Of course I knew he was dead. Because I couldn’t see the soul. But the old man was as vivid as if he had just fallen asleep.
It was too clear who the old man was. It will be the invitation of the Prisoner family. The wizard, crazy about preservation magic, finally preserved his own corpse.
But the surprising thing is that there is no magic at all here. All the items in the basement were like that. It seemed like there was a preservation magic applied, but I couldn’t feel the magic.
On the table, there was also a research paper that appeared to have been written by the first Baron Prisoner. I started reading it slowly from the beginning, and when I read halfway through, I sighed.
[Oh, so]
Baron Prisoner could not complete the conservation magic he had been studying until his death. To be precise, I couldn’t cast it on my own. The etheric sim method I made uses magic, but it doesn’t use magical power. It is to use the power that exists in the natural world raw.
There was the perfection of preservation magic that Baron Prisoner had studied all his life. Baron Prisoner, who realized that there was a limit to preservation magic using magical powers, got a clue to use the energy of the natural world and spent his life researching how to use it.
Of course, it failed as a result of not being able to create something like an etheric psychic method, but it succeeded in granting preservation magic to a certain space or item using a magic circle that was not directly used by humans.
The result is this mansion and basement. Descendants also studied with this research book, but the first family head failed to study all his life and failed to succeed.
After reading the research paper, the method to use the magic circle was too difficult. It took hundreds of thousands of gold and more than 20 years just to install the magic circle to maintain the mansion and basement.
It’s difficult to research directly, and it’s too much of a burden to devote that kind of money and time to making money by installing another magic circle in this rural area. However, it seems that the price to be paid for selling the contents of this study somewhere is not high.
So, after all, 150 years later, it remains like this. Of course I am different. Because I was the one who created the Ether Simbeop in the first place. With a little research, you will be able to use this prisoner-style preservation magic. The magic circle created by Baron Prisoner is too crude. It seemed to me that if I studied for a few years, I could reduce this formula to about 1/10th.
If it succeeds and is mass-produced, the world will change. Logistics Storage and transportation will revolutionize. However, I decided to think a little about telling Aether. Big change is synonymous with chaos.
It took several weeks for Baron Prisoner to fully master the knowledge he had been studying. It only takes a short time to memorize, but it was because I was learning and improving at the same time.
As I got out of the basement, I took out about 100,000 gold. At this rate, he paid the price for stealing magic from Baron Prisoner’s descendants.
The next target is the Dragon Mountains. Along with the Great Forest, it is a place that can be said to be the two major demonic landscapes of the Western Continent. The reason why it is called the Dragon Mountains is simple. It was because of the legend that a dragon lived there.
Some people say that dragons are legendary, but dragons often appear in history to be called a legend. Because it appears about once every few hundred years. There are various types of dragons, such as black dragons, red dragons, and blue dragons. However, it is not clear where they live and why they appear in the human world.
What is certain is that every time it appears, disaster unfolds for humans. It’s not accurate because it’s a long time ago, but there was a case where a city disappeared without a trace with one dragon breath.
If it had been before I met the Demon Beast King, I might not have believed this record, but I do believe it now. Because I learned that such monsters can exist in any number. And those dragons obviously had the idea that they were beings interfered with by the same gods as me.
So, I headed to the Dragon Mountains to find the dragon. The Dragon Mountains are located in the southern part of the Western Continent. To be precise, it was near the place where the three southern countries we visited last time were engaged in a tedious war of attrition. It is to cross the continent from northwest to south. If you change the direction a little in the middle, you can also stop by the Palace of Venus.
That’s how I stopped by the royal palace to see Ether and the child, and it seemed like everything was fine, so this time I started going south without leaving a letter. It’s faster if you pass through the Great Forest in the middle, but if you go into the Great Forest, you will lose your sense of direction and you can get lost more, so you chose the way back to the sea.
It was fun to go between the sea and the sea floor. The world of the seabed is still not a well-studied field. I also thought that someday I would write a book by organizing the creatures in the sea. So what should the author do? It may be the first time in history that a book written by a soul will appear.
Crossing the sea, he entered the Neos Kingdom, one of the three southern countries of the Western Continent. Since it was my first visit to the country, I adjusted my pace a bit and stayed here and there to learn southern specialties and techniques.
Progressing little by little, he entered the estate of Count Ctolari. This place was a county near the Dragon Mountains, and although it was not a border area, it was actually a family that had the same prestige as the Margrave.
Like the Great Forest, there are monsters that are much stronger than normal demons living in the Dragon Mountains, and they are controlled to prevent them from coming out and are given some privileges from the center.
The ranger unit of the Dragon Mountains, famous as the strongest unit in the West Continent, was the enlisted soldier of Count Ctolari.
Count Ctolari’s estate was distinctly different from other territories. It had a similar atmosphere to Regisline, a fortified city in front of the great forest, but it was not completely a fortress city, and there were quite a few ordinary people living there.
