424. My jaw dropped at the unbelievable year.
I rubbed my eyes and checked again, thinking I might have seen it wrong, but the numbers written on the documents had not changed.
If it had been a document I found on my father's desk, I would have passed it over, thinking the year was written wrong.
But these were not the documents that came in here.
All the documents here are verified documents, so there could not be any documents with incorrect years.
Moreover, Duke Leopold's seal was clearly stamped on the bottom of the plan.
That means this is an official document.
“But why is it written in my father’s handwriting...?”
Why is this a document written about 100 years ago!
Sensing that something was wrong, I took out the file containing my annual estate reports.
Among them, I compared the estate report written in 424 with the plan written by my father.
“...Similar.”
That is to say, at this time, the estate was operated as written in the estate plan.
I wondered if the land plan was similar every year, so I checked all the plans and reports from around 5 years ago, but that wasn't the case either.
Moreover, strangely enough, only the estate plan written in 424 was written in the father's handwriting.
Other plans were more neat and elegantly written.
If I remember the genealogy correctly, it was during the time when Damien Leopold, my father's grandfather, and my great-great-grandfather, was the head of the family.
So this handwriting must be my great-grandfather's.
Or maybe it's the handwriting of the people who were in charge at the time.
Anyway, it felt strange to have a plan written in my father's handwriting at this time.
“It’s not completely impossible...”
For example, if for some reason the plan was lost at that time, my father would write a new one.
Several possibilities came to mind, such as the coincidence that one of my great-grandfather's aides had handwriting quite similar to my father's.
Among them, there was a possibility that I thought was ridiculous: that my father was alive at that time.
At any other time, I would have dismissed it as a ridiculous delusion.
I've been through this ridiculous thing called regression so many times that I couldn't do it.
Additionally, it bothered me that time in the basement passed noticeably slower than in real life.
The same thing is written in my father's diary.
After struggling to organize my jumbled thoughts and putting all of this together, I could only come to one conclusion.
Perhaps the red dragon's blessing is not only superior physical abilities.
At the same time, Adele was searching for documents in the annex's archives.
Perdes was meeting with his magician master, Gnosis, and was talking about various things, including magic circles.
Most of the conversation took the form of Perdes asking questions and Gnosis answering.
As a long-time magician, Gnosis knew a lot, but he knew little about ancient magic circles.
Perdes figured that Gnosis would know something about the magic circle that Adel had asked him to investigate since he had recognized it at a glance as an ancient magic circle.
“...What do you think?”
“I don’t know about that either.”
“About this part...”
“Well, why would that be?”
But Perdes was surprised to find out that Gnosis knew less than he thought, so he asked.
“But how did you immediately know that the magic circle was an ancient magic circle?”
“Hmm.”
Then Gnosis frowned, seeming slightly embarrassed.
You're hiding something.
“Tell me, Gnosis. How do you know?”
When Perdes, who was so sure of it, asked again, Gnosis closed his eyes tightly and thought for a moment, then opened them again and slowly opened his mouth.
“Well, I think this is enough of a secret, and there should be at least one more person in this world who knows besides me to continue the lineage, so I’ll tell you.”
Perdes could not quite understand what Gnosis was saying, but he waited in silence since he was told that he would be told.
“First of all, to answer Mr. Perdes’ question, I have actually seen that magic circle.”
“You said it was a magic circle that disappeared 500 years ago? Then how did you see it?”
“Do you know the ruins of Ethymos?”
“Of course, I know. It’s a historic site with many magical relics buried there, so anyone interested in magic would want to go there.”
“Do you want to go too, Perdes?”
In response to the returned question, Perdes thought for a moment, then shook his head.
“No. Not me.”
“Huh? I know that Lord Perdes is also quite interested in the field of magic. That’s unexpected.”
“I’m interested, but I don’t want to risk my life.”
Although the Ethymos archaeological site has been discovered for about a hundred years, no proper excavations have been carried out to date.
The reason is that the historic site is located in the territory of a third country that is neither part of the Allied Powers nor the Empire.
