Among other things, Camille basically told me to completely give up on purchasing magic books from the high-end bookstore that I visited earlier because everything can be acquired cheaper in the Magicians' Guild. Anything that's in these kinds of stores comes from the Magicians' Guild anyway.
As for the other stores - it's possible they might be selling stolen second-hand books at a cheaper price, but with magic books it's always better to confirm with the Magicians' Guild or I might be a victim of a fraud.
For example, a novel could be sold as a fake Magic Book for several gold coins, or a legitimate magic book might be sold for a higher price than even in the Magicians' Guild.
People who know little about magic or can barely read, sometimes buy those.
She mentioned that a frequent fraud is a book called 'Sigu's Summoning' Magic.
[Sigu's Summoning] is considered a classic on Summoning Magic, and it certainly is. It's sold as a book on Summoning Magic… but it is, in truth, only a story.
In general, Camille said that: 'the Magicians' Guild is the most reliable".
If something isn't in stock here, it could be imported from the capital which is not that far away.
The guild's library is also supposed to not be a bad place for me to study the basics in.
In general, the chance of acquiring rare or valuable magic books from common bookstores is very low.
If magicians resell books, they would sell it back to the Magicians' Guild instead.
The only magic books that would be sold second-hand on the market are stolen goods.
But she said that if I want to fish for cheap deals, I should directly visit the Thieves' Guild with my master instead. I will have better luck this way.
The Thieves' Guild…
It interested me a bit.
As for useful Summoning books, after I've shown interest in Summoning Magic, Camille emphasized that I read 'Sigu's Summoning' in the guild's library first.
Because I also think this book might be one that was introduced in the novel, I'll definitely read it.
Once our conversation ended, I ended up only buying some cheap magic ink Camille recommended to me and several large scroll sheets.
Because Camille was so helpful, I felt I should pass her a Silver coin.
"Haha, there was no need. It's fun to talk with you, Seraph-kun. But since you seem to be doing well, I won't decline," she said that and happily took the Silver Coin anyway.
A Silver Coin should be a sizable portion of her salary, but I gained and learned a lot today, so I didn't mind it. It was an investment.
I had enough money for that and I will surely have to rely on her even more in the future.
After storing the materials I bought in my backpack, I bid Camille farewell and left the second floor with my two companions.
At the staircase, I turned to Eris and Ghislaine who were mostly silent until this point. "I'm now going to go visit the library and it's for guild members only. How about we split up?"
"Eh? I hoped we'd go to the Thieves' Guild!... But okay." Eris nodded, rapidly changing moods.
"Ghislaine, it's fine, right?" I asked Ghislaine.
"Hm. Fine. Just don't visit the black market by yourself," she said.
"Okay."
…
After parting from Eris and Ghislaine, I entered the third floor of the Magicians' Guild and walked into the library.
Apart from the rows of bookshelves, my eyes met with a stern-looking thin middle-aged man who seemed to be the receptionist.
Seeing how the man was honing at me with his sharp eyes, I approached him and showed him my guild card.
The man briefly glanced at it and lightly snorted. He then wrote down my name in what seemed like the visitors' log.
After giving me my card back, he said, "You're allowed to browse the library, but don't damage anything, or you'll have to compensate. The rules are written here. If you can read."
The man pointed at a nearby pillar with a large piece of paper attached to it.
I approached and skimmed through the rules.
Be quiet. If you damage a book, you'll have to compensate. Borrowing books requires collateral. A price that has to be paid for each day that the book is in your possession. Thieves will be investigated and tracked down by the guilds' officials. Not every book could be lent… Basic things like that.
In general, the rules were quite harsh. I guess it's only understandable in a world where books are so expensive.
It also seemed that the Magicians' Guild had their own punishment department which dealt with tracking down and punishing criminals.
After reading the rules, I gave the library itself a proper look.
Apart from many ordinary bookshelves, what attracted my attention first were books that were laid down on desks and connected with a chain to their respective desks - books you couldn't steal even if you wanted to.
They gave you the feeling of valuable tomes with secret ancient knowledge.
Feeling a bit intrigued, I decided to check these out first.
As I approached the desks, I could notice the receptionist sneering at me from a distance. He probably expected something like this already - a stupid child being attracted to 'cool books' he could never comprehend.
Well, whatever.
Sneer all you want, old man.
