「A few days later.」

Colin walked along the main street of the Castle District, a small pack on his back.

Over the past few days, he had completely mastered the new Magic he’d learned.

Silver Light Sharp Words, a Tier One Magic. The caster causes a designated creature’s concentration to waver, transferring it to another creature of their choice. The distracted creature is more prone to making mistakes when attacking or performing difficult actions, while the creature that gains the concentration is more likely to succeed.

This Magic was now recorded in the Spellbook at Colin’s waist.

Overall, it was a powerful spell, just a bit unreliable.

Donkexes had specifically warned him that while the Magic was indeed effective, a distracted enemy’s attack could still succeed, and a teammate who gained the boost could still fail.

Ultimately, everything depended on adapting to the situation in actual combat.

The upside was that its Casting was simple, just like the Shield spell, making it quite useful in a fight.

Colin mulled over his new ability as he took in the street scenery.

The streets of the Castle District were the same as always, filled with patrolling Guards and off-duty City Guards in casual attire. There were also plenty of wealthy citizens in fine clothes, making someone like him, dressed in an Ordinary fashion, a rather uncommon sight.

Colin met the surrounding gazes with composure.

’I’m not exactly poor anymore,’ he thought.

In the past two days, he had found a jewelry store and sold the Blood Stones. At over fifty Gold Coins apiece, it was much more profitable than dealing with Rommon. He wasn’t sure if the clerk at that blacksmith’s shop had cheated him or if prices in Rommon were just outrageous.

After splitting the various earnings from their journey, Colin’s wealth had reached over one hundred and fifty Gold Coins.

The Gold Coins here were a little larger than a man’s thumbnail and not too heavy; two coin purses were enough to hold them all.

If he had any more, however, he’d have to consider other ways to store them... Of course, such rich-people problems weren’t his to worry about just yet.

Entering the great hall of the Divine Hall, Colin adjusted the strap of his pack on his shoulder.

During this time, aside from training with the Dwarves, he had been copying books in the Great Dome of the Divine Hall of Knowledge as usual.

After using up the last of his parchment, he’d shamelessly gone to Edwin this morning to bum another stack.

Unfortunately, because Orelia’s foundation in close-quarters combat was so poor, Langgrin had kept her for a round of strict training. As a result, Colin couldn’t continue bringing his new teammate along to copy books and build camaraderie.

Arriving at the familiar Divine Hall, Colin strode confidently through the main entrance toward the grand library. The Priests on duty all recognized him by now, which saved him the trouble of showing his ring.

Having spent so many days here, he had also made a discovery.

The grand library inside the Divine Hall seemed much larger than it appeared from the outside. Sometimes, when searching for a book, Colin would walk for several hundred meters without seeing the end, so he figured there must be some kind of space-expanding Magic at work.

After taking books like the *Complete Guide to Swordsmanship* and *Divine Grace and Warhammer: Priest Combat Scripture* from the shelves, Colin began another day of copying.

He spent half the day scribbling away without even realizing it.

After leaving with his pack to eat lunch and then returning, Colin opened the *Complete Guide to Swordsmanship* and took a closer look.

It described the combat methods of this world that relied on Swordsmanship. In video game terms, it was basically a list of Warrior Skills.

However, it only mentioned what these abilities were and didn’t include any training methods at all.

It mentioned a method of using one’s physical stamina to heal wounds, which the book called "Second Wind." It seemed to be the same ability that burly man had used to heal the wound on his throat that day.

Speaking of that day, Colin’s mind involuntarily recalled the illusions of the Ancient Empire attacking the Elf City.

Although he wasn’t too worried about the end of the world after talking with White Eagle, the Mechanical Giants and Mechanical Dragons from the illusions had still piqued his curiosity.

Besides, if he learned more, he might be able to show off to Kase later.

’I wonder if there are any records about the Ancient Empire here,’ he thought.

With that in mind, Colin got up and checked the directory at the head of the stairs. Sure enough, he found books containing information on the Ancient Empire.

Following the directory’s listing, he made his way to the shelf.

