Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Games of Body and Soul

Trinity of Threes

Searching the small settlement for an archive building or a library was not as tough as it initially seemed. The Land of Snow carried a reputation of raising a no-bullshit, a rather stoic population and one would assume that, given the lacking size of the settlement, it would not necessarily trouble itself with building an archive. Instead, one would think, they'd build another warehouse to store food and supplies. This was not a settlement that enjoyed a genuine Land of Snow weather experience of perpetual winter, however, judging from the endless frost of the ground under the Konoha ninja feet, it did not see true spring or summer either.

The very first passer-by that the two young ninja asked pointed them the right direction. It left Mana wondering if Yushijin and Erumo enjoyed similarly easy times locating the inn for Yushijin and a place to buy weaponry and tools for Erumo.

The library was just as minimalistic as the settlement itself. Just a bland, oak table placed to stand guard atop a stone floor and concrete walls with the only hint of color in the place being the few dying plants, that must have only sustained this long through absorbing the junk food of lamplight, and the occasional more interesting cover of a book.

Kouta chose to hesitate and linger on behind Mana, something that the magician found a little irritating since it was his quest to gather the needed courage to realize if he was truly broken within or not. She should not have led him by his hand on such a quest, however, sometimes, that was the role that the emotional support needed to serve. Despite her wary, Mana chose to be patient and not scold or question the young man.

"You're more experienced with libraries..." Kouta mumbled after an occasional checking glare from Mana. The magician meant nothing by it, just to see if her boyfriend kept up the pace and did not get lost. Losing each other, even in a settlement as small as this would have made things even more complicated for the team, even if Mana could track them down in a couple of heartbeats eventually.

"Right..." Mana sighed. The young woman walked up to the rather approachable and granny-like old woman with a swampy-green turtleneck and thick, plastic glasses. "May we use the library for a moment?"

"No." the old lady cut down with strict and business-like frost, befitting and executioner, not a plump and short granny.

Mana and the librarian stared at one another for a couple of blinks before the granny returned to her book.

"Well... Why not?" the magician asked for the explanation that she expected to get from the get-go yet didn't. Had she not encountered similar, minimalistic speech patterns from just about every local she spoke to, she may have gotten a bit peeved by it.

"Don't have card." The old lady replied without pulling her eyes off of the book.

"Can we get one?" Mana asked.

"No." the old lady replied.

Even if the vagueness and the pointlessness of the conversation were beginning to force Mana to grit and grind her teeth, the magician continued, wondering the whole time that perhaps there was some verbal or social trick to have these folk tell all of the information necessary without having to drag it from them.

"Why not?" Mana asked, her tone was visibly more peeved than the last time she asked the question.

"Not local." The woman replied.

Mana pouted her lips. Shifting and moving their weight around, struggling over yelling something obscene out while trying to rationalize this entire ruleset of the library to only hand out readership cards to locals.

"Look, ma'am, we just need to check one thing. It would really help this young man." Mana tried a more humanizing approach, she gestured at Kouta who inspired pity in anyone with a beating heart without even trying. Just out of the sheer melancholy of his current emotional state and situation of loss that he was working through.