Currently, there were three other people there who were reading and writing notes. One of them glanced at me, then ignored me, while the other two didn't even notice me and were engrossed in their research.
I checked the other books that were available.
I checked the first, second and the third…
No, these were not tomes with Saint-rank magic, unfortunately.
From what I could tell, these seemed to be more rare and expensive volumes about magic up to Advanced rank and about magical theory.
I planned to skim through these later to broaden my horizons, but when it came to learning new magic - nope, these were not it.
But it wasn't like these books were completely useless. They touched upon some slightly interesting subjects that I still wanted to read up on.
There were some books here on Magic Circles and Enchantment magic. Some of them were even titled 'textbooks', as if they were meant to be used in Magic Schools.
Books about Detoxification magic also existed among them - up to Intermediate rank, listing a variety of spells - I planned to study those after I get through the 20 Detoxification spells back in the manor.
After looking through all the titles, there were a few books I was at least mildly interested in.
But for books about real Summoning magic - there wasn't a single one among these.
'Camille mentioned [Sigu's Summoning]. But it also isn't among the chained books. I guess I'll just ask the librarian.'
I approached the librarian and asked him about that.
"Sigu's summoning?" He snorted. "Sure, go ahead. It's on the 3rd bookshelf from the left..…"
Following the man's instructions, I eventually found the book I wanted.
I brought it back to one of the empty desks and began reading.
It wasn't a thick book.
As I read with interest, I eventually got through one third of it.
And by that point I already understood why this book was a scam.
Basically, there was nothing in it about the practical methods of summoning or any magic circles so far.
It was just a story!
As I flipped through it, it seemed to be the same later on.
No Magic Circles were included. You simply couldn't learn any real Summoning Magic from it.
'I vaguely remember this from the novel. This should actually be the book that Nanahoshi gave Rudeus to read, and perhaps even the book Rudeus tried to purchase in the store in Roa. But it isn't a part that I remember well…'
There was something like this in the novel. Rudeus read a book with a story of a witch which summoned familiars to serve her, then died by the hands of her own summons in the end.
But because that book seemed to have no real importance in the story, I mostly forgot about it.
'I'll finish reading it later.'
I grabbed the book and brought it to the librarian to borrow it.
To bring it with me, I had to pay a collateral of 2 gold coins.
I also forced myself to ask the librarian for advice on foundational magic books that I should read apart from the Magic Guidebook.
The man didn't look very enthusiastic, but he still gave me some recommendations.
Basics of Elementary rank Water magic and a book on tongue twisters…
Well, alright. I borrowed these books as well by paying the same collateral for each.
Eventually, I left the library for the time being.
After leaving the Magicians' Guild, I went to the herbalist's store again.
This time I bought the highest grade healing herbs available.
If I want to test if healing herbs work to help with strength training, it would be easier with something stronger.
…
Around the same time in the manor.
The doors burst open and someone rushed into Philip's office.
"Father!"
There was obviously only one person in the household who would burst into his work room this way and with these words.
Philip raised his head from the paperwork and gently smiled. "Eris. You're back from sightseeing the city with Seraphim? Was it fun?"
"Yes, very! But Seraphim went to the library, so we separated! But then we saw that we had no money, so we came back! Father! Where is that tutor you promised me?!"
Hearing this, Philip smiled. "The tutor? You seem quite motivated to begin your studies. Did something happen?"
"Hmph! Seraphim is two years younger than me and can already read and use magic. I can't lose to him!"
Seeing the cute determined expression on his daughter's face, Philip chuckled. "Is that so? But the home tutor I want to get for you is someone who resigned before because you were running away from her. Is that alright?"
"I don't care! But she needs to be good in magic!"
"It's 'at magic'," Philip smoothly corrected, then picked up a metal wine glass in a good mood that his butler filled just in time.
"At magic!"
After taking a sip of the wine, Philip gently smiled and said, "Very well. Then I'll make sure the tutor hurries."
"Good! Now I need to go train!!! Thanks, father!" After saying so, Eris rushed out of the room as suddenly as she came in, not bothering to close the door behind her.
The butler smoothly moved in to close the door as if he already expected that.
Philip smiled as he stirred the wine in his cup.
It's only been a few days since Seraphim visited them, but the effect he had on Eris was profound.
It seemed it was a great decision to make him come.
Philip still had his doubts, but perhaps with that child's help the tomboy Eris could be turned into a noble lady after all.
