Forward Thinking.

"It, it surprisingly makes a lot more sense now."

Reading the Yorgun Yirtos after having spent a couple of hours reading the translations Faustus had left behind, I've found out its true ability; the reason why he called it the 'World Canvas' in his notes.

It actively changes as the current owner of the book explores Solaster.

Whatever information that was on it then, had been recorded by Faustus' experiences. He likely had never needed to visit the Steppe Imp village, so it wasn't recorded there for me to find at first.

"Ahriman's Table, Nimia's Shoulder, Hreidmarrs Spine,- I can read them all now." It was more information that Faustus' travels had left behind.

I traced my finger over the map to where I first was in the steppe to where the Steppe Imp village roughly should be.

"Destroyed Steppe Imp Village."

It was there now, written down in relatively newer ink than what the other faded writings were in.

The uses for this for a traveling diplomat are insane, as by this logic, or magic logic as the world operates itself by, you can casually learn about a location without even knowing where you 'were' in the first place.

As it's not just that the book writes your experiences- but rather, it's like an active fog o' war that slowly reveals itself as you explore the world; I just have to be there to learn all about it!

Also, meanwhile I was cramming the translation guide, I had also skimmed through a lot of some of the more notable books that the royal library had to offer in its historical and diplomatic catalogue.

I had said earlier that I'm not smart, which IS true- but that doesn't mean the same applies to my ability to learn and retain new information. That was a crucial skill to have in Epoch, the ability to research and retain data, to compile it in a way to make it make sense, not only for yourself, but for your subordinates and your king.

The library was a vast ocean of information, so I didn't just pick any old spot to cram new information- as that'd be futile.

There's no such thing as useless information, but there is such a thing as relevant information.

I was hoping that the library would have an extensive catalogue of historical data of the kingdom's bumper and famine crop years- as well as other important information on what kinds of crops were native to the kingdom at large, and what were the numbers on our imports and exports of said yields.

Even if it was just old data, maybe at most ten years old, it would still have extremely high value to evaluate over.

But to my surprise, there wasn't a single document on any kind of agriculture here. Other than a few almanacs on useful herbs for basic medicines or salves, any notable information kept in here was mainly on war and the tactics of war.

The fact that this kingdom hadn't fallen by now with their clear disinterest in agriculture or just horticulture in general was ATROCIOUS.

But- I suppose that's largely due to the kingdom's unsurprising history of relying on the motif of 'might makes right', with one of the notable history books that I had picked out "History of the Goetia Clan" detailing nothing but the constant warfare that occurred frequently between the other demon clans for the first few hundreds of years after the 'Great Liberation'.

The 'Great Liberation' as I had read about in the translation guide by Faustus, called the 'Threa Nua" in Old-Devil, was a large successful slave revolt against the Humans by the ancestors of current-day Demons, the Devil race.

I can guess why Old-Devil is called 'Old-Devil' with that interesting piece of history.

The library was now lit by an orange glow, signaling that my time here was almost up.

*Knock* *Knock*

"Sir Kai, it is time for dinner." A voice rung out from the other side of the door.

"Ami? Yeah, yeah- just give me a second, I'll go." I said, as I grabbed the books, tucking all of them under my arm.

I had four 'books' in total, not counting the Yorgun Yirtos and the Old-Devil translation guide that I was going to take with me to my room for the night to further research: "History of the Goetia Clan", a large scroll detailing principalities and smaller provinces within the kingdom, a "Memoirs of Count Belial Trismegistus", and finally, a handful of documents detailing the kingdom's finances- they were however, not up to date, as they wouldn't keep up to date documents in the library in the first place, even if it were Royal one.

With these now with me, I followed out of the door and went along with Ami to where he was going to serve me dinner.

...

I was shuttled back to my room, the suitor's quarters- in it was a table set up sitting outside on the balcony that overlooked the city I had yet to actually see yet.

Atop of the table was a metallic silver cover, hiding the meal I'll likely be served for tonight.

But as I entered the room, Ami stopped by the doorframe- once again, just like at the library.

"What, you also aren't allowed to enter my room now too? You just did earlier today in the morning." I remarked, shuddering over the embarrassment of finding out that I'm (still) an unconscious sleep stripper like then.

