Chapter 76: Demon whispers
Translator: Tseirp
Ares was born as the second son to the Duke of Suroa. He had two older sisters. The eldest son joined the Bahamut Knight Order as a page to earn a name for himself and served as the spear holder for an elderly knight but died when a stray arrow from a thief hit him.
The eldest son that passed away had the Divine Protection of 『Cavalry』 but he died before possessing a spear or riding a horse so he didn’t have a chance to utilize his skills.
His two older sisters were no longer at home. They sold themselves off to the sons of rich houses in order to raise their own prestige.
“I’m glad you were born. Sage Ares is our hope.”
That was Ares’ father’s favorite phrase to the young Ares. Ares’ father, the Duke of Suroa, possessed the Divine Protection of the 『Warrior』. Ares only saw his father as incompetent.
『Sage』 was a highest-class Divine Protection capable of using magic from both the Magician class and Monk class. It could be said to be the strongest Divine Protection in terms of magic.
Furthermore, the『Sage』 also possess the ‘Appraisal’ skill that only the highest-class Divine Protection of the Monk-class, 『Saint』, possess.
There was a need to concentrate to activate it but it was a rare skill that could discern the opponent’s Divine Protection and level.
All countries gave 『Sages』 hearty welcomes because of the existence of that skill. Ares was truly the hope of the fallen duke house that had nothing left.
No.
The young Ares despised his family.
He would be promised a certain degree of position just because of the Appraisal skill. He could probably retrieve land the scale of a lower-rank noble. However, it was probably insufficient to retrieve items suitable for the prestige of a duke house.
The young Ares despised this country.
Ares, who was able to peek at other’s Divine Protection as he pleased with his Appraisal skill, noticed that there were two types of humans in this country.
People who did everything perfectly and were full of confidence and people with dismal faces who did things slowly and made many mistakes.
The difference laid in whether their Divine Protections matched their work. As a person capable of seeing the Divine Protection of the people around him, Ares reached a conviction that pursuing the wish of your Divine Protection was the path to happiness.
In that case, how should a 『Sage』 like himself lead his life?
Ares understood what he must do when he first saw the 『Hero』.
As the wisest person, he should guide the Hero, fight alongside the Hero and after killing the Demon Lord, correct this irrational world. He will provide all humans with the living style that suit their Divine Protections. He would manage the world and embody Demis’ will.
Ares’ goal was not the revival of his family name. That was only a stepping stone.
Ares wanted to become the Emperor that would govern the world.
☆☆
“I am the Sage, for this to happen … I have not accomplished anything, I do not have territory, have not started the revolution, have not begun the holy war, nothing …”
Ares murmured in a daze while watching the blood gush out.
Forgetting that he could heal the wound with magic, he suffered the pain of setback that he never imagined he would experience as the 『Sage』.
“Why? What is wrong with the 『Hero』 living as a hero … Even the 『Guide』, even though it was natural to part with that trash Divine Protection at the Imperial Capital, why is he here? Why am I, the 『Sage』, alone … bleeding. You fools, why are humans so foolish, shit, damn it …”
Ares pressed down on his wound and crouched, continuing to spit out curse words as he clenched his teeth while blood flowed from his mouth.
Even though he knew that it was meaningless, he could not stop the stream of hatred spewing from his mouth. Nothing has gone as desired since the day he chased Gideon out of the party.
In other words, that was equivalent to admitting that the trash Divine Protection 『Guide』 was more excellent than 『Sage』. Furthermore, Ares inevitably proved the contradiction to his belief that one should live according to their Divine Protection.
The pillar within Ares’ heart started crumbling.
Because he was in that state, Ares failed to notice the shadow that was approaching him.
“Are you all right?”
Upon hearing a voice, Ares turned his ghostly visage due to his blood loss toward the source of the voice.
A young man with tanned skin stood there.
He had a gently curved single-edged blade on his waist and wore a mantle with iron plates sewn onto it.
“Who …”
“I am Byuui. An adventurer as you can tell. More importantly, those are some serious wounds. Are you all right?”
