After the subjugation force returned, House Baltas held a celebration to announce their victory far and wide.
They distributed food and drinks throughout the city, and even within the castle, they prepared a lavish feast for the knights to enjoy to their heart's content.
Turan thought this was excessively showy and premature.
Although extremely unlikely, there might be other Masu blocking inter-city travel besides that monkey Masu.
When he brought this up at the banquet, Izella burst out laughing, saying he worried too much.
"No way, right? Such creatures don't appear two or three at a time. And honestly, even if they did, it wouldn't matter much."
The logic was that announcing the reopening of the blocked trade routes came first, and if another Masu attack occurred, they could simply say "Oh, we didn't know" and send another subjugation force.
Does a ruler's authority diminish if they make mistakes or change their words?
For wizard lords, the support and trust of their people were merely nice to have but not essential.
They ruled over humans not through such invisible elements, but through overwhelming power that could burn everyone to death even in the unlikely event of rebellion.
"What are the stars of this subjugation doing in such a secluded spot?"
As they were chatting, someone interrupted the two with meaningful words.
Head of House Lug looked at Turan and Izella alternately with half-opened eyes.
"Oh, father. Don't even start. Our guest is just too much of a worrier."
Hearing Izella's words, Lug also laughed heartily, dismissing Turan's concerns as excessive.
He said creatures that strong only appear once or twice a year at most.
Come to think of it, he wasn't wrong.
Originally, Masu appear more frequently in prosperous regions, but considering the continent as a whole, how could Keorn have traveled alone if creatures capable of instantly killing knights were roaming around in this relatively remote area?
And what about other ordinary travelers?
During their conversation, Izella excused herself, saying she wanted to get some food.
Left alone with Turan, Lug first offered his wine glass.
"More importantly, have a drink. It would be shameful as a host not to offer a guest even one drink."
Orem's liquor was incomparably stronger than the beer he had drunk at Murei's inn.
The burning sensation in his throat and the intense aroma that stung his nostrils made Turan cough involuntarily.
"Haha! You act like someone who's never had alcohol before."
"This is my first time having such strong liquor."
Fortunately, a noble's robust body wouldn't be affected by just a couple of shots of hard liquor, so Turan could drink moderately without getting drunk.
After about four drinks served by passing servants, Lug spoke with half-opened eyes.
"By the way, what do you think of Izella?"
A question similar in context to what Marvin had asked earlier today.
Turan replied calmly without changing his expression.
"I think of her as the lady of the house that's helping me."
"So you have no romantic interest?"
"To be honest, that's correct."
Lug slightly frowned at the almost rudely honest answer, but Turan didn't apologize.
He hadn't particularly liked Izella to begin with, and her behavior during the subjugation had lowered what little favor he had for her.
He judged it better to be clear-cut rather than leave room for misunderstanding out of consideration for the other's face.
As expected, instead of getting angry and asking if he dared to dislike his daughter, Lug heaved a deep sigh.
"Well, what can we do? I had hoped you would take a liking to my daughter."
"There will be better matches."
"How often do you find matches like yourself in such a remote area? I heard from Izella that you didn't even show signs of strain while absorbing magical power this time."
"Ah, yes. Because I'm still quite lacking."
"I heard your magical power is not much different from Izella's, so are you saying my daughter is lacking?"
Faced with this awkward question, Turan remained silent and looked at the other person.
Then, Lug suddenly spoke in what seemed like a lamenting tone.
"Well, that's not wrong. Izella certainly didn't have bad innate qualities, but her growth limit came much earlier than expected. She's insufficient to maintain the position of head of House Baltas. At this rate, I'll have to make Gilon... that is, my other nephew you haven't met, the next head. If Izella were to unite with you, there would be no need for that—"
Hearing this, he could understand why Marvin was pleased when told there was no interest in Izella.
If Turan were to marry Izella, it could become a major obstacle to his older brother becoming the head of the house.
What was incomprehensible was Lug's attitude of freely sharing such intimate stories.
Surely a house head couldn't be drunk?
Momentarily, seeing the eyes coldly measuring him, Turan could guess why Lug had shared such laments.
He hoped Turan would be swayed by knowing these circumstances.
Whether through guilt or responsibility for making someone lose their position as the next head by rejecting their persistent proposal, or ambition that he could obtain this city by marrying Izella.
He must have calculated that either would work as long as something caught.
"I trust the head will make a wise decision."
Perhaps realizing from that answer that Turan had seen through his intentions and rejected them, Lug heaved an even deeper sigh than before.
"I see. Well, alright... Then enjoy the banquet moderately. Just let me know before you leave the city."
Turan couldn't help but laugh when Lug blatantly asked when he would leave right after hearing he wasn't interested in marriage.
Rather than feeling angry, he found it amusing how openly mercenary the other was being.
As Lug showed signs of leaving, Turan decided to ask something he had been curious about.
Of course, not directly, but in a roundabout way.
"Ah, Head, there's something I'm curious about."
"What is it?"
Although Lug showed obvious signs of annoyance, Turan continued as if he hadn't noticed.
"While using the library, I was wondering if you check whether anyone steals books? They're all expensive items, regardless of whether anyone's looking for them."
"Hmm? Don't you know? I thought you knew and that's why you only read books in the library."
When Turan shook his head as if he didn't understand this meaningful remark, Head Lug put on a proud expression.
