After leaving Loran's underground laboratory and breathing the air aboveground, Charles felt better than ever.
By comparison, the murky air underground and the black water that oozed out whenever he stepped down couldn't possibly smell good.
Charles first returned to his room in the castle and slept for a while. Afterward, he left the estate and went back to his farm outside.
When Bruce heard Charles's voice, he hurried out of the room. "Master, you've finally come back!"
"I thought you didn't want your servant anymore!"
Bruce was bawling his eyes out. Charles had been gone for over ten days, and Bruce had been worried sick.
Charles patted Bruce on the head and comforted him. "All right, all right. I'm back now, aren't I?"
Charles went inside and summoned some Demon Worms to keep Bruce busy.
Sure enough, once Bruce got busy, he temporarily forgot about everything else.
While Bruce was occupied, Charles went to another room.
There, he summoned the book that the Omniscient Carbuncle had given him.
The cover showed a face contorted in pain, though it wasn't human.
Its skin had a faint sheen. If not for the pain twisting its features, it would have looked quite beautiful.
Charles carefully examined the book's cover and saw the face's ears from behind.
Pointed ears.
The cover had been made from the skinned head of an elf. The process must have been agonizing, and even after the head had been made into a book cover, some sort of witchcraft or something similar had still been inflicted upon it.
The elf's soul was likely trapped inside the cover, enduring endless torment.
Charles exhaled softly, then opened the book.
For now, Charles could only read the first three pages.
All three pages were blank, without a single word on them.
This