Every other week, Janet was allowed to have a break, even from her normal studies. She could spend this time however she wanted, though that usually meant being accompanied by Ivan or several of the veterans who still had all their limbs.

Thankfully, the only thing she wanted to do was read in the library. The men and women of the mansion had all brought their things, since their lives were to be spent here, which meant that they also brought books and reading materials for Janet to take a look at. Not wanting to always ask Ivan for questions, Janet made the decision to read a lot.

The first time she went into the library, she had to dust everything off. Originally, the library held some unfortunate secrets for the Brittoli Family, so it was off limits. Now that Janet wanted to read, the maids were allowed to clean, though many unsavory things were brought to light.

But that first day, nothing was clean. She had to use her own ability to dust everything off. And while she did so at the beginning, she eventually started to use wind magic to blow the dust off of everything.

But the things she learned were fantastic. She learned of the various beasts and things roaming the lands outside the safety of the inner kingdom and also saw paintings of dangerous monsters from legends.

She read stories of heroes and generals of old, how they battled enemy nations by themselves and conquered most of the fertile land. Only the freezing mountains and plains in the north, the burning sands of the south, and the barren wastelands of the west were left unexplored. To the east was the ocean. This brought in quite a few problems with storms and large aquatic beasts terrorizing the coast.

But this also meant that most of the stronger fighters were stationed at the outer regions of the kingdom, or the Outer Kingdom. Towns and villages were few and far between, but in the Inner Kingdom, while monsters were few, the people were not. Many towns and cities dotted the landscape.

So if monsters from the Outer Kingdom made it past the line of defense, then there would be a lot of people in trouble.

But the Brittoli Family, as a Baron, didn’t have the strength to survive in the Outer Kingdom, or the prestige to live in the Inner Kingdom. Thus, the Middle Kingdom was where the lower nobles called home.

However, she ended up putting up the political and geography books in favor of stories of myths and monsters. One such book spoke of a strange individual that looked to be a large amalgamation of many different creatures.

This beast had sensitive hearing, sight, smell, and taste. Its body looked like a quadrupedal animal, with a dog’s snout, a rabbit’s ears, and a hawk’s eyes. Its body was covered in scales, while leathery wings extended from its shoulder blades. Its tail and the tips of its wings were topped with feathers, while tufts of fur stuck out of the neck, rump, and head.

The entire creature was pictured to be black, as it perched on top of a large dead tree, its wings splayed outwards as if ready to fly at any moment. Underneath the image was a note.

‘Taken from a recording crystal found in the wilderness.’

The creature was simply called the Midnight Monster. No one had ever reported seeing one alive in their lives, but Janet was absolutely ecstatic for some reason. She marked the page with a piece of paper and went about making plans for her next day off, which surprised everyone.

Except Ivan. He smirked as he went back to his work.