"Well, enough about that." She changes the conversation. "Like I said before, this is the main cave of my hidden base. Now, tell me, do you see anything peculiar in here?"

I do as she says. I look around, squinting my eyes to see any hidden details that I might have missed.

Nope, nothing out of the ordinary! It's just a big cave with swirling road that goes all the way down to the bottom.

"You don't see it?" she says with a grin.

See what! I don't see anything!

"Then, my spell is working perfectly."

She snaps her finger.

"What the...!"

In front of me stands a huge pitch-black pillar. It's as wide as at least five humans and it stands proud right from the bottom of the cave. Its surface is scratched with various symbols, no doubt something magical in nature. It spins slowly without making any sound whatsoever.

H-how could I have missed such an object? It sits right in front of me the whole time!

"Invisibility magic." She explains. "My last case protection if any intruder manages to reach this place. Of course, it's absolutely useless against the Three Heroes, especially Tina, but hey, if they are here, then my plan is pretty much over anyways."

Invisibility magic, eh? I'd love to have that. I can already think a couple of situations where it would become extremely useful including to spy at girls when they change their clothes or take a bath

"This pillar is my trump card against the Three Heroes. With it, I can finally stand a chance against them."

This thing? I don't see anything special about it.

"Not now though. It will still take a little bit more time until it matures."

I am at lost on what she's saying right now.

"Oh, apologies. I forget to tell what this pillar's function is, don't I?" she says after she notices my dumb expression. "It's to gather magic, you see."

'Gather magic? From the environment, you mean?" I guess.

"Yes. But not from the environment here, or else the Three Heroes will discover this place right away due to its lower-than-usual mana concentration. No, it gathers magic from another world, or to be exact, the space in-between. Mana exists there, and with that pillar I can draw it here and store it for my battle against the Three Heroes. I invented this pillar by myself, by the way. Not even Tina knows of its existence."

As expected from the Demon Queen! Not only she's a babe, but she has wonderful brains too!

"Queen! You have returned!"

A squeaky voice comes out of nowhere, startling me who had thought we're all alone in this place.

Then, a goblin comes out from the bottom, running as fast as his tiny legs would take him upwards to where we are standing.

"Welcome back, my Queen!" he gives a bow that just looks plain ridiculous on him.

"Ah, Grotto. Good timing. Please lead this young man to that room and give him that clothing for him to wear."

"So, this is the boy, my Queen?"

"Yes, he is indeed, Grotto."

"Wonderful! Wonderful!"

The goblin deftly comes at me and shakes my hand, not caring the least that I am not wearing any clothes right now.

"I am truly, truly grateful that Milord had decided to help our Queen!"

"U-uh, yeah, sure." I say, not sure on how to respond.

He releases my hand before bowing once more, this time towards me.

"Please, follow me, Milord."

I give an unsure glance towards the Queen.

"Do not worry. Grotto here is my most faithful butler. He has served our family for a long time. He'll take you to your room. After you've gotten clothed, we can talk further."

And so the goblin named Grotto takes me to my room, which is quite a nicely decorated cavern-room, with a bed and other of the usual stuff you see in a bedroom. But the best thing is that it has a bookcase filled with all sorts of magic books. Finally! I can learn about the magic in this world!

"Please wait a moment. I shall bring Milord's clothes right away."

The goblin exits with a bow before closing the door behind him.

Quickly, I reach towards the book titled "Introduction to Magic".

Let's see here...

Well, first of all, magic is a process in which one uses mana to bring otherwordly phenomenon to the world. Nothing I don't already know there. Mana exists both on the outside and the inside. The world itself has mana floating in the air but our bodies also have their internal mana. A mage would commonly use their internal mana for the fuel for their magic. It is doable for a mage to use external mana instead, but gathering mana from the outside to the inside is impractical and dangerous, since the mage will need to hold all that mana inside his body, making him susceptible of mana poisoning, a sickness that happens if one has too much mana inside him. And if one has so much more mana inside him than he can handle, he can explode into pieces, as his body fails to keep the mana together.

The amount of mana one has naturally can differ variantly. One can be born with much higher natural mana than his peers, making his potential to harness magic better. This leads to kingdoms rising with rulers with high magic potential in their bloodlines. They protect the others that lack their talent in exchange for their high status.

Mages can be split into two schools. One is the traditional pure magic one and the other is the mage-warrior one, combining magic with psychical prowess. The pure magician is more knowledgeable in magic than their more psychical brethren. However, they are weak once they're exposed, unlike the warrior-mage who can still fight back.

"Milord, I bring you some clothes."

My reading is interrupted by a knock on the door.

I open it to see Grotto holding a bundle of clothes on his hand.

I thank him, refusing his offer to dress me, saying I can dress myself just fine.

"Very well then. The Queen says feel free to read the books in Milord's room. If Milord has anything to ask, then Milord should go to her."

He bows once again like before.

I look at the clothes he brings me. It's a white shirt with long grey pants and a grey-green cloak. A very simplistic clothing fit for a traveler.

Then, I realize something.

He hasn't brought me any underwear.

Did the Demon Queen forget or what?

Ah, no matter. The pants are soft enough it wouldn't be a bother.

It will be a bother though if he has a boner since it will clearly be visible to any girls who look at his crotch without anything holding it back.