I opened up my alchemy book and moved my quill with my opposite hand to take notes.
Lending the book is highly restrictive and requires a special application, but with the exception of a few books, there are no particular restrictions on transcribing.
I was spelling out the parts I was curious about and what came to mind in key places.
The majority of magic books are written in a special character called the array character, and this book was the same.
Just because there were parts that were different from the array characters I knew, it was a little hard to read through.
The array characters often vary slightly depending on the region and the age of the people and their habits.
In addition, usually, the better sorcerers tend to write whatever they want, so the more helpful they seem to be, the harder it is to get through.
āWhat is this thing youāre looking up?ā
Mea calls out to me.
Mea rests her chin on the desk, squinting at the book Iām reading.
āIām concentrating now, so laterā¦ā¦ā
I start to say something and swallow the words.
Come to think of it, the last time my juniors left angrily in my past life was when I was reading an alchemy magic book while ignoring them talking to me for a long time.
I wonāt make the same mistake.
It was Mea who carried the book for me in the first place.
āYou know, the fragments from the ruins of Zeshum. I was wondering if you could use them for something.ā
I had also extensively researched ores that had similar properties to the ores used in those ruins.
As expected of an elven technology, I couldnāt find an ore with exactly the same properties or a method for making it, but Iām beginning to think of various uses for it.
I was wondering if it was possible to make an Ortem by grinding the stone.
The only problem was the processing technology.
The Marrens are skilled at handling wood, but when it comes to stone, itās not so easy.
Iād like to hand a bunch of blueprints to someone whoās experienced with them and leave it to them.
āAhhh, you took that one. What can you make with it?ā
āIt seems to be good at sending magic farther, so maybe a wand or a magic cannonā¦ā¦ā
āI, I see. It sounds kind of authenticā¦ā¦ā
āHowever, Iām not interested in weapons, though. Iād like to make a flying Ortem or a floating chair or something.ā
The rest of the time, it could be a magical wave tower for the Magi-phone magic cell phone.
I can see a way to make this one practical.
Itās a bit difficult for the fund, though.
āFloating Chairā¦ā¦ā
āSounds easy, right? Iād like to be able to travel long distances and eventually add a massage function.ā
āIt looks like Ebelheid is going to come out as a monsterā¦ā¦ā
Heās not dead yet.
Iād like to go visit him sooner or later.
āButā¦ā¦ uhā¦ā¦ It sounds like itās going to be very difficult.ā
Iām reading a book written by a famous alchemist named Altamir who died eighty years ago. I canāt help but notice that his array characters are quirky and difficult to read.
What he wrote was informative, but I think she was trying to fool the reader into thinking, āHow about this, can you understand this one?ā.
She must have been an old woman with a very bad character.
No, I understand that you have to write it this way to convey the nuance of the content. I understand, but I canāt imagine that she was thinking about having people read it after all.
It seems to me that his pupil may have just transcribed his notes at random.
By the way, the old woman in Altamir caused a crazy incident at the end of the story, and the king, who was afraid of her, set fifty sorcerers against her and sealed her in the tower.
She was probably a bad type of genius.
This book also contains some outrageous things, but is it okay to be so lax in storing it?
If I were a librarian, I would either burn it or designate it as a forbidden book.
You can even think that because no one could read it, they put it in a prominent place as a foil for the church.
āSince Mea is also here, why donāt you to find a book thatās interesting to you. Itās a specialized book for sorcerers, so you wouldnāt know anything about it from the side.ā
āEhhhhā¦ā¦ Itās fun for Mea to just kind of look at it like this next to Abel, you know?
ā¦ā¦ I canāt decipher the code if youāre talking to me too much from the side.
But that doesnāt mean I want to chase her away.
āLook, maybe they have some archery instruction manuals.ā
āā¦ā¦ Iām-, Iām gonna go look for it.ā
Mea got up from her seat and walked over to where the bookshelves were lined up.
ā¦ā¦ was that method of excuse a bit mean spirited?
N, no, it could be taken as if Iām treating her like sheās in the way if I donāt proceed with the deciphering, so itās definitely better than that, right?
As I was reading for a while, I heard footsteps walking toward me.
Is it Mea?
It could have been someone simply trying to use this desk.
The footsteps stopped behind me, and I was sure it was Mea.
āDid you find something interestā¦ā¦ā
As he said this, he turned around and saw an old man in monastic clothes.
His back was not bent and he was squat for his age.
