Right after being told to leave by his mother, Arnold headed down to the dark library with a lantern in tow. Of course, without the usual servant following him around. It would be troublesome if others heard his muttering. He was the kind of person to think out loud when he is concentrating.
He had a cup of tea and would only leave the library if it was needed. For example, if he wanted to fetch more tea or go to the toilet.
His demon sword couldn't be left alone so he brought it along.
'I'll leave Olivia and Luke to their devices. It's wrong to be a third wheel, after all.' As he thought about that, he cackled.
Olivia was now out of his hands. She was Luke's responsibility now.
Opening the large chamber door, Arnold marveled at the size of the library. According to what he heard from Victoria, there were thousands of books that were collected over the history of the family.
Arnold was overcome with ecstasy as he sniffed the wonderful old book scent. All the knowledge might not be here that he needed, however, he was eager to learn more about this world.
What were the governmental system like? What laws were there? How did nobility manage to survive this far despite the different cultures that came to existed?
There were a lot of other things he was curious about, but he knew that wasting time to satisfy his curiosity wasn't a good thing. There was still a need to look for the people who will manage his city in his absence.
Since Arnold himself was a student of the academy, he couldn't just stay in the city. He needed to complete his education so that he could obtain a Knighting Diploma.
It was a degree that helped graduates join knight orders around the world. You could also get a bureaucratic position or even become a government official with the degree.
The worst thing that could happen was that he gets mocked by the populace for being a non-educated bastard despite being a city lord. That was because some things relied more on one's achievements than your strength.
Therefore, Arnold needed to somehow do something that'll get him a lot of power and connections. Of course, it wouldn't be easy since he was independent from his father at such a young age. He didn't even have his own private army. Had his father not taken the entire unit then Arnold could've used them much more flexibly.
There was the fact that he needed people to go and mine the red crystals. Said people were the villagers that were under his rule. Of course, he would make sure that none of them are unsatisfied with the wages.
On another note, he needed some guards for those people so the private army was the perfect option. The location of the red crystals was deep inside the forest so that could mean danger since most monsters lurk that deep.
Once he mined all the crystals and hid them in a secure location then he'll slowly use them to influence this Empire's market.
It was the perfect scheme that could earn him a very high position as a noble. With the help of the merchant family, Rynals, he can slowly but surely achieve his dream.
Living leisurely far away from the reach of the Demon King and whatever else could threaten this world.
**
"What should I research first?" Arnold dropped about six books on the table. A single lantern was lighting the table.
The answer he sought appeared within his mind.
"I wanted to learn more about demon lord factors and the kingdoms. But I can focus on the nations afterwards…" He activated the magic item on the table. It glowed. "Bring articles and books that have all the history of the demon races. Djinns, Daemons and demon lords; the whole lot of them."
As the magic item activated, a type of dust came out of it and headed in several directions. This magic item allowed one to simply utter the book you were looking for and have it delivered to you. In simple terms: it was like the internet.
"Hm? Only one?" A single book floated onto the table.
"Head to the page that explains demon lord factors." The other function of the magic item was the ability to search for terms as well. It was like the Search in page function on the internet. This world still had some features that were available in the game.
"Found it." Arnold turned the lantern a little brighter since the page was very messy and the words weren't very clear unless one strained one's eyes.
Arnold began reading the text out loud.
"It is theorized that humans, elves, dwarves and demihumans evolved from the demon race in the beginning years of the world's creation. Demon lords are a super evolved form of a normal demon. If one's blood and soul is aligned with the blood and soul of another demon lord then a demon lord factor is born."
'Does this…mean my soul is as corrupted as a demon lord's?'
Thinking how rotten original Arnold was, it wasn't complete bullshit. However, to go as far as calling him similar to a demon? That was ridiculous.
"Wasn't it the Star Draw that gave me this power in the first place?"
Arnold made just the helmet appear on his head. He focused on imagining making a status window pop up.
A ringing sound echoed in his head.
----Status----
RACE: Human(Demon Lord Seed)
· STR: A(SSS)/130(5000+)
· AG:A(SSS)/134(5000+)
· DEF:A(SSS)139(5000+)
· DEX: S/1300
· AP: SS(EX)/2600(5000+)
· SP: 0
Martial Skills
· Storm of the Water Dragon(A)—A lower version of Leviathan Storm(SSS). It is a secret martial art that was adapted from the various martial arts that originates from the western sea. Was primarily used by the water monarch races such as the whale king, mermaid king, siren queen, etc…
· ???--
· ???
· ???
· ???
· ???
· ???
· ????
Swordsmanship
· Flow of the Tide(S)—The combination of the speed of sound and the gentle flow of a river. It can be used to cut through reality in its final form. Thus, it is known as the weaker version of the Fury of the Trench(EX) swordsmanship style.
· Elementary Sword Style(G)—Basic swordsmanship used by the students of the academy. It is taught by the Empire.
__
Arnold stared blankly into the air while wearing the helmet.
"What the hell is the 'Fury of the Trench'?"
Arnold muttered to himself. He didn't really expect to get an answer. The magic item on the table activated and brought a book.
It opened a certain page.
"Hm?" Arnold made the status screen go away after taking off the helmet. His eyes widened when he read the title.
"The swordstyle used by a certain Sword King? Fury of the Trench…The name still doesn't ring a bell. That means that it wasn't in the game."
It was a swordstyle that had allowed one to wield the pressure of the deepest parts of the ocean to cleave through space. One can cleave through space and time itself if the energy of the swordstyle is condensed to the maximum. Anything could be cut with water in this world.
Even reality itself.
"No wonder this bastard could create such a swordstyle. It was never his own to begin with. But the fact that he can create one is amazing itself."
