The Book Eating Magician

Grimoires—they appeared in the forms of books, with a call to power and disaster that mocked a mortal’s common sense. None of the existing magicians could interpret them, and all remaining records in the world only explained the scars left behind by grimoires.

It meant that the owners of grimoires were the cause of worldwide massacres. Just look at Giovanni to be convinced.

The magician, Giovanni, had been investigating the ruins discovered in the Miller Barony. Then he discovered the grimoire, Death’s Worship, and was turned into a warlock who commanded thousands of undead. If Theodore hadn’t contained the situation so quickly, a catastrophe would have occurred in Meltor a month later.

Theodore knew the risk of revealing this truth about himself better than anyone else, but he told Kurt the whole story anyway.

“...The owner of a grimoire.” Kurt touched his chin and nodded. “It is funny to say it now, but that was one of the possibilities we came up with.”

“What does that...”

“A person stuck at the 2nd circle for nearly 5 years suddenly jumped beyond the best genius in the kingdom in just a few months. It is natural to question that growth.”

It was as the king said. After all, who could have imagined that Theodore Miller, the dunce of Bergen Academy, would manage to win against Blue Tower Master Blundell’s granddaughter?

His master, Vince, was quite talented, but he couldn’t compare to a great magician of the kingdom. A hidden talent might’ve woken up after years of insecurity, but that wasn’t enough for Theodore to have jumped over so many walls in a short period of time.

This hadn’t been the 3rd and 4th circles, but the 5th circle. This was a ‘wall’ that magicians often called the gateway to senior magicians. It didn’t make sense for Theodore to have overcome that wall so quickly unless a shortcut to accelerate growth had been used.

Yes, it must be a grimoire or a national treasure.

“This fact isn’t well known, but it isn’t unprecedented. 200 years ago, the 7th Red Tower Master was the owner of a grimoire called ‘Evil Lamp.’ According to records, the grimoire looked like a giant flame and supplied the magic power to use 8th circle fire magic many times.”

“...I see.”

If there had already been a precedent, then Kurt’s reaction wasn’t strange. After all, if he knew that a grimoire didn’t only cause disasters, then it was the role of a ruler to find ways to take advantage of it. Theodore realized the point he had missed and fell silent for a moment.

Then Kurt laughed with his weary face and said, “It isn’t uncommon. A magician with a grimoire is more valuable than a national treasure. If this secret is revealed before the person is strong enough, idiots would try to steal it, without knowing that it is pointless. So, your behavior was wise.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

“As proof of my acknowledgment of your good behavior, I won’t question you about the grimoire. Moreover, based on the report, the problem hasn’t been solved yet.”

Kurt was right. This caused Theodore to nod immediately. “Yes, the remnant of the warlock that I released still remains in the world. And I couldn’t confirm the life or death of Crowd von Russell, 1st Sword of the empire.”

“Certainly, neither of them can be overlooked.”

Jerem had been badly damaged by Mitra, but a warlock of the 9th circle was still a disaster itself. The strength of the Pale Rider and the undead was alarming. It was imperative to pull out their roots as soon as possible. Compared to that, Crowd was a slightly lower priority. However, he still wasn’t a person to be treated lightly. He was a man with the ability to reverse the war, which was almost over.

Misfortune could still occur if they were careless.

“...Even so, the horrible history of the war in the North was the experiment of a grimoire... It is a truth that shouldn’t be recorded in history.”

“Yes, I think so as well.”

“I wonder if I should be relieved that it is over or feel angry about the rest of the work that needs to be done. These days, the weight of the crown has increased even more.” The king laughed as he spoke.

He was glad that the war which had lasted for centuries was finally over, but he was sad that all this bloodshed had been from acting as someone’s puppet. It was the first time Theodore had seen Kurt look like this. The wise king of Meltor, the one who led the magic kingdom, was speaking sincerely to him. Was it from the fatigue? Or―

‘Ah, I see.’ Theodore finally realized his own position. ‘Blundell is gone, while Veronica is tied to me. It isn’t intentional, but Meltor’s power has been swallowed up by me.’

One of the two magicians who reigned as Meltor’s pillars had died, and the other one was tied to Theodore. Theodore was also an 8th circle magician, so he was the only one who could be called superior to Kurt. He was unquestionably the supreme power in Meltor.

Facing this, Kurt had two choices—no, it was only one. He had to be open and sincere, sharing the matters of the kingdom with Theodore. If he tried to push Theodore away from the kingdom, he would lose too much.

The alliance with Elvenheim that Theo was the cause of...

The alliance with Austen that was based on Aquilo’s strength...

Two 8th circle magicians...

For Meltor, who had consumed a great deal of power in this war, these losses would be a huge blow to the national force.

‘Well, I don’t want to leave in the first place.’

