Chapter 3: Encounters on Campus

On the next day, Leticiel opened her eyes to find that everything had been a dream.. not. She welcomed the morning of her second day as Drossel.

Just like yesterday, the maids helped Leticiel get ready. Although they proceeded with a blank expression, upon closer inspection, their eyes were filled with a slight tint of displeasure.

Since she could do something as trivial as dressing up by herself, Leticiel told Ruvik that she wouldn’t need the maids from tomorrow. While he was a bit surprised, Ruvik acknowledged his master’s wishes with a smile.

She also asked for breakfast to be brought to her room. Leticiel considered going to the dining hall, but decided that she wanted to reflect on yesterday’s events alone.

While stuffing her cheeks with the so-called ‘croissant’, Leticiel opened up the history book on her bedside table. It was one of the books that she had asked Ruvik to get her from the library. Besides the history book, there were also books about the world’s geography and the continent’s economy.

By eliminating things like the time needed to walk to the dining hall, her free time in the morning had increased. But as a result, Leticiel became so engrossed in reading that in the end Ruvik had to forcefully send her off to the academy.

The sight of a noble daughter refusing to look away from her book, being slowly dragged away by her butler must have been a very strange one. It was a natural reaction for the servants passing by, but even the Duke and the Duchess were flabbergasted when they caught sight of it.

Without paying a speck of attention to anyone in the Duke household, Leticiel consolidated the information from the previous and current era as her eyes ran across the atlas.

As one would expect, there wasn’t a single country that Leticiel knew of on the world map after over a thousand years had passed. However, she continued and used the names of various places to drill an up-to-date summary of the continent into her head.

The sound of the carriage door being opened snapped Leticiel back into reality. She raised her head to find the coachman looking at her.

As soon as she descended the carriage, Leticiel once again opened the atlas and continued reading. While it may have seemed dangerous to walk while reading, she already had Magecraft prepared.

She had invoked a surrounding detection Magecraft. By doing so, she was able to grasp the positions of things and people around her so that she would not stumble or bump into them while reading. Furthermore, it was a Magecraft of the Void Element, which was invisible to others, so the chance of anyone noticing it was low.

(..Like I thought, just one volume isn’t enough.)

Leticiel had only brought this one atlas with her, and being the avid reader that she was, she had gone through it in the blink of an eye.

(..I could just read the textbook, but..)

For someone like Leticiel who wanted to be fully immersed while reading, she wasn’t too keen on getting called on in class like yesterday. While thinking about what she should do, her eyes wandered to the school map near the entrance, where two words in one of its corners caught her attention.

‘Great Library’. From its name, Leticiel guessed that it was some room to archive books. In her previous life, there were small rooms dedicated to archiving documents and books, so she reasoned that this must have been something similar.

The library was in an annex next to the main school building. Curious, Leticiel decided to head to the Great Library, knowing there wasn’t much she’d be missing out on if she skipped class anyway.

After thorough inspection of the map, Leticiel left for the Great Library. Luckily, the route was straightforward and she arrived in front of the door without getting lost.

The library was exuded an air of silence. It was a two-storied room with an atrium in the center. There were tables and chairs for reading placed around the first floor. There were even some placed near the windows. All the remaining space was occupied by bookshelves that touched the ceiling.

In the age where Leticiel lived, there hadn’t been many books in circulation.

During that age of chaos, it was common sense not to record information in books due to the risk of them falling into the hands of an enemy nation. Not to mention, paper was a valuable resource in the first place.

On top of that, as memorization ability could help with Magecraft to a certain extent, the people in that age were quite smart in general and didn’t find much use for books.

Due to those circumstances, possession of books was limited to the royal family and the richest of the rich. Due to her status, Leticiel had been able to enjoy reading from a young age and it had turned into a hobby of hers.

Leticiel was uncharacteristically standing in a daze as a result of the overwhelming spectacle of the Great Library before her. Compared to this, the archives of her era were like that of a child’s room. It was something beyond the wildest imagination of anyone from that era.

