Chapter 19 #2
Nikator cursed at him—or at least it sounded like curse words, because he was speaking in his native tongue again and Minos was snapping back with the same amount of gusto, the words flowing so rapidly, so roughly, that she had a hard time focusing between the two.
Biyu didn’t do well in groups like this.
She was too awkward and she didn’t know what to say most of the time.
Like now. What was she supposed to say to them?
Was she supposed to interject with something witty or sarcastic or funny?
She’d been raised to be a proper princess who only spoke when spoken to, so being in a setting like this made her more uncomfortable than the average person, she assumed.
“I’ll—” She jumped to her feet just as she gathered her scrolls and books into her arms. The three of them snapped their attention to her. She pointed her chin to the direction of one line of shelves. “I’ll put these away and grab some new ones.”
Nikator was beside her the next second, taking away the scrolls from her. “I’ll accompany you.”
“Why?”
He gave her a knowing look and she couldn’t help but scowl. Did he think she was going to try running when she had three Peccata members in close proximity? She wasn’t that dense.
They both headed toward the bookshelves, leaving the other two behind.
Minos grumbled something and poked his head back in his book, while Vita continued with her studies.
They rounded a corner and continued down the neat rows of bookshelves.
The occasional mage passed them by, but other than a nod of acknowledgement, they were left alone.
It seemed like the mages expected Nikator and the rest. Or, perhaps, they were used to their presence and didn’t find it suspicious for them to be here with Biyu.
“I wasn’t going to run.” She folded her hands together in front of herself. They passed a shelf of thick tomes, their spines cracked and aged, and their weight making the shelves sag in the middle.
“You sure you weren’t going to steal these scrolls and tuck them away in your room?”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, I was going to steal scrolls on how to fold excess laundry by the dozen. Oh, and how to leaven bread in minutes instead of hours. I’m sure that’ll be very useful for me. Not to mention the fact that I can’t even use magic.”
“I wouldn’t put it past you to figure out another way to use magic. You did it once before.”
“I only had that one magic stone ring.”
“I’m sure you did.”
Biyu gave him a dark look, but he only appeared amused by her. Huffing loudly, she pointed at the next shelf. “I found those over there. They weren’t in any particular order.”
Nikator slid the various scrolls into their allotted section and tucked the books beside the others.
Biyu glanced over the spines of the books on the shelves behind them.
More philosophy of magic, magicked baking, and rolled up parchment where it was hard to tell what they were about.
They must have been in the practical magic section.
What was the point of discovering and creating spells for chores when the average person, or people who even did those chores, didn’t even have access to magic?
When they didn’t even know how to wield the most basic of spells?
It wasn’t that magic was barred from the common folk, it was just that there was no reason to teach the average person.
Most mages chose to teach nobles and noble families who could actually pay them.
And there wasn’t a government program or push to study magic.
“What are you looking at?” Nikator’s voice broke through her fog of thoughts.
Biyu waved at the books with dust settled around them. “These. Nobody reads them because nobody here needs them.”
“Spells for baking? I can see why no one is interested.” He scanned the rest of the book spines. “Mages need to know about combat and defense, since they’re an important part of our military. I hardly see why a mage would want to read about bread making.”
She nodded. “I understand, but these spells would actually help the common folk who need it, don’t you see?
How much time would it save the average woman on laundering if she was able to do it in an hour rather than several hours?
And yet these spells will forever sit here and gather dust, rather than help anyone who might need it. ”
“I would imagine our country’s defense is more important than spells for the common folk.”
“It doesn’t have to be one or the other,” she said with a long sigh.
“Maybe you can bring up the matter to His Majesty.”
Biyu’s eyes widened and she backed away from the shelf, as if it would lurch forward and tie together a proposal for her to send the emperor. She was already shaking her head before he could say anything more. “I highly doubt His Majesty would be interested in whatever I have to say.”
“I don’t think that’s true. His Majesty has already opened up a school for studying magic that’s open to commoners. It’s still in the preliminary stages of development, but I think classes already began two months prior.”
“Why haven’t I heard anything about it?”
“Probably because you’re locked away in your room most of the time.”
She couldn’t imagine Drakkon Muyang being interested in any social affairs.
He was always entrenched in war and battles, not …
schools. But then again, he had more interest in magic than her father did, and he was putting more attention to mages and the studies of magic.
It was probably all to help with his war efforts, she gathered.
He probably wanted powerful mages to fight for him.
“You seem to care for the common folk?” He posed it as a question, like it surprised him to find out she had a heart. When she shot him another sour look, he continued, “You’ve never interacted with commoners before, have you?”
“I don’t need to interact with people to care about them,” she said. “And I’ve read books.”
“Books about commoners?”
“No, books on … war and such.” She shrugged and continued down the line of shelves.
She traced a finger over the thick dust. “I’ve read about mothers whose sons died in battle and how they never got to see their graves.
I’ve read about children starving in man-made famines.
I’ve read about women who lost everything—their children, husbands, homes—from conflicts beyond their control. ”
Silence filled the space between them, but it wasn’t awkward or unnatural.
She was used to forlorn quietness, and this didn’t feel like that.
She could feel him watching her. She walked along the books and scanned the spines.
A sense of peace settled over her. She realized with a start that she wasn’t anxious like she usually was.
Especially being so near him. Maybe it meant she was growing tougher, or perhaps she was growing accustomed to his presence.
“Do you want to get out of here?”
Biyu froze, her finger hovering over a scroll. She slowly turned to him. “Huh?”
He was leaning one shoulder against a bookshelf, his arms crossed over his chest. He looked … serious. His red brows pulled together in an inquisitive way. When she continued to stare at him, he pushed off from the shelf and held his hand out. “Let’s get out of here.”
“W-what do you mean?”
Nikator grabbed her hand and tugged her in the opposite direction of Minos and Vita. She gave a backward glance at where they had been at, her head spinning. “What do you mean leave? We have to research and … and what about Minos and Vita?”
“They’ll manage without us.”
“But won’t they feel offended that we left them when they’re helping us?”
He gave a short laugh. “Minos will be thrilled once he realizes he doesn’t have to help anymore, and Vita will get over it.”
“Oh.” Biyu didn’t know what to say to that. Although she should have been adamant to stay in the library and look for a powerful spell, she couldn’t turn down a chance to leave. Anything for even a sliver of freedom.