As I turn around, I am immediately met with the sight of a lovely young lady. She has wavy black hair adorned with a big purple bow hair clip, striking purple eyes, and wears a gothic style dress. She looks even younger than Yumi, perhaps only twelve or thirteen years old. Yet, the fact that she is able to stand here with me on the top floors of the library means one thing: This girl has a Crimson Rank Identity Card too.
From reading the Library's policy, I know that the knowledge held on these top floors is so precious that even the son or daughter of the King couldn't enter before they turned sixteen.
But, there are exceptions. This girl isn't supposed to be here unless she belongs to this category. Meaning: she possesses extreme talents that are far beyond her age.
I guess the old saying "don't judge a book by its cover" is even more true in this world.
But that aside, those amethyst colored eyes of hers, I feel like I have seen them somewhere…
"Oh, sorry for my rudeness," the young girl says, executing a perfect curtsy before introducing herself. "My name is Mirabelle Ashford. I'm the sixth daughter of Count Howley Ashford. I see that you are looking into those Enchantment blueprints. They were my study materials a few days ago, so I got curious, wondering if there's anything I can learn from you. After all, at my current level, I can't seem to fully grasp them yet."
Hearing that, I am pleasantly surprised. This girl—the way she talks, the way she shows me great etiquette—is way too mature for her age.
"Oh, such a pleasure to meet you too, Ms. Mirabelle," I bow back with one hand placed on my chest to show her my respect. There's a big age gap between me and her, but here, we are equals. "My name is Edward Crowhart. I'm just a traveling merchant wanting to learn about the Enchantment Arts. But, my apologies, I wasn't able to study these blueprints either."
"Huh?" Mirabelle pauses for a second. "Ah, I see. These enchantments are really, really complicated, so much so that even a Grandmaster would take weeks to study them. So, ermm…" She hesitates for a moment, then suggests, "do you want to study them together? Maybe we can exchange our knowledge and learn from each other?"
With that, I realize that the girl has misunderstood me as an enchantment expert, so I need to clear things up.
"Well, it's more like I cannot see anything at all. I just don't have Enchantment Sight," I explain.
But that was a mistake.
The answer… It makes Mirabelle furious!!!
"WHATTT!?" the young lady exclaims, visibly shocked. "What do you mean you don't have Enchantment Sight? You're joking, right? RIGHT!?"
I realize that I have stepped on a landmine.
Mirabelle then unleashes her fury on me. As she continues yelling, her face turns bright red and her eyes fill with anger. I feel a cold chill; her murderous intent is clear on her face.
I'm taken aback, but I'm not scared or anything. There's just something about an angry little girl yelling and shouting at me that makes this more cute and funny than scary.
"When I saw you reading those papers, I thought you were a Grandmaster or something. But- But it turns out you just can't read Arcanum!? What the heck!? Argh!!!" She stomps her feet and snatches the tomes from my hand. "What are you even doing here?"
One of the basic laws in Enchantment Art is that a person should never read Arcanum words that are beyond their capability, as doing so could drive them mad.
Therefore, the fact that I was reading those blueprints means one of two things: either I am a Grandmaster, the highest-ranked enchanter, or I am simply an idiot who can't even read Arcanum in the first place and doesn't know what the heck I am doing..And because Mira thought I was a Grandmaster, she approached me looking for a study buddy. When I revealed that I was not, she flipped out.
So I could totally understand her anger. To an enchanter, those tomes containing enchantment blueprints are so precious that they must be treated with the utmost care. Thus, when an outsider like me touches them, it's similar to a major offense punishable by death.
"Sorry! I'm very sorry!" I bow deeply, apologizing for my thoughtless actions. It feels strange apologizing to a child, but I was clearly in the wrong, there is no excuse.
"Hmmp!"
Mira pouts. Seeing my sincere apology calms her down a bit, but her brows are still furrowed. "Well, now that you know, don't do that again! But honestly, it doesn't make any sense. What are you even doing here in the first place? There's no way a person without Enchantment Sight could learn this art! There's literally no point!"
Yes, she is right.
But then, an idea suddenly comes to me. The secret to seeing Arcanum—what if I am looking in the wrong place? Mirabelle is a high-ranking enchanter, so perhaps she could give me some clue?
So I quickly fake a story.
"Ah, you see, my business hasn't been going well lately, so I was just looking for another way to make money. It also happens that yesterday, a friend told me a rumor that there's a secret way to read Arcanum without having that particular talent, so here I am in the library looking for it. So... ermmm... Ms. Mirabelle, do you know anything about this? Can you tell me… please?"
"Huh? What nonsense is that?" Mirabelle exclaims. "Enchantment Sight can only be obtained when you are born! Without it, you cannot see Enchantments! Those rumors are false!"
"Oh, is that so? I'm so sorry, I caused so much trouble just because of a false rumor."
"Jeez, honestly…" Mirabelle sighs. "Alright, I forgive you. But please don't do it again. I will report you to the guards if I see you touch those blueprints one more time!"
"Ah, yes. Thank you for your understanding, Mirabelle."
With that, it seems like there is no more hope for me in learning the Art of Enchantments.
However, just when Mirabelle is about to leave, she comes back.
"Oh, that reminds me, butterflies seem to be attracted to Enchantments. Maybe they can see it? Well, haha, it's not like you're going to become a butterfly or anything!"
Huh?
Butterfly…?
They can see Arcanum???
And at that moment, it sparks an idea inside my head.
What if I could make my eyes see what a butterfly's eyes could see?
Once Mirabelle is gone, I return to the Enchantment Art shelf and take out the blueprints again.
"Sapphire, activate augmented vision. Expand perceivable light wavelengths! Ultraviolet range!"
As my eyes change, the world instantly loses color and becomes shades of gray.
However, I can clearly see now.
The Arcanum writing glows brightly and beautifully.