Chapter 53 — A Path to Power

Ria’s research on slimes went surprisingly well. It didn’t take her long to learn that the slime population was most concentrated around a certain pool of water in the nearby forest that was suspected to be fed by an underground spring. Checking the maps, a small stream actually meandered its way from that pool to connect with the stream that was flowing through the village.

Thinking about that made her wonder if the village had a slime problem… though perhaps that was the real reason for the alchemist’s shop to be located right where the stream flowed under the village palisade through a grate made of metal bars. Fresh slimes were certainly useful for a lot of recipes.

In any case, Ria marked the location on the map she had drawn of the local area. The pool would be an excellent spot to investigate with Leon and Keira.

The slimes had been an obvious starting point since they were of magical origin and she was planning to hunt them anyway. Now she was at a loss about what to research next.

The pool was probably a place of power for water energy. If she wanted earth, would she have to look for giant earthworms? Plant monsters for nature? Bird monsters for wind?

Ria really wasn’t an expert on monsters. Perhaps she should start with learning about the local monsters. Rather, not learning about them before heading out would be reckless.

In a way it was a bit backwards that she started her research by focusing on a specific monster. Once Ria started looking through the generalized reports on the concentrations of monsters by season, she chided herself for being too focused on just the slimes.

On the other hand, the reports of other monsters were considerably more scattered and didn’t show the same obvious grouping as the slimes had. She still read up on each and marked their suspected territories.

More information was needed to narrow down other promising possibilities, and Ria had an idea for that. During her research she discovered that the library actually had a section with information on magic, and she was hoping to find some information on the local ley-lines. Of course, after all of her hard work, she would feel totally stupid if there was a map detailing the places of power just lying around.

Perusing the shelves, she found dictionaries for identifying spells and monster abilities, guides for unlocking one’s inner energy, texts on tactics related to magical combat, a tome on alchemical cures for magical maladies and curses, and even some grimoires with common combat and utility magic for adventurers. All of it made Ria's eyes light up with excitement.

Ria pulled a stepladder over and clambered up to get one of the grimoires off the top shelf but froze mid-reach. What brought her to a stop, was a large scroll lying on top of the bookshelf. The scroll was tied with a red ribbon signifying it was restricted content. Naturally it was placed out of the sight of shorties like her…

Sighing, she carefully retrieved the scroll and walked back to the table with her new journal. A crash of thunder outside spooked her enough to drop the scroll on the table with a muffled clatter.

"That scroll is restricted material," the staff member at the reference desk called over to her. The woman had told Ria her name before explaining the library's rules… hmm… Katrin, if she remembered right.

Ria dug out her Enchanters Guild card and held it up. "I'm a member of the Enchanters Guild. That should be good enough, right?"

Katrin nodded and went back to her work. The scroll only had a red ribbon, so Ria figured it would be fine. The stuff with red ribbons that had black, purple, or other colored stripes were supposed to require more restrictive licenses, and Katrin had told her not to even ask about those until she had a higher rank. Probably necromancy and summoning type things, if Ria had to guess.

As Ria pulled up her chair and started untying the scroll, the light from outside darkened and the sound of rain could be heard through the glass window. The library had glowstones mounted in the ceiling, so there was still plenty of light to read by, but Ria would have preferred sunlight to the blue light of the glowstones, which was more like moonlight and tended to make everything appear as shades of blue.

The rain was welcome though. It would mean more mushrooms to be found when they went out into the forest in the morning. She was also glad to have decided to spend the rest of the day in the library.

Poor Ranger was going to be bored… or muddy. Probably muddy… Ria decided not to verify by looking through Ranger's eyes. There was no need to worry about that until she got home. With luck, Grandma Fana would take care of it…

Unrolling the scroll, Ria could only groan. The rolled paper contained a map of ley-lines just like she was looking for, and sure enough, the places of power were clearly marked. At least she learned a lot about the local monsters and how to use the library, Ria consoled herself.

The more Ria looked at the map the more she thought there was something odd about the markings next to each of the places of power. She didn't recognize the language, rather than language… the markings reminded her more of… glyphs! True Names!! Could those be the true names for each of the places of power?!

Ria's eyes widened in surprise and her mind began to whirl with the possibilities. Luventi had discussed a theory that places of power existed because they had a name. Whether they were a form of elemental spirit or existed because they were named by the gods, according to him no one really knew, but one thing was certain: once the name was known, their energy could be used to power large scale wards and barriers.

And presumably other enchantments and spells as well, Ria thought. With this knowledge, there was so much more she could do with her enchanting! She was so excited that her hands were shaking, and a girly squeal was starting to come out.

Thankfully, the sound of library doors opening reminded her that she was in a somewhat public place with a restricted scroll unrolled before her. Ria glanced up to see that the soaked newcomer was a boy close to her age, dressed in the colors of the flag above Lord Vorshan's manor.

"I was told that a girl named Ria was here," the boy informed Katrin, who directed him toward Ria.

