I was pulled into a dark room with bookshelves and drawers, and… a pile of coins!
Jackpot! This was probably their treasury room, and if I'm right, the item should be here as well.
I just need to distract her for a few minutes, and I can be on my way.
My father must be getting kicked in the ass right now by my mother, so I need to get back home soon to see it happen.
"Hey, before we start, can I ask your name?"
I knew who she was, of course, but she didn't know that.
"Amelia Ata...tata...raxia," she stuttered.
"Nice to meet you, Amelia Atataraxia," I said, gesturing for a handshake.
"...?" she tilted her head.
Come on, take my hand; this is getting awkward.
Oh wait, maybe handshakes aren't an elven custom?
Realizing that, I put my hand down.
"So, do you want to play hide and seek?" I asked.
I'm a genius.
If we play that game, then she'd have to leave the room and go hide somewhere else, right?
"Yes!" Her eyes lit up.
"Okay, for the first round, I'll be the seeker."
"Hmm… okay."
"I'll start counting now.
One… two… three… four… five-"
*CLICK!*
She left the room to go hide.
Hehe, sucker.
I scanned my surroundings, and there really were a lot of treasures.
My objective here was to get the mana amplifier, but scratch that, I'll take some coins too.
I walked toward the pile of coins and retrieved a hefty sum, putting each coin into my system's inventory.
Fifty gold coins.
If I take any more, they'll probably realize someone stole from them.
After that, I walked toward the chest in the corner.
I mean, it was probably here, right?
Or it could be in the drawer.
Nope, not here.
Not here either.
Still nope.
Ah… where the hell is it?
I'm pretty sure I'm in their vault, so where's the mana amplifier?
Just then, the door clicked open.
*CLICK!*
"Amelia, are you here?!" said the elf with a worried expression.
He scanned the room and saw me with a blank expression.
"Uhm… hi?"
"You must be the Milverton boy.
I'll ask you later how you managed to get into the royal vault, but have you seen my daughter?"
Ah, so this guy must be the King.
I'm glad I didn't make too much of a mess here, or else I might've become a criminal at six years old.
"Actually, we were playing hide and seek.
I think she's just hiding somewhere?"
"What?!" he screamed.
"Calm down.
We were just playing.
What's the problem?"
I get that he's looking for his daughter, but why does he have to be so dramatic about it?
"That's the problem.
You see, Amelia was cursed when she was born.
Every five hours, she would suddenly feel drowsy and sleep."
Each word he spat left me shocked.
I don't remember writing that kind of plot line my entire life.
If that's the case, could this world not be my book?
But that's impossible; the details were the same with just some minor tweaks.
It was to my suspicion that this one was an older draft of my book, but is it really?
Now that I think about it, who exactly is Ezra Ashford?
And why did I transmigrate as him?
For what purpose?
I've never questioned myself about these things since I honestly didn't care and just wanted to go with the flow.
But now, after realizing it, this could be a problem.
This means that I shouldn't trust the knowledge I had of this world.
Is the mana amplifier even here?..
I should probably take things more seriously.
Haa… what a chore.
"She must be somewhere sleeping on the cold floor.
Can you help me find her?" said the Elf King.
"Of course.
I feel somewhat responsible for this since I suggested the game."
Not really, after all, she was just sleeping.
But perhaps I could use this chance to find the mana amplifier.
After that, I left the room on the premise of looking for Amelia.
…
*CLICK-*
Not here...
Nope, not here either.
Definitely not here, but there was free food, so I took a bite.
Though I am trying to find the mana amplifier and Amelia, the rooms didn't look important enough to have the mana amplifier, and Amelia was definitely not sleeping on the floor in any of those rooms.
*CLICK!*
I found her.
Just like the Elf King said, she really was sleeping on the floor.
And… is she drooling?
Before picking her up, I took a quick scan of the room.
It was honestly pretty big, with lots of storage.
If I were the Elf King, I'd probably keep the mana amplifier here.
Though I've started to doubt if the mana amplifier actually exists, it wouldn't hurt to look around.
As my doubts just kept bottling up, it was then that I found it.
"This…"
I picked up the mana amplifier, an orb-like pill.
It didn't look anything special, but I could see the abundance of mana lingering on it.
According to how I described it in the book, this was definitely it.
'Haa… at least this detail hasn't changed.'
Thanks, Amelia.
If it weren't for you, I might've scrammed from this place without getting anything.
I lifted the mana amplifier and put it close to my mouth.
Okay, here it goes.
I hope it doesn't taste too bad.
*GULP!*
Fuck, that tasted like rotten medicine with a tinge of fish oil.
After gulping down the mana amplifier, I couldn't really feel any significant changes—
"AGKK!"
My head was aching in pain, and I could feel my body heat up.
My vision started to turn hazy as the colors began to fade.
And then… I blacked out.
…
I opened my eyes and found myself resting in a fancy-looking room.
Though it was not of royalty standards, it must be the guest room or something.
I shifted my gaze down, and there I saw a girl sitting on the floor with her head resting on her arms, which were crossed on the bed I was currently lying on.
The pain from earlier seems to have subsided as I could feel the effects of the mana amplifier continuously coursing within me.
'System.'
====
[STATUS]
Name: Ezra Ashford
Level: 1 (0/100)
Race: Human
HP: 100/100
MP 180/500
Class: None
Strength: F
Intelligence: F
Dexterity: F
Charisma: F
[SKILLS]
None
====
Ah, the limiter has finally increased.
180/500 huh?
My mana was probably still processing the change.
But finally, a breakthrough.
With this, I could probably leave the main character in the dust.
Snapping me out of my thoughts, Amelia woke up.