Lord: Starting from a Goblin Nest

”Sera?”

Delaford called out twice with no response. Sensing the atmosphere was off, he quickly cut off the Beast Perception link to Big White. As soon as his own vision returned, he saw his room was full of people.

”Do you have any idea what you were doing?”

Ron sighed and looked at the goblin. ”We’re the ones asking for a favor, and we’re staying in their house. You can’t just go around prying into other people’s private business. It’s disrespectful.”

”We wouldn’t have been caught,” Delaford chuckled. ”Big White and I are the best—”

”And what if you were?” Victoria frowned. ”If you got caught, how would you have handled it?”

”He guards his study so heavily he won’t even let us on the stairs. Don’t you think he might have set up some kind of warning trap inside? Hmm?”

”We know we were wrong...” Sera sheepishly begged for forgiveness. ”We’ll never do it again.”

”It’s a good thing we’re light sleepers and Silvia has a habit of setting up Alarm Magic,” Ron said, his worried heart finally settling as he saw Big White slip back in from outside. ”Otherwise, you two would have caused a disaster, and we wouldn’t have even known what happened!”

After that, they couldn’t trust Delaford to sleep alone. Ron simply brought his blanket over and made do in the same room for the rest of the night.

It was certain that Hendrix was hiding a secret, but under the current circumstances, it was best not to provoke him.

「The next morning.」

Ron and the others bid farewell to Hendrix and Constance. They still had to deliver the other piece of evidence to 23A Violet Gate Street.

Before they left, Silvia asked Hendrix for a small sheet of lead to wrap the conical flask in. This was to prevent any potential investigators from using the Item Positioning Technique to find their lost intermediate product.

”I knew you’d be back.” Old Feibo warmly received Ron and his group. After taking the evidence, the smile on his face grew even wider.

”Carlos, go to my study and bring me that set of Engraving Knives!”

”But Father, those aren’t our family’s—” Carlos froze, but just as he was about to argue, his father shot him a fierce glare.

”You can’t use them anyway. Are you planning to keep them until I die so you can bury them with me? Bring them here!”

’Can’t use them? What are they?’ Aive watched Carlos curiously. He emerged from the study carrying a silver-gray box containing a set of Engraving Knives. The ends of the handles on these variously shaped knives were all carved with an eagle’s head made of Obsidian.

”This must be the origin of the Feibo family crest, right?” Ron recalled Carlos’s badge, which had an eagle’s head woven from silver thread on an Obsidian base.

”Exactly,” Old Feibo said, taking the knives from his younger son’s hands. He placed them on the table and pushed them toward Ron. ”This is the reward I spoke of.”

”This doesn’t seem very sincere,” Sera laughed. ”These knives are a bit too small. I doubt they could even kill a spider!”

Sera was, of course, referring to the kind of giant spider that was bigger than a person.

”These aren’t for killing,” Old Feibo chuckled. ”Of course, how you use them is ultimately up to you.”

”Now, allow me to give you a demonstration—”

Old Feibo selected an Engraving Knife from the box and casually picked up a vase. When the tip of the knife pierced the vase, the cringe-inducing, ear-piercing screech one might expect never came. The blade sank into the vase as easily as if it were cutting through water, leaving behind an indelible mark.

”Enchantment?” Silvia’s eyes widened. ”Are these Engraving Knives specifically for enchanting items?”

”Yes. Several generations of Feibo’s ancestors were renowned enchantment craftsmen. This set of knives is a family heirloom passed down from that era.” Old Feibo lowered his gaze, carving a final line into the vase.

”But unfortunately, due to something my great-grandfather’s grandfather supposedly did, he offended a very powerful being. That being placed a curse on our family, causing our bloodline’s affinity for Magic to diminish with each generation. By my sons’ generation, they’ve completely lost the ability to use these knives.”

”Even I can only perform very simple Enchantments—” Old Feibo waved his hand and threw the vase against the wall. However, the vase, which should have shattered into a million pieces, didn’t immediately explode. Only after it hit the floor did it break into fragments of various sizes. ”Like so: a one-time Enchantment, with the Trait of Resilience.”

”In my youth, I tried all sorts of methods to escape the curse’s affliction, but nothing worked. I can still only manage this much,” Old Feibo said with a helpless smile. ”Now I’m old, and I’ve accepted my fate.”

”But these Engraving Knives once had their glory days. It would be a great pity for them to fade into obscurity along with my family. I see there seem to be a few Casters among you, no? Why not take this opportunity to gift them to you? It serves as your reward and allows them to find worthy owners who can put them to good use.”

”Oh, right. Carlos, go get that set of books on Enchantment and give them to our guests as well.”

This time, Carlos was in the study for a long while. When he finally came out, Ron could no longer see the young man’s upper body—it was completely obscured by books.

Whether they were satisfied with the reward or not, it was certainly... substantial.

When Carlos placed the books on the table, a loud THUD echoed through the room, despite his best efforts to set them down gently.

”That must be several thousand pages! It’s gotta weigh eight or nine pounds, right?” Staring at the book collection that was nearly as tall as he was, Delaford the goblin was utterly overwhelmed.

To him, books were merely sleep aids. Besides helping him doze off, they served as pillows. But this set of books showed him a new use for them—physical hypnotism!

’Drop one of these on someone’s head, and even the most wide-awake person would be put to sleep!’

”About twelve thousand pages,” Old Feibo said with a slight smile. ”Thirty volumes in total, covering the general outline of Enchantment, its core principles, theoretical foundations, charts and appendices, detailed analyses, compiled notes, and just a *few* advanced techniques.”

”Well... thank you,” Ron said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry as he stared at the massive pile on the table. ”This is quite the... ’weighty’ gift.”

’Even with the help of the *Weaving Introduction*, it’ll take forever to get through all these books!’

”I’m glad you like it,” Old Feibo smiled, though Ron got the distinct impression he was gloating. ”Oh, right, there’s one more thing I should tell you in advance. This set of Engraving Knives, like our family, is also cursed. However, the being’s curse on the knives is a bit peculiar. To put it simply: they’re picky about their owner.”