Chapter 46 – Episode 46. Doubt and Love (4)
“Father, the vacation is one month, but it takes two weeks to go back and forth, so I decided not to go to the Mitterien estate this vacation. Ashley is here instead, so let’s have a good time with brother and sister.
And I got permission to use the Imperial Library this time. As the proud daughter of the Grand Duchess Mitterien, the northernmost frozen shield that protects the eternally immortal Einhafen Empire, this Astrid is working hard day and night, even in faraway Persant, so please don’t worry, father-“
【What kind of letters do you write like that? It’s annoying to go, so what can I do to say I’m not going?]
‘… So you… No no. It’s okay.’
【What is it?】
‘No, nothing.’
Astrid folded the finely written letter and put it in the envelope. The seal was attached to the head of the folded envelope, and the seal of the Grand Duchess of Mitterien was stamped into it by pressing it firmly with the pre-heated seal.
“Ashley, please send this to your father.”
“You might say that if you don’t go, you won’t come, but why do you even send a letter?”
“Why do you keep talking back? Are you climbing because you are one year older?”
Ashley scratched her head at Astrid, who was glaring at her. No matter how big Ashley was, he was no stronger than Astrid. In terms of strength and power, there is practically nothing that can be said to make Ashley stronger than Astrid.
“Aye, I understand. Got it, sister. What are you staring at?”
“What are you staring at? I was just staring.”
Astrid has no idea what kind of image her own staring gaze is. Ashley thought about the way she was glaring at her a moment ago. It was the gaze of a predator right in front of her prey.
Astrid was already in the north before Ashley came. When he was just starting to walk, he received two of the blessings of the stars, and thanks to that, he started living in the barracks when he was seven years old.
Shortly after giving birth to Astrid, her mother passed away, and although her nanny took care of her after that, Wolfgang took Astrid and wandered the battlefield after receiving the blessing of her star. From that time on, Astrid had an unbelievable anecdote about walking around the battlefield with a bastard sword that was bigger than her body.
There will be no one else who is not afraid of those gazes.
“Are you going to the library tomorrow?”
“I have to go.”
“What are you looking so hard for?”
“… There is such a thing. Because there are things I am looking for.”
“Well, is there anything I can be of help with?”
“Hmm… “
She suddenly thought. She had already asked Astrid, who dwelled in this body, but she said she did not know much about it, and it was related to barbaric witchcraft.
Is there a spell that prevents you from telling certain facts?
When she tried to tell Leopold, Astrid didn’t come out of her mouth that she was in fact not Astrid. Other than that, there was nothing wrong with her, but when she tried to say just that one thing, her throat locked up and she couldn’t say anything.
Not only that, she tried to write but it didn’t work. When I tried to describe just that fact, that part, her fingers didn’t listen to me and didn’t budge. She tried to force herself to write, but her arm gave way, and it wasn’t until she broke her desk in half that she gave up saying no.
“Ashley.”
“Yes?”
“You know roughly that it’s the sorcery of the northern barbarians, right?”
“Well, I know roughly. Because they are the ones who kept fighting.”
“Hmm… Then something… In words or actions, that is… “
‘How do I explain this?’
【Change it for a second.】
‘What are you going to do?’
【I won’t do anything weird. Change it for a second.]
If you relax your body, your vision will change.
Astrid sat with her legs crossed as she was sitting. Whether or not the hem of her dress got rolled up between her legs and wrinkled, she didn’t seem to care.
Wrinkling between her brows, Astrid scratched her temples. It was her habit to do whenever she didn’t like something.
“Ashley.”
“Yes, sister.”
“Will you answer quickly?”
“Sorry.”
“You, in the Vicanterra Gorge before. That altar.”
“If it’s Vicantera, that… “
The long and narrow gorge between the Galaticon twin mountains, Vycanterra. It happened when 20 privates of the Grand Duchess of Mitterien fell into the trickery of the Galatezia tribe and became isolated.
“Sister and I, and ten… That time when a few dozen people were isolated?”
“Yes, then. Do you remember You should remember.”
“Energy… Uh, yes I remember. Of course I remember.”
Astrid’s cold glare was sunken deeper than before. Her fingers, which had been scratching her temples, were then lightly scratching the top of her desk.