Ria let the map roll closed as the boy approached.

"Ria?"

"Yes. How can I help you?"

The boy looked visibly relieved at her reply. "I was tasked with delivering this letter from milady and to await your reply."

Ah! Poor guy. He probably had to ask all around to find out where she had gone.

Ria received the letter. The paper was exceptionally fancy, lightly dyed in pretty pastels from pressed flowers. A wax seal held the folded paper closed and displayed a bundle of wheat and a flower crossing overtop of a simplified depiction of a hill encircled by a palisade. The flower was probably what made the seal different from the actual Vorshan family seal and identified the seal as Keira's.

Reaching down, Ria pulled out her boot knife and used it to free the seal from the paper.

Ria!

My father agreed that I can join you and Leon tomorrow. Grandfather also decided that I should join the Adventurers Guild to get credit for the experience. Let's meet at the guild hall shortly after dawn.

Please write back to confirm. The page will await your reply.

Thank you so much!

Keira Vorshan

A grin and light chuckle escaped from Ria. She was sure that Keira's father 'agreeing' probably involved a fair amount of shouting and throwing of furniture.

Ria took out a blank sheet of paper from her supplies and made a face. Her loose paper was good quality but hardly a match for Keira's fancy flower-dyed paper. Glancing over Keira's pretty handwriting and the crest displayed at the top, Ria decided how she would fancy-up her reply.

Getting out another sheet of paper, Ria dabbed her quill in the ink and started writing out a stylized alphabet. She had practiced calligraphy for a while after seeing one of the fancy letters that a noble sent to her mom, but it had been a while since she tried to write like that. After a bit of practice, the fancy letters came out looking nice, but it still wasn't enough.

Ria let her eyes wander around the room for a few moments hoping for some inspiration. When they fell on the rolled-up ley-line map, a grin spread across her face. She re-wrote the alphabet but stylized each character to look like a glyph.

Happy with the way her writing looked, Ria wrote up her reply:

A harvest-hued autumn greetings Lady Keira,

This humble apprentice is looking forward to having your ladyship join our expedition tomorrow. Please come prepared with your preferred armor and weapons as appropriate for woodland travel.

May the winds of the season grant us good fortune.

Your friend in magic,

Ria of Shadewood

Apprentice Enchanter

Ria looked over her draft reply. The text was quite good, but having such fancy text on plain paper still bothered her. There was only one thing an enchanter could do about it!

Out came her scroll-making supplies. Ria had left her books and expensive materials at home, but she had brought some low-quality scroll paper and leftover enchanting ink to use in case she got bored or wanted to try something out.

The low-quality scroll paper was much nicer looking than the plain paper and had interesting colors embedded into the fibers that looked plausibly from flowers and herbs. That was a good start, but Ria wasn't going to waste scroll paper without making an enchantment, and she had a fun one already in mind.

A nervous shuffling came from the boy when Ria didn't seem any closer to producing a reply.

"Ah, don't worry. The reply will be ready shortly. I'm just going to add a bit of fun that Lady Keira will enjoy," Ria told him with a wink.

The scroll paper was too large for a personal letter, so her dagger was brought into use to trim the paper to a more appropriate size.

Ria inked her reply onto the scroll paper, then used the practice paper from earlier to work out the ward that she wanted to add, making use of 'glow' and 'sparkle' glyphs referenced from her journal.

With everything prepared, Ria inscribed the enchantment near the bottom of the paper where it wouldn't get creased when the letter was folded and was rewarded with a paper that glowed and sparkled faintly, clearly looking magical.

Ria was thoroughly impressed with herself and grinned ear-to-ear at the results. She would have to make more paper like this! Maybe even give some to Simon to sell. And if she used a clear or lightly colored ink for the enchantment it would look even better. "Heh, heh, heh," her evil laugh came out at the thought.

The boy was giving her a dubious look.

"Almost done, almost done," Ria told him cheerfully.

Ria used heat energy to burn her trademark into the letter at the top where her family crest was supposed to go and folded the enchanted letter in thirds with the top fold short enough to seal with the wax from Keira's letter.

After using heat energy to melt the wax and apply it to the letter, Ria shaped her trademark out of air energy and pressed the design into the wax.

When Ria tried to hand the finished reply to the page, he was staring at her incredulously.

"It's fine. It's fine. I'm a member of the Enchanters Guild. This much is to be expected," Ria assured him with a grin and pressed the letter into his hand.

"If you say so…," the boy mumbled and placed the letter in the waterproof pouch that he had taken Keira's from. The boy snuck a glance back at her as he left.

Ria waved pleasantly.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't perform magic in the library, particularly around priceless restricted materials," Katrin complained.

"Ah, right. Sorry about that," Ria apologized sheepishly and cleaned up her enchanting supplies.

That slight scolding couldn't hold her good mood down for long. Between discovering the True Names for the local places of power and her ideas for glamorously enchanted paper, Ria was ecstatic.