The excavation was extremely difficult because there were many monsters around the ruins and traps lurking in the ruins that even famous magicians and sorcerers could not solve.
Even though they were well aware of this fact, there were quite a few people who were turned off by the fact that it was an old magical artifact and went to explore it themselves.
But more than half of them never returned, and half of those who survived were unable to lead normal lives.
The remaining half were mostly people who just dipped their feet in the ruins and returned, so the ruins' notoriety grew over time.
“But you want me to go to a place like that? I absolutely would not refuse.”
When Perdes frowned, Gnosis laughed.
“I was curious at first, but I smelled the strong smell of blood at the entrance to the ruins and took a step back.”
“Hmm? Gnosis, have you ever been there?”
“Yes. About 30 years ago, when I was very energetic, I couldn’t control my curiosity and joined an expedition team.”
Gnosis's eyes looked back into the empty space as if recalling the past.
“Well, in the end, I just dipped my feet in the water and came back.”
“Was the ruins of Ethymus such a terrible place?”
“That’s what I feel. Of the 12 exploration teams that entered the site at the time, only one returned safely, so that speaks volumes.”
“There was an exploration team that entered the ruins and returned safely?”
When Perdes asked in surprise, Gnosis smiled and nodded as if he had expected something like that.
“Yes. It was a small expedition team of about five people. Of course, they were all very capable people.”
“That’s right. They must have been really skilled people.”
Their skills were proven just by entering the terrifying ruins and returning alive.
“So, what does that story have to do with you recognizing this ancient magic circle at first glance?”
“I was too scared to enter the ruins and had to turn back at the entrance, but I saw it for sure.”
Gnosis ran his hand over the ancient magic circle drawn on paper.
“I mean, there’s this magic circle drawn on the ceiling at the entrance. Of course, it doesn’t work because it’s old.”
“It would have been difficult to tell that this magic circle was an ancient magic circle just from that.”
“In the small expedition I mentioned earlier, there was a knight, a magician, and a sorcerer. They were all great people who had reached the highest level of power.”
It's hard to become a master in just one field your entire life, but he was a master in three fields.
Perdes wondered if that was possible, but he listened in silence, not wanting to waste time with trivial talk.
“I was excited to see a magic circle for the first time and was digging into it when he told me. He said that this was an ancient magic circle that had disappeared about 500 years ago.”
“How did he know that?”
“Well, I don’t know about that, but I’m sure he has quite a bit of knowledge about magic circles. He knew everything I didn’t know at the time.”
There was deep respect on Gnosis' face as he thought of that person.
When Perdes sees Gnosis talking like that, he thinks he really is a skilled person, but he still feels uneasy.
First of all, wizards and sorcerers did not share their knowledge with others because it was their wealth and everything to them.
But Perdes was suspicious of the fact that he readily gave Gnosis such important information.
“I learned a lot from him while I was there, and it wasn’t for free, of course.”
You didn't tell me that right away, did you?
“What did you give that person? Did you become his disciple?”
“Haha, I wanted to do that too, but he refused, saying he didn’t want to take on anyone older than him as his disciple.”
“Wait a minute. That guy is younger than Gnosis?”
The opponent was a master in three fields, so he naturally thought he would be much older than Gnosis, but Perdes was surprised to find out that he was younger and asked back.
“Yes. I didn’t ask exactly how old he was, but he looked much younger than me, probably in his early 30s.”
“Then isn’t it a long time?”
“Well, I don’t know about that, but when I heard people who came with me joke that life at the academy is more comfortable than life here, I don’t think that’s the case.”
Since one usually graduates from the Academy before the coming of age ceremony, if Gnosis' words were true, that meant that the person was in his mid-twenties at the most.
“You reached a level in three fields in your 20s...?”
Is that really possible?
As Perdes muttered in disbelief at the fact, Gnosis smiled as if he understood.
“One thing I would like to add is that at the time, that was the age I saw him.”
It was a series of stories that was incomprehensible.
When Perdes looked up, not understanding what he was saying, Gnosis added.
“I thought about it then and now, but was he really a human being?”
