Information Gathering (3)
Altair quickly turned to face Teran, only to be in turn faced with a puzzled expression as he sighed and shook his head.
“Of course not. That will not be possible as the Imperial Family is the one being served, not the one who serves.”
“Why not? I’m sure it’ll be nice! If I were to become a knight, I will be able to wear a knight’s uniform… The same way as other adults, I can also tie my hair up like them…”
Unable to control the thoughts of his beloved sister who had fallen prey to her imagination, he nodded his head towards Altair, signalling that she was now able to leave the room.
Moving towards the door, she replied with silent courtesy.
As she walked through the corridor with the reception room now behind her, she could still hear the sound of talking from the brother-sister duo. Soon, she too got lost in her train of thought.
Contrary to what she had originally thought would happen, being persistently questioned on what caused her sudden change in attitude and behaviour, after quickly acknowledging the current situation, the Crown Prince had instead turned instead to looking forward to the upcoming future.
‘The knight of Priscilla La Cresche.’
Knight of the most beloved princess of the whole Empire.
It is not a status and position that can be easily obtained just because one desires for it. The moment she swears allegiance to her, she is then protected by two of the most powerful royal entities in the Empire: the Emperor and the Crown Prince.
Additionally, unlike joining the Imperial Guard, the master-slave relationship which includes a personal pledge of loyalty to the servee, does not require regular service.
In short, it is an honourable role that is said to be ‘the exclusive knight of the 7th Imperial Princess’ among the social circles.
The Crown Prince’s direct recommendation to Altair for such a position was no different from what would happen in the next and following generations. Where the next generation’s conciliation of the Chernobog family to resign from the head of the aristocracy and be transferred over to the emperor’s faction.
Considering the political position that her father was in, this was a proposal that she could never accept.
‘I have no intention of becoming the Crown Prince’s chess piece as I had done in my previous life.’
Nevertheless, the failure to refuse the offer was due to the deep feeling of guilt engraved in her for failing to protect Priscilla in her previous life.
Moreover, she has been cherishing Priscilla ever since she was young.
A pure, untainted and innocent child who was unlike the other blood of the La Cresche family.
In the first place, she was not the kind of person who would harm an innocent soul. Should she accept the offer, Altair Chernobog will not betray Priscilla La Cresche.
All these in-depth calculations must have been done and meticulously checked by the Crown Prince.
Before long, after giving herself up into the depths of her mind, Altair finally arrived at the palace’s library.
Once approaching the desk and showing her identification card, the librarian brought her inside in a polite manner.
“What kind of book are you looking for, my Lady.”
“…”
For a moment, Altair hesitated.
The main reason she had entered the library was to search for more information on demons, but naturally, she could not tell the truth to the librarian.
Then, taking a look at the Chernobog’s knight’s uniform that she was wearing, the librarian guided Altair to the section of the library which contained information relating to swordsmanship.
Still, Altair shook her head and replied.
“The Imperial Palace’s Library is so huge, so I shall just take a look around it.”
“Ah… I understand. If you ever struggle to find a book that you are looking for, please ring the bells that are placed everywhere around the library.”
With a short nod, taking multiple guesses of where she was supposed to go to look for the books she had in mind, she walked around the library and searched as quickly as possible.
Feeling embarrassed when she had found the entrance to the prohibited area.
‘I had forgotten the existence of such places…’
Floating in front of the huge door were cube-shaped magical tools.
Looking back at her past experiences, she knew that should the Emperor be stood in front of it, the door can only be unlocked by entering the code in his head.
The door had been opened during the time when the Emperor or the Crown Prince had ordered the seizure and searching for the books.
Who on earth would she have to ask in order to open this door?
Altair turned around, frowning as she took a step forward to move towards the exit. It was at that moment when she paused, feeling the presence of someone approaching.
Hurriedly hiding behind a nearby bookshelf, she carefully peeked through the gaps between the books to the other side.
Teran, who had just left the reception room, was now walking towards her. Beside him was an accompanying young wizard.
“…It is often reported that the wizards in the north are amplifying their mana through the forming of contracts with demons. Normally, an aura is produced in the body and given out. It is unable to be amplified through such means.”
“How absurd. To believe that a girl as young as twelve having already gained the talent of a master overnight.”
“But, Your Highness… that sounds pretty realistic to me… To put it simply, it’s as if it’s as easy as filling a cup with water, however, the material of the cup itself is much harder to change…”
“Stop explaining and continue going through the records and documents available. I grant you access to all the books present in the prohibited area.”
With her breath held, she had overheard the entirety of their conversation. After releasing the various magical tools, they entered the room with Altair silently following behind them.
The inside was less than half the size she had remembered.
As the war continued to drag on, the demon cult and the oppression of black magic grew in strength. As a result of preventing such events from occurring, books were confiscated and at times burnt and destroyed completely.
During that period in time, many books have been confiscated and brought to this place. There were so many that there ended up being a lack of bookshelves available, which in turn results in the books having to be tied up with strings to at least have some sort of organisation.
Her role at that time was to dispose of a pile of new books every week.
However, this time around, she was instead here as a thief, here to steal and in search of knowledge on demons.
It is at these times where it is interesting how much people can change.
Her mind filled with such thoughts, she hid behind the unmanned desk near the front of the entrance. Sharpening her senses, she tried to overhear the conversation between the prince and his companion.
“Ahin Estarrot must be a demon, right?”
“As far as I can tell, I’m almost certain that he is one.”
Teran who was walking in front stopped in his tracks.
“…Almost? So you’re saying that there’s a possibility he isn’t?”
“In fact, it is also said that children born in Gehen sometimes have red eyes. A few tests will need to be conducted to ensure that his red eyes are not due to his genetics passed down from Gehen descendants-”
“So in other words, not a single thing is certain, right?”
