Anne was pushing Mary out of the library, much to the young maid's annoyance.
"Miss, why don't you want me to be there with you? What if you stumble on a pile of books?" Mary protested.
"What will happen if you're there? You'll catch me like a charming knight would?" Anne returned, giving Mary a final shove before she was standing at the corridor outside.
Mary flushed a little. "What? No, that's not what I meant! I mean, there should be someone to look after you! What if you're hungry? Or you fall off the ladder? Or-"
"I'll be fine, Mary." Anne interjected. "Can you not worry about me like a mother hen all the time?"
Mary clasped her hands together, her lips upturned. "Why do you not want me to be with you anymore, Miss? Have I done something to upset you? "
"No, no!" Anne waved her hand at her. "I'm not angry at you! I just want to read alone. Look, I'm sorry, for always pushing you aside, okay? I know you're with me most the time, but right now I need to be alone!"
"You're... You're apologising?"
"Oof, Mary! " Anne whined. "Just-Just give me a minute to myself, will you? I'll take you to the new boutique tomorrow! You can choose any dress for me as you want."
This seemed to placate Mary for the moment. "You will?"
"Yes, yes, now will you let me be?" Anne said, motioning to herself and then the library.
Mary sighed. "A-Alright... I don't know what's gotten into you, but as long as it makes you happy." She bows and leaves.
"Finally!" Anne mumbles to herself as she returns to the library. She scans through the multiple bookshelves lined with rows of leatherbound or fraying books. Most of them are jammed together, collecting dust. With time, the lettering on the leather jack of the books have washed out.
Even as Anne located the area where her family keeps most of the literature related to magic, it was hard to find what she was specifically looking for. Dark magic.
"Is dark magic banned in the duchy?" Anne mumbled to herself. It made little sense. After all, the original Annette had been vocal about her ingrained dark mana pool but nobody had been particularly disturbed by it. Sure, some would at time judge her for it, but the magic type was never banned or associated with evil. Yet, looking through the shelves, all she could find was either elemental magic or light magic.
Do I need to go to the Iron Tower to find what I need? Anne thought as she dragged the ladder to the shelves and began to climb. But what if I come across Alistair? I don't want to meet with any of the male leads for now, without figuring out myself first. She tipped forward, reaching into a corner where an old book had practically merged with the wood. The ladder wobbled a little. Hm, should I ask the Duke about it? He was always very supportive of Annette. Too supportive maybe... But maybe he can help. The ladder wobbled a bit more.
"Damn book won't budge!" Anne mumbled, still pulling at the book that was fixated against the shelf. "It's so high up! I can't even see what's written on it! I swear it looked interesting from below-" The ladder tilted again and Anne felt her body give way as her grasp against the book slipped and she was falling back. "Aaah-!"
CRASH!
Pain shot up her right leg and she watched blood trickle down a part of her leg that she had scraped. She hissed in pain. "I know I wasn't this clumsy when I was a police officer. Haish, it hurts... I should've listened to Mary!"
It's just a small wound, stop whining. Anne chidded herself as she tried to stop, only to notice that beside her, the book she'd been struggling with, lying beside her.
"Oh!" Anne's face lit up at the scrawlings on the book's cover: "A Guide to Dark Magic."
"Finally!" Anne said as she grabbed the book, only wincing a little as her wound seared at her movement.
She opened the book in anticipation. Her smile fell. Why was this a picture book?!
"What? " She aggressively flipped through the book, her mouth agape as the book was filled with drawings that seem as though they were made for a child to read. What was worse, there was no writing.
She gingerly pulled herself to a nearby table, wiping the blood from her wound gently before she placed the book in front of her and took a seat. Really? This was what she'd hurt herself over?
Groaning, she looked through the pages, nonetheless. "Might as well. " She groused. The book was filled with nonsensical drawings of monsters and evil hooded figures. Midway through the pages, she finally came across her first speck of writing.
One either page was a child's drawing of a ball of black scribbles with a beak and another scribble of a black long noodle with tiny specks that were potentially wings. In golden ink, at the centre, it said: "Call us ;)"
"How am I suppose to 'call them'?" Anne frowned. "And whom?"
Saefrenum.
The word was whispered into her mind. It felt like tendrils of something had slithered into her brain and left the word for her.
"Saefrenum?" Anne said it out loud, looking incredulous. Then it began.
It started slow at first, almost imperceptible to Anne. The golden ink had begun to glow. Anne only noticed it when she realised that the ink was beginning to emit a faint aura. The words had begun to writhe like they were alive, the letters pulsating with renewed purpose. The glow got brighter and brighter till Anne had to squint her eyes and cover them with her arm, to protect herself from the brilliant sheen.
The drawings were rippling on the pages. Anne moved away, trying to distance herself from whatever was happening.
This wasn't in the original story!
As Anne stood, the glow stopped.
"Hi!" A small voice squeaked and Anne jumped, before she had to blink and rub her eyes to see if was seeing things.
"You're scaring her." Another voice, calmer than the first, added.
"Am not! It's you!" The other voice, that belonged to a flying ball of feathers, countered. It flapped its wings aggressively in indignation.
"As if. What, you think our Host would be scared of me? I'm the most beautiful in all the seven layers of hell." The calm voice that belonged to a black serpent with semi-irridescent scales and tiny wings, added while doing a lazy flip in the air.