Taking in the unfamiliar smell of old books, Leticiel restlessly glanced around, just like a child. Even though she had yet to go to the library in her own residence, she thought it would give off the same atmosphere.

There was a tall and long counter set up near the entrance, and behind that counter was a cute and small gentleman with a pure-white moustache nodding off.

“Good morning. Excuse me, but I would like to ask you something.”

Leticiel raised her voice towards the sleeping old gentleman. She had come to the library to look for books, but thought it would be more efficient to ask a professional for help than to look around on her own.

“..Hyahh?”

Leticiel’s call startled the old gentleman awake with a jump. He blinked repeatedly with his eyes hidden by his pure-white bedhead.

“Ohh..! An unusual visitor! What can I do for you?”

As Leticiel had prepared to be treated coldly like everyone else, the sight of a cheerful and smiling old gentleman betrayed her expectations. Meeting a friendly person should have been a good thing, but she couldn’t get over it. Incidentally, his name was David.

“Mister David, could you show me where the books about world geography are?”

“Hohoho, world geography, right? Give me a moment.”

While his moustache was swinging about, David reached for a giant book under the counter and placed it onto the table. He then flipped through the pages at a quick pace.

Perhaps that bulky book that seemed to be over 10 centimeters thick contained a list of every book in this library. Although the amount of pages was staggering, as one would expect of the skill (Leticiel’s assumption) of the Great Library’s librarian, he was going through them like it was nothing.

“Hmmm, if you want those books, then you would find them on the bookshelf behind the stairs on the first floor”

It took David just one minute to answer Leticiel’s question. It was a speed that would make people applaud out of sheer amazement. Leticiel then thanked David and walked toward the bookshelf he had indicated.

Naturally, the reason Leticiel inquired for books about world geography was because she had just been reading an atlas earlier. Her head was currently filled with geography and it would be more effective for her to take advantage of that momentum and learn more about the subject.

(..!)

Furthermore, by the time she had found her desired books, Leticiel eyes were sparkling from another new discovery. Back in the previous age, every book had been transcribed by hand. However, she noticed that each and every book in this Great Library was written with a similar font.

(Magecraft to create transcriptions like this was still under development..! Perhaps Magic for this purpose has already been developed?)

Leticiel picked out three books that looked easy to read and headed to the reading corner. After taking out the atlas from her bag, she then invoked a Magecraft to strengthen memorization ability.

After finishing her preparations, Leticiel lightly slapped her cheeks and opened the first book. With her concentration at full throttle, she tore through the books at a fearsome speed.

* * *

Leticiel was summoned back to reality with the loud sound that resounded throughout the library.

Having just finished the book in her hands, Leticiel shut the book and looked up at the clock. According to the clock’s hands, that chime marked the end of the second period. Once again, one hour, or rather, two hours had passed before she had even realized.

“..Hyah? Are you going now, Drossel-sama?”

“Yes, I’ll come again.”

“Hoho, please feel free to come at any time.”

Leticiel left the library, sent off by the shaking, white fluffy hairball of a librarian. She thought about showing up for third period, but remembered that her appearance wouldn’t be welcomed anyway.

There wasn’t any place she wanted to go in the first place, so Leticiel decided to just familiarize herself with the school grounds by exploring it for the time being. Besides the cafeteria, her classroom, the Magic Training Field, and the Great Library, she didn’t know much of the academy’s facilities.

Knowing only those places would negatively affect her academy life, so she decided that checking the locations of facilities beforehand would be the best use of her time.

Leticiel’s first course of action was to walk around the annex. She only learned afterwards that the annex was filled with the teachers’ private offices. They used these rooms to prepare for class as well as grading assignments and processing documents. As class was currently in session, there was no one in the annex.

While tracing her steps back to the main building, Leticiel’s feet came to a halt at the corner formed by the paths leading to the main building and the annex.

