2. The Merry Band

DURING MY FIRST YEAR AT THE ACADEMY,
three years ago, was the first time I had heard about the legendary weapon Kusanagi no Tsurugi.

On the north end of the Seganôn garden, the one with the long path leading to the castle, hosted by, and named after, the capital: the Eldiron Boarding School. It is here where we, as young and proud Twynnians, are educated and trained into the finest knights, guards, tacticians, protectors, heralds and anything really that serves our nation.

I sat on the edge of my bunkbed the morning of the first day of school. For some reason I felt the urge to give one heck of an introduction. Perhaps this urge arose from the thought of having to introduce myself later today. I stood up and slowly controlled my breathing. A deep breath in, hold it… hooold it, and—out.
Well, anyway, without further ado:

“I am Leith, son of none and an avid reader of tales, magic and history. My speciality would be—”

A sudden attack from an uncertain thing above had me down on the ground. I rubbed the top of my head that hurts the most. “Ouch…”
I opened my eyes and saw two legs connected to that “uncertain thing”.
“Get… off… me…!” I struggled pushing the weight of his body aside. Unfortunately, that has more to do with my lack of strength than his weight.

After a big yawn, he stretched his arms high above his head. “That hits the spot.” He turned his head sideways. “Huh? Leith? Why are you sleeping underneath me?”

“Are you an idiot or something?” As I finally got back on my feet, I angrily turned his way, leaned forward and gave his forehead a big flick. “You were the one who fell on top of me, Odin!”
The two of us have been sharing this room since Friday night. It would be a great, great, great understatement to say that we are not in the slightest getting along. He’s not even a bad guy or anything, just one big idiot.

“Say, Leith, isn’t my uniform a little too small?”

Just when I thought I had thoroughly prepared for the challenges of the day by rehearsing my introduction, this fool put on a shirt that reveals his belly button.

Enraged, I lost my sense of logic and started pulling it off him. “That’s my uniform!” Even though I knew that I wouldn’t get it back unless I let him unbutton it first.

If there’s one thing I have to admit that’s admirable about him, it’s that he takes his education serious. We still have half an hour left before we need to leave for class and the both of us are fully prepared. I realised that we sat in the same position, which felt as if he was copying me.

“I’m getting kind of bored,” he said. “Wanna see something cool?”

The smirk on his face told me all I need to know; he’s up to no good. “Sure.” But that won’t stop the curious me of figuring out what it is.

“Alright. Watch this!” He placed his left hand on his forearm and slowly raised it above his head as he casted the spell, “O’ spear of unmatched accuracy, strike fear into anything that dares oppose me. Come forth: Gungnir!”

A blue circle started expanding right in front of his feet. The back of a spear slowly emerged out of the ground. I thought he was an idiot—I know he is one—but he’s a crazy strong one at that. The entire room was set aglow in his blue light.

“So, whaddya think?” He asked as he held the most fearsome lance I had ever seen with my own eyes.

Seeing such a strong weapon, one I had only read about in books, be summoned out of our dorm room’s floor… I couldn’t believe my eyes.

The very second I tried putting my awe into words, he collapsed onto the floor.

“Odin!”

I rushed over to him, but there wasn’t anything I could do.

“What was that just now?” A teensy voice asked as it opened the door. A boy I had come across in the hallways once or twice stood in the door frame. “Aaah! This bad! …I need to do something. A spell of healing, cease his fatigue or cleanse him of a hex? Oooh I don’t know what to do…” He was biting his nails as he stared at Odin.

I wanted to tell him what happened, but hesitated in how to phrase it.

“I better do something… Anything will do right? Right?” His voice got shakier with each word he spoke. He held his hands out in front of him and shouted out, “Heal All!” Those words, the spell he casted, blasted a green light through the entire room. Small particles of light remained floating in the air as he, too, collapsed on the floor.

“What kind of chaos is this…” I hopelessly murmured.

Odin stood up, placed his hand on my shoulder and asked, “So, whaddya think of my Gungnir? Cool, right?”

I took his hand off my shoulder. “It’s a good thing that you’re back on your feet, but we’ve got someone else to worry about now!” I pointed at the one who healed him, now passed out on the floor.

“Oh, him? Just leave that to me.” He swung the boy, who’s a little shorter than I am, over his shoulder. “We better bring him to the teachers. Haha, let’s go!”

