The elf plunges his face right beside my shoulder while placing leaves and fabrics inculcated with arcane. I, who am standing motionless, throw him a promiscuous question.
"Are there any healing spells you can cast?" My curiosity spills out from me as I ask Elanor a question. "Or anyone who could cast it?"
Elanor stops settling the cloth on my skin after hearing such words from me. He then lifts his head and addresses me with a sudden stare.
"If such a spell exists, then I shall give my entire kingdom for it." He said and resumed back tending my wound without articulating a single word.
The room fell silent-frozen, even after ending his cold sentence. The atmosphere turned grim, akin to Markus' face when I quipped I am mesmerise to his daughter. Not that I dislike her or anything, but I am interested in Therese in more ways than one.
Soon after the tension, Elanor rises and informs me he has carried out salving my gaze. Soon, he organises his things, walks to the door, and leaves quietly with haste without glancing from behind. I can faintly discern a tear escaping his cheek the moment he left the room in a hurry. It must have been from the question that I asked-something that reminded his past.
"What happened to him?" I did not want to be unemotional. However, deep inside, I wish to know some of his tale behind the division of healing mages and how it affected him.
"Are your wounds mending?" Markus retorts with another answer irrelevant to my query while hurling me a novel right at my dazzle face. Luckily, I had stored plenty of points for my dexterity, which helped me evade the flying item like second nature. However, the book recoils from the invisible wall that Markus conjured and hit me at the back, intentionally.
"What was that for?" I asked, but the old man yet again disses my quiz.
I heave out a groan while studying the ancient scriptures and characters in the book's title. When I turn the pages, I discern an uncommon tongue far from this world.
"It's my first time seeing it," I state to Markus, who simply browses the collection of books for more.
While whistling to the offbeat tune, he noticed, at the mirror at the edge of his sight, the book glowing beneath my hands. I was unsure whether to express this happening, thinking it was part of the novel's strange powers.
The gleaming of the light calls forth the blue screen and appears before me, revealing the set of knowledge being unsealed.
[Congratulations! You can now read ancient scriptures!]
{A fair warning. Your proficiency in reading ancient texts has the same skill as a toddler. So some words are arduous for you to understand. By reading enough collections of books, your proficiency will level up.}
[Ancient]-{Level 1: {Still unknown}} Requirements unknown. [Next level: 1/1,000]
I turn to face the book and strive to read the written narrative. Markus also shows his signs of interest by looking onto my direction and waits for me to peruse out loud.
"The book of Legends," I started while taking a deep breath before I can even continue.
With glittering eyes, Markus sits on the nearby chair and focuses his attention purely on my voice. He conjures a magic circle and surrounds us with a turquoise hue. The spell accompanied with strident ethereal sounds soothes my ears, growing softer as it ends. Eventually, the walls envelopes with the same mineral colour scheme shining the wooden walls.
"Soundproof," Markus utters. "You are reading controversial information."
I acknowledge his injunction and continue reading the texts.
"Legend says that the world of Demancian began from the dust of the Deities above. Their breaths are our life, their eyes are our beauty, and their arcane is our strength. These were the features destined to shower the mortal realm. However, there will come a time that a new power will rise. Labyrinths will emerge, and a horde of monsters shall escape. "
I flip through the book and carry on reading onto the next page.
"Against those trials, worthy heroes shall obtain immense power, and the Thirteenth Kingdom must fall in order to rise. A war between races, granting them the authority to govern the world. Thou art, hero, I beseech thee to change the Legend and return the balance."
The succeeding sheets contain copious mythical creatures and plants that are rare to find. According to its interpretations, these are the rewards given to those who will conquer the labyrinths. And while some are still lurking from the outside world, waiting for its owner.
Markus could not wait for any longer and shuffles himself right next to me, wishing to see the contents of the book. However, the characters and illustrations on the tome were nonexistent to his eyes.
"It was just like last time," He murmurs to himself and stands from his seat.
"The book chooses its readers and will not let us see what is inside," Markus gets another volume of the similar yet distinct features from the book of legends that I have.