It was extremely hard to create one's own style in the first place. Arnold was a very sneaky bastard. There was probably no one who knew about the style since it was long forgotten.
Arnold's train of thought shifted to what he saw on the status screen. He didn't notice those question marks before since he last opened the status screen when he battled Lancelot. At that time, he didn't have the leeway to go through the entire status screen.
"Should I just forget about it? I won't get answers anyway…"
There were so many things he needed answers to that it was just hurting his head.
Arnold decided to study the demon history book later on. He put it away and focused on the other books on the table. He brought a globe as well which was just a version of earth but with only two continents.
· History of the continent of Diacree
That was the title of the first book. It was the most recent one that was written a century ago so the information inside should be accurate to some degree.
There existed many nations on the continent of Diacree. First, was the Empire of Eulia. It lied in the center of the world map. As mentioned before, the Undead Nation—which was a small city—was north of the empire and above that was the destroyed remains of the Luthial Kingdom.
Then there was the Holy Kingdom to the west of the Empire. Arnold wouldn't forget about that place since it was the place where Lancelot—the guy he hates the most—is from. Specifically, he was born in the Holy Kingdom but became an inquisitor of the church in the Theocracy. Although Lancelot was a minor character, that didn't mean that there was nothing about him in the game.
He was a Spiritualist Dual Wielder. The reason he could wield elementals was because of the elven blood in his veins. Not much is known about his background, but Liam heard that—due to the fact that he was born a human male from an elven mother—he was dumped in front of a church that was in the outer part of the Holy City. She was apparently a whore who goes around cities in search of men to sleep with for money.
That particular church where he was dumped was where Angelica was also housed—as with many of the orphans like her and Lancelot. Angelica started as a member of the choir with her beautiful singing voice. She even won national prizes when she represented her kingdom.
Of course, that wasn't the extend of her fame and popularity. Angelica was chosen as the oracle of the goddess one day. That meant that she was the one closest to god.
Due to her increased value, she is kept in a tall tower in the center of the nation. Alitus was her official guard. It had been ten years now. Angelica was most likely in her mid-twenties by now if Arnold considered how young Lancelot looked.
'Humph. Why am I worrying about that guy's crush. If anything, I hope he gets cuckolded. Bastard nearly killed me so he deserves that much.'
Speaking of which, an oracle of god must never lose their purity, according to the Pope at least. She must remain innocent and pure until she dies or loses her right to be an oracle.
Of course, Arnold knew that she wouldn't live long anyway. Most oracles die before they reach age 40. Either due to depression which resulted in suicide or by overwork as an oracle having to see the destinies of people.
If the oracle dies then the Theocracy would lose a lot of power over the other nations. Even the king of the Holy Kingdom would become a threat to them.
As paranoid as the pope was, it wouldn't serve as a surprise if he already had countermeasures set in place. The event of the Holy Kingdom going to war with its neighbour would compare to the massive genocide of the demihumans that took place when the previous pope was still alive.
Flames of war between the Theocracy and Demihuman Kingdom had been developing all these years.
That was why the entirety of the Holy Kingdom and the Theocracy was consisted of mostly humans. Demihumans like elves, heteromorphs and dwarves would mostly be slaves for the humans.
Elves were mostly sex slaves due to their beauty while dwarves and heteromorphic demihumans were laborers. The former was true for both male and females. Though males were desirable by the women of nobility due to their hairless bodies and physique, some men preferred young elven boys. There was something about young elf boys that degenerate old men loved.
The inaction of the old slave trade law was one of the reasons why the Empire of Eulia, the Demihuman Kingdom and the Elven Kingdom of Tiliu Forest didn't ally themselves with the Theocracy. Although the old slave trade was everywhere in the western part of the world, the major nations on the continent of Diacree completely abolished it and implemented a new slave law.
Slaves had many more rights now compared to 100 years ago. The owner is not allowed to kill the slave or force said slave to become his or her lover.
The latter right was somehow overcome by Arnold since he made Lauran into his nighttime slave against her will.
'As expected. He is a sneaky bastard.'
Arnold flipped the page when he finished reading about the slave trade law that was still circulating.
"Oh? The monarchial system."
The next page went into detail about the different monarchs of each nation. The entirety of the Holy Kingdom was an exception since it had two rulers. One was a king while the other was a governmental system consisting of priests.
First, the Demihuman Kingdom had an alpha who was of the lion tribe. To put it into perspective, the kingdom was very similar to the jungle. The strongest made the rules and the weaker ones followed.
"It's similar to dragon culture, isn't it?"
Dragons were also a species that decided the leader based on strength. Of course, not all dragons are the same. Some decide to live peacefully and never cause trouble while others choose to dominate entire races.
One that fits into the former was the leader of the Republican Province of Zrek. The nation was ruled by a system that was vastly similar to a presidency. It even had a variety of races that controls the nation. Of course, humans lived there too since it was much better for some humans to live under a strong ruler.
Unlike the Theocracy, the Republic was a nation where every race could thrive. Arnold heard that the Undead Nation was aiming for a similar premise but that would probably never come to fruition. It went without saying why; the ruler was an undead vampire, after all.
Although he had the desire to seek out this vampire lord, it was much too dangerous. The possibility was high that she was a player which meant that there was a slim chance that Arnold could trust her to reveal himself.
Setting aside that for now, Arnold closed the book.
"Hmm. That's all about the kingdoms? I was expecting more. Well, this library is fairly old so it's better to go somewhere else if I want to find out about the most recent laws and such." Arnold put aside the book and grabbed another one.
"[The Artifacts of Old and The Monsters Through Time]. Hm. That's a cool title. Now then, let's see what this book has in store for us."