Teran cut off his sentence with a hopeless tone.
“I’m sorry. As research on demons is not active and is commonly rejected by many asked to research on it so information relating to demons is hard to find…”
“That’s why I’m the one secretly supporting and funding you.”
“Well, I’ve been trying to lay low and move silently without arousing much suspicion. After all, I have many restrictions placed on me.”
“There’s no need for any more excuses, wizard.”
The prince, who was now silent, quickly toured the room in the forbidden area before leaving.
Soon, the young wizard who hid a handful of books followed suit as well.
Hearing the sound of their footsteps slowly fading away, she tried calming her palpitating heart.
[ Ahin Estarrot must be a demon, right? ]
It was a line that the Crown Prince had most definitely said.
This indicates that he had guessed the identity of Ahin Estarrot, long before he had sentenced him to burn.
Her heart sank to her stomach.
The Crown Prince could have simply revealed and rejected Ahin Estarrot from the beginning.
Yet he did not do so as he still had a use for Ahin-
Regardless if it were a demon or a human being, to use whatever is available on hand, even a long-term partner, and throw it away without an ounce of hesitation the moment it fails to serve or benefit him.
It was a very imperialistic mindset.
‘The Crown Prince should not be given the opportunity to find out and be certain of Ahin’s true identity. Moreover, that wizard had mentioned that he’d find a way to test him…’
In order to not be found in a defenceless position, it was necessary for them to be well-prepared and protected.
No longer able to stand hiding, Altair rose up from her spot with impatience.
She wandered along the bookshelves and began her search for information regarding demons.
From folklores of immigrants to the principles of black magic, there were many dangerous books that can lead to the destruction of the family if people were to discover the existence of such an area in the palace. Dangerous books that even included contents of such levels such as ones that vividly explains how to carry out and the customs of human sacrifices.
“Found it.”
In her hands was an old booklet called ‘The Demon’s Ecology and Classification’.
Although the booklet was mouldy and torn in various places, with individual pieces lying between the pages of the book, however, most of the information recorded was readable and were also elaborated through the use of diagrams and illustrations.
When flipping open to the first page, she had found an illustration of a beautiful man and women, both unclothed, leading to her almost dropping the book in surprise. Soon, after getting herself together, she began to read the snippets below that illustrations.
[ Common. Demons are the highest-level creatures who are lifeless.
Usually, they subjugate humans or lower monsters to serve them as slaves… on hunting grounds, they appear as beautiful creatures of the same species but of different sex… because it is advantageous for them. ]
Even though there were many words that were unrecognisable as the pages were damaged, she had found the gist of the book and gained valuable insights and information.
For example, how the ability to subjugate lower monsters was once seen as an act of defence in the capital city of where Ahin had fought.
‘In front of its prey, it appears in the form of a very beautiful creature…’
Since he was born as a male, his prey to hunt for would be a woman.
Feeling a strange feeling forming in her chest, she quickly proceeded to turn a few more pages and familiarise herself with famous demons of the past.
This chapter was particularly hard to read as many of the pages had been burnt. The content and information that she was able to understand were as follows.
[ Ishnag: It is a species with powerful brainwashing abilities. Contracts are formed through lewd means, regardless of the subject… ]
[ Sigin: Devil of Power. It is a species with the power of foresight… It is most commonly and mainly summoned by wizards who have a thirst for power… ]
[ Asteg: Usually stays with those who have a lot of greed… The contractor pays for it by its weight, if payment is not made, the contractor’s soul will be used to repay it. ]
Several other demons were introduced after but Altair assumed that Ahin was the ‘Ishnag’ of all the mentioned demons.
Her intuition, after having experienced his powerful brainwashing, believed it to be so.
However, the explanation given for that species of demons was too short for her to be absolutely certain.
She had no use for the illustrations so she opted to write down the long sentences instead.
Flipping to the back page, the damages were even worse than she had expected so she ended up with little to read as most were indistinguishable.
Altair put back the old booklet to its original position before she picked it up and tried to look for other books.
However, outside the room showed numerous signs of activity, leading to her having to hurriedly leave the prohibited area.
After wandering round the right compartment a few times, she picked up a book that was tightly bound in sheep’s clothing.
As soon as she flipped open the middle of the book, she ran into a group of young ladies.
Dressed in various beautiful dresses as if they had just come from a social gathering, they were jabbering around as they waved their fans in their hands.
Upon coming in contact with a 12-year-old girl wearing a pure white knight’s uniform with a cape, sparks seem to light in their eyes.
“Oh my gosh! What a lovely young soul!”
“The insignia engraved on the cape is of the Chernobog’s white lion. Are you, little knight, a part of the Chernobog knights?”
No one would have guessed that the only daughter of Duke Chernobog, who was known for being cheap, would be standing alone in the Imperial Library, without a guardian.
Luckily, she had left her knights outside for a while so that she would not get caught entering the prohibited area.
She was relieved that the young ladies did not recognise her.
Determined to match their train of thought, she opened her mouth.
“Yes. An apprentice knight of the white lion… Lenore.”
Altair suddenly took on the name of the maid she had knocked out during her stay at the Estarrot estate.
Before long, her feet started to turn numb as she glanced downward. Thinking that she was shy and simply ashamed of her behaviour and appearance, the other ladies chattered excitedly.
“How cute-!”
“Oh my, how lovely.”
“I’ve never seen such a lovely little boy. Of course, my brother is cute and all, but he doesn’t act like this with me.”
“Look at how tense he is, holding onto that book in his hand so tightly…”
“Right. Make sure you read that book…”
Their facial expressions soon changed as they looked at the cover of the book she was holding onto.