Apostle of the Gods

20 – Ones Who Inherited The Name ‘Edel’

The moment I was hugged, RunRun and Fluffy jumped to their guard.

「Woo-gau!」「Pigi!」
「RunRun, Fluffy, calm down」
「Woof」「Pigi」

RunRun and Fluffy became obedient.
Still, RunRun firmly kept an eye on the person behind me.
And Fluffy jumped from RunRun’s back on to my right shoulder.
So it could react immediately if something happened I suppose.

I addressed the person behind me.
「…what are you doing so suddenly?」

I was already aware of whom was hugging me from the back, my past life disciple Sword Saint Xenovia.
Now she is Sword Saint Xenovia Edel Barling, one of the members of the Council of Sages.

「Master, it’s you, isn’t it?」
「…what makes you think so?」

Even if she was convinced that I am Edelfuss’ reincarnation, there was no reason to suddenly hug like that.
That was too careless. She still didn’t know what the circumstances were.
I will have to reprimand her later.

Even though she is about one hundred and thirty years old, she still behaved like a child.
I find it hard to believe that she belongs to the Council of Sages and leads the Salvation Organization, and is one of the top authorities in the world.
I am worried. Does she have proper control over her authority?

「Long time no see, Master」
Xenovia took off the hood of the cloak she was wearing.
The cloak itself seems to be a powerful magic item.

The powerful effects of magic concealment and disguise were the results of this cloak.
And by removing the hood, the magic effect was turned off.

「How did I come to notice Master’s existence…?」
Xenovia started talking.

「No, wait a minute. I didn’t say I am your Master, why decide on your own?」

Originally, I wanted to meet my disciples and only then reveal my identity.
However, my plan is thrown into disarray now that they had figured it out for themselves.

「Eh? Because you are Master? Even the aura of magic is exactly the same」
「I am of the Wolms lineage. Of course it would be similar」
「About that, my…」

The person behind Xenovia came forward and took off the hood.
He was now as old as I was at the time of my death.

His appearance has changed a lot but I recognized him.
One of my disciples, the most orthodox human being and a master mage, Milt.
By the way he is my youngest disciple. He should be one hundred and eighteen years old if I’m not mistaken.

Currently, he is a member of the Council of Sages, the famous Small Sage Milt Edel Valiras, the man who developed the guardian deity love value measuring device.

「Wait, Milt. Let me explain it」
「Okay, I will leave it to you, Xenovia」

If I listened to their explanation, I can learn how they figured out my identity.
So, I carefully listened to my disciples explanations.

「First of all, I am the General Manager of the Academy of Heroes this year」

Which means Xenovia is the head of the Academy of Heroes, the President.
It seems that she supervises the Academy of Heroes as the representative of the Council of Sages.

「Does the Council of Sages hold that much administration power?」
「Nurturing the next generation is our lifeline after all」
「The Council of Sages fills in the position of president on a rotation basis, to maintain the quality of education of the Academy of Heroes」

Basically, Xenovia explained and Milt expanded on it and the explanation continued as such.

「Master, so you see what I realized was that—」, Xenovia resumed her explanation.

The magic scroll that was included in the application form seems to be the first catch.
「At first I thought, it was a child who was born with the same qualities as Master due to the Wolms lineage」
「I see, it was the magic scroll after all」
「That’s something that was attached to make sure we don’t overlook people with great qualities」

When I first noticed the magic scroll among the application’s document set, I thought 「how lavish」.
My disciple had decided it was a small price to pay to make sure they did not overlook any promising talents, even if it only happens once every few years.

「At the same time as reporting to Milt about having found a promising talent, I dispatched my disciple Arti」
「I see, so Arti is Xenovia’s disciple」
「Yes, I accept those with excellent qualities as my direct disciple」
Arti seems to have proven her qualities to Xenovia.
Certainly, I think she is excellent too.

「If it had actually been a child with the same qualities as Master, I was planning to take him under my wing」, Milt said with a smile.

Certainly as a Master Mage, Milt would have been the best teacher.

「But, I heard the result of the love-value measuring device was only one guardian deity pillar…」
「Ah yes, that’s right. My guardian deity is only one pillar」
「So, I hurried over to Milt and asked what it meant」
「I heard the situation from Xenovia and read the log of the measuring device and confirmed various things」

It seems Milt also knew that I asked Arti about cases of consciousness being blown to someplace else during measuring.

「Putting everything together, I came to the conclusion that it was the Master’s reincarnation. I also concluded that you were reincarnated as the Apostle of the Gods」

Certainly, the Human God told me, I was the Apostle of the Gods. However, I only have one pillar.
「And the magic waterball used against the opponents earlier, Master had showcased it a very long time ago」
「Is that so?」
「Yes, even upsetting the bowels was the exact same」, Milt laughed happily.

「So, my judgement that it was Master, was not a simple hunch」 Xenovia emphasized.

「But still, it’s bad manners to hug suddenly. What if you had been wrong?」
「There is no way I would mistake Master」
「…I don’t know where that confidence stems from」

For some reason Milt was constantly smiling, standing beside Xenovia who was clutching her chest.

「But Master, what would you have done if we hadn’t noticed you?」
「Nn? I had prepared an episode of old stories that only I would know」
「Hohou? What kind of episode?」
「When Xenovia was four years old, you were afraid of ghosts—-」
「Ah! AAAAaaa! Master, I understand already!」

Xenovia panicked and shut my mouth with her hand.
It was a story from her childhood, there was no need to be embarrassed about it, and that too a story from over 120 years ago.

For now, two of my disciples seem to have understood that I am the reincarnation of Edelfuss.