Of course, it seemed obvious, but there were so many books that my older sister’s study or Elder Mirpa’s lab couldn’t even compare to it. The scent of old books after a long time made me a little excited. My oldest sister’s study was always full of new books, and Elder Mirpa’s lab had the smell of herbs rather than the smell of books because he believed in existential-orientation rather than theory.[1]

As you would expect from a magic school, the library bookshelves were full of various magic books. I scanned the titles of the books and read the ones that sounded interesting.

Introduction to Spatial Arrangement, The Fundamentals of Flight, Astrology and Necromancy, the theories of the four great magicians who dominated modern wizards – book of curses, the relationship between cadence and incantation…

Most of the books were regarding the foundations of magic or the history of magic. Although the books didn’t go in-depth, there were still many interesting books since I wasn’t knowledgeable in all magic. Particularly, the book regarding a curse magician of the four great magicians who introduced his theories caught my attention as curse magic was very new to me.

As I wondered if a non-student could borrow books and headed towards an empty desk, I noticed a familiar smell. It was very subtle, and I walked towards it nonetheless.

Located on one side of the bookcase, it was a faded book that smelled familiar. I wondered where I’d smelled the fragrance as I reached for the book.

“Ah!”

I wasn’t the only one who reached for the book. I grabbed the book at the same time as a girl with white hair that had a touch of gold.

“Go ahead and read first.”

I conceded the book to the girl with white hair. She smiled and nodded slightly.

“Thank you.”

Pulling out the book I had conceded, the white-haired girl took a glance at me. To be exact, she looked at the book about the curse magician that I was holding.

“You seem to have a lot of interest in the four great magicians?”

“Pardon?”

Her sudden question made me look at the book she was holding. The title of the book was “Preservation and Management of Alchemic Medicine”, a book about alchemic magic.

The important part wasn’t the title of the book. The name of the author written in the book felt very familiar.

“Mirpa Ainsmall?”

Elder Mirpa, my as well as my sister’s teacher, was the author of that book.

It was now that I realized that the familiar smell was the smell I had been inhaling for years, the scent of herbs that filled Elder Mirpa’s workshop.

“Yes, Mirpa Ainsmall, one of the four great magicians, a renowned alchemist of the Crow Tribe, is the one who wrote this book. It’s a book that’s considered to be the foundation of alchemy now, but when it first appeared in academia, I heard it caused a revolution. But didn’t you grab it knowing that?”

“Ah yes. Of course. I know that.”

Honestly, I tried to grab it without knowing. Others would look at me strangely if I said I didn’t know something that seemed like common knowledge.

The white-haired girl smiled while carefully stroking the cover of the old book.

“I read a print of it, but I didn’t know that the original would really be here. Just as I heard, it really does have a peculiar smell of herbs.”

She put the book to her nose and sniffed.

“This smell is wolyeong flower, crane fly grass, and~”

“Mandrago’s third petal.”

The white-haired girl who couldn’t think of what it was and was frowning, smiled when she heard me.

“That’s right! Mandrago’s third petal!”

As she shouted, feeling good, the librarian who was passing by glared at her while putting her index finger to her mouth. She looked down with a pitiful expression, and the librarian sighed and went on her way. The girl then spoke to me in a small voice.

“Hehe, I made a mistake. You must be very proficient in alchemy. It’s not well known that each of the Mandrago flower petals has a different smell, but you even managed to identify which petal it was.”

I just laughed off the white-haired girl’s words with a smile. There wasn’t a need for me to tell others that I could use magic. It was safer to just make it seem like I had some interest in magic.

“No, I just guessed but got lucky.”

“Even still… Ah, I’m Yuria.”

The white-haired girl, Yuria, firmly held onto the book with her left hand and stuck her right hand out for a handshake.

“I’m Den.”

With a sudden handshake, we introduced ourselves.

Yuria walked closer to me and whispered, “If you happen to have some time, would you like to discuss about magic?”

Her asking with shining eyes felt like I was getting accosted for directions in front of the subway.

“No, I have things to do~”

“Ah, I have things to do too. But it would be a shame since it’s been a long time since I met someone proficient in alchemy.”

Yuria approached another step with beaming eyes. Then she grabbed my hand and made an eager face.

Feeling her mana, she seemed to be a magician with considerable skill. A person of her proficiency would probably be considered a little stronger than my younger sister. Considering that a magician of this level was here, the magic school, where many of the best talents from the empire gathered, could not be ignored.

Looking at her young face, she and I were probably the same age. If a magician of her level was a student, then what about a teacher?

From what I heard, the civil servant training center formed a partnership with the magic school, so the students could learn magic for a short time. I was looking forward to it.

“Ok, then briefly.”

I succumbed to Yuria’s pressure. At my consent, she led me to the terrace with a bright smile.

On the library’s terrace, as you would expect from a library, there was a table for four people and some chairs. Yuria took a seat first and I sat across from her.