I rubbed my eyes and checked again, thinking I might have seen it wrong, but the numbers written on the documents had not changed.
If it had been a document I found on my father's desk, I would have passed it over, thinking the year was written wrong.
But these were not the documents that came in here.
All the documents here are verified documents, so there could not be any documents with incorrect years.
Moreover, Duke Leopold's seal was clearly stamped on the bottom of the plan.
That means this is an official document.
“But why is it written in my father’s handwriting...?”
Why is this a document written about 100 years ago!
Sensing that something was wrong, I took out the file containing my annual estate reports.
Among them, I compared the estate report written in 424 with the plan written by my father.
“...Similar.”
That is to say, at this time, the estate was operated as written in the estate plan.
I wondered if the land plan was similar every year, so I checked all the plans and reports from around 5 years ago, but that wasn't the case either.
Moreover, strangely enough, only the estate plan written in 424 was written in the father's handwriting.
Other plans were more neat and elegantly written.
If I remember the genealogy correctly, it was during the time when Damien Leopold, my father's grandfather, and my great-great-grandfather, was the head of the family.
So this handwriting must be my great-grandfather's.
Or maybe it's the handwriting of the people who were in charge at the time.
Anyway, it felt strange to have a plan written in my father's handwriting at this time.
“It’s not completely impossible...”
For example, if for some reason the plan was lost at that time, my father would write a new one.
Several possibilities came to mind, such as the coincidence that one of my great-grandfather's aides had handwriting quite similar to my father's.
Among them, there was a possibility that I thought was ridiculous: that my father was alive at that time.
At any other time, I would have dismissed it as a ridiculous delusion.
I've been through this ridiculous thing called regression so many times that I couldn't do it.
Additionally, it bothered me that time in the basement passed noticeably slower than in real life.
The same thing is written in my father's diary.
After struggling to organize my jumbled thoughts and putting all of this together, I could only come to one conclusion.
Perhaps the red dragon's blessing is not only superior physical abilities.
***
At the same time, Adele was searching for documents in the annex's archives.
Perdes was meeting with his magician master, Gnosis, and was talking about various things, including magic circles.
Most of the conversation took the form of Perdes asking questions and Gnosis answering.
As a long-time magician, Gnosis knew a lot, but he knew little about ancient magic circles.
Perdes figured that Gnosis would know something about the magic circle that Adel had asked him to investigate since he had recognized it at a glance as an ancient magic circle.
“...What do you think?”
“I don’t know about that either.”
“About this part...”
“Well, why would that be?”
But Perdes was surprised to find out that Gnosis knew less than he thought, so he asked.
“But how did you immediately know that the magic circle was an ancient magic circle?”
“Hmm.”
Then Gnosis frowned, seeming slightly embarrassed.
You're hiding something.
“Tell me, Gnosis. How do you know?”
When Perdes, who was so sure of it, asked again, Gnosis closed his eyes tightly and thought for a moment, then opened them again and slowly opened his mouth.
“Well, I think this is enough of a secret, and there should be at least one more person in this world who knows besides me to continue the lineage, so I’ll tell you.”
Perdes could not quite understand what Gnosis was saying, but he waited in silence since he was told that he would be told.
“First of all, to answer Mr. Perdes’ question, I have actually seen that magic circle.”
“You said it was a magic circle that disappeared 500 years ago? Then how did you see it?”
“Do you know the ruins of Ethymos?”
“Of course, I know. It’s a historic site with many magical relics buried there, so anyone interested in magic would want to go there.”
“Do you want to go too, Perdes?”
In response to the returned question, Perdes thought for a moment, then shook his head.
“No. Not me.”
“Huh? I know that Lord Perdes is also quite interested in the field of magic. That’s unexpected.”
“I’m interested, but I don’t want to risk my life.”
Although the Ethymos archaeological site has been discovered for about a hundred years, no proper excavations have been carried out to date.
The reason is that the historic site is located in the territory of a third country that is neither part of the Allied Powers nor the Empire.
