Chapter 9: Encounter (1)
Chapter 9: Encounter (1)
At the year-end party, Karma bid farewell before leaving for the military.
For Ariel, it was another devastating blow, yet it solidified her resolve to enlist as well.
From that moment, Ariel began forcing herself into a strict, regimented lifestyle, feeding off despair and sorrow to rebuild her body. Like someone plagued by obsessive-compulsive tendencies, she drove herself relentlessly.
No matter how skilled a magician, military service required a basic level of physical endurance. While magicians could use magic to mitigate physical limitations, making their enlistment criteria less stringent than that of ordinary people, it still depended on the individual.
Having neglected her body for over a month, Ariel was so frail she could collapse at any moment. Regardless of her exceptional abilities, no military would accept someone who looked as if they could barely stand.
Ariel was acutely aware of this. Though she often felt as though she might break, she clung to her determination.
Thus, a month passed. As January drew to a close, Ariel’s once skeletal frame began to regain some substance. She started to look more alive. No longer did she appear so precarious.
Around that time, a letter arrived from a place with an unfamiliar name.
Upon closer inspection, she realized it came from a military base in the western Elbin Mountain Range, a name she recognized from the news. It was where Karma had been stationed. The letter was from her.
Its contents were brief and scrawled in hasty handwriting: reassurance that she was doing well and that she needn’t worry. The tone of the letter was bright.
But Ariel decided not to take it at face value. She had been deceived before. Karma, possessing abilities similar to hers, could have silenced the book she used to write the letter. Or, like Aynkel, she might have buried darker emotions elsewhere.
Suddenly, a book was shoved onto her desk, accompanied by a voice.
“Check this out, please.”
“Alright.”
Ariel folded the letter with a cold expression and tucked it carefully into her pocket. After handing the requested book to the visiting magician and closing the rental ledger, she casually began a new conversation.
“This is my last day.”
It was a nonchalant declaration.
[Huh? Last day for what?]
“Working here. I’m enlisting in the military.”
[What?! The military?!]
The ledger’s shocked voice rang so loudly it seemed to reverberate through the library. Ariel winced, closing her eyes tightly and stepping back to distance herself from the clamorous book.
Of course, such a gesture did little to muffle the booming voice. The rental ledger, thick and filled with countless entries, had a voice louder than most books.
[What kind of nonsense is this? The military? Why?]
The ledger’s outburst was loud enough to draw the attention of every book in the library. Soon, the entire library buzzed with commotion.
[What? Rel is enlisting?]
[The military? The place with guns and swords?]
[It’s dangerous! Why would you do that?]
Books capable of movement flocked to her like birds, piling up in front of her desk. Those that couldn’t move twisted and bumped against their shelves in a futile attempt to join the fray, producing a cacophony of noises.
Ariel was taken aback. The reaction was far more intense than she had anticipated. She stared at the growing stack of books on her desk with a bewildered expression.
“Why are you all making such a fuss?”
[Answer us!]
“…”
The books shouted in unison, their voices nearly overwhelming her. Ariel experienced a peculiar sensation as though her mind had momentarily gone blank. The impact was so profound it rendered her momentarily speechless.
After a beat, she finally spoke.
“I just feel like this is the only way I can find some peace.”
[Peace of mind?]
From deep within the library, a low and resonant voice emerged, cutting through the chatter. Its weighty tone struck Ariel like a physical blow. Though not the loudest, it carried more authority than any other book’s voice.
[The military is not a place to be taken lightly. Do you think war is something trivial?]
Ariel had worked in the library for four years. She was well-liked by the books, more so than any librarian before her. Even books that refused to converse with others willingly spoke to her.
However, there was one book in the library that had never spoken a word to her, no matter how much time had passed. Yet, unlike the other books in the library, which were often silent, this particular book occasionally conversed with the others. Its distinct voice was unmistakable.
It was a mystical grimoire known as Ekaitz, said to have come from a rift in spacetime. For any mage in Dantella, its reputation was universally known. Though its fame was largely confined to the magical community, its name had endured for over a millennium. Considering its historical legacy, it rivaled even the prominence of Jin Kreutz, the most celebrated mage of modern Dantella.
