Ankoku Kishi Monogatari ~Yuusha wo Taosu Tameni Maou ni Shoukansaremashita~

Chapter 137.2: The Great Sage

Naturally, the surrounding area must be taken into consideration too.

That was the reason why most people chose the plot of land that was easy to defend when they built a country.

If they lack manpower, they use a thick rampart to stop the monsters from attacking the country.

But since a place that was easy to defend was rarely available, the same went for humans’ living spaces.

This was also the reason why a country’s expansion rarely happened.

But, we’re strong. We had no problems defending the country even in places deemed unsuitable for humans to live in.

Thus, we choose a place with convenient access to roads to build our kingdom.

「That’s truly a bold decision indeed. The part that you lack will be supplemented by the hero’s power. As expected of the Herald of Golden Dawn. A feat that only hero-dono and co could accomplish. I’m really glad that I came to visit this time. I guess your kingdom will develop rapidly.」

Said Magius with a smile on his face.

Herald of the Golden Dawn, that was one of Reiji’s monikers.

In the legend, the golden era for humanity was the era before the Demon King unleashed the monsters into the world.

And Reiji was hailed as the savior who would restore the golden era of humanity.

Alas, I couldn’t smile upon hearing that.

「No, there’s no such thing. The truth is, we’re trying to do some reclamation in one part of marshland to turn it into agriculture land, but we ended up provoking the ire of the lizardmen who live there.」

Eld was built on the land that we got for our achievement in exterminating the demon beast Peluda, who used to rule the marshland.

The marshland’s location happened to be near the territory ruled by Peluda.

Thus, we decided to reclaim that marshland and turn it into an agricultural area.

But, our action incited the wrath of the lizardmen in Vandohl.

That marshland turned out to be a holy place for the blue-scaled lizardmen in Vandohl.

We thought it shouldn’t be a big deal if we used only part of it, but we underestimated the lizardmen’s faith.

「I see. Such problems happen quite often.」

「Yes, as much as we don’t want to accept it, it happens quite often.」

Humans weren’t the only intellectual creatures in this world.

There were many other intellectual creatures with different ecologies than humans.

When a human tries to change the environment to the one most suited to them, they will meet resistance.

When they clear the forest to make cultivated lands, the one living in the forest would resist.

When they try to reclaim the marshland, the one who lives there would become their enemy.

And the humans called them monsters.

Though we also called them monsters until just a while ago, I decided to change my train of thought a bit and look from another perspective.

「But, you might meet an even greater resistance this time. The lizardmen who live in this area worship Azimid after all. If something goes wrong, Azimid, or their dragon subordinate might come out to wreak havoc. And many people might die if the battle becomes a large-scale battle…」

Said Magius as he frowned.

The lizardmen of this land might offer a sacrifice to ask for the assistance of the Blue Dragon Azimid.

Azimid was the name of the dragon who had been living for a really long time, they were the dragon closest to the Sea Dragon King of Blue Scale.

We might be able to defeat Azimid. But, we might only be able to barely hold our ground against the Dragon King who is said to have powers comparable to god.

Not to mention that each high-lizardman and dragon were much stronger than humans.

We might suffer a huge amount of damage if both Azimid and his dragon minions come.

「Yes, there are such possibilities. In this situation, I honestly have no idea when the golden dawn will come.」

「I see, that’s a difficult situation indeed.」

Said Magius as he combed his beard, nodding in satisfaction.

「Master Magius. I have a question I’ve been wanting to ask, may you answer it?」

I tried to change the topic.

「Hou. What might it be? I’ll do the best within my ability to answer your question.」

「Thank you, Master Magius. Here’s my question. Did the golden dawn in the myth exist?」

Magius’ eyes opened wide upon hearing my question.

「What makes you think so, Chiyuki-dono? The priest of Oudith-sama might call you a heretic if they hear you asking me that question.」

Said Magius with a worried look on his face.

Indeed. If the priest of Oudith, who believed in that myth, heard me ask this question, they might send a witch hunter to hunt me down.

But, I wanted to know the answer to this question no matter what.

「I thought of this question just recently. I mean, this land was ruled by humans before the demon king unleashed monsters into this land, there are too many odd parts in this myth. The humans of the past don’t seem to think about regaining the golden era.」

In the first place, the part about the Demon King unleashing the monsters itself was already suspicious enough.