The excavation was extremely difficult because there were many monsters around the ruins and traps lurking in the ruins that even famous magicians and sorcerers could not solve.
Even though they were well aware of this fact, there were quite a few people who were turned off by the fact that it was an old magical artifact and went to explore it themselves.
But more than half of them never returned, and half of those who survived were unable to lead normal lives.
The remaining half were mostly people who just dipped their feet in the ruins and returned, so the ruins' notoriety grew over time.
“But you want me to go to a place like that? I absolutely would not refuse.”
When Perdes frowned, Gnosis laughed.
“I was curious at first, but I smelled the strong smell of blood at the entrance to the ruins and took a step back.”
“Hmm? Gnosis, have you ever been there?”
“Yes. About 30 years ago, when I was very energetic, I couldn’t control my curiosity and joined an expedition team.”
Gnosis's eyes looked back into the empty space as if recalling the past.
“Well, in the end, I just dipped my feet in the water and came back.”
“Was the ruins of Ethymus such a terrible place?”
“That’s what I feel. Of the 12 exploration teams that entered the site at the time, only one returned safely, so that speaks volumes.”
“There was an exploration team that entered the ruins and returned safely?”
When Perdes asked in surprise, Gnosis smiled and nodded as if he had expected something like that.
“Yes. It was a small expedition team of about five people. Of course, they were all very capable people.”
“That’s right. They must have been really skilled people.”
Their skills were proven just by entering the terrifying ruins and returning alive.
“So, what does that story have to do with you recognizing this ancient magic circle at first glance?”
“I was too scared to enter the ruins and had to turn back at the entrance, but I saw it for sure.”
Gnosis ran his hand over the ancient magic circle drawn on paper.
“I mean, there’s this magic circle drawn on the ceiling at the entrance. Of course, it doesn’t work because it’s old.”
“It would have been difficult to tell that this magic circle was an ancient magic circle just from that.”
“In the small expedition I mentioned earlier, there was a knight, a magician, and a sorcerer. They were all great people who had reached the highest level of power.”
It's hard to become a master in just one field your entire life, but he was a master in three fields.
Perdes wondered if that was possible, but he listened in silence, not wanting to waste time with trivial talk.
“I was excited to see a magic circle for the first time and was digging into it when he told me. He said that this was an ancient magic circle that had disappeared about 500 years ago.”
“How did he know that?”
“Well, I don’t know about that, but I’m sure he has quite a bit of knowledge about magic circles. He knew everything I didn’t know at the time.”
There was deep respect on Gnosis' face as he thought of that person.
When Perdes sees Gnosis talking like that, he thinks he really is a skilled person, but he still feels uneasy.
First of all, wizards and sorcerers did not share their knowledge with others because it was their wealth and everything to them.
But Perdes was suspicious of the fact that he readily gave Gnosis such important information.
“I learned a lot from him while I was there, and it wasn’t for free, of course.”
You didn't tell me that right away, did you?
“What did you give that person? Did you become his disciple?”
“Haha, I wanted to do that too, but he refused, saying he didn’t want to take on anyone older than him as his disciple.”
“Wait a minute. That guy is younger than Gnosis?”
The opponent was a master in three fields, so he naturally thought he would be much older than Gnosis, but Perdes was surprised to find out that he was younger and asked back.
“Yes. I didn’t ask exactly how old he was, but he looked much younger than me, probably in his early 30s.”
“Then isn’t it a long time?”
“Well, I don’t know about that, but when I heard people who came with me joke that life at the academy is more comfortable than life here, I don’t think that’s the case.”
Since one usually graduates from the Academy before the coming of age ceremony, if Gnosis' words were true, that meant that the person was in his mid-twenties at the most.
“You reached a level in three fields in your 20s...?”
Is that really possible?
As Perdes muttered in disbelief at the fact, Gnosis smiled as if he understood.
“One thing I would like to add is that at the time, that was the age I saw him.”
It was a series of stories that was incomprehensible.
When Perdes looked up, not understanding what he was saying, Gnosis added.
“I thought about it then and now, but was he really a human being?”
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