“Ah, come to think of it, are you a student at the magic school?”

Yuria asked as if she just had the thought. I shook my head.

“No, my skills are not very outstanding. My level is around barely knowing the ‘ma’ of magic.”

“Ah, is that so. No wonder I could hardly feel any mana.”

She seemed a little disappointed. Then suddenly, she smiled brightly and said, “Well, it’s all right! They say that everyone outside the village has weak mana.”

“Excuse me?”

It was a nuance that I seemed to have heard before. It was familiar because I used to frequently hear in my hometown that people outside were all weak.

“Ah, no! Well, ah! Since alchemy doesn’t really need that much mana! Yes, that’s what I was trying to say!”

For some reason, her being flustered and trying to explain herself was so funny that I ended up laughing.

“No, what I meant was~”

She became even more flustered seeing me laugh. It seemed that it was impolite to say to someone studying magic that they had low mana.

Thinking I should make fun of her a little more, I hid my mischievous smile and said, “Even alchemy needs a lot of mana once you reach a high level.”

“Is that so?”

I thought Yuria would get more flustered but instead, she asked with beaming eyes, “Yes, even if you use a mana stone, it’s the alchemist that controls it, so you need an appropriate amount of mana to control it.”

The girl in front of me thought that I was an alchemist, but I didn’t consider myself one. However, when I was being taught by Elder Mirpa, he threatened to not teach me any magic if I didn’t memorize the contents of his research. So I had to learn it. But honestly, one could say that half of my magic was self-taught.

“I see.”

“By the way, it seems that you have a lot of interest in alchemy. Is alchemy your main focus?”

Yuria shook her head. “No, it’s elemental magic. My grandfather is an elemental magician.”

She said something like what an esteemed daughter of a magician family would say. Certainly, I was the weird one for not pursuing alchemy like my teacher. Usually, people follow their teacher just like this girl.

My younger sister was good at magic other than alchemy due to my influence, but alchemy was still her main focus.[2] The trees that tried to catch me when I was escaping were also made from alchemy.

“Usually, people only pursue one main focus, but it seems you are quite interested in alchemy too.”

“Ah, actually I like not only alchemy but also all other magic as a whole. However, the land in my hometown is a bit barren, so trees and grasses don’t grow well. So I came to the capital to try and learn alchemy.”

“Then you aren’t a student?”

Yuria nodded as I trailed off.

“Nope. I’m here to take the entrance exam.”

“I see.”

The conversation with Yuria continued until 20 minutes before the start of the magic school’s entrance exam. I gave her only a little insight into my alchemic knowledge, and in return, she told me the things I didn’t know about elemental magic.

Initially, I felt like someone who was abruptly accosted for directions, but actually, it turned out to be beneficial. For your information, I couldn’t borrow the book because I wasn’t qualified. They said I could borrow it if I became a student in training, so I planned to leisurely read it later.

-o-

At the entrance of the last city, Warrant, which was nicknamed after the famous Valhalla, Leisha shouted at a group.

“Ah! Let’s grab a room and take a bath first! A bath!”

Leisha complained immediately after arriving in Warrant. They had been camping for 15 days since leaving the village, so she felt very uncomfortable with all the accumulated sweat and dirt.

Mac sighed as he looked at the grumpily complaining Leisha.

“Miss, His Excellency, the Diplomat has some places he needs to stop by first.”

“His Exce… what His Excellency? Vice-Captain Mac, he is undeserving of that.”

A slim, pretty boy became red and flustered. He felt burdened by the fact that Mac, who was selected amongst all the warriors to lead, was calling him ‘His Excellency’.

“You can just call me Lan. Den also calls me that~”

“No, Your Excellency the Diplomat will be the one leading us in the future, so how could I call you that? Personally, with respect, I would like to call you Sir Lancelot,” Mac said with a mischievous smile.

“Sir, what do you mean Sir? It’s too much.” Lancelot lowered his head as his already red face became even redder.

Leisha argued with Lancelot with a face that didn’t care.

“Rather than that, why isn’t lodging first? It should be a bath first, then a warm meal! I’m sick of provisions!”

For Leisha, who had never been out of the village, the half-month of traveling was quite a hardship. Lancelot shrank as Leisha bullied him. Mac’s well-defined features became even more pronounced as he smiled and tried to calm Leisha.

“Haha, Miss please calm down. His Excellency, the Diplomat surely is saying this because he has a plan.”

“But still!”

“Besides, if we think about having spent half a month in the forest, it was because of Miss.”

Leisha could only flinch.

Mac, who was top three in the village for speed, seemed weak next to Lancelot, who was the top in both speed and stamina. So compared to them, Leisha seemed to move at a snail’s pace. It took 15 days because shortly after leaving the village, Mac carried Leisha on his back. If she had walked on her own, they would have been in the forest for another half month.

Feeling ashamed, Leisha bickered, “Aren’t you being a little too blunt?”

“This is how I am,” Mac replied confidently with a face full of pride.