At this point, nothing made sense. He felt like he had opened his history textbook—complex words and titles passing by his head, making no sense at all.
But the last word caught his attention.
Visionaries were those dreamers who could envision certain outcomes based on human behavior and social climate changes. They were normally the writers, scientists, politicians, or great thinkers of the world who had foreseen how it would change.
But it must have a special meaning in this twisted world, Nil thought.
"Anyway," the voice said, "come down the stairs."
Nearby, he saw stairs going down. So he followed.
The stairs spiraled downward, as if the architect had used a proper golden ratio design for the castle stairs.
"Who made these stairs?" Nil asked in wonder.
"Master Etam built this castle on his own."
Nil was surprised. Isn't it the job of dwarves to be the artisans and make cool things in a high fantasy world? I assumed elves were just good at archery and spirit channeling. Who could have thought that the species who live in trees could also create such architecture? Well, maybe Etam is simply an exception.
"Eh?" Suddenly finding himself on the ground floor, Nil was shocked. He had only descended one floor.
Heading down the corridor to the courtyard, Nil looked up at the building. It towered exactly five floors high.
"Corbenic! How did I get down so... fast?"
"Well, it's my master's magic: spatial contraption. He's very versatile in this aspects."
Are they trying to hide something from me? Or is this just a basic function of the magical house? Nil suspected.
Corbenic continued, "This way, to your right."
Down the courtyard, on the opposite side of the building Nil stood in front of, a folding door opened automatically.
It led to a nicely decorated drawing room—rather spacious and lavish for a tea room. At the center sat a low tea table surrounded by nice chairs, light enough to shift around to the open courtyard. The wall shelves were decked with fancy leather-bound books, some embedded with green, blue, or purple gems.
Like the chair in the dark room, this furniture was scrupulously designed, as if not a carpenter but a mathematician had crafted the oak pieces.
Inspecting the surroundings, Nil's eyes landed on the tea table. Beside a half-finished teacup—again with a miraculously intricate design—lay a piece of paper weighted by an ink pot.
"Master has left a letter for you before going to the ritual."
His eyes narrowed at that.
"The text and runes are seemingly indiscernible, even for me to read, so you'll have to make them out. Perhaps they belong to your world."
The frown deepened as he realized the truth. They were nothing but English.
"Hello there. Hope you're enjoying having the most beautiful body in the world. No... in all the worlds."
What a narcissist!
"I must first convey my apology for dragging you all the way to this world. You coming here must mean you had an unfortunate ending.
"But alas! I won't be able to send you back to your own world, as I'll be dead and gone when you read this."
What? I can't go home! Nil exclaimed inwardly. He started reading again, more carefully, searching for any clue.
"Don't worry—this world is good enough too. You can have all my wealth, my sorcery, my wisdom, and most importantly...
"My striking looks..."
This is no time for jokes, Nil muttered angrily.
"Yes, I'm sorry. Indeed, this is no time for jokes.
"Let's first discuss your survivability chances here as me in this world... Less than zero, actually.
"Apart from magical duties in the spirit world, you'll also have to deal with my mundane problems, which neither I nor Corbenic can help you with.
"First, you must act like me: look over my county—and try saving it from extinction, I plead—carry out my duties as one of the board members of the Council of Magic, and much more, like serenading the Queen."
*Excuse me?
"Don't let a single soul know that you're no longer Etam. If you do, you may die more miserably than you can imagine."
Nil frowned.
"Second, you have to learn a little of the modern languages—forty of them, to be precise—a bit of ancient languages—not all of them, just fifty or more.
"Then a little bit about history, theology, and ancient cultures, plus contemporary folk and country cultures.
"Then a little bit—just a little bit—of mathematics, physics, chemistry, geography, accountancy, laws, rhetoric, philosophy, diplomatics, and... Spiritology.
"There's much more, but you'll know when the time comes."
A bead of sweat trickled down Nil's forehead as he thought, What's with this long list of subjects? Hey Etam, this isn't a grocery list you can add to on a whim.
"Hey, don't worry! That knowledge is already scripted in my subconscious, so you won't have much problem acquiring it. Just go through the books in my library. If you have trouble understanding anything, ask Corbenic—he's a wonderful assistant in these cases.
"Remember: knowledge is strength, and you need it most in this perilous time."
And who dragged me into this 'perilous time'? Nil thought scathingly.
"...If I hadn't dragged you here and given you my body, who would have given you a second chance to live?"
Nil was taken aback. Either Etam had unassailable guessing abilities—which was quite provoking—or mind-reading powers—which was even more provoking.
"Now the last and most important step... Nil, this can be your key to returning to your own world."
"What!" Nil gasped.
He had read many reincarnation novels, and in almost all of them, the protagonist couldn't—or wouldn't—go back to their own world. In many, the protagonist had a miserable life they wanted to escape.
But this was no novel. He had family there. His heart pounded for their well-being. A family couldn't be bargained with money, power, or the most beautiful face in all the worlds.
He carefully read the next lines.
"Learn... no, master the art of sorcery. You must master it more scrupulously than I did.
"To return to your world, you have to reach at least the mythical level—the stage of sorcery that, honestly speaking, took me just a century.
"But you needn't worry. You have my years of research, all my items, my connections, and the sacred blood of the world's last elf."