Chương 59: Public Experiments

Lira stood near the wash basin where the maids handled the palace laundry, carefully pretending to be occupied while observing her surroundings. She had deliberately chosen this location because it was one of the few places nobles seldom visited. The laundry area was practical, mundane, and thoroughly unremarkable, which made it ideal for testing her newest enchantments in relative peace.

Her satchel rested against her hip, and inside it was her journal with the enchanted bookmark tucked discreetly between its pages. The bookmark contained both Mana Obfuscation and Mana Stabilization runes, and if her calculations were correct, both enchantments should already be active around her in a narrow field, masking any magical disturbances she created while also smoothing the residual mana fluctuations afterward.

In theory, this should have made her completely safe, but in practice, her heart was pounding hard enough that she was beginning to wonder if someone might hear it. She inhaled slowly and whispered, "Pika. Selan. Tureth." The meditation spell settled over her almost immediately, smoothing the sharp edges of her panic until her heartbeat slowed into something more manageable.

The constant expectation that someone might suddenly appear, point at her, and loudly announce her crimes as a hidden spellcaster finally faded into the background. Once her thoughts stopped sprinting in a dozen directions at once, she cast her next spell.

"Pika. Velar. Syneth." Her perception sharpened instantly. The world around her seemed to snap into clearer focus, as though reality itself had been polished. Fine details surged forward with startling intensity, but the meditation spell prevented her from being overwhelmed by the flood of information. Instead, her mind organized it neatly, allowing her to observe things she ordinarily would have ignored. One maid nearby favored her left arm while scrubbing laundry.

The subtle stiffness in her wrist, combined with a fresh rope-like burn wound across the back of her hand, suggested a recent accident with something heated. The calluses on her palms and fingers implied repetitive knife work and peeling rather than quill use or scrubbing, which meant regular kitchen duty. Judging by the injury, she was likely reassigned until the burn healed. Another maid shifted her weight every few moments with faint discomfort.

There was nothing individually obvious about her behavior, but a collection of small details formed a larger picture. Slight abdominal tension, a habit of pressing her palm subtly against her lower stomach, and a careful stiffness in posture all painted a familiar image. Lira concluded, with the detached certainty granted by meditation, that nature was making its monthly visit. The process would have been fascinating if not for Meditation.

The spell was not granting supernatural omniscience so much as dramatically enhancing her ability to notice details and rapidly draw conclusions from them. It felt less like gaining new knowledge and more like finally having access to information that had always been available, if only she had been observant enough to notice it. Her gaze drifted toward one of the servant corridors where two familiar figures walked side by side.

Dira and Juliet, the two maids Hesta had assigned to library duty as punishment earlier that week. They were leaving after deposing linens for other maids to clean, while speaking quietly. At first glance, nothing seemed unusual. They maintained a perfectly respectable distance, their posture proper and their expressions neutral enough to avoid suspicion. Then Lira noticed their hands, or more specifically, their pinky fingers.

Every few steps, their hands drifted close enough for their fingers to brush lightly together before separating again. To a casual observer, it would have looked entirely accidental. Under enhanced perception, however, it was painfully obvious that the contact was deliberate. Lira blinked, suddenly intrigued. Curiosity immediately overpowered discretion.

"Pika. Moren. Kaldris." Memories from the previous several days returned to her with startling clarity. Combined with her active meditation and perception spells, she was able to rapidly sift through details she had previously ignored: Dira and Juliet disappearing from her line of sight for suspiciously long stretches. Frequent excuses involving storage closets or delayed errands. Slightly flushed faces upon returning.

And now, once she was actually paying attention, the subtle swelling of lips that she had somehow failed to notice before. Lira froze, then blushed so hard the sudden embarrassment shattered both her meditation and recollection spells at once. Her face burned hot enough to rival her heating rune. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Those vixens," she muttered under her breath.

"Right under my nose, and I noticed absolutely nothing." For several long seconds, she stared blankly at the corridor while reevaluating several prior interactions in an entirely new light. Once the embarrassment subsided, practical concern replaced it.

