Youngest 137
by CristaeEpisode 137
Khalid sat cross-legged, intently observing a small, squat stone stele.
I crouched down beside him.
“But there’s a crack in it.”
“Yeah, I see that.”
The top part of the stone was split, and its surface was covered with countless shapes carved in relief.
And within those shapes, lines of writing in an indecipherable language filled every inch.
“This… no matter how you look at it, doesn’t it look like a magic sigil?”
The young mage squinted one eye as he asked.
“I can’t make heads or tails of it.”
Rolling up my sleeves with a practiced motion, I said,
“This is right up my alley.”
Closing my eyes, I pictured Wizeria in my mind, and my head began to whirl.
It felt like plunging into a vast ocean.
When I borrowed that sea of wisdom, I could instantly grasp and comprehend the structure of any magic sigil, even ones I’d never seen before.
‘Huh?’
My eyes widened as I examined the sigil.
“…Ah.”
Suddenly, the books began to age.
The cracked stone, its surface engraved with a complex magic sigil, its power stored within the wood holding back the tide of time.
‘I see now.’
“Objects aging is proof that time is passing. People grow older with every day, don’t they?”
Yuriope’s words came back to me.
Only then did I understand everything.
“…This sigil was stopping the flow of time for the ancient books.”
“What?”
“I doubt these books were ever well preserved to begin with.”
They should have crumbled away long ago—but someone had held them back with magic.
“There’s… a magic like that?”
Khalid asked hesitantly.
“There’s loads of ancient script here, so this must be an old-type magic sigil from long ago.”
My words trailed off. If that was so, then was it an ancient who’d engraved this sigil?
“At any rate, to prevent the books from deteriorating… someone cast time magic here.”
But this was no ordinary high-level spell. Of course, such power would demand immense magical energy.
Perhaps it was inevitable, even necessary, to build the library so close to the sealing tree.
“Still, I guess they couldn’t prevent the sigil itself from eroding….”
I caressed the stone, split with a deep crack.
No matter how powerful, nothing lasts forever.
Perhaps over countless years, even that strength had gradually worn away.
Khalid nodded gingerly.
“So the books only started decaying when this sigil went awry. The flow of time caught up with them.”
“Most likely. Up until now, the magic soaked into the books probably kept them safe, even outside the library.”
Yuriope had mentioned she often copied ancient texts in her lab.
Meaning she was accustomed to taking old books out of the library.
“But now, with the foundational sigil weakening, nothing can hold back the decay.”
“What do we do, then?”
I placed my hand on the stone again.
“First, I’ll have to repair this sigil.”
Just as I moved my magical energy, Khalid abruptly pushed my hand away from the stone.
“Don’t.”
His usually smooth features were deeply creased.
“I may not know magic as well as you do… but I do know this.”
The boy’s serious expression didn’t waver.
“Magic that tampers with time isn’t ordinary at all.”
“….”
“You can just feel it—this is not something to take lightly.”
Khalid muttered.
“So let’s look into it a bit more—”
“Khalid.”
I called his name gently.
At the sound, he looked straight at me. Meeting his eyes, my own face was reflected bright and clear in those slate-blue irises.
I hesitated a moment, then let my voice out softly.
“There’s something that’s been bothering me since a while ago…”
“Yeah?”
“My eyes.”
“…Your eyes?”
“Why are they still blue?”
At that, Khalid’s eyebrows twitched. Wetting my lips, I spoke in a small voice.
“I thought I was using Wizeria’s power to figure out what this magic sigil was…”
Somehow, my own voice sounded unfamiliar, as if it belonged to someone else.
“But looking at it, I seemed to know it outright?”
As if I’d always understood it.
“What do you mean…?”
“I’ll just try something, okay?”
Before Khalid could object, the magic in the air began to vibrate.
Merging with the power within me, a circular sigil emerged, and a blue light blazed up.
Only then did my eyes shift to red.
As a mage, I was never blessed with large reserves of magic.
To cast high-level spells, I had to modify sigils so their effects fit comfortably within the power I could handle. With my ample knowledge of magic sigils, I alone could manage such work.
‘It’s like working in power-saving mode…’
This time was no different.
