She finished the meal, but since the lunch break was leisurely allotted for 2 hours, there was quite a bit of time left after the meal.
Considering how to use the remaining time, she suddenly remembered the existence of the “library.”
Given the quality of this facility, the books might be of higher quality than those at the local bookstore. Surely, she could find the resources she wanted.
Recalling the map from a pamphlet she had seen earlier, she headed towards the library, followed by Mary and Sirud.
Mary, intrigued by the new student’s purposeful stride, asked with curiosity, “Luke, where are you going?”
“I’m thinking of going to the library. Have you ever been?”
“The library? I’ve never been there.”
Sirud shook his head as he watched Mary tilt her head in confusion, almost as if to say, ‘This kid, has she never been to a library?’
Sirud asked, “Is there something specific you want to borrow?”
“Well, I’ll have to see. But can we actually borrow books?”
In the past, when books were extremely valuable, borrowing rather than buying was common. However, it seemed that even in modern times where books are much cheaper, the concept of borrowing still existed.
“Of course. Oh, do you have your student ID?”
“Student ID? Are you talking about this?”
Luke fished in her pocket and showed her student ID. It was a sturdy, thin, rounded rectangle with her photo and name on it, indicating that she was a student at Tig Academy. Confirming there was no issue with Luke’s student ID, Sirud nodded.
“Yes, with that, you can borrow up to five books.”
“Five books… That’s quite nice. What’s the rental price per book?”
“It’s free for students.”
“Really? That’s impressive.”
If it’s free, there’s no reason not to use it. Luke thought that the academy might be more useful than she had anticipated in this era.
“Then, let’s go!”
Mary, excited, raised her hand high.
-To the library!
Pie imitated Mary by spraying mana upwards.
Watching this, Luke felt that Pie was becoming more like a human.
‘I wonder which will happen first: Pie starting to speak human languages, or me understanding the language of spirits.’
Wouldn’t that be an interesting contest?
***
As befitting its reputation, Tig Academy’s library was immensely large. Luke was slightly surprised by its size and scale.
‘If we’re talking about size, it’s almost like a royal palace library.’
The value contained within was still unknown, but the number of books could rival the largest libraries from 5,000 years ago. The fact that such a facility existed for educating children was astounding.
Luke approached the bookshelves with great expectations.
Upon arriving at the library, Mary picked up an interesting-looking picture book and sat down with it. While she was curious about which books Luke would choose, the immediate boredom was a bigger issue. However, as soon as she started reading, sleepiness overwhelmed her, likely due to post-meal drowsiness.
After flipping through a couple of pages, Mary rested her head on the book and closed her eyes.
Sirud, looking at that scene, once again confirmed his judgment against Demi-humans.
“Sigh.”
The meticulous way Luke was selecting books seemed unusual, as if it were typical for beast to behave differently.
Luke, examining the ‘History’ section, cycled through books with interesting titles, quickly scanning them before placing them back on the shelf. Suddenly, a thought struck her.
“Why is there so little information about Arinseia from 2,000 years ago?”
‘Arinseia surely existed. A kingdom founded 5,000 years ago would have lasted at least 3,000 years.’
‘And who was the king of this kingdom?’
The Immortal King, Renye Arinseia.
It would be unusual for a kingdom not to have undergone dynastic changes like most others.
Shouldn’t there be an abundance of records, given its development beyond most nations?
Or perhaps, relying on the king’s immortality, they chose not to leave records?
“There’s so much information about the modern era.”
Luke sighed softly, looking at the book he held in her left arm—a detailed history book covering nearly 2,000 years of world history. Finding a good book about modern history had been easy.
“It seems Arinseyia only remains were fairy tales.”
Perhaps a larger library would have more. For now, she decided to borrow the most detailed fairy tales available.
Luke picked out suitable books and approached where Sirud was sitting.
“Have you been waiting?”
“What’s all this?”
