Chapter 96: Flipping An Invisible Switch

Late Afternoon - Late Spring : Kingdom of Kaelallan

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Finally walking up the last few steps and making it onto the top floor, I noticed a short elf, completely absorbed in her book. -Why is she here?-

It was the Grandmaster, the head of the academy, but she somehow didn't seem to notice me. -I guess I didn't hit her that hard after all…-

Not wanting to stir up more trouble, I quietly walked past and disappeared behind a bookshelf. -Alright.. Let's see what this floor has to offer, shall we?-

So far, each floor had a different subject.

The first floor was mostly books and novels for entertainment, the second floor was 'recent' history, the third was math, and the fourth and fifth floors were both mixes of magic theory and some of magic's darker history as well.

I was hoping for something on religion, the gods, or maybe some hints on how they work or who they are since Kaelallan was once a religious nation, but the shelf I was looking at only had advanced magic theory.

-Oh, come on...- Although I could have found something that could expand my knowledge of magic, from what I had skimmed through, the 'advanced magic theory' was far behind my level. -I always preferred figuring things out on my own as well, so it works out…-

*fwip-fwip-fwip* I casually skimmed through books as I walked around, but after clearing entire shelves, time slowly started slipping away, and I was still left empty-handed.

-How is there nothing that can even relate to religion…- Everything I had looked through on my half of the floor was either magic theory or moderately interesting tidbits of Kaelallan's ancient history. -But besides the church being occasionally mentioned in a few of those, there was nothing!-

It was genuinely upsetting to be left with so little information. -The church still existed only 800 years ago. How is there nothing on it? Is it just on the other half of the floor…-

Coming out from around the bookshelf, I started casually walking towards the Grandmaster to look at the back of the bookshelf she stood at.

"Only a handful of people can come up here, kid. Just walk back downstairs and don't make it hard on me..." She spoke without even turning around to see who I was, likely only sensing my thinned presence.

"And why would I need to ask for permission to come up here?"

She paused in the middle of flipping a page. "Haah.. I don't know what noble family you come from, but just lea-" She slowly turned around before her voice was cut short.

"How are you healing?" I gave a sarcastic smile as I tried to hold back a laugh.

She was wearing some sort of cast on her arm, but it was perfectly wrapped around her staff so she couldn't let it go.

-Pffft.. how does she sleep with that thing?!-

Although I was laughing inside, she clearly didn't find anything funny. "Not wearing a uniform, trespassing in the library, and taunting a teacher... To think a student would dare get so many violations in one go... Haah.."

My playful smile immediately disappeared upon hearing her response. -Wait, what? Does she seriously not remember anything?- "You actually don't recognize me?"

"No?" She quickly looked me up and down, but showed no sense of recognizing me. "Why would I remember you? You're really cute, but..."

"Damn, I didn't think I hit you that hard though... To think you'd lose your memories."

She froze the instant I spoke. "As if someone as weak as you could hurt me."

My pupils instantly contracted as I instinctually thinned the walls of my reserve.

*VWOOOM* The entire library was immediately filled with a suffocating amount of aura, making everyone, including the Grandmaster, fall to their knees.

I was quick to stop myself and pull the aura back though. "Haah…" *Vwooom* -How can I actually let myself get mad at something like that...-

For whatever reason, her condescending tone combined with her words flipped a switch I didn't even know I had. -I guess it's good I know about it now though…-

*Gasp* The Grandmaster was gasping for air while on her hands and knees with a ghastly pale face.

"In any case, maybe you remember me now…" Having taken a deep breath and calmed down, I squatted down and looked at her with an unbothered look.

"Y..you monster..." She struggled to speak and even started shivering.

"So what if I'm a monster? You were the one who attacked me before I even opened the door to Helen's office." I reached down and pulled up her chin so she would look me in the eyes. "At least I'm a monster with more manners than you..."

*Thud* Letting her go, she fell to the floor with a nervous shake that stopped shortly after.

"Haah.." -For an old nation rank, she has the mind of a child...-

After doing a quick scan of her body to make sure she wasn't dying, I casually created a mediocre blanket and laid it over her. -Might as well give her something to remember me by this time.-

Turning back around, I figured it was time to actually look through the rest of the books. "Haah…" -Just one book on any religion would suffice…-

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- Lucy Kaelallan ~

It was later in the afternoon when Viviana and I finally got lunch, but since the martial arts class instructor was still recovering from injuries, we had plenty of time to talk.

But it didn't start off the best.

"Is the ki-.. I mean.. is your dad doing better?" Viviana was in incredibly low spirits that day.

"Mhmm!" I had tried to be extra enthusiastic to help cheer her up through the day, but it didn't exactly work as intended.

"I'm glad." She still wore a half-forced, awkward smile.

"I..is your mother still not feeling good?" I asked slightly awkwardly.

Viviana's family, much like countless other folks, especially in the middle or lower class, were affected quite heavily by everything that had happened and during the whole disaster a few days ago, Viviana's family caught the brunt of it.

Her mother, being the maid of a noble in the upper district, was one of the first to succumb to mana exhaustion outside of the palace, but instead of being found and treated fairly quickly, she passed out in the entrance to a closet with cleaning equipment and wasn't found for several hours.

"The clinic said she is just sick from extended mana exhaustion, but.. it's already been a few days and she is still really sick..."

I knew from my studies at home that the longer someone went without mana, the more likely they were to succumb to a conventional illness, but I couldn't bring myself to tell Viviana that since it would just make her worry more. "Do you want to take her to the royal clinic or want me to send someone out to look at her? We have artifacts that can help ease her symptoms…"

Viviana gave me a hopeful look before pulling herself back."No.. I don't want to burden you guys any more than I already have."

"Come on.. you should know by now that you're not burdening us.. maybe the doctor, but not us." I tried to crack a joke and smile a bit to cheer her up, and thankfully, it worked

"Haha.. alright... I'll try to get in and talk to mom about it." Although normally she would have just consulted her father, he was a knight in the military and was currently heading toward the Kingdom of Zan.

"Alright, please keep me updated…" I tried to comfort her a bit before thinking of a way to make it so she couldn't refuse, but before I could finalize anything, a wave of mana blew across the lunch room.

*Vwoom* It was nothing insane, but easily noticeable with my mana sensitivity.

At the very least though, it was immediately obvious who it was.

-Did something bad happen?- I quickly hopped up from my seat and set my hand on Viviana's shoulder. "Follow me quickly.. I think Vasilias-" But before I could finish, the mana that suddenly shot into the lunchroom started getting sucked back toward the library before returning to normal.

"Huh? What did he do?" Viviana looked at me, concerned.

"I..I'm not sure.." I looked around the lunch room and noticed very few people seemed to have noticed anything. -The floor didn't shake so.. Maybe everything is alright…-

But that didn't really sit well with me.

-I should check just in case, but…- Seeing Viviana still eating her food, I forced myself to sit back down.

"Hm? Are we not going anywhere?" Viviana looked like a confused puppy.

"Haah, we will go later. Let's just enjoy the rest of lunch, alright? You want a few berries?" I reached out to hand her a few small, dark blue berries.

"Yes please!" She immediately swiped them out of my hand before munching on a few with a face of satisfaction.

It was quick to bring a smile to my face and ease my worries. -My worry is probably unnecessary anyways…-

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Chapter end