At that moment, Eros faintly heard voices. The sound was quiet, indicating that the source was still quite far away.
"Could it be the library staff?"
Without hesitation, he headed toward the direction of the voices.
As he got closer, he eventually saw two figures standing ahead.
That familiar short golden hair, that unforgettable broad back—wasn't that his father? But who was the person in front of him?
Eros squinted for a better look, then squinted again, and again. The figure seemed vaguely familiar.
The woman, facing in Eros's direction, noticed him the moment he stepped out from behind the bookshelf.
She froze for a moment before gently pushing the man in front of her—the Duke of Nors himself, Lenka Orich Nors.
She nudged the duke softly and whispered, "Someone's here, someone's here!"
Upon hearing this, the duke's expression remained entirely unconcerned as he replied dismissively:
"Relax. This morning, I already had all the servants leave the library area and forbade anyone from coming near it for the day. There's no one around."
Despite his words, he still glanced over his shoulder to check behind him.
Then he saw his genius son, the pride of the family and the future star of the duchy, standing there with a puzzled expression on his face.
Duke Lenka froze for a moment, then quickly put on an awkward yet polite smile and nodded at Eros.
Without missing a beat, he grabbed the woman's hand and hurriedly walked away.
So that's why I didn't see anyone in the library all this time—it turns out they were all sent away by my father.
Eros sighed inwardly. This father of mine is so irresponsible. Does he think the library is a place for playing around? Now I have to search for books on my own.
Fortunately, the section he was now in happened to contain the books he was looking for.
The rows of bookshelves here were filled with historical records and documents—the exact category he was after.
This discovery made his expression turn a little odd. Were they planning to desecrate history right here? Seriously, what a pair…
Shaking his head to dispel the random thoughts from his mind, he looked up at the shelves, determined to find books documenting events from the earlier eras.
As he searched, he noticed a pattern: the closer a shelf was to the outer edge of the room, the more recent the books it contained.
Without hesitation, he headed straight for the innermost section of the area.
Reaching his destination, he spotted it with a single glance—the book he had been looking for: The Chronicle of the Misty Sea.
Just from the title, it was clear this book had to be related to the Sea of Mist.
Wasting no time, Eros scrambled up the bookshelf and swiftly grabbed the thick tome.
As for dirtying the shelves or the other books—well! Forget just stepping on them. Even if he climbed to the top of the bookshelf and stood on his head while making a mess, no one would dare say a word to him. Who would have the nerve to scold him?
The bookshelves and books were clearly well-maintained, as there wasn't even a speck of dust on the ancient cover. This made Eros silently click his tongue in amazement.
The library had an enormous collection, likely numbering in the millions. To keep every single book spotless must have required an unimaginable amount of manpower and resources.
All he could say was that feudal society truly was terrifying. Thankfully, he was now one of the oppressors.
He opened the black-gray, antique cover, revealing densely packed text on yellowed pages.
The book's age was evident—the ink on the pages had faded, leaving the once-bold script dull and lackluster.
At first glance, Eros immediately knew he had found the right book.
This book detailed the very event he had previously read about—the departure of the Elves—but in far greater detail.
According to the book, after the Elves departed en masse from the Croatia Continent, the simmering hostilities between the two most powerful empires on the continent could no longer be suppressed, and war broke out immediately.
The war dragged the entire continent into chaos. Smoke and fire blanketed the land, and death was everywhere.
The bodies of those killed in battle were too numerous to burn, so they were simply thrown into the great rivers in the hopes that the current would carry them to the sea, feeding the fish.
But the number of dead was beyond counting. The blood flowing from their corpses dyed the entire river red.
The crimson water surged downstream into the sea, creating wave after wave of blood-red tides.
The war raged on, and wave after wave of crimson tides seeped deeper into the ocean.
Three hundred years into the conflict, a mysterious fog began to rise over the sea.
At first, it attracted little attention, but the fog spread rapidly.
Within a year, the entire ocean was engulfed in mist. All humans who ventured into the fog vanished without a trace—no bodies, no survivors.
What terrified people even more was that the fog continued to expand toward the land.
Coastal towns and cities lost contact overnight, their fates unknown.
Panic swept through the continent. No one knew where the fog had come from, and no one knew if or when it would stop spreading.
Doomsday prophecies ran rampant, and the war came to an abrupt halt.
Everyone was gripped by fear and unease, dreading that the fog might reach their doorstep by the next morning.
Yet, just as suddenly as it had appeared, the fog retreated.
It vanished as inexplicably as it had come, stopping precisely 500 kilometers from the coastline.
From that moment on, humanity's exploration of the world was forced to halt at that boundary.
The lands that had been shrouded in mist became eerily silent after the fog lifted. All life—human, animal, and plant—had disappeared without a trace.
The sudden appearance and retreat of the fog left an indelible mark on the survivors.
Seeing the strange state of the coastal towns after the fog withdrew, the remaining nations on the continent lost their appetite for war. They called their troops back, focusing instead on recovery and rebuilding.
But the fear brought by the fog was etched deeply into the minds of every survivor.
Thus, that era came to be known as the Era of the Misty Sea.
The day the mist reached the shores marked the end of the Second Age and the beginning of the Third Age—the Era of the Misty Sea.