Sirud, putting down his book, looked slightly startled as he glanced at the 15 or so books Luke had brought. It did seem like Luke might enjoy books…
“I have a favor to ask. Could you use your student ID to borrow these five books for me?”
“Well… there shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Thank you, you’ve been a great help.”
Sirud, looking at Luke’s bright smile, suddenly felt embarrassed and avoided her gaze.
When you think about it, was the name Luke Irushi also from the legend of the Immortal King?
Maybe it was derived from there.
Still, Luke is a masculine name.
“By the way, Sirud, what were you reading?”
“Oh, a magic book. I thought it might help.”
“Hmm, let me see.”
Luke approached Sirud and briefly scanned the page.
She didn’t think the content would be much helpful.
It was just simple formulas and calculation methods.
“This might be helpful in class, but not much for circle magic. Still, since you’re a student, it’s good to study this as well.”
“Really? How should I study circle magic then?”
“Focus on coordinate equations and mana calculation formulas, and for the rest, it’s better to learn by feeling.”
“I see.”
Sirud sighed as he looked down at his hands.
He still couldn’t clearly define his sense of mana.
It felt like the superficial knowledge he had learned at school was popping up in his mind and interfering.
‘I wish I had concentrated more on the circle then…’
He was too absorbed in the sensation of touching a girl’s chest for the first time to feel the circle.
But he couldn’t possibly say ‘Can I touch it again?’.
That would be too embarrassing.
‘What would Luke think? But then, I remember Luke touched first. So, isn’t it okay?’
Sirud hesitantly made up his words.
“Luke, about the circle…”
“I see. You want to feel it again?”
Luke shrugged her shoulders with a chuckle.
At that response, Sirud blushed and met Luke’s gaze.
“Uh…no?
Sirud was still a child after all.
Indeed, the embarrassed look of a young child is quite cute.
It reminded her of a child who was caught stealing candy from a general store and was embarrassed while being punished.
However.
“Of course not.”
Not okay.
“Yeah, I figured… it’s a girl’s chest after all.”
Sirud now wondered if his face had now become a different shade of color.
‘I made a mistake back then. If I had known you were so affected by emotions, I would have paid attention to such contact.’
Thinking that a wizard of this era could be the same as one from 5000 years ago was the root of the problem.
The magic system might have changed, but since Sirud had a circle, I had assumed he was like the wizards of 5000 years ago.
Back then, only the cool-headed and intellectual person could engrave a circle onto themselves.
But this era classifies circles as a disease and aims to remove them, something I didn’t know until I spoke with Sirud.
It is because of Yerina who had heard these stories by herself but had not told me deliberately.
Upon further thought, Luke might have been able to infer that fact, but initially, she hadn’t given it deep consideration.
Until now, there was no need for Luke to deliberately doubt and correct that apparent common sense.
However, she has come to realize that modern and ancient wizard must be viewed as completely separate entities.
So far, the only one truly deserving to be called a ‘wizards’ based on what she has seen is ‘Gerard Coulson’.
‘Miriam Daphne’ wasn’t fully assessed, so she is excluded from this consideration.
‘Still, it seems necessary for Sirud to feel mana once more.’
Luke was worried that Sirud was not getting the hang of it.
Without being able to feel mana, meditation was impossible.
Luke extended her hand and said,
“Instead, reach hold my hand.”
“Your hand…?”
Luke spoke of the hand because touching the chest made Sirud too emotional and led to a mana surge, holding hands will not cause such extreme reactions.
Sirud shyly extended his hand, and Luke, grasping it, said,
“Now close your eyes, take a deep breath, and clear your emotions.”
Sirud obediently closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and calmed his emotions.
Previously, just holding hands would have made his heart race in panic, but now he knew this touch was not of that nature.
After all, Luke was not just a girl but a mentor concerning his circle.
Somewhat grandfatherly…
As his vision turned pitch black, a sense of security emerged, and Luke’s kind voice was heard,
“Now, accept the mana. Do you feel it?”
“I feel it. So this is mana.”
A warm, comforting feeling.