“What are you so excited about?” I asked him as we ran through the hallways.

“Our first mission, Leith. This is our first mission!”

“This is hardly a mission at all! This is our first accident! Well, it’s our second one.” Once I caught my breath a little, still running, I asked him, “Why did you two collapse anyway?”

“Isn’t that obvious?” I honestly didn’t expect him to ever phrase anything in a way that would make me sound like the idiot. “We’re too low on stamina to use the spells we casted, so we collapsed.”
I, obviously, knew about magic stamina. Though it bugs me that I didn’t know one falls to the ground when their stamina isn’t high enough. I just thought they wouldn’t be able to use their spells.

“I guess that makes sense. Though I am surprised to see a spell like Heal All used on my first day of school…”

“Heal all?”

Odin was running on my left, but I was sure that’s not where that voice came from—much less was it his voice. I turned to my right and saw a girl with a cloak as black as her hair running next to us.
“Who—” Before I could ask, she disappeared. There was a girl just now… or am I just seeing this?
“You’re not dreaming, I’m right here.”

I had no idea where that voice came from. I looked to my right, then my left, below me as well. I could still hear her humming, but there wasn’t anyone in sight.

“Up here.”

I raised my head and saw her running… on the ceiling? When will this chaotic morning come to an end?

“Catch me!”

She did a flip off the ceiling and fell in my running path. “Wait, don’t!” She disappeared again.
“Why is that boy being carried? I want a piggy back ride, too!”

You can hardly call that a piggy back ride…

She appeared again, this time on my back. I was about to tell her off, because I’m not strong enough to carry anyone my age on my back, but she’s…

“…as light as a feather,” the words slipped out of my mouth before I even realised that I thought them.

“Hm, me? Wow, you’re such a flirt! You should know better than hitting on a girl from the Lord Kitagaki dynasty, you know,” she teased.

I already had a feeling, but now I know for sure. This girl is a ninja. Her dynasty, just like the other ones, reside in Scatoheim, hugging the border of East-Twynne. Though originally, they came here from countries in the Far East. Having lost their reason to clash over their lords, they live here in harmony. Still honouring their lord’s name by carrying it on.

From what I’ve read, I have nothing but respect towards their people and the many stories they brought from afar. Not just the stories that tell their history, their tales are terrific as well. The tale that gets brought up to most, the one I have yet to read, is titled Kurayami. In one of their languages, that means “darkness” if I’m not mistaken.

None of that really matters when we’re running through the hallways though. No time to think, time for action.

“Where to now, Odin?”

He looked bewildered as he looked my way. “I was following you, Leith. I don’t know where the teachers are.”

“Odin-dono and Leith-dono, huh. I sense your deepest care for your injured comrade. The teachers’ building is right ahead.” She enthusiastically pointed her finger forward.
“Oh, you’re a life saver,” Odin said. “But what do you not know?”

“…What?”

“Yeah, you said Odin don’t know, Leith don’t know. So I thought, what’s it that you don’t know?”
She slapped her face with the palm of her hand. “Are you an idiot? It’s an honorific, but I take it back! From here on out you’re O’dunce! Anyway, let’s up the pace!” After that remark, she hummed the sort of music you’d hear in a chase-scene from a play.

The carpet below our feet was dark blue instead of the crimson red from earlier. This must be the teachers’ side of the building. “We’re here,” I said, before Odin got a chance to lash out at the girl on my back.

She jumped off and ran to the first door. After knocking twice, she asked, “Anyone there?”

When no one answered, she disappeared, but then quickly reappeared right in front of us. “No one there. What should we do?”

“You’re a bit of a dunce yourself, aren’t you? You tried one door of the,” I leaned sideways to see the doors, “fourteen rooms.”

“Just how quick did you count?”

“Well, anyway, we have to keep trying until we find someone that can help us.” Of course I am one to act as I preach. With luck on my side, the first door I knocked on was opened by a teacher.
“What’s wrong, young man? You look troubled.”

I pointed to Odin and the boy he was carrying. “The boy on his shoulder used a strong healing spell; Heal All and then he passed out,” I explained.