Byuui took out an Extra Cure potion.
After staring at that hand for some time, some light returned to Ares’ eyes and he cast his own Extra Cure spell.
“Oya, so you can use Healing Magic. I guess I did something unnecessary.”
Ares glared that Byuui who had a thin smile on this face.
“You’re an Asura Demon.”
The ‘Appraisal’ skill that Ares activated detected Byuui’s lack of Divine Protection.
If Ares actually used ‘Appraisal’ when Shisandan was masquerading as Danan, he would have realized that he was an imposter but as long as ‘Appraisal’ required concentration to cast, Ares would not use ‘Appraisal’ on people he knew unless he had suspicions about their identity.
But this time it was different. Ares did not have such a naive personality to trust an adventurer he met for the first time inside an ancient ruin.
A smile crept onto Byuui … Shisandan’s lips when he saw Ares’ condition.
“As expected of the 『Sage』, you noticed my true identity.”
Shisandan tickled Ares’ self-esteem.
Ares immediately maintained a posture which allowed him to cast magic at any time.
However, a magic-user fighting on his own was an extremely unfavorable situation.
(First, I have to summon.)
Letting spiritual beasts protect themselves was the play by the book. However, Ares was already within Shisandan’s range.
Ares felt a chill run down his spine.
(This is all Gideon’s fault!)
But only hatred continued to burn within his heart.
Shisandan took a step back of his own volition as if having seen through Ares’ heart.
“I do not plan to fight you, 『Sage』.”
“What do you plan to do exactly?”
“I got to watch you get discarded by the Hero.”
“You bastard!!!”
Ares was incensed and reflexively activated his Summon Magic.
A Spirit Dire Tiger flew out with its fangs bared but Shisandan split it cleanly in two with a simple flick of his sword.
“Calm down. I am not here to laugh at you. How about it, do you want to form a party with me for a while?”
“Ha? What nonsense. I, a member of the hero party, party up with a demon?”
“Hero party huh?”
Shisandan’s youthful face grinned
Ares felt the blood vessels in his brain pulsate from his anger.
“Do you know why you were chased out from the Hero party?”
“Because there is a fool by the name of Gideon who misleads the Hero.”
“That is right.”
Shisandan affirmed.
Ares did not expect him to agree with him and inadvertently retracted his hostility toward him.
“If Divine Protections are the roles assigned to us by God Demis, the 『Demon Lord』 and 『Hero』 fighting against each other is destiny, it is the rightful path. We, the Demon Lord army, also wish that the 『Hero』 will stand up and fight with the 『Demon Lord』.”
” … In other words, the『Demon Lord』 is just fulfilling his role according to his Divine Protection.”
“That is right. As the two of them fight, the stagnant power balance between the two great continents will shift toward one side. But eventually, a new Hero or Demon Lord will appear and shake the power balance once more and both continents will develop through those battles. It applies to Divine Protection as well as civilizations, they will not grow outside of war. That is because the abilities of humans and demons who are responsible for civilization is decided by the level of their Divine Protection. Large-scale war will cull the ones with weak Divine Protections and the experience will go to those with strong Divine Protections. The ones chosen by their Divine Protections will advance the world to a new era.”
“Divine Protection and civilization are the same … that is … something I have never considered before.”
In contrast to Ares’ expression lost in wonder, Shisandan was cursing in his heart on how it was a farce.
Shisandan spoke the ideals of the traditional Demon Lord. To the Asura Demons that do not hold any Divine Protection, it was nothing more than an absurd farce.
It was ridiculous to think that techniques unrelated to fighting such as agriculture or engineering would not advance without war. The Asura Demons felt that the Divine Protections were ridiculous shackles.
Regardless of Shisandan’s inner thoughts, Ares’ hostility toward him had reduced considerably. Shisandan decided that it was about time he moved into the main topic.
“The legacy of the previous generation Hero lies below this ruin. How about it, we can always fight after we obtain that first, right?”
“The previous generation Hero’s legacy!?”
