Chương 16: The Library
Chisa led Nagisa back and beyond the auction house. Almost all the way to the foremost corner in the upper quarter. The place seemed to be more and more secluded the further in they ventured. All the buildings and streets were made of enchanted material, apartments, even some houses with their own territory.
This was for sure the gated and noble corner of this world, or at least for this capital. They stopped right before a gated building that had smoke puffing through its chimney. Chisa held up her wrist that had a white bracelet on it.
"Scanning… Kurono Chisa. Identification complete," An AI voice responded.
The gates opened and they headed on in. All the equipment inside appeared to rival the one back at the academy, Nagisa was in full awe of the place. There were some people working and a middle-aged man hammering away at a model anvil.
"Dad, I brought a customer!" The man turned around.
"Chisa!" He immediately hugged and lifted her up.
"Stop it! You are embarrassing me!" She played around and the two of them laughed while he spun her back to the ground.
"And who might this be?" Chisa's father asked and turned to Nagisa.
"Oh, you will be most intrigued, this is Nagisa, or should I say, Mister Sanagi?" Chisa revealed.
Her dad's jaw dropped and he immediately went in for a handshake.
"I am an admirer of your work, had no idea you were this young! My! My daughter definitely rivals her mother with her good taste in selecting guys!" He laughed at his own joke and Chisa hit his shoulder.
"No. No. No… never!" Chisa hurriedly denied.
A very nostalgic response like the one from the pastry shop with similar cold sterned eyes and hand waving gestures.
Nagisa sighed, "So much for keeping it a secret? And I thought your family would be more formal or… up-tight…" Nagisa shook her father's hand and introduced himself briefly afterwards.
"Do not worry about it, it is just my wife that prefers formalities more, myself, I like to indulge in my forging hobbies on peaceful days like these ones," the man grinned.
"You may call me Kinji, however in my wife's presence, call me Mr. Kurono," Kinji introduced himself as well and Nagisa could not help but politely nod.
"Do you have any Arcane Crystals here for sale?" Nagisa asked and Kinji almost tearfully looked at Chisa.
"You found a buyer? Now I do not have to get scolded by your mother!" Kinji asked his daughter and Chisa showed him a thumbs up.
They explained that apparently he had bought a hefty amount and planned to secretly forge a birthday present to Chisa, however his inexperience had made him inform his daughter in order to help and keep it a secret from his mother. Nagisa pondered… "It is best I try to stay away from this family and get out as soon as possible…".
The blacksmith was just one of the many things their family owned and this forging was one of her dad's "many" hobbies. They took him around back and opened a door leading down to an old dusty wine cellar. It was covered with barrels and dust and Kinji told a few men to move the barrels aside to uncover the Arcane Crystals hidden behind them.
It was not like any sight Nagisa had ever seen when he saw the Arcane Crystals, their glow was inexplicable, it was as if moonlight was trapped within them.
"I know that look… mesmerizing, is it not?" Chisa gave Nagisa a smile.
"How much for the lot?" Nagisa went straight down to business.
"Well… I paid around 130 gold for this at market price, any chance you would be willing to take it off my hands at a closer price?" Kinji replied.
Nagisa began measuring the amount of Arcane Crystal. It was barely enough to try and make one sword.
"How about we call it 100 gold? This barely seems enough to forge but one sword…" Nagisa counter offered.
Chisa and Kinji looked at each other all puzzled.
"Sorry but… you can at least make a few swords with this amount…"
Kinji, still confused about Nagisa's assessment, informed him what he knew about the matter.
"Not the way I forge things," Nagisa grinned broadly.
This made Kinji smile, "Deal, I look forward to witnessing your work, if you do not mind once it is done, in return, I will keep your identity hidden," he laughed.
Kinji then gave a good shoulder clap to Nagisa, just much like Odo but without holding back and propelling him further.
"Hah-ha… yeah it did wonders for your daughter in keeping it," Nagisa turned his gaze intently and stared at Chisa.
Nagisa signaled Chisa she owes him to crêpes and she apologized by holding both hands up then sticking out her tongue in a childless fashion. Once the matter was settled, Kinji said he would have it transported to the academy and then brought back to his room.
