The vivid times of the Old Mage War was still present in history book and in hearsays of old people in Trinity. There was a story of the four sages releasing their artifacts in order to weaken the bestials, there are some scrolls that illustrate the templars sealing away a fragment of the bestials' powers using the artifacts in their trial forts and their sunken libraries, some resort to the celestial story of Eleanora singlehandedly weakening her sister and giving her essence up to birth the four schools of magic.
Those are only tales, though vivid, they only set up Trinity's current state. The Order of Mages still exist these days, managing any minor bestial problems, though they are only facing stray ones. The order now simply manages the politics of the world, clandestinely influencing leaders, and some even sit at the highest position in the Court of Mages, a councilor.
Kent was silently reading that historical analysis of the mages' past, for he has nothing better to do, he only read all his life, peddling from library to library in order to read upon the order and how it's run. It seems that his fascination for mages has been present ever since his parents perished in a bestial encounter. They were both mages from the Navita School, commanding elements to their behest. He could not picture that event, for he was only a young lad, aged 12 at the time of their death. Now that he's 16, he still holds the honor of having mage parents, fighting for Trinity's peace. He wants to continue the legacy one day, but his latent magical powers are not yet awakened, he can only theorize on what he can do.
He didn't have a formal education, the libraries at Theos only accept him visiting from time to time, the coalition of librarians even notes him and his visitations, making him their son. It is a strange construct indeed for Kent, but what more can he do? He could not complain, he did not have the will to, either. To him, this was his new home, traveling from bookshelf to bookshelf in Theos' libraries. Some librarians teach him sometimes. One to note is Madame Strooge, who is a cousin of a councilor, Councilor Guinevere of the Dark Court. She has taught Kent the history of mages, and he listened to every word, engraining it to memory. Monsieur Lucius from the other side of Theos though, has taught him the hierarchy of mages, like his encounters with Strooge, he has listened to every word, even associating himself to the school of Navita, being fond of the current Navita Councilors, Sirene, which sits as the Mage General of the court, Hime, and Mizus. He even knows the story of Sage Leanora, the Elemental Goddess, and her many daughters in Trinity. He only knows these from teachers, yet it's as if no books in Theos teaches him how to conjure up the magic that he desire, so he set his eyes on going to Catherine, the Court's Mage Capital.
With the libraries as his own, he works for them from time to time for gold coins, saving money for himself to one day go to Catherine, with a will to enter the Lyceum located there. All mage students only enter at one school, it is called The Lyceum, it is divided into four courts, the Navitus Lyceum, which he greatly wants to enter for it is the institute that teaches elemental magic, the Lux Lyceum, the institute that trains mages in the field of light magic, the Tenebras Lyceum, the court that educates on the dark arts, and the Psyche Lyceum, a training ground for mages interested in Spirit Magic, often inclined towards supportive arts.
"Kent, may you please bring this parcel to Madame Strooge?" Asked the librarian on duty, Monsieur Florence. "Surely, Monsieur. I'll have it delivered right away," he said with a smile. "Take the wind carriages, boy, it is an urgent letter," Florence said seriously. Monsieur Florence was one that is greatly fond of Kent, he's the one who opened the library's dormitory for him, and he watches over his reading, though he has not taught Kent anything, for the secrets he know about the mages are not for public knowledge. "But I have no wind tickets with me, monsieur. However may I have the privilege to use a wind carriage." Before Kent can even finish all his sentences, Florence already gave him a wind ticket. "Don't worry, boy, the sender of the parcel even supplied us with wind tickets for a year," he said with a smile. Wind carriage rides were not a common transportation in Trinity, they only stick with the usual horse carriages, for this method was only released recently, it is an invention of the ever-flamboyant Councilor Hime, which is also the queen of the kingdom of Libra. Kent immediately took the parcel and went outside, walking towards the carriage stations.
Trinity's society was conservative at best, so Kent's appearance at the station was shocking to those 'high and mighty' aristocrats who sKent their money to go on a flying carriage powered by the wind. "Hey, lad. What are you doin' here?" The conductor said to him. Kent simply looked at him and gave his ticket, which shocked the present aristocrats that he was in a possession of such an item, despite his commoner clothing contrasting with their jewels and golds.
Little did Kent know that the stability of the ride was as volatile as Councilor Hime's personality. Once he has wrote his destination and dropped it at the vehicle's location box, it flew off nearing the speed of sound. This was taxing for Kent for he was not used to this method. The carriage was even unstable mid-air, twisting and turning at every opportunity he had. At one half of his mind, he was enjoying the fast ride coming after a life of reading, and at the second half, he really wanted to throw up because of the motion.
Eventually, the carriage arrived at the town of Ana in Theos, where Madame Strooge's library is. As he went out, a medic was already waiting for him with a sickness tonic to alleviate the nausea he was feeling. "Sorry, lad. It's still very unstable, so there are medics always waiting at the two ends, that's why the tickets cost a fortune," the medic said to him. He could not respond, for his head was still spinning. He eventually moved and walked towards the library, which was near the station.
