‘This is quite an intriguing account.’

They had joined forces with elves and cultivated a World Tree.

Ludger recalled the dead stump of the World Tree where the demon Basara had been sealed.

[We sharpened our blades in the shadows to resist the Lumenis Church. We hid where the eyes of God could not reach, to strike precisely. But fate rejected our will.]

[When we hid in the darkness, something lurking in even deeper darkness stirred. A being that, like us, hid from the eyes of God. It was the enemy of the world, what we called a demon.]

Basara.

The scenario painted itself clearly in Ludger’s mind.

There had been an organization that sought to resist the Lumenis Church, and the book’s author had been part of it.

The organization wasn’t just a small gathering of individuals; it had the scale of a nation.

A former kingdom that existed before the Exilion Empire rose.

They had constructed a massive underground facility.

Most likely, it was the very same place the Liberation Army had seized.

And the elves—more specifically, the Plante family, who held the highest authority among them—had cooperated with them.

‘And then came Basara’s incursion.’

[The demon hated the Lumenis Church. We did as well, but we never joined hands. Demons, regardless of degree, despised all humankind. So we fought.]

[Countless warriors and chosen ones fell. The demon’s authority was overwhelming, and before it we were powerless. Yet no one gave up.]

[After a desperate struggle, the demon was sealed in the roots of the World Tree. But none of us considered that a victory.]

Naturally.

For a group that was supposed to operate in secret, such an accident was a catastrophe.

And Basara had wiped out their elite forces.

The material losses alone would have made it nearly impossible to maintain the organization.

[The vile Lumenis Church caught the scent. They moved quickly and deposed the king. The survivors had to flee. I fled as well. But no matter where we went, the Church never let us go. Their inquisitors were relentless hounds. There was no safe place on the continent.]

Ludger turned the page.

[Even as I write this, I can feel their pursuit drawing closer. We have only one option left: to enter the forbidden land from which no one has ever returned. Today, the mysterious power of that land weakens. If we don’t go now, we may never have another chance.]

Chased to the brink, they had fled to the mysterious Kasarr Basin.

Ludger realized there were only a few pages left.

He read carefully.

[The forbidden land was as dangerous as its name implied. Even those of us who had survived relentless pursuit felt dread. Comrades who had endured unimaginable hardship died helplessly to the disasters within. We grew weary. I feared we might die without even leaving a record.]

Flip.

Ludger turned another page without pause.

[Then we saw it—a mansion that did not belong in this place. A building of unfamiliar design, clearly built by human hands. We approached. And then we ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) met the one called the master of the mansion.]

‘The master of the mansion?’

Ludger’s curiosity deepened.

The mysterious mansion was treated as an enigma, its builder unknown.

‘Of course someone had to have built it. There must have been a master. And this happened at least 500 years ago, so it wouldn’t be strange for there to have been an owner back then.’

He turned to the last pages.

[The master of the mansion was an elderly man. He lived alone in that vast mansion and welcomed us warmly. We were shocked. He was one of the chosen, with immense knowledge, skill, and divine grace.]

[But what surprised us even more was that he was not alive. He was merely the lingering thought of someone long dead. Though startled, we were relieved; at least he bore us no hostility.]

[While staying at the mansion, we made our decision. We could never leave. So we had to live here. Perhaps until we grew old and died, trapped within these walls. But we had no regrets. If we truly regretted it, we would have destroyed these records and relics.]

[The master entrusted the mansion to us, and we prepared. One day, others would come—chosen ones, mages who handled mysteries. But the filthy hounds of the Lumenis Church might also arrive. So we had to make arrangements.]

[We used the mansion’s power to establish rules, cast formations, and raise barriers. We ensured no unworthy person could casually enter this library. No one without the proper qualifications would be able to read these records.]

[Before leaving, we finished our preparations, but one regret remained. The most important relic had been split into seven pieces.]

‘The relic’s fragments?’

Ludger’s eyes widened.

[Our comrades each carried one and scattered across the world. I worry whether they hid them properly. Perhaps the cunning Church has already seized them. I worry also about the piece given to the elves; they suffered heavy losses fighting the demon.]

[But there was nothing more we could do. Fate had never favored us. All we could do was entrust this to the future. If someone walking the same path as us is reading this now, know this: our will to claim freedom has not died.]

The book ended there.

Yet Ludger couldn’t take his eyes off it.

A storm of indescribable emotions swirled within him.

His hand trembled as he pulled a shard of the relic from his inner pocket.

Seven fragments.

Scattered across the world.

A means to claim freedom.

Clutching the shard, Ludger didn’t know whether to feel joy or anger at this strange flow of fate.