His heart felt fluffy, and such a sensation could easily lead to misunderstanding it as falling in love with mana.
Finally, Sirud felt his creaking circle begin to turn solidly.
“A strange sensation.”
“This is meditation. Concentrate, as you will need to be able to meditate on your own later.”
Luke carefully pressed the mana into the circle located in Sirud’s chest.
Not touching the chest directly required more of Luke’s mental energy and mana, but it was necessary for now.
If he reached the second circle, this would no longer be needed, and enduring a little now would allow him to maintain his circle and lead an ordinary life in the future.
After working the mana to ensure Sirud’s heart’s circle was intact, Luke’s head eventually bobbed and fell onto the desk.
Was it the post-lunch drowsiness combined with the fatigue from overexertion of magic power, and the quiet, calm atmosphere?
Luke breathed evenly, falling asleep in her meditative state.
“…Luke?”
Tap tap, it was clear she was asleep.
Sirud thought, ‘Was she this tired?’ but he didn’t know that even a wizard from 5000 years ago would be astounded by the feat of indirectly manipulating mana into a circle by just holding hands.
Just holding hands was enough to manipulate the circle of a low level wizard!
But Sirud, unaware of this, was too startled by the sleeping Luke to continue meditating.
Luke’s hands were indeed soft as a girl’s, and her sleeping figure looked vulnerably cute…
“…?”
Then, he felt a gaze from the front.
Whether she had just opened her eyes or was pretending to be asleep, Mary was squinting at Luke and Sirud.
“…Mary? How long have you been watching?”
“Ehehe… I saw everything, you holding hands and closing your eyes. Have you become that close?”
“No, no, it’s not like that. It’s, um… the mana! We were trying to feel the mana…”
“Hmm, a girl’s hand is indeed soft.”
“It’s not that!”
A ridiculous misunderstanding.
But how to explain it?
As Sirud frantically searched for words, a librarian came over with a displeased voice,
“If you’re going to be noisy, take it outside.”
“Sorry…!”
She finished the meal, but since the lunch break was leisurely allotted for 2 hours, there was quite a bit of time left after the meal.
Considering how to use the remaining time, she suddenly remembered the existence of the “library.”
Given the quality of this facility, the books might be of higher quality than those at the local bookstore. Surely, she could find the resources she wanted.
Recalling the map from a pamphlet she had seen earlier, she headed towards the library, followed by Mary and Sirud.
Mary, intrigued by the new student’s purposeful stride, asked with curiosity, “Luke, where are you going?”
“I’m thinking of going to the library. Have you ever been?”
“The library? I’ve never been there.”
Sirud shook his head as he watched Mary tilt her head in confusion, almost as if to say, ‘This kid, has she never been to a library?’
Sirud asked, “Is there something specific you want to borrow?”
“Well, I’ll have to see. But can we actually borrow books?”
In the past, when books were extremely valuable, borrowing rather than buying was common. However, it seemed that even in modern times where books are much cheaper, the concept of borrowing still existed.
“Of course. Oh, do you have your student ID?”
“Student ID? Are you talking about this?”
Luke fished in her pocket and showed her student ID. It was a sturdy, thin, rounded rectangle with her photo and name on it, indicating that she was a student at Tig Academy. Confirming there was no issue with Luke’s student ID, Sirud nodded.
“Yes, with that, you can borrow up to five books.”
“Five books… That’s quite nice. What’s the rental price per book?”
“It’s free for students.”
“Really? That’s impressive.”
If it’s free, there’s no reason not to use it. Luke thought that the academy might be more useful than she had anticipated in this era.
“Then, let’s go!”
Mary, excited, raised her hand high.
-To the library!
Pie imitated Mary by spraying mana upwards.
Watching this, Luke felt that Pie was becoming more like a human.
‘I wonder which will happen first: Pie starting to speak human languages, or me understanding the language of spirits.’
Wouldn’t that be an interesting contest?
***
As befitting its reputation, Tig Academy’s library was immensely large. Luke was slightly surprised by its size and scale.