“If you pass that to her, the current generation’s 『Hero』 will probably recall her mission. She will likely understand that it is worthless to have individuality as the Hero.”
“Individuality? What do you mean … no, more importantly, I can’t hand over the previous generation Hero’s legacy to a member of the Demon Lord army.”
“But if this current situation continues, the Hero will quit being the 『Hero』. If that happens, any legacy or whatnot will not matter at all.”
“That …”
Shisandan’s figure swayed. His silhouette transformed into a demon with six arms.
“Once you find the legacy, with your intelligence, you might understand what the 『Hero』 is. And you might be able to do something about it. Furthermore …”
The demon whispers slowly soaked into Ares’ spirit.
“Even I, an Asura, will find it difficult advancing forward. I need the power of a 『Sage』, your power.”
For Ares who was abandoned by Ruti, those words were his weak spot which crumbled the defensive wall around his spirit.
GM_Rusaku
.☆*・゚゚゚゚・*・゚゚゚゚・*・゚゚゚゚・*・゚゚゚゚・*☆.
┏‥┓ ∧__∧ Merry
┃T├┓ (。・ω・。) X-Mas
┗┬N├┳━〇━〇━┓and a
┗┬X┃ NEPU! ┃ Happy
┗‥.┻‥……━….‥..┛Nepu Year!
☆。。。。・*・。。。。・*・。。。。・*・。。。。・*・。。。。☆
Reaper Phoenix
What’s with the box? You want us to adopt a nepu?
Shirou™
ZzzZzz
Thx for the Chapter~!!
(´。• ω •。`)
Reaper Phoenix
Thanks 4 the chapter!
They should have made sure Ares was dead!
Cake
I gotta ask one thing, why “monk” insread of “priest”? It’s a bit confusing since monks are associated with martial arts rather than magic, as opposed to priests and priestesses, thanks to D&D and Final Fantasy and such… It’s similar to how sometimes translators will use “cane” when it’s obviously referring to a magician’s staff, so maybe it’s technically more accurate, but I feel like the actual meaning behind the words gets lost in translation in such cases.
Zellgato
Because this refers to Aesthetic monks. Like in the older christianity, or modern shinto.
The martial Arts Monk really is relagated mostly to western styles. The Monk ally girl for instance, is described far more heavily like a shinto monk, which isn’t really a martial arts monk, but is actually a monk. Priests are very different than either Monk like.
It is just more that folks like us in the light novel/manga online English community likely have far more experience with D&D monks (Final Fantasy Monks are very D&D monkish).
So its biased in this small area here, but you generally it isn’t good to adjust.
CJ Terlac
Thanks for the update…
For a sage he is stupid….
mantaray79
WOW…So Ares was a huge prick from the very beginning.
Not Important
Anyone else notice the Irony in Ares thinking himself a guide, while discarding the actual divine protection of guide, He says that following your divine protection is the way to happyness, then why did he not allow Gideon to finish his job as Guide, even if we have seen plenty of evidence of the contrary, his happyness should have been by the hero’s side. So his is insane and hypocritical. I also like that Shidan also can’t stand Ares, even if they are willing to use him.
I’m curious if the other half of the party will make it in time or will only get there durring the aftermath of the fight that is obviously gonna happen.
sjmcc13
It is hypocritical of him, and perfectly in line with Ares arrogance and lack of wisdom. He does not understand Gideon’s DP so it is trash and Gideon should be discarded, Ares never asked if it had some hidden benefits or features. I mean if the D was trash why was Gideon able to achieve a high ranking position based on it alone. He is probably stronger then more then 90% of humanity, and Ares is calling him trash.
Ares problem is he associated his DP with being a source of Intelligence and Wisdom which all we have seen evidence for is Magic. It likely gives him tools to help cultivate them, but he never bothered, and that lack of effort is why he failed at all of Reds chores for the last year.
His pride also keeps him for admitting that he made mistakes, and he needs to blame someone else. he needs someone to point at as the source of his problems, and will not accept that it is himself.
