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Volume 2 Chapter 1 Part 4

「Alright, let’s give it my best shot! 」

Siluca closed the door to the library and then she gave herself some words of encouragement to fire herself up.

And once more, she took a long look around the bookshelves. Fortunately, the books were arranged rationally, and the documents were classified and organized by period, so there should not be as much trouble with them as she thought.

(I was prepared for everything to be torn apart and scattered all over the place…)

Siluca was relieved that it was apparently not the case, and she apologized in her heart for doubting her seniors. Then she picked up one of the books and blew the dust off of it.

She turned the first page and read for a while. It was written by hand by a Mage who made a contract with the first head of the Constance family, and seemed to have recorded the history of this region from the period of Extreme Chaos. Its contents were simply astonishing. One of the pieces of information contained within it was even a record that said that apparently the Demon Lord from the world of Diabolos appeared in this land shortly after the end of the Extreme Chaos over 1700 years ago.

(Demon Lord… )

Siluca shuddered violently.

At the time of 「The Tragedy of the Grand Cathedral」she had seen the figure of the Demon Lord and the terror that came with it, up close.

The Demon Lord that suddenly appeared in the Grand Cathedral imprisoned the two Archdukes in a dimensional barrier that shut them off from the outside world and then decapitated them like it was nothing with its jet-black blade.

The Mages Association has set up a special committee to investigate the tragedy which has been given virtually infinite power and resources in order to do so. However, and all information about how far did the investigation managed to progress has been kept strictly confidential, and not a word has been shared with the general public.

Even if the truth of the incident is finally going to be reached, then Siluca seriously doubted whether it will be announced, and even if it was announced, there is always a chance that the general public is not going to accept it. The only thing that was certain at this point is that 「The Tragedy of the Grand Cathedral」was most likely a result of a large-scale conspiracy, and the Mage who summoned the Demon Lord into this world was most likely the perpetrator behind the entire incident. What is certain is that there was a huge conspiracy. And that the magician who summoned the demon lord was the perpetrator.

The Mages Association is also conducting research on the other worlds inhabited by demons, such as the Diabolos world or the Abyss world, however, based on what Siluca knew, there should not be any Mage in the Association who should be capable of summoning something as powerful as the Demon Lord, which means that the perpetrator was not a regular Mage, but rather a Dark Mage. However, given that there are Mages who tend to hide their real power from the other Mages, so Siluca did not know if it was true or not.

The appearance of the Demon Lords in Artuk all those years ago was caused by the natural convergence of the large quantities of Chaos of course. In the book that Siluca was holding right now it was written that after they appeared, they rampaged around the surrounding regions spreading death, destruction and slaughter for almost 10 years before they naturally disappeared. As for the casualties they have cause, it is said that tens of thousands of people have been slain by the Demon Lords and their henchmen, as well as the people who willing became their minions.

But the inhabitants of Artuk’s were by no means helpless against threat that has befallen them. They fortified their settlements, willingly allowed themselves to be engulfed by Chaos and became powerful Artists as a result.

It is said that a Great Witch also appeared during that time, gathered girls with magical talents under her tutelage and training them I magic so that they could become witches themselves. From the pages that she read, it would also seem that the reason as to why the Great Witch was only taking young women as her disciples was because of the idea that men were more suited for becoming Artists rather than magic users.

And among all the Artists of those times, the most powerful of them were said to be Vamipres and Werewolves. In the chronicles of the old days it was written that they were capable of fighting against the Demon Lords on equal grounds.

The country of Artuk has not forgotten its horrific past, and even today there still exists a number of tribal societies that have not changed their traditions and ways much since the times of Extreme Chaos. The Constance family gathered those powers and became the Lords of this country as a result, but Werewolves and Vampires still enjoy complete autonomy even to this day.

After reading through all of that, Siluca had the impression that Artuk was a rather special country.

「… Is this not bad for your concentration? 」

Suddenly, Theo’s voice could be heard, and Siluca jumped to her feet. Before she even realized it it, she was sitting on the floor of the library and reading books.

「W-What is it? Do you need something?」

Siluca asked, holding the closed book tightly to her chest.

「Not really. I just heard that you are going to be learning about Artuk and its history and customs in the library, so I asked Lord Vlar if I could study together with you. After all, if I am to effectively serve the Earl, I need to know as much about this country that I possibly can as well. 」

「That’s is so thoughtful of you. 」

Siluca said like a teacher who was complimenting her student for wanting to study for a difficult test. It was only after the words left her mouth that she regretted that she did not have anything else to say, but Theo did not seem to care about it all that much.

「But let us start with cleaning first. I will take care of that, so I want you to focus on reding the books and telling me everything that you learned from them afterwards. I am not all that good with reading books myself, but s long as you tell me about everything that you learned, it should stick in my head. I think it is still going to take a lot of time, but can I ask this of you nonetheless? 」

「Of course! 」

Siluca answered with a bright glow in her eyes, and then she returned to reading the books again.

「…..…..But can I really leave the cleaning to you? It is a lot of ground to cover, you know? 」

Siluca was not that good at cleaning herself, so she was honestly grateful for Theo’s willingness to help her with her task, but she still thought that it was somewhat unfair to have a Lord such a task all by himself.

「I don’t mind it, really. When I didn’t have money on me back when I was still roaming around the world, I used to work at the inns, so while I am not good at cleaning, I am also not bad at it. 」

「Well, thank you very much for your help then. 」

Unlike Irvin, Theo is here with Villar’s permission, so he has would at least have a legitimate excuse if anyone came here to pester him why is he helping her with the cleaning, and that was the best thing that both of them could do right now, because if the number of days that Siluca has before being tested by Margaret is limited, then the best thing for her to now was to prioritize efficiency as much as possible.

「Well then, let me start by telling you what I have managed to read already. Just like all the history and lore of this world, it begins with an explosion of Chaos… 」

Then Siluca began to speak.

The Chaos Explosion was a mysterious phenomenon that occurred more than 2,000 years ago. As a result of it, the world was suddenly filled with Chaos which disrupted the laws of nature that governed it before it came Chaos came into existance. Before the Chaos Explosion occurred, the scholars are all certain that there existed a civilization that was far more advanced and prosperous then the one we have today, but the distortions in the natural order and its laws have dealt a heavy blow even to such advanced civilization, eventually leading to its untimely demise, as it has always been with things that have been strongly affected by Chaos and Chaos Disasters that stemmed from it.