Chatper 8: Short-term promotion
As days went by, I worked tirelessly on Erenit’s praying charms. Or a charm? There were multiple charms, of course, but I designed them as a single collection that looked like a hilt. The hilt consisted of thin detachable discs stacked on top of each other, each dedicated to a single god.
The best part was that the combined design didn’t even require any additional trigger tool to activate a proper charm to match the prayer. If one prayed to any particular god, their corresponding charm siphoned the mana on its own.
I loved when stuff just worked on its own.
Still, the production was a slow and demanding process. Especially when I also spent a lot of time on brewing alarms, mana detection tools, defensive charms, offensive charms, a portion of parts for our exploding shells, and a “small” improvement to my simple camera.
The last one had made me feel a bit dumb. I had added a light-reducing filter, and it was suddenly usable during the day, just like that. The contrast of the magic circles against the background wasn’t so great anymore, but they could still be discerned easily. Unless one took the picture against the sun or something.
“Nice, a new one done.” I smiled after another successful brew.
It was charm number 17. Still, a few to go till 79. Hopefully, I would manage to complete the set before returning home. I wished to come with a present in my hands.
After cleaning everything, I departed for the library with our students. It was still quite early in the morning, so the building was mostly empty. Only a couple of early birds were already present.
This way, Ehrenfest could do a big chunk of our transcription work before the stressed-out students arrived and started complaining about the carrel occupation. The end of winter was slowly approaching, so I didn’t blame them. But still, it was annoying. I didn’t remember Rozemyne ever mentioning so much nuisance in the story. Well, maybe she was just too distracted by reading and didn’t care.
As everyone took their seat, I went to look for Solange to ask whether she needed help with anything.
I found her in the archive behind the service desk. Though, when I approached, she greeted me with a perplexed smile.
“Is there some kind of problem? You seem a bit tense, Professor,” I wondered.
I didn’t want to be nosy, but I was just used to her peaceful expression and relaxed smiles.
“Not at all. I was just…” She sighed, smiling nonetheless. “I was summoned by royalty, and promoted to higher status.”
“Oh, apologies, L-ady Professor Solange,” I uttered hastily with a formal tone.
The sudden mention of higher status got me spooked for a moment, as I had caused plenty of blunders already.
Solange giggled at such addressing. “It is only for a day. By tomorrow, I will be demoted back to my proper status.”
“A day?” I furrowed my brows.
That seemed kind of pointless.
“Were you not the one to propose it?” She looked at me knowingly.
Wait, you actually asked about “that?!” My eyes widened.
“It is still hard to believe.” Solange shook her head. “I mentioned the idea as a mere curiosity during a casual conversation with some professors.” My body tensed as she continued. “Subsequently, Professor Primevere spoke with Lady Eglantine, one of Klassenberg’s archduke candidates, about the dire state of the library, and apparently, Prince Anastasius overheard them.”
Fu…ahhh… sigh. I deflated. This was really bad.
Under normal circumstances, I would have been smirking a lot at how Primevere had easily manipulated the prince, but all I could do was panic. I didn’t want to be incriminated in this. I had thought I had managed to avoid the worst when my interaction with Lestilaut hadn’t led to punishment back home, but this? If I had gotten even on the royal family’s radar, it would have been a disaster.
There would have been no excuse. This wasn’t someone coming to me because of commoner rumors, outside of my control. This was me spreading a bizarre idea and attracting attention. I couldn’t bank on any leniency in this case. This was clearly violating Sylvester’s order.
Not to mention, it would destroy the last shreds of my predictive power. I still kind of hoped for Rozemyne to play her role in preventing the civil war. Muddying relations between Ehrenfest and The Sovereignty, before she even had a chance to do anything, would have made that quite risky.
Why did I mention this stupid thing to Solange? I wanted to cradle my head.
“Professor Solange, have you mentioned my name?” I asked with pleading eyes, hoping for a negative answer. “It is just, I had already caused one incident with Klassenberg, and our aub had to be contacted. I cannot afford more attention.”
“Do not worry.” Solange smiled warmly. “Naturally, I mentioned neither you nor your duchy. With these kinds of requests, there is always a risk that one can be singled out as a complainer. I see Ehrenfest students working so hard this winter; it would have been quite unfair to put such a mark on your reputation.”
“I thank you ever so much.” I breathed a sigh of relief.
