Inside one of the rooms of the mansion, a baby sat alone on the floor, scribbling intently on a piece of paper inside a book with a pen.
As the day drew to a close, his small hand moved across the page, writing down various thoughts and observations, clearly focused on his task.
'What to do with these spies,' Lucian scribbled, recording the information he had gotten from that couple. He had been writing this book for the past six months.
While his handwriting was a chaotic jumble, it still conveyed the words he had heard them say.
However, a pressing concern nagged at him—the maids who were peeking just outside his door.
Their expressions were a mix of amusement and curiosity; some smiled, while others giggled and whispered to one another about the scene unfolding within.
'They wouldn't understand the language, but...' Lucian thought, feeling a mix of relief and apprehension.
At least he was consoled by the fact that they wouldn't be able to decipher his writings, which were written in the language of his old world.
Nonetheless, he worried about the possibility that one of them might possess the awakened ability to read any language.
If that were the case, and his notes fell into such hands, it would spell major trouble for him.
This thought left him pondering, analyzing the myriad of ways he could respond should such a scenario arise.
'Sigh' With a sigh, he accepted the reality of his situation.
At this moment, he was just a baby without a secret safe or any reliable means to hide his writings.
The weight of this limitation pressed down on him, prompting him to sigh again.
Suddenly, a deep, gravelly voice boomed from outside the door, cutting through his thoughts: "Where is that little beast, huh?"
The sound reverberated in the room, causing all the maids peering in to flinch at the intensity of it.
'Ah, not again,' Lucian thought, placing the pen down in resignation.
He braced himself, accustomed to the routine that was about to unfold.
Slowly, he felt two hands wrap around him from behind, lifting him effortlessly into the air.
Lucian had long since accepted that struggling would only waste his energy, so he merely waited as he was turned to face the huge figure that had picked him up.
"Haha, my son seems bored again," the Count remarked, cradling the child in his arms.
He noticed the little one gazing down, looking disinterested.
As usual, whenever he attempted to embrace him, Lucian always appeared disinterested.
His eyes drifted to the notebook on the floor, where his child had scribbled strange characters.
This prompted the Count to smile as he gently placed him back on the floor again.
'Oh, that was quick.'
Lucian, feeling himself being set down, was slightly confused but relieved that the old man would leave him alone for a moment, giving him time to think about the task at hand.
He made his way over to the notebook, picked up the pen once again, and began to jot down his thoughts: 'What they said about the academy.'
He recalled what that couple had informed him about the academy and scribbled: The director of Valeria Academy is, in reality, a hidden Archmage named Adriannel Riantain, and he is, in truth, pretending to be the most weak professor—Thud
Just as Lucian was engrossed in documenting these details, a book suddenly landed beside him, startling him.
He yelled, 'What the hell! Are you trying to kill me, old man?'
With irritation, he glared at the Count, but instead of anger, he found a massive hand—relative to his small stature—ruffling his hair.
This made his mouth twitch in frustration as he sighed.
Realizing he was powerless against the big man, he decided to ignore the Count and resume his scribbling.
However...
'!?'
'Hey, hey! Don't touch it!' Lucian shouted the moment he saw the Count lifting his precious book, the one he had painstakingly filled with information over the last six months.
His voice rose in panic as he exclaimed, "Ook! Ook!"
"Calm down, I'm not doing anything bad," the Count replied, pushing Lucian back and examining his book, denying him the chance to come closer.
Despite the child's fists tightly gripping the Count's thumb and little finger in a struggle, Lucian's eyes widened when he noticed the Count turning toward the head maid, who nodded before approaching with a burning candle.
'Oh no! Fuck! You're going to burn my treasure!' Lucian thought, horror striking him as he realized what was happening.
He protested silently, realizing that even though he had warned them, the head maid was now bringing a candle to set fire to his book, the culmination of six months of hard work.
His eyes grew wide, and panic filled his mind as he contemplated the loss of his only lifeline for surviving in this world.
But now, all of it was about to go up in flames.
Finally, the head maid ignited that notebook, and it was ablaze while the Count held it up over the other book he had brought earlier.
"Waaah! Waaah!"
As a baby, Lucian could only cry.
His high-pitched wails echoed within the library, catching the attention of the maids, who gasped in shock at the sight of the Count burning such a cherished book—the one the young master cared for deeply, always filling it with his thoughts.
"W-wait, Count! I-it's the young master's—" One of the maids stepped forward, bowing deeply with her hem, trembling as she realized she was crossing a line by speaking to the Count, but she could not bear to witness the young master's hard work being destroyed.
However, before she could finish her sentence, she caught a firm glare from the head maid, who warned her to remain silent, fully aware that a servant was treading dangerously close to disrespecting the Count.
'Just let it go, you cruel people…' Lucian silently expressed in despair, crying out in anguish as he watched his last hope for survival being consumed by flames right before his eyes.
"Uwahh! Uwaah!"
One thought echoed loudly in Lucian's mind:
'Don't burn my survival manual!!!'