Chapter 239

Chapter 66: Pest Control

She’s here again.

I know.

The Imperial Library’s librarians sighed as they watched the same person take her usual spot once again.

The Imperial Library was always quiet. Extremely so. Only members of the imperial family and those granted permission by the Emperor were allowed inside. Even the high-ranking nobles couldn’t simply enter the Imperial Library at will.

Yet recently, one person had become a regular, showing up almost every day. That person was Ceres, the young lady of House Drow.

Last time, she was going through nothing but ancient-language books.

What could she be so engrossed in now?

It was about two weeks ago. Ceres had suddenly come to the library and started picking through the old books written in ancient languages, books no one else had any interest in. She did so for three days straight.

Then she stopped coming for a while.

The librarians thought she was done with the library. But a few days ago, she suddenly appeared again. This time, she piled up stacks of books in one corner and went through them one by one.

She has His Majesty’s permission.

There was nothing they could say about her spending the whole day there. Nor could they complain about her coming every day.

But...

...those three were another matter.

Three people were practically glued to Ceres as she read.

“Here. This book mentions the Evil God.”

The person who had sent the librarians away and was now finding books for Ceres himself was Crown Prince Aseraian.

“Ceres, this says there was a case long ago where the people of an entire village suddenly shriveled up and died.”

Sitting across from Ceres and searching through the books with her was Cheion, the Master of the Magic Tower and the Second Imperial Prince.

And then...

Rustle... Rustle.

Kainel sat beside Ceres, idly twirling a strand of her loose hair around his finger.

...Why are they even here?

The librarians had been watching this strange group for days, but they still hadn’t gotten used to the sight.

Most of all, the presence of Crown Prince Aseraian, one of the most powerful figures in the empire, and Grand Duke Persia, a man people were afraid to approach, was more than enough to put the normally relaxed librarians on edge.

Even though they worked in the Imperial Palace, they rarely ever encountered members of the imperial family or high-ranking nobles.

“Oh, come on! Can’t you help a little? I doubt the Emperor gave you that library pass for this.”

“I am helping.”

“By playing with Ceres’s hair?”

Cheion, who had been absorbed in the books for quite some time, finally snapped at the sight of Kainel doing nothing but play with Ceres’s hair.

“I’m getting rid of a pest.”

“A pest? What pest could there be in the Imperial Library...?”

Swish.

“Here, look at this one.”

Just then, Crown Prince Aseraian came up behind Ceres. With his hand on her shoulder, he offered her a book.

Smack!

Kainel immediately knocked his hand away.

“Ah...”

The moment Cheion saw that, he finally understood what Kainel meant by “getting rid of a pest.” He decided to let it go.

Even if he is my older brother, he shouldn’t be touching Ceres like that.

“Oh, that’s harsh. I’m only finding books for her.”

And I get called a pest for that?

Aseraian put on a wounded expression.

“.....”

The three of them continued their little exchange, but Ceres never looked up from her book. She was focused on finding information about the Evil God.

“You shall receive the blessing of Herchaos.”

“We were chosen by Lord Hercaos!”

There was one name the High Priest and the fanatics kept repeating throughout the Holy Spring’s incident.

Herchaos.

It doesn’t sound like a name someone simply made up.

The name felt strangely familiar, as though she had heard it somewhere before. That was why she looked into it. If she could find out who Herchaos was, she felt she might also discover what Veilks was after.

But there was one problem. No matter how many ancient books she searched, she couldn’t find a single mention of Herchaos.

Even Elliet says she doesn’t know.

“It’s a name I’ve never heard before, meow.”

She had asked Elliet just in case, thinking she might recognize the name since she used to be a god. But even she knew nothing about it.

It has to be one of the Evil Gods.

A god worshipped by priests who offered people as sacrifices could only be an Evil God, right?

Cheion said those magic circles were a form of dark magic too.

The ritual to destroy the Holy Spring was performed using the magic circles. After examining them, Cheion had said they were definitely meant for dark magic, not ordinary magic.

Dark magic.

Last time, while searching through books written in ancient languages for the purchase agreement, she came across something that had caught her eye.

<On Demons>

The title alone was unsettling. And somehow, the subheading on the page where the contract had been placed was—

<The Ritual to Awaken a Demon>

Geez, that old man...

The former Emperor had deliberately hidden the document on this page. His intentions were obvious.

He was trying to mess with me.

He probably hid it there just to annoy her if she ever came across it. That man was always teasing her, saying someone might have summoned a demon and slipped it into her body.

He even said my ability to turn back time was a demon’s power.

Honestly, no one in the empire could be more childish. Teasing her was practically his favorite pastime. Still, thanks to him, she managed to find something interesting.

A way to awaken a demon, huh?

Apparently, it required offering human souls, and the conditions were rather strict. It couldn’t be just any soul. The person had to die in a specific way.

Ceres couldn’t take her eyes off the passage.

Isn’t this a little too similar to what’s happening now?

She always wondered why they went to the trouble of creating Black Forests just to kill people. There were plenty of easier ways to kill someone. Yet even when it was only one person, they still created a small Black Forest to do it.

It was the same with the kidnapped children. As a knight commander, that man could’ve easily killed children who couldn’t even wield a sword. Yet he kept creating Black Forests to kill them as if they had to die that way.

If what this book says is true...

Then all those strange actions finally made sense.

“Hah.”

A demon? Was she really supposed to believe that?

What if...

What if Herchaos was the name of a demon? If so, then that must be what that madman Veilks was after.

What happens when you summon a demon?

To be honest, she couldn’t imagine it. What would you even do after summoning a demon? Conquer the world?

“But this is interesting.”

Just then, Crown Prince Aseraian approached Ceres with another book in hand and looked at her with interest.

“I didn’t know you knew ancient languages.”

The book Ceres was reading was written in an ancient language. It was unusual for the daughter of a baronial family to be fluent in a language that even high-ranking nobles rarely learned. Where did she pick it up?

“Well, I studied a little.”

“Who taught you?”

“I taught myself.”

“...You taught yourself?”

Aseraian stared at her in disbelief. Could ancient languages really be self-taught?

“I’m just that smart.”

“......”

Ceres calmly ignored the baffled look on Aseraian’s face.