"What... What are you two?" Anne said. "Where did you come from?"
"Uh, you called for us?" The black, baby bird said, cocking his head at Anne.
"You summoned us without even knowing who we are?" The serpent said.
"Well, I didn't mean to! I was just looking through a... an ancient picture book?" Anne said.
"You used the Tome to invite us to your domain!" The bird corrected. "Oh well, whatever, my name is Azazael!"
"... Like the demon?" Anne did not believe it. "But.. You're a baby crow?"
"Hey!" Azazael cawed, taking offense. "I'm a raven! A raven! And excuse you, I'll have you know I'm very strong! It's not my fault you chained me up!"
"I did what?" Anne had officially lost the conversation.
"You sealed away most of our magic when you summoned us." The serpent explained. "We assumed it was because you wanted the summoning to be discreet."
"Well, first of all, I have no what idea what I did!" Anne attempted to defend herself. "And second of all, I didn't mean to summon either of you. I just said some word that popped up in my head. Sae... Sae- Whatever, I can't recall it right now. And then, the two of you appeared. "
"That's concerning. An accidental summoning? " The serpent did another lazy flip in the air and coiled around herself. "That's my first. Heh, interesting. Very well, you may refer to me as Lilith."
"You're a fancy demon too?" Anne placed her arms on her hips. "So you have a more impressive form than being a tiny flying snake?"
Lilith immediately scoffed. "A snake? Such an egregious assumption! I'm a basilik!"
"Riiiight." Anne drawled, disbelieving.
"Hey, if you're so unhappy with us, why dont you unshackle us!" Azazael chriped. "Then we'll show you how amazing we are!"
"How?"
"What do you mean, 'how'? You summoned us." Lilith said.
Anne gave them a forced, awkward smile. "Uh, but I don't know the first thing about magic?"
A prolonged silence followed.
"What?!" The two said in unision.
Anne covered her face in shame as she slowly explained her situation to the two. She left out the fact that she'd transmigrated and had a faint idea of the future, since she had read the original novel.
The two grew morose after Anne finished her explanation.
"How in the world did you summon us then? How did you bind most of our mana anyway?!" Azazael scorned.
Anne just shrugged.
"Well, this is... Quite the dilemma... " Lilith said, making her way towards Anne and nestling atop her head. She raised herself a little and looked down at the young noble. "We're stuck with you, it seems. Now that the pact is done, we can't return till you negate it. And you don't even seem to know the first thing about it. "
"Maybe we can do something about your mana problem! If you figure out how to properly use your mana, we could find a way to unleash our true potential!" Azazael chirped.
"It's not necessarily a bad predicament. " Anne said with some hesitation. "I do want to use my magic... But I can't. So if you can help me with that, I'd definitely help you undo the binds. "
The author never explained in detail why Annette couldn't use her magic. Anne thought. And these two weren't there in the original. Would it be right to trust them?
"I'll keep this with me." Anne picked up the large tome that had started this mess. "Even though... There's little point in staring at a picture book."
"It reacts to your mana. Until you learn to use your magic, I don't think you'll be able to read whatever is given." Lilith said.
"Then, let's start from square one." Anne began to walk out of the library. On her way to the gardens, Mary noticed her.
"Miss! You're done- oh! W-What are these creatures?" Mary said.
"You can see them?" Anne raised an eye brow.
"Anybody who knows a bit of magic can see us, silly!" Lilith countered. "But since we're your familiars, you'll be the only one who can communicate with us and will understand what we say."
"Ah, yes, uh, they're my familiars." Anne gave Mary a bright smile.
Mary gasped, covering her mouth. "You- Miss, you have familiars?! And two of them! That's- that's amazing. " She wiped a straying tear. "Here I thought you'd never be able to use magic!"
I can't exactly use it yet. All of this is just a convenient coincidence- not that I'm complaining. Anne thought as she walked up to Mary, a bright smile plastered across her face.
"See? I'm ready to prove them wrong! " Anne said. "Look, I'll introduce you to them. " She motioned towards Azazael. "This is Aza- Azzy. " She motioned to Lilith. "This is my other familiar... Lily." She shortened the original names.
I'm not telling anybody in the kingdom that I've summoned literal demons, or whatever they are. Anne mused.
"Hey, it's Azazael! The First General of Lord Lucifer! The Great Demon of Illusions and Madness! Don't shorten my name to something stupid." Azzy cawed angrily at Anne, ready to peck at her for disrespecting him like that.
Lily slapped him with the end of her tail. "Shut up. Our current Host can't use her magic. If people find out about our true identity, don't you know how much of a problem it will be for her?"
At Lily's scolding, Azzy began to simmer down. He still pouted like a petulant child. "But Azzy doesn't sound cool anymore..."
"You must tell the Duke and the Ducchess about this!" Mary clasped Anne's hands in joy. "They'll be so happy to know, you've finally awakened your magic!"
"Urk... " Anne let out a forced laugh. "I-It's nothing impressive though... I could only summon them so far. It's not like I can do anything else... "
"Even so, they should know!" Mary insisted. "I won't let others make fun of you anymore! You definitely have lots of potential in magic, Miss!"
"I'm sure I don't- hey!" Anne was being dragged away by a hyper Mary who looked far more invested in her magic journey than Anne herself was.
Azzy and Lily looked at each other as Anne was being dragged away, shrugged, and decided to follow them.