A large clock tower stood at the intersection and at the very bottom, there was a rectangular opening of human height. While it was just an open door, there was a strange noise emanating from within it. While wondering about what was in it, Leticiel approached and peered inside.

Within the room were lumps of unknown objects and metal. They were lined up for some reason, and Leticiel didn’t have the slightest idea of their purpose.

Although the room was equipped with lighting and windows, the interior was dominated by the colors black and gray, which gave off a sense of foreboding.

On the gray floor were many sheets of white paper scattered about that caught Leticiel’s attention. Those bizarre sheets of paper were being filled with some kind of small letters and numbers; indeed, they were being filled.

The source of the sea of papers was the figure of a black-haired boy with his back to Leticiel. His body was covered in soot while he was tinkering with something before him.

His jet-black hair had completely blended in with the gloomy atmosphere; however, his white hands stood out among the sheets of paper.

“......Hm?”

As if he had felt her presence, the boy’s hands suddenly stopped and he turned around. Leticiel’s figure was reflected in his dark purple left eye and his deep green right eye.

“Eh.. Ah! My apologies! I didn’t think that someone would be inside..!”

The boy’s eyes were opened wide for an instant. He then, in a fluster, used the towel that was on his lap to wipe his face.

However, Leticiel didn’t mind the boy’s dirty appearance. Or rather, it wasn’t that bad in the first place.

When their gazes met, Leticiel had already taken a good look at the boy’s face. Two deeply-colored heterochromatic eyes, beautiful glossy hair, and a breathtakingly handsome face.

Leticiel was sure that this was her first time meeting this boy. And yet, she found traces of a certain person on his face.

“..Nao.”

With a faint voice, Leticiel squeezed the word from her throat. It was the name of her beloved partner, the person who gave up his life to protect her.

The boy before her resembled her husband to the point that Leticiel had a flashback.

Nao’s final moments raced through her mind. Even though he couldn’t use Magecraft, he used his body to shield Leticiel from the enemy’s poisoned arrow and lost his life.

And for just an instant, Nao’s bloodied face overlapped with that of the boy before her. A sharp pang shot through Leticiel’s temple, causing her to grasp her forehead.

She then began to recall countless memories of Nao. When they first met, when they had a date in the town, when they exchanged their feelings for each other, when they got married, when they sought each other’s warmth for the first time, when they acted rashly and angered the king, and when he smiled at her for the last time.

Those memories were like bubbles on the surface of water, even the slightest attempt to touch them would cause them to pop without a trace.

“Uh, um.. what’s wrong? Is there something on my face?”

As Leticiel was wordlessly staring at him, the puzzled boy called out to her. However, she didn’t respond.

“Huh..? A-are you okay!? Um, you can use this.. if you want?”

The black-haired boy suddenly panicked and rummaged through his pockets. He took out a handkerchief and held it out toward Leticiel for some reason.

“Eh, uh.. your cheeks..”

The boy mumbled as Leticiel gazed at the handkerchief.?What did he mean by my cheeks??Leticiel touched her cheeks to find that they were wet.

(..I, was crying..?）

After being surprised for a brief moment, Leticiel looked at the worried black-haired boy and quickly used her fingers to wipe away her tears.

“..N..no, it’s nothing at all. Something just got in my eyes.”

Leticiel immediately came up with an excuse. She thought that the boy would be suspicious but it seemed that he accepted it.

“Ahh.. I’m sorry. This room is something you could say is a work in progress, so it’s dusty.”

“Oh no, I’m fine. I was the one who made you worry..”

Looking at him again after calming down, she realized that while the boy greatly resembled Nao, he was also different in many aspects. For example, he lacked the mole near his left eye and the monolid eyes that Nao had. Little by little, Leticiel was able to mentally divorce the boy before her from her image of Nao.

“Um.. By the way, you are..”

Leticiel nonchalantly stepped backwards as she asked that question. Even after her realization, she was unable to stay calm near him. The boy made a blank face for a few moments before remembering that he hadn’t introduced himself.