To restore the stone, I twisted the sigil’s structure, adapting it to my own style.
It seemed simple, but countless formulae and circuits were required. Among them were elements I didn’t even know; for those, I had to borrow Wizeria’s wisdom.
‘I’ve always worked this way with magic.’
Except for the very simplest spells.
Lost incantations fell into place, and strength gradually returned to the worn sigil. The air itself recoiled.
‘Time…’
I turned the word over in my mouth.
And, suddenly, my mind flicked toward the mark on my back.
‘Even if I can’t erase the Crest now…’
Could this be another solution?
Ssshh—
The radiant blue glow faded swiftly.
The trembling leaves of the sealing tree quieted.
“Phew.”
I exhaled the breath I’d been holding and withdrew my hand.
“Repair complete!”
That was a complicated one…
I wiped the sweat from my brow and clapped my shoulder, just as a weary voice sounded behind me.
“Honestly, you…”
“Hm?”
“…You make it all look so easy, every time.”
Khalid stared at me, as much in exasperation as awe.
“In any case, the library crisis is resolved!”
Now, to find a lead on the Crest for real.
Planting my hands on the floor, I got to my feet.
“With this, Professor Yuriope probably won’t be changing jobs anymore.”
“Yuriope Molton was going to change jobs?”
Khalid asked. Now that I thought about it, he had little contact with her and likely wouldn’t know.
“Oh, yeah. The library had her pretty stressed out.”
“…I see.”
“Why? Are you interested in Professor Yuriope?”
“No, just… whatever.”
His slate-blue eyes slid away.
I dusted off my hands.
“So, then… What about the contents of the books that have already been erased?”
“Well, that’s probably a job for Professor Yuriope, isn’t it?”
To recover content that had already vanished from the books was nearly impossible.
No matter how much I improved the sigil, I doubted my own power could bear the strain. In any case, having the contents of lost books reappear overnight would be magical, in every sense of the word.
“Now that the strange phenomenon’s stopped, she’ll throw herself into the restoration!”
As I spoke, Khalid ran his eyes over the patchy, missing words in the books, muttering,
“She’ll probably still have to quit…”
“Huh?”
“Look at this volume. How could she restore it all alone?”
“I heard they’re going to hire restoration specialists.”
“Really?”
“Indeed, they are planning to bring in outside experts.”
Mimicking Yuriope’s voice, I grinned.
“I hope Professor Yuriope gets lots of good colleagues. Wouldn’t that be great?”
“…? Doesn’t matter to me, but sure.”
Khalid answered vaguely.
Then, as if struck by a thought, he tilted his chin.
“So, how will you let Yuriope know the library’s fixed? Let her discover it herself?”
“Well… I can’t say I solved it with magic.”
I muttered, face thoughtful.
“But I can’t just wait forever, either.”
“Why not?”
“If she calls in other mages, things will get troublesome.”
Best to let this incident slip by as a minor mishap.
‘From what I gather, only Professor Yuriope and Principal Odelli know about this for now.’
I felt, instinctively, that I must never let the existence of this library become known to other mages.
If they came, they’d sense the strange flows of magic—and news would soon reach the Mage King.
I wanted to protect this place, whatever it took. The sealing tree, the stone stele… that ‘time’ sigil, too.
Because—
‘It might be the key to solving the problem of my growing Crest.’
If the answer I’ve been seeking is hidden in this mysterious place…
‘Hm?’
Suddenly, my head snapped up.
Yuriope’s words about a ‘mysterious blessing’ sprang to mind.
“I’ve got it—a way.”
“Really?”
“To strange power, give a strange answer!”
Clenching my fist, I exclaimed. Khalid, who’d been quietly watching, frowned.
“There you go again, running off without me.”
I merely grinned in reply.
Behind the sighing boy, rows of tightly packed, ancient tomes formed a backdrop like a painted screen.
Clack.
As we closed the library door behind us, Khalid turned abruptly.
“Hold up.”
“Why?”
“Your knee.”
Khalid’s brow was tightly furrowed as he glanced down at my legs.
“…It’s been bothering me for a while.”
I blinked, nonplussed.
How did he notice?
‘But my dress covers it perfectly!’