Maxiem’s eyes sparkled with awe toward Ruben, who had discovered the legacy of the Great Archmage.

Feeling uncomfortable under that gaze, Ruben frowned.

“It wasn’t ‘found.’”

“Then what?”

“I merely purchased a castle that had changed hands most frequently over the past few years—a place no one cared about anymore. Somewhere easily disposable, in case the Grand Saintess appeared and His Grace’s condition improved again.”

Maxiem nodded up and down as if he roughly understood.

“After all, before passing away, the Archmage sank deep into alcohol and gambling. Perhaps he sold it off for a pittance. Whoever was the first buyer of that castle—if we could track them down—they’d surely be either an alcoholic or a gambler!”

Ruben stared at Maxiem, puzzled, as the latter fluently recited facts about the Archmage as if rehearsed.

“…Why do you know so much?”

“Because the Archmage was my great role model! Though his end was lonely, no mage greater than him has ever risen in the Empire since! If only the Emperor hadn’t been tricked by the Empress into dragging him into political struggles, he might have…!”

Mid-sentence, Maxiem abruptly clamped his mouth shut and glanced nervously at Edan.

Edan didn’t particularly like the Emperor or Empress, but regardless, such words could still be construed as insulting the royal family.

Edan, who had been leaning with arms crossed while listening to their conversation, straightened his posture.

“So, all that time spent rummaging through books in the library every day—was it just to find this secret space?”

“Yes.”

“For what purpose?”

That’s…

Under Edan’s sharp gaze, Maxiem and I simultaneously locked eyes with each other.

“Never mind. We’ll know once we go in.”

When neither of us readily spoke up, Edan strode decisively toward the portal.

Maxiem quickly stepped in front of him to block his path.

“Your Grace! Wait, just a moment!”

“What?”

Edan halted his foot, which had already stepped deeply into the portal.

“There might be traps.”

“Traps? How would you know?”

“As I mentioned earlier, the Archmage was my role model! So I know very well—his hobbies, that is.”

Edan irritably twisted his head side to side.

“I already know perfectly well that the Archmage was your role model, and that you know about him at a stalker-level depth.”

Edan narrowed his eyes at Maxiem.

“Do we really need to know about that old man’s hobbies right at this moment?”

Maxiem slightly hunched his shoulders as he replied.

“Well… it might be dangerous.”

This time, I asked.

“Dangerous how?”

Maxiem looked toward the portal, appearing slightly tense.

No—actually, trembling with excitement, a mix of anticipation and anxiety.

“He genuinely loved traps, though he considered them mere hobbies, just playful pranks. His disciples in the Mage Tower reportedly fell victim to them constantly. How do I know? If my family hadn’t fallen from grace, I would’ve continued studying at the Mage Tower…”

“Enough.”

Maxiem really did seem like a stalker of the Archmage.

Edan ruthlessly cut off his rambling and lightly kicked Maxiem behind the knee.

“Get down.”

As he spoke, Edan tapped Maxiem’s other knee with his foot, again and again.

“Egh.”

Maxiem barely steadied his wobbling legs.

“Just in case, I’ll go first.”

Ruben stepped into the portal ahead of us.

One by one, we crossed through the rippling orange light.

“Good heavens.”

I looked around, eyes wide with shock.

Beyond the portal lay a place thick with ashen mist.

Everywhere stood only withered trees, an entirely gray landscape.

This magically constructed, artificially vast space—endless and baseless—felt profoundly eerie, utterly devoid of wind or sound.

“Latieana, come to my side.”

Edan called out to me from a few steps away.

Thump-thump.

Perhaps because of what had happened that afternoon, my heart raced at Edan’s simple words.

My ears burned hot; afraid he’d notice my state, I stayed still—until Edan tilted his head slightly.

“Not coming?”

When I still didn’t move, he grabbed my arm and pulled me firmly beside him.

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah, nothing. I’m just surprised. I didn’t expect a space like this…”

At my words, Edan glanced upward, lightly scanning the surroundings.

“True enough.”

Ruben was surveying all directions, while Maxiem stood stunned, mouth agape.

“This is spatial magic.”

“Only the Archmage himself could create spatial magic of this magnitude!”

I agreed it was impressive, but it felt too dark and gloomy—almost as if warning accidental intruders to turn back immediately.

“Which way should we go?”

“In spatial magic, you’ll reach your destination no matter which direction you walk—assuming, of course, the mage designed it that way. Still, we should prepare just in case.”

