Contrary to my expectations, the maid did not take me back to my room. Rather, I ended up in the servant quarters with her asking for my help. Apparently, she was an aspiring artist and wished to do a portrait of somebody and only I had stood out. When I asked what would happen if I refused, she responded by saying she’d make sure I had no face left. That made me think ‘Isn’t that a Chinese expression?’
It’s not too important. I’m currently lying down on the floor instead of doing something productive with my time because of that. I’m forbidden from moving a single muscle, which I think would be difficult for others. As for myself, I’ve had plenty of experience in lying still as I’ve done it for eight years. Correction, my body has done it for eight years. My mind was with my soul in another realm, being active.
Now then, I need to arrange my plans for this world.
The first thing I’m required to do is to research into the dangers of the world. I know there are idiots who would think that spending time in a new world without any knowledge of it would be a good idea. They’d even quickly join up to an adventurers guild if there was one around. It’s a stupid thing to do as it might lower your reputation and things like that. I think of these types as ‘idiots’ and nothing more. I’m sure there are others who aren’t ‘idiots’ as it’s not possible for me to be the only one with a proper sense.
I also need to work out how to fight in this world if it turns out to be dangerous. It will be difficult for me to fight, I think, as I’m relying on this amulet. Speaking of which, is it possible to refill it with energy? I’m hoping so as I feel that it’ll run out sooner than my father will have predicted. It’s feasible that he expects it’ll last me for fifty or sixty years. That’s an optimistic estimate in my opinion.
To do either of those tasks I need to locate the library. It’s probably not the smartest idea to ask someone about that sort of thing as I shouldn’t know how to read. However, I think asking this maid won’t end up in any major issues. She seems pretty harmless. Though I think she has serious social anxiety.
“I-I’m done. You can g-go but remember not to go ou-ou-outside again. Th-that’s no good for a p-prince.”
Three whole sentences! I’m amazed she was able to get it all out – she seemed like she was struggling so much. Though I feel like she doesn’t actually care about the fact I was outside and was only using that to blackmail me. It’s suspicious but… Moving on!
Asking her about the library is the only thing I can do right now. There could be a better way to go about finding it but haven’t go any idea what it is.
“Can you please tell me where the library is?”
“L-library?”
“A place with many books?”
“N-no, I got that. It’s the furthest room on the left side of the hallway from that staircase.”
Even though her face had some slight puzzlement on it, she still points to the stairs.
I’m not good at dealing with people so how am I meant to respond to this? A simple response will suffice, right?
“Thanks.”
I need to get out of here before something happens! It’s not a good idea to spent more time than I have already with this maid. I don’t wish to fall into a depraved state! (I don’t know why I would but I think there’s a high chance it’ll happen!)
Anyway, although I wasn’t paying much attention earlier, the servants quarters are underground. I shouldn’t be surprised by that sort of thing as we employ child labour, but it’s not a very safe environment. The lighting is low and it’s probably easy to get lost. The servants are used to it though, so perhaps it isn’t dangerous for them.
I walk up the stairs and their is a trapdoor in front of me that leads into the hallway that connects onto my room. It’s inconvenient but I think the architect didn’t have much idea of what he was doing when he designed the place. Perhaps he was blinded by funds!
Shaking my head, I lift the door and walk into the hallway. There’s actually people around now, even though earlier it felt like a ghost castle. Was there some sort communal meeting for all the personnel in the castle? No, that’s not right. The maid would have been with them in that case. Or could it be she wasn’t allowed to attend due to something about her being off? Well, it’s not like I can deny that…
Okay, she said it was where again? The furthest room to the left of this hallway, huh? Looks like I’ll get to see those portraits again. How irritating – I’m not interested in them anymore! It felt as though they were singling me out. Anyone experiencing that treatment would not react pleasantly.
I can’t even act out my hatred due to the fact it’ll end up badly with my weak strength. I’m so weak that I rely on a chair leg as a walking stick. I’m not an old man! I shouldn’t need this!
I almost ended up waving it around as well.
