Chương 72: 71 - Morning After

A knock at the door. Alexandra pried her eyes open, and took in the room around her. Pale light streamed through a narrow window, catching on the large, smooth grey stones that made up the wall. There was an empty desk in the corner with a chair, and a wardrobe, also empty. She pushed herself from the bed to stand up and paused. She had a bed. A real bed. With bedding and a pillow even fluffier than what she had on Earth. The person at the door knocked again. She stood up, and opened it.

In front of her, two men: Louis, and a grizzled old man wearing blue robes. He had a beard on the long side and hair shaved close to the skull.

"Miss Alexandra," he said.

"I have been tasked with showing you around." Her stomach gurgled.

"A tour which will include the refectory." Still in a morning daze, she licked her lips and nodded.

"Erm, okay. I'll follow you."

"Very well. My name is Qafit, and as you can see by my robes, I am a Platinum." He walked in the corridor where her room was located. She followed.

"Sera didn't wear one."

"These robes are only mandatory inside the Iron Library. In the field, we favor more practical attire." He gestured at his robes.

"As you can imagine, while comfortable, these are not great to fight in." Qafit took them through a courtyard. The sky was clouded.

"It's going to rain," Louis said.

"It often does, in Kator," Qafit answered. Then, he pointed at a tower jutting out of the building ahead. Made of the same stones as the walls of Alexandra's room, it was wider than a city block.

"This is the Iron Library. Where all the knowledge of Laika finds its way." Alexandra looked up at the tower, and up again. It never seemed to end until it disappeared into the clouds.

"It's even more impressive than I heard," Louis said.

"Can we browse its content?"

"The first four floors, Iron to Gold, are accessible to the students of the Iron Library's academy. Since you enrolled yesterday, you may enter." Alexandra raised her brows and looked at Louis.

"You enrolled?" He nodded.

"I did. Everyone would. Alexandra, this is the Iron Library." She swallowed.

"Okay." Her stomach gurgled again. Qafit seemed to be aware of the malediction of infinite hunger, as he cut the tour short, instead explaining in superficial details that they were inside the academy section of the Iron Library, where people came from all over the world to study, and that the Keepers resided on the other side of the tower. The refectory was accessible through a series of courtyards and arches. It was a large hall, supported by massive stone pillars.

Light entered from wide, stained glass panels that seemed enchanted as it was brighter inside than outside. Rows of wooden tables and benches filled the space. Some tables were occupied, a group of teenagers in grey and orange robes took the far corner. Closer to Alexandra's age, white and yellow robes ate alone. The serving table ran the length of the kitchen wall.

"It's self-service," Qafit said.

"Eat as much as you'd like. Miss Alexandra, you're free to wander the academy bar obvious restrictions. I'll come pick you up for your meeting with the Magus."

"Restrictions?" she asked. He shrugged.

"Don't barge into classes. Read the signs. Just common sense." She picked up a tray and worked down the table: a meat, braised and dark, a grain she didn't know the name of, and normal looking bread. She and Louis sat at an empty table, and dug in. The meat tasted like duck, with the consistency of beef. She chewed fast. There was a faint sweet note underneath the savory exterior. She speared another piece with her fork, then tore a piece of bread.

"This is great," she said, mouth half-full and sending some crumbs flying at Louis.

"They must have high-level chefs." Alexandra tried a spoonful of grain. She only took it to fill her stomach, but it was surprisingly tasty, with a nutty aftertaste.

"Are you ready to talk to him?" Louis asked, voice low. She paused mid-motion, a spoonful of grain in front of her mouth.

"No. Not really. But I can't push it back any longer. At least, it doesn't seem like he wants to hurt us."

"Maybe he doesn't."

"Maybe. We'll see what he has to say. I thought you'd be more reserved, seeing how you acted when I told you I was a heroine." Louis shook his head.

"I thought so too. But it's as you said. You're not her, and he isn't either. It's common knowledge that the Magus and the Legate don't see eye to eye."

"So he's convinced you."

"He's convinced me that I should seize this opportunity," Louis said.

"It's the Iron Library, Alexandra. I know you don't understand what it means, but trust me when I say this is the best place to progress our skills."

"What did he say to you? Specifically." Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Louis turned his fork over.

"He gave me hope."

"Hope?"

"Yes. More than I thought I'd ever find." Alexandra set her spoon down.

"That's not what I asked." Louis met her eyes. He didn't look away, but he didn't answer either. She picked her spoon back up.

"Okay." She shoved more grains down her throat.

"We're here now. There's no going back." Louis finished his plate and made to stand up.

"I'm sorry. I have to leave first. My first class starts soon, and I need to pick up my robes before that." Alexandra waved him off.

"Sure. Go. I could eat, well, forever, so don't wait for me." She'd yet to look deeper into Curse Unraveling, but she already knew that using her new skill to get rid of the malediction wouldn't be that simple. She pulled up the skill while she ate. Curse Unraveling - 1: This skill provides a framework to reverse engineer curses. Each level increases your ability to decipher curses. She pushed a thread of mana toward her stomach. Nothing. She let the thread go and picked up another piece of meat.

That was something she'd have to bring up to Raymond.

"Excuse me." Alexandra looked up. A girl dressed in white robes stood at the edge of her table, tray in hand. She was about her age, maybe a year younger, freckled, round-cheeked, and wide-eyed, with brows arched high enough that she looked perpetually curious.