"It's not that, Sir Kai."

"It is just not customary for servants to be present while guests dine."

"If you require me to serve you your dish, then I will- but I will promptly leave as I finish to give you your privacy." He bowed.

"The hell?"

"Eating alone is boring, just stick around or something as I eat- I'll even share some with you, let's just talk."

Ami fidgeted with his hands as I asked of him this, why is he being so weird about this? He can scrub me down in the buff but not sit at the same table as I eat??

"I-If you insist." Is what he finally managed to say as he swiftly walked over to the table, setting up the meal as I leisurely waltzed along to the balcony.

As I got outside, I could see the see beyond the castle's walls.

It looked like a normal medieval-like town, but with a few oddities here and there scattered around.

encircling the city was a gigantic stone wall that rivaled the height of the large bastion that guarded the castle itself.

And within the city were some large buildings, like one having a design of that of strange dark-grey temple- resembling that of the pantheon you would see from ancient Greece.

And another was a gigantic twin building, it had a notable square section of it secluded off at its base with other large buildings that fit its aesthetic motif within- it looked like a campus for something.

But I think what caught my eye the most was the orange tinge that hung over all of the city from the setting sun, everything looked like the sparkling surface of the ocean where it met with the sun at the horizon.

"Beautiful." I uttered as I took a seat at the table, I noticed that there were three seats here- seeing them kind of made me feel a little lonely now with knowing who they were probably meant for.

If only I hadn't told them I was a homunculus.

"Yes, indeed." Ami took the seat in the middle of the table, opting to be closer to me instead of opposite- he probably rarely gets chances like these to eat so casually.

"So, what's for dinner?" I asked, as I saw before me a plate full of something that looked like cooked meat with various garnishes.

"Lithroga Flank basted in Hannya-Blue Wine, along with fresh-cut Belits and Citrils."

"Riiight, my favorite." I remarked as I grabbed my fork, along with a two-pronged fork.

"If it isn't to your liking, I can-"

"Noh, ith gewd." I said with a mouthful.

"*Ahem* So, tell me Ami, do you know anything about the Royal Assistant?" I asked, as I swallowed the first bite of the gamey, but satisfying mystery meat.

"As in, how long has she been at for this job, for Flaur or the Goetia line that is- you should probably know, as you both work for Modos."

"The Royal Assistant is a fine woman with a unbreaking loyalty to her Majesty." Is what he replied with, a curt generic throw-away of a sentence; something an NPC would say if they've been written to have no other lines.

"Yeah, I bet she is- but, as I said- do you know how long she's been serving Flaur?" I began to cut another portion of the flank.

"...Five." Ami barely-audibly muttered.

"Five? Five-hundred years? Guess that's a good tenure."

"No, Sir Kai."

"Five 'years'."

I stopped cutting the flank.

"Five years? Like, since the end of the war?"

Ami nodded silently.

"What was she then, to Flaur or the Goetia's, before that?"

Ami faced me- the wind from being this up high in the castle unobscured his eyes with sweeping his bangs.

I had seen his eyes before, but now as they focused intently onto me- I felt a little weird having his white-colored irises bore into my face; what was he searching for on me?

But after a moment of silence and his intense gaze, the wind died down and his eyes were once again obscured by his bangs- he spoke up.

"Nothing' she wasn't known by anyone in Modos-

Known as simply Carmilla Le Fanu then, she had mysteriously appeared on the day of the execution of the defeated tyrant Zepar Goetia.-" Ami clasped his hands on the table, his delicate white hands grew a little pink at the knuckles as he squeezed them tight.

"-And had somehow managed to convince her Majesty, or simply Princess Flaur Goetia then, to assign her as her Royal Assistant once she was officially coronated."

"H-How??"

Ami gave a tight-lipped frown; his jaw was slightly trembling.

"That- I do not know."

"Sir Kai, please- do not look too deep into her, that woman, the Royal Assistant."

Ami relaxed his clasped hands; they were fully pink now from his pressure.

"I warn you, as we are... friends, after all." He said with a weak smile, as he took a sip of the prepared cup of tea before him.

///