‘The world truly is fascinating.’

He put the shard back into his pocket and replaced the book on the shelf.

It was only a single book, yet it had neatly explained many recent events.

And something that happened 500 years ago had been passed down directly to him.

‘This isn’t mere coincidence. I was born at the very heart of the Lumenis Church, and now I’m gathering these fragments because I uncovered their traces.’

Coincidence and inevitability.

Will and persistence.

It was the convergence of these factors that had brought him this far.

He felt both regret for never attending Mystic Night until now and relief that he had finally learned all this.

‘And there’s more. I’ve learned the whereabouts of at least one of the missing fragments.’

The record stated that the elves had taken one piece.

Which meant the fragment he sought was in the Elven Kingdom.

‘It would’ve been easier if another one had been in the Imperial Vault.’

But the Elven Kingdom?

That was even worse than the Empire.

Maybe things were different long ago, but now humans were strictly forbidden from entering.

Though some humans traded with the elves, and some elves did not outright despise humans, they were only allowed to approach the forest’s outskirts.

The elves’ homeland, where the World Tree grew—

[Renar Tyrone].

No human could enter.

‘And the current ruler of Renar Tyrone is Ventmin of the Lifret family, a First Order.’

People might think being another First Order would grant him access, but that was ignorance of Ventmin.

She had never shown favor to anyone but the Zero Order.

If anything, she looked down on other First Orders who weren’t elves.

‘Another problem to deal with.’

Ludger pulled another book from the shelf.

There was no need to share the truth of this book with anyone else.

And he still had more material to search through.

Clues about non-attributed mana.

He had accidentally learned about the fragment’s location, but his original goal remained unfulfilled.

There were still many books to read, so the opportunity wasn’t gone.

‘But there’s still so much to read.’

Even skimming quickly, over a hundred books was too many.

The others were reading much slower.

Some texts were so difficult that they had even asked Ludger how to interpret them, which slowed things further.

As a result, they hadn’t even finished half the stacked books by the time they had to stop.

Click-clack!

A strange mechanical sound came from Rimle, drawing everyone’s attention.

He pulled a clockwork timepiece from his robe.

“Time’s up.”

“Already?”

Loina jerked her head up from her book.

The study had no clocks or windows, so they had no sense of time.

Rimle had clearly set the clock in advance for this reason.

“We have to leave.”

“But there are still books we haven’t read.”

“We can finish tomorrow.”

“How can you be sure we’ll get another chance like today?”

“Do you think everything that happened today was just luck?”

At that, Loina glanced at Arfa.

Arfa, sitting idly, looked utterly confused.

“If we leave now, we can safely regroup with the other expeditions.”

“...You mean the expedition that might include murderers.”

They had set aside that issue while exploring the library, but the killers were still inside the mansion.

Loina didn’t like it, but she couldn’t demand to stay.

In the end, they left the library and stepped into the corridor.

“Do you know the way out?”

“Finding specific rooms inside the mansion is difficult, but finding the exit isn’t.”

There was no danger in the corridors; they simply had to walk.

Along the way, they saw other mages.

Those mages flinched when they noticed Ludger’s group.

Their eyes were full of wariness.

‘Of course. Inside this mansion, it’s all about competing to claim knowledge first.’

Given that, murder wasn’t surprising.

This mansion was full of secrets, and no one outside would ever know what happened within.

If someone died, the mansion itself erased all traces.

In such a place, competing for knowledge?

It was the perfect environment for killing.

Some of the missing people in this mansion had probably been murdered by their fellow mages.

‘Not every mage is a psychopath, but the proportion of psychopaths among mages is unusually high.’

And those who went further became black mages.

The other mages clearly shared similar thoughts, as they also kept their distance.

Ludger’s group had no choice but to be wary as well—after all, there were murderers among them.

Some of them had killed their companions as soon as they entered, not for knowledge, not for grudges, but for some other purpose.

‘But now that almost everyone is gathered near the exit, they shouldn’t try anything.’

When they reached the mansion’s exit, they saw mages standing helplessly, staring at the closed door.

“What’s going on?”

Loina asked, puzzled.

At this hour, it should’ve been normal for everyone to leave, yet they all looked troubled.

“Wait! Stay back!”

“Don’t gather in groups larger than twenty!”

“Keep your distance!”

Because the rules applied in the corridor and hall, they couldn’t group up.

So Ludger’s group could only listen from a distance.

The first to catch what was happening was Arfa, with his sharp hearing.

“Something’s wrong.”

Everyone turned to him.

Arfa relayed what he’d just heard.

“The mansion’s door is locked. It won’t open.”