However Chisa said they could put it in the blacksmith vault under Nagisa's name. They all agreed with it being put in the vault and Nagisa took his leave with Chisa still trailing by closely.
"Told you I would show you a good place!" She grinned and walked up to his side.
"Yeah… yeah… you basically used me to bail out your dad!" He complained.
"All's well, ends well?" Chisa responded with her kept grin and Nagisa sighed.
"Where to next?" She turned her head slightly.
"Are you still planning on following me?" Nagisa sighed once more and she eagerly nodded.
"Day's only begun! Plenty more fun in store!" Chisa responded.
"Fine! Take me to the academy's library, I have a few things I would like to look into," Nagisa gave in.
"May I ask what things?" Chisa tilted her head in wonder.
"You may not," Nagisa replied and walked in front of her.
"Bleh, meanie!" She stuck her tongue out and pulled down the skin under her right eye to assume the childful character.
"Stop it and act your age and status!" Nagisa complained.
The two of them laughed and made jokes at one another all the way back to the academy.
Back at the academy both of them scanned in by the gate. It was the first time Nagisa had thought to halt and gaze upon its building. The academy was as if a couple of mansions had forged together, and had four wings resembling castle towers in each of its four corners. It was a few stories tall and the entire place was built primarily out of Ashen ores.
An entire garden surrounded the place and there were a few training grounds at the right side, as the dormitory was stationed at the left. Every connecting road was covered in enchanted glass but had that rubble aesthetic to make it look more old fashioned.
"Yeah… yeah… are we heading to the library or romanticizing about the building or what?" Chisa complained and curled her bangs impatiently.
She was definitely not too enthusiastic about their next "adventure" was to spend time reading books in the library considering classes commence tomorrow morning. Nagisa broke out of his spaced out bubble and signaled her to lead the way as always, pretending to be a gentleman and gesturing "Ladies first!".
Once inside, Nagisa walked up to the registry lady and paid her for yesterday with Chisa staring suspiciously all the way. The library was stationed to the left, as soon as you would pass the lobby and ascend the main stairs to the first floor then to take a left turn into the first room to the right.
The moment they stepped inside the library it was truly the moment Nagisa could feel them really being in a magic world. The shelves were floating on the ceiling with a couple of clouds, and there were three stories of different sections.
Chisa informed him that the last section and the shelves on the ceiling were off-limits, they were forbidden and the clouds protected the most important records as magical infused guards.
"I will take my sweet time here for a few hours, you may either wait or feel free to pick out something for yourself to indulge," Nagisa informed Chisa and stepped up to a weird looking podium that had an orb on top of it.
"That is the library artificial intelligence record holder, ask it anything and it will guide you towards the contents you seek," Chisa lingered with her hand and then stroke her fingers down on his shoulder teasefully.
Once Chisa was finished playing around she took her leave and disappeared into one of the sections. Nagisa leaned in.
"Biology book about Werebeast Anatomy. History books regarding The Holy Grail, Summoned Heroes and The Shadow Tournament, Arcane Magic,"
As soon as Nagisa spoke out, the orb glowed and an inner voice resonated inside his head.
"All books found, except any books or records regarding Arcane Magic," A younger AI voice spoke.
Four tiny sparks of light appeared above the orb. Nagisa was a bit confused, however attempted to grab them after a second inside his hand to see if anything would happen. The AI orb stopped glowing once he had fetched the sparks. Carefully, Nagisa opened his palm, letting one spark out and it began moving.
The spark guided him through the library's books and records, and through all the different sections, until it flew right inside a book, highlighting it with a bright prismatic color before fading after a brief moment.
"The Werebeast Anatomy book," Nagisa said out loud and proceeded to let each spark, one by one, to guide him and help to acquire the rest of the books.
Once all books had been gathered, Nagisa found a secluded desktop with an empty seat and sat down. Upon sitting down, a bubble coating appeared around Nagisa, it was something he had seen while moving around, it appeared to silence any conversation or thoughts out loud, hence he had seen people move their mouths, but not a single sound was heard.