Several factors contributed to its extraordinary renown. Aside from its enigmatic origins in Ekaitz, neither its author nor its true name was known. It was massive, nearly the size of a human torso, with a formidable thickness. Despite its imposing appearance, it was as light as a feather, defying all expectations.
But the primary reason for its fame was singular and unmatched: the book chose its own master.
No one could open it at will. While it had no visible locks or barriers, its pages remained as sealed as a locked vault unless the book itself permitted otherwise.
Though stored in the library, its contents remained inaccessible, so no one had any practical reason to borrow it. This led the authorities of Tarantella to issue an official proclamation: whoever could open and read the book would be granted ownership.
As a result, mages from across the continent would occasionally visit in hopes of unlocking its secrets.
Ariel, too, had been intrigued by the rumors when she first became a librarian. Unlike the restless books that longed to move freely, the grimoire was so still and unassuming that one could mistake it for an ordinary, inert tome. Its feather-light weight and its refusal to open were entirely consistent with the legends.
But its indifference quickly cooled her initial interest. It never responded to her attempts to engage with it, showing no signs of wanting to forge any sort of connection. Over time, her attachment to the book waned until it faded entirely.
As Ariel recalled its history of ignoring her, a flicker of surprise crossed her mind. Yet the emotion that pressed most heavily on her in that moment was something else entirely. It was a weightier, more oppressive feeling that made her chest tighten.
“I know,” she replied coldly.
Her brother had been a soldier. She could not possibly forget. Aynkel’s letters, written as though they were his last, vividly described the terror of hunts and the anguish of witnessing comrades perish.
She had read those letters countless times, each repetition intensifying her grief and regret for her ignorance. The knowledge that she had been unable to truly empathize with Aynkel’s despair filled her with deep shame.
‘How could I ever console him?’
Perhaps that was why Aynkel had never confided in her. Hollow comfort was worse than none at all. Ariel knew that empty words were meaningless.
A surge of self-directed anger rose within her. It sharpened like an arrow and was aimed directly at the voice that had stirred these emotions.
“I don’t know what makes you suddenly so meddlesome after staying silent all this time, but don’t speak as if you understand my resolve.”
Her biting retort brought an eerie stillness to the library. Every book fell silent as if time itself had frozen.
The unsettling silence raised goosebumps on Ariel’s arms. Before long, the low voice returned, breaking the silence.
[You’re right. I’ve never been in your hands, so my comment was out of place. The mention of the battlefield got the better of me. From what I’ve seen of you, you always seemed far too gentle, and for a moment, I overreacted. I apologize.]
From the distant shelves, a single book slowly began to approach, catching Ariel’s attention. It floated steadily until it stopped right in front of her face.
[In that case, why not take me to the battlefield? That is, if you wish.]
The book was as large as Ariel’s torso, slightly bigger than an average volume. Bound in brown leather and adorned with gold-etched patterns, it appeared at first glance to be an ordinary magical tome. But there was something faintly otherworldly about it, a subtle sense that it didn’t belong to this world.
It was unmistakably that book.
For four years, Ariel had never once seen it move. Even when she had held it in her hands, it had never uttered a single word. Now, the book had approached her of its own volition and even spoken first. She was stunned. Her mind felt dazed as she reflexively reached out to take it. Almost in a trance, she opened the book.
To her astonishment, the book opened as effortlessly as any ordinary volume.
Ariel flinched in disbelief, her hand trembling slightly. She stared down at the opened pages, a flicker of curiosity sparking in her eyes.
What greeted her gaze, however, were bizarre, incomprehensible curves and symbols, utterly alien to anything she had ever seen.
‘What… is all this supposed to mean?’
The text wasn’t written in Dantella’s language, nor the continental common tongue, nor even any magical script she recognized.
[It’s the language of my master’s world. You could call it an other-dimensional language,] the book explained, as if reading her thoughts.
[The contents are entirely combat magic. Detailed instructions for maximizing efficiency with minimal mana are recorded here, but without drawing magic circles, much of it would be difficult to apply. In simpler terms, think of it as a compendium of several thousand types of offensive spells. Since I lack the ability to teach you the language, I’ll select the spells you need for you. They should suit your abilities, neither too weak nor too powerful.]
……
(T/N: A little something for the after-holidays~ enjoy reading~! ❣️)
