Chapter 139

CHAPTER 5 Third Prince Albert’s Big Plan to Make Friends A week had passed since classes began, and Monica—who’d had to stay alert all day, every day—was utterly exhausted. First, there was horseback riding class. To keep Felix from finding out about her injured left hand, she’d stayed as far away from him as possible and practiced quietly on her own. Somehow, she’d made it through. Then there were the times she had to move through the halls from one class to the other. She was always on pins and needles, worried she’d run into her old acquaintance, Huberd Dee. And as soon as she arrived and breathed a sigh of relief, Robert would ask to play chess with her. Robert had just transferred into the first year of the advanced course, and he stood out more than Monica had anticipated. Being from the Kingdom of Landor alone made him a novelty, but he also quickly climbed to the top of his grade in swordsmanship class, and he got excellent grades in regular classes, too. With a boy like that coming to visit Monica day after day, it would have been stranger if there weren’t any rumors. When Lana saw her stricken face and asked Monica if everything was all right, she’d been able to tell her about her problems with Robert, at least. But telling someone didn’t make it any easier to deal with. So on days when she didn’t have any student council work, Monica would slip out of the classroom before Robert arrived and spend her time in the library instead. Serendia Academy’s library was huge and well-stocked; it was a great place for killing time, and there were plenty of spots to hide. Serendia had separate buildings for the advanced course and the intermediate course, and both were connected to the library via covered walkways. The library at her old school, Minerva’s, had more books related to magecraft, but Serendia had many, many more on every other subject. Every time Monica visited the library, she found herself quietly overwhelmed by its collection. Today, she was looking for a book on biology. She needed a lot more knowledge on the subject to properly understand her father’s book. She was hoping to look up some of the terms she hadn’t understood and read through some of the essays he’d quoted. And maybe I’ll learn something about the Black Grail… There had been a message tucked in her father’s book—she suspected it was written by Porter, the owner of the bookstore where she’d gotten it. Visit the shop again when you discover the truth of the Black Grail. Monica had no idea what the Black Grail was, but she assumed it was linked to her father’s research, since the note had been stuck in his book. And so, while she did her research, she was also secretly checking to see if the words “Black Grail” meant anything in the realm of biology. I can’t ask Miss Hilda. She doesn’t want me looking into Dad’s death… I have to search for this on my own. She found one of the books she was after and opened it up to check the contents. As she did so, pain shot through her left hand, and she grimaced. Her grip strength was still weak, so it was hard to hold open a thick book like this one. Deciding she couldn’t stand in the aisle to read, she took the book back to a reading space. While looking for a seat, she spotted a familiar head of dirty-blond hair nearby, and her eyes went wide. It was Glenn Dudley. Out of everyone Monica knew, he was the last one she’d expect to find in a library. He had a book open in front of him, and he seemed to be studying. But the feather pen in his hand remained still, and judging by the scowl on his face, it appeared he was having trouble. Wondering what he was studying, Monica stole a peek at the open book. When she saw the contents, she inadvertently yelped. The sound must have gotten Glenn’s attention. He looked up from his book and said, “Oh. Monica, are you here to study, too? Wanna sit together?” “Umm, well…” Monica quietly took a seat, then glanced again at his book. He was reading about quick-chanting—an extremely difficult technique. She doubted Glenn would be able to make much use of it at his current level. “Glenn, are you…studying magecraft?” she asked. “Sure am,” he replied. “I wanted to learn how to quick-chant… Otherwise I’ll be useless in real combat.” She looked at his face from the side. His expression was stiff, no sign of his usual cheer. When Monica heard this, the first thing to come to mind was the Magic Corps, a military group specializing in magecraft. The Corps emphasized four main points in their entrance exam: quick-chanting, maintaining two spells at once, knowing spells outside your native element, and flight magecraft. Among those four, quick-chanting was especially crucial. A mage’s greatest weakness was how long it took them to chant. By using quick-chanting, that time could be more than halved, reducing their vulnerability. However, since it involved aggressively abbreviating complex equations, one had to have a very good understanding of the math to pull it off. In other words, it demanded a good aptitude for magical formulae. As far as Monica could tell from the ones Glenn had scattered across his paper, his grasp of formulae was nowhere near what was required. She thought back to what he’d said a few days ago. “I couldn’t do anything. The prez and the Silent Witch were the ones who beat it!” He’d been the same old bright and jolly Glenn as he usually was, but now Monica wondered if, on the inside, he was terribly frustrated with himself. “Um, Glenn, are you…? Well…is what happened with the cursed dragon, um, bothering you?” “Mmm. Well, that’s part of it, but…” He trailed off and let his eyes wander. His expression was bitter, a far cry from his usual jovial attitude. “I guess there’s someone I want to beat.” Monica’s friend was in need, and she wanted to help him. But if she carelessly started talking about magecraft formulae, it could blow her cover. Monica Norton was supposed to be a layman when it came to magecraft. But I… Maybe I can, um, just give him a little advice… Nervously, Monica asked him a question. “Umm, Glenn, why do you suddenly want to learn quick-chanting?” “Well, I ran into one of the Seven Sages during winter vacation. The Silent Witch.” Monica’s shoulders nearly jerked, but she desperately stifled the movement. Glenn spoke softly, his gaze fixed on the book in front of him. “She’s really incredible, you know. With her advice, I learned how to maintain two spells at once.” Monica blinked at him. He was right—she’d given him a tiny bit of advice at Duke Rehnberg’s mansion. She’d seen him secretly practicing after the cursed dragon was defeated, and he’d still had a ways to go. But it seemed he’d kept at it all winter break. “Glenn, that’s amazing,” said Monica. Maintaining two spells simultaneously was easier said than done. It had taken Monica longer to learn that than it had to learn unchanted magecraft. But Glenn only smiled bitterly at her candid praise. The expression didn’t suit him. His smile was supposed to be full of joy. “I was useless in Rehnberg,” he said. “I didn’t even leave a scratch on that dragon… The Silent Witch had to use her unchanted magecraft to protect everyone.” Monica stiffened. That isn’t true, Glenn. I… She remembered how much pain he’d been in when the curse enveloped him. She hadn’t been strong enough to release him from that curse. I couldn’t protect you. And despite that, Glenn had nothing but respect for the Silent Witch.