"I hope they are careful." If someone reported them to the Church, the punishment would be ugly. Same-sex relationships were not technically punishable by the state, but the local dominant religion frowned upon them enough to earn ten lashes each if someone sufficiently unpleasant decided to involve the clergy. Lira sighed. It was none of her business. They were both adults and perfectly capable of managing their own risks.

Besides, it would be impressively hypocritical for her to lecture anyone on caution while actively committing crimes punishable by execution. Compared to hidden magical practice, a secret romance was wholesome. With that thoroughly distracting revelation set aside, Lira returned to the actual purpose of her experiment. Now that she was finally feeling comfortable enough to cast in public, it was time to test magical perception outside the safety of the library.

"Pika. Maja. Syneth." The world shifted once more. Under magical sight, the laundry area appeared mostly mundane. Ambient mana drifted in soft, nearly invisible currents with no obvious instability. That was reassuring. Her eyes tracked a slight dip in mana flow toward the nearby well, which immediately caught her interest. Curious, she approached and peered inside. Beneath the waterline, faintly glowing against the stone, she spotted a runic formation embedded in the inner wall.

Mana flowed steadily through it in rhythmic pulses before dispersing through the water and gradually stabilizing. Lira tilted her head thoughtfully. Some sort of purification enchantment, most likely. That made perfect sense. A contaminated palace well would be catastrophic. It was also the first active enchantment she had encountered outside the library. Encouraged, she decided to expand her little experiment.

Before leaving the area, she glanced behind herself to ensure she was not leaving a visible magical trail. There was nothing. Her stabilization enchantment was functioning perfectly. As she wandered farther through servant corridors and adjacent halls, her magical perception revealed significantly more enchantment than she had anticipated. Heating plaques were embedded discreetly into walls at strategic intervals.

Several guards displayed visible magical fluctuations concentrated around their eyes, swords, and belts, suggesting enhancements or enchantments of some sort. Lira wisely chose not to linger near armed professionals visibly infused with unknown magic. She also made sure to avoid any magical disturbances made by the enchantment, as she currently had a normalizing aura around her. Near one of the garden walkways, she spotted a middle-aged noblewoman strolling arm in arm with a man who was probably her husband.

What caught Lira's attention, however, was the strange magical fluctuation concentrated around the woman's nose. It looked distinctly unnatural, as though the mana distortion was larger than the actual nose itself. Confused, Lira deactivated her magical sight and looked normally again. The nose appeared perfectly small, symmetrical, and refined. She reactivated the spell, and the distortion returned. Lira's eyes widened. Did that woman actually use magic for cosmetic alteration? She stared in baffled silence.

Someone had apparently enchanted their own face to make their nose smaller. That was simultaneously the most absurdly noble and entirely believable thing Lira had witnessed all week. As she drifted closer toward areas more frequently used by nobles, magical activity increased dramatically: Enchanted jewelry, minor spells were suspiciously concentrated near the womb or groin, and enchanted footwear. Mana disturbances were absolutely everywhere. Apparently, nobles were just casually covered in magic.

Lira had to stop herself from going deeper into the inner bailey of the castle, near the nobles, for fear her mana obfuscation would backfire on her. She was backtracking away when something else caught her eye. A maid carrying a silver tea pitcher moved briskly through the corridor. Behind her trailed a faint line of magical disturbance that slowly stabilized as she walked. Lira frowned. The disturbance was not originating from the maid herself, but from something concealed in her pocket.

Curiosity flared immediately. She followed at a discreet distance. The maid continued through several hallways before entering the Scribe Tower. Lira slipped inside after her and immediately froze. Inside the tower, magical fluctuations were everywhere. Not isolated enchantments either. Nearly every person present carried similar disturbances. Her stomach dropped. Across the room, she spotted Harwin greeting the maid warmly as she handed him the tea.

He thanked her, then casually placed something glowing with concentrated mana into her palm. Lira deactivated magical sight instantly. It was a silver coin. She stared at it in growing horror. Then she slowly looked around the room again with an entirely new understanding. It was not just the maid. Everyone here had similar magical fluctuations. Harwin was doing something to the coins he kept gifting people.

His constant tipping apparently had a magical purpose behind it, and Lira had absolutely no idea what that purpose was.