“Is that… so? Heal All… right. Of course. Children in this day and age are stronger, much stronger than what my peers and I had to show back in our youngster years,” he mumbled to himself. As he kept muttering out words I couldn’t understand nor hear, he placed his hand on the boy’s forehead. “Dje-shu,” he whispered.

The boy slowly lifted his eyelids up. “Where… Where am I?” He loudly asked in a panic. “I need to help, I need to help! Heal—” Before he could cast his spell, the teacher put him to sleep by placing his index finger on his forehead.

“How eager to help, but we can’t have you passing out again.” With another tap on his forehead, he woke up again. This time a lot calmer than before.

“What’s your name, healer of all?”

“My name…? Ah! Do-Doh-Dohman.” Odin put him down on his feet. He looked around, then bowed down. “I don’t really know what happened but it seems like I caused trouble. I-I would like to deeply apologize for every inconvenience I caused!”

Odin lifted Dohman’s back up straight and leaned on his shoulder. “Keep your head high, Doh-Doh-Dohman. You helped me out big time.”

“It’s Dohman, O’dunce!”

The teacher, who was staring out of the large windows covering the left side of the hall, said, “Your merry band should head to class. Until we meet again, young men.” He looked at the girl with a smile, “And you, too, of course.”

For some odd reason, she sang incomprehensibly until we reached the classroom.

She sure is one peppy girl.

✦•······················•✦•······················•✦

“Just my luck running into you, mister Fergus. What’s got you dancing on your feet this early in the morning?”

Fergus, who was still staring out the window, turned his head towards his much younger colleague, Hurley Magister.

“There was some ruckus in the hallways, that’s all.”

“And that’s why…” he slid his finger down from his eye to the bottom of his face, “…tears are about to swim their way down your cheeks?”

He rubbed his eyes with his fist and sniffed. “I heard a cold has been making the rounds. Be careful not to catch it. I might’ve caught it already.”

He turned his gaze outside the window again and deeply thought to himself.

Dohman… How long has it been since we’ve had such a talented healer born on our soil… This child will turn out to be truly, truly special.

“Hurley,” he turned his head, “the children are waiting for you. Don’t mess up your first impression, okay?”

“To have you worry about me surely takes me back to the days where I was the one anxiously awaiting your arrival in the classroom.” With a smile on his face, he took off. Fergus, on the other hand, returned his gaze outside the window.

✦•······················•✦•······················•✦

Once we made it to the classroom, our names were written down on the blackboard. That was how our seats were assigned in alphabetical order based on our last names. Hence why I, with none, was seated at the very end of the classroom: all the way in the back furthest away from the door, but closest to the window.

When a person, with their face hidden underneath a dark red hood, sat next to me, I tried making conversation. “Good morning. My name is Leith. What’s yours?”

Short, but simple and I get to know the other person’s name as well. Well, at least if they don’t ignore you that is. Perhaps this person had some hearing problems and didn’t quite catch what I said… but that’s just wishful thinking isn’t it? It really stings to get ignored.

I looked at the blackboard again to try and read this person’s name, but when I looked I saw that the box next to mine was empty. Well, not exactly empty, what was written there was simply “Name”.

Before the teacher walked in, I snuck another glance at my seat neighbour. Their face really isn’t visible underneath that hood. It might even be magic at work… This mysterious person is wearing the female uniform, so I suppose she’s a girl. Without getting another chance at getting a word in, the teacher entered the classroom. He wiped the chalkboard clean and then turned to us.

“A good, a great… no, an excellent morning to you all. It’s with utmost greatest pleasure that I have been allowed to announce that every single one of you has made it here. Before we bond and become one as a class, I’ll introduce your first obstacle to you.” He spread his arms out wide as if he was about to hug the entire class. “Well, without further ado, why don’t I reveal that great challenge we have in store for you! Overcoming this obstacle surely is what will lead you to a new, a brand new path where you’ll find your potential!”

He rubbed in his hands as a grin from ear to ear stretched across his face.
“El,” he snapped his fingers, “Pyeraig.” Like a wind mage carrying his hand out to push the wind out of their palm, he did the same thing sideways, with whatever spell he casted, onto the blackboard.
“Preparations for your very first test have begun this very second. I ask of you no more than to closely watch and listen.”

