"If everything is exactly as Your Majesty promised, then I would naturally be very willing to become a part of the Kingdom of Loren."
Kanzaki Rei spoke in a soft, childish voice.
That voice carried a subtle implication:
I'm still young—don't try to trick me.
"Haha! Excellent, excellent!"
"Lord Bai, prepare a banquet for our Lord Rei!"
"For Loren to gain such a young prodigy is truly something worth celebrating!"
[Azure Palace]
The butler and servants had all been arranged.
Rei lay inside his palace, staring up at the ceiling.
From today onward…
This place would be his home.
Not a temporary hotel room somewhere.
For the first time, a sense of belonging quietly rose in his chest.
Since arriving in this world, he had always been wandering.
Now, lying down in a place that was truly his own…
For the first time, it felt as though even his soul had relaxed.
Luluvi…
Sorry for standing you up.
He had promised to go house-hunting with her before.
But now, it seemed he no longer needed to buy a house outside.
"I really am someone from this place now."
Rei looked at his own palm.
Everything from his previous life seemed incredibly distant now.
His homeland.
His hometown.
His family…
"I wonder how they're doing."
"I'm already a mage capable of destroying cities and nations… I wonder what Mom and Dad would think if they knew."
A bitter smile appeared on his face.
"Lord Rei, the bathwater is ready."
A crisp knock sounded on the door.
A maid's voice came from outside.
"Mm, I understand."
Rei pushed open the double doors and stepped outside.
Standing at both sides of the doorway were maids with high ponytails, standing perfectly straight. They looked about eighteen years old.
It was obvious they had received professional training.
Their posture and etiquette were impeccable.
So this is aristocratic life?
Truly extravagant.
Inside the bath, even during bathing, young maids scattered flower petals across the water.
Others carefully scrubbed away dirt from his skin.
These people from Loren…
They really knew how to live.
After suffering for so long, it was finally time to enjoy life.
"Lord Rei, this is the servant roster for the estate. Please review it."
Rei lay in the bathtub and accepted the list.
The person presenting it was Yunxi, the chief maid—also the head steward of his estate.
Thirty-five names.
All of them maids.
Heh.
Lotdan, you sly fox. Not a single male servant?
Using a beauty trap so skillfully.
But…
Rei couldn't really be bothered to argue with him.
The names on the list were wildly varied.
Some were long strings like Lofamiciaire.
Others were simple names like Kaede or Yuka.
After living in this world for so long, Rei had noticed a pattern in how people named things here.
Which was—
There was no pattern at all.
People named things however they pleased.
Given the sheer number of races and nations in this world—and the many languages—it made sense.
Who said naming had to follow one single logic?
Forget names like Kaede or Yuka.
Rei had even heard of someone literally named "Guguguguwu."
Every maid on the list had clearly assigned duties and responsibilities.
Everything was organized with meticulous precision.
Nothing seemed problematic.
"Mm."
Rei handed the list back, indicating he had reviewed it.
"You're Yunxi, right?"
He looked toward the blonde maid with the ponytail standing nearby.
"Yes."
"I am your personal steward, Lord Rei. If you require anything, you may freely command me."
"But I am a proper steward, so anything obscene is not allowed."
Rei: "…"
Look at this body.
Do I look like someone who would do that?
…Actually.
Maybe I do.
With the physique of a Level 2 warrior, Rei's body had already become quite strong.
"Yunxi, I'll be relying on you from now on."
After resting at home for the morning, Rei later headed alone to the Forbidden Library.
Just as expected—
With his current status, he could now freely enter and exit.
However, the books inside the Forbidden Library could not be taken out.
They could only be read within the library itself.
[Copy Paper] was ineffective.
Rei tried recording information on Fire-Scribe Paper, but the words disappeared the moment they formed.
This space contained a special restriction.
Any attempt to copy or record text from the forbidden books would be erased.
However…
Even after the words vanished—
Rei could still see them through [God-Tier · Information Tracing].
So it wasn't like he had no way to take the information out.
Aside from Information Tracing, he also experimented with recording things through encryption.
Sure enough.
Encrypted information would not be erased.
