"The last time I checked... there were 156 defensive artifacts, 6 defensive arrays, and 21 magic barriers of (tier-4) to (tier-6) strength.
I don't think without the key, her permission, and the registration of biometrics, anyone could infiltrate that place."
"And all these things just to protect a door...?"
"Yup."
Rein was looking around the room with her eyes to check the artifacts. We can already see the hidden barriers and the magic arrays, so there was no need to be too surprised.
We already knew about this highly fortified door. Actually, any mage walking in this room would notice these highly concentrated magic auras first before anything.
It was just too obvious that she was trying to prevent anyone from entering the room.
And there was certainly no way even I was capable enough to decipher all these high-level barriers as well as the highest-level magic arrays in a short time.
It was impossible without the use of magic or any skills.
And I can't use them right now so... well...
"What now?"
Even she was confused and worried right now.
She knew it was impossible to dismantle the barriers and magic arrays for me.
This was difficult... not that I was worried much.
"It's mom we are talking about. So, well, I at least know she won't cheat in her own game.
She must have already left the key here. We already have her permission and we already have master access to the main command system of the house, so it should be registered in this system too.
It should be alright if we find the key..."
I hoped I was right or, well, from how unpredictable she was, it wouldn't be wrong to say that I lost this one.
I would have to fulfill her wish after that and I feared it would be something... difficult.
So we have to hope that we find the key in this room.
"Do you know how does this special key look like?"
"Hmm..."
The key to her most personal room can only be one thing. The thing that she used the most and always carried around with her.
"It's a fountain pen. It also has a beautiful image of a griffin inscribed on its silver surface.
It's a wonderful pen that I have been seeing her use since my childhood days and there is also a special ocean blue gem on top of it.
You will know it's the key as soon as you see it, so... let's start searching..."
I started from the front drawers of her room, and Rein went to the left side.
There were countless shelves and drawers filled with documents and papers, many artifacts, countless books, and her favorite desk buried in a pile of papers in this room.
I knew she was one of the hardest-working people in this house.
Her mental stamina, concentration, willpower, and special stat [Domination] were also genuinely high.
I have already seen everyone's status window at the cost of a lot of my blood, but I now knew everyone's skills, stats, and some special things.
And mom's status window was even more special...
===Status===
Name: Nolen Heliox Kromet Von Aishwa Ethan Griffin.
Age: 39
Race: Human
Strength: 165
Dexterity: 189
Stamina: 171
Magic Power: 192
Intelligence: 180
Domination: 111
Luck: 108
Charm: 99
[Skill: Communication, Golden analysis, Pure insight, Parallel minds, Gold eyes, Red goblin power, Jupiter's gravity, Indomitable, Golden lion wings, Silver needle threads.]
[Authority holder]
...
============
The only one in our family as well as the whole of the capital with not one or two, but four innate skills.
Her communication skills were like no other because of the first skill that allowed her to communicate with any person as long as it is a language she knows a little about, her analysis skill made her some of the best analysis experts there was, and her special insight allowed her to have great knowledge of her surrounding area, and lastly… a special mind like Alf's, something that can work on different tasks at once.
She was the best for a reason, and her great skills didn't stop just there.
She had a restriction on the skills she can have because of her special innate skills but, all the skills she had, though non-combat skills and something she had only acquired after our 'that' incident, those skills were not something common.
They were the extraordinary skills of much rare creatures and just the fact that she possessed them was astonishing!
Back at the time when we faced that damn demon, she only had her power and authority to help me.
Her physical stats were of no use because she had no experience in physical combat, and her special power of domination and authority prevented her from using any Mana or similar energy. She… couldn't help me as much back then.
There were also the fucked up restrictions of the world and the effect of energy furnace…
'Well, the situation at that time was just ridiculous, so let's not think too much about it.'
My [Three eyes] called mom the most fascinating person, praising unlike it had ever done.
It was even greater than the time with grandpa, grandpa Zhen, and grandmother.
Anyway...
Mom's room was big, and the special door was on the far left of the room.
There was a door at the end of the room, which was supposed to be a room at the end of the house. So... just like the window beside the strange door, the door shouldn't have anything behind it.