"This is the history of the world written by us humans," His hand turns towards the next pages, hoping to find something inscribed. "it also includes the Book of Legends in this novel. However, the book only mentions its title and vague description."
He then hands over the book to me with a scarlet feather attached on its side.
"You need to hold on to it for the time being," Markus said and ended our conversation.
__________________________________________
Two days have passed, and nothing extravagant has happened. Only a few sparring matches against Elanor and Markus, which ended up briefly like last time. Therese and I have also instructed the farmers and the merchants to deal with the matter, improving their routes and sales for the economy of the Kingdom.
I, who became the viscount of a certain town, asked for permission to visit the village.
"Are you sure you do not need my help?" Markus asks while giving me ten of the red potions that the alchemist had prepared. The vessels are like what people usually see in Role-Playing Games.
The canister is as small as a purified water bottle back from my world, only smaller and thinner. The liquid looks condensed and has slippery characteristics when observed up close. Markus had told me that consuming one bottle of the potion is equivalent to two gold coins each, a hefty price to pay to rejuvenate the wounds. They say its efficacy to be strong enough to tend the small grazes. Scientifically, it enhances the platelets in our body, improving the regeneration rate.
They also gave me a spare amount of change as an official; ten gold coins. This world's currency follows the importance of metals-ranging to bronze being the bush-league, silver, gold, and platinum coins. In this present era, in which they have, paper money has yet to enter to the majority, leaving them occupying large space inside their pockets. Fortunately, Markus also mentioned that every prosperous town has its own international bank. They store the individual's coins inside a spell called "Astral Space,". The history of the magic and how it works remains a mystery. Only the adventurer guilds all over the world can access it. The value of these coins remains globally, meaning that everyone accepts their worth equally the same.
Therese, standing at the top of the castle's balcony, watches us leave at the ingress. Although she concealed her presence from the guards, his father and I noticed her. However, it was difficult for us to communicate with her, knowing that they require sending us off for the country.
All she can do is wait for our return.
Entertaining her gloomy nature, I materialise eight magic circles near the sky where the princess can see. I then release the torrents of dazzling shimmers of water spouting from thin air, creating an illusion of a fountain. The tricks that I have remembered pay off today, as I mimic the art of water flowing above.
After ending my performance, Therese rushes down on her castle and meets us outside, with a pendant in her hand.
She leisurely approaches me with a smile on her face, covering her tears.
"You almost forgot this," She said and showed me the pendant with a bird mark on the centre. The necklace has an akin resemblance of the phoenix written on the Book of Legends, reminding me of the story I have read.
"Thank you," I told Therese and reached for the locket.
Because of my short stature, Therese has to kneel and wraps me with the bird's crest around my neck, similar from the last time during our trip from the forest. Flashing a sincere yet faint smile, she picks herself up and continues to watch us close by.
"Be back in two weeks," She said while waving her handkerchief goodbye. "It will be lonely if you-,"
"I know, princess," I answered while returning her wave paired with the glowing blue orbs around my arms.
"Let us go to the carriage," Elanor said and entered the wagon. Sir Markus appointed him to accompany me and be my temporary assistant when something severe would happen. Fortunately, the Elven forest is right around its aisle-next to the great green canyon of the north. He will pay a visit to his family and also the tiny village.
"Of course," I said while calling my two companions with me to go inside.
"Fresh meat~," Grer knows nothing about what was happening as of the moment. He was too excited about eating the grilled meat readied by the class chef just for the two dimwits. Izz is already asleep inside the caravan, knowing that the travel would take a while for us to arrive.
"Farewell, Lake!" The princess yells with all her heart as she sees our landau driving on the road.
"Of course!" I said while casting a hidden spell to deliver my present.
"Therese!" I shouted, calling for her attention one last time.
"Yes?"
"You might want to have this!"
At the end of my sentence, a wave of water gushes out from the soil, pushing upwards a figurine of some sort.
Once the item reaches her palm, a river of water pours down her face while merrily watching the carriage fade away.