After several hours of following them, I witnessed their first battle.

They took down the enemy with ease. It was a stable fight—hard to believe it was their debut.

Even the old man would be reassured seeing that.

I continued watching over them until they wrapped up their hunt before sundown and returned safely to the Adventurers’ Guild, at which point I ended my pursuit.

As I walked near the guild entrance, I placed a hand on the shoulder of a figure wearing a black hooded robe, peeking inside the guild.

This person had been following her all day, just like I had. In fact, their presence was the main reason I’d decided to tail the granddaughter myself.

Startled by the sudden touch, their body gave a visible jolt.

The face that turned to me hesitantly was familiar.

“How did your granddaughter perform today?”

The person was—the old sage himself, who had requested the skill trade yesterday.

He twiddled his grand beard and looked flustered, trying to say something, but seemed too surprised to speak.

“So this was why you swapped out your skills.”

“You saw through me, I see. We might be spotted by my granddaughter here—let’s move elsewhere.”

We entered a nearby eatery and ordered some light snacks and drinks.

The old sage removed his hood and exhaled deeply.

“When did you realize?”

“Since I met your granddaughter yesterday, perhaps. The skills you purchased were more suited for a thief than an adventurer. After I sell skills, I always observe for a while to ensure they’re not used for criminal purposes.”

Before selling, I always check the buyer’s background. But even so, real people and information don’t always align.

That’s why I make it a rule to observe them for a while afterward… based on past experience.

This time, watching over the client’s family was purely a free service, but based on the skills he chose and his concern for his granddaughter, I had expected this outcome.

“No need to hide it anymore, I suppose. Yes… I’m simply worried about her. I’ve already lived my life. I’m ready to die at any time. But… to lose the only granddaughter my beloved daughter left behind—I couldn’t bear it.”

So he sold off his skills to make room and purchased skills that would let him watch over her. Truly, a kind grandfather.

“What did you think, after watching her for a day?”

“I think she’ll be fine… but still, I can’t stop worrying.”

That’s understandable. Even if today ended without incident, you never know what life has in store.

Even if she comes back unscathed, a parent or grandparent’s worry never goes away. That’s what it means to be family.

“Do you plan to continue tailing her like this indefinitely?”

“That was my intention, as long as this body holds up… But doing this alone is inconvenient in many ways, and often leads to death.”

Even if he enhanced his physical ability with skills, his combat capability was questionable. …Though I had secretly given him more skill levels than requested.

There was a high chance the old sage might lose his life while watching over her.

However, from watching him since yesterday, a question had been on my mind.

“Why do you go so far for your granddaughter? Frankly, it seems overly protective.”

“Why, huh… Well, you’ve seen me like this already, so no need to hide it. This is… atonement. For my wife and my daughter… it’s my atonement.”

As soon as he spoke those words, he let out a deep sigh... one that seemed to expel his very soul.

With vacant eyes and a self-deprecating smile on his lips, the man before me no longer resembled the wise sage he was once known as, but rather a weary old man drained of all vitality.

“I drowned in my own skill, endlessly pursuing knowledge. My only desire was to obtain knowledge. Everything else I found bothersome. During those days, I was introduced to a woman — who would become my wife.”

Normally, I wouldn’t care about someone else’s love life, but this time, I felt I had to listen closely, without missing a single word.

Some instinct told me that this old man’s past was worth hearing.

“At the time, I couldn’t even spare time for housework, so I married her with the thought of making her a housekeeper. It’s horrible to say, but I didn’t even bother to remember her face. I just wanted someone convenient to take care of my surroundings — that was all.”

Regret must have consumed him as he spoke. His far-off gaze was devoid of light, tainted with the color of remorse.

“Even so, I wore a false mask and thought I was doing a decent job at being a husband. One day, I was encouraged by those around me to have a child, so that my capable bloodline wouldn’t die out. I wasn’t eager, but I fathered a child. The daughter who was born bearing everyone’s expectations… turned out to be incompetent.”

“Incompetent… You mean, a child born without a single skill?”

Being in this line of work, I naturally gathered information about skills, so I was well aware of the existence of the so-called ‘incompetent.’

I had actually seen people without a single skill several times. Some of my clients had been among them… but that wasn’t important right now.

“For my child, born from me, possessing many high-level, useful skills, to be incompetent — it was shocking. But more than that, my wife was devastated. And yet, at the time, I didn’t notice. No, I didn’t even try to notice… Losing interest because of her incompetence, I stopped caring about both my child and my wife.”

Honestly, it’s a terrible story. He may regret it now, but thinking about his wife and child back then, I couldn’t muster any sympathy for this so-called wise man.

