CHAPTER 5
THE CLOCK’S MEMORIES
“Final exams?” Leticiel mused over her lemon sorbet dessert. The word had just come up in conversation one day in June during lunch, a few weeks after the mandatory lecture.
“Yes. They’re almost two weeks away, so we’d better start studying.”
“Urgh…I hate tests,” Hilmes moaned. He and Mirandalette collapsed in-sync on the table like a true couple.
“I—I don’t think many people like them,” Veronica mumbled from beside them while sipping her chocolate milk.
“What will the exams be testing us on?” Leticiel asked.
“Basically, they’re meant to check that we’ve mastered everything we’ve learned up until now.”
Lucrezia Academy had two semesters per year—spring and fall—and exams were held at the end of each semester to test the students on what they had learned. The exams would be split into a written exam and a practical exam. The combined scores of each would be reflected in their grades.
“Does everyone have to take them?” Leticiel asked.
“Yes. If you don’t, you can’t move on to the next grade.”
“…How troublesome.” Whether or not she advanced on to the next grade wouldn’t have much of an effect on her ability to devote herself to her research, but she didn’t want to stay in the Primary classes when her friends would be in the Intermediate classes. She’d be lonely. “What exactly is the written test like?”
“Give me a moment, I think I have a list of exam subjects… Ah, found it!”
Searching in his pockets, Zeke pulled out a neatly-folded piece of paper and handed it to Leticiel. When she unfolded it, she saw the names of six subjects: Liberal Arts, History, Language, Mathematics, Geology, and Magic. To be honest, she didn’t know anything except for History, Mathematics, and Magic.
“So I just need to study these subjects?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“I’m so bad at math…” As usual, Hilmes had his head down on the table, but Mirandalette had sat up and was resting her elbows on it. Judging from her heavy sigh, final exams were extremely depressing.
“Why don’t we all meet up and study together? It’s more efficient to study in a group than alone, after all.”
At Zeke’s suggestion, Hilmes’s head suddenly whipped up. Leticiel thought she could see tears of relief welling in his eyes. “Really?! You’ll teach us, Zeke?!”
“Sure. If we’re going to study together, I’ll try and support you as much as I can.”
“I’d be super grateful for that! You’re my savior!”
“Zeke is known as a prodigy in our grade,” Mirandalette said, explaining Hilmes’s sudden burst of energy. “And Miss Veronica is so talented that she’s only ever gotten full marks on all of her quizzes.”
“I see,” Leticiel remarked. So his reaction was because he knew he had a strong ally to help with his studies.
“I-I’ll do my best to help too!”
“You too, Miss Veronica?! All riiight! Now I won’t fail—Ouch!” Hilmes jumped up, kicking his chair away, but Mirandalette silently stepped on his foot.
“Leif is devastatingly bad at studying. He’s never once gotten a passing score on the quizzes we’ve taken in class,” she calmly explained over Hilmes’s shouting. Realizing that he’d been too loud, Hilmes quietly took a seat again. Mirandalette was extremely good at handling him. As expected of his fiancée-cum-childhood friend.
“Why don’t we meet after school today? It’s best to strike when the iron’s hot, after all,” Leticiel suggested. She also wanted to hurry and grasp the contents of the other three subjects.
Draining his cup of coffee, Zeke nodded. “I don’t mind. I don’t have any plans for today.”
“Great! I agree!”
“Me too!” Hilmes said. “I’ll work hard!”
“I-I’m free too.”
Everyone agreed with Leticiel and it was unanimously decided that they would hold a study session in the Great Library after classes. Conveniently enough, none of them had plans that day.
After lunch, the five students parted ways in the cafeteria to complete their respective schedules until the end of classes. Mirandalette, Hilmes, and Veronica returned to their classrooms to attend their lessons, while Zeke headed to his own research lab, saying that he wanted to prepare for their study session.
Usually, Leticiel would go to her own research lab to study spell techniques but she didn’t today. Instead, she headed to the Great Library. If she went to the research lab, she might focus too much and forget her promise. She was aware that she tended to lose track of the time when she was immersed in her research.
