Chapter 213: Underground Magic Books Library
The royal palace, underground.
It was an unexpectedly large space.
It’s because a number of secrets that the Kingdom can’t publicize are stored here.
Of course, the whole can’t publicize bit doesn’t mean any kind of dark taboos or anything. Instead, it’s the literal kind. Because it’s a secret, it can’t be publicized.
For example, the Kingdom’s magic research institution is located here. The setup for the Capital and palace’s barrier is also hidden here. Thus, it’d be bad for the Kingdom and palace if anyone suspicious managed to get in.
That’s how Lucy explained as she showed Shien the way.
“Ever since the Kingdom was founded, in the entirety of the thousand years, there was only a single person who had ever managed to sneak in undetected and take something out.
And that person appeared ten years ago.
Shien had an idea hearing that.
“It’s Leisha, right?”
Shien tried to confirm with Lucy.
“That’s right.” Lucy nodded, “Only that person’s spacial magic is capable of letting her sneak in undetected. No one else could have done so, even if they also learned spacial magic.”
That’s because not only had Leisha learned high level spacial magic, her unique skill also boosted it. Not only did it allow her to bypass the meditation and chanting, it also increased the power and effects of her spells, which buffed all the spells Leisha castes in every way.
That’s why Leisha was able to infiltrate this place using spacial magic and steal away the forbidden item that was originally sealed in the deepest part below the palace.
“Thankfully, she only stole that item and not anything else that was there. Otherwise, the Kingdom would have definitely ended up in chaos.” Lucy said, “Although technically speaking, the thing that she stole was the most dangerous thing there.”
With that, Lucy had brought Shien to the library.
It too was heavily guarded and covered with a barrier. It’s not somewhere that anyone could just casually visit.
“Technically speaking, this is the place most often visited by outsiders here. There are actually plenty of people like you who have gained royal recognition and as allowed to enter here.” Lucy gave Shien a smile, “However, it’s only the royals who are able to freely use it without any time restrictions. It might not be all that hard for anyone else to come in once, but it’s nowhere near so easy for them to do so a second time. Make sure you properly take advantage of this opportunity.”
As she spoke, Lucy first nodded to the knights standing guard and had them leave. Then she sang something to the ripple covered wall before her. With that, the ripples started expanding bigger and bigger.
Shien could detect that the magic power flowing on the wall started changing.
That’s because the barrier had been opened up.
“I’ll teach you the incantation for opening the barrier later. For the next month, you’ll be able to use the royal token and incantation to enter the library and freely peruse the books within.” Lucy explained, “This incantation is only temporary, and it’ll be useless in a month, so don’t get any ideas thinking that you can keep using this incantation, alright?”
Shien let out a guilty laugh at that.
Just now, he did in fact have that same idea, that he might be able to sneak in after his month was over.
Since the incantation is temporary though, that idea’s out.
“Come on, let’s go.”
Lucy gave Shien a glance with a smirk before dragging him along and, under the envious gazes of the surrounding knights, entered the ripple
It was like the two had passed through a veil or something, and they arrived in a different space.
This space was huge too.
Only, Shien was quite surprised looking at it.
The reason was simple.
It’s because there wasn’t a single bookcase in that wide area.
All the books there were floating in midair, simply freely floating about.
“Isn’t this a bit too fantasy-like?”
Shien was quite amazed.
“Were you surprised?”
Lucy was quite satisfied at Shien’s reaction and showed a grin like she just got her way.
There were no outsiders here, so Lucy also got out of her princess mode.
In this situation, Lucy started talking more casually.
“This library is actually a huge magic item in and of itself. The Kingdom had spent a huge amount in order to invite a hundred elven mages and a thousand magic item master craftsmen to create in unison. This isn’t like the normal libraries you know of.”
“Lucy pointed to the countless books flying up in the air as she explained to Shien.
“Here, every single book will be recorded in this space.”
“Here, you don’t need to go flipping through book shelves, references, or indexes. You just need to directly state what you want, and that will be enough.
“You want to see some books on magic, right?”
Lucy turned to the library and spoke out.
“Fire magic books.”
The moment those words left Lucy’s mouth, a change came to the countless books flying aimlessly about.
Basically speaking, some books suddenly flew away, while others flew on over and gathered before Lucy.
Shien understood now.
“I just need to speak up, and the relevant books will fly over on its own while the irrelevant ones will leave on its own, huh?”
Isn’t that a bit too convenient here?
“Try it for yourself, it’s pretty fun.”
Lucy grinned at Shien’s eager expression, patted him on the shoulder, and pushed him forward.
“Cough, cough.”
Shien was forced forward, but he didn’t complain at all. Instead, he cleared his throat before opening his mouth.
“Spacial magic books.”
Shien brought up the books that he wanted.
However, when Shien spoke that, all the books around him had flown off, and not a single book approached.
“…”
Shien’s expressions froze.
… What is this?
This is unfair treatment, isn’t it?
Shien’s expression turned unkindly as he turned around to look at Lucy.
However, what Shien noticed was that Lucy also had a speechless expression on her.
“You really got quite the guts, for you to try for magic books on spacial magic.”
Lucy rolled her eyes at Shien.
“What?” Shien was stunned for a moment before he asked, confused, “Is there a problem?”
“Of course there is.” Lucy spoke, annoyed, “There are no magic books on spacial magic here, so what do you think?”
“Ha?” Shien was surprised, “There’s nothing on spacial magic?”
Are you kidding?
Didn’t they say that this is the greatest magic library in the Kingdom. That it’s a gathering of not only everything in the Kingdom, but also the books of countless places around the world?
So how could they not have spacial magic here?
Actually, the reason for that is quite simple.
“Books on spacial magic are forbidden tomes. They’re not stored here, but in an even deeper forbidden library.”
Lucy directly gave the reason for it.
