Daunting was the word Caius would use not fascinating.

Nowhere in [To Kill A Demon Lord…] had that been mentioned. And with the conviction with which Anne spoke of it, Caius had to believe it was true. Which begs the question, how intentional had Samantha been when she included that? Surely she couldn't have actually come up with those distinct languages so did they just materialize in reality because she even devised them in her head with no real thought or intention behind it.

Interestingly, as ridiculous as that might seem, it was actually consistent with all that had happened so far.

Like how there are people whose lives never make it onto the page, even in the barest, and yet they exist. They live full lives and make decisions and choices. And this isn't even just about the average citizen because there are Nobles who possess considerable magical might who are not detailed or mentioned at all in the story. But again, they exist. And are as much people as the 'characters' who defined the narrative of the novel.

The question now is, how much of the world of a Novel can be attributed to the Author. How much influence does the Author really have on the world of their creation?

Caius was feeling himself already slipping into some profound topics and quickly pulled himself back as he mumbled.

"Over 2000 distinct languages…"

Anne nodded.

"Hmm, Hmm. And that's just in the Acheron Empire. There are more in the various other kingdoms and Empires. There are also languages of inhuman races.

Elves, those Nature Lovers, have thousands with various dialects.

Trolls, even though their vocabulary is populated with grunts have almost a hundred.

Orcs have almost a thousand.

And so on."

"That's…" Caius started blanking on the word to use.

"A lot?" Anne supplied and chuckled, "You don't know the half of it.

Almost every existing Duchy there is today used to be a Kingdom answering to no one. And every kingdom had hundreds of Languages besides the official, most commonly spoken language.

But then, the great unification occurred as the Acheron Kingdom grew especially strong. They were said to be blessed by the gods and really, with how tightly they've retained control, they might as well be. But that's neither here nor there.

The point is, the Acheron Kingdom had hundreds of languages as well with Acheryll as the official language. Once they formed the Acheron Empire and made the various Kingdoms into Duchies, all other languages were made less important to Acheryll.

It was an attempt to unify the entire Empire under one massive umbrella. Not even the other languages in the once Acheron Kingdom survived this ordinance. Acheryll was the language of the then Royal—and now Imperial—family so it was to be made superior.

And thus, Acheryll became the common tongue that we all speak to this day. Most of those other languages were lost to the past as much was done to ensure they were never spoken officially. Atrocities were committed. War crimes, really. But under imperial rule and the mighty thumb of a determined Emperor, all is right so long as his strength is supreme."

What she was talking about was a somewhat disturbing topic among many in the Acheron Empire. It was why there were those who were not so enamored with the Acheron rule. But Caius didn't really care.

For one, it was before his time. And for another, he didn't think the First Acheron Emperor was wrong because in a world that worships strength, right and wrong are moot. Might make right.

Anne herself spoke of it in a matter-of-fact voice and continued,

"But regulations eventually became more lenient. No one bothers with the languages anyway so persecution of the few who do is seen as pointless.

And that opens the way for people like me to study those languages. Lost history is sad but fascinating."

"How many of those languages do you understand?" Caius asked.

"Only a few," Anne admitted and looked disappointed with herself at the admission,

"I'd like to know them all—"

"All 2000?" Caius asked, amused.

"All over 15,000 actually. There's more to the world than just the Acheron Empire. A lot more," Anne said, and even though she just professed an insanely massive desire, she said it like it was mundane.

"And how many have you learned?" Caius asked, his question gaining a different connotation.

Before, a 'few' was out of the 2000 distinct languages in Lochxen and that was different from a 'few' of the over 15,000 languages in the entire world.

Anne didn't give it much thought. She knew the answer already.

"Of 'lost' Lochxen Languages, I understand 563 distinct languages. If I'm including derivations which are easy once you know the distinct language they are derived from, then it's about 852.

Overall, including beyond the borders of the Acheron Empire, then 2636 languages. With a few inhuman languages sprinkled in for good measure."

"You're kidding," Caius blurted out with a completely stunned expression on his face.

His voice was also raised an octave or two which caused Anne's eyebrows to fly up her face as her lips twitched in amusement.

"I appreciate you playing up your reactions but—"

"I'm not playing up anything," Caius said as he placed his hand on the desk and leaned closer, still in awe,

"Learning almost 3000 languages is inconceivable."

"No, it's not," Anne laughed, "I had a Professor once who knew over 5000. Of course, that was over five decades ago so she must have learned a couple more since."

"Well, you two are an exception to the rule," Caius insisted.

"Caius, Lea knows a few hundred herself. And that's because she only wished to stick to the essentials."

"Lea?" Caius said in disbelief.

This was all new information to him. To be fair, Lea and Anne hadn't had all that much screen time in [To Kill A Demon Lord…]. They were mostly around to show how much Caius Von Helsing was avoiding female contact when these two smoking hot women were so clearly interested but he paid them no mind.

A lot of their character in the original canon was not important enough to the narrative to be expanded upon.

While Lea still got some time to shine as a Beast Tamer later down the line, Anne suffered the most for lack of screen time. Even more than Caius had realized because while there was some talk of her acumen in philosophy, History, and Linguistics, it was certainly not spoken about to prepare Caius for just how insane a feat she had accomplished.

"I taught her myself," Anne said, "She was stubborn for a while. But if you wish to travel all over the world as she does, knowing more than the common Acheron Tongue definitely comes in handy.

By the way, I wonder what she'll think about your disbelief in her linguistic prowess. Despite how rough she presents herself, my daughter is very smart."

That last sentence made Anne sound so much like a doting mother that it caught Caius off guard for a second. Funny how, even though he had acknowledged her Mature quality in sexual situations, he had never actually acknowledged her maternity otherwise.

"And it's really not that hard," Anne continued, "The struggle with the 'lost' languages is trying to get the intonations right. But the spoken languages, of which there are thousands are much easier to at least understand.

Language is easier learnt verbally than in writing, after all. At least, that's been my experience."

Caius just sat there and Anne just looked at him amused at how much of a big deal he was making of what she considered a simple thing.

But Caius couldn't help it. Besides the fact that he came from a world where the confirmed record was less than a hundred—he never knew anyone who knew more than three—, Anne's linguistic feat was insanely impressive even by this world's standards. Yes, people live long lives but they spend those lives doing so much—like trying to attain enlightenment so they can continue to live that long life—that learning multiple languages is hardly a priority.

Also, as she said, she hadn't learned just spoken languages but hundreds of lost languages as well. Those whose intonations were long gone and she had to work them out herself. There were just parts to this that made it impressive no matter how one looked at it.

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