Chương 105: Chapter 100: It's Not Working

The library was quiet, as most of the noble kids were playing knights in the military keep. Lira leaned back in her chair and sighed. She had spent the remainder of the evening staring at the page covered in failed spell formulas to no avail. The healing spell simply eluded her. She sat back up, picked up her quill, and started listing every realistic option she could think of. The first was simple. Give up and start working on something else... Could she realistically abandon that project? No...

that failure would eat away at her, and she would still inadvertently think about it, trying to find more solutions. The second was more involved. Break into the homes of healers. Any competent physician likely kept journals detailing successful treatments, unusual cases, observations, and personal conclusions. Individual books might contradict one another constantly, but perhaps comparing competing theories to the realities observed by several physicians would reveal which methods consistently produced results.

The problem with this option was that it would take too much time and effort. And even then, the result wasn't guaranteed. She would have to also trust that the healers' journals weren't biased in their reporting. The third option was considerably more tempting. The Royal Academy. Most noble children in Halthar attended it once they reached fourteen years of age. Prince Aric, Prince Kavard, Sir Deren, and even Lady Luxia had studied there.

If Deren had learned healing magic somewhere, odds were good it had been within those walls. More importantly... the academy probably possessed primers. Unlike Emberborn's personal collection, which was luckily heavily defended, an academy's defense system had to account for the safety of the nobles' children and would most likely not use any lethal measures.

Even if she failed to find a healing primer, or deemed them too risky to approach, the library alone would almost certainly contain more reliable medical texts than her library's aging collection. It was an attractive target. It was also quite the undertaking. The academy must have impressive defenses, and Lira wasn't an expert burglar. Her criminal career had been spent behind a desk with a quill. There were a few more possibilities.

She could quietly wander through noble residences while using Book Divination, hoping to discover forgotten primers tucked away inside wardrobes and bookshelves. No, she could start here in the palace guest quarters and try her chances first. It was a lot safer than breaking and entering residences in the noble district. Nobles often received magical education. Some surely kept beginner primers after graduating.... Or... she could vivisect someone to see how the body w...

An image of her standing over Dario with a knife as the man shouted in pain flashed across her mind. Lira blinked in surprise. Where did that come from? Technically... it would answer many questions. She shook her head. Even Kavard doesn't deserve that. Well... perhaps Kavard does. Dario certainly doesn't. Besides, killing someone simply to satisfy her curiosity felt fundamentally different from eliminating someone to stop their evil deeds... Some lines weren't worth crossing.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. She shivered slightly before closing the notebook. Maybe she was getting too used to the idea of killing. Besides, anything that wasn't quick and clean would leave enough evidence to point directly at her. The following morning, after her morning routine and a healthy breakfast, she took a walk in the gardens before activating her divination.

"Ladar. Linasara. Oshkan. Cognar. Turat." She focused on primers throughout the palace. She could have focused only on healing primers, but she figured every primer could be useful, and imposing a limit might make her miss something interesting. She felt a few pings resonating with her request. One weak pulse originated from the noble guest quarters, near where she found Lady Vanira's letter. Another came from Harwin's bookkeeping tower. Two pulses came from the Main Hall.

A small one came from what she suspected was Kavard's chambers, or maybe Aric's. Both were in the same direction. The other one was brighter. It practically shone to her divination. It came from the eastern wing on the opposite side of the royal chambers. Emberborn.

"Nope..." Lira sighed.

"I am not suicidal." Even pointing a listening spell inside Kavard's room made it fail. She didn't even want to begin to think what would happen if she cast a spell near Emberborn's quarters. No healing spell was worth provoking the kingdom's court mage. The less she was in his crosshairs, the better. The weaker pulse in the noble quarters proved surprisingly easy to investigate. Most of the guest rooms remained empty after cleaning, and her maid uniform made her practically invisible in this place.

Dira and Juliette seemed to have already taken the linens, so the place was blissfully empty apart from the occasional oversleeping noble who had just woken up despite it being closer to noon. Once outside the room in question, Lira started casting.

"Pika. Cipos. Hishar. Kaldris. Velar." Enhanced hearing. She swept the hallways and rooms to the left and right. Nothing.

"Ladar. Oshkan. Kalaba." No nearby life signatures either. She checked the door and was not surprised when she found it unlocked. Who was going to steal from nobles inside the heart of the palace? Plus, locking doors would mean maids couldn't clean up after them. Inside, the room clearly belonged to a young noblewoman. Ribbons decorated the dressing table. Perfume bottles stood neatly arranged beside polished silver brushes.

And three different dresses had been laid across the bed, as if the girl had emptied her wardrobe, having trouble deciding which dress to pick. There was also a stuffed rabbit resting between the pillows.

"Pika. Maja. Syneth." She checked for magical defenses and found nothing. The only magical object was the same thing pinging her divination. She followed the divination pulse toward an elegant traveling trunk. Carefully lifting the lid, she searched through neatly folded clothing until her fingers brushed against a leather cover. Lira smiled as she pulled it out. She turned it over and read the title. An Educational Guide for a Young Debutante's First Season. Her smile disappeared.

"... Damn." She opened it anyway and started skimming through the pages. Perhaps it was a newer edition with more spells. Perhaps... No. It was exactly the same. Self-Cleaning. Hair Manipulation. Paper Summoning. She sighed before returning everything precisely as she had found it. Harwin's bookkeeping tower was next. Lira was more familiar with this place than the guest quarters, having worked here for a short while. She greeted a few clerks before reaching Cedric's desk.

He looked up from his paperwork and gave her a cordial smile.

"Morning, Lira."

"Morning." She spent several minutes chatting with him about Sir Salvek's duel, the gossip spreading through the palace, and the mountain of paperwork his death had apparently created. He complained that the old knight didn't have an heir and didn't bother writing a will even after getting challenged in a duel to the death, and now all his cousins were fighting over his estate. There was no mention of a missing bag of money, which slightly relieved Lira.

"I thought he didn't have land," Lira frowned, prompting Cedric to reveal more information about Salvek's finances.

"He doesn't, but he owned a couple of townhouses and a brothel."

"Right..." Eventually, she casually wandered farther inside toward Harwin's office. The divination pulse was coming from inside the room. Cedric noticed.

"Looking for Mr. Harwin?"

"I wanted to say hi. It has been a while," she said.

"He isn't in today." Of course, Lira already knew that. That's why she was here.

"Oh..." Lira faked disappointment. Cedric chuckled.

"I'll let him know you asked."

"Thank you." Lira stopped beside the office door and fiddled with her satchel, taking out her personal journal and pretending to check her notes as if she were considering what to do next. What she was actually here for was casing the place to see if it was worth breaking in at night. Without moving another step, she quietly whispered,"Pika. Maja. Syneth." Mana Sight unfolded before her eyes. She immediately froze. The entire office glowed.

Lines of mana intertwined across the doorway, spread beneath the floorboards, climbed the walls, and disappeared into the ceiling. Layer upon layer of enchantments. Lira slowly backed away. She had no idea what any of them actually did. They could be alarm spells, wards, or even explosive traps.

"... Nope." She made a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn and started walking back.

"See you later," she smiled politely at Cedric. Once back at the library, she sat behind her desk and sighed. It looked like she really needed to go to the Royal Academy. If only she could just go through the front door and be granted access to their library. As she thought that, her eyes landed on Prince Lyth, who was happily reading her Magari language study notes.