When he snapped his fingers earlier, chalk writing on the blackboard slowly started to appear. It wasn’t the seat arrangement this time, but a list of thirty names—our names— on the right, six empty boxes in the middle, and on the left were six vaguely written names I couldn’t read. Among the ones on the right were Odin Wilderheart XII, Dohman Agnus, my own and also “Name” again. Her name can’t be “Name”, right?

“I hear the depths of your inner thoughts, carried by the wind, seeping slowly into my ears. Yes, I know. What does any of this mean, you’re wondering…”

“He sure has a way of saying a whole lotta nothing,” Odin said a little too loud at the other end of my row.

Though I doubt the teacher heard it, since he didn’t comment on it, nor did he really react to it.
“Now, let me explain everything in details finer than the finest thread. Six boxes,” he pointed towards the names on the left, “Six names. Each of these names belongs to one of our royal brigades’ tacticians, which will be revealed later. Every box will be filled with,” he pointed towards our names on the right, “five students. All lead by one tactician. You will be facing a challenge in the form of a ‘capture the flag’ style battle.”

As we shared glances around the room, he was rubbing his hands together again.

“Of course, we wouldn’t be cruel enough to make the teams for you. All of you have a roommate who you like, dislike, love or perhaps even hate—” he held his hand out in front of him, “—though hating someone already would break,” he clenched his palm tightly, “my delicate heart!”

I shot a glance at Odin, who looked right back at me with a smile so bright it put the morning sun to shame. Though I guess having him on my team wouldn’t be too bad at all.

“The due date to form your team is tonight.” He snapped in his fingers again. “From team one to six, each led by a tactician. Team 1 has the strongest one and Team 6 the weakest. The first team to be formed will of course be the one nestling their names in the first box led by the brilliant Cian.” The six tactician’s names started appearing. “The last team to be formed will be led by Rune, the weakest of the six.”

R-Rune…

“Oh my, oh my, what is this?” He said with very sarcastic surprise.

Suddenly, the name Odin Wilderheart XII disappeared from the list of names on the right and appeared in box number six.

“Isn’t that just too bad, mister Wilderheart the twelfth… It seems that you will be winning…” His tone dropped, “…a whole lotta nothing.” His smirk seemed to stretch beyond the borders of his face.

“That bastard…” He bumped his clenched fist against his desk as he gritted his teeth.

How would a team lead by Rune ever beat Cian…

“The last thing you should know is that this challenge isn’t just for fun. Each member of the winning team will earn a mark. And as you probably know…”

Graduating with less than five marks won’t do, because…

“—You need a minimum of five marks before even thinking about becoming a Royal Guard!”

This is really, really bad for Odin. Missing out on your first chance of getting a mark simply because you made a comment that the teacher took a little too personal. Wait, hang on…
Here I am feeling all bad for him, but other than his, which team would I even join? Are we… equally doomed?

“I will give you a couple of minutes to let this dump of information settle in. You could perhaps use this time to form a team of five. And don’t come up here on your own to get in Team 1, I need a full team to register.”

Odin didn’t waste a single second to come over to my desk. “Leith… I’m sorry, it seems that we’ll be teamed up with the worst tactician…”

Despite knowing Rune wouldn’t forgive me if I didn’t join the team led by her, I retorted, “Hang on, why are you assuming that I’m joining Team 6?”

He gave me one of those looks again, one that makes me seem like the idiot. “Isn’t that obvious? We smiled at each other, we’re a team, right?”

I averted my eyes from his steadfast ones and looked at the rest of the class. All of them were eagerly discussing things with one another to get a team of five as quickly as possible.
I let out a sigh, one that accepted that I didn’t want to jump into the masses trying to force my way into Cian’s team. “Alright, alright. Just so you know,” I looked him in the eyes, mine as steadfast as his this time, “you owe me one.”

“Haha, Leith, you’re the best! We need three more members… but I don’t think we’re in a rush, right…”

“Right…”

I stood up and headed to the teacher’s desk next to the blackboard. Our teacher seemed kinda out if it until I neared. With a smile on his face he asked, “Oh, got your team already?”

“Uh, not really. I want to join Odin’s team and wondered if I could write my name down already to get it over with.”

His smile grew wider. “What do we have here… you’re a brave one, you know…” He handed me the piece of chalk.

When I had written my name down, I intended to hand him the chalk back, but it was snatched out of my hand before I realised.

“I was right about you, Leith-dono.”

