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The house of Barastos inside the forest is very aged. It is a splendid building, but I can’t wipe away the impression that it is the house of a witch.

We were guided to a place that seemed to be a reception room, and there was Rakura carefreely sipping tea.

“Ah, Counselor-sama.” (Rakura)

“You are acting awfully elegantly.”

Barastos apparently made contact with Rakura inside the mist in a way that only she could see and said ‘I would like to test you people, so cooperate with me’.

She didn’t feel any ill intent, but she should at least feel a bit of a sense of danger.

We managed to meet her expectations, so let’s ignore it this once.

“She seemed to be the most lackadaisical in the group, so I had a bit of fun.” (Barastos)

“You weren’t caught by the detection magic of Haakudoku, and switched with Rakura without being noticed by the chains of Ekdoik tied around her. That was quite the meticulous prank.”

“Detection magic can analyze the person whose mana has been touched, but it can’t analyze in detail way too small things like insects and animals, right? That’s why I tinkered with my magic so that it would feel minuscule. It seems like the chains were acquiring information of the chained party at all times, so I had it misinterpret the position and switched while it was still misperceiving things.” (Barastos)

“I understand how you did it now, but I can tell it is not such a simple thing to pull off just from the reactions of Ekdoik and the others.”

Barastos is showing a really visible mischievous smile, but the ones on the receiving end of that mischief must not be that receptive about it.

Ekdoik is on the verge of going into combat mode after all.

“Well then, allow me to introduce myself again. My name is Barastos Zakuzarifyuansriton. I am called Great Sage too, but just call me casually with Barastos-chan, okay?” (Barastos)

“I won’t though. By the way, your last name being the same as Nora means you are a blood relative of hers?”

“Nora is my adopted child. Her parents are still alive, but I decided to adopt her when I took her in. Ah, but it is not like I am her mother, so it is more like I am her big sister!” (Barastos)

Barastos is appealing this in a sly manner, but I personally find it pretty cringe.

Everyone aside from Rakura who is enjoying the tea and snacks are dumbstruck by this.

“You are older than me though. I am impressed that you can say that.”

“Muh, I am charming, but it irritates me a bit to be told that. You can tell my age?” (Barastos)

“65…no, a bit older—”

“Alright, silence. If you speak any more truths than that, learn that your tongue will disappear too.” (Barastos)

Barastos looks around her twenties by her outward appearance, but I can tell her actual age is pretty high because of the way she carries herself.

I have seen countless earthlings who were trying to fake being young.

“Are you changing your appearance with magic?”

“Wrong. Half of my blood is that of an elf. See, see?” (Barastos)

Barastos pushed her hair back and showed me her ears.

It is true that those ears resemble those of the elf from Serende I saw before, Prince Washekt.

“I see. But to think the Great Sage was like this.”

“Describing me as ‘like this’ is horrible. I wanted to test out your skills as the one looking after Nora, and at the same time show you my skills, so I think the greeting I gave was pretty efficient though.” (Barastos)

“I used ‘like this’ with that meaning in it as well. Are the other disciples not present?”

“I would like to concentrate on myself, so I have given them their respective tasks. There’s no point in cooping themselves up in a house.” (Barastos)

“Well said. Then, let’s go into the main topic.”

I line up the minerals and plants that were brought from the Nether in front of Barastos.

Such research type people really do show interest extremely easily when seeing rare products.

“Aah, this, this! I wanted this mineral!” (Barastos)

“You say that as if you were a city girl who found an accessory. Our condition is for you to find things that are fine to be circulated in the regular market, and find out their use and worth.”

“Hmm, it is not impossible.” (Barastos)

“Of course, I will pay the examination cost, and there’s not only one use for things. I will provide you with a certain number of them for free. You can use the leftovers as you please.”

“You really get it!” (Barastos)

“But excessive requests will come with a decent price tag, so keep it moderate please.”

For Barastos, it is like bringing the ingredients she needed for her experiments for free and even getting payment for examining them.

It is a far more efficient method than going to the Nether herself and it is cheaper.

There should be no reason for her to refuse.

“By the way, it is fine to tell you their uses, but there’s some that it would be better to not put on the market, you know?” (Barastos)

“I don’t mind you deciding that on your discretion as a Great Sage.”

“Oh my, you trust me an awful lot.” (Barastos)

“I can when considering the real intention of you leaving your cute disciple in Taizu.”

“…Well, it is the country that the king called the Wise King rules after all. I thought it would be a good experience for her.” (Barastos)

I have heard a lot of bad rumors from Nora, but I am glad to see  that she is a somewhat decent master.

Barastos has already investigated a number of uses for the minerals and plants on her own, and when matching those alongside the ones that Nora has examined already, we have a decent amount that we can put out to the market.

“What’s left is adjusting the market price, huh. It might be better to ask Blue to investigate the frequency in which she can gather each one and stuff like that.”

“The minerals aside, the plants are pretty rare. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to think about experimenting whether you can cultivate them if you can do as you please in the Nether?” (Barastos)

“Expanding our project to that degree is a bit… Well, we will consult with Gestaf about that.”

“Anyways, you are quite the strange gathering. I would like to investigate a bi~t about that too…” (Barastos)

Barastos directed her gaze at Ekdoik.

Well, she is the type of woman that would want samples of monsters. It is natural for her interest to be drawn by the demon in front of her.