The door would technically just open outside the house, but even a fool could tell the door was a special thing in this room.
There was no lock or doorknob to this door, so it was an even stranger thing.
Just thinking about how great efforts, resources, and manpower it would have required for her to build something like this was amazing.
The key to this was also something special...
An artifact pen and the first gift she received from my grandmother.
She got that pen when she had just started her carrier as a professional merchant.
That pen was a special artifact that made writing easy and the ink inside it practically never finished.
She made that pen into the key to her special personal space and I was excited to see just what kind of place there was behind that peculiar door.
But for that, we had to find the key-
"I found it!"
She shouted from behind, and I looked back at her radiant face, smiling as brightly as the full moon of the clear night.
She was standing near mom's desk and the pen she just took out was buried under that pile of paper on her desk.
'It was obvious... should have guessed.'
Anyway, she was smiling, and we had found the key.
"Good work, darling pink panther."
I praised her with a head pat as soon as we walked toward the left door and stood before it.
She was blushing because I called her by that name again, definitely misunderstanding something here.
It was even cuter this way, so, well; I didn't say much and accepted the special pen from her.
It definitely was a fine pen, actually. The image of the griffin on it was also perfect.
Griffins.
The guardian beasts of our family and creatures that are claimed to live in the areas around the griffin archipelago.
Said to be the rulers of winds and earth, they are one of the most important divine beasts on par with phoenixes and unicorns.
Griffins have many special powers, one of them being the absolute healing power.
Their feathers are said to be one of the holiest objects that can cure any illness, disease, or injury.
'And one such feather is possessed by our family and preserved at the estate at the archipelago...'
That thing is one of our family heirlooms and as a direct descendent of grandmother and most likely successor of this family after uncle El, I knew things that even Rein, Alf, and Carla didn't.
We had even more special things there and I am still learning about all that...
'But I must say... our family sure is amazing~!'
Well, as one of the four gatekeeper families that guarded the doors of the empire, our family had a special position in the empire despite its forever neutral standing.
I also knew that this standing was even more special than the other gatekeeper families.
They also had a guardian divine beast and their natural treasures, but they didn't have as rich history as our family.
Even when seeing independently, our family was more mysterious to others and special to members of our family.
'And not all the patriarchs of these special families have met, fought, and received a gift from their guardian beasts like my grandparents...'
The two of them were amazing, but, well, that was a special story for some other time.
For now...
"How do you use this key?"
She asked with a cute excited smile on her face and I nodded with a smile, coming out of my train of thoughts.
"Well, easy..."
Just think about a very complex equation that solves the three main magic arrays and creates a numerical code with a key shape in your mind.
Channel some energy with that same frequency of the key through the pen and then...
-Oooooooooooooong.
The ocean blue gem on top of the pen will start glowing.
"...?!"
After a while of bright blue glow, a blue light will shoot out from the tip of the pen... or from the gem on top of it, and the light will hit the door.
"...wow."
The door which is hit by this special ray of ocean blue light will start glowing with the same blue light and then... the door will open, revealing a dark area or more like a total void.
A pure dark, absolute darkness. We can't see anything beyond this door, even with our eyes.
"It's cool~. Let's go in~!"
Any girl would call this creepy or doubtful, but this one was different. She just grabbed my hands and shouted in her loud, excited voice.
Her pure eyes had stars in them and it was just... adorable~.
"Yes... let's go in."
I smiled warmly at my dear friend and interlocked our hands as we walked into this dark place together.
…
-Clank.
The door we walked in from closed behind us and in this totally dark place, lights started turning up one by one.
This was my mom's private room, so I expected it to be something remarkable, something like a castle treasury, a place filled with special artifacts, papers, or important documents.
But instead of that...
"Oh, lord... is that... you?!"
"Hmm... a mother's special room."
The area that appeared before our eyes after the lights turned on was a narrow hallway filled with photos on both sides of the wall.
My photos. My childhood photos no less...
'Rein... this friend of mine will have more fun than me while watching these photos.'
I knew she will have a blast just from the red look on her face and excited heavy breathing.
This private room of my dear mom... this was heaven for my darling friend.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l