I Was Reincarnated as the Prince in a Villainess Story, so I’ll Use My Cheat Knowledge to Create a Noble Lady Harem and Make Them All Happy - 58

Chapter 58: The Maelstrom of the Forbidden Library, the Name of the Black Wings

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The shipment from Beltea was brought into the academy’s research room at dusk. What Duke Rozheim had arranged was divided into wooden crates, sealed with wax and multiple layers of barrier talismans. Scholars and barrier mages inspected them in order, and the moment the final talisman was released, Valis stepped forward.

“From here, we open them under full supervision. Recording team, begin the record.”

At the brief command, the soft rustling of writing overlapped like falling sand. The first box revealed a silver bracelet spoken of in old tales. The craftsmanship was simple, with no decoration to speak of. Only several rubbed marks were visible on the inner side of the band.

Next came a bundle of charred parchment, a short sword whose blade had been lost leaving only the hilt, and a cracked piece of crystal. All of them carried traces of having once been exposed to heat and miasma, yet strangely, none gave off the acrid stench one would expect.

…It’s still ominous. 

There was definitely lingering mana. But Valis no longer sensed any miasma. Valis confirmed the presence around the bracelet and immediately withdrew his hand. There was no harm in remaining cautious.

“The relics will be stored within the academy’s barrier. The investigation progresses under three systems—Barrier, Isolation, and Record—simultaneously. Measure the remaining mana each time you handle an item, cross-check its origin and sigils, and report continuously. Safety protocol is the highest priority.”

“Understood.”

After watching the scholars disperse to their stations, Valis let out a slow breath.

The relics are a job for the specialized unit. Then what I can do at this very moment is…

“I’m going to the Library Tower. We’ll comb through everything in the restricted archives.”

Informing the scholars of this, Valis straightened the collar of his cloak.

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The Library Tower, with the sun nearly gone, was quieter than usual. The heavy door to the restricted archives had multiple layers of locks, and when he handed the steward the authorization talisman, each metal fixture unlocked one-by-one with a dull clank. At that moment, a bright voice called from the stair landing.

“Valis-kun!”

It was Milia. Next to her, Feril matched her pace, raising a small hand while catching her breath.

“Your Highness, let us help too. You’re searching through books in the Library Tower, right?”

“I’m counting on your help then.”

His reply was short but unmistakably firm. Neither of the girls showed any hesitation. The door to the restricted archives opened, and the cold smell of paper and leather spilled out. A dozen scholars pushed carts for transporting books, retrieving volumes according to catalog numbers and shelf indexes.

“We’re removing everything from rows one to three. Rituals, demonkind, ancient war records; any duplicates may be handled later..”

Valis sat at the central desk of the tower and pressed his palms together to activate a spell.

“Archive Arts: Folio Recta, activate.”

With a flutter, the first book opened automatically. Each sweep of his gaze sent the pages turning like a waterwheel, faint light marking the necessary lines. In his other hand, a blank card glowed with pale phosphorescence.

“Archive Arts: Solitarius Script—index, link.”

The touched light was absorbed into the card, automatically engraving keywords and locations. White cards stacked around Valis as book after book was placed before him in rhythm.

Where is the method to break the seal?

A sheen of sweat formed on his forehead. This was several times the scale of the work at the Everett estate. He knew nothing of Reina’s current situation. Was there food beyond that hole? Water? Did time even flow at the same rate? The questions he least wanted to consider pressed at him the hardest. For a moment, the pages appeared doubled. His vision wavered. The chair’s back felt far away—

“Careful!”

Milia, beside him, swiftly supported his shoulder. The warmth of her palm pulled his breath back into reality.

“Are you okay? If it’s stamina, I can boost it with my magic… It frustrates me that I can’t be of more help. What kind of ‘Saint’ am I?”

In her voice—half self-mockery, half frustration—something inside his chest snapped awake.

Right. Enhancement is possible.

For the past few months, in parallel with sword training, Valis had been intensely studying Archive Arts to gain “power he could fight with.” What caught his attention was a passage about a hero who called himself a Warlock—a “magic warrior” who combined the Archive Arts with swordsmanship.