Take the lizardmen for example.

The priest of Oudith included the lizardmen in the list of monsters.

And yet, the lizardmen themselves weren’t worshiping the Demon King.

The one they worshiped was the dragon.

Thus, it became inconsistent with the part about the Demon King unleashing the monsters.

Even when I was researching the literature just to be sure, I found records that the lizardmen had already been living in this land far before humans.

Not to mention that the golden age of humanity itself was already suspicious enough.

Could it be that humans never actually ruled this world?

If they really used to rule this world, there should be some ruin left from their golden age and yet, there was nothing like that.

Not even a trace of the destruction could be found if such ruins did exist.

In short, there were way too many suspicious parts in that myth.

And my suspicion went even further up after my visit to Gypseal.

Even the beastmen in there seem to have been living in that place long before the humans there.

I told Magius the result of the research so far.

「I see… Well, that’s a sound argument.」

Muttered Magius as he nodded with a satisfied smile.

I cocked my head upon seeing him acting like that.

He was someone hailed as the great sage of humankind after all. There was no way someone like him wouldn’t notice something that I, who just came into this world a few years ago, had noticed?

「Have you ever had the same doubts about this matter, master Magius?」

Magius shook his head to answer my question.

「I also never thought that something like the golden age had ever existed. In the first place, that myth only appeared sometime around 400 years ago. Such a myth has never existed before that, Chiyuki-dono.」

「Eh?!」

The information he revealed to me was too mind-blowing.

Magius continued on without caring about my reaction.

「I don’t know who created that myth. But I can say for sure that it’s not Oudith-sama’s religion or Rena-sama’s religion. They just helped to propagate that myth since it’s more convenient to them. That’s why it isn’t bizarre for their great priest to acknowledge that myth officially. And the result is as you can see, everyone in this era does not doubt this myth.」

What a surprising fact.

I heard that the great sage Magius had been living for 800 years. Not to mention that he was also the founder of the Magician’s Association.

That’s why the fact that he knew about the event from 400 years ago wasn’t a big deal.

Still, I had never expected that the myth about the golden age had never existed 400 years ago.

And if that wasn’t spread by the religious organization, it means that Rena and the other gods had nothing to do with this matter.

Rena herself had never told me about the golden age.

「So that’s the case… Are you not going to spread the truth, master Magius?」

「Why should I do that, Chiyuki-dono? That myth gives everyone hope for living.」

Said Magius as he looked at me while combing his long beard.

Yeah, that would be a good story for everyone.

In the first place, without the myth about the golden age, humans were nothing more than an invaders who came later.

There was no way they would be willing to give some space to the monsters if I told them that they were latecomers.

「That’s…」

I was at a loss for words.

「You can’t express it with your words. Hero-sama is fighting to regain the golden age. Let’s just leave it as it is. Let the humans living in this place praise Hero-dono.」

Magius concluded the matter for me.

In the first place, this kingdom was built after we exterminated Peluda.

Many humans celebrated the founding of our kingdom since according to their understanding, they just reclaimed something that had belonged to them before.

We weren’t too happy that the people were praising us.

But now that I understand the real situation, I wasn’t too pleased with their praise.

That moment.

Someone knocked on the door of the parlor room.

「CHIYUKI-SAMA, WE HAVE AN EMERGENCY! THERE’S A DRAGON! A BLUE DRAGON HEADING TOWARD THIS PLACE! PLEASE COME QUICKLY WITH REIJI-SAMA!」

The owner of that voice was the maid who worked under Kaya.

And yes, it was truly an emergency situation.

Since she said it was a blue dragon, the one who came might be Azimid.

「Understood! I’ll be right there! My apologies for the inconvenience, master Magius. We seem to have an emergency at hand, may I leave you for a while?」

「Go, Chiyuki-dono. Azimid seems to be coming to attack this kingdom. In my personal opinion, it will be for the best if you do not kill them. But of course, that’s completely dependent on Hero-dono.」

I knew what Magius was trying to say.

Killing Azimid would make us the enemy of the Dragon King. That was something that I wanted to avoid at all cost.

「I understand, master Magius. We will try to drive them out of this place.」

I left the room as I spoke.

There were so many things to think about.

But, I had no time to think about it now.