Anyway, each step I take down this hallway I feel as though my legs are beginning to get heavier. Isn’t this the way I didn’t want to go earlier? I think that feeling was simply because it didn’t lead to the way out but the weight in my body is a different bad feeling than from before.
I’ve already pa.s.sed my room and the portraits stopped and were replaced with paintings of continents. I don’t care why, but there are quite a few.
‘Aumen’
‘Upera’
‘Oquil’
‘Zyndi’
‘Jendoyu’
‘Geit’
‘Punde’
‘Fevuc’
Eight continents and I’m even strangeling thinking that these aren’t all the continents on this world – it’s on an unrealistically large scale. Or would it actually be realistic considerring this is my new reality? Ugh. Thinking about this is pointless. I am Lun Fei, the broken prince.
I heard someone muttering that name when I pa.s.sed them, but when I looked at them their face turned pale and their pace increased by a little. I paid it no attention.
I finally arrive at the last door on the left – there’s a door to the front as well and even one to the right. Just how the h.e.l.l is the place laid out?
I enter the door to the left and I am left slightly disappointed. If a library can be called as a place with only fifty – no – eighty books, I suppose this could count as a library. Ahhh, the world may be large, but a thing like a printing press probably doesn’t exist. Of course there would be limited resources. If so, wouldn’t this actually be a huge amount of books, relatively speaking?
I pick out a book t.i.tled ‘Land and War’. I do so as I hope that it provides insight into the current status of the world. I wonder if my expectations are too high or if I will even get accurate information from this book. Whatever, let’s just read it and see what turns up.
‘Aumen is the original continent of the humans. They lived there for a few thousand years before the ‘East Demon’ came and devoured exactly 80% of their population. In fear, the humans moved to the only uninhabited continent ‘Geit’. It took a mere three generations for their numbers to have raised to around 172,000. They developed many combat skills and weapons and due to their aggressive nature, began to conquer the land of the other species. At the time of writing this book, eight continents have been conquered by the humans with the species now under their control being: Dwarves, Elves, Goblins, Alter-humans and a handful of beast-races. The tension between all these species has built up over hundreds of years, preventing a rebellion over the human oppressors.’
I feel evil. Reading this made me genuinely feel that humans are the most evil people in the world. Who wrote this? Is this even allowed in… Oh, a castle library. Of course forbidden materials could be possessed.
I do have a couple of questions though. Firstly, isn’t that amount of people too low? In some of the old worlds, population pa.s.sed ten billion. Adding on to that is shouldn’t the power of human’s be weakened as our numbers are dispersed to maintain the other continents? I guess I should continue reading.
Ugh. I can feel a heavy weight pressing me down. I wonder what it is… I’ll just keep reading and press through for a while.
‘Zyndi is the continent of Dwarves, who have a small population and is made of mostly rock and rock-gra.s.s. It has many Monstrous Beasts who are pa.s.sive unless they are provoked by another creature. In the past, there were Monstrous Beasts who often helped Dwarves complete their work but when the humans came, they no longer showed interest in helping. One thing to note is there are accounts of these Monstrous Beasts taking care of half-breeds and pure Dwarves even recently, but they have not been proven. As there are only three habitable locations in the continent, three lords were granted control by the king. They’ve been in control for over 300 years, fighting civil wars against the Dwarves single-handedly whenever tensions rise.’
This book is odd as it keeps on making comments that seem as though they are having a dig at humanity in general. Are there really no good people around? Also, is the author of a different species?
“Ahhh-!”
This isn’t good. I really should have stopped earlier – I’ve forced myself too much… It appears there is a limit on how much this amulet can allow me to force through my disease. I hope someone will find me – this is horri….
—–
A young girl who came into the library saw Fei collapsed on the floor with a book and she raised a hand as if to slap him. She took a deep breath and lowered her hand and instead observed him for a few minutes before making the decision to lift him over her shoulder. Although she glanced at the book he was holding, she was unable to decipher why he would be holding it. As she took him to his room, she had a short thought about him before trying to ignore his existence completely.
‘This guy wouldn’t be able to read, would he? Hmph. No matter what, he’s still a weakling. Fainting in the library.’