He specialized in gravity and time manipulation, distorting the local flow of time and combining high-speed leaps with sword strikes as his trump card. He understood the principles well enough. But he lacked the total mana required to generate a force field capable of warping time. And even if he could, his body wasn’t built to withstand it—that was the wall he’d hit.

Even that adventurer who claimed the name “Warlock” was simply exceptional by nature. No matter the path he chose, he would have become a hero—

When Valis had read that conclusion the other day, he nodded with a wry smile. If someone had both the mana to freely operate such large-scale spatial magic and the body to endure it, they would become stronger one way or another. Simply put, that person’s existence was something exceptional. It was an entirely reasonable conclusion.

But…

Valis now had access to a method that made it possible. Milia’s Divine Arts for physical reinforcement were of the highest tier, able to raise even an ordinary person to hero-level durability. And Feril, as a spirit mage accompanied by Amon, could handle spirit flow powerful enough to support an entire nation. In other words, she could convert a massive flow—like that of the World Tree—into mana. Valis lifted his face and looked directly at the two.

“I have something I want to ask of you both.”

Before words were even exchanged, preparations were already underway. Milia’s Divine Arts raised the endurance of his vision and concentration. Feril’s Spirit Arts supplied mana in a continuous flow. Valis checked the layering of the spellwork and drew a deep breath.

“Archive Arts: Distortio Locus.”

He activated the magic he had analyzed and reconstructed from ancient hero-sagas. The surrounding sounds dropped by a degree. Only the edges of Valis’s body and vision slowed slightly, the flow of time warping. He felt as though an extra second hand had been added to his senses. Finger movements and eye movements synced perfectly, and the speed of Folio Recta surged dramatically.

A heavy burden weighed on his body and mind, but with the two supporting him, he maintained it without issue. Books opened and closed, index cards piled like snow, and the vortex on the desk spun faster than the transport team could keep up with.

Hold it. I can still hold it. More.

With the sound of time being shaved away behind him, Valis kept reading. And at last—

“…Found it!”

His fingertips brushed a different weight. He stopped at the midpoint and carefully opened the volume again. On the old paper, black letters stood clearly engraved.

—Demon God Morrigan. She was the eldest of the three sisters known as the Baibcatha, with Nevan and Maha as her younger sisters. She was the leader of the monstrous birdfolk, the Harpies, excelled in mental manipulation, and controlled many humans, using them as her forces… The fingers holding the page trembled faintly. The name matched the one Reina had whispered. Mental manipulation…The one she’d been resisting all this time.

He read on.

—Morrigan possessed no physical body, gaining one only by parasitizing humans or other Demonfolk. Thus, destroying her completely was extremely difficult. However, unless the host body was in perfect condition, she could not exert her true power.

His breath eased slightly. There was hope. Reina’s body must still be intact. Her mind was likely resisting even now.

—During the ancient Demonfolk Wars, Morrigan was sealed within a relic from the age of the gods.

Up to that point, and yet the crucial “path to the relic” was entirely absent. No matter how he flipped the pages, no annotation appeared. Even the related indexes revealed no path.

“…So this is as far as it goes.”

Valis exhaled quietly and marked the card for this volume as the highest priority in Solitaria Scripta. He turned back toward the remaining stacks and continued reading. But no further relevant information appeared. The glimmer of light slowed faintly.

“—We can still look.”

Feril said softly. She exchanged a brief look with Milia, and the two nodded.

“It’s okay. We’ll find it. Remember? Great-grandfather’s journal stayed in the archives for decades, but nobody found it until that moment. There must still be places we ‘haven’t searched yet.’”

Valis blinked. Another connection formed in his chest. In Laurel’s journal, the parts about Amon and the World Tree opened only because the sealing reacted to the Amon within Feril—to spirit power. His thoughts leapt. 

Then the books containing knowledge about Morrigan must also—

Valis gathered the index cards and spoke his decision aloud.

“We’re ending the investigation in the Library Tower and returning to the academy where Lynas Wolm’s relics are being examined.”

The heavy door of the restricted archives closed, its sound echoing through the tower’s core. The path had appeared.

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