It was as if divine light streamed on her when she was telling me that. Having an actual responsible adult to rely on was simply amazing. Solange had only ever mentioned nameless students as the source of her inspiration.
On some level, it was self-serving, as it had given greater weight to the “dire state of the library” when the complaints came from random students rather than a single duchy. But I was grateful nonetheless.
“So you now have access to the archive?” I produced a big smile. “It must be exciting to finally see it after all those years.”
“Not quite.” Solange shook her head. “I must admit, it was really exciting to be allowed into all sorts of hidden compartments. Although, the archive itself is still closed. While today, I might be an archnoble, my mana didn’t change at all. I cannot hope to dye all three keys to open it.” She shrugged. “Nonetheless, I am happy that the knowledge won’t be lost. Thanks to your idea, the future students will now have the option to access it.”
Solange seemed quite content even with this arrangement, which frustrated me on her behalf.
This is just unfair! At least, let her see it once!
Previously, the Sovereign nobles had been afraid of making a pledge for the library, I understood that. But now? Any archnoble could go down there! Anastasius could have sent his retainers to investigate the archive, so Solange could have at least seen it. She wouldn’t be able to follow “future students.” Her time was only today.
Wait, I do know archnoble students. “Do not worry, there already are archnoble students who might want to access such an archive. You will be able to see it,” I declared.
“Oh dear, that is not necessary.” Solange smiled. “You are always so eager.”
“Are you not interested in an archive visited even by royalty?” I looked at her knowingly.
From what I had gathered through our past interactions, Solange didn’t have a problem with a “boring” monotonous routine. Unlike me, she most likely didn’t fret much about not being able to enter. But even then, I could feel a bit of curiosity in her voice as she was describing the underground.
“It is interesting.” Solange nodded. “But you cannot possibly ask an archnoble to dye a key in a day just for me to visit.”
“Professor Solange, you are an important archlibrarian, are you not? You have to think with your status in mind.” I smirked.
“Oh my.” She chuckled.
“Not to mention,” I added nonchalantly, “If there is some valuable knowledge down there, I am sure Ehrenfest’s archscholars would be delighted to seek it.”
Or would they? Was it just me who was completely intrigued by hidden archives with possible cool knowledge? Hopefully, I wasn’t overpromising.
“It still feels like a big burden for the students. These tools should be powered by the staff here.” Solange sighed.
Although, there was no staff, just her. So even if someone asked for access a month from now, we would be in the same situation. The students would have to help anyway.
I occasionally helped her with supplying the library tools, so I knew she was at her limits. There was no way for her to supply yet another tool on top.
“You can dye one of the keys if you feel the need to decrease their burden,” I remarked as a matter of fact. “I will donate rejuvenation potions, and supply the other library tools in your stead today. After all, I do not attend any classes anymore.”
I felt like a little devil on one’s shoulder, tempting, goading and solving any potential obstacle. Maybe I was projecting myself into her position. OK, I definitely projected. But if I had this small window of opportunity, I would have wanted someone to support me in this way and help me to get through the obstacles so I would have no regrets about missing out later.
On second thought, is this fine, dyeing a key in a day? I had no idea how much mana was needed, but it must have been a lot if it required an archlibrarian.
“Or, maybe I should call three archnobles to do that. Supplying so much mana may cause you sickness from overexertion.” I backpedaled. I definitely should stop using “what would I do” in these kinds of situations. The last thing I wanted was to put undue strain on Solange.
Though, my words might have provoked her a bit as she gave me a firm smile. “I might have mednoble mana, but I have supplied the library tools for years. In this case, my endurance is just fine.”
I guess we are doing it. I smiled. The moment she began discussing details, it was pretty much a given.
With permission granted, I left the archive in my search for two more keyholders.
Hmm… Marianne is right here. Or should I ask someone older? She was a first-year, so her reserves might not be that much higher than Solange’s. Then again, she was a scholar who wanted to distinguish herself. If she had been the one gathering the knowledge from the archive, it would have definitely boosted both her confidence and her position as Charlotte’s headscholar.
“Marianne, would you like to become a keyholder for a hidden archive?” I asked innocuously.
“A keyholder?” She looked at me confused.
“Professor Solange acquired keys from an underground archive, which is only accessible to archnobles. There might be some interesting knowledge down there, as it was visited even by archduke candidates and royalty.”