“Ah..! I’m sorry, I haven’t named myself, right? I’m Sieg Viollis. And you are..?”

“My name is Drossel Noa Filiaregis.”

Upon hearing Leticiel’s name, the boy called Sieg opened his eyes wide as if it was the last thing he expected to hear.

“So you’re Drossel..”

“You’ve heard of me?”

“Rumors about you have spread all around this academy, so I’ve known of your name for a while now. But why are you here?”

Sieg asked this with an amazed expression. Perhaps it was natural to be surprised when you were visited by a Duke’s daughter, of all people.

“I was on my way back from the Great Library. You too, what are you doing here instead of going to class?”

“Oh, I was fiddling with the machinery in this room. I usually spend most of my time in the laboratory, but it’s been a while so I wanted to fiddle with machines today.”

From what he said, it seemed that Sieg didn’t show up to class at all.

“..Do you.. like machinery?”

“Yes. As machines are things that operate based on the designed mechanisms, I enjoy learning about their inner workings.”

While he was talking, Sieg’s eyes seemed to sparkle like a child. Leticiel was somehow reminded of herself when talking about Magecraft.

(..Just earlier I thought he didn’t resemble Nao.. and yet, somehow, he really does feel like Nao.)

His smile also reminded her of Nao’s. Her late husband wouldn’t lose to Leticiel as a researcher. While she was a Magecraft Maniac, he was a Politics Maniac.

Once again, the figure of Nao gleefully running his his pen through a mountain of paperwork overlapped with the figure of Sieg happily speaking. That sight made Leticiel unconsciously let out a giggle.

”So what is this machine? It must be used for something, right?”

“This? This is a machine used for letterpress printing. It’s indispensable for printing books and newspapers.”

“Letterpress.. printing..”

Listening to the strange words and the explanation from Sieg’s mouth, Leticiel stared at the mysterious wooden object before her.

The image of the Great Library she just saw flashed through her mind. Leticiel had considered the possibility of the development of duplication technology while looking at the vast collection of books, but didn’t expect it to be the case.

“Then perhaps the books in the Great Library came from..”

“..? Yes, they were printed though letterpress printing. A lot of them were printed here at the academy, but most of the collection was ordered from all over the country, and some even from overseas.”

“I, see.. Then how do you even use that machine to print letters?”

“You see, first you line up the printing types on this board to form what you want to print..”

Leticiel was bewildered by the object at first. However, in just a moment, her inquisitiveness as a researcher took over. She became greatly interested in the unfamiliar machine and began to ask Sieg various questions.

However, the person who was most surprised was none other than Sieg. Noble daughters would typically have no interest in something like machinery, yet the girl standing before him was captivated by the subject. Looking at the girl’s eyes sparkling with curiosity, Sieg began to harbour a genuine interest in her.

For someone who had never shown up to class like Sieg, he had only heard of the name “Drossel” while being completely ignorant of all the bad rumors paired with it. So for him, he could only think of the girl before him as simply, “Drossel”.

“..Huh? It’s already lunch break?”

“Time sure flies, we only started talking a moment ago.”

Leticiel and Sieg looked at each other and let out a small smile.

“I’ll head for the cafeteria, what about you, Sieg?”

“Let me see.. I need to tidy up this place first, so you can just go on ahead.”

Leticiel bid farewell to him and left the room. She did offer to help him, but Sieg refused, saying he didn’t want to trouble her for something so trivial.

As she walked down the hallway, Leticiel realized that in the end, she hadn’t managed to visit any of the facilities besides the machinery room.

(..Oh well, I can just do it later.)

Since the academy wasn’t going to go anywhere anyway, Leticiel decided that her campus exploration would either take place later in the afternoon or on another day entirely, and resumed walking towards the cafeteria.

* * *

Just before afternoon classes began, Leticiel’s class of Elementary 2 had gone to the Museum for Art class.