Upon his arrival, he greeted Madame Strooge a good day, and the librarian could not be happier. Like the other librarians, she was also very fond of him, that's why he has taught the mages' history. "Lad, have you brought the parcel for me?" She immediately asked him. "Oh, Madame, how were you aware that there was a parcel coming?" He asked him in disbelief. The only methods of quick communication right now was available through magic, and the mages never let the outside world know their arts in magic. "Guinevere was here earlier, she has told me that a parcel was coming from the Mage General to the librarians, and it was to be passed one by one," she said. Kent immediately put the parcel at her tabletop. "Why don't you read for a bit, Kent? I got the new edition of magical chemistry from the lyceum, let's use the laboratory later and make destructive elixirs," Strooge excitedly said. She has also taught Kent some chemistry in the past, and it served as one of their entertainment when the madame wanted to slack off.
Kent took the book from the newly-arrived books, and began reading it at his favorite space, in the middle of the library where the air was cool because of some shenanigans they did in the past from the lab above.
He looked at interesting elixirs, but one that piqued his interest was the mage bomb, it was made by combining crushed Catherine flowers, Sulfurite Powder, Centennial Coal, and a flame leaf, it is stated that once the bottle was thrown, the ingredients would react and cause an explosion. Such elixirs could be only used once a mage cannot cast a spell anymore, be it due to the ability to state some of the incantations, or draw essence from their souls.
"Interested in the Catherine Mage Bomb, are we?" A girl said from behind. "Yeah, pretty much," he anxiously said, he was not used to talking with strangers, while the girl's demeanor indicates that she was pretty much a veteran in that aspect. "Ahh. Combining the force of the centennial coal, the poisonous nature of the sulfurite, and adding the latent magical power of Catherine Flowers, and triggering them with a flame leaf's agitation. It is a weapon to be reckoned with, in full power, but a neat party prank when the components are at a lower concentration," she said confidently. "If you wanted it to be a weapon of war, I suggest the flowers from the tenebrae variance, but if you wanted it to be nothing more than a party prank, use the animae family of Catherine flowers," she added. Kent was shocked that she held this information. "How do you even know this information?" He asked. "I pretty much grew up studying magical chemistry, though it's the only thing I'm good at," she said. "Excuse me, who are you though?" Kent asked to the strangely intelligent woman. She smiled at him with her gentle look. "Isidore," she delightfully said, "Isidore Lalina." Kent observed her clothing, it was made with the wool of the soul sheep, indicating that she is an aristocrat, though he didn't care for this societal construct, he was surprised that one of her stature would talk to a commoner like him. "Kent," he reached his hand out, "Kent Cheval." Isidore immediately shook his hand, and he was surprised because she even did that. "You're not like those other snobby aristocrats, huh?" He said. "Well, that's kind of boring, sir, so I prefer keeping it simple," she mischievously said. "Mademoiselle!" He heard someone shout. "I think it's time for me to leave. It was nice talking to you, Kent," she said with a smile and she left.
Madame Strooge immediately called Kent after Isidore has left the library. "I see that you have met Princess Isidore of Ivory," she said. Kent was shocked and his eyes widened at that reveal. "Come on, Madame Strooge. Why would a princess from another kingdom be in your library?" He joked. "Are you insulting this library, lad?" She sarcastically said. "Just kidding, Madame," he said. "They were here to pick up a manuscript that they were looking for, so I don't think they'll come back anytime soon." She went back to stamping some books.
"Madame, I always wondered why you knew a lot about mages, may you please tell me the reason now?" He asked with curiosity. "I think it's time for you to know. I was the predecessor of Guinevere in her current position. I left the council and fled here to Theos to manage this library that my mother had," she uninterestingly said. Kent was silenced by Madame Strooge's revelation. "I think it's time I show you something, lad. Let us just wait until the library closes." They proceeded to talk for hours about random stuff, such as Madame Strooge's inability to find a husband, though she's still young, at the age of 28.
When the library closed, Madame Strooge took something below her desk, it was a box sealed with magical aura. "You'll finally witness magic first-hand, Kent," she said to him. "Patentarius," she said and the box immediately opened. "This artifact is one basic artifacts for mages, I have kept my former lover's tomes here, he was a light mage, but he also died in the past," she sadly said. "I surrendered my dark tomes when I left, so I can't help you in this regard. I hope you'll find some uses for this, even though I know that you are interested more in elemental magic." She then gave the box to Kent. "Here you go, make some use of these somehow. Go back to Leopold now, Monsieur Florence might be waiting for you," she said.
With the light tomes he acquired, Kent went outside, heading towards the carriage, to go back to Leopold, to go back to Monsieur Florence