Translator: Pai_

According to what Turan learned from his mother, marriage between a man and a woman was truly sacred.

A ceremony in which one pledges eternal love until the day they die, in the name of God.

When Turan wore a blank expression at Izela Baltas’ casual mention of something so important, she burst into laughter and waved her hand dismissively.

“What kind of reaction is that? I was just joking!”

"My lady, please......"

“Alright, alright. But at least think about it! The seat next to me is still empty, you know!”

Izela said this with a grin and then disappeared quickly down the hallway.

The butler, who wiped his forehead with great effort, repeatedly bowed, apologizing, “My apologies.” He looked as though he had aged ten years in an instant.

A little later, Turan opened the door to the grandest and most magnificent room in the castle.

It was an office filled with stuffed magical beasts, antique furniture, and ornate decorations.

Seated in the chair at the center of the room was Lug Baltas, the head of House Baltas and the lord of Orem.

“Come in, young noble. I assume you already know my name?”

"My name is Turan."

Behind Lug Baltas, a man and a woman armed with swords stood politely, seemingly knights tasked with protecting him.

Although, to have knights as bodyguards for a noble of his stature seemed rather pointless.

Lug, intrigued by Turan’s introduction, asked with a curious expression.

“Turan, is that all?”

“There are those who are hostile to my house, so I cannot disclose more.”

“Hmm, which of the recent disputes has been significant enough to warrant such caution? Hadit and Corel, Ire and Kellau, Arabion and Zahar…”

When the names of House Arabion and House Zahar were mentioned, Turan focused his mind, careful not to reveal any emotional reaction.

As Lug continued listing the names of various houses, he snorted as if bored when Turan showed no response.

“Well, it doesn’t matter. We currently have no enemies among the noble houses anyway. However, in the future, should the Baltas Bloodline come under your protection, I trust we will be treated with the same courtesy we are showing you now.”

“I promise you that.”

This exchange reflected the unspoken etiquette among nobles. Hosting a fellow noble as a guest was a sign of mutual respect and a promise to avoid conflict.

If one refused hospitality despite entering another house's territory, it was equivalent to declaring to the territory's owner, 'I am not your guest. I have come with malicious intent.'

This aligned perfectly with the customs of hospitality that Turan’s mother had taught him in the past.

"So, you want to use the library? For what purpose?"

“Given the unusual circumstances of my upbringing, I lack much general knowledge. I wish to learn about the world through books.”

At Turan’s reply, Lug snorted again.

"I'll tell you in advance since quite a few people come here after hearing strange rumors, but there are no amazing ancient spells or secrets to increasing magic power in the library."

"That's fine. I wasn't hoping for such things anyway."

Turan made it clear that it didn’t matter to him.

He truly just wanted to learn things he had never known, having lived his entire life on a hill.

Lug stared intently at Turan for a moment before shaking his head.

“If that’s your desire, I see no reason to deny you entry. After all, there are no secrets related to our house in there. For now, take some time to rest today. We’ll proceed tomorrow. Is that acceptable?”

“I won’t forget your generosity, my lord.”

“Good, I trust you won’t.”

As Lug nodded, a faint, meaningful smile appeared on his lips.

* * *

The next day, Turan left the castle accompanied by one of Baltas’s knights and headed for the library.

The guard at the entrance, different from the one the previous day, examined the paper bearing the lord’s signature and nodded.

“Entry permit verified. Welcome to the Sky Library, honorable guest.”

The first things that greeted Turan upon entering were a few desks and chairs, along with a spiral staircase winding along the circular walls.

Even without windows, the room was brightly lit by white light emanating from a round orb on the ceiling.

As Turan stepped further inside, a middle-aged man seated at one of the desks turned to him and greeted him.

“Pleased to meet you, Sir Turan. I am the librarian here. As per the lord's orders, I will explain the rules for using this place.”

The Sky Library's rules were not particularly complicated.

First, any damage to the books or facilities would require compensation according to the monetary value set by the house.

Second, books from the library were strictly prohibited from being taken outside.

To Turan, the rules seemed like a simple list of obvious things one should never do.

“Additionally, during your time in the library, I will be observing from behind to ensure no rules are violated.”

As soon as the librarian finished explaining, Turan wasted no time and headed straight up the stairs.

When he reached the second floor, he saw bookshelves occupying the central space, filled with hundreds of books.

“Oh…”

Midan's comment about there being thousands of books seemed like an understatement.

Given the height of the building, it wouldn’t have been surprising if there were tens of thousands of books, rather than just thousands.

However, after climbing a few more floors, Turan noticed that many of the bookshelves were becoming increasingly empty.

By the time he reached the tenth floor, there wasn’t a single book left on the shelves. The librarian, who had been following him, informed him that there were no books stored beyond this point. With that, Turan returned to the second floor.

“The number of books seems rather small compared to the size of the library.”

“This library was built during the era of the Old Empire, but many books were lost as Orem's ownership changed hands multiple times due to wars.”

The Old Empire.

It was a term Turan had heard his mother mention in passing a few times.

If he remembered correctly, it referred to an ancient kingdom established when the Preah God Tribe defeated other races and conquered the world.

However, after the gods ascended to the heavens, their descendants, the nobles, fell into internal strife, and the empire collapsed. This led to the current state of fragmented society, with numerous wizard families competing for power.

As Turan inspected the densely packed books on the second floor, he turned his attention to the librarian standing behind him.

“As the librarian, I assume you’ve read these books too.”

“Yes. Assisting users in finding the books they need is also part of my role.”

