Dangerous House-Elf

Watching Nati speak on and on until tears welled up in her disproportionately huge eyes, Manus instinctively leaned back slightly.

It was a completely subconscious reaction.

Although her words were full of endless loyalty to the King Family, all Manus saw was a failed product of suspected bloodline modification or magical alteration.

If he was right, this bizarre loyalty was probably the effect of some sort of magical ideological imprint. Its effects would be nothing more than "absolute loyalty," "cannot do anything detrimental to the master," and so on.

Yet in reality, this kind of slave was practically a brightly highlighted point of entry for anyone with ulterior motives.

After all, this was a living creature that could think, be deceived, and be controlled!

And after being altered, the minds of these slaves would only be more fragile, with even more obvious flaws.

Even if no one used them as a point of entry, with such a crude and loophole-ridden effect, how could you guarantee that what it believed was good for you was actually good for you?

Even an intelligent core needed countless restrictions before it could be granted a certain level of authority, and those restrictions had to be privately customized before it could be safely put to use—

Aside from daily life, it could only handle mechanical tasks such as calculations within a Mage Tower and the scheduling of automated operations.

As for Nati—or rather, a living creature like a House-Elf—her head looked big, but it hardly seemed capable of holding many restrictive clauses in her mind.

By Manus's own estimation, fewer than twenty Enchantment School spells would be enough to expose the flaws in that ideological imprint.

Once upon a time, spellcasters had used slaves altered in this way, but it had never been accepted by the mainstream among spellcasters. At most, they could be used for cleaning, or by exceptionally poor spellcasters.

After bloodline modification technology matured and the prices of low-level labor slaves fell, this primitive method no longer even had a market at the bottom end.

For someone like Manus, who had never been associated with poverty in terms of resources since entering the magical world, these altered slaves instinctively felt more dangerous than convenient.

This time, Aivina clearly could not have guessed what Manus was thinking. She merely assumed that he had been frightened because it was his first time seeing a House-Elf. After all, House-Elves... really could not be called attractive.

"Alright, have Nati bring you whatever books you want, or have her fetch snacks and drinks if you need them. Mother is going to find your father and grandfather."

As Griffin's wife, Aivina would also be one of the key figures at the banquet later. There were many things she needed to prepare in advance.

"...Alright, Mother."

After thinking it over, Manus still did not raise any objections regarding the House-Elves.

Since they were still using House-Elves, it meant that no problems had arisen with them so far. Besides, he really did need a guide to help him find books in this library.

This library was so huge, yet they had not even prepared a catalogue...

"Then, please first introduce what there is—"

"Oh! Young Master Manus said please to Nati! On the first day Nati served Young Master Manus! Nati truly is an incompetent House-Elf!"

Before Manus could finish his sentence, he saw Nati clutch her head, bend over in agony, and let out a low howl.

Faced with what looked suspiciously like a mental breakdown, Manus instinctively stepped half a pace diagonally backward and immediately cast a Shield Spell on himself.

Now that his mother had gifted him a wand, Manus had been permitted to study, practice, and use magic. He no longer needed to refrain from casting first-circle spells and above even in private as he had before.

Returning to the matter at hand, Manus realized that Nati—or rather, House-Elves—were in even worse mental condition than he had expected.

But since House-Elves were still being used today, that meant they were mentally ill creatures one could still communicate with. So as long as he followed their logic...

"Stop making noise! Bring me introductory books on Charms!"

Manus gave up on having Nati offer him any advice. This would do...

"Yes! Young Master Manus! Please wait for Nati at the desk over there."

Sure enough, Nati immediately returned to her mental comfort zone. The entire House-Elf looked much more normal. After pointing out the desk's location to Manus, she bowed to him and vanished from the spot with a pop.

"Teleportation?"

Manus frowned.

Although he did not know how far Nati could travel with that trick or how much it consumed, the fact that the spell showed almost no warning signs made House-Elves seem even more dangerous.

After walking over and sitting at the desk at the very front of the bookshelves, Manus looked up at the star chart in the sky.

"It actually matches the current night sky..."

The positions of the stars were not fixed forever. It was simply that observing visible changes with the naked eye often required years, or even decades, of observation.

Although he did not know when this library had been built, it clearly could not have been within the past few years.

"Is someone continuously adjusting the star chart, or was a self-correcting spell set from the beginning?"

Pop—

As Manus pondered this, the sound of teleportation rang out again. Nati returned carrying a stack of books almost as tall as she was.

"Young Master Manus, Nati found the The Standard Book of Spells that you wanted. Young Master Griffin once said that this series was the Charms textbook at Hogwarts."

After placing the books in her arms onto the table, Nati bowed to Manus once more.

"Does Young Master Manus have any other needs? Please give Nati your orders!"

"It's fine... You may withdraw for now. I'll call you if I need anything."

After thinking it over, Manus still did not have Nati stay here. He truly was not used to keeping such an unstable bomb by his side when he still lacked the ability to protect himself...

No, this was even more terrifying than a bomb.

No matter how unstable a bomb was, he could at least calculate when it might explode and how likely it was. But he could not calculate an intelligent creature with an abnormal mind.

"Alright. Nati will await Young Master Manus's summons at all times."

Nati looked somewhat disappointed, but she still vanished in the next instant with a pop.

Only then did Manus let out a breath of relief and pick up the first book from the stack beside him.

The Standard Book of Spells: Volume One, by Miranda Goshawk.

Memorizing the name, Manus opened to the first page and found that it was neither the table of contents nor an introduction written by the author, but an annotation left behind by someone who had read the book.

"First edition, and also the complete edition of The Standard Book of Spells. The most comprehensive spell textbook in the magical world to date."