Earlier, because she couldn’t go to the Museum with her bag, Leticiel came to her classroom during lunch break and left it there. Lucrezia Academy was built on a massive plot of land. Beside the main building and annex buildings, the academy was fully equipped with various facilities such as the Swordplay Training Hall. One of these was the Museum, which functioned as both a museum and an art gallery.

“Oka~y, everyone, please pick something you like in the Museum and draw a rough sketch of i~t. There’s no time limit, bu~t please make sure to return to the entrance two minutes before the end of cla~ss!”

The person giving the instructions was the Art teacher who looked like a normal old man, yet strangely, his tone and movements were those of a woman’s. Following his instructions, Leticiel’s classmates scattered in every direction. Some of them were bustling with excitement, while others were grumbling about how annoying the assignment was.

Incidentally, Rochefort headed straight for the Weapons section. It seemed that he loved weapons.

The only reason Leticiel learned of this was because he was loudly chatting with Christa from that section. Even if she had no interest in the pair, she couldn’t block out their unpleasant voices.

“..Oh well.”

Accepting the situation, Leticiel, along with Mirandalette, began to stroll around with no destination in mind.

After walking for a while, Leticiel entered an exhibit with a gigantic bone specimen displayed in the center. The sight of that fossil made her leak out an amazed voice.

“This fossil is from a type of creature called a dinosaur that lived millions of years ago. In those times, this diverse group of creatures inhabited the entire Astraea continent. This dinosaur was discovered within the mountain on the outskirts of the capital. It belongs to the..”

The curator in charge of the Zoological Specimens section was giving a detailed explanation on the fossil to a group of students.

“..Hey, Mirandalette.”

Leticiel earnestly listened to the explanation at first; however, the more she listened, the more questions she had. In the end, she called out to the person next to her.

“Hm? Is something the matter?”

“So about that dinosaur thing..”

“Y-yeah..?”

“Isn’t it just a lizard?”

“..You whaaat!?”

Mirandalette let out a hysterical yell to Leticiel’s casual question. She then covered her mouth in a panic and apologized to the people staring at her.

“No no, they’re completely different! Lizards are much smaller than that, like.. they’re small enough to hold in your hands.”

“Oh, I see..”

Even with that explanation, Leticiel was still somewhat confused.

During the Astraea Continental War a thousand years ago, humans weren’t the only ones who were fighting to survive. As humans struggled to find food, their wars caused constant shifts in habitable lands which forced animals to once again live in a world that favored survival of the fittest.

Because of that, back in those days, animals tended to have large bodies as well as natural defense mechanisms. For Leticiel, the sight of an animal near that fossil’s size strutting around was something ordinary. After listening to the dinosaur explanation until the end, even if she tried her best, she couldn’t think of that fossil as anything other than a lizard.

In the end, while Leticiel was standing around in a daze as she was not satisfied with the answer, the rest of the students began to move on.

Suddenly, she heard a loud voice yelling ‘Ooohhh!’. Wondering what was going on, she turned to the source of that voice to find the figure of Rochefort brandishing something that looked like a shield. Rather than the usual Christa, the person next to him was a pale-looking curatress. She was looking at him while panicking.

“Y-your Highness, please don’t swing it around that hard. You might hit something..!”

“Just this much should be fine! I’m the first prince of this country, you know? Do you have any problem with that?!”

It seemed that the shield was quite heavy as his balance was thrown off every time he swung it. The curatress was frantically trying to stop him, but from afar, the person that looked the most foolish was Rochefort himself.

“..What is he doing over there?”

“His Highness is always like this, you see.. He really loves weapons.. Every time the Museum displays a new weapon, he would forcibly try to wield it like this..”

“Hmm..”

Hearing Mirandalette’s explanation, Leticiel gave an indifferent reply. She glanced at Rochefort, who was holding the shield with great delight, and promptly walked onwards.

While moving along with the other students, Leticiel came to a stop at a corner. The thing that had stopped her was something under a magnificent arch at the end of the hallway.

“..? Drossel? Everyone is heading this way..”