“What would you recommend if I wanted to acquire basic common knowledge?”

Turan chose his words carefully, mindful that everything said here could potentially be relayed back to the lord.

Hearing this, the librarian tilted his head in thought for a moment before beginning to pull out books from various shelves.

After several trips to the upper floors, the librarian eventually placed about a dozen books on a desk on the first floor.

“Many of the books here are hundreds to thousands of years old and may not align with what you’re looking for, noble guest. However, I believe these selections will be of some help.”

“Thank you.”

After expressing his gratitude, Turan sat down, picked up one of the books, and examined it closely.

The cover was made of thick cowhide, the pages crafted from finely cut parchment, and the interior was densely filled with meticulously hand-inscribed letters that seemed to have been engraved by an artisan.

The book itself felt like a work of art.

‘So this is a book...’

Turan felt a surge of complex emotions as he realized he had easily obtained something his mother had so desperately longed for. He opened the book with mixed feelings.

Having learned to read and write by scratching letters in the sand with sticks, he stumbled a little but managed to read the text well enough.

The title of the book was 'Journey Around the World'.

After passing the preface, which praised the unknown sponsor of the book, the main content began.

The author was a noble born in a small city north of Orem, who, longing to see the edge of the world, had embarked on a journey eastward.

The stories written in the book completely captivated Turan’s mind.

A mountain pass that opened only once a day, allowing passage from one side to the other. Blind dwarves who hid in the mountains, hunting and eating anyone who passed through.

An endless desert of shifting sands that boiled under the scorching sun by day and froze solid under the frigid cold at night.

The lush jungle fairies, the mermaids singing atop the endless waves and rocky reefs, luring people into their grasp…

The ability to depict such environments, places he had never once seen in his life, with vividness so real it bordered on spine-chilling was nothing short of magical.

When Turan had read about halfway through the book, he began to feel hunger. He committed the parts he had read to memory and closed the book for now.

‘Impressive.’

Now, he had a clear idea of the wondrous terrains that lay to the east. He could picture how the vaguely named 'other races' looked, as well as their ecosystems and cultures.

To have learned so much from just reading half of one book, what more could he uncover by reading the rest of them?

His heart thumped with anticipation.

* * *

After receiving permission to enter the library, Turan repeated the routine of reading books at the library every morning and returning to the castle only when evening came.

On the second day, he learned about the great noble houses, how ordinary wizard families interacted with one another, and the systems they used to manage cities and villages.

On the third day, he gained specific knowledge about the origins and crafting processes of various items he had previously passed by without a second thought, what regions they came from, what materials they were made of, and how they were processed.

On the fourth day, through a magical beast guide, he learned which abilities were typically awakened in different creatures and how certain physical traits symbolized particular powers.

On the fifth day, he learned that many relics from the old empire era were still scattered and remained throughout the world.

The library itself was one such relic, as was the stone-paved road he had traveled along on his way to Orem.

As Turan gradually accumulated this knowledge, the world, which he had previously seen as a vast and unknown space, began to take on a clearer and more defined shape.

It felt as though he was evolving from an ignorant shepherd boy into something a bit better...

While it didn’t provide the kind of visceral pleasure one might feel from eating delicious food or absorbing magic power, it offered a profound sense of mental satisfaction.

On the sixth day, as Turan was heading toward the library, he received a summons from Lug Baltas.

The moment Turan arrived at the lord's office, Lug got straight to the point.

“I hear you’ve been making excellent use of the library.”

“Yes.”

"I trust you know that allowing you to use the library was an act of kindness, separate from my treating you as a noble. And now, I’d like to claim compensation for that favor.”

“Please, go ahead.”

If one side only keeps taking without fulfilling requests, the other side will eventually tell them to get lost, won’t they?

Typically, the customary duration for a noble to host a guest in their territory is three or four days.

For Turan, who had now surpassed that limit, it was necessary to heed the lord’s request.

“Recently, a magical beast has been appearing north of Orem, attacking passersby.”

"Do you want me to hunt it?"

At Turan’s question, Lug nodded.

“Four knights who went to subdue the creature haven’t returned, they were eaten. It seems a noble will have to step in personally. However, our house only has two available nobles to deploy. If you join in, that makes three, and it would be much safer.”

The Baltas family consisted of Lug, his wife, his younger brother, his daughter, and two nephews, a total of six members.

Among them, Lug's brother and one nephew were serving as lords of other cities away from Orem, he himself had to protect the city in case of emergencies, and his wife wasn't skilled in combat.

Thus, the only nobles who could be mobilized were his daughter and one nephew, bringing the count to two.

"I understand."

He readily agreed partly because he hadn't been building any practical experience or magic power lately due to reading books, and partly because he remembered what Keorn had told him in the past.

Humans are always at risk of losing their homes to magical beasts, and it is the duty of a wizard to protect them.

The commoners of Orem were not exactly his sheep, but the food he ate, the water he drank, and the clothes on his back all came from their labor.

A shepherd survives by eating the wool and meat of his sheep, and in return, he must protect the flock from wolves.

Nodding at the thought, Turan suddenly had a question.

From what the official in Murei City had said, nobles and knights weren’t usually so enthusiastic about hunting magical beasts. Why, then, was Lug reacting so differently?

When Turan indirectly posed the question, Lug responded.

“The northern road it’s blocking is an important trade route. It’s already been closed for ten days, so it needs to be cleared as soon as possible.”

Ten days...

Turan recalled Lug’s meaningful smile five days ago when he had first requested access to the library.

Finally understanding why Lug had been so quick to grant him access, Turan felt oddly at ease.