At Edan’s words, Maxiem pulled a thread from his pocket and placed it outside the portal.

Then, unspooling the thread, he began walking forward.

“For a stalker of the Archmage, that’s a surprisingly old-fashioned method.”

Edan was staring at him incredulously when—

“Sage!”

Ruben drew his sword toward Maxiem.

“Duck!”

“Huh? What?”

Before Maxiem could even process his confusion, he dropped straight to the floor—and Ruben struck down something flying through the air with his blade.

Clang!

The object collided with a sharp sound, then thudded heavily onto the ground.

Ruben stepped closer and picked it up.

“An axe… indeed.”

It was real. In Ruben’s hand lay a finely sharpened hand axe.

A genuine axe. Brand new, complete with a wooden handle.

The exact kind used for chopping wood.

“Traps as a hobby?”

Edan let out a hollow laugh, and both Ruben and I turned to stare at Maxiem.

“Uh… no. I heard he was that kind of person…”

This wasn’t “hobby” or “prank” level.

If it had hit, you’d be dead!

“Sh-should we keep going? Probably nothing else will come out now.”

Maxiem bravely stepped forward again—but not long after, something flew at us once more.

“Kyaaah!”

This time, it wasn’t just one or two.

Edan and Ruben positioned themselves protectively on either side of me, swiftly deflecting the barrage flying chaotically from all directions.

After the commotion settled and I raised my head, Maxiem was sprawled flat on the ground off to one side.

Arrows were mercilessly embedded all around him, pinning even the hem of his priestly robe.

As I pulled out the arrows, I asked,

“Sage, are you okay?”

“Ugh… yes. I’m f-fine…”

His eyes seemed to scream, “Why didn’t you protect me?!”—but Maxiem couldn’t utter a word and simply stood up from the floor.

After that, spears, swords, needles stuck in rocks—dense and relentless.

Something kept bursting out, and Edan and Ruben deflected them effortlessly.

“For a ‘joke,’ this is pretty lethal.”

Despite saying that, Ruben hadn’t broken a single bead of sweat.

In contrast, Maxiem, clinging tightly behind Ruben as he followed, had turned deathly pale.

I felt the same.

Even though Edan protected me well, the fear of not knowing when or where something might suddenly fly out was enough to make cold sweat pour down my back.

This really wasn’t a joke.

Thank goodness Edan caught me when I discovered this secret space. If Maxiem and I had truly entered here alone, I’d have died the moment I stepped in—my head split open by an axe.

“What on earth is hidden here that it needs to be guarded this intensely?”

Edan seemed to be growing increasingly irritated.

“Indeed. At this point, we should consider ourselves lucky no one ever discovered it.”

Ruben chimed in agreement.

Maxiem and I silently prayed for the end of this hollow path, too tense even to feel irritation—while the two of them merely seemed annoyed by the Archmage’s traps.

“Ah! Look over there!”

Maxiem’s voice rang out, brimming with elation.

A door had appeared. Truly, out of nowhere.

It materialized suddenly in midair—though, given this entire space was magical, it was only natural. Still, after walking for so long through utter emptiness, the sudden appearance was startling.

Without hesitation, Edan opened the door.

Inside lay a cozy room, utterly unlike the black void we’d walked through until now.

A circular space, seemingly carved from wooden pillars.

“What is this?”

As we entered, lights began flickering on one by one from the ceiling.

The illumination originated from a massive circular artifact mounted above.

The room was lined with bookshelves curving along the circular wall, and in the center stood a single-person desk.

“This is the Archmage’s desk!”

Maxiem, having spotted yet another square emblem, reached out with emotion and gently caressed the desk.

There was nothing surprising about it.

This entire space, after all, belonged to the Archmage.

“Amazing.”

I scanned the books lining the circular walls.

Most were leather-bound volumes with gilt lettering.

Books on magic.

At a glance, there seemed to be nearly a thousand—all perfectly aligned, without a single numerical or positional error.

‘Truly, the lair of a mad genius.’

Edan and Ruben also observed the space.

For a moment, everyone fell silent—until Edan broke the quiet.

“So, what exactly did you plan to do after finding this secret space?”

Maxiem, who had been slumped over the desk, suddenly jolted upright as if snapping back to consciousness.

“Lady Latieana, may I speak now?”

Edan’s gaze brushed past Maxiem and settled on me.

“Actually, Edan.”

“Hmm?”

“I found a book on dark magic in the library.”

“Dark magic?”