“Me?” (Ekdoik)

“Yes, this is the…second time I see a demon personally, but that wasn’t a situation where I could examine them carefully. Also, you have something aside from being a demon, right? I sense some sort of weird curse-like power that’s the same as that of Rakura-chan.” (Barastos)

“…These Eyes of Blindness, huh.” (Ekdoik)

“So that’s the name. Let’s see…it is similar to the curses the devils in the Mejis territory use. Fumu fumu…it seems to have some other effect aside from showing illusions. Materialization of matter. You would envision matter that is originally not there, and affect the world.” (Barastos)

“You can tell that much…?” (Ekdoik)

I can tell just how impressive Barastos is even without being a resident of this world.

I made a similar guess once I heard about the eyes of Ekdoik, but Barastos is analyzing him with conviction. That said, Rakura only thinks of it as ‘a power I can somehow use’.

“But it is a bit unwieldy. It would be one thing if it were a devil that can recover their eyes easily, but the burden when used with the eyes of a human would be big. Ah, but there should be no issues with a demon too. Aah, but with this much of a burden…hmm.” (Barastos)

Barastos was staring at the eyes of Ekdoik as she nodded.

Melia is looking troubled most likely because she is touching his face all over.

“My healing skills have grown stronger after becoming a demon. I am fine with a bit of a burden. If you are going to think of a countermeasure for it, can you do so for Rakura first?” (Ekdoik)

Ekdoik explains how Rakura and his mother Natora have been infected with the Eyes of Blindness that he inherited from Beglagud.

“You can assume that the curse spread because of the blood connection, but we would have to investigate the workings of that too. It is possible that those eyes can spread if you give your blood to others after all… Ah, how about testing that out with me?” (Barastos)

“Even if you tell me to test it out…” (Ekdoik)

“You can draw some blood or even intertwine our bodies.” (Barastos)

“Y-You must not!” (Melia)

Melia hurriedly got in between the two, but this Great Sage… she said that on purpose to enjoy the reaction of Melia.

Ekdoik doesn’t seem to get it though.

“Now then, I don’t mind you prioritizing Rakura-chan, but it would be more efficient if you were to tag along in the experiments for that. It would be bad if it were to fail after all.” (Barastos)

“I see, that’s true.” (Ekdoik)

“In that case, you will become my errand boy for the near future. Let’s test things out little by little at those times. You don’t mind that, Puppy-chan?” (Barastos)

“Puppy, you say… Well, Ekdoik can fly, so I plan on having him do the errands that require traveling.”

“Then, it is settled. What I want to check next is…the stupid-looking one over there.” (Barastos)

“It is true that I am stupid, but you know…! My name is Haakudoku.” (Haaku)

Barastos moved close to Haakudoku and checked him from head to toe.

She was totally normal when with Ekdoik, but I can tell she is being serious here.

“Here I thought your detection magic was awfully high. So that really was the case. You are an Illegitimate from the reports, right?” (Barastos)

“Y-Yeah, as expected of the Great Sage…” (Haaku)

“Barastos, you can tell when someone is an Illegitimate or not?”

“Hmm, how to put it…the time it takes to generate mana is unnatural. It was the same when I saw Ritial.” (Barastos)

A number of people reacted when Ritial’s name was mentioned.

But well, it is not that strange.

“So you knew him.”

“Of course. I am a famous Great Sage in the world and Ritial is the highest tier of an adventurer. Of course we can have a connection or two. Ah, but I don’t consider him an ally or an enemy. You and Ritial trying to kill each other is your own business. I won’t get involved.” (Barastos)

“You will get involved in an indirect way though.”

“I am simply going to be researching. My priorities won’t change. Well, I have been called before though.” (Barastos)

“To research the Illegitimate, right?”

Barastos is the human that stands at the peak of magic after Yugura.

If Ritial’s objective is to gather Illegitimate and to fulfill the objective that lies ahead of that, she is definitely someone they would like to secure.

“Yeah. I refused though. A dangerous guy had warned me just recently after all.” (Barastos)

“The Colorless Demon Lord.”

The Colorless Demon Lord showed up and warned Nora when she was about to touch upon the forbidden.

The name of Barastos was mentioned in that.

Barastos was one of the people who were close to touching upon the forbidden and were warned by the Colorless Demon Lord.

“He didn’t introduce himself at that time though. But I could at least tell that he was dangerous. I do want to master the truths of magic, but there would be no future if I were to die for the sake of one taboo. And so, the memories regarding that forbidden knowledge were erased and I ended up having to postpone my research in that field.” (Barastos)

Even though she knows that she would get killed if she were to reach the forbidden, she still is saying she simply postponed it. She is quite the individual.

Barastos would most likely put her hands on the forbidden with glee if the Colorless Demon Lord were to disappear.

“Aah, I have to apologize in regards to Nora. Nora’s life was targeted because of my own incompetence in supervision…”

“It is fine as long as she is alive. I was surprised when I heard the report, but I was more shocked by the fact that she reached the forbidden at that age. Touching the knowledge of an otherworlder really does stimulate you on a lot of fronts, huh.” (Barastos)

“Maybe.”

Being of different worlds means that their common sense and way of thinking are different.

Learning about those differences can make you notice new ideas.

If Barastos were to be transferred to Earth, I am sure she would become an even more fearsome being than she is now.

“And so, looking forward to working with you from here on, Puppy-chan.” (Barastos)

“To a moderate degree.”

“Yeah, let’s have more skinship and such.” (Barastos)

Barastos said this and hugged me.

This woman really sucks at gauging distance!

I tried to tear her away and she whispered in my ear.

“—Let’s talk about the Demon Lord mana inside of you at another day, okay?” (Barastos)

“…I get it, so get away. You are so pushy!”

“You are not cute~.” (Barastos)

She must want to talk separately. Let’s make some time eventually.

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