‘If we’re talking about size, it’s almost like a royal palace library.’
The value contained within was still unknown, but the number of books could rival the largest libraries from 5,000 years ago. The fact that such a facility existed for educating children was astounding.
Luke approached the bookshelves with great expectations.
Upon arriving at the library, Mary picked up an interesting-looking picture book and sat down with it. While she was curious about which books Luke would choose, the immediate boredom was a bigger issue. However, as soon as she started reading, sleepiness overwhelmed her, likely due to post-meal drowsiness.
After flipping through a couple of pages, Mary rested her head on the book and closed her eyes.
Sirud, looking at that scene, once again confirmed his judgment against Demi-humans.
“Sigh.”
The meticulous way Luke was selecting books seemed unusual, as if it were typical for beast to behave differently.
Luke, examining the ‘History’ section, cycled through books with interesting titles, quickly scanning them before placing them back on the shelf. Suddenly, a thought struck her.
“Why is there so little information about Arinseia from 2,000 years ago?”
‘Arinseia surely existed. A kingdom founded 5,000 years ago would have lasted at least 3,000 years.’
‘And who was the king of this kingdom?’
The Immortal King, Renye Arinseia.
It would be unusual for a kingdom not to have undergone dynastic changes like most others.
Shouldn’t there be an abundance of records, given its development beyond most nations?
Or perhaps, relying on the king’s immortality, they chose not to leave records?
“There’s so much information about the modern era.”
Luke sighed softly, looking at the book he held in her left arm—a detailed history book covering nearly 2,000 years of world history. Finding a good book about modern history had been easy.
“It seems Arinseyia only remains were fairy tales.”
Perhaps a larger library would have more. For now, she decided to borrow the most detailed fairy tales available.
Luke picked out suitable books and approached where Sirud was sitting.
“Have you been waiting?”
“What’s all this?”
Sirud, putting down his book, looked slightly startled as he glanced at the 15 or so books Luke had brought. It did seem like Luke might enjoy books…
“I have a favor to ask. Could you use your student ID to borrow these five books for me?”
“Well… there shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Thank you, you’ve been a great help.”
Sirud, looking at Luke’s bright smile, suddenly felt embarrassed and avoided her gaze.
When you think about it, was the name Luke Irushi also from the legend of the Immortal King?
Maybe it was derived from there.
Still, Luke is a masculine name.
“By the way, Sirud, what were you reading?”
“Oh, a magic book. I thought it might help.”
“Hmm, let me see.”
Luke approached Sirud and briefly scanned the page.
She didn’t think the content would be much helpful.
It was just simple formulas and calculation methods.
“This might be helpful in class, but not much for circle magic. Still, since you’re a student, it’s good to study this as well.”
“Really? How should I study circle magic then?”
“Focus on coordinate equations and mana calculation formulas, and for the rest, it’s better to learn by feeling.”
“I see.”
Sirud sighed as he looked down at his hands.
He still couldn’t clearly define his sense of mana.
It felt like the superficial knowledge he had learned at school was popping up in his mind and interfering.
‘I wish I had concentrated more on the circle then…’
He was too absorbed in the sensation of touching a girl’s chest for the first time to feel the circle.
But he couldn’t possibly say ‘Can I touch it again?’.
That would be too embarrassing.
‘What would Luke think? But then, I remember Luke touched first. So, isn’t it okay?’
Sirud hesitantly made up his words.
“Luke, about the circle…”
“I see. You want to feel it again?”
Luke shrugged her shoulders with a chuckle.
At that response, Sirud blushed and met Luke’s gaze.
“Uh…no?
Sirud was still a child after all.
Indeed, the embarrassed look of a young child is quite cute.
It reminded her of a child who was caught stealing candy from a general store and was embarrassed while being punished.
However.
“Of course not.”
Not okay.
“Yeah, I figured… it’s a girl’s chest after all.”
Sirud now wondered if his face had now become a different shade of color.
