False Sage’s Heroic Tale

East of the Holy Kingdom, once the front line adjacent to the Demon Kingdom, the surrounding towns and villages were peaceful because they were close to friendly countries that had now reclaimed their lands.

　At the foot of a mountain, far off the main road to the neighboring country, was a small village of about 300 people.

　An old hermitage stood quietly in the woods a short distance from the village.

A 22-year-old young man with black hair sinks into a magic circle. On his neck, revealed through his crisp black robe, was a ‘watcher’s collar’ the mark of a sinner.

　Since the day his best friend died, he has abandoned the name and appearance of Sieg Andreas, the strongest hero. Using a special magical tool created by the supreme sage, he assumes the form of Mathis Lutius and keeps acting as him.

He appeared in another place with transfer magic.

　It was in a large cave. The walls and floor emit a slight glow here and there, and the light is almost evening bright.

　A bookshelf that’s so high that it could only be reached by a ladder. There were desks of various sizes here and there, and boxes of what appeared to be magical tools.

　This is a magic research workshop on the outskirts of the Holy City, built in secret by the supreme sage.

Seig walked around, looking at the bookshelves that filled the walls.

The floor was neatly tidied up, and the spacious cave seemed deserted. Perhaps it is because the servants work hard to keep the place clean.

“Let’s review this today.”

He pulled out a book from the bookshelf, leaned back in his rocking chair, and flipped through the pages while being careful of his manners and behavior so that he could be the mild and polite ‘Mathis Lutius’ used to be.

And then, part of the floor glowed. A magic circle glowed, and a woman appeared from it.

“Excuse me, master. I have brought you some tea.”

　It was a woman dressed as a maid. She held a tray with a tea set on it and bowed reverently.

Her head bore beast ears, and a bushy tail the same color as her hair waved from around her waist.

“Thank you, Feri.”

　Feri brought a small table and began to brew tea on it.

　Her flowing movements were beautiful, so beautiful that it was hard not to admire her.

But she was not a normal person.

　She was one of the first to bring in the legacy of the Supreme Sage when she came to this hermitage.

She is an autonomous homunculus that Mathis had nearly completed and now Seig had succeeded him in perfecting.

　Normal homunculus had no ego, and only finally managed to imitate its body through a very advanced and delicate process using ancient magical tools.

　The Supreme Sage is probably the first to have reached the point of refining the soul.

Because there are no special magic tools at the moment, he is probably the only individual in the world.

“What are you eagerly reading, master?”

　She was loyal to her master, but she was also very curious.

“Can it be classified as a manual of magic?　It’s a kind of technical reference.”

He showed Feri the book he had opened.

“The …… composite magic, right? It describes how to deploy and execute multiple types of magic at the same time and treat them as if they were a single type of magic. …… Is it actually possible?　Won’t the different magic collide, possibly reducing the effectiveness, or worse, causing a reversal of magic power and endangering the caster’s life?”

“That’s right. At least, the interference of the magics is inevitable, so it is usual to deploy them simultaneously, but in succession at short intervals. I don’t even think of studying it seriously. But that guy had almost completed his theory before he graduated from the institute.”

Mathis said, ‘I just theorized what Seig was doing unconsciously,’ but it required a great deal of knowledge and sense to systematize and put it all together.

“Moreover, he had even discovered a mechanism that gave a synergistic effect, not just interference. His mind must have a different structure than mine.”

(Master who was doing it unconsciously should be pretty much the same, too.)

Feri pointed out at her unaware master.

“Actually, you know, that theory is applied to you as well.”

“To me, you mean ……?”

“Yes. I was wondering how a soul could be created with such nonsense, but it’s possible with composite magic. I think there are probably more than a hundred of them going on at the same time.”

“Is that so……?”

Feri seems to be unaware of it and puts her hand on her own plump chest feeling puzzled.

“But it’s strange, isn’t it? It was the master who breathed life into me. How is it possible to activate it when you don’t know the details of the technique?”

“If you create a separate activation formula, you can activate it without knowing what will actually happen. By the way, the power that enables you to be active at all times – the simple magic furnace – is probably the result of composite magic. I can’t believe how genius he is.”

Seig shrugged his shoulders.

　Feri nodded in agreement but also thought,

（But even after all that work, ‘Creator’ was still unable to activate me. To activate more than a hundred magic formulas, it would take more than ordinary magic power to do so. But he did it.)

“Isn’t the master pretty much the same?”

“Don’t be like that. I’m not even close to his level.”

On the other hand, he was not good at studying and disliked it.

Even if he wanted to catch up with his best friend to restore his lost honor, and to make the feat that he was supposed to do, the more he followed his research, the more he felt frustrated as if the goal was getting further, and further away.　

（I know what you are thinking, but as a researcher, you are already the best in the world, let alone in this country）.

But Feri kept quiet, knowing that if she said this, he would probably be humbled again.

　Instead, she spoke an admonition.

“Isn’t it the case that you’ve been spending a lot of time in this secret workshop recently?　yeah, you shouldn’t. If you stuff yourself too much, you’ll get sick. I suggest that you go to the village for the first time in a while to get some fresh air.”

“Going out huh, ……, isn’t it already late in the evening?”

Just before coming to the workshop, he had looked out the window and seen that the sun was setting.

“But there’s still time before the sun sets…….!?”

Feri stopped speaking and her expression turned grim.

Because the barrier around the hermitage reacted.

I’ll be dividing these parts as episodes, though there’s no such division in raws except the chapters.