Theodore could grasp this kingdom if he wanted to, but he didn’t have that type of desire. He would rather grab a few books from the Zero Library. Setting that thought aside to ask about later, Theodore brought up a topic that Kurt hadn’t mentioned. “Your Majesty, about the Yellow Tower Master...”

“Yes.” Kurt cleared his throat in response to ‘Yellow Tower Master.’ “The Yellow Tower Master—no, Paragranum. I know its identity. It is a secret passed down through generations of the royal family. I’d like to arrange a separate place to talk about it. You have just woken up, and I don’t want to keep you for too long.”

“I’m fine... but if that is Your Majesty’s will.”

Indeed, was there a secret between the royal family and Paragranum? Theodore felt curious as he accepted the proposal. If Paragranum had planned to flee, it would’ve already been gone by the time Theodore returned to Mana-vil. However, it still remained, showing that it was confident it could persuade Theodore.

“Okay, the talk will end here for today.”

The two magicians nodded at the king’s command, and the unexpected audience came to an end.

* * *

After separating from Veronica who had work to do as the Red Tower Master, Theodore walked through the empty hallways of the palace.

Had it been Kurt’s consideration to allow him to avoid meeting people in public? Theodore walked away from the palace, where teleport magic was blocked. He intended to move to his room in the red tower as soon as he could use Teleport.

-User, Gluttony suddenly spoke up, -I didn’t get to mention this to you before, but I have something to say.

“What's going on?”

-Let’s start with my conclusion. There is no need to worry about that warlock called Jerem.

“What?” Theodore stopped moving at the words, before continuing again. “Even though his soul is severely damaged, isn’t he a 9th circle magician with countless undead? I’ve only just reached the 8th circle, so I’m not sure I can win.”

Theodore wasn’t acting weak. The two undead summoned from Tartarus, the ghoul prince and helix ogre, were monsters that could only be killed by a few 8th circle magicians. What if there were hundreds more of those monsters? It was clear that Theodore would need to reach the 9th circle or a dragon on the continent would have to move to defeat them.

-But not at this time. Gluttony didn’t agree. -The damage from Mitra’s divine power has greatly limited his abilities. If he hadn’t reached the 9th circle in his life, he would’ve perished on the spot. It isn’t the kind of damage that can be recovered in a short period of time, even if he uses Life Drain or another technique. In the next few years, it will be difficult to use 8th circle magic, let alone 9th circle.

“...So, I can defeat him now.”

-That’s right. And about his undead... I agree that User can’t go against them, so I handled it with my own authority.

This time, Theodore’s feet couldn’t move from the ground. “You handled it with your own authority? What does that mean?”

The undead hidden in the negative dimension—Tartarus—of the ancient warlock, Jerem, was enough to ruin the entire continent. How had Gluttony dealt with it despite not being able to escape from Theodore’s palm? He couldn’t understand it.

Then Gluttony replied in a somewhat satisfied voice, -After I ate Death’s Worship, I gained control of the negative dimension. However, the creator of the negative dimension is still the boss. I decided to break in using a backdoor and try to steal the undead using the sub-master’s authority. Moreover, if User was planning to go down the path of a necromancer, I had to dispose of any shortcuts as quickly as possible.

It was a reasonable point. Theodore nodded at the explanation and told it to get to the point.

-So.

“So?”

-I swallowed all of them and changed them into User’s library points.

“...Huh?!”

The undead had been turned into Theodore’s achievement points! Theodore’s eyes widened with amazement, while Gluttony added to his joy.

-There are quite a few undead that couldn’t be converted, but the harvest isn’t bad because of the number of them. A dragon lich’s life vessel is very rare. The chimera made of a demon’s heart is also worthwhile. Thus, more points were obtained from the undead than I thought.

“Somehow, it feels like selling stolen goods.”

Theodore was stunned as he had a large problem resolved and also obtained a lot of achievement points.

“How many points did I get?”

-Huhuhu, don’t be surprised, Gluttony encouraged Theodore’s expectations. -157,329 points.

“...Say it again.”

-157,329 points. It is at least twice the points you got from Laevateinn. After this, the accumulated points total over 200,000, so a special function within me was released.

It wasn’t enough that he had gotten over 100,000 achievement points in one go. A special function had been released as well. Theodore felt like this was a dream and knocked on his forehead several times. Fortunately, it wasn't a dream. As Theodore tried to regain his composure, Gluttony continued in an excited voice, -Isn’t it better to see it once than listen a hundred times? I’ll show you.

Simultaneously, several notification messages popped up.

[Your cumulative achievement points have exceeded 200,000 points.]

[A hidden function of Gluttony has been discovered. The user should check the information about the function. This function will work normally regardless of the rank.]

[A grimoire that collects the strength and wisdom of books and artifacts. All of the magical pioneers are sleeping within Gluttony’s soul. You can use the accumulated points to learn the knowledge of these distinguished magicians.]

[The Hall of Fame has been opened.]