“Even when my daughter told me she was getting married, I honestly didn’t care. Then, years passed, and something changed within me. I became tired of seeking knowledge. …I had read every book in town and traveled to nearby countries, but no longer could I find a book that satisfied my thirst for knowledge.”

It’s said that reading every book in the library of this city — which is known to have the largest collection of books in the world — is equivalent to reading 70% of all books in existence.

For an ordinary person, it would take a lifetime to read them all, but with the skills ‘Speed Reading,’ ‘Instant Memory,’ ‘Knowledgeable,’ ‘Comprehension,’ ‘Memory,’ it wasn’t that difficult.

“That’s when I finally turned my eyes toward my family. But it was too late. …By the time I tried to face them, both my wife and daughter were afflicted with a rampant disease. With my knowledge, I could’ve easily recognized the early signs of illness. And if I had begun treatment in the early stages, I could have saved both my wife and child.”

Indeed, for someone with such vast knowledge, that would have been entirely possible.

“There was no way to save them once they were in terminal condition. I could only watch as they breathed their last. And what they left to me in the end… was their granddaughter. Ever since then, though it doesn’t redeem me in the slightest, I have been watching over my granddaughter as she grows. I simply want to continue watching over her… until the moment I breathe my last.”

“I was the worst kind of husband and father,” the old sage confessed.

Having regretted his life until now, the old sage was choosing to live for the sake of his granddaughter — even if it meant throwing away the skills that had supported him for so long.

As a human being, and as a skill collector, I wanted to respond to that resolve.

“If you’re truly willing to throw everything away just to watch over your granddaughter’s future, then I have a special skill. You still had one open skill slot, didn’t you? If you purchase this, you might be able to continue watching over your granddaughter until the end of your life.”

“Such a skill exists?! I’ll pay whatever it costs! Please, sell it to me!”

For the first time, he showed emotion in front of me and grabbed my hand.

His feelings for his granddaughter came through painfully clear.

“Understood. But it’s expensive. This skill is special. To sell it to you, you’ll need to be at least level 50. To purchase such a high-level skill, you’ll have to part with all your assets. Now, what will you do?”

“My answer is already decided.”

Looking straight into my eyes, the old sage replied without hesitation. I gave a single, deep nod.

The next day, as I looked out at the adventurer’s guild from the plaza as usual, the granddaughter’s party came out. Unlike yesterday, their group had one new member.

A man in his prime with a sharp, refined face. He didn’t even have a stubble, and his hair, dyed with a special pigment, was a fiery red.

He carried a magnificent longsword on his back — clearly skilled with a blade.

Using ‘Eavesdrop’ to catch their conversation, I could hear the granddaughter talking to him one-sidedly, with him barely managing to nod in response.

“Looks like the old sage managed to join up successfully.”

Yesterday, I had received the remaining funds from the sale of his estate — minus the severance pay for the servants — and sold him a certain skill.

The skill was called ‘Youthful Appearance.’ Once, I had received a request for ‘Rejuvenation,’ and during my travels to fulfill it, I visited a village of elves — a race that remains young and beautiful while living long lives.

While researching their skills, I found that every one of them possessed the ‘Longevity’ and ‘Youthful Appearance’ skills. Apparently, these were innate racial skills that allowed them to maintain a youthful appearance until death.

But it only made them look young — they weren’t actually young. Due to the effects of ‘Longevity,’ their physical aging was slower than that of humans, but their bodies still wore down with age. I remember being quite confused seeing elves with youthful faces but the movements of the elderly.

Furthermore, the levels of ‘Longevity’ and ‘Youthful Appearance’ had a special trait — their effects were proportional to the user’s age.

If ‘Longevity’ was level 50, it meant living 50 years beyond the natural lifespan.

If ‘Youthful Appearance’ was level 50, it meant looking 50 years younger than your actual age.

These two skills didn’t grant eternal youth, but they were immensely popular among the wealthy and powerful. People were willing to spend enormous sums for them.

The old sage hadn’t actually become younger. Only his appearance had returned to his younger self.

His deteriorated body could be compensated with other skills, and his vast knowledge would undoubtedly benefit the party. Since his granddaughter never knew what he looked like in his youth, she wouldn’t recognize him.

Originally, I planned to have him sell me his ‘Memory Retention’ skill as well and then purchase ‘Longevity’ for him, but he refused to sell that no matter what.

His reason was —

“I don’t want to live a long life pointlessly. And besides… I don’t want to forget my wife’s face, or the days I spent with my granddaughter.”

Remembering the embarrassed look on the old sage’s face as he said that made me smile involuntarily.

Standing shoulder to shoulder with his granddaughter, ready to embark on a journey together — in my eyes, it looked like a smiling grandfather with his young granddaughter.