A vintage wooden door stands out with its elegant design. It didn’t look ordinary at all.
As I lightly touched it, I could feel all kinds of security and defensive magic imbued into it.
Not just the door, but the surrounding walls were plastered with magic; it was almost overwhelming.
Seems like this guy is still cautious.
While I was thinking that, the man knocked a few times at the door. A loud thud echoed from inside.
I could easily guess they weren’t prepared and were just now rushing to tidy up.
“The Master is waiting.”
He said that and stepped aside. I passed him and knocked twice at the door.
With a creak of the hinges, the door opened easily.
“…Long time no see, Kain.”
In the dusty room stood a leather sofa and a marble table.
Amidst the furniture that seemed to have endured over a thousand years, a girl sat on the couch, nodding in my direction with a small wooden cube in her hand.
Platinum-blonde hair and eyes reminiscent of the sea. The only oddity was her pointed ears, which are not usually seen on humans.
Those ears were typically found on the elves of the fantasy world.
“I didn’t expect you to show your face after all these years. I felt hurt.”
“Stop with the insincere talk, Louis.”
She was an existence that had lived for over a thousand years and one of the few elves in this world; Louis. In the original story, she was portrayed as the antagonist aiding the Emperor.
To be fair, though, labeling her as an antagonist is somewhat misleading; she was more neutral. She just ended up helping the Emperor while focusing on surviving herself.
In fact, she had accepted a deal from Adele in the original story.
“You’re still cold. But that’s comforting.”
With a smirk, Louis threw the wooden cube onto the table.
Then she picked up a long pipe from the sofa and lit it with fire magic.
The peculiar stench of tobacco and blue smoke billowed out from the pipe. The strong, harsh smell was quite unpleasant, causing me to frown.
Despite my reaction, she didn’t seem to care and continued to smoke.
Well, I suppose someone who has lived for over a thousand years wouldn’t be bothered with other people’s reactions.
“You probably don’t like long preambles, so let’s get to the point.”
“Sure.”
“Were you looking for the legacy of the Mage King?”
The Mage King.
A monster who single-handedly wiped out half the Imperial army and was capable of standing against the Emperor. An existence that had transcended the limits of humanity through the pinnacle of magic. A king of a kingdom destroyed by the Empire of Arye.
In the original story, it was precisely because of the legacy left by the Mage King that Abel and Adele could seal the Emperor.
The problem was that no specific mention of where that legacy was could be found in the original narrative.
“I can’t even count how many years I’ve spent just looking for that one thing. My kin didn’t know much either, so it was quite a struggle.”
She clicked her tongue and irritably set the pipe down on the table. Then, exhaling some blue smoke, she continued speaking slowly.
“I found out the location.”
“Where is it?”
“In the capital of the Kingdom of Prillecha, Ark. You know where that is, right?”
I know it.
It’s now my domain. I even participated directly in the war against the Kingdom of Prillecha, so there’s no way I wouldn’t know it.
Nodding slightly, Louis inhaled the blue smoke again and continued.
“The legacy is in the nearby mountains of Ark.”
“That’s far.”
“Yeah, it’s not close.”
After all, Ark is located at the very end of the Empire of Arye.
The old capital city of the Kingdom of Prillecha that fought until the very end has been Ark, a port city where they even relocated their capital.
Now, even the royal palace has burned down and vanished.
“Kain, I have something to say.”
“…What is it?”
Unlike her usual laid-back demeanor with a pipe in her hand, she looked quite serious.
It was hard to believe this was the same person who had been lounging around, lethargic and careless.
“I’m going to pull out at this point.”
“…Why?”
At my question, Louis chuckled in disbelief. After laughing for a while, she sighed and answered.
“Kain, no, Duke Hardenberg.”
I figured she would know, but hearing it verbally had a different impact.
I never thought my identity could be concealed since I was even making requests to the Information Guild.
“You’re thinking of taking down the Imperial Family, aren’t you?”
“Your information is quick.”
“If it were slower, I wouldn’t have such a long life.”
She tapped her neck with a sigh. Her neck was covered in scars and marks from countless wounds.
Perhaps because of that, scratching her neck whenever she got irritated had become a habit.
“Unfortunately, my motto in life is to live cautiously and long.”
Louis stirred the smoke swirling before her carelessly with her pipe. The pungent stench of tobacco wafted towards me, but I didn’t care much.
