Aspeiran opened and closed his mouth before asking back.

“What did you say?”

“I said that young lady Shuria has a cute appearance.”

The second silence that came again. Aspeiran rubbed his brow and suddenly said.

“I can’t trust your standards of cuteness.”

“I can’t let that comment slide. I judge cuteness based on firm criteria.”

“What criteria? Last time you said a 2m tall man covered in fur was cute too.”

“That fur was soft.”

Kiara explained seriously.

“‘Is it small? Is it round? Is it soft? Is it squishy?’ If it satisfies even one of these four criteria, it can be considered within the standard of cuteness. And young lady Shuria satisfies all of these conditions. She is perfectly cute.”

Kiara’s appearance discussing cuteness with an expressionless face was somewhat strange.

This is not right in the head. Aspeiran looked at Canis seeking agreement.

However, Canis betrayed his lord’s expectations and hesitantly sided with Kiara.

“Th-that’s right. Young lady Shuria is cute. Hahaha! My lord, have you never felt that way?”

He was about to declare it nonsense, but at that moment, the image of Shuria rolling in the snow with three dogs, smiling brightly, flashed through Aspeiran’s mind.

Eyes curved like crescent moons, round rosy cheeks puffed up, proudly showing off what she had accomplished…

…What am I remembering right now?

Aspeiran quickly pushed the image of Shuria out of his mind. And he said solemnly.

“Not at all.”

“Are you sure?”

“Are you doubting me now?”

At Aspeiran’s sharp gaze that turned fierce again, Canis quickly shut his mouth. Kiara also calmly started shuffling through a pile of documents.

Aspeiran too picked up his pen and looked over the matters that needed to be handled. Even as he did so, the sentence ‘Shuria is cute’ kept forcing its way into his mind.

Aspeiran shook his head to shake off the sentence. It’s an unnecessary stray thought.

Although it ended a bit uncomfortably, I had gotten permission to enter the library anyway, so I headed straight to the library of Princhia Palace.

The library was much larger than I had imagined. It wasn’t even organized according to the decimal classification system I knew, so it seemed it would be difficult to find the books I needed.

While I was at a loss, a kind librarian approached me.

“If you need any books, I can find them for you.”

“Oh, thank you!”

Fortunately, things went smoothly. No, I thought they did.

The real problem occurred after finding the books.

“Huh…”

I groaned as I looked around the bookshelf I was guided to. There were ridiculously few books related to Beltraum, not even enough to fill one row of the bookshelf.

“Um, is this all the books related to Beltraum?”

I asked, unable to hide my bewilderment. The librarian nodded.

“Yes. Many books related to Beltraum were discarded after the lord ascended to the throne.”

“Ah…”

What more could I say when they said this was all? I made a library card and borrowed three books to return to the breeding grounds.

That night. After finishing all my work and returning to my room, I took out the borrowed books and laid them out on my desk.

There were three books in total. “Beltraum, A History of Calamity”, “How to Act When a ‘Door’ Occurs”, and “Monster Guidebook”.

I should study a bit before going to bed today. I wonder if there will be any useful information.

I first opened the book titled “Beltraum, A History of Calamity”. Skimming through it, it seemed to be a history book summarizing what happened in Elos after the first ‘Door’ opened.

“…Two years after the occurrence of the first ‘Door’, on February 15, 532 of the Arcan calendar. Duke Ebraim Roakin finally makes a decision. It was the birth of the Roakin Kingdom, the ruler of the North…”

It was literally a history book. I quickly flipped through the pages.

The book then continued with content such as how, after a long war, the continent of Elos was divided into seven countries: Roakin in the north, the three desert countries in the west, Florn in the east, Alpia in the south, and Rubabl in the center.

Learning about the stories of this world that I didn’t know was very enjoyable from the perspective of a novel fan.

But unfortunately, there was no information about monsters that I wanted.

I put away “Beltraum, A History of Calamity” and opened the next book, “How to Act When a ‘Door’ Occurs”. It was the thinnest of the three books.

With a title like ‘How to Act~’, it will probably say things like ‘When you encounter a monster after a door opens, do ~’. I skimmed through the book with little expectation and a light heart.

But unexpectedly, it contained quite interesting content.

I straightened my lazily sprawled posture and looked into the book seriously.

“How to Act When a ‘Door’ Occurs” described basic information about Beltraum along with how to act in case of Beltraum-related disasters.

As there weren’t many stories about Beltraum in , most of the content was new to me.

I twirled the pen in my right hand as I carefully read through the book.

“Beltraum is divided into seven types of terrain, and only one type of terrain is connected to Elos through a ‘Door’ at a time. At this time, the terrain connected to Elos is called the ‘surface terrain’.”

“Surface terrain…”

“The connected surface terrain is maintained for 9 days, after which all ‘Doors’ disappear for one day before the next terrain takes the surface.”

