Chương 55: Almost a Heart Attack

Lira walked through the library's main floor carrying a hemp sack with both hands, watching with deep satisfaction as dust obediently streamed across the room and vanished into the open bag. Gray particles lifted from shelves, from between books, and from the stone floor as though drawn by an invisible current, spiraling neatly toward the sack with magical efficiency.

The space was mostly cleaned already, so the dust flow was lighter now compared to her first attempt upstairs, and there was not enough dust to fill the bag entirely, but even this residual cleanup would have taken hours, perhaps days, if done manually. Maintaining the library was rapidly becoming child's play. At least, it would be as long as she remained the library's sole ruler. Lira smiled to herself. The spell was an undeniable success.

In the last hour alone, she had already cleared four separate rooms on the upper floor, producing twelve completely full sacks of compacted dust and debris. She had deliberately left those sacks upstairs for now. If someone happened to inspect the area, the visible evidence of labor would be useful to sell her facade as a dutiful library caretaker. Twelve sacks of dirt made for excellent visual proof that work was being well done. Still, she was careful not to overdo it.

There was no plausible explanation for a single maid clearing an entire floor that neglected in one afternoon, no matter how competent she claimed to be. Lira was ambitious, not suicidal. Better to leave some rooms untouched for now and create the illusion of gradual progress. Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a sharp pulse of unease. A cold prickling sensation crawled across her skin, her danger sense spell activating. Lira froze for an instant. The magical sensation was faint, but unmistakable.

It was followed almost immediately by the sound of quiet approaching footsteps somewhere beyond the doorway. Her heart lurched. Without hesitation, she crouched and quickly disrupted the rune inside the sack, tearing the paper and breaking the enchanted pattern and halting the dust attraction spell. The flow stopped instantly. The feeling of dread lessened considerably. It wasn't completely gone, however, which meant she wasn't entirely in the clear.

Lira quickly deactivated her danger sense as well, just in case someone nearby was sensitive enough to notice passive spellwork. By the time the footsteps reached the doorway, she was standing normally beside a half-filled sack, looking like an ordinary maid engaged in her cleaning duties. The door was already open when two familiar figures stepped inside: Samy and Nabi, Edward Emberborn's apprentices. Lira immediately curtsied.

"My lords." Her pulse accelerated. This was, in her estimation, the second worst possible scenario. The first, naturally, would have been Edward himself. Both apprentices were carrying large satchels, one in each hand, visibly weighed down by their contents. Nabi offered a polite smile.

"We are here to deliver the books about magic to the library." Right… Edward had promised to donate something. Relief washed through her. That meant they hadn't come here because they sensed a magical disturbance or something more sinister.

"Thank you," Lira said smoothly, stepping forward.

"Those look rather heavy. Please, allow me to take them." The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Samy shook his head, looking almost offended by the idea of a woman carrying a heavy burden from him.

"No need. We can carry them to the shelves ourselves." Lira hesitated for the briefest moment before nodding.

"As you wish." That was less than ideal. The deeper they walked into the library, the closer they came to every possible magical disturbance she might have created with her dust-gathering spell. Still, refusing would only be more suspicious. So Lira simply led them deeper in at a measured pace, doing her absolute best to appear calm. As they walked, Samy suddenly slowed, and he frowned slightly.

"Do you feel something strange in the air?" Lira nearly died on the spot. Nabi just blinked.

"No. I don't feel anything unusual." Samy tilted his head, scanning the space he was directly standing on the spot where she had just broken the dust rune enchantment.

"I thought I sensed something." Lira forced herself not to visibly tense.

"Apologies," she said lightly.

"I was dusting just before your arrival. The air has not fully settled yet." Samy glanced at her, then around the room again. For one horrible moment, Lira was convinced he would start casting detection spells, or maybe a fireball. Instead, Nabi pointed toward the nearest heating plaque.

"You are probably sensing one of those." Samy followed his gaze.

"The heating plates?" Nabi nodded.

"You have been getting more sensitive to ambient mana lately. You always had better magical perception than I do." Samy relaxed slightly.

"Perhaps." Then he glanced at Nabi with a faint smile.

"Though don't sell yourself short. I have an extra year of training on you. You will catch up eventually." Nabi huffed softly.

"That is easy for you to say." Lira listened to the exchange while silently trying not to have a heart attack. They truly did not suspect her. Why would they? To them, she was a maid. A slightly eccentric library maid, perhaps, but still just a maid. No one looked at servants and thought they might be a hidden spellcaster. That dismissive attitude was rapidly becoming one of Lira's greatest safety nets. Still, that had been far too close for comfort.

If Samy's magical sensitivity improved further, she might have a genuine problem. She would need to figure out some method of reducing magical residue or of making her magic less detectable. Probably her next objective. Luckily for her, the library had just received a fresh supply of magical texts. Potentially supervised and curated by a master mage, and supposedly beginner-friendly. By the time they reached the magical section, Lira had mostly regained her composure.

The apprentices set the bags down near the designated shelves, and together they unpacked the books while Lira quickly began organizing them according to her preferred system: alphabetically by author surname. Neither apprentice commented on the method, though Samy gave her an approving glance when he noticed the efficiency. There were twenty books in total. A surprisingly generous donation. Several looked like introductory magical theory texts.

Others focused on magical history, enchanting fundamentals, mana exercises, and magical materials. A few bore Edward Emberborn's own name as the author on the cover. Interesting… very interesting. Once the final volume had been shelved, Lira stepped back and curtsied again.

"Thank you for your assistance, my lords." Samy offered a polite nod.

"You are welcome." Lira tilted her head slightly.

"Should I expect additional books in the future?" Nabi shook his head.

"No. That is everything Master Edward currently considers safe for public display." Lira was almost disappointed before checking her greed. Twenty magical books were twenty more magical books than she already had.

"That is more than generous already," Lira said.

"Please convey my gratitude to Master Edward."

"We will." With that, the two apprentices departed. Lira remained perfectly still until the library doors shut behind them. Then she exhaled slowly. That had been far too stressful. She dragged a nearby chair toward the magical shelves, sat down immediately, and reached for the nearest book like a starving woman about to break her fast. At least when fate nearly killed her with anxiety, it was kind enough to compensate her with educational materials.