“At that time, every time she cried out or acted to send a rescue signal, her throat would lock up, something like that happened. Do you remember?”
“Oh, that’s right. It was.”
“Well, what was the name of that race? Gala… Gala… Garlic?”
“It must have been Galatezia.”
“Okay… Get that sorcerer.”
Get the shaman It was a simple instruction.
【Oh, that’s great?】
Certainly, in terms of fighting, the real Astrid’s charisma was absolute. He has the spirit to instantly overwhelm Ashley, who is one head taller than himself, the memory to remember each battle, and the judgment to calmly grasp the essence and even suggest solutions accordingly.
“I can’t catch you, sister.”
“What?”
At the same time Astrid sent another sharp look at Ashley, who kept her lips tightly closed as if in trouble, Ashley answered.
“Isn’t it your sister who split your hair in half from the head to the crotch because you couldn’t get married and almost died because of this cheeky bastard?”
“Was that him?”
However, that solution didn’t help at all.
*
Almost two weeks of vacation have passed.
Every day, he goes to the library in the morning, spends time warming up with Ashley in the afternoon, and goes out together in the evening to have dinner and return home.
【There’s not much difference from when I was at the academy.】
‘I know. There’s no such thing as a vacation.’
Had I known this was going to happen, I would have rather returned to the north.
I also looked through most of the books on summoning magic and space magic in the library.
But nothing really helped.
Most of them are just scratching the surface, so now it’s to the point where you can get an idea of what the book is about just by skimming the preface.
“What.”
The librarian in charge of the third floor was nowhere to be seen.
“Maybe, here… “
“Yes?”
Come to think of it, she didn’t ask for my name.
I just thought of him as a librarian, and since he was a librarian who came every day as if it were natural, I had no idea that I would have to ask for his name, but when I came to the library today, the librarian had changed.
“Here, the original librarian… ?”
The librarian, who was staring at her Astrid as if asking what she was talking about, tilted her head and asked her back instead.
“Oh, he retired yesterday.”
“Suddenly?”
When the brown-haired librarian said that he had quit, Astrid was a bit taken aback. Originally, a librarian like this would quit after one day, but? Don’t you usually have a few days free?
More than that, she thought she was getting pretty close, but she didn’t know that she would quit without saying anything like this.
‘I couldn’t even say hello.’
【Well, librarians always have personal records, so you can find out later and send them a letter of thanks.】
‘I guess so?’
It wouldn’t have been a big deal. Astrid returned the book she had brought to her librarian and wandered among hers to find another book.
Summoning magic, space magic.
I have already searched all the bookshelves that use these two as keywords. There are no more books to look for. Compared to other magics, there were very few related materials, and it wasn’t that they dealt with in-depth content, so it was enough to skim through it for two weeks.
‘Is there any material related to witchcraft?’
But no answer came back.
Astrid falls asleep whenever she enters the library like a ghost.
While wandering around like that, there was an iron gate with the imperial crest stamped on it. It wasn’t a very large iron gate, but the imperial seal embedded in the center suggested that this gate was not open to just anyone.
“This… “
What.
It was the first door I saw.
In the meantime, I didn’t seem to know it because I only looked at the bookshelves of summoning magic and space magic. In fact, it was also a little far from the distance.
“Hey, librarian.”
“Yes?”
He called a librarian who was passing by and asked, pointing at the iron door.
“What is that reading room like?”
“Ah, over there. It is a place where limited-release books are kept.”
“How do I use that road?”
The librarian smiled at Astrid.
It was an unexpectedly fresh smile, and Astrid thought it was pretty without thinking.
“It’s a place where you can’t even get a permit. You have to be a member of the imperial family to enter that way.”
“A member of the imperial family… ?”
Member of the royal family.
“But, wouldn’t it be possible soon if it was the Lady of Mitterien?”
“Yes?”
The librarian spoke without hesitation, with a smile on his face.
“She will soon become the crown princess, so she will be available because she is a member of the imperial family.”
It felt like there might be something there that could be a clue.
But to catch it, she has to become a member of the imperial family.
So, she has to become the Crown Princess.
Which came first the chicken or the egg?
【Wouldn’t it be better to change the order of going back to the original world and becoming the Crown Princess?】
‘It’ll turn, really.’