After touring around the manor like that, I went into the castle to take a look at the castle for the last time, and the moment I saw the current owner, Count Mays Ctolari, I thought I was mistaken at first.
[Are you not human?]
There was something strange about Count Mais Ctolari’s soul. The size and shape of the soul was completely different from that of a human. Some humans have abnormally large souls. For example, rare geniuses such as Portega and Inclonius. Even taking that into account, the size of Count Mays’ soul exceeds that. And the shape of the soul was also strange.
The human soul is almost round in shape. Sometimes there are humans with slightly deformed souls, but it doesn’t deviate much from the original form.
However, Count Mays’ soul seemed to be a long line. At best it was a snake, at worst it was a soul resembling an earthworm. This form does not exist among demons, not even among humans.
[Could the count be a dragon?]
The Witchbeast King had been looking for a Witchbeast capable of Polymorph. And as if he had found it, it disappeared in the Great Forest. If it’s a dragon, wouldn’t it be possible to polymorph and live among humans? I thought. If so, it also explains why it suddenly appears in the human world every few hundred years and causes accidents.
[hello? Can you hear me?]
Just in case, I went to the side of Count Mays and tried to talk to him. I still couldn’t hear it. However, when I looked closer, Count Mays looked very tired.
Although he appeared to be old, his body appeared to be very healthy. I wondered if I was mentally exhausted because I had so many things to worry about. Anyway, intrigued, I followed Count Mays around.
What Count Mays did was not much different from what other heads of noble families did. Due to the nature of the territory, there was a lot of work in itself, but since the vassals were all pretty good, there weren’t that many things that Count Mays had to do.
However, if there was something a little unusual, Count Mais was regularly reporting and receiving information, but running an information group was not particularly unusual if it were a great nobleman. The content of the reported information was also mediocre. No, it was a problem because it was too ordinary.
The wife of Hans, the miller, gave birth and gave birth to a son. the child is healthy The son of a serf turned seven years old. what were these things These are things that do not need to be reported through information organizations.
Then one day, after dinner, Count Mays quietly activated the device behind his bedroom without the servants knowing. Then the wall moved and a passage appeared. When Count Mays went inside, the wall returned to its original state and no trace of it disappeared.
I already knew there was a passage there. And I’ve already been to the basement where the passage is connected. However, the passage leading to the basement was longer than expected, so I went back halfway.
I thought that someday Count Mays would use it, but he couldn’t use this absurdly long underground passage as it was.
But it actually happened. How far down did you go underground? The stairs continued endlessly, as if it were a stairway leading to hell.
The depth I have already descended is almost 300 meters or more. At this point, the technology that built this place was amazing. Even huge coal mines don’t dig like this. No, it’s because I don’t have the skills.
Count Mays’ steps were not hasty. At the same speed as the first time, I walked down for several hours and finally reached the bottom. How many kilometers down?
From the moment I felt that I had almost reached the end of the basement, I felt the urge to run away from this place. Something unknown was emanating from the bottom of the basement. But I couldn’t escape. It was as if a force of attraction was working, preventing me from escaping.
It didn’t really have any pulling power. It’s like controlling your mind. I was going there myself.
There was a huge space in the basement that went down like that. It was not simply wide, but it was such a space that the royal palace could be moved. In the darkness on the other side of that huge space, something gigantic enough to fill the space was creeping closer.
Count Mays fell flat on the spot and bowed his head.
“Meet the great master.”
Wasn’t the count a dragon? So, is that approaching being a dragon? However, the existence that appeared was absolutely not the dragon I knew.
[octopus?]
It was like a giant octopus. It wasn’t exactly an octopus. Because octopuses have 8 legs. That being has hundreds of octopus-like legs? No, there seemed to be thousands. And it’s not that big either. Should I say it’s a demon resembling an octopus?
The words that came out reflexively angered the being.
[It’s rude, it’s insignificant!]
It was such a powerful force that it was visibly distorted by the being’s actions. And it had other powers too. Its power struck my soul like a peer.
My body trembled and I lost my strength and fell to the ground like a deflated balloon.
“master?”
Count Mays, who was lying on the ground, looked up wondering what was going on, as if it hadn’t affected him.
[This is not what I said to you. Did you come with a flying fly on your back?]
Earl Mays was startled and looked around, but I couldn’t be seen.
[I will take care of the flying flies, so report back]
“your master”
Earl Mays lowered his head again without saying anything and opened his mouth.
“I have decided on my successor. Now that he is 14 years old, he is trying to pass down the estate by adopting him. After training this and that, it will be about three years later.”
[Are you not sorry?]
“I realized how hard it is for a small human being to be weighed down by time, unlike the four great ones. I have already lived for over 200 years, so there is no limit.”
[Right. Allow me to hand over your mission.]
“thank you. master”
I was still sprawled on the floor, unable to move, but I heard their conversation and figured out how it worked.