Satisfied with the meal, and with a generous two-hour lunch break allocated, Luke found himself with a good amount of time left after finishing his food.
As he pondered how to spend this remaining time, the thought of the library suddenly crossed his mind.
Given the quality of the facilities, the books might be of a higher standard than what one would find in a neighborhood bookstore.
If so, that would allow him to find the materials he desired.
Recalling the rough sketch of the pamphlet he had seen earlier, he set off, with Mary and Shirud following behind.
Curious about the transfer student’s bold stride, Mary asked with intrigue.
“Luke, where are you going?”
“I’m thinking of going to the library. Have you ever been there?”
“A library? I’ve never been.”
Seeing Mary tilt her head in confusion, Shirud shook his head.
It was as if he were thinking, ‘Has this girl never been to a library?’
Shirud then asked.
“Is there something you want to borrow?”
“Well, I suppose I’ll have to see. By the way, can you borrow books there?”
In the past, when books held immense value, borrowing was more common than purchasing.
However, even in modern times when book prices have become very cheap, the concept of borrowing seems to still exist.
“Of course. Oh, do you have your student ID?”
“Student ID? Is this what you’re talking about?”
Luke rummaged through his inner pocket and pulled out his student ID.
A solid and thin rectangle with rounded corners.
It displayed his photo and name, identifying him as a student at Tigr Academy.
After confirming that there was no problem with Luke’s student ID, Shirud nodded and said.
“Right, with that you can borrow up to five books.”
“Five books… That’s pretty nice. Then, what’s the borrowing fee per book?”
“It’s free for students.”
“Oh, really.”
If it’s free, then he has to take advantage of it.
Luke thought to himself that the academy might be more useful than he initially expected.
“Well then, let’s hurry and go!”
Mary raised her hand excitedly.
– To the library!
Py mimicked Mary, shooting a fragment of mana upwards.
Watching that, Luke felt that Py was gradually getting closer to becoming more human.
“Will Py start speaking human language first, or will I understand spirit language first…?”
It seemed like it could become quite an interesting competition.
——-
True to its reputation as a prestigious academy, the library at Tigr Academy was impressively large.
Luke was a bit surprised by its size and scale.
‘In terms of scale alone, it’s almost the level of a royal palace library.’
While the value contained within was still unknown, the collection was nearly at its maximum compared to what it had been 5,000 years ago.
It was no wonder he felt astonished to find such a vast educational institution for children.
Luke approached the bookshelf with great expectations.
Mary, who had arrived at the library with Luke, found a picture book that looked interesting, settled down, and sat.
Though he was curious about what book Luke would pick, his own boredom took precedence.
However, as soon as he opened his book, drowsiness washed over him, likely due to the meal.
After flipping through a couple of pages, Mary buried her head on the book and closed her eyes.
Seeing that, Shirud reaffirmed his prejudice against Hyuns.
“Ugh.”
It’s strange that Luke was carefully choosing books over there; usually, Hyuns would act like that.
Luke was attentively examining the bookshelf labeled ‘History.’ Whenever an interesting title caught his eye, he quickly flipped through it before putting it back on the shelf.
Then, he suddenly felt something was off.
“Why is there such a lack of information about Arinseia from 2,000 years ago?”
Arinseia must have certainly existed.
Given that it was a nation founded 5,000 years ago, it should have lasted for at least 3,000 years.
Moreover, who was the king of that kingdom?
The immortal king, Renie Arinseia.
It shouldn’t have gone through hereditary succession like a typical kingdom.
Shouldn’t it be more common for a powerful state to leave behind numerous records?
Or is it possible that they did not bother to keep records, relying on the king’s immortality?
“There’s so much information about modern times, though.”
Luke let out a small sigh as he looked down at the book tucked under his left arm.
It was a relatively good history book detailing important world history over almost 2,000 years.
Just two minutes after he began searching for books, he found a decent one covering history related to modern times.
“Arinseia seems to have really left only fairy tales behind.”
Perhaps if he went to a bigger library, he could find something more substantial.
For now, he decided to borrow the fairy tales with the most detailed descriptions.
Luke took out a few suitable books and approached the spot where Shirud was sitting.
“Have you been waiting?”
“What’s all this?”
Shirud looked a bit startled as he set down the book he had been reading and saw the fifteen or so books that Luke had brought.
He had gotten the impression that Luke would like books, but…
“I have a request. Could you lend me these five books with your student ID?”
“Well… I suppose it’s not out of the question.”
“Thanks, that really helps.”
As Shirud looked at Luke’s bright smile, he suddenly felt shy and averted his gaze.
The titles of the books he caught a glimpse of were, without fail, all fairy tale-like books related to Arinseia.
‘Is he really interested in fairy tales?’
Thinking back, was ‘Luke Irushi’ a name that appeared in the ‘Legend of the Immortal King’?
Perhaps he took it from there.
Though the name Luke does seem masculine.
“By the way, Shirud, what were you reading?”
“Oh, a magic book. I thought it might be helpful.”
“Hmmm, let me take a look.”
Luke moved beside Shirud and briefly flipped through the pages.
He didn’t think the content would be particularly helpful.
After all, it only contained simple formulas and calculation techniques.
“This kind of stuff might help in class, but it won’t be much help with circle magic. Still, since you’re a student, it’s good to study this too.”
“Really? So how should I study circle magic?”
“Focus on coordinate equations and mana calculation methods, and for the rest, it’s best to develop your own sense.”
“I see.”
Shirud sighed as he looked down at his hand.