‘I made a mistake back then. If I had known you were so affected by emotions, I would have paid attention to such contact.’
Thinking that a wizard of this era could be the same as one from 5000 years ago was the root of the problem.
The magic system might have changed, but since Sirud had a circle, I had assumed he was like the wizards of 5000 years ago.
Back then, only the cool-headed and intellectual person could engrave a circle onto themselves.
But this era classifies circles as a disease and aims to remove them, something I didn’t know until I spoke with Sirud.
It is because of Yerina who had heard these stories by herself but had not told me deliberately.
Upon further thought, Luke might have been able to infer that fact, but initially, she hadn’t given it deep consideration.
Until now, there was no need for Luke to deliberately doubt and correct that apparent common sense.
However, she has come to realize that modern and ancient wizard must be viewed as completely separate entities.
So far, the only one truly deserving to be called a ‘wizards’ based on what she has seen is ‘Gerard Coulson’.
‘Miriam Daphne’ wasn’t fully assessed, so she is excluded from this consideration.
‘Still, it seems necessary for Sirud to feel mana once more.’
Luke was worried that Sirud was not getting the hang of it.
Without being able to feel mana, meditation was impossible.
Luke extended her hand and said,
“Instead, reach hold my hand.”
“Your hand…?”
Luke spoke of the hand because touching the chest made Sirud too emotional and led to a mana surge, holding hands will not cause such extreme reactions.
Sirud shyly extended his hand, and Luke, grasping it, said,
“Now close your eyes, take a deep breath, and clear your emotions.”
Sirud obediently closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and calmed his emotions.
Previously, just holding hands would have made his heart race in panic, but now he knew this touch was not of that nature.
After all, Luke was not just a girl but a mentor concerning his circle.
Somewhat grandfatherly…
As his vision turned pitch black, a sense of security emerged, and Luke’s kind voice was heard,
“Now, accept the mana. Do you feel it?”
“I feel it. So this is mana.”
A warm, comforting feeling.
His heart felt fluffy, and such a sensation could easily lead to misunderstanding it as falling in love with mana.
Finally, Sirud felt his creaking circle begin to turn solidly.
“A strange sensation.”
“This is meditation. Concentrate, as you will need to be able to meditate on your own later.”
Luke carefully pressed the mana into the circle located in Sirud’s chest.
Not touching the chest directly required more of Luke’s mental energy and mana, but it was necessary for now.
If he reached the second circle, this would no longer be needed, and enduring a little now would allow him to maintain his circle and lead an ordinary life in the future.
After working the mana to ensure Sirud’s heart’s circle was intact, Luke’s head eventually bobbed and fell onto the desk.
Was it the post-lunch drowsiness combined with the fatigue from overexertion of magic power, and the quiet, calm atmosphere?
Luke breathed evenly, falling asleep in her meditative state.
“…Luke?”
Tap tap, it was clear she was asleep.
Sirud thought, ‘Was she this tired?’ but he didn’t know that even a wizard from 5000 years ago would be astounded by the feat of indirectly manipulating mana into a circle by just holding hands.
Just holding hands was enough to manipulate the circle of a low level wizard!
But Sirud, unaware of this, was too startled by the sleeping Luke to continue meditating.
Luke’s hands were indeed soft as a girl’s, and her sleeping figure looked vulnerably cute…
“…?”
Then, he felt a gaze from the front.
Whether she had just opened her eyes or was pretending to be asleep, Mary was squinting at Luke and Sirud.
“…Mary? How long have you been watching?”
“Ehehe… I saw everything, you holding hands and closing your eyes. Have you become that close?”
“No, no, it’s not like that. It’s, um… the mana! We were trying to feel the mana…”
“Hmm, a girl’s hand is indeed soft.”
“It’s not that!”
A ridiculous misunderstanding.
But how to explain it?
As Sirud frantically searched for words, a librarian came over with a displeased voice,
“If you’re going to be noisy, take it outside.”
“Sorry…!”