"As I thought… The Holy Grail is a bust," Nagisa moved on to the next book, it had the same information Emi and the book from the library.
The Shadow Tournament however appeared to contain slightly more information. Apparently it appears at unknown times, it can be yearly, bi-yearly or even every four years at random. It mentioned that there were almost no surviving participants amongst the humans side, even amongst the other two cities. The reason was one would have to be injured to a certain extent to be able to withdraw, however humans are vulnerable once the magic coated armor bursts, and any injury has led to immediate death.
"Well… that is reassuring…" Nagisa said, skimming through the book and noting a couple of things down.
Apparently selection was said to be random, and a bracelet you may not remove has the "chosen" participants instantly teleported to said unknown combat field. However one can volunteer to take another's place. This made Nagisa think, has no high stage humans chosen to participate to try and win, or is the selection really random? Surely the odds are low, but it made him ponder.
Tria was said to have around three hundred thousand citizens, while Velika had little over two hundred thousand. Lastly the main city between the three, Renfel, was said to be about only eighty thousand. Nagisa considered whether he should do an algorithm on people having substantial power and try to crossmatch it with the last few Shadow Tournaments dating a century or two back. However it remained a task for another time.
"Next about the book about Summoned Heroes," He decided to move onto the next one.
Most of the information has been ripped off, just like Odo had mentioned about the topic. Some newfound information was that the three human cities had taken turns summoning heroes, and they only had a one hundred century cycle alternating between the three of them.
"So the information that is viable in this city is over two hundred years old? Maybe there is more about it in the other cities…" Nagisa closed the book.
It was seemingly helpless, barely any new information shone some light on the topic, it remained a mystery.
"Why are people being summoned… and the demon problem consists… surely there is a correlation?" He pondered and opened the final book, the one titled, 'Werebeasts Anatomy'.
The information was quite basic. Warm-blooded, keen sense of hearing and smell. Uses primarily enhanced magic to buff up their claws and fight at rapid speed. Some werebeasts have the unique gene to have their eye colors changed, especially in a frenzy. Be aware, if not controlled can be deadly and hard to cool down.
Some of the facts appeared helpful, others did not. One specific paragraph appealed to Nagisa, one about their growth.
From birth to age ten, more childlike and playful. From age ten to twelve they develop a keen sense of perception, smell and hearing. The final two years leading to age fourteen mature their body rapidly and make them have the appearance equivalent to a sixteen year old. Then they barely mature upwards a few years in their entire lifespan.
In Ashen, one was considered an adult at the age of sixteen, that is why they sent their kids to the magic academy, in hope of them to pass and lead better lives and develop their innate abilities.
"So Emi might always remain little and cute?" Nagisa gasped tiredly after finishing the last book.
Nagisa then tried to envision how an "adult" werebeast might look like. A loud knock outside his bubble broke his dangerous train of thoughts and Nagisa immediately turned around all fidgety in panic.
"What?" Nagisa had figured out there was a smaller orb absorbing the sound and coating the bubble that he tapped one.
"You have been in here for hours, can we please leave? I am starving!" Chisa pouted and complained.
Nagisa closed the book swiftly and hid it in embarrassment, he did not want Chisa to see the final page that he was on. Nagisa exited the bubble and arose from his seat.
"Let me just put the books back…" he said.
"No need for that," Chisa snatched the books and interrupted him.
"Return accordingly!" Chisa announced and the books gave off the prismatic glow and started floating to split and find their set sections.
"Wow… that is convenient!" Nagisa clapped his hands and Chisa stared and rolled her eyes at him.
"Ah… you NAFs… even normalcy surprises you?" Chisa scoffed.
"NAFs?" Nagisa raised his eyebrows in confusion and moved his head backwards.
"Non-Ashen-Folk, now how about dinner?" Chisa beamed with her eyes sparkling with excitement.
"The aroma emitted from your room yesterday was surely something else!" She added and Nagisa deeply exhaled.
It was clear now that they were neighbours, and now that he thought about it, her balcony was opened yesterday for the smell to come right on in when Nagisa had aired the room.
"Fine! Hope you like steak!" Nagisa once more gave in to her excessive needs.
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