As Terlo looked over the densely packed writing, a thought occurred to him.
The old book he had found in the study had been only the tip of the iceberg.
This place was where the full meaning the writer had wished to convey was recorded.
Among it all, familiar words had been written in the most prominent place.
‘The Krauber Territory of the Doiten Kingdom.’
“I leave this record here, where everything began….”
And so the story of this place began.
The more Terlo read, the more fascinating it became.
The Krauber Territory, which he had believed had always been peaceful, had once harbored an enormous demon-worshiping cult.
The cult had used the Krauber Territory as its base and spread far and wide, preying upon human bodies and life force as it gradually gnawed away at their souls….
A picture had been drawn beside the passage, perhaps representing the cult.
‘The black form?’
Several lines extended from a black form in the center of a circle.
Terlo could not understand why a black form had been depicted in an image representing a demon-worshiping cult.
After thinking for a moment, he continued reading the writing below.
“Those who had been stripped of everything repeated the same actions in a daze. As such people gradually spread throughout the Doiten Kingdom, I found a clue...... So it says.”
The following passage explained how the recorder had found the clue and how he intended to investigate further.
It even described how he had ultimately captured them.
The more Terlo read, the more clearly he understood just how exceptional a black mage the recorder had been.
‘In the end, he wiped them all out.’
However, the record said that some had been so heavily affected by the demon’s power that they had become immortal.
Since they could not be killed, the recorder had been left with no choice but to seal them away….
It said the details had been written higher up, so all the writing near the top of the wall seemed to concern the seals.
But Terlo could not turn his attention upward.
The very next sentence concerned his ability.
‘After uprooting the demon-worshiping cult, I acquired a strange ability. Though I was not a necromancer, I came to control living creatures as though commanding undead?’
The record said that using the ability reminded the writer of the humans who had been stripped of everything.
Even without the use of mind-based black magic, they all moved in a daze according to the recorder’s commands.
The recorder did not understand how it had happened, but he believed the demon’s ability had transferred to him through the act of sealing it.
‘So this ability originally belonged to a demon?’
Terlo had always thought of it as an extraordinary ability….
But he had never imagined it might be a demon’s power.
The recorder had thus come to be called the Ruler of Souls.
The record ended with him wondering what would become of both the seals and this ability after his death.
‘Then did that ability pass to me?’
Yet unlike the recorder, who had dominated human souls as described, Terlo could barely control their limbs, let alone their souls or entire bodies.
‘What, did only a fraction of the ability pass to me?’
He fell far too short to be called the Ruler of Souls.
It was clearly the same ability.
Yet Terlo could not understand why the difference was so vast.
Then his eyes caught a word he had overlooked.
‘The seals.’
He had skipped over it because he had been too focused on the ability.
The recorder had worried about what would become not only of the ability, but also of the seals after his death.
‘A seal is at its strongest while the caster is still alive….’
Now that the recorder was dead, their power must have weakened.
It was entirely possible that some had weakened so much they had broken, or that parts of them had been damaged.
Terlo thought he understood why the recorder had left behind information about the seals.
‘To prepare for when the seals come undone.’
To inform someone who possessed the same ability.
Or perhaps to warn those who came after him.
If the seals had come undone, it would explain why Terlo possessed only part of the ability.
After all, the recorder had also gained the ability only after uprooting the demon-worshiping cult.
‘Now I’m finally getting a sense of it.’
To obtain the complete ability, he would have to restore the weakened seals.
Of course, restoring them would not be easy.
But Terlo had the information the recorder had left behind.
If he followed that information, he would one day be able to reach the end of the trail.
‘First, I need to improve my own skills.’
No matter how much information he possessed, there was nothing he could do in his current state.
People might be calling him a genius, but that was all. He was not yet strong enough even to protect himself.
Having reached his conclusion, Terlo decided to examine the records higher up on the wall.
He would not act on them immediately, but there was no harm in reading them in advance.
‘How am I supposed to read something that high up?’
Just then,
HMMMM—
The black magic circle on the floor activated.
Terlo felt as though his body were floating.
The black magic circle was rising with him standing upon it.
It stopped precisely before the place at which Terlo had been looking.
‘Oh. So this is how it works.’
Having understood how the black magic circle operated, Terlo moved to the very top of the enormous wall.
Then he began carefully reading the records concerning the seals.
***
Several days passed after that.
He had happened upon the heirloom and discovered the records within the giant tree that day.
What he learned about the seals was that far more beings had been sealed away than he had expected.
The countries and locations where they had been sealed were numerous as well.
Just as the beginning of the record had stated, the demon-worshiping cult appeared to have spread far and wide with the Krauber Territory at its center.
‘The closest one was in the Erven Territory, wasn’t it?’
The Erven Territory was located near the capital of the Doiten Kingdom.
It was a considerable distance from the Krauber Territory, which lay at the very edge of the kingdom.
Even so, since it was within the same kingdom, Terlo chose the Erven Territory as his first destination.
‘Though I won’t be going there right away.’
There was no harm in deciding in advance.