'Even if not, just someone with Seraphim's potential being here is very good. As long as he's here… Everything is going just fine.'
…
After getting back to the manor, I asked the maids to brew me the healing herbs I bought and then drunk the concoction together with my meal.
I later went out to finally do my workout for the day.
It was time to start testing the effect of those herbs.
But when I got to my gym, I saw that Eris seemed to already be waiting for me there, with her hands on her hips.
"What are you going to do here?! Teach me!"
So it's that. It happened a bit soon, but I wasn't entirely surprised.
I said, "...Is that any way to ask someone for something?"
"Uwwwwwa…" Eris made a depressed face and scowled in reluctance.
Ah, I understood what it was about.
The Boreas style etiquette, huh?
"Well, ok."
"Really?!"
"Yeah. But you have to say thank you. You say thank you when you receive something from others."
I didn't like to be such a nagger, but I don't think she was even taught that much! I never once saw her thank me even once - not after any time I healed her, not after I gave her food and not even after I saved her from the kidnappers.
"I know that!... Th-thank you!"
"You're welcome," I said. "Now let's go. I'll teach you how to train your body! However, my training is hard."
From that moment onwards, as Eris showed desire to train and trust in my ability, I began training her in my gym, slowly getting her used to the various bodybuilding exercises of the modern era.
In general, Eris tended to train like a stereotypical gym bro and always quickly move the weight around.
I tried my best to make her at least train with proper form, but it was tough.
No matter how I tried to explain things to her, she always did things her own way. She moved the weight quickly, as if it was a race.
She was also prone to ego-lifting and cut her range short or compromised her form to move more weight, as if to show me just how many repetitions she can do.
She also complained a lot in the beginning about how I was nagging her for her form, but this stopped when I told her that if my training is too difficult, then she could leave.
Despite everything, she kept pushing through the exercises. It should have been her pride that kept her going.
In truth, a personal trainer was my last job before I reincarnated.
Eris was definitely my most tricky client so far, but let's put it aside.
I wasn't in the business for long, but I could confidently say that I was quite knowledgeable on the subject of strength training and hypertrophy because of my desire to seek knowledge.
It was definitely my advantage in this world.
It looked like people here knew some basic calisthenics to build their foundation and how to swing a sword well to kill the enemy, but proper training methods for the body itself were extremely primitive.
Apart from hammering the basics, they simply trained their bodies by swinging a sword until they became exhausted.
Perhaps my knowledge might not be very applicable at the high level when swordsmen become extremely strong and the weights required for bodybuilding would need to be ridiculously huge and heavy, but I think it should at least work well to help someone build a strong foundation and awaken Battle Aura.
This was my main aim behind strength training, of course - training the body in the most optimal manner, so I would one day manifest Battle Aura.
…
Before I went to sleep that day, I finished reading 'Sigu's Summoning'.
In essence, it was a story about how a witch named Sigu summoned one magic beast after another. Then, in the end, she used a large quantity of offerings and a tremendous amount of mana to summon a magic beast stronger than herself, and was eaten alive.
Her disciples lamented in grief and swore in their hearts to never summon a magic beast beyond their own ability.
Being a classic on Summoning Magic, it seemed to serve as a warning.
If an amateur uses too much mana to summon a magic beast, there's the possibility that it might be a dangerous one that can't be controlled.
That should be the message here.
But the matter of fact was that there weren't any specifics on the method of summoning anything in that book. It only gave me a general idea of what to expect from that kind of magic.
Real Summoning Magic seems to be lost knowledge.
It makes me wonder if anything useful could be ordered from the capital in that case.
…
Next day Eris met with me and Ghislaine at the training square while groaning.
Her first training session was rather moderate, but her muscles were still in pain from last day's training.
She immediately asked me to heal her, and so I did.*
"Much better! Th-thanks!" she said whilst I looked at her expressionlessly.
I lightly smiled. "You're welcome. At first your muscles will be hurting after the training, but once you get used to it after a few days, it won't happen as much."
"Okay!"
Overseeing our conversation, Ghislaine asked, "Seraphim, just what kind of training are you doing with Eris?"
"Strength training."
"Strength training?"
"Yes. We're lifting weights to train our strength."
Ghislaine looked at me silently.
"It's Seraphim's special training! It's complicated, but he said it'll make me really strong!" Eris excitedly said.