It seems like alot of his problems either come from his family, or are flaws of his family in general, all of his siblings left for their own prestige and pride, though why do I get the feeling his brother was little more then a servant. His father referred to him as the hope of their house, as if Ares could rebuild it. It looks to me like they probably still held the pride of their former station, and were trying to find easy ways to climb back to that level. Lacking the self reflection to realize they needed to do it slowly over many generations. That said how the F@&% did they get to keep the title of Duke? shouldn’t that have been stripped with everything else?
Arienai
The reason of his irony may caused by his own belief that a sage should be “the guide” of the hero party
“Ares understood what he must do when he first saw the 『Hero』.
As the wisest person, he should guide the Hero, fight alongside the Hero and after killing the Demon Lord, correct this irrational world. He will provide all humans with the living style that suit their Divine Protections. He would manage the world and embody Demis’ will.”
He believed that he is the one who will be guiding the hero through her journey, but the job that he himself assumed to be his was in fact Gideon’s,the real “Guide”, which kind of made him insecure as he don’t know what he should do as a sage anymore.
To make it easier to understand, it’s like when you got a “hero” title and believed that you is the only one who can kill the demon lord,that killing the DL is your sole duty, but somehow there is this guy with the title”demon kings slayer” who appeared out of nowhere and go around killing all the DL spawn and leave you wonder “WTH am I supposed to do? isn’t that my job? if it isn’t then what IS my job?”
kirindas
Cannon fodder to the end~
Thanks for the new chapter!
fiery
Oh, so they’re refering to the artifact sleeping in the ancient ruins as the previous heroes’ legacy.
I hope the Ruti and the gang already retrieved it.
OhMarioWV
Thanks for the chapter.
Ares… you’re the dumbest sage to ever live. Seriously, thinking that you can become an emperor and force all to follow their divine protections? I guess he doesn’t believe in “Free Will”.
Toir
will you just die alr ares, u piece of shit
Thousand Skeleton
Thanks for the chapter. Well this development couldn’t be any more predictable. Should’ve killed him right away, but they never do that in these novels.
Cutie Meow
Thanks~
Zax
Got em. Thanks for the chapter
SpinelesS
Is the Hero turning into an Asura?
Kuzo
Lol people really hate this shitty sage~
I thought ares already dead -_-
Thanks for the chappu~
sjmcc13
Civilization advances only through war, where have I heard that before….
Are these guys Shadows????
sjmcc13
For the record, I am aware Shisandan does not believe what he is saying, but I doubt this is coming from nowhere.
Though needing to kill monsters to level up so you can make better bread makes no sense, it just means that they are to dependent on the DP’s and acts as proof that their god is either incompetent or a jerk, and as such does not deserve faith.
Emperaiga
No one like Ares,no one love Ares, but everyone hate Ares…poor Ares…
Wissew
See…..this is why you kill people like Ares. Letting them live never results in anything good.
Renaxan
Anyone know when ares die? lol
Thanks for the chapter
Ascending Flame
Gideon is going to be pissed if this “artifact” makes Ruti “lose her individuality”, and return to being nothing more than a “Hero”.
Like, SUPER PISSED.
I could see it happening though, because technically the “Hero” being there is ruining his “Slow Life”. We’ll see how things turn out though, because it could very well turn out to just “Ruti is around, coping with her DP, doing Hero-like things for the townsfolk”. And I mean small town hero, not “save the world hero”, just little things to where kids would go “You’re my hero!”.
Armorpiercer
Stupid incompetence piece of shit Ares. Nice of you delusioning your dream as the broken god
Can’t you just die? Or become crippled
Daiz71
Thanks
DarkoNeko
It’s kinda ironical for the Sage to be a much more hardcore religious integrist (“everyone shall do as their Protection tasks”) than Theodora, the party’s Monk
Thundercool
Wait, where are they having his conversation? Ares was stabbed by Ruri after he attacked Red, right? So that means they’re not that far away.
Apocolototh
Damn, Sage is a crap protection to have. Gives maximum magic, but makes you extra judgy and think you know better(while not providing you with any knowledge or wisdom)