“For example, if the snowy mountain terrain is occupying the surface, the connection with the snowy mountain terrain is maintained for 9 days, then after a one-day gap, it connects to the next terrain, the forest terrain.”

“If you enter the snowy mountain terrain and the surface terrain changes to another terrain after 9 days, you cannot leave Beltraum until the snowy mountain terrain comes to the surface again. This is because only one terrain, the surface terrain, is connected to Elos through doors.”

“…What?”

If you don’t escape in time and the surface terrain changes, you get trapped inside Beltraum…?

Then if, when I entered, it was right before the surface terrain changed, I could have been wandering around in Beltraum and said goodbye to my life just like that?

“I, I almost died before even seeing my bias’s face.”

I thought I was lucky, but it really was a miracle that things went well.

I took a moment to put my hands together and thank my heavenly luck. As I’m not religious, the object of my prayer was the author of who created our As.

“Thank you for writing … thank you for creating the god-tier character As… thank you for reincarnating me here and letting me meet As… I’m not sure if you did the last two, but…”

Finishing the prayer perfunctorily, I picked up the pen again. As I have to return this book soon, I think I should jot down in my notebook the content that seems good to remember.

I moved the pen quickly, reviving memories of studying for exams. Then at some point, the speed of moving the pen started to slow down noticeably.

“…”

I rubbed my blurry eyes vigorously. Is it because I experienced a lot of things today? Somehow I was more tired than usual.

‘But I want to finish reading this book before going to sleep…’

I tried to stay alert, but my vision kept getting blurry.

Each time, tap tap tap, the pen hit the paper and ink smudged here and there. All the letters were jumping up energetically.

The pen that was drawing a long line on the paper rolled out of my hand with a thud. My head bent down completely.

In the end, I couldn’t endure anymore and collapsed on the desk, falling asleep right there.

As a result of not going to bed on time and persisting at the desk, what found Shuria was an extreme oversleep and muscle pain.

“This is bad, this is bad, this is bad!”

Shuria hastily put on whatever clothes she could grab, roughly wiped the sleep from her eyes, and dashed out of the room. But it was already 8 AM. An hour later than her usual work time.

Shuria entered the underground breeding grounds with a criminal’s mindset.

Sammemma, who had been desperately waiting only for Shuria, saw her and immediately howled, pounding the floor with its two front paws as if scolding her.

“Waowoong-! Kiwuwoong-!”

“Oh my, I’m sorry! Mommy is sorry!”

Apologizing repeatedly, Shuria hurriedly prepared Sammemma’s breakfast first.

Today, as a sign of apology, she added more top-quality venison. Only then did Sammemma soften its heart and stop howling.

The morning walk that followed was more tiring than other days due to the excited Sammemma, and the morning playtime conducted while enduring muscle pain was more painful than usual.

It wasn’t until around lunchtime that Shuria could finally catch her breath. Now that the lunch walk was over too, Sammemma had free play time and nap time until evening.

“Well then…”

Shuria glanced at Sammemma playing well and quietly took out the book she couldn’t finish reading yesterday. She planned to study bit by bit while the children played.

Ding-dong-.

It was at that moment that the visitor’s bell installed in front of the fence gate rang.

“Huh?”

Shuria raised her head that had been buried in the book. Someone was standing beyond the fence.

A beauty with a calm impression, with grayish hair tinged with purple, standing with her back straight as if not willing to give an inch.

Aspeiran’s chief aide, Kiara.

‘It’s the first time Kiara has come to the breeding grounds. I wonder what brings her here…’

Ah.

“That’s right!”

Kiara was supposed to come see Sammemma at 1:25 PM today!

Checking the clock, it was exactly 1:25 PM. As expected of Aspeiran’s closest aide. Her punctuality is identical to Aspeiran’s.

Shuria quickly closed the book, came down from the pergola, and greeted Kiara.

“Hello, Kiara! Good afternoon. Have you had lunch?”

“Yes. How about you, young lady Shuria?”

“Of course, I ate well too! But you know, Kiara. You’re the first to ring the visitor’s bell. It makes such a pretty sound, I wonder why no one else rings it? Everyone just keeps knocking on the fence strangely.”

“I wonder. Maybe they don’t know there’s a bell? How about changing it to a bigger one? Or hanging several around the fence?”

“Oh, that’s a good idea. I should string several bells on a long rope and wrap it around the entire fence.”

Agreeing with Kiara’s words, Shuria relaxed her shoulders that had been stiff with tension. It was her first time being alone with Kiara, but the atmosphere was quite good.

It was just as she was guiding Kiara inside the fence. Sammemma rushed over and blocked Shuria’s front. Lowering its body and wrinkling its nose, it was eyeing Kiara warily.

Shuria spoke firmly to Sammemma.

“Sit. That’s right. It’s okay, this is a guest.”

At those words, Sammemma, though still suspicious, slightly lowered its guard and sat down. Kiara’s eyes showed a strange light.