“If it helps us, I would definitely like to take part.” Marianne nodded firmly.
“Understood.” I nodded as well. “The key must be dyed, so it might require a lot of mana… and… this is more of my personal wish. Could you do it today? As a mednoble, Professor Solange will be able to access the archive only on this day. I would like to repay her for her help with our transcription work.”
It was a big ask. I was worried about such a request being rude.
“I can try.” Marianne sounded a bit uncertain, but she was still willing.
“I’m glad, I thank you ever so much.” I smiled before mumbling to myself. “Now, who to ask next?”
“Why not Natalie?” Marianne suggested.
“She isn’t a scholar.” I raised my eyebrow.
Though, to be honest, I mostly thought about asking Cornelius, which wasn’t much better. As Rozemyne’s retainer, he seemed like a safe option. Especially since he had already helped me with all sorts of requests. But yeah, he was also a knight. And my second pick, Leonore—another knight.
Hartmut might have been the best option, but we didn’t interact that much, so I didn’t want to overplay my hand with him by asking for favors which had nothing to do with Rozemyne. I was trying to save up enough goodwill on his part for times when it would matter.
“But she serves Lady Charlotte, does she not?” Marianne looked at me curiously.
Oh, that.
“Sure, why not.” I smiled.
I didn’t plan to serve Charlotte by denying knowledge to others, so I decided to interpret her remark as me relying on a fellow future colleague who would be willing to help, rather than us monopolizing the access.
For now, it didn’t really matter. They would just scout the place and find out the possible value of the information locked down there, and in doing so, allow Solange to do the same.
As a librarian, she should know firsthand what was in the archive. Part of her job was the responsibility of granting or denying access to the students who wished to enter restricted areas. I am actually doing quite a responsible thing. And it shouldn’t matter much that such a thought occurred to me only now, after the fact.
I sent Marianne Solange’s way and left for our dormitory.
Natalie was happy to help as well, which was great. It was nice to be part of a team and have so much support. I felt like being back in Charlotte’s chambers. There, I had brought random unconventional ideas all the time. Though, this time it might be even more over-the-top. Sure, the access to the archive was objectively important, but access to the archive today? That was just my whim. And Natalie had no problem with that.
I returned to the library with additional rejuvenation potions, snacks, and my third mana supplier. We could begin in full.
The whole supplying process was quite gradual. One would not even notice that any of the three participants held a key. Solange sat behind her desk, dealing with the requests from visitors, Marianne continued with collecting transcription work, and Natalie merely read a book. The only sign of something more going on was the occasional trips to the archive, where the rejuvenation potions were located.
Solange had wanted to use her own, but by now, I had gotten quite good at forcing my potions on other people. This whole thing was ultimately my fault. She could have just continued with her everyday life. It was me who had been whining about the closed archive and bringing more of our students to access it. Ehrenfest was the main beneficiary. The least I could do was to provide potions and refreshments.
After lunch, most of the Ehrenfest students left for other activities. I had other plans as well, though… OK, maybe just gathering and brewing. It wasn’t a big loss. But hey, tomorrow, I had an actual socializing event. Taranese hadn’t canceled on me yet.
On the other hand, I hadn’t heard from Raziella ever since I had delivered the promised ingredients. Maybe it had been too naive to expect a good relationship for a simple bribe. I thought it had worked quite well with rinsham in the playroom. Or was I too narrow-sighted?
Now that I was thinking about it, my brother had worked hard on my reception prior to the playroom. He must have played a bigger role in how I had been seen by others, certainly more than a bit of shampoo.
Still, maybe I should have used rinsham or sweets rather than basic ingredients to curry favor with Raziella. A bag of feyplants’ parts didn’t sound like an actual present. Not that I could spread rinsham or sweets, so it was a moot point anyway.
I was pretty much just daydreaming while helping Solange with her work. Since she had to save energy, every time someone requested materials, I was the one to physically retrieve them. Thankfully, everyone wanted simple study guides like every other year, so it was rather easy to find everything.
If I had to attend to some other Mila who had asked for scrolls in ancient language, complex magic circles, research papers, and so on, I would have been completely lost.
Time was flying by, and soon, it was getting late in the afternoon. I wondered whether I would have to skip the knight’s training as well. But then, finally, Solange gave a subtle smile, declaring victory over her key. Despite her being a mednoble, the years of tool supply really helped, as she finished first. Though, Marianne and Natalie filled their keys within a few more minutes.
