Now Historia and I had returned home. Historia handed me her Royal Knight bag and said,
"Master, please keep this with you in your room for now. I will come to your room at night and tell you a lot of information as well."
After that, we reached the main hall door of the palace. I peeked inside and saw that no one was present in the hall. For me, this was the perfect chance to take the bag to my room. I quickly went upstairs through the hall to my room and hid the bag inside my wardrobe, then started resting. Soon the evening completely settled, and it was time for dinner. I went downstairs, ate dinner at the table, and then returned to my room.
As the night slowly grew deeper, I suddenly noticed that Den had returned from the Underworld. He crawled over and said to me,
"Hey Jona, did something happen today? Because in the Underworld, it felt like you were causing some kind of trouble in my absence."
I was startled, wondering how Den could sense what I had done while he was away. Still, I tried to talk to Den in a very casual manner so I could hide everything that had happened today. But Den understood this as well and widened his red eyes and said,
"Bro, you're trying to hide something from me right now, aren't you?"
To which I replied,
"No-no, I'm not hiding anything."
Then Den said,
"Look, don't lie to me. I was in the Underworld, and I could feel a lot of fluctuations in your Aurum capacity. That's why I suspect that you definitely got into some kind of fight in my absence. So it would be better if you quietly tell me everything, otherwise when you fall into deep sleep, I'll hypnotize you and find out everything myself."
I had no option left, so I had to tell Den everything. After listening to everything, Den said,
"Oh, so all of this happened here when I wasn't around."
Then Den continued,
"And that 'Blue Moon Bar' incident you mentioned today, and that 'straw-hat' woman… Jona, if she was really at Sequence 3, and you fought her, then you're extremely lucky that you're still alive and talking to me right now."
Den crawled a little further inside the room and looked toward the wardrobe where Historia's bag was kept. Then he said,
"And as for your maid Historia, now that she has become both a Paragon and a Royal Knight, you might need to be more careful around her. And about the card you mentioned—just for your knowledge, that card is not Hallowed at all. The sun-symbol cards you described are called Reverent Cards. Hallowed items are self-created; they possess their own abilities and their own Aurum. On the other hand, Reverent Cards basically store one ability from a domain of any pathway. How powerful the stored ability is depends entirely on the card itself. In most situations, these cards can only be used once, after which they scatter into particles and disappear. However, there are some cards that can be used multiple times, but their abilities are weaker and different compared to single-use cards."
Den was still explaining all these things to me when suddenly I heard footsteps outside the door, and the silence inside my room deepened.
I knew Historia could arrive at any moment, so I told Den to be careful—Historia's arrival time had come.
On the other hand, Historia was carefully climbing the stairs toward Jona's room when Conte came out of her own room. From her face, it was clear that she was irritated about something. She came out and said,
"I don't know why I'm not feeling sleepy today. Let's go to the garden and get some fresh air, then I'll come back and sleep."
But just then, her eyes fell on Historia, who quietly climbed the stairs and then stood in front of Jona's door and knocked. Conte watched as, after a few seconds, the door opened and Historia directly entered Jona's room. Seeing this, Conte was completely shocked, wondering what she had just witnessed. At that very moment, an evil smile appeared on her face, and she thought to herself,
"Historia, child… it seems you've forgotten your place. Do you think you can control a noble family's boy with your beauty? I know girls like you very well. Don't worry, I'll definitely teach you a lesson so you remember your place."
As soon as Historia stepped into the room, she locked the door from inside. She still looked a little nervous. She looked at me, then her gaze shifted toward the dark corner where Den was hiding in the shadows. I gestured for her to sit down. Then Den moved slightly out of the shadows, his red eyes closely observing Historia.
Historia's eyes moved around the room, but the very next moment, her gaze landed on Den. There, she saw a beautiful snake about one meter long, with blood-red eyes and white skin. Seeing this, Historia was slightly startled, but despite that, her facial expression did not change at all. She immediately picked up a thick and heavy book from my bookshelf and prepared to attack the snake.
I quickly understood the situation and stopped her,
"Hey Historia, stop. Don't be afraid. This snake will not harm us in any way."
Hearing this, Historia asked in surprise,
"Master, what guarantee is there that this snake will not harm us?"
I replied,
"Don't worry. This is a creature from the Underworld and my friend."
To this, Historia said,
"Master, how many different kinds of creatures have you made your friends?"
Hearing this, I laughed softly and said,
"Historia, I only have that one spirit, Heater, whom you saw this evening. As for this snake, his name is 'Den.' He belongs to a species from the Underworld."
A realization immediately struck Historia, and she exclaimed excitedly,
"Oh! So this is Den? The same one who helped you become a Paragon?"
I nodded in response. Then Historia said,
"Alright, Master, I remember now. I also want to show you something."
Saying this, she asked about her bag. I told her it was in the wardrobe. She opened the wardrobe, took out the bag, and pulled out the same grace-red notebook with the Royal Knights' symbol engraved on it. She opened one page of the notebook, which had a strange patterned symbol on it. It was exactly the same symbol through which Den had appeared before me for the first time, so it was not new to me.
Historia placed her hand on that symbol. Suddenly, a faint light emerged from it, and within moments, it disappeared. As the light vanished, something remained behind—a light red-colored octopus with eight small tentacles!
Seeing this, both Den and I were stunned. But I understood that this was Historia's summoning creature, since it appeared upon her call. I believe Den had also realized this. Still, a question arose in my mind—does every notebook-holder have their own summoning creature? As far as I knew, it was extremely rare for a Sequence 1 Paragon to possess a summoning creature. Even Den and Heater are not my summoning creatures.
I directly asked Historia,
"Historia, how do you have a summoning creature? This is almost impossible."
Historia explained,
"Master, I'll tell you how I got this. What you're saying is true—normally, it's almost impossible for a Sequence 1 Paragon to have a summoning creature. But in extremely rare cases, some special Paragons accidentally manifest creatures from the Underworld during cultivation. This is so rare that only one out of a thousand Paragons can do it. Although these creatures are not very strong, they are useful to their users and can also help with sequence upgrades."
She continued,
"When I was performing the ritual to become a Paragon, during that process I also manifested a creature from the Underworld called a 'Cleanse Octopus.' When it was summoned, it directly sat on my head. At that time, I was deeply focused on completing the cultivation, but as soon as I opened my eyes, I felt something sticky crawling on my head. In panic, I grabbed it and threw it forcefully toward the wall!"
Then she said,
"After becoming a Paragon, I felt incredible agility in my body. That's when I noticed Captain Victoria and the two Royal Knights standing with her. They looked as if they had seen something completely unexpected. Captain Victoria congratulated me and said, 'Congratulations, Historia. You have now become a Paragon. And not just any Paragon—you manifested a creature from the Underworld the moment you became one. I'm sure you'll become a very high-sequence Paragon one day.'"
Historia explained that at that time, she herself didn't fully understand what she had done. Captain Victoria then explained to her about the Underworld, Hallowed items, and her creature's abilities.
"This octopus has two abilities," Historia explained.
First ability – Eating Cleanse:
With this, it can devour any spirit and 'cleanse' it.
Second ability – Vine-Whip:
With this, it can extend two of its tentacles up to five meters.
Finally, Historia said,
"When I asked the Captain what I should do with it, she gave me a summoning array, using which I can summon and send it back anytime through this notebook."