Leticiel opened the door to the Great Library and stepped inside. At the librarian’s counter, David—who looked like a furball with his long beard and fuzzy eyebrows—slept comfortably in a tall rocking chair. Sneaking past so as not to wake him, Leticiel headed straight for the bookshelves and started perusing the titles.
While she was vaguely wondering what she should read, something she’d heard from Tuvalu a while back suddenly popped into her mind.
“Its strength, the speed at which it could be cast, and even the scale of their techniques were far greater than ours. Also, it was said that the casters who defeated the king’s army all had crimson red eyes and fluttering gray hair.”
Now that she thought about it, she had planned to look up that mysterious power in the library. Moving through the shelves, she looked for a section which seemed like it would have a lot of books on the Lapis Nation.
But whether because the nation had been secluded for many years or simply because it was taboo to write about the country, there were surprisingly few books that mentioned the Lapis Nation. Selecting a few books that seemed like they’d be close enough to what she was looking for, Leticiel sat down at a nearby table and began to read.
An hour later, Leticiel crossed her arms and frowned at the pile of books she had finished. How can there be so little information on the Lapis Nation?
She had predicted that there wouldn’t be much to begin with, but there was even less information than she had imagined. Most of the books hadn’t even touched on the Lapis Nation. And even if they did, they usually only held a few lines about the war eleven years ago. The number of clues she had on the Lapis Nation was almost unnaturally scarce.
This might be hopeless. Sighing, Leticiel picked up the next book and opened it without much expectation. As it was much thinner than the books she had read so far, she hadn’t been anticipating it to hold much information, but that slim book described Lapis in more detail than any of the other books.
So far, the only thing she knew about the Lapis Nation was that it was the largest country on the continent of Astoria, on par with the empire of Iris; that it had been isolated for many years; and that it had been at war with the Kingdom of Platina. But the book she was holding described its capital, culture, and customs, as well.
It was unclear when the nation had been founded, but apparently, it had been ruled by a female monarch since ancient times. Furthermore, they believed other countries’ cultures were heretical and had secluded themselves to preserve their own traditions.
Although there was no mention of their mysterious powers, Leticiel was able to learn information about the country that hadn’t been listed in other books.
To think I’d find a book that goes into this much detail, she thought, flipping the page and finding herself at the end of the book. However, she stared in befuddlement when she saw that there were unnatural edges in the binding after the last page. It was obvious that there had once been a page there, but someone had ripped it out. She flipped through the book once more from the beginning, but didn’t find any loose pages.
Who would do this? And why? Leticiel thought while slowly closing the book. She flipped through the other books she had on hand, but the torn-out page wasn’t in any of them.
The sleeping David shot up like a bullet when the door to the Great Library opened with a creak. He almost fell off his chair but was able to keep his balance by flapping his arms.
Two male Advanced class students wearing rose badges walked in. Behind them was a familiar boy with black hair.
“You’re here early, Miss Drossell.”
“Oh, Zeke. There’s still time until classes end, though.”
Pulling out the chair across from Drossell, Zeke set down the pile of papers he was holding and took a seat. “What books are you reading?” he asked.
“There was something about the Lapis Nation that I wanted to look up.”
“I see. Did you find anything?”
“No, nothing of note.”
“I see. Well, Lapis is a country full of mysteries.”
Zeke and Leticiel chatted for a while, and soon the other three members of their study group arrived in the library one after another. Before they knew it, there was a great number of other students in the Great Library as well, all studying together. Apparently, everyone had the same idea before exams.
“Zeke, what are we going to study today?” Leticiel asked.
Zeke picked up the pile of papers he had brought. “I thought it was best to focus on studying the subjects we’re not good at, so I’d like to have you all solve these problems first. They’re past questions that I brought from my room.”
The past questions consisted of six papers as one set. He handed Mirandalette, Hilmes, and Leticiel a set each. The paper he was left with was likely the answer sheet.