Just as Colin was about to step between the shelves to browse, a somewhat familiar figure suddenly approached from the other end. A closer look revealed it was that strangely out-of-place young lady he had run into at the bathhouse.

Today, she wore a pale gold dress, her smooth hair meticulously gathered into a high ponytail. Her eyes still held a hint of aggression.

’She probably doesn’t remember me,’ he reasoned. ’I’ll just pretend I don’t know her.’

With that plan, Colin expressionlessly went to find the book he wanted.

The young lady also approached step by step from the opposite direction.

When they were close enough, the woman spoke first. "Greetings, sir."

"Er... hello?"

"With the utmost reverence, I extend my sincerest gratitude to you." The young lady gave a slight nod and a curtsy, holding the hem of her skirt. "It was remiss of me not to apologize sooner. It took me two days to fully comprehend your intentions—those two men were indeed individuals of ill repute."

’Why is she using so many outdated and awkward honorifics from ancient Common Language...?’

As Colin complained inwardly, he also noticed her long ears.

They weren’t as long as an Elf’s, so she must be a Half-Elf.

"It’s no trouble. I wasn’t looking for thanks," Colin said, mimicking Orelia’s manner of speaking.

With that, he reached out and took the book he wanted from the shelf, *Secrets of the Ancient Empire*. The young lady’s eyes remained fixed on it.

"You want this one?"

Colin glanced at the book in his hand. It was rather old and didn’t look like it was read often.

"Please, you read it first. I have time. In that case, farewell for now, sir."

After saying this in a normal tone, the young lady turned and walked away quickly.

Watching her back as she departed, Colin could kind of understand why Kase hated Elves.

This Half-Elf must have only recently arrived in human society. Compared to the Elf from the Gray Squad and the Half-Elf in Rommon he’d met before, she was probably much closer to a "true Elf."

Although her every word was laced with honorifics and her movements were quite respectful, Colin couldn’t shake the feeling that she wasn’t treating him as an equal.

It was a hard feeling to describe.

Even though Donkexes and the gatekeeper, Dorn, liked to verbally belittle other races, you could tell they were disparaging you from the position of a fellow "intelligent creature." This Elf, however...

Thinking it over, Colin suddenly wondered if he was being prejudiced, unfairly judging a stranger because of the ideas Kase and the Dwarves had drilled into him.

’Whatever,’ he thought. ’I probably won’t run into her again anyway.’

Colin put his mind at ease, found a table, and began to flip through the book in his hands.

Time ticked by, and it wasn’t until the patch of sunlight on the table had shifted that he finished a rough reading of the book.

The book’s contents were extensive and also quite disorganized.

It started out normally enough, but the further he read, the more annotations appeared between the lines. Toward the end, every single page had another two pages of extra commentary from other scholars pasted in. Some of the notes even contradicted each other, and a few scholars were even arguing back and forth across the pages, accusing one another of academic misconduct and the like.

Colin rubbed his strained eyes.

Still, he was able to draw a few conclusions after summarizing it all.

Specifically, this Ancient Empire felt a bit like Rome. In ancient times, it had ruled over a vast territory and built a massive empire on the back of a slave-based system.

The Ancient Empire’s most advanced technologies were Teleportation Magic and things called "Mechanical Devices."

They used Teleportation Magic to plunder slaves from other regions and relied on Mechanicians, who had mastered the technology of Mechanical Devices, to wage war.

It was said that these Mechanicians could Enchant and operate their own armor. They could also create powerful Magic Equipment and autonomous Magic Mechanisms—in other words, the mechanical behemoths from the Illusion Realm.

Thinking about it, it felt somewhat similar to the technology of Donkexes and his kin.

After reading for so long, Colin was left with strained eyes and a migraine.

’Maybe I’m just tired from the recent cycle of training and studying,’ he thought as he grabbed his pack, stood up, and strode out of the Divine Hall.

Colin returned home and put his things down.

He lay on his bed for a long time, but his headache didn’t improve.

He got up again and looked out the window. The sun was still some distance from the horizon.

’I should go get some fresh air.’