"I don't mean to intrude, but I noticed you were eating alone, and I—" she gestured at the mostly empty hall around them.

"So was I. I'm Willow."

"Alexandra."

"May I?" Alexandra froze, then scrambled.

"Ah. Yes. Yes, of course." Willow set her tray down across from her.

"Where are you from? No robes, so you must have just arrived."

"Yesterday." She paused.

"From Esmera."

"Esmera? Where is that?"

"On the plains of Baleria. Small town," Alexandra said.

"I've never been to Baleria. I've barely left Kator, actually." She glanced up at the stained glass panels overhead.

"Did you notice those when you came in?" Alexandra looked up. The panels threw color across the stone floor in long, clean bands. It was amber, green, and deep blue. Brighter than the grey sky outside had any right to produce.

"Hard to miss." Willow smiled.

"Right! These were commissioned from Master Alamarian. The trick is the layering. The enchantment has to account for the angle of natural light at different hours, otherwise you'd get a bleed at midday, and nothing at night. He solved it with a passive refractive loop. No mana input needed since he activated the spell five hundred years ago." She caught herself.

"Sorry."

"No, it's… Impressive. How do you know all that?"

"I study enchantment," she said.

"It's all I ever wanted to do, really, since I was small." She picked at her food.

"What about you? What are you here to learn?" Alexandra reached for more bread. She ate, then answered.

"Curses." Willow's brows climbed higher than usual.

"That's unusual. A bit ominous, even." She laughed.

"I'm just kidding." Alexandra matched her smile, and gobbled a spoonful of grain and meat.

"Of course. I have a specific application in mind." Willow nodded. Then her eyes dropped to Alexandra's tray, which was, by any reasonable measure, catastrophic. A serving of grain that could feed a horse. Three loaves of bread, all started. More meat than a regular person would eat in a week.

"How long have you been on the road?"

"Why?" Alexandra tore the bread.

"You're eating like someone who hasn't had a meal in weeks." Alexandra opened her mouth.

"Erm… This… That's why I'm thinking of studying curses." Willow tilted her head.

"Maledictions, technically," Alexandra said.

"Infinite hunger. A real pain in the ass if you ask me." Willow's fork stopped halfway to her mouth.

"You have a malediction?"

"Yes."

"Right now? An active one?" Alexandra shrugged. Willow pressed both hands flat on the table and leaned forward.

"And you're still functional? You're sitting here having a normal conversation?"

"I'm very hungry, but yes." Willow looked at her tray.

"Even after all that?"

"Even after all that." She whistled.

"I'm sorry. That's horrible. If there's anything I can do to help… Well, I don't think I can dispel your malediction. But anything else, I'm willing." Alexandra smiled.

"Thank you." Like Louis, Willow couldn't spend all morning eating at the refectory. Alexandra ate alone for a few minutes. Only when she felt a little less hungry, did she summon her journal. Quest Journal Daily Reset: 06: 00 | Streak: 20 Days | 1% All Stats Next Milestone: 25 Days Daily Quests: Visit the first floor of the Iron Library (0/1) She closed it, then frowned. She could wait until her meeting with Raymond. But if it didn't go well, she'd have a hard time completing her quest.

On the other hand, she hadn't enrolled into the academy yet, so she wasn't sure if she'd be allowed inside. She refilled her grain once more, ate it standing at the serving table, and on her way out spotted a tray of small pastries near the kitchen door. She took three. Ate one before she cleared the door. The second was gone by the time she crossed the first courtyard. The third she popped in her mouth as she approached the Iron Library. Up close the tower was even grander.

The stones were older than the academy buildings around it, worn smooth at the base where centuries of hands had passed. The entrance was a set of double doors, iron-banded and tall, already open. A handful of students from Iron to Gold moved in and out. Alexandra stepped through. A woman at a desk just inside looked up.

"Robes?"

"I don't have one yet. I arrived yesterday."

"Non-enrolled visitors are not permitted past the entrance hall," she said, already looking back at her ledger.

"Come back when you have your robes." Alexandra looked past her at the corridor beyond, at the students moving freely through it. She thought about the quest sitting open in her journal.

"And there's no exception?"

"No exception." Alexandra took a step back, and started walking away. Forcing her way in seemed like a bad idea. I'll keep that as a last resort. She could wait for a cluster of students and walk through with them. But the receptionist had already clocked her appearance.

"You." The voice came from her left. A man in yellow robes stood near the wall, a stack of books under one arm. He was perhaps fifty, with the soft build of someone who had spent decades behind a desk and considered it a virtue. His robes were well-kept. Gold, and not the most impressive one. She knew that much already.

"Yes?" she said. He looked her up and down.

"What are you doing here? You have no robes. You're clearly not a student."

"I wanted to visit the library. It seems I can't for now, which is fine."

"Fine?" he repeated.

"This is the Iron Library, not a market. It's not a place for wanderers to poke their head out of curiosity." He took one step closer.

"You should not be here." Alexandra scanned her surroundings. Everyone had made themselves small. The receptionist was head down into her ledger, and the other students walked near the walls, careful not to look in their direction.

"And who are you?" she asked.

"Professor Tristan," he said.

"Which means I have the authority to remove unwanted guests from the premises of our academy."

"I was invited."

"By whom?" She hesitated. Can't really claim the Magus himself invited me, can I?

"I see." His expression sharpened.

"I'm going to need you to come with me."