I woke up after a ray of light shone on my face. I lifted my body and looked around. A spacious room filled with several pieces of furniture, chairs, and a table.
"This is the first time I've had a good sleep in a long time."
I left the large bed and began stretching, when suddenly I heard a knock on the door.
knock... knock...
"Master, it's Mel."
"Come in."
After entering the room, Mel began telling me about today's schedule.
"After breakfast, I will take you to the Royal Library."
Last night, after cleaning myself up, we were invited by the king to have dinner together.
At the dining table, Cyrus introduced his family, consisting of a queen, two sons, and two daughters. We talked about many things with them.
After dinner, I spoke with King Cyrus about basic information regarding this world, and he told me about the Royal Library. So today I will go to the library to gather information about this world.
**********
"Here it is, Master."
What Mel showed me was a large building behind the castle—the Royal Library.
At first, Kushida and Fujita also wanted to search for information with me in the library, but it seemed they wanted to rest. For some reason, they looked tired this morning.
"Well then, I'll head in. Thank you for bringing me here."
"It is an honor."
Hearing that, I stepped inside the library. Looking around, there were many bookshelves with labels above them—labels that explained what kind of knowledge could be found on each shelf.
Yesterday, I had been too preoccupied with many things that I forgot to confirm whether I could even read the writing of this world, but seeing the labels on the shelves confirmed that I could indeed read this world's writing.
I started walking and going through the shelves, searching for books I wanted to read.
"..."
"..."
Seeing Mel behind me, I could only fall silent. I thought she would leave after escorting me to the library, but she kept following me from the start.
This is my fault. Seeing this, there was no need to ask further. She would continue following me as per the Kingdom's orders to accompany me.
Perhaps Mel knew what I was looking for, so I asked her.
"Mel, do you know where the books about this world's general knowledge are?"
"Yes, I know where you can find them. Please follow me."
Saying that, she walked toward a particular bookshelf and I followed her. I noticed the shelf had a label that read [Children's Books].
"These are the books read by the Kingdom's children. What you're looking for might be on this shelf."
Mel explained that these books were used for the education of the royal children. According to her, basic knowledge could be found in these books.
I took one book from the shelf, and the cover mentioned something about the world's ecosystem.
This was what I was looking for, so I checked through the books and gathered a pile of them to read.
"Mel, is there a good place to read these books?"
"Yes. There are tables and chairs in the middle of the library. Please follow me."
So we went to the place Mel mentioned while carrying the books.
I wanted to carry all of them myself, but Mel offered to carry them instead. She claimed she was strong since she was a beastman. Of course, I refused, but because of her persistence, I gave her the ones I thought wouldn't burden her.
**********
A few hours later, I finished reading all those books and copied everything into the databank of the chip inside my head.
"Please, Master."
Mel poured warm tea into my cup. From time to time, she poured me tea to drink, and even at midday, she brought out lunch for me.
I didn't know where exactly she got all of that, but I suspected she might have something like a storage space, similar to mine.
Putting that aside, for now, I had obtained some information about this world's geography.
This world—or rather, this planet—is called Velantherra and has three main continents: the continent of Urtem, the continent of Berfmun, and the continent of Chasos.
The continent of Urtem is inhabited by races created by the god of life, Urt, while the continent of Berfmun is inhabited by the race created by the god of death, Berf.
Meanwhile, the continent of Chasos is inhabited by sacred beasts and powerful monsters, most of which remain unidentified. It is also said that in Chasos there are small towns inhabited by various races, both humans and demons.
The continent of Urtem has four major nations and several small ones.
The Holy Kingdom of Vilmun, the Bermund Empire, the Beastman Kingdom of Fangburd, and the Armun Knightly Republic—those are the four major nations of Urtem. Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Jatumheim is a small nation, just like the Dwarf Kingdom, the Elf Kingdom, and several other human kingdoms.
The continent of Berfmun does not have kingdoms like Urtem; instead, that continent is directly ruled by the Demon King himself.
As for the continent of Chasos, the book stated that it has seven territories, each one ruled by a dragon king.
**********
After spending the whole day reading books, I looked around and realized it was already evening.
"I guess that's enough for today. Mel, let's go back."
"Mel?"
I spoke to Mel, but I didn't sense her response. I turned around to look, but saw no one.
"What!?"
I didn't know what had just happened—suddenly Mel had disappeared, and I could feel magical energy in the room. My knowledge of magic was still very limited, so I didn't know what was happening.
I tried checking my body's condition using nanobots but found no symptoms at all.
More importantly, I was worried about Mel. I tried calling out to her.
"Mel! Where are you? Can you hear me? Meeell!"
No response at all. I calmed myself and began analyzing what had happened. Mel suddenly vanished, and there was magical energy in this room... could she have been transferred somewhere with magic? I could still feel the magical energy here—wait!
I placed my hand on the table and began analyzing it using nanobots.
[ Initiating scan__ unidentified ]
Why did I think Mel was the one who disappeared? Seeing the analysis result, I became convinced.
"I'm the one who was transferred!"
The magical energy in the room didn't fade, so I suspected something was going on here. I controlled the nanobots to analyze the table, and sure enough, the table wasn't identified by the nanobots, showing that it was made of magic... no, not just the table, but the entire room.
"Hoho, you're quite clever."
I suddenly heard a man's voice and turned to see the source, but saw no one.
I tried speaking to the voice.
"Um, who are you? Are you the one who brought me here?"
"Hoho, you're quite impressive to stay calm in this situation. Oops, it's impolite to introduce myself without showing my face."
Hearing that, I was relieved he was willing to communicate.
After saying so, I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned around and saw an old man.
The old man had a long white beard. He wore a black robe and a strange tall pointed hat, with the tip bent slightly to the side. Stroking his beard, the old man began introducing himself.
"My name is Magnus North, just an old man who studies little tricks. I'm only here out of curiosity, to see the hero destined for this world. Forgive me for this little prank of an old man."
"It's fine, this has been an amazing experience for me."
"Hoho, glad to hear that. You're quite different from the two before you—it seems I don't need to worry about you."
The two before me? Was he the reason Kushida and Fujita looked so tired? It seemed they had met him, and this old man had done something to them.
Magnus might not have done anything bad to Kushida and Fujita, but judging from their condition, maybe they had been given something troublesome... like a test! And this old man had come to me for the same reason.
"..."
I smiled awkwardly as Magnus stared at me, and I could only stay silent, waiting for whatever trouble might befall me.
But after waiting for a while, nothing happened. I only saw the old man continuing to stare at me, and after some time, he finally spoke.
"Haa~, seeing you like this, you really are clever. A little boring, but that puts me at ease."
"Haha."
I only gave a light laugh at that.
"This is only wasting your time and troubling that servant. I'll release you from here."
Saying that, Magnus suddenly pulled out a long staff from who knows where, and tapped the floor with it.
I saw the room start to distort around me, and somehow Magnus was no longer there.
"I really do have great hopes for you. I won't force you in this matter, but please help this world if it's worth it to you."
After hearing Magnus say that, I no longer felt the magical energy—that meant I had returned to the library. I could hear Mel's loud voice calling me from behind.
"Master Flitz!! Thank goodness you're alright, I've been looking everywhere for you. At first, I only looked away for a moment, but when I turned back, you were gone! What really happened to you, Master? Please tell me!"
I could only give a tired smile as Mel started speaking quickly like a machine gun.
"Mel, let's just head back first. I'll explain on the way."
"Ah! Forgive my rudeness earlier. Very well, Master, I'll guide you back to the castle."
And so we returned, chatting along the way.