Hold Me Tight, For I Am Unlovely

Chapter 18 : To Which Arcane Speaks

Chapter 18 : "When you come back you will not be you. And I may not be I."

Leticia chewed her food lethargically, her actions still coated with sleep, the notebook was laid in front of her innocently. But the only thing she managed to write was a few measly sentences.

[Magic, sorcery, witchcraft (maybe). Arcane things that are harnessed by Mages. Though more tactical people choose to call magic as mana, there are many words in other races that equals to it.]

[Magic permeates through all forms of life, with humans merely being one of the many creatures capable of wielding its enigmatic power. In this vast world teeming with many unimaginable organisms, the threads of magic intertwine with the essence of all living beings.]

The young woman persisted in wringing out every memory she could summon about the magic of the world she currently inhabited. Despite her best efforts, she faced a difficult challenge as her recollections only seemed to extend to the results and manifestations of magic, leaving the intricacies of its practice a blank slate to her.

Leticia knew how different magic circles could give different magic, how each element clashed with one another, how rare one thing is, and how the other isn't— but she doesn't have a single clue about the actual foundation of this world's magic. It didn't help that the original Leticia also didn't know jackshit about magic despite having such an illustrated background.

I mean, for fuck's sake, her father was a grand mage and her mother a leader of a battalion. But the daughter was a ridiculous couch infected person? Utter nonsense from a third perspective, but it was horribly true.

Of course, due to the fact that she had the memories of Leticia. She knew of the common knowledge the world has about magic, like where it came from, the myths, and its founders— all because of her education. But that was it.

But as for asking Leticia how to implement it and use it at the same time? It was better to ask a random person on the streets, at least you would have a 50% chance of acquiring what you want.

"Well, this is no use." With a resolute mind, and a bitter heart, Leticia closed her notebook shut and instead focused on eating the delicious, well prepared breakfast in front of her.

'I should just head straight to the library after eating, it's obvious that Leticia's memories are horrendously useless when it comes to magic. Trends and latest fashion maybe, but magic? Bah!'

After eating, she called the maids inside to help her dress, so as to avoid odd looks. Nobles, and aristocrats, high-class merchants— all of the people that are part of those categories don't dress themselves afterall.

"That's why maids and servants are hired, all things considered..." One of Leticia's teachers said that before, and now that she's recalling it now, it was a totally absurd statement.

After dressing casually (per Leticia's request), the young woman finally started her day.

It didn't take long for her to find her way to the grand library of her bloodline. The Medicci's Pandemonium, and the second Arcane library of the empire— second only to the royal family's. Infamous because of the current Duke's title as the Grand mage, due to that, it was said that the current Pandemonium arcane library has more knowledge contained in it than the current Container of Solomon, which was the royal family's arcane library.

This infamy reached it's peak, and and soon this also reached the ears of people above the echelon. Nobles, aristocrats, generals— and soon, the king himself. It wasn't pretty seeing the king look over the ducal house of Medicci, but their was nothing the royal family could do.

They can't just throw resources unto a mage and hope that they would turn into a Grand mage now can they?

"At ease." Leticia waved her hands to the guards that was guarding outside the premises of the library as she walked past them. With her wave, the guards nodded and proceeded back to their places as if nothing happened.

In all honesty, the girl knew that the guards were useless in guarding the library. But for appearance sake, the duke had put guards around the place to ensure that nobody wanders around the site. Not that anyone would've even go near such a dizzying place.

The Pandemonium, just as its name suggests, is an area where everything is always in a constant disarray.

Be it the environment, the air, the space. Everything was always not as it seems. In layman terms, it's a vacuum of dimensions that mingled with eachother and created enough chaos for matter to exist. One can doubt it's existence, and it could almost be considered as a myth, but because of the existence of magic, this was made possible.

And Leticia's ancestors, for some odd and incomprehensible reason. Chose this turbulent-one-wrong-step-and-you're-dead place to build a library where their knowledge could be read and passed on.

At least that was what Leticia retained in her memories after reading the novel's description. Of course she doesn't know what that meant at that time. But seeing the entrance of the place for the first time, she instantly knew what the novel's description meant. Fiction is fiction, and reality is reality.

"Is this supposed to be the entrance?"

Finally bypassing the overgrown garden, Leticia encountered a mirror-like structure framed by an arch that, in its prime, would have radiated beauty. However, the neglect of the surrounding unruly foliage had marred its once intricate designs, rendering it a mere shell of its former elegance. Despite the erosion of embellishments, the air of mystique still permeated in the air.

It was hard to miss the entrance when it stood out like a sore thumb like this. It was almost like the ones that Leticia saw in those animes, that she instantly knew that she was in the right place.

The mirror loomed in size, matching that of two double doors, its ethereal form hovering just a few inches above the ground. Devoid of conventional frames, the mirror appeared distinctively unique, seemingly crafted not from glass but from a fragment of space itself.

For a second the girl hesitated in her step, she was a modern person after all, experiencing unknown things like magic for the first time hindered her from taking the next step forward. Although Natalia and Leticia has already merged inwardly, there were still some things that could make them both take a step back.

"Phew..." Breathing in, Leticia surveyed the portal in front of her with a wary gaze. "Let's get this over with."

In the end, her curiosity won the best of her.