She opened a pocket dimension and rummaged around, eventually throwing something at me.
“Here, take this.”
“What is this?”
A cylindrical music box. It had an impressive design with a vintage handle attached.
I wondered if it was something special and touched it, but it appeared to be just a simple antique with no hint of mana.
“It’s an item that allows you to summon a spirit, but only once.”
A spirit.
An entity that had hidden away its existence in this world a long time ago. In the original story, they were barely mentioned, only as a passing reference.
If my memory serves correctly, only elves could handle them in a limited way.
However, the remaining elves in this world could be counted on one hand. That’s how scarce their population was.
When I was younger, I had taken in one elf based on my memories from the original story, but she was a half-elf mixed with human blood.
“I hope I don’t have to see you again, Kain.”
“Are you planning to stick with the Emperor?”
“Think whatever you want.”
Louis said that and took a harsh draw from her pipe. It was a subtle signal she had no desire to continue the conversation.
Knowing I wouldn’t get any more information from her in that state, I decided to give up.
“Thanks for everything, Louis.”
I said that and got up to leave. Just before stepping out the door, I heard a faint voice.
“…Don’t mention it.”
§
The place was filled with the unique smells of ancient paper and wood.
It looked like the kind of place that a cleanliness freak might have hired someone to clean; not a speck of dust on the bookshelves. Those ancient tomes were arranged with a meticulousness that bordered on obsession.
The alignment was so perfect it was almost exhausting to look at. Likewise, the pristine white marble floor showed no signs of dust.
I had heard the Imperial Family’s library was clean, but I never expected it to be this level of spotless.
Even I, who usually liked things tidy, was getting a bit nauseated by it; I wondered how others felt about it.
‘History, history, history sections…’
Bookshelves arranged by category, just like a modern library.
I wondered why a medieval library resembled a modern one, but thanks to that, I had less trouble finding the books I wanted to read.
[History of the Empire, Chapter 14]
[Understanding the Empire at a Glance: Special Issue on the Unification Wars]
[How Did the Empire Prosper?]
Seeing the oddly familiar titles, I crossed my arms, inspecting them slowly.
No matter how ignorant I was about the medieval period, I couldn’t imagine they would have truly named books like this back then.
Is this how a rofan-style medieval era would be like?
Still, in romance fantasy, there’s no need to adhere strictly to medieval accuracy. After all, the readers of rofan don’t concern themselves with historical accuracy; why would a writer bother?
Even in this detailed aspect, I could feel the world’s rofan nature acutely.
‘Ugh, get a grip.’
I picked up a history book centered around the Imperial Family. After pulling one book after another, I soon had a pile stacked high enough to block my view.
It was quite heavy, and I grunted a little, but I managed to place it on the desk.
With a thud, I coughed as dust wafted up from the books.
How long had it been since people read these books to be this dusty? It seems the cleaner doesn’t dust the books themselves.
‘…There are so many. Way too many.’
I didn’t expect to uncover the secrets of the Imperial Family by reading all this. However, there might be something that could serve as a clue.
If this world’s premise ultimately stems from rofan, there are bound to be inconsistencies in the content.
‘Let’s start with some cross-verification.’
Although there was a lot to go through… I was accustomed to this kind of work. I never thought being a college student would be useful in this way, but here we were.
Time passed as I skimmed through pages…
“Damn…”
There were no findings. No contradictions or discrepancies.
After checking off hundreds of pages and getting this result, my motivation plummeted.
I swallowed a sigh that threatened to escape and stretched.
As I opened my eyes after slightly closing them, the dimly lit interior of the library came into focus.
I hadn’t thought I had taken that long, yet here it was, already late.
‘If I go back late, Lily will worry.’
As I thought that, the candles began to flicker. A chill breeze swept through the windows, extinguishing the flame.
The instinct of a person who has returned from death rang alarms in my head.
‘What’s going on?’
Was it strange that the candles flickered, or was the cold wind coming through the window the issue?
As I racked my brain, one question suddenly crossed my mind.
Were there even candles in this library in the first place?
Whoosh.
“Gah?!”
A blade pierced through my chest, obscuring my vision. With that chilling pain of being impaled, only pained groans escaped my lips.
The sound of a ticking clock echoed in my ears.
Without even having a chance to form a single question, my consciousness sank.
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