No, whoās that?
āOhā¦ā¦ hi, um ⦠what can I do for you?ā
āHo-ho, no, I think youāre so young but very studious, you know. Howās the research going?ā
āWa, huhā¦ā¦ā
What is this old man?
Is he just wandering around the church library looking for someone to talk to?
Iām trying to concentrate on something right now, though.
āH, hey, isnāt that Sage Roudio-sama?ā
āI didnāt know heās coming to this library.ā
āHe has quite a promising future for him to catch Master Roudio-samaās eye, that little boy.ā
The surroundings begin to be noisy.
Is this person really that amazing?
A Sage is an honorific term for someone who can form their own magic circle.
āDonāt do it. Iām only a monk!ā
Huffing and puffing, the old man named Roudio turns his palms to the people behind him.
Iām not sure if your words were a bit sarcastic, right? I think itās okay since the people thatās been said doesnāt seem to be angry, though.
āOhhh, thatās nostalgic. When I was young, I used to pile up books at random, too. I thought that reading many would make me smarter.ā
āIs, Is that soā¦ā¦ā
āBut in the end, thatās not very efficient. Especially when you are young, you should carefully read the book you have chosen to read to get the basics. As I said before, you wonāt be able to get into your head if you read a book so quickly.ā
āNo, Iāve been working on it for a whileā¦ā¦ā
āGentlemen, listen to what your predecessors have to say. You young people donāt listen to your predecessors.ā
You just naturally put it on my words, you old man.
You should learn to listen to people.
āYou canāt keep falling down in a hurry. Well, thatās also life. Iād be lying if I said I didnāt have those days. But I was such a small boy at the time.ā
Roudio quickly holds his hands on the ground and looks at me with a scowl on his face.
What is this guy?
What really is he? What is he doing here?
āWhat are you looking for? Iāll give you some advice. Show me.ā
Oh, youāre giving me advice.
Thatās nice of you. Sorry for wondering what this guy is or something like that.
I was just reading it, skipping over a word I couldnāt decipher.
I was having trouble understanding what he meant, despite the fact that he kept appearing over and over again, and he was dragging me down.
āThen Iām sorry, Sage Roudio-samaā¦ā
āHo-ho. Hey, just Roudio is okay. Iām just Roudio. Iām just an old man whoās only been old and has been in contact with magic for a little longer than most people. Here, ask this old man anything you want to know. Anything.ā
ā¦ā¦I wonder. This kind of implied arrogance.
Is it because of the way he says it? Is it because of the expression?
āRoudio-san. Itās this word hereā¦ā¦ but Iām not really sure what it means.
āMmm. Which one? Hmm?ā
Roudio arches his back and sticks his head out, bringing him closer to the book.
āHmm, hmmā¦ā¦ hmm?ā
Roudioās expression froze as if he was frozen.
āHereā¦ā¦ā¦see, in this sentence, youāre using it to calculate the amount of magic power per unit of time consumed by the magic circle, right? So I thought it was some proprietary coefficient that Altamir had come up with, but itās on this pageā¦ā¦ and also on this page. Itās a completely different usage. I thought there might be a fundamental misunderstanding, but this one and this one use different terminology, so itās probably correct. But look, the magic circle in this one is used to increase the efficiency of magicā¦ā¦ā
Roudioās complexion was deteriorating rapidly.
āRoudio-san?ā
āOh? Oh? Ohhhā¦ā¦, oh, ohhhā¦ā¦ā
Roudio repeated the short words in his mouth, sweat sloshing down his face.
āHey, um, are you okay? You should drink some waterā¦ā¦ā
āā¦ā¦Hm? Wha-, What are you talking about again?ā
āWhatā¦? No, thatās why this part of theā¦ā¦ā
āAh! really, Itās this late now already!ā
Roudioās eyes widened and he cried out, smashing the desk with a vigor that didnāt seem like his old body.
The book on the desk bounced lightly. A man who was reading at the same desk threw the book and stood up to see what was going on.
This person must be stronger than me.
āIām, Iām sorry, young sorcerer! Iām a very busy man. Iām really sorry!ā
When he said that, he ran away with a panicking.
He almost fell down trying to avoid bumping into someone on the way, but quickly regained his position and resumed running.
The library fell silent.
The silence remained for a while. But as soon as someone began to speak, everyone began to speak within the bounds of good manners.
I was stuck for a while, but then I saw the man who had stood up earlier sit back down and picked up a brush pen.
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