Overlord: Welcome the Birth of the King

A cool evening breeze drifted through the window.

Lyle, who had been lying on the bed asleep, suddenly opened his eyes and sat up straight.

"Hah…"

"What a nightmare."

Lyle raised a hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead and exhaled deeply, murmuring softly to himself.

In his dream, he had seen the skeletal overlord standing before him, gazing at him coldly with crimson eyes.

"Damn it!"

Lyle smirked coldly, cursing under his breath.

The skeletal overlord was a transmigrator, and so was Lyle. The skeletal overlord was a player, and Lyle was too!

"So why should I fear you?" Lyle took a deep breath, slapped his cheeks lightly to wake himself further, then got out of bed and looked out the window.

The world outside was cloaked in darkness.

Walking to the window of his rented room, Lyle pushed it open. The cool breeze rushed in, washing away much of his restless mood.

He hadn't realized he'd slept until nightfall.

The inn was a modest two-story European-style building, and Lyle's room was on the second floor. Through the window, he could see a narrow alleyway below and the nearby street.

A series of wooden railings extended outward from the window. They looked old and far from sturdy, making them a potential tool for skilled thieves who might climb up from the alley walls.

Lyle observed the scene briefly and shook his head before shutting the window again.

This small inn was certainly no defense against thieves.

After freshening up and regaining his composure, Lyle left his room and headed out.

Compared to the bustling crowds during the day, the streets were much quieter now. Only groups of adventurers, dressed in armor and carrying weapons, strolled casually through the area.

Earlier, Lyle had asked the innkeeper about nearby shops and their locations.

His first stop was a clothing store.

The outfit he had been wearing was over ten days old and had developed a sour odor. With his plans to head into the Forest of Tob, it was time to prepare some fresh clothing.

When he left the shop, Lyle carried a bundle of clothes and wore a long black robe that covered his entire body.

The purchases cost him a total of three silver coins.

The most expensive item was the black robe he now wore, which had cost one silver and seven copper coins. The rest of the clothing consisted of simple, coarse garments similar to the ones he'd worn before.

The black robe was a necessity. Lyle was about to visit the Magician's Guild, and dressing too shabbily would be inappropriate for such a place.

In the kingdom, every major city had branches of both the Adventurer's Guild and the Magician's Guild.

However, unlike the Magician's Guild headquarters in the capital, the branches in other cities primarily served as commercial hubs. They rarely focused on training magic users.

Those with an aptitude for magic were usually sent from these branches to the capital for proper training.

The reason for this disparity was simple: money.

The traditional customs of the Rejester Kingdom meant its upper echelons placed little importance on the Magician's Guild. As a result, the guild received minimal financial support from the ruling class.

Thus, most Magician's Guild branches across the kingdom had shifted their focus to creating and selling magical tools and scrolls.

The Magician's Guild branch in this city was housed in an unassuming three-story building. Without asking locals for directions, Lyle might never have guessed its purpose.

Unlike the bustling Adventurer's Guild, the Magician's Guild was eerily quiet.

There were no guards at the entrance.

Not that they were necessary—who would dare break into a Magician's Guild?

Standing before the dark brown wooden door, Lyle raised his hand to push it open.

Ding!

A soft chime rang out from above the door.

Lyle looked up to find a small bell, about the size of a fist, hanging at the top corner of the door. The bell occasionally flickered with a faint red glow.

A magical device?

The thought crossed Lyle's mind.

Click!

The door swung open on its own.

"Convenient," Lyle thought, a hint of understanding flashing in his eyes. The enchanted bell clearly served more functions than just convenience.

With that, he stepped into the Magician's Guild. A warm light spilled through the doorway, illuminating the interior.

The guild's interior was surprisingly bright and strikingly different from its plain exterior.

Whereas the Adventurer's Guild exuded a rugged simplicity, the Magician's Guild was a display of refinement.

The main hall was dominated by red and black tones. The walls were lined with red wooden panels, with the lower portions stained black.

The room was modest in size, no more than 100 square meters. From the outside, the building appeared much larger, suggesting there were other sections hidden behind partitions.

On either side of the hall, six chandeliers hung from the walls, their gentle light reflecting off the polished wooden surfaces. A cylindrical chandelier in the center of the ceiling cast a soft white glow, illuminating the entire space.

Just as Lyle began to take in his surroundings—

Perhaps it was because it was already evening, but there were not many people in the Mage Guild.

At the counter, two middle-aged men dressed in long robes sat. One of them was resting his chin on his hand, drowsily, and didn't open his eyes even when Lyle entered.

The other one was younger.

When Lyle entered the Mage Guild's hall, the younger man had already noticed him.

"I would like to buy some magical scrolls," Lyle said softly, walking up to him.

Unlike expensive magical items that cost around a thousand gold coins, magical scrolls were consumables, and their production process was fairly standardized, so their prices weren't too high.

But precisely because they were consumables, even slightly wealthier adventurers wouldn't easily buy them.

"My name is Vala. What kind of magical scrolls do you need?" The young mage, Vala, looked Lyle up and down with a slightly lazy tone.

His pure black hair was rare.

"Do you have watches? I would like to pick one out," Lyle said, bowing slightly, a little embarrassed.

Bang!

It seemed Vala had already anticipated this.

Vala casually pulled out a thin book from the bottom of the stack and placed it on the counter, then let his attention wander.

Facing this attitude, Lyle didn't mind. He simply picked up the book and awkwardly began flipping through it. He had forgotten that he didn't recognize any of the people in this world.

The first thing that caught his eye was the description of zero-level magical scrolls.

Lyle's initial awkwardness faded, as the illustrations on the page allowed him to understand the purpose of the scrolls, even if he couldn't read the text.

There were more zero-level magical scrolls than he had imagined.

For example, scrolls like Ignite, Continual Light, and Cleanse—all non-combat, life-oriented magic spells. These zero-level spells, though, were still useful for adventurers to some extent.

He recalled hearing someone from the Rock team mention these kinds of scrolls.

Some merchant caravans or nobles often carried zero-level magic scrolls to improve the quality of their travels.

After flipping through the pages for a while, Lyle quickly found the 'Papermaking' zero-level spell.

However, he didn't immediately decide to buy it. He continued browsing the book, and the next section contained first-level magic.

Although the number of first-level scrolls was far fewer, the usefulness and effectiveness of these scrolls had greatly increased!

"Repair (Level 1)": Can repair damaged items.

"Odorless (Level 1)": Removes any odor from the user.

"Floating Board (Level 1)": Creates a semi-transparent floating board to carry items.

...

"Magic Arrow (Level 1)": Fires three magic arrows for an attack.

Lyle noticed that the scrolls for offensive magic were few—only three in total. Most of the scrolls were support-based.

Hmm?

When he flipped to the last page, he found it was missing.

No second-level magic scrolls?

Lyle was stunned. If he remembered correctly, with the scroll manufacturing technology that humans in this other world had mastered, they should be able to make third-level magic scrolls.

Moreover, the Slane Theocracy even had the rare technology to create fourth-level magic scrolls!

Even though third-level magic scrolls should be a relatively rare resource for the Mage Guild, second-level scrolls shouldn't be treated this way.

So, it wasn't that there weren't any, but that they weren't sold to the public?

Or maybe ordinary buyers weren't qualified to purchase them.