He seemed to want to gain satisfaction by overwhelming with knowledge the Turan who had rejected his subtle proposal.
"The Sky Library is a creation from the old empire era, so if someone takes out a book without permission, it triggers a tremendous warning sound. Actually, not telling people this beforehand and watching them get embarrassed was one of my pleasures."
"How does one receive permission?"
"Who knows! Detailed records about the library were gone even before our family took over this city. Well, anyway, even if someone takes out a book, it just makes some warning sounds and stops, while functions like automatically organizing books still work normally..."
Turan's eyes sparkled as he listened to these words.
What he had been half-doubting until just now was confirmed by that last statement.
==
The next day, Turan headed straight to the library after breakfast, just as he had done the day before yesterday.
"We welcome the noble one."
The knight who had become familiar with Turan's face let him in without even checking his entry permit.
Entering the first-floor lobby, the middle-aged librarian who always sat at the desk greeted Turan as usual.
"Welcome, Sir Turan."
Turan burst into a hollow laugh, suddenly realizing how unobservant he had been of the librarian's greeting.
Thinking about it, the clues had been there from the beginning.
First, the address "Sir Turan."
No knight or commoner in this city called him that.
They only addressed him as "noble one."
Moreover, there was the way he had been watched while reading.
Turan's reading pattern was to come in early after breakfast and only leave when it was time for dinner.
During that time, the librarian never once went to the bathroom, ate, or even drank water, only watching Turan.
While not impossible for a normal person, it was an extremely unusual element.
But Turan had been so absorbed in his books that he never noticed this at all.
"How do you know my name?"
At Turan's question, the librarian's humble expression changed to that of a mischievous child.
"My, you took awfully long to notice, you dull fellow. Didn't you even ask people outside about me?"
"I haven't associated with many people in this city enough to have such conversations."
"Quite the loner, aren't you? Though I could tell that from how you were always buried in books."
Though the hierarchy of their conversation had suddenly reversed, it didn't feel awkward.
The librarian chuckled and casually tossed the book he had been reading back to where it belonged.
"I learned your name from your entry permit. My sight reaches to around this library."
"What should I call you, sir?"
"I am the Librarian. I never had a name to begin with, so just call me that."
"Understood, Elder Librarian."
"Your polite manner feels awkward. You've been ordering me around all these days."
"I never ordered you around. Rather, you're the one doing that now."
"Young one, trying not to lose even a single word!"
Despite his snorting, the librarian's face clearly showed he was enjoying this kind of banter.
Sitting across from the librarian, Turan asked once again about the other's identity.
"Are you a wizard from the old empire, sir?"
"I was never human to begin with. You could say I'm a kind of spirit. The spirit of the library."
"A spirit..."
None of the books Turan had read dealt with such beings in detail.
He had only heard about forest fairies using spirit arts to handle living spirits, nature spirits, and death spirits in the "World Tour Journal," but that was about it.
Knowing Turan's limited knowledge, the librarian immediately explained.
"When a soul dwells in something living, it's a living spirit; in something dead, it's a death spirit; in something neither living nor dead, it's a nature spirit. In other words, the library is my body. This form is merely projected for convenience in conversing with users. You could say it's like a shadow reflected in water."
Hearing this, Turan unconsciously poked the librarian's hand that was resting on the table.
Indeed, his finger passed through the back of the hand and hit the desk as if nothing was there.
Seeing this, the librarian slightly frowned.
"Stop that, it's unpleasant."
"I apologize."
As soon as he withdrew his hand and apologized, the librarian's expression softened again.
"You don't know how frustrating it is to be unable to directly exert force on intruders. If I could, I would have punished all those thieves trying to take books from the library..."
So that's why so many books had disappeared despite such a being existing – it seems he couldn't use force against people.
He probably could only move books or clean the library interior.
Turan nodded and asked what he was curious about.
"The head of House Baltas seemed unaware of your existence, Elder Librarian. In fact, perhaps everyone who has used this library..."
"That's because until now, there hasn't been anyone qualified to perceive me. It's been about three thousand years since I last conversed with someone, so even though you 'wizards' live quite long, it's been long enough that not even records would remain... wizards, hah."
For some reason, the librarian burst into laughter as if he found the word 'wizard' impossibly amusing.
At these incredible words, Turan stared at the other blankly.
After finding someone to talk to after an unfathomable three thousand years, he still pretended to be a servant of House Baltas and played pranks?
What if Turan had lost interest in books and never returned?
When asked this, the librarian snorted.
"Then that would have been the end of it. Unlike you all, three thousand years isn't such an unfathomable time for me. In another few thousand years, someone else would surely come along."
Hearing this, he could truly feel that this spirit was a completely different being from humans.
Well, stones and rivers don't find thousands of years tedious, do they?
Turan shook his head and asked again.
"About the qualification, what is it?"
"My creator made it so that only those whose form has reached a certain level of completion can perceive me. And you have the highest completion among the wizards I've seen in the past three thousand years."
"Form...?"
"What you call bloodline."
High bloodline completion – what does that mean?
Along with his pondering, he recalled what he had heard from Keorn before.
Wizards are descendants of gods, and bloodline abilities are one of the characteristics possessed by their ancestors, the Prea god-folk...
So, that spirit was saying that Turan was the closest to being a god among all the wizards he had seen in the past three thousand years.