They could actually go down there and open the archive, just like that. I had been so jealous. Though, in a good way. It helped to know that I kind of had access through Ehrenfest archnobles. Two of them were helping me right now. It was a much better situation than before. And well, all three ladies seemed quite excited as they departed downstairs. The anticipation on their faces made me smile.
They really gave it a lot of effort. I glanced at the empty bottles.
Watching them move through the door effortlessly felt odd, as my mind was still imagining an impassable wall. Soon, they disappeared down the stairs, and it was back to waiting for me.
I wonder if there is some kind of dangerous magic in the archive. I mused, after a few minutes.
The waiting without anything else to do was giving me all kinds of thoughts. This whole time, I had been treating this as just another archive, but maybe the trio downstairs would find out that the access was so restrictive for a reason and it would be sealed once again.
But any archnoble can just enter. There couldn’t be anything too dangerous if a first-year like Marianne was allowed in.
My brain argued against itself. The more I thought about it, the more unsure I felt.
Solange will know what is proper to share. Honestly, while it would have been disappointing if she had barred us from accessing the archive, I was completely fine with such an option. I definitely trusted her judgment more than some stupid barrier based on status.
Thinking about the people downstairs made me smirk. I did kind of rush things today. But I was glad that I had done that. Solange might have said that she was happy just by knowing the future students could access this knowledge, but I would have still found it sad if she had never gotten the chance to see it for herself. It was definitely worth it to push everyone into a hectic mana supply.
I continued with my random musings for a couple more minutes when all three of them showed up at the door again.
“That was fast.” I furrowed my brows. “I thought you would spend more time looking through the materials.”
Something wasn’t right. Solange had the same perplexed smile as in the morning, while Marianne and Natalie sported clear confusion on their faces.
“We managed to open the archive. It was a sight to behold,” Solange replied. “Although, there was another barrier, which we couldn’t cross.”
“Another barrier?” I was completely dumbfounded. This is just ridiculous!
“You said the archive was visited even by archduke candidates and royalty. Maybe the second barrier allows entrance only for them,” Marianne mused.
“Wait, so this stupid barrier…” I flicked a finger towards the door. “…doesn’t even filter those who can access the archive, but just those who can serve at the entrance hall?”
The idea alone was so utterly irritating. Not only was there no functional reason for the barrier, the whole point was to make even serving tea during a break pointlessly exclusive. I was regularly fuming at this point.
“Mila?” Marianne raised her eyebrow.
“Pardon my language.” I forced a smile on my face. “And apologies for forcing you all to expend so much of your mana for nothing.”
This was just unfair. Why did I push them to do this? So much effort.
“You don’t have to worry so much.” Solange smiled warmly. “It was still intriguing to see the inside, ivory shelves filled with stone tables instead of books and scrolls. They must be ancient. I do not regret today’s experience.”
“And we weren’t forced.” Natalie smiled as well. “You already provided so much unusual knowledge for Lady Charlotte’s sake. It was only natural that we were eager to help with your next research attempt. While it might be unfortunate to be unsuccessful, it was definitely worth a try.”
“Though, it stings a little,” Marianne remarked with a smirk. “I thought I would finally be able to cover for your shortcomings. Apparently, even my status is not enough.”
Hearing her small jab at herself made my whole body shiver from frustration. While my smile was still holding, I was just done. That’s it. Screw your barriers!
“Marianne, are you too exhausted from supplying mana?” I asked with a softer voice.
“Wha” She must have been taken aback by my sudden calm expression, though, after a moment, a firm look showed up on her face. “I feel fine.”
“I have a favor to ask. Could you pour your mana into this feystone?” I stepped beside her to have the door within reach.
Marianne shrugged and offered her hand. However, I didn’t place the feystone in her palm, but kept holding it with my left hand, between three of my fingers. For a moment, she stared at me in confusion, but then she touched the feystone as well, and began dyeing it.
Once it felt like the stone was about to be dyed, I forced the mana outside, towards the barrier. At the same time, I began whirling my own mana around my right hand. Without wasting any time, I moved it towards the stream of Marianne’s mana, trying my best to grab and cover the hand in the foreign element.
