Level 1 Strongest Sage ~

Glendale Castle, inside a certain room —

“Cai-Nii, did you call for me?”

An azure-eyed, stout young man sporting short, black hair entered the room without knocking.

“Yeah, sorry, I know you’re busy.”

The young man perusing the documents on the table also had black hair and blue eyes.

“Anyway, sit down first.”

Cain — the owner of this room — moved towards the sofa for his guests and beckoned to his younger brother Leon.

Both of them were Halt’s older brothers.

“It’s rare for Cai-Nii to summon me directly like this.”

“Yeah, I think there might be a terrible matter, so…”

“Hm? Terrible, then why — oh, wait. I get it now. It’s your hunch, huh.”

“It’s great that you catch on quickly. My intuition is telling me that a strong monster will appear in a village near this Royal Capital, or perhaps it’s already there as we speak.”

Cain has the skill called “extreme intuition”.

It was through this skill that he knew how a monster appeared, and that monster in question wasn’t something easily subjugated unless it was someone at the level of a Royal Knight.

He couldn’t see the future using this skill, so there were also times that it was a miss.

However, it has never been wrong when it comes to situations that could put the kingdom into jeopardy.

“...So, there’s no proof, so I’ll check it out, is that it?”

“That’s right. An A-risk class monster will probably appear. You should bring the chivalric order with you.”

“You’re going that far, Cai-Nii, so this is probably the worst possible thing that can happen, huh. Yeah, I want to do that too, but…It’s not an official order, so I can’t bring my subordinates with me, you know?”

Leon’s combat job was [Apprentice Guardian Warrior], and it was just one step shy of being a tertiary occupation— occupations that were considered the ultimate in this world.

It was the strongest class of warriors in this kingdom.

Cain’s intuition was telling him that it would not bode well for him if he were to go on his own, despite having that occupation.

However, he was not Leon’s superior.

Cain didn’t have the right to command him.

That was the reason why he wanted to make this request as an older brother to his younger brother.

Leon would accept this request from his older brother, but they had to consider the repercussions if he were to take his subordinates along with him.

His older brother’s hunches would be right, so he also wanted to bring them with him if possible. Thus, he had to persuade the commander of the knights.

However, it seemed that there was no more time for that, so Leon was thinking of going on the scouting mission on his own.

“Then, I will declare an official order.”

“Y-Your Majesty, you came.”

King Glendale suddenly appeared without any sound. Leon was surprised, but he immediately genuflected and bowed his head.

“Hmm. Don’t you think I’m getting better with erasing my presence?”

“...Yes.”

“You did well, considering Leon didn’t even notice you.”

The Count of Silveray has three sons and one daughter.

The eldest son Cain possessed extreme intuition, the eldest daughter could read minds, while the third son was a reincarnator from the other world.

The second son Leon didn’t have any sort of cheat skills like Cain and Charles, and he didn’t possess infinite mana like Halt.

However, he possessed an extraordinarily keen eye.

Leon, who was observant enough to see through the secret gestures of Elven royalty, didn’t even sense the presence of the Glendale king was also in the same room with him.

“Well. One of the things I enjoy in recent days is creeping behind my shadow guards without being seen, and calling out “Good work” to them.”

“W-What are you doing…”

“Your Majesty, the shadow guards are imploring you to stop.”

“I-I see. Their shocked faces are too amusing, so…”

What a naughty king.

The King thought he could get a laugh out of it, but he felt Cain might scold him, so he changed the subject forcefully.

“Ah, then, back to the topic at hand. This is an order to Leon, captain of the 13th Squad. Go and lead your men to slay the monster. As for the details, just listen to Cain, okay.”

King Glendale wasn’t someone who normally gave orders casually like this.

However, the only people here were Cain, his friend from when he was still a prince, and that guy’s younger brother, so he could act like this.

“Well then, I’m leaving it in your hands. Don’t get injured, okay.”

“Yes!”

After telling that to Leon, King Glendale left Cain’s room.

“...Cai-Nii, did you call His Majesty?”

“Yeah, so that you can bring your subordinates with you.”

“Wouldn’t it be better if he were to give that order inside the throne room like usual?”

Normally, when the king, who had direct control over the order of the knights, gave orders, he would do so in the throne room.

“He told me he wanted to do something, so, yeah.”

“Ah, so that’s how it is. He wanted to test the concealment skill he recently acquired, if it will work against my keen observation, huh.”