Humming happily, Ria unrolled the map and started copying down the information. On a separate page she made a table with the True Names of each place of power, carefully trying to copy down the glyphs as accurately as possible. She left space in the table for adding notes after she visited each location.

Satisfied, Ria returned the map to the bookshelf and collected the grimoires she had eyed earlier. The one thing that could make the day even better than it already was: new spells! Another evil chuckle escaped as she gleefully skipped back to her table to copy down the spells contained in the spell tomes.

"You really did spend the whole time in the library," Jess muttered.

Ria looked up, surprised. She had been deeply thinking about the theory of the Camouflage spell. The description called it an inferior and simplified version of the Invisibility spell. Unfortunately, the Invisibility spell was considered an advanced spell and wasn't contained in any of the grimoires in the guild library.

"Ah, yeah. I found a lot of useful and interesting information," Ria replied. "Thanks for coming to get me. I'll just be a minute cleaning up and putting these back."

Jess grunted and motioned for Ria to get on with it.

Katrin followed them out and locked up the library as they left.

Aaron had left an 'out for dinner' sign at the guild counter, so Katrin took over behind the counter. With dinner in full swing, the tavern side of the guild was rowdy with clanking mugs and fighting songs. Ria smirked wryly when she thought about the social divide between the different worlds that she was involved with.

"Have you ever thought about learning magic, Jess?" Ria asked as they exited the guild into the rainy dark of evening.

"No. Usually the talent runs in families, and my family sure as hell doesn't have it," Jess snorted and pulled up her hood before stepping out from under the guild's covered porch.

Ria was thankful that she had decided to wear her cloak to the guild and also pulled her own hood up.

Other than the dim pools of light from the windows of the nearby houses, the only light was coming from sputtering torches around the guardsmen's barracks.

"Just a moment, Jess. Let me do something about lighting our way," Ria said and held her hand out in front of her, carefully shaping the light spell that she had memorized earlier.

The spell was simple enough that she was able to properly form the meaning glyph and control construct. It might have been the simplest of modern spells, but Ria was still thrilled when the ball of light appeared above her hand.

"Great. Can we go now?" Jess said impatiently.

"Sure," Ria agreed and walked alongside her. "You know, Jess. Neither of my parents were mages."

"Well good for you," Jess snarked.

Ria sighed. "That's not what I mean, Jess. There are ways to test if you have an innate talent, and I can probably determine if you have a particular elemental aptitude if you'd like me to. It could be worth it for you even if it just means unlocking your inner energy."

Jess was silent for a while then asked, "Why… would you do that for me?"

"Because we're both girls and we need all the advantages that we can get? Maybe?" Ria offered. She really wasn't sure herself.

Jess snorted. "Sure. Not like I got anything to lose. And pounding the boys when they get too full of themselves is always a good thing."

Ria laughed. “We can do the tests tonight if you don’t mind getting roped into staying for dinner. There’s a good chance of some kind of starfruit dessert.”

“Dags’ll be seriously jealous,” Jess said with a chuckle then continued with a more serious tone. “I still really don’t get you. Paying for my company and offering me expensive food. It’s like you’re a rich girl trying to buy a friend. Not that I couldn’t use more friends who are girls, but it just feels… weird. And I still don’t see what you get out of it.”

“You’re overthinking it, Jess,” Ria reassured her. “I really did need someone to walk home with me. And I didn’t want to risk a guy getting a wrong idea.”

Jess grimaced.

“By the way, how’s Daggen’s injury? I’m sorry he got hurt because of me. Jarrel was a little on edge after a mob tried to stone me earlier in the day.”

“Pa says the scar should fade… wait,” Jess started and followed up, incredulous, “Stone you?”

“Yeah.” Ria nodded. “Irene accused me of trying to charm Leon’s family or something and whipped up a mob. Jarrel dispersed the crowd by threatening them. He’s a C-rank adventurer from here, you know, but seems like there’s a lot of people who don’t remember him.”

“That sword guy was C-rank? Like Forsin and Stanik?” Jess asked, surprised.

“Yup. From what Stanik said, Jarrel and Tina were rivals.”

“No way…”

When they approached the front of the butchershop, Grandpa Orlan was quick to rush her and Jess out of the rain.

“Didn’t think you’d stay out so late in this weather, lass. Guess you tried to wait it out,” Grandpa Orlan said as he ushered her and Jess toward the stairs. “Oscar already left to help Yuri with the kids, so take your friend upstairs and have her join us for dinner. The rain should ease up after a while.”

“Thank you, Grandpa Orlan.” Ria took Jess’ hand and led her up the stairs. “This way, Jess.”

Grandma Fana made them hang up their wet cloaks and dry off, barely giving Ria any time to greet Ranger, who was eagerly awaiting his own dinner, before demanding they take their seats at the table. Grandpa Orlan joined them shortly after.

Ria was surprised at how docile Jess acted around Grandma Fana. Even though Jess did slip up a few times, she was clearly on her best behavior.