So the restriction only stopped honest people, not determined ones.
After all, anyone permitted to enter probably didn't need to be heavily guarded against.
Worst case, someone could simply memorize the content and write it down outside.
"The True Secrets of the Seven Ancient Nests."
"The Forbidden Boundaries Mages Must Never Touch."
"The Original Ten Forbidden Spells."
"Origin Shattering."
"Speculations on the World's First Origin Mage."
"Concept of Infinite Mana."
…
Just hearing the titles alone made them sound extraordinary.
Rei sat down at the reading desk.
With a gesture, he pulled The True Secrets of the Seven Ancient Nests toward him.
This was one of the books containing hidden knowledge.
And with his current level of scholarship, he could just barely decipher its puzzle.
Before reading, Rei pressed a finger against his temple.
[Memory Fuse (4th Tier) (LV: 301)]
A spell he had learned from Iz.
It allowed memories to be temporarily isolated and sealed.
For a period of time, new memories would be packaged separately.
After a set duration, they would automatically be erased, causing the caster to fall unconscious.
The spell could also be canceled.
If canceled, the memories would remain intact, and the user would not faint.
Its predecessor was [Forgetfulness (3rd Tier)].
A spell that could only be cast on oneself.
It allowed the caster to forget things more quickly.
Rei had no idea which bored mage had invented such a spell.
In truth, this world had many useless spells.
That was also why only a small number of spells were widely circulated.
If one looked closely, many spells were incredibly difficult to learn yet practically useless.
It made you wonder why anyone would study them at all.
But if you thought about it…
They weren't completely useless either.
For example—
Right now.
When reading these forbidden books, this spell was essential.
Even if Rei encountered forbidden knowledge he shouldn't read, the memory would be erased and he would faint.
After waking up, he wouldn't remember anything.
A perfect safeguard against the dangers of forbidden knowledge.
Forgetting could cure 99.99% of knowledge corruption.
The remaining 0.01% probably only happened if someone stared directly at an evil god.
"The Seven Ancient Nests…"
"Nests are the origin of all dungeons…"
"All dungeons in the world are actually parts of these Nests. Most people simply haven't discovered the dungeon that leads to the true Nest."
"And once such a dungeon connects with the world…"
"It means the Nest itself has officially descended upon the world."
No wonder this was a forbidden book.
Just reading a few lines already made Rei feel slightly uncomfortable.
It wasn't just the content.
The font and the writing style themselves carried a strange unease.
As Rei flipped through the pages, he simultaneously recorded key information onto Fire-Scribe Paper.
His "Identify the Key" technique had become extremely proficient.
With a single glance at each page, he could extract the critical clues necessary for deciphering the hidden message.
He wrote them down.
His spiritual intuition quickly guided him toward the decoding method.
Soon he deduced the deeper meaning hidden in the text.
Hidden Secret: "The True Secrets of the Seven Ancient Nests"Hidden Content: Nest Descent Ritual
The hidden knowledge within the book was a ritual.
A ritual capable of connecting a dungeon to the main body of a Nest.
While deciphering it…
Rei suddenly realized something.
The ritual felt strangely similar to his own method of sacrificing dungeons.
Except this ritual had far more detailed steps.
And required several additional preparations.
Wait…
When I sacrificed dungeons before…
Was I actually connecting them to a Nest?
Thinking it through carefully, there were many points worth investigating.
"Ritual of the Evil Nest's Descent…"
"Sacrifice the soul of a perfectly pure evil monster within a dungeon that meets certain specifications to open a path to the Evil Nest."
"Monster soul… evil… yet pure?"
What an absurd condition.
Yet somehow…
Rei could actually fulfill it.
"Still… why would I want to open a Nest?"
Opening one would be like smashing his own foot with a rock.
Rei had no intention of inviting disaster.
As for grand ambitions like conquering a Nest—
He currently had no such plans.
Was that something a Level 3 mage should worry about?
The book said the Lord of a Nest was comparable to a god.
Without at least Level 9, who would even attempt it?
Still—
Rei memorized the ritual process.
Then he retrieved another book:
"The Original Ten Forbidden Spells."