“Seems like it. Sorry for taking a lot of your time.”

“It’s fine. Then, I’m going to gather my subordinates to prepare.”

“Yeah. Take care.”

Afterward, Leon got the information regarding the area where the monster was most likely to appear, then he left the room.

　──＊＊＊──

In a village located a short distance away from the royal capital; in the deepest part of the cave in the nearby mountains —

“Oh, Ohh?”

“W-Whad dhe, where did you come from!?”

The ogre was about to mess with the girl that had her hands shackled, when he was shocked by the sudden appearance of a man and a woman.

“Eh? Isn’t it supposed to be a goblin?”

“Halt-sama, all the monsters around us are goblins. Perhaps, only the boss evolved.”

“Ahh, I see. That’s likely.”

The people who appeared in the deepest part of the cave was no other than the Sage Halt and the Magic Swordsman Tina.

Both of them came here to rescue the abducted girl Reina.

“Whad da heck are you dalking aboud!”

The ogre tossed the girl towards the group of goblins then he grabbed the enormous cleaver propped on the wall and charged towards Halt.

The boss of the goblin group had absorbed a huge amount of mana somehow, thereby gaining strength. He then evolved past being a goblin lord into an ogre.

Ogres were the strongest among the A-class monsters, possessing both high intelligence and combat skills and resistance to attacks and magic.

That ogre’s attack was —

Easily stopped with one hand by Halt.

“Whad!?”

“Tina, the girl.”

“Please leave it to me!”

Mere E-rank monsters such as goblins were in no way a threat to the level 250 Magic Swordsman who had annihilated monsters all over the world alongside the Guardian Hero.

Tina had already obliterated the group of goblins without leaving a single trace even before Reina fell in their midst after being thrown by the ogre.

“ — oopsie.”

Reina was in the arms of Tina, who had been poised to catch her fall.

“It’s alright now.”

Reina fainted. Tina cast heal on her.

The group was strong enough to evolve the boss into an ogre. Naturally, there were still dozens of them remaining apart from the goblins that Tina exterminated.

However, those goblins could not even approach Tina and Reina.

Flaming knights — Halt’s magic — were protecting them from countless goblins.

“B-B-Bastard, whad are you!!”

The ogre, whose pride lay in his own strength, had gone all out and attacked with all his power, but even so, his weapon didn’t even budge at all.

In contrast, Halt was only using his forefinger and thumb to pinch the cleaver’s tip.

“Sage Halt.”

“— ugh!”

Halt swung the knife with force, and the ogre was blown away, straight up until he almost reached the ceiling.

And by force of gravity, the ogre fell down.

Right below him, Halt was waiting, poised with the cleaver’s blade dyed pitched black in his hand.

“W-Wait —”

Until the moment he fell to the ground, the ogre was cut into small pieces until his former appearance could no longer be discernable.

“This isn’t a goblin, so I guess it’s not counted.”

“Indeed. However, I already finished more than 10 goblins.”

“Then, I’ll give you some of mine.”

“Thank you very much. However, even if we considered those, we —”

The ogre, the herd’s boss, was already gone, but the goblin didn’t even attempt to flee.

The goblins of this world would become united as a pack when a powerful boss was born among them. If the boss had been slain, the next strongest goblin would take over as the successor boss and he would maintain their group.

This trait of theirs was favorable for Halt and his comrades.

There were more than a hundred goblins inside the cave. The surrounding villages and towns would be in danger if they were to flee from this place.

However, Halt and his comrades could only kill nine goblins as the limit.

It’s not like they had to strictly abide by that restriction, but…

“Hmm, then let’s just escape for now?”

Halt decided to leave this place in order to protect the rule that he arbitrarily set.

He was about to activate his teleportation magic, when an explosion happened behind the goblins that were surrounding Halt, Tina and Reina.

“Danna-sama, I teleported everyone here.”

Sitri, one of Halt’s family members, teleported his family and comrades into this place.

The villagers had been asked to wait in a safe place.

“Thanks, Sitir!!”

This moment marked the goblin’s extermination to be set in stone.

──＊＊＊──

“Leon.”

“Ah, Cai-Nii. Are you sending us off? We’re about to leave.”

“About that…Sorry!”

“Eh? W-What?”

“The enemy… is already gone. Probably.”

“...Huh?”

The thirty knights who prepared their weapons and armor didn’t set off, and they could only disband for the day.