Gazing Up At The River Of Stars (6)

They opened the library door. In the vast room, well-kept shelves stood in tidy ranks.

The bookcases that filled every wall held wisdom old and new that would delight any seeker of knowledge.

To spare the books from sunlight, there were no windows high on the ceiling walls. Instead, enchanted appliances regulated temperature and humidity, keeping the room in a climate books would love.

At once the scent of books tickled Noi’s nose, and her eyes shone at the sight of that immense number of shelves.

“—A-amazing! This is incredible, Kardia!”

Kardia set Noi down. She wove through the aisles, skimming spines at speed.

“Guidance of Sapience, The Starseer’s Waymark and Arcana of Magic, A Primer on Magic Circles, The Backstage of the Stars and Its Relation to Magic, Methods of Deciphering Miracles and Ancient Prophecy…”

Some she knew; some she didn’t.

As she crab-walked, eyes glued to the spines, someone snapped,

“Hey!”

Startled, Noi jerked and looked toward the voice.

“You again! Honestly, what are you doing? Walking around without looking ahead in a place packed with national treasures.”

“Ornis!”

Ornis was in the library—right in its orderly center among the rows.

“Sir, the Water-Illusion Post is ready.”

“Good work. That helps.”

Sent ahead to the Hyuetos Magic Count’s Manor on an errand from Kardia, Ornis seemed to have set up the device.

Because this teleportation, which sent objects through the Water-Illusion Post, hadn’t yet been made public, even Butler Geiko, who oversaw the entire manor, hadn’t been granted permission to enter the library.

They had stretched cloth over a frame like an inverted tent pole. A thin sheet of water lay at its center, which surely connected to Kardia’s home on the floating islet.

“Alright. Let’s move the books. All of them.”

Noi whipped around to stare at Kardia.

Even at a glance, the library held books that had been hard to obtain a hundred years ago, and many long out of print. They must have been gathered over many years.

(And he wants to cram such books into that tiny house where we barely have a place to sleep…?)

A chill ran down her back. Kardia was absolutely serious.

“N-no!”

She threw up her hands and hugged Kardia just as he was about to levitate the books—clutching the folds of his loose robe.

“That would be sacrilege against knowledge!”

“But… you’re bored, aren’t you?”

“I am bored—very bored—but even if the king allowed it, I would not…!”

Kardia scratched his cheek and lifted the clinging Noi into his arms.

“What would you like, my bride?”

“Let me carry back only what I can hold by hand. And when I finish, I want to come back here again.”

She said it on the spur of the moment, partly because of shelf space, and partly recalling Kardia’s talk with the butler earlier.

Kardia surely didn’t come often. As proxy, he probably descended only the minimum days needed and batch-handled affairs.

She couldn’t say for the other staff, but Butler Geiko at least had looked genuinely glad to see Kardia.

Whether he saw through Noi’s thoughts or not didn’t show on Kardia’s usual smile. But he gently patted her head with a “can’t be helped” air.

“As you wish, my dandelion.”

With a bag pared down to six books, Noi left the Hyuetos Magic Count’s Manor. Geiko kept seeing them off until they were out of sight.

Noi smiled all the way down the hill. Taking just six was a fine idea. Much more exciting than getting everything at once.

Only Noi felt that way; Ornis—who had been run ragged by all the preparations—wore a scowl. His beautiful face looked honed even sharper.

“Ornis, sorry. I’ll lend them to you after I’m done. Alright?”

“I’m fine. If I ask, Sir will lend me books himself.”

“I won’t, though.”

“Sir?!”

So he could ignore things when it suited him. Amused by Ornis’s reaction, Kardia added, “I’m kidding.”

“Next time, you choose some too.”

“Yes. Thank you!”

Relieved, Ornis flashed a suddenly radiant smile.

Unlike the currently all-too-generous Kardia, Ornis’s smiles were rare. He must have been truly happy to borrow books—and Noi understood that feeling completely.

They walked partway, but in the end Kardia carried Noi, and they reached the lake. For the return trip she wore the glamour-mantle again.

(Still—this magic really is astounding.)

On the way down she’d been too caught up in sliding the spiral waterway to think, but seeing the floating islet anew from the ground, she was overwhelmed by the magic’s scale.

From the surface, the floating islet was truly floating.

She couldn’t even tell how high it was. It hung alone far overhead. Water dripped from it, filling the area with pure air that felt wonderful.

And the banded magic circle she had seen above extended all the way to the ground. At intervals, circles formed a tubular chain from sky to earth.

The innards of that colossal array were textbook-worthy—fundamentals honored at every turn.

Yet here and there lay traces of Noi’s own weaving habits. What she had taught him in life, Kardia had recalled again and again across a hundred years, researching on and on.

In that array—so complex with countless magics woven as to defy counting—there were spells that repelled magical life like the Phosphora.

For the return, they would even use a trick of the array to reverse the water’s flow—changing the spiral from descending to ascending.

(…He really has grown…)

He had long since surpassed Noi. This wasn’t just talent or ideas. Across that century, reading the same books in that library again and again, he must have iterated, tested, and honed without cease. It was the undeniable fruit of Kardia’s tireless effort.

Results can betray effort—but without effort, there are no results.

The wind teased Kardia’s black hair; it swayed.

Noi narrowed her eyes, watching his profile.