This book also contained hidden knowledge.
And the hidden secret within it was—
One of the Original Forbidden Spells.
Rei excitedly opened the first page.
…
Rei woke up at the desk, groggily looking around.
Did I faint?
He couldn't remember anything that had happened.
He immediately glanced at the book beside him and hurriedly pushed it away.
It seemed he had touched knowledge he shouldn't have.
Which triggered the Memory Fuse.
Fortunately, he had prepared it in advance.
Otherwise, who knew what might have happened to him?
"This book…"
"I should find a way to let Iz take a look at it."
Unfortunately, there seemed to be no good way to take it outside.
If he read it himself, he would either endure corruption or faint.
For now, there was no real method to extract its contents.
Forget it.
Let's not read that one for now.
This next book—
"Origin Shattering."
It also contained hidden knowledge?
Rei took it down and opened the first page.
He woke up at the desk again.
Rei pulled out his pocket watch and checked the time.
It was already 4 PM.
"What the hell…?"
"What's wrong with these books?"
"This one can't be read. That one can't be read either?"
These two books weren't just dangerous because of hidden knowledge.
Even the basic text itself carried knowledge corruption.
No wonder it was the Forbidden Library.
Rei now fully understood why these books were banned.
They were far more dangerous than ordinary books.
Looking at the time, Rei sighed.
Well…
There was plenty of time in the future to wrestle with these forbidden texts.
The banquet was about to begin.
As the guest of honor, he had to attend.
Night fell.
The palace filled with officials and nobles.
Nearly all the powerful families had arrived.
Rei's perception swept across the hall.
Iz and the others were present as well.
Seeing familiar faces made him feel slightly relieved.
"Iz, I've decided to join Loren after all."
Iz laughed heartily.
"That's fine."
"Loren isn't a bad place."
"Originally, we planned to send you to Loren to study at the magic academy anyway."
"And honestly, this path might suit you even better."
During the banquet, Rei behaved far more cautiously than during adventures.
He didn't drink a single drop of alcohol.
Using the excuse that he was still a child, he avoided it entirely.
In a place like this—
He absolutely couldn't risk getting drunk.
"Rei, tomorrow we're planning to depart for the Cave of Despairing Wails. What about you?"
Rei nodded.
"Mm… I'll go with you."
"Haha! That's more like it!"
"When the time comes, we'll leave a few strong enemies for you."
"So you can comprehend your own ultimate combat philosophy."
"And…"
Akase leaned close to Rei's ear and whispered.
"How about sacrificing the Cave of Despairing Wails?"
"A normal Tier 6 dungeon might not give us enough excitement."
Rei couldn't help recalling the Nest Descent Ritual he had read that afternoon.
Sacrifice the dungeon.
Connect to the Nest.
"Brother Akase… wouldn't that be too dangerous?"
"We can take it step by step."
"Didn't we already experiment before? As long as we leave the dungeon first, then perform additional sacrifices afterward, the dungeon resets into a new one."
They had discovered this effect during their travels.
Rei still didn't understand the principle.
Did sacrificing somehow revive dead monsters?
It was incredibly strange.
But the fact that sacrifices generated huge numbers of monsters was already strange to begin with.
After reading that book earlier, some of these mysteries seemed to gain possible explanations.
Sacrificing a dungeon didn't actually refresh it into a new one.
It was more like—
Pressing an elevator button.
The dungeon was simply an entrance.
An entrance leading somewhere inside a Nest.
The more souls sacrificed, the deeper the dungeon connected within the Nest.
So their position changed.
It wasn't that monsters were truly being refreshed.
This was only a theory.
But based on the evidence so far, it was probably close to the truth.
"Let's see when we get there."
"If you and the others can handle things smoothly, Brother Akase…"
"I'll try sacrificing some souls."
Iz had cast a soundproofing spell around them.
No outsiders could hear their conversation.
Tonight's gathering didn't actually feel like a celebration.
Instead—
It seemed more like Lotdan was using this banquet to announce Rei's allegiance to the Kingdom of Loren.
Rei suspected…
The king was deliberately putting on this display for certain people with ulterior motives.