“Please go on ahead, there’s something that caught my eye.”

There was a small hexagonal room in the direction of the arch. There weren’t many exhibits in that direction but on the innermost wall of the room was a large painting in a golden frame with velvet curtains tied to both sides.

There were three humanoid figures in the painting. One was a beautiful woman wrapped in a pure-white robe, her hand holding a golden jewel staff. Another was a man bending over in pain while grabbing his own throat with both hands. And the last figure was pitch black person with a tail and horns that resembled those of a devil.

“Oh? Perhaps you’re interested in Her Holiness Lucrezia?”

While Leticiel silently stared at the painting, a young curator approached her from behind. Perhaps he was in charge of this booth.

“..No, I was just thinking that this is a wonderful painting.”

“That’s great. This painting depicts the scene of Her Holiness Lucrezia performing exorcism. Her Holiness Lucrezia is said to have miraculous powers for purifying evil. Indeed, facing such power, even a devil would have no choice but to submit to her will.”

“I see..”

“The Magic Staff she used to perform exorcism is also displayed at this museum as a relic.”

Just as the name implied, relics were articles of saints that were preserved to the present day. In the Platina Kingdom, they were revered as objects of worship. There were a large number of relics stored in this Museum, but the ones put on display were all replicas.

“Is that so?”

While she replied to the curator’s explanation, Leticiel kept on silently looking at the painting of the Holy Lucrezia.

“Uh, is something the matter?”

“Ah.. no, nothing at all. Could you let me look at them for a bit?”

“Yes, of course.”

Leticiel exited the room with the painting and walked to the booth by it. It seemed to house various ancient objects for display. Inside the glass displays were various artifacts arranged side-by-side.

And one of those articles caused Leticiel to gasp in surprise. It was a simple pitcher with no pattern drawn on it. However, the pitcher was a sky-blue color that was clearer than the blue of a clear sky. At first glance, she thought it was just a beautiful pitcher. However, on its rim was a thinly engraved crest. A crest that Leticiel could never forget.

“Are you interested in that?”

The curator who had walked along with Leticiel asked her as he peered into the glass display.

“..This pitcher, is it something from Rizenrose Kingdom?”

“You sure know a lot! That’s absolutely correct. This pitcher is made from a special product called ‘celeste glass’ from the Rizenrose Kingdom that existed in the remote regions a thousand years ago. It’s known as the most beautiful porcelain in the world and it still has many enthusiast collectors, even today. It’s a shame that the method of production for celeste glass was lost with the kingdom’s downfall.”

Engraved on the rim of the pitcher was the crest of the Rizenrose Kingdom. Celeste glass was a porcelain product that Nao had developed for trading. Because the king had been so deeply moved by its beauty, he granted the use of the kingdom’s crest.

“That was quite detailed, perhaps you’ve researched this topic?”

“Yes, that’s right! My specialty is archaeology from a thousand years ago, so meeting someone else with an interest in it makes me beyond happy! We also have similar artifacts of different varieties here like bowls and flower vases; they all share that same signature heavenly blue color. Some have dulled over time, though there are many that have retained the same color as this pitcher..”

Afterwards, the curator talked about the objects from the Astraea Continental War period for a long time. Rather than just objects from the Rizenrose Kingdom, the topic even expanded to objects from the countries in the center of the continent during those times. As Leticiel was also very interested in the topic, she listened to it attentively.

(The Museum is a really interesting place.. And being a curator seems to be a really fun job.)

The fact that someone was knowledgeable about something from a thousand years ago made Leticiel a bit happy. She looked at the nameplate on the curator’s chest.

On that plate, the words ‘Relics Floor Gilm’ were written in small letters.

* * *

A while after the bell signaling the end of class rang, Leticiel exited the Museum by herself.

The rest of her class had already returned to the usual classroom the moment they had finished their rough sketches; however, because she was so interested in the Museum, Leticiel had briefly informed the teacher that she would stay even after class had ended.

And then, after looking here an-->>

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