In the meantime, Terlo had focused on reading books about the continent and the kingdom.
He believed that understanding history would provide clues about the locations of the seals and the immortals that might be there.
Because of that, he was reading yet another history book that day when,
KNOCK. KNOCK.
“Young Master. His Lordship is calling for you.”
The servant Bail’s voice came from beyond the study door.
‘Father is? What could it be?’
Doristen had only called for Terlo separately a handful of times.
In particular, he had never once summoned him while he was in the study.
Curious, Terlo closed the book and left the study.
“Where did he ask me to go?”
Bail held out a navy robe as he answered Terlo’s question.
“He said you would be going out and told me to have you put this on before coming.”
“Going out?”
Why would they be going out in the evening…?
Terlo was absently looking down at the robe when something suddenly occurred to him.
‘Could it be?’
The day he had been waiting for seemed to have arrived.
Had Doristen not promised to find him a teacher if he built up his knowledge by reading?
Quite some time had passed since then, and now there was an unusual summons accompanied by an outing.
Terlo’s instincts shouted that this was the day.
Excited, Terlo put on the robe and went outside.
There, near the castle gate, stood Doristen in a navy robe identical to his own.
“Father!”
“Yes. You are here. Let us set out.”
“Are we walking? Where are we going?”
“I will tell you on the way. First, put up your hood.”
As he spoke, Doristen pulled the hood of his robe over his head.
His face was hidden in darkness, leaving only the tip of his nose and his mouth visible.
He looked as though he were trying to conceal his identity.
‘Where are we going that requires this much secrecy?’
Tilting his head, Terlo also covered his face with his hood.
Clad in dark navy robes, the two left the castle without a carriage.
They passed the occasional pedestrian as they walked.
After some time, Doristen finally spoke.
“Terlo. We will soon enter the entertainment district to meet the man who is to become your teacher. I intended to meet him elsewhere, but circumstances on his side would not permit it. We had no choice but to come here… Still, you should avoid learning from most of what you see here. It will be full of things harmful to a child your age.”
“Yes, Father.”
Terlo could not see Doristen’s face beneath his hood, but the concern in his voice was unmistakable.
Doristen could hardly help worrying when he was bringing his young son to a street lined with taverns.
But Terlo had already visited this place in his previous life.
‘There isn’t really anything for him to worry about.’
After all, the entertainment district was clearly separated from the red-light district.
One had to walk three blocks farther down the street to reach the red-light district.
Although they were separate, they were not far apart, so there were occasionally people who did not know how to conduct themselves….
Aside from them, there was nothing particularly provocative even from a child’s perspective.
Doristen and Terlo entered the tavern district.
Taverns lined both sides of the street beneath sparsely spaced lamps.
‘More than a few people are already staggering around.’
As befitted a street at night, the taverns and the spaces around them teemed with people.
Doristen pulled Terlo closer to his side.
“Take care not to bump into anyone as we pass.”
“Yes.”
Terlo was making his way through the crowd toward an unknown destination when,
CRASH!
SMASH!
The sounds of things being broken came from a tavern beside them.
Terlo’s gaze naturally turned toward it.
Perhaps a fight had broken out, because the entrance was crowded with spectators.
Fights in taverns were common, so Terlo was about to lose interest when he caught a brief glimpse of what was happening inside through the crowd.
“......”
A huge man was clutching the hair of a woman whose face was streaked with blood and shaking her.
Strangely, no one stood near him.
They merely watched from a distance.
Terlo could not tell what had happened, but the sight made him deeply uncomfortable.
The bloodied woman reminded him of his younger sister, Fine.
‘Fine….’
On the day the territory was attacked by the knights, Fine had been the first member of their family to lose her life.
While Doristen and Terlo were away, she had taken the sword meant for their mother, Lydia.
When Terlo returned too late, he witnessed a knight grabbing Fine by the hair and hurling her to the floor, saying that he did not like how she had gotten in his way.
Even as he saw the blood flowing from her shattered head, Terlo had no choice but to flee.
He had to save Lydia, whom Fine had thrown herself in front of the blade to protect.
‘Of course, right now she’s safe in the castle, being her cheeky little tomboy self.’
But that did not erase what had happened in his previous life.
The moment she had been struck down so helplessly was not something he could forget, no matter how hard he tried.
In particular, seeing the weak being victimized like this constantly reminded him of that day.
He did not welcome memories of that nightmarish day….
Terlo remained standing still until Doristen called out to him.
“What are you standing there for? Hurry along.”
“Father. I need to go inside.”
At Terlo’s words, Doristen looked toward the noisy tavern.
Then he asked in disbelief,
“Good grief. Are you saying you wish to watch a fight at a time like this?”
“No. I need to find out why he’s doing that.”
Terlo’s voice had gone cold.
It was so chilling that Doristen momentarily forgot he was speaking to a child.
Terlo was clearly not interested in merely watching a fight.
Overwhelmed by his unapproachable air, cold as a sharpened blade, Doristen followed him into the tavern as though bewitched.