In my head, it sounded like an easy idea—making a shield of foreign mana around me to confuse the archive’s barrier. But in practice, I had limited control over Marianne’s mana, so it went exactly as one could expect. Once her mana got pushed out of the feystone towards the barrier, it merely dissipated in every which way.
I could have shaped it if I covered it with my own mana on multiple sides, but that kind of defeated the whole point of hiding my mana from the door’s barrier. As such, the only path forward was to stream even more of Marianne’s mana and saturate the area around my hand, which hopefully accounted for the losses.
“It should be dyed by now,” Marianne muttered impatiently, frowning at the feystone, before looking at me in shock. “Wait, are you using my mana to dye yourself?!”
Wha?!
“Of course not!” I barked with an offended voice, stopping the mana manipulation out of shock. “Why would you even suggest such a thing? Do you know how uncomfortable it is to have foreign mana inside you?”
“My apologies.” Marianne tensed. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to imply… with the temple… I just heard…” Her expression was becoming more and more uncomfortable.
“Um, Mila, how do you know how foreign mana feels inside you?” Natalie asked with a slight grimace.
Crap… I didn’t exactly want to talk about Erenit’s accident with compression. And me admitting to an attack on an archnoble in the dormitory would have been a scandal.
“Well, when my family was under suspicion, my memories were searched,” I uttered tensely.
I didn’t like that option either. Sure, both Marianne and Natalie knew about Joisontak facing a chopping block, but I didn’t want to divulge it in the presence of Solange. If she had ever mentioned that to other professors, it would have thrown “possible criminal” into the mix of rumors around me. Though, it was probably better than rumors about mixing mana. Especially with the way Marianne had reacted.
“Oh, I’m sorry as well.” Natalie’s eyes widened. “I shouldn’t have asked.”
“I am pushing this supplied mana out of the feystone towards the barrier, where my right hand is located,” I began explaining before anyone else would ask about any new incriminating topics to my reputation. “I am also whirling my own mana around the hand to envelop it, and then covering it with the foreign mana as a sort of barrier.”
It kind of felt like making cotton candy.
“I am just glad dyeing is not involved.” Marianne sighed with an awkward expression.
I mean, that sounds like plan B if this fails. Though, nobody needed to find out about my thoughts if plan A worked.
“Marianne, could you move your own hand forward, closer to the entry? That should sufficiently confuse the barrier.”
Trying to get through with a cover of mana cloud was kind of questionable. But trying to do that while someone authorized was crossing? That was a completely different beast.
Ha, suckers!
“Mila, your hand actually came through!” Marianne exclaimed with wide eyes.
“Yep, all I need is an archnoble escort.” I smiled victoriously.
However, I must have eased my control for a split second, or maybe Marianne’s mana dissipated the wrong way. Whatever the reason, suddenly my hand was violently ejected. I could hear cracking in my wrist.
“Ah…h…” I gasped for air from the sudden pain.
“Are you alright?” Marianne asked with a worried voice.
“Yesss… just a sssmall… injury,” I uttered. The best I could do was a tense smile, having a hard time even breathing. “Lady Natalie, we’re running late for our knight’s training. I think we should depart through the exit to the garden.” I glanced towards the way out while holding my arm.
“Why would you want to… oh, understood. Certainly, we should depart.” Natalie nodded.
I drank a healing potion, but a healing prayer from Adeus or Henrietta would still work faster. Generally, if I could, I liked to avoid pain as much as possible. Especially with something as uncomfortable as torn wrist tissue. I wasn’t even considering actually walking through the whole Academy since the training grounds lay on the opposite side of the compound, behind the Knight’s building.
Sure, flying highbeast inside wasn’t allowed, but there were no rules against flying around.
“So this method doesn’t work either?” Marianne grumbled.
“On the contrary. I have already figured out how to access the archive,” I declared with confidence.
Although, with my pained expression, it probably didn’t look so confident. “Ehm, that is, if we are allowed to do so.” I looked cautiously towards Solange. “This archive seems to be behind a lot of security. I don’t know if it’s proper for students from the thirteenth-ranked duchy to enter.”
“At this point, Mestionora herself would chastise me if I barred someone this determined to access that knowledge.” Solange chuckled.
“I thank you ever so much.” I produced a big smile. “Now, if you excuse me. I really need a healer.”
I marched hastily towards the garden exit and rushed away on my highbeast. Leaving even Natalie way behind me.