He still couldn’t clearly define his feelings about mana.
He felt like the superficial knowledge he learned at school kept interfering in his mind.
“If only I had focused more on the circle back then….”
He regretted that he was so distracted by the sensation of a girl his age’s chest that he had completely missed out on feeling the circle.
But then again, there’s no way he could ask, ‘Can I touch it again?’
That would be way too embarrassing.
What would Luke think of him? No, thinking about it, that was because Luke had touched it first. So isn’t it okay?
Shirud hesitated as he tried to come up with something to say.
“Luke, um… about the circle…”
“I see. You mean you want to feel mine again, right?”
Luke chuckled and shrugged.
That reaction caused Shirud’s face to redden as he made eye contact with Luke.
“U-Um, is that not allowed?”
Looking at it this way, Shirud was definitely still a kid.
Truly, the shy appearance of a young child is quite cute.
He felt as though he was reminded of a child he had caught stealing candy from a general store, standing embarrassed as he was punished.
However.
“Of course, that’s not allowed.”
It’s not allowed.
“Y-Yeah, I guess that makes sense….”
Since it is indeed a girl’s chest, that’s only natural.
Shirud began to think that perhaps his face matched the color of his eyes as he avoided Luke’s gaze.
“At that time, I made a mistake. If I had known that you were so swayed by emotions, I would have been more careful about such contact.”
He shouldn’t have thought that the mages of this era would be the same as those of the past.
Despite the magical system having changed, Shirud made the mistake of assuming that, as a being with a circle, he would be like the mages from 5,000 years ago.
Back then, circles were something that only those cold and intellectual could inscribe.
However, in this era, they seem to classify circles as diseases and aim to eliminate them; he had no idea until he spoke with Shirud.
Because up until now, all that information had been something Yerna had heard alone, and she had deliberately chosen not to tell him.
If he thought about it carefully, Luke might have been able to guess that fact, but he hadn’t been thinking deeply about it.
After all, Luke hadn’t felt the need to question that obvious common sense.
But now, he realized that he must view the mages of the past and present as completely separate.
The only person he could consider truly qualified to be called a ‘mage,’ based on what he had seen so far, was ‘Gerard Collson.’
‘Miriam Daphne’ was an outsider because he hadn’t seen her true abilities yet.
“Still, it really seems necessary to feel mana one more time.”
Luke was worried that Shirud was far too disconnected from his sense.
Being unable to feel mana means meditation is impossible.
Luke reached out his hand and said.
“Instead, why don’t you stretch out your hand?”
“Stretch out my hand…?”
The reason Luke suggested holding hands was that, when he had touched Shirud’s chest, he had entered such an emotional state that he ended up in a mana surge, but when they held hands, it wasn’t to that extent.
As Luke held Shirud’s shyly extended hand, he said.
“Now, close your eyes and take deep breaths and clear your emotions.”
Following Luke’s instructions, Shirud obediently closed his eyes, took deep breaths, and calmed his emotions.
If it were before, just holding hands would have made his heart race, but now he knew this wouldn’t lead to such contact.
Luke wasn’t just an ordinary girl; he was also his teacher regarding the circle.
He felt a bit like a grandfather…
As a sense of reassurance arose in his darkened vision, Luke’s kind voice reached his ears.
“Now, accept the mana. Do you feel it?”
“I feel it. So this is mana.”
It felt something warm and comforting.
If this sensation continued, one might misunderstand that they had fallen in love with mana.
Shirud finally sensed that the creaking circle was slowly turning more heavily.
“This is a fascinating sensation.”
“This is meditation. Focus; in the future, you should be able to meditate like this by yourself.”
Luke pressed the mana he had collected into the circle located at Shirud’s heart.
Though it consumed more mental strength and mana than doing so directly would, there was no helping it.
Once he reached the second circle, there would be no need for such measures; if he endured this discomfort just now, he would be able to maintain the circle independently and lead an ordinary life.
After a while of manipulating the mana, helping Shirud’s heart’s circle stabilize, Luke’s head nodded and eventually fell on the desk.
Was it the combination of post-meal drowsiness and fatigue from rigorous mana manipulation, combined with the quiet and calm atmosphere?
Luke released a deep breath and fell asleep just like that, still in meditation.
“…Luke?”
No matter how much he poked, it was clear he was asleep.
Shirud thought maybe he had originally been tired, but he had no idea that helping a 1st circle mage stack mana in their circle using only indirect mana manipulation would cause a 5,000-year-old mage to faint.
It meant that it was possible to freely manipulate the circles of lower-tier mages by merely holding their hands!
But such was unknown to Shirud, who, still holding Luke’s hand, fell into panic, unable to continue his meditation.
Luke’s hand was, after all, soft like a girl’s, and the sight of the sleeping Luke seemed to be defenseless and cute…
“…”
At that moment, he felt a gaze from in front of him.
Unbeknownst to her, Mary had woken up and was peering intently at Luke and Shirud, pretending to be asleep with her eyes half open.
“…Mary? Since when have you been watching?”
“Hehe… I saw everything, you two holding hands and closing your eyes. Have you already become that close?”
“N-No, that’s not it. I mean…! It’s about mana! We were trying to feel mana…”
“Hmm, a girl’s hands do feel soft.”
“That’s not it!”
It was a completely absurd misunderstanding.
But he had no idea how to explain it.
As Shirud fumbled for words, the librarian approached with an annoyed voice.
“If you’re going to be noisy, take it outside.”
“S-Sorry…!”
