Chapter 11

­ Guest to the House of Mogrian (7)

“You should have seen it!”

“Come on, stop.”

“The ice came out of nowhere with a cracccckkkk sound!”

“Come on, do you know how many times you have already repeated that?”

“Hundreds of goblins screamed!”

“Sigh….”

“It’s on another level compared to what I have read in the book!”

The sky was lit up with the glow of the setting sun.

Two soldiers were guarding the province castle.

The one on the left was a scout from the second party who went with Ian.

The one on the right was a scout from the first party who was resting.

“Even the knights were astonished!”

“So you are saying, that they mumbled ‘that is…. a mage’?”

“That’s right!”

The soldier on the right shook his head.

He had already heard it many times.

He was interested when he heard it for the first time.

With the reaction, ‘Is it true? Really? What on earth! Amazing!’

Well, it would have been better if that was all that he had heard.

“I saved the landlord with him as well! Later, when I retire, I will write a book. The chronicle of The Mage and The Spearmaster! Yeah! Can’t you feel your heart beating?”(E/N:isn’t the spearmaster roan?, Cross novel references)

The soldier on the left spoke while drumming the ground with his spear.

It seems ‘The Spearmaster’ referred to him.

“The Spearmaster? Bullshit.”

“Huh, what’s wrong with it? I am really good at using the spear….”

“Do you even know how to write?”

“Hey! I am studying it!”

“Humph! Yeah, right.”

While the two soldiers were talking,

Someone approached the castle.

It was a child with a small body.

“Mr. Mage?”

The soldier on the left recognized Ian straight away.

As he said, Ian was the great scout comrade who he has been talking about the whole day.

“Y, you may go in quickly! The landlord has woken up.”

That was delightful news.

At last, Ian could have dinner without any pressure.

With a face sporting a smile, Ian stepped into the castle.

The servants’ faces had changed.

The castle was filled with energy, which couldn’t be seen until yesterday.

The vitality finally came back to the castle.

“Ohh! Mr. Mage!”

The owner of the voice was the old butler, Hrothgar.

“You arrived at just the right time.”

“I heard that the landlord woke up while I was coming.”

“Oh, did you? Yes, what a relief.”

The old butler revealed his happiness.

He was the perfect man for being the butler of the house.

“Will the dinner start at the usual time?”

“Oh, of course. This time, the landlord has asked you to come have supper with him. It seems he has something to say to you……”

Something to say? Well, of course, Ian saved their lives.

Not just the landlord’s life, also those of his son, the knights and the soldiers.

It would be rather problematic if there was nothing to say.

“I will attend the supper.”

“Then, I will send a guide to you, whenever you are ready.”

Then Ian went back to his room,

It was a big room where Ian stayed with his mom.

“Ian? Did you just arrive?”

Ian felt relieved just hearing her voice.

As always, Vanessa welcomed Ian.

“Yes, mom I am……”

Suddenly, Ian stopped his words.

“That dress….?”

“Hmm? Ah, this?”

By rotating slowly, Vanessa showed the dress to him.

The reason that Ian surprised was because of the dress she wore.

She had refused to wear the clothes which were presented to her by the house.

However, the clothes that she was wearing was the clothing of nobles.

She was also wearing jewelry with precious gemstones.

“Does it look good on me? I am not sure of it.”

“It does, indeed.”

The beauty of the wearer completed the appearance.

There was no doubt.

“Does it? that’s a relief.”

“So, what happened?”

“Well, the little lady chose it for me.”

“Little lady?”

“Yes! Including the jewels.”

The little lady must have meant the daughter of the landlord, Margaret.

“Maybe she felt uncomfortable with the clothes I used to wear, didn’t she?”

Well, she must have.

She must have felt that way a few days ago.

Maybe her mind had changed now.

‘Well, at least she did a good job here.’

Ian looked his mother for a moment.

Her age was twenty seven.

She couldn’t be said to be young but neither was she old.

‘If she was born as a noble, she would be the star of the noble social party.’

It became obvious when he saw his mother fully dressed up.

Ian was the greatest mage of the continent.

So he had received proposals from many ladies, beauties who were called the flowers of the empire.

However, he could remember only a small number of the girls who were as beautiful as his mother.(E/N: wincest?)

‘I have no idea how I, the child of this beauty, was born with this appearance.’

Ian realized the weirdness of blood lines.

His father was once nicknamed “Orc”.

While considering that, it was lucky that he was born as a man with an average appearance.

“Hmm.”

He remembered the gold he had earned by selling the goblin corpses.

He had planned to use every bit of it to buy elixirs.

‘I better leave some gold.’

He thought it would be better to leave some money to buy some presents for his mother.

He could earn more money whenever he wanted, by hunting more monsters.

“I think you better dress like that from now on.”

“I…. I don’t think I’m suited to it.”

“Come on mom, I can guarantee that you should feel proud of yourself”.

“Wh, what do you mean saying that I should feel proud?”

“There is a saying that ‘a genius already knows he is genius, and a beauty already knows she is a beauty. Rather, it is weird if they don’t realize it themselves.’ As you know, we are the genius and the beauty, aren’t we?”

