(Re:Zero) Warlock of Fascination Chapter 9: Finally! A Library!

Chapter 9: Finally! A Library!

“Here we are,” Reinhard stopped in front of a large, bronze-tinted, double door with Astrea Family Sentries positioned on either side. “This is my family’s library.” 

Castor couldn’t help but break out a broad, satisfied smile. This was precisely what he had been longing for ever since he had been blipped to the middle of Lugunica’s trading street—the comfort of hard covers filled with mystical pages that he had chased after all his life.

Even from the outside, he could practically smell the knowledge brimming from the other side.

Let’s see what the knowledge your family amassed has to offer me! 

This time, he was armed with Brisk Mind and Mark of the Scribe. Tools he could’ve only dreamed of having back on Earth, ones that were capable of fulfilling his lifelong dream to read all that there was to read.

Come to think of it, maybe this was the precise reason I was brought here in the first place! Why else would I, of all people, be given such a gift if it wasn’t to consume all the knowledge of this world? 

“My Lord,” one of the Astrea Sentries spoke up, addressing Reinhard with practiced and earned reverence. “Might I ask who this is? As well as the strange girl you’re holding on your shoulders?” 

“This here is Castor, he’s a traveller from beyond the Great Waterfall—and our honored guest thanks to the assistance he provided me earlier today.” Upon mentioning the waterfall, the Sentry's eyes widened in a mix of trepidation and fascination as they started Castor down, their hulking figures and armed appearances startling him a little.

I’m getting a feeling that maybe I should be less open with this whole “other-worlder” thing from now on. Then again, I haven’t experienced any hostile treatment because of that fact—at least not yet. 

Usually, when someone claimed to be from beyond the waterfall, they’d just get a round of snorts and dismissive chuckles in return.

But this was different.

First of all, Castor wasn’t the one claiming to be from there—Reinhard was saying it on his behalf. The same Sword Saint who had a Divine Blessing for each and every task that existed under the sun, including truth-discerning.

Secondly, he was the Sword Saint! He wasn’t someone with a reputation for offhandedly spreading falsehoods. When he talked, people listened, especially those from his own family.

And lastly, there was Castor’s strange clothing, riddled with words and emblems they couldn’t read or recognize, none of which looked even reminiscent of the written languages from other nations.

Even if they didn’t fully buy into it, the circumstances warranted a certain level of belief.

“As for her,” Reinhard adjusted Felt while she was slung over his shoulders, still asleep. “I’ve confirmed that she is the fifth and final Dragon Maiden, and I’m going to ensure that she’s presented at the inaugural ceremony.” 

The Sentries exchanged equally astonished glances. Right now, they weren’t sure what to be more amazed by—the fact that someone from beyond the Great Waterfall was standing in front of them? Or the fact that the final candidate to become Lugunica’s 42nd Monarch was hanging over their Young Lord’s shoulders?

“I’ll personally be responsible for handling Lady Felt’s security. For now, I’d like you two to grant Castor access to our library and look after his commodities and needs if anything arises.” 

“As you command,” they bowed respectfully, opening the weighty double door and gesturing for Castor to enter. 

Reinhard patted Castor on the shoulder. “I have a feeling the next few days will be rather chaotic, but if anything comes up, feel free to approach me.” 

“Huh? Oh. Yeah. Sure.” Clearly, his attention was laser-focused on the library’s interior like a kid in a candy store. 

Reinhard could tell that his words had no hope of getting through to him now, causing him to merely shake his head and breathe a bemused sigh before departing.

Castor stepped foot into an elongated room with a multitude of narrow, sectioned-off shelves neatly arranged adjacent to one another—the majority of them constructed on the library’s second floor to protect the books from dampness and humidity. 

Instead of traditional lightning, the place used Magic Crystals imbued with Yang to light the place up, putting into perspective the Astrea Family’s immense wealth since they could afford to do so. 

Magic Crystals were stones created in environments with dense concentrations of Mana, and colored with a different element depending on which attribute was most prevalent in the area.

They were often used as carriable Mana storages, coming in handy for the Kingdom’s Court Mages when their reserves were running low during a battle—and they also played a big part in serving as key components for magicreation tools, capable of allowing those not gifted with the blessing of Mana to execute magical wonders.

As one would imagine, Magic Crystals were not cheap, quite the opposite really. The fact that the Astrea Family could use them merely as convenient lighting truly spoke to their prosperity.

“It’s not often youngsters bother to come here,” an aged, raspy voice called out to Castor from the second floor. 

He looked up, spotting a thin old man dressed as a butler leaning over the second floor’s railing. His face was long and square, riddled with wrinkles and details that pronounced his years. His eyes were droopy with blood-red pupils, giving off a contradictory sense of calmness and ferocity at the same time, and his graying hair was slicked back and tied into a neat bun.

“Greetings, traveler from the great beyond.” He bowed while wearing a faint smirk. “I apologize for eavesdropping, but these old ears just happened to overhear your conversation outside. Rest assured, I have no intention of lackadaisically spreading news of your circumstances should you not wish it so. I wouldn’t disgrace the Astrea Family’s honored guest in such a way.” 

“I don’t mind,” Castor shrugged indifferently. “I don’t even know whether that term accurately defines my situation yet or not.”

The elderly man scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Indeed, the Great Waterfall is one of the world’s greatest mysteries, known only to the minds of Dragons.” 

Dragon-s? So it’s not only that “Volcania” Reinhard mentioned while he was talking about the Royal Selection. Good to know. 

“Ah! Where are my manners? I haven’t even introduced myself!” All of a sudden, he leaped over the railing, landing on the ground level without a hitch. “My name is Walter C. Dornez, I’m a butler of the Astrea Family, as well as the current acting Librarian. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Sir Castor.”

