers in history, who also had huge mana capacities, had their ages hover around 150 years on average. 300 years was the longest anyone has ever lived.
"Something's not right here. How have they not changed even a bit from the time they registered themselves?"
In the magic-underdeveloped country Gard Beastkin Nation, there have been rumors that they were able to live longer because of the blood of elves flowing in their veins or the reason why they look like kids was because of their dwarven lineage. However, even if the two races were mixed and they had a large amount of magic power, the changes in them were so little you might as well say that there weren't any changes at all.
"Could it be...... no, impossible..... they can't be......"
"What have you found, Olbert-sama?"
Olbert might be arrogant and could do anything to gain hold of even more power, however, as someone born in a prestigious magician family and even able to become a court sorcerer, he obviously didn't lack in the head department.
"They might be, «Immortals»!"
"Immortal...... no way!"
"Anything else doesn't justify their perpetual appearance, it's obviously impossible. However, everything clicks if they're immortals hiding their age."
It was written in the materials that they possessed a calmness that didn't match their appearance, which was something impossible for a kid to have.
Immortal sages or magicians were often said to appear at a point but then went into hiding to escape from the authority of that time and then appear again in the world when they were forgotten. It wasn't anything strange if those immortal sages and magicians made their appearance using some mystical rejuvenation or disguise magic potion.
"I'm going to the royal court for an audience with the King. You devote yourself to collecting as much information as possible!"
"Y-Yes sir!"
Olbert pressed forward to the royal court.
Suzurland might have fallen from grace due to the scandal, but he managed to have an audience with the king on the basis of their past track record as a magician clan.
"Speak, what brought you here today?"
Olbert could feel his pride being shattered into pieces under the obvious despising gaze of the King, knights, and civil officials around. He gritted his teeth and spoke up.
"O King, there's something I wish to bring to your attention."
"Oh, and what might that be?"
The king, as someone who lacked nothing, looked like he was searching for something to color his boring life. With his huge wealth as the ruler of a maritime nation, he had everything from exotic furniture to women to jewels and luxurious food.
He didn't have any particular talent compared to the royal prince exiled from the royal family, so he was being supported by people around him.
That was why it may look like his life was smooth sailing, however, the king was always looking for that one thing he always lacked.
"I clashed with those adventurers solely out of loyalty to the king and the royal family!"
"You insolent fellow! The said adventurers are the reason why we managed to uproot the underground organization that was threatening our people! Watch your mouth!"
The captain of the royal guard present at the scene rebuked Orbelt, but he continued with his speech.
"Those adventurers are «immortal»! Their magic bag contains unknown knowledge and tools possessed by the immortal sage, which will contribute to the development of the kingdom."
"Nonsense...... There is no such thing as immortality. Have you fallen so low to the point you can't distinguish reality!? Besides, it's still a dishonorable act to snatch someone else's asset for that reason!"
Olbert ignored the captain who expressed his outrage while upholding the code of chivalry and continued about immortality to further pique the King's interest.
"Everything was for the secret of immortality that has shown its footprint in history! We might possibly unlock the secret behind it if we research her hair, blood, or flesh!"
"......Oh?"
For the first time, a spark of interest appeared on the listless king's face.
"We, the Suzurland, hereby vow to get that secret of immortality using the entirety of our magic knowledge and alchemy technique!"
All of it was an absurd story.
A lot of people that were present in the audience showed their disapproval, but fortunately or unfortunately, the King, the supreme authority of the Lovile Kingdom, ended up showing interest in his talk.
"Very well, then I temporarily halt the hearing against the Suzurland, so show me the secret of immortality you speak of. This talk shall not pass to anyone else's ear. And Olbert, if the immortality that you speak of turns out to be a hoax, I will take it as a personal transgression against me. Just know that."
"Yes, I swear that I will reveal the secret of immortality even if it costs me my life."
At that moment, Olbert succeeded in his attempt to buy time.