“This little angel! Are you showing off yourself because you’re a mage now?”

She gently pulled Ian’s cheek with an embarrassed face.

Ian didn’t try to avoid his mother’s hand, like a normal ten years old boy.

‘At least, for mother…’

She must have felt weird about Ian who had suddenly changed.

He wanted to be a cute child for her this time.

*Knock knock!*

While Ian’s cheek was being pulled, someone knocked on the door.

“Come in!”

As Ian shouted quickly, his mom released his cheek quickly.

“Mr. Mage, Mrs. Page.”

A maid of the house opened the door.

She greeted them gently.

“Dinner is ready. Are you ready to go?”

“Yes, we are.”

Ian and Vanessa followed the servant.

At the restaurant, The great landlord and his family, every one of them were waiting for Ian.

The food hadn’t come out yet.

As the old butler informed, it seemed the landlord had wanted to talk with him first before the dinner.

“Oh! Welcome, welcome.”

With a welcoming face the landlord greeted them.

Unlike when he greeted them at the beginning, this time he truly welcomed them.

“How are your wounds?”

“Thanks to many others who prayed for me, they are alright.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“The grace I received, I really want to thank you for that.”

With a gentle attitude, the great landlord thanked Ian.

His son, Labi, also bowed to Ian.

“You have saved the present, future and foundation of the Mogrian house. If I repay this grace poorly, I shouldn’t be called a great landlord of the empire.”

The present of the House meant the great landlord,

The future meant his heir.

The foundation meant the knights and soldiers.

“I have thought about it. At first, I had thought about money and land, which is quite a generous repayment. However, I realized it would all be meaningless things to you.”

The landlord paused shortly, while breathing roughly.

He still suffered from his wounds and the time he had been unconscious.

“Ah, please don’t misunderstand. I’m not saying you have already overcome the human’s common desire, or some nonsense like that. What I meant was that, as a mage, you can obtain it whenever you want.”

It was true.

Even Ian had spoken similarly to Margaret.

Margaret’s body shook a little bit as she remembered what Ian said.

“So, the conclusion I made was…”

The landlord spoke while putting something on the table.

It was an old ordinary wood box.

“Please open it.”

The landlord looked at Ian which encouraged him to open it.

Ian already knew the content of it.

‘Mogrian ring.’

He could realize when he looked at the box.

It was the box which contained the Mogrian ring.

‘It was a wise choice to lend it once.’

After the event on the Mogrian mountain ended,

Ian returned the ring as he promised, while saying that it helped him a lot.

‘I was thinking about mentioning it later, anyway.’

He didn’t expect them to hand it over before he even asked.

With satisfaction, Ian opened the box.

As he expected, the Mogrian ring was sat in the box.

“I already heard the story. You said that you can feel mana from the ring.”

“I realized that it wasn’t an ordinary ring.”

“I hadn’t known. I just regarded it as an old ring.”

The great landlord paused.

He looked at the ring, the heirloom of the house, for a moment.

“What kind of power the ring contains? Is it helpful power to you, Mr. Mage?”

“Being honest, I may dare want to steal it.”

“Is it that much? That’s good to hear.”

As he was satisfied, he nodded.

“The ring, I will give it to you.”

Giving the heirloom of the house to an outsider?

It wasn’t common that that happened.

The heirloom included the history of the house.

Although, none of the family members of the house seem to be shocked.

They must have agreed with it before.

“But, isn’t it the heirloom of your house?”

“Please regard it as a sign.”

“Sign of what?”

“It is the sign that from now on, the mage, Ian Page, we now serve you as the ‘Eternal Guest’ of the Mogrian house.”

This was an astonishing promise that the great landlord had just made.

‘Eternal Guest’ wasn’t just a simple metaphor.

It was the eternal pledge that a noble of the empire must keep.

“Would you take this offer?”

The great landlord asked very seriously.

Everyone was waiting for Ian’s choice.

“……”

Ian started to think.

This pledge is not just a simple repayment.

Because Ian knew the characteristic of the great landlord of Mogrian.

At the valley, He must have seen the enormous potential within Ian.

With this present, he was trying to make a strong bond with Ian.

‘It is not a bad offer.’

Honestly, it was quite a sweet offer.

One day in the future, it will help Ian.

Ian stretched out his finger.

Instead of answering, he wore the Mogrian ring, the ring of the pledge.

“We, the house of Mogrian,”

As the landlord saw Ian wearing the ring, he recited ‘the pledge of the eternal guest’.

“We will always welcome Ian Page, we promise that we will gladly stand by his side whenever he needs our help. This promise will continue from generation to generation, and from their generation to generation, in the name of the most northern stream of Greenriver.”

After the pledge, Ian became the ‘Eternal Guest’, to the great house of the northern territory, the shield of the empire, the most northern stream of Greenriver, the house of Mogrian.

It was the first step of the mage, Ian Page, which he had never achieved in his former life.

Editor’s notes

If anyone gets that spearmaster reference, they get an internet cookie