“The ‘Sir’ is unnecessary,” he reached out and shook Walter’s hand, already getting a sense that they were kindred in their love for literature. “I’m hoping you could help me find some material on your world’s Magic, we don’t have it back where I’m from, and I’m quite interested in learning more about it.” 

Walter’s eyelids lifted. “Your world is completely devoid of Magic? That’s… Quite unfortunate, I’m sorry to hear that.” 

“No worries,” Castor chuckled lightly. “We’re already capable of enough destruction without it, I shudder to imagine what’d become of my home if the mystique of your world was added to it—besides, I appear to have awakened a form of your Magic upon coming here.” 

Walter fell silent momentarily. Part of him debated whether he should ask Castor more about the so-called destruction that his world could ensue, but ultimately, he decided it was too early to start prying into the secrets the young man had brought with him.

“Oh? In that case, would you mind showing me which element you’ve awakened? The Astrea Family is more focused on swordsmanship. However, Lugunica is the most magically advanced Kingdom, and I happen to have spent a brief stint of my life as a Court Mage. I should be able to offer you a pointer or two.” 

Already, Castor had a sneaking suspicion that Walter was understating his capabilities. The sense of experience he could feel radiating from the old man’s eyes was far too profound for there to be anything meager about him.

“Gladly.” Currents of bright-gold Yang swirled around Castor’s hand—earning an intrigued hum from the Librarian.

“You appear to have exhausted a great deal of Mana already, you and the Young Lord must’ve been involved in something rather strenuous today.” 

“He did use some kind of Mana-consuming sword technique that drained a huge portion of my reserves, it made the whole place implode as if he had cut space in half, quite the sight really.” 

His mood soured a little upon recalling the incident, having your Mana drained unwillingly wasn’t all that pleasant of an experience. Especially the amount Reinhard had absorbed, if Castor’s reserves weren’t as deep as they were, he undoubtedly would have fainted during the process.

“Your… Magic is potent enough to supply the Young Lord’s application of Spatial Rend?” Walter’s jaw nearly hit the floor, he looked at Castor as if redbull had just really given him wings. “That’s… a rather striking revelation.” He cleared his throat while adjusting his collar to recompose himself.

Supplying Reinhard van Astrea’s version of Spatial Rend was one thing, but doing so and still remaining conscious afterwards? With Castor’s current display of remaining vigour? That was something else entirely.

“My elements are Wind, Fire, and Earth. So I’m afraid I won’t be as useful as I’d like to be when it comes to helping you hone your Yang, however, getting you started should be well within my capabilities.” 

Woosh! 

A torrent of wind sent a book flying into Walter’s hand, which he dusted off before handing it to Castor. 

‘The Fundamentals of Magic — By Roswaal A. Mathers.’ Must be someone important. Maybe I should try to get in touch with them at some point, if they’re still around. 

“You seem to have no issues reading Lugunica’s writing. Is it possible that the languages of our worlds are the same? Or could you perhaps have received some kind of Divine Blessing to assist you?” 

Castor smiled mischievously. “I can say for certain that our languages aren’t even remotely similar, as for your second question, I just happen to be exceptionally talented when it comes to reading.” 

“Haha, fair enough.” Walter exhaled. Wanting to keep your cards close to your chest was only natural. "I suggest you take your time while reading through that. All greatness begins with a rock-solid foundation.” 

“That it does.” Castor found a table to sit down at, and Walter made sure not to disturb him once he began reading.

However, Castor’s reading pace was truly something to behold. For a moment, Walter believed he was trying to show off by flicking through the pages as quickly as possible, but by the look of sheer focus and intrigue on Castor’s face—the Librarian soon realized that he was genuinely consuming the contents of the book at a ridiculous speed.

Such was the power of Brisk Mind and Mark of the Scribe working together in full force.

Walter, on the other hand, firmly believed it was the work of a Divine Blessing of some sort, so he picked up a book on all the known blessings to try to discern which one.

…

Castor had learned much in the past five minutes. 

Especially about the “Gate”, the invisible pseudo-organ that resided in everyone. The only difference was whether theirs was fully, or partly open. If it happened to be the latter, then the use of Magic was near impossible.

Among the former, the strength of one’s Gate differed—some Mages could only use a few low to medium-tier spells before exhausting the endurance of their Gate, whereas others could spam high-tier spells like it was no one’s business.

Taking his experience with Reinhard’s use of Spatial Rend into account, Castor could safely assume that he belonged to the second camp. 

Casting Magic properly was heavily reliant on a medium called incantations, using the power of words to manifest one’s spellcraft. 

Different elements had different incarnations commonly associated with them.

For example, Goa for Fire, Shiha for Water, Fura for Wind, Dona for Earth, Shamak for Yin, and Jiwald for Yang—Castor’s attribute.

Interesting. Yang’s specialty lies in buffing, but Yang itself is not “Buffing Magic.” It’s Light Magic. It’s also capable of being used in an offensive fashion, it’s just not easy to execute. 

The incarnations for spells could also be heightened by using prefixes alongside their main word, like El, Ul, and Al in ascending order. 

“Walter,” Castor looked to the elderly butler, who was still reading through the world’s Divine Blessings with a tinge of frustration evident on his face. “Do you have somewhere that I can safely test out my Yang Magic?” 

“Of course, the Astrea estate has plenty of areas designed for training purposes.” Walter gestured for him to follow along. “Right this way.” 

The book on fundamentals also briefly mentioned other mediums that could be used for Magic besides incantations, one of which caught Castor’s particular attention—Magic Circles.