I turned around and saw the Kitagaki girl writing down her name in the sixth box as well.
“You really are a good person. I will be joining you two!”

“…Huh, why?” Before I could show gratitude, my confusion found its way out of my mouth.
“Because that seems like the fun thing to do!”

“I-if you don’t mind…” The terribly shy and shaky voice could only belong to one person. I turned around and saw Dohman facing the floor. “Could I join you guys as well?”

“Of course! You two are the best.”

Dohman wrote his name below “Mianne Kitagaki”. So Mianne is her first name, huh.
Once I sat down at my desk again, I saw that the hooded girl had also left her seat. When I turned my eyes back to the blackboard, I saw that she, too, joined our team.

Team 6 – Rune Iontas
[ Odin Wilderheart XII
Leith
Mianne Kitagaki
Dohman Agnus
Name ]

The teacher, taking note of this, clapped in his hands, “Everyone, return to your seats. The first team has been formed… and to my greatest, most prodigious surprise, it’s Team 6. The other teams will have to wait until lunch break.”

When the girl sat down again, I readied myself to get ignored before I asked, “Is your name Name?”
Even though I couldn’t see her face because of the shadow that her hood casts, with her fist placed right where her mouth would be, I’m pretty sure she chuckled at what I just asked.
So her name is not Name then… got it.

* * *

“Odin,” I tried to catch his attention as we were headed to the cafeteria for lunch.

“Yo, what’s up, Leith?” His angered expression faded away in a second.

“Your name, it’s Odin Wilderheart the twelfth, right?”

He proudly bumped his fist against his chest, “It sure is! But I guess you’re wondering about the twelfth part, right?”

I nodded. I was quite surprised he understood without me having to spell it out for him. Though I guess I put more than enough emphasis on ‘the twelfth’ when I asked.

“It’s kinda embarrassing, you know.” He pointed his thumb towards himself. “I am the pride and joy of my family. For twelve generations my father and his father, and his father’s father and his father father’s father—”

“Just get to the point.”

“Right. It all started when my great-great-great—”

I cut him off again, “I know I’m the one who asked, but never mind.”

He stopped me by holding onto my shoulder. “Wait, give me another chance.” He closed his eyes and seemed deep in thought for a moment. Hopefully looking for a better way to phrase things. “Boyden Wilderheart wanted a son born with the mythical lance, Odin’s Gungnir. So for generations long, every father in my pedigree called his son ‘Odin’ until one would be able to summon it.”

That’s quite the interesting story, I thought, but didn’t say out loud.

“So, yeah… I’m Odin number twelve, the Odin with a Gungnir!” For someone who claimed it was quite embarrassing, he sure looks proud to say that aloud.

“And what about you?” He asked. “What happened to your last name?”

“Dunno,” I said, pretty detached. “I’ve never known my parents.”

What I said, how I said it, or perhaps both are what shocked Odin a tremendous amount. Enough to have him scream out in surprise. “Huh? Were you tucked into a basket, placed on the gentle stream of a river that lead to the ocean where you were caught by the pirates of Stormridge who raised you before sending you here to the academy?”

More than anything, his surprise emerged from his stupidity. “Of course not, idiot! I was found by Otto Iontas. He took me in and raised me in Wardon.”

“Huh… Isn’t that where a lot of Royal Guards live?”

I guess even he would know. “That’s right. He was one as well. He’s retired already, but being around him and surrounded by other guards, listening to their adventures, struggles and stories… How could one not want to become one themselves, right?”

He nodded enthusiastically, “That’s quite the interesting story you’ve got.”

I’m equally disastrous at receiving and giving compliments, but for him it seems like no big deal at all.

“Well, your story was also, uh, quite interesting,” I tried to not make it sound forced, even though these words were my honest feelings.

“Haha, you think so, too, huh!” Then it finally clicked in his head. “Wait, Iontas… Isn’t that the same last name as team six’s tactician?”

I played with the ends of my hair hanging over my forehead. “…Uh-huh.”

“So you know her?”

“Uh-huh.”

We had just made it to the cafeteria. The room was… I couldn’t come up with a word to describe it. It’s bigger than large, larger than enormous and more enormous than gigantic. There were eight rows of tables, each table having six seats on either side and a total of twelve tables per row.
“Don’t just “uh-huh” me!” Odin said as he shook me by the shoulders. “You knowing our tactician could give us a huge upper hand you know!”

I hadn’t really thought of it like that, only the nuisance of having a girl who constantly dotes on me came to mind. I suppose I should show more gratitude towards the person who’s largely responsible for the blossoming of my tactical prowess.

“Yeah, you’re right. We’re not as doomed as the others—” and me a minute ago, “—are probably thinking. But don’t be unrealistic, we’re not beating Cian.”

He groaned out of frustration. “I know… I know… But you best believe I don’t want to go out without putting up a fight!”

And thus, sparked with a tiny amount of hope for the upcoming test, we ate lunch together. After leaving the packed cafeteria, we headed back to the classroom. Our teacher was still there. He stood in front of the blackboard, holding his arm with one hand and resting his chin on the other, seeming deep in thought.

Shooting a glance at the boxes, I saw that the first two were filled in.

Without turning around, he said, “Your class’s two most promising students, Dexter and Emyline, have joined team two. Isn’t that really, extraordinarily interesting? Team one is led by one of our kingdom’s strongest tacticians in history. Team two with two overly talented prodigies and,” he turned around, facing the two of us, “Your team, team six, with the closest knit brotherhood I’ve witnessed on a first day of school.”

Before we had a chance to react to what he said, he snapped his fingers again, “El Scrios.” Everything written on the blackboard disappeared. “I better get a move on, your next class is starting soon. I am not the only one blessed with this magical job. I’d be a liar if I said that I wanted to cover geography with you though,” he quickly added.

So it’s geography next, huh…

* * *

After a rather boring geography lesson, mostly so because I’m already well equipped with geographical knowledge, we had a class on myology. Once that was done, our school day was over. This is a boarding school of course, so it’s not that we had anywhere else than school to go to.

For most of us that is. From our room, you have a clear view on the school gates and even from all the way up here I could see the girl in the hood leave. If I recall correctly, you can’t leave the school grounds without an approved reason to do so or when the school closes during winter-, spring-, fall- and summer break.

“Hey Odin,” I said as I sat down at my desk while he was already lazing off in bed. “What are your plans for the rest of the day?”

“Plans?” he scoffed. “Wilderhearts don’t make plans, we… uh… we do as we like!”

“…Sure.”

I opened the pamphlet of the school’s floor map to see what kind of things could keep me busy until night. There were various ‘after class activities’ and even an entire ground for the purpose of magic training. With a myriad of options to choose from, I decided to go with the most Leith thing to do; I headed to the library.

On all floors it said library on the north-west side of the building, The first one I decided to check out was my floor’s, the third floor’s, one.

Once I arrived, there wasn’t anyone else there. Without a librarian to talk to, and not much help from the wishy-washy way the shelves were stored, I decided to walk through the library and pick out some books at random.

The first shelf I stopped by was filled with books about mythical weapons. I wonder if there’s anything written about Gungnir in here, I thought to myself as I picked up the thickest book in the aisle.

The next row of shelves I stopped by was filled with music. I don’t play any instruments, I’ve never had any interest in playing one either and honestly, I’m not that big on music in the first place, and yet I picked a book from this shelf as well.

The final find of the day should be something that could give me, and the rest of Team 6, a little boost during our first test.

It took me a while, but eventually I stumbled upon the place where documentations of historical battles were shelved. Once again I picked the thickest book off the shelf.

With three books in my hands, I walked around the library again, looking for a place where I could flip through the pages before borrowing them.

In the corner of the room the farthest away from the door were twelve desks, placed in groups of two facing two. Behind the desk formation were three couches, two facing each other and the other one facing the desks. In between them was a low table that could be reached from each couch. There I also came across the first person in this library.

She wasn’t a classmate of mine, which makes sense since there’s ten first year classes each consisting of thirty students. And that’s only counting the Royal Guard students.

I couldn’t keep standing here, I quickly had to make a decision. I’d prefer not to read seated face to face with a stranger, but I really want to sit on the couch and not on the wooden chairs at the desks.

I ended up choosing the couch in the middle, seated at the far end away from her. The moment I sat down, she lowered the book that was pretty much pressed against her nose, placed it down on her lap and pressed her glasses further up her nose with both of her hands.

I felt her staring daggers at me as I picked one of the three books to read. It ended up being the music one I chose on a whim. I opened the first page titled “Niowiht Hymne” which had a music score below it. The second page explained the meaning of the melody. In short: the song means ‘Anthem of Nothingness’, it’s a song that tries to convey that nothing matters in a beautiful way.
How is one supposed to catch that from a mere melody, though…?

Before checking the book’s third page, I saw that the girl seated diagonally from me was still staring.

The third page, a much better song to put on the first page if you ask me, was called “Lied van Eldiron” the song that is played when the king makes his entrance.

Before I checked the fourth page, she suddenly said, “My name is Aurora. What is your name?” The way she spoke is what I imagine the personification of a newspaper would sound like. I felt a little bad for thinking a thought that came out so rude.

“I’m Leith.”

She tilted her head slightly, “…Leith?”

My name isn’t common at all… so perhaps her confusion stems from the uniqueness of my name. “I suppose my name is quite strange, huh…”

She slowly shook her head from side to side. “Leith…” she whispered. “By any chance, are you familiar with petrification?”

“…What?” The suddenness created a pool of questions in my mind, deep enough to make me drown. All I could reply with was a simple, “No…”

“Oh, I see. Please forgive me then. It is a pleasure to meet you, Leith.” Since the moment she began the conversation, she hadn’t dropped eye contact. “I noticed that a lot of students nowadays prefer more physical activities compared to brushing up their minds in the library.”

She said it so matter-of-factly that I found it hard to reply. Again. “Uh, yeah… I thought I was the only one in the library when I entered earlier.”

“I thought so, too. I suppose I actually was the only one until you entered.”

She’s still locking eyes…!

Breaking the silence once more, she said, “Tell me, Leith, what sort of books do you like to read?”
Aren’t bookworms supposed to be the quiet type… Why is she so talkative? Though, perhaps I don’t mind talking a lot when it’s about books.

“I like reading history books… and tales from far away. Oh, I also like reading about magic.”
“You have interesting taste, Leith,” she remarked.

There was another silence since she didn’t tell me her preference… or is she waiting for me to ask her?

“What about you?”

“Oh, I am so glad you asked. I also love reading about magic, mythical weapons and my absolute favourite topic to read about is art history.”

“…Mythical weapons, huh,” I said out loud without realising.

“Mmhmm, I have been keeping myself busy with making a catalogue of my favourite ones. One day I plan to turn it into an official work full of information, both the basic stuff and the information that is a little harder to come by.”

I didn’t hesitate for even a second as I asked, “Do you know anything about the lance Gungnir?”
For the first time since the start of our conversation she averted her eyes. In between her and the couch’s armrest laid her leather schoolbag. She took a pile of loose pages out of it, looked at her lap where the book still laid and put the pages back. First, she took the book off her lap, then took the pages out of the leather bag again and placed those in her lap.

“Gungnir… Gungnir…” she whispered as she flipped through the pages. “Oh, it seems I found it.” She held it up towards me without saying anything else. The way she did, I couldn’t reach it, neither could I read what she had written down from here.

After a bit of silence, she turned the page her way and read aloud, “Gungnir. This weapon originates from the myth of a god of the north called Odin. Some extra info: it is rumoured that with this lance, just about anyone wielding it could hit their opponent without missing. Furthermore, equally impervious to failure is its return to sender.”

She turned the page my way again. That’s still too far away for me to reach…

Though that bit of information was quite interesting, on the short end, but still interesting. That’s what made me think that I should ask her about her favourite one to really get into the depths of this.

“Thanks, I’ll try to remember that. What have you written down about your favourite weapon?”
Her eyes that stick to mine like tree sap sticks to paper suddenly lit up. “Oh, I am so glad you asked!” Her voice also sounded a little less newspaper-y all of a sudden. “My number one absolute favourite weapon is the one that princess Hikari of East-Twynne is rumoured to possess—

—Kusanagi no Tsurugi.”

I had never heard of that weapon before.

“Hers is also rumoured to be fire imbued. If that happens to be true, then without a shadow of a doubt is she in possession of a weapon second to only our own king’s weapon called the Tizona.”
“…Tizona?” I felt like I was supposed to know stuff like this, especially as a guard in training.
“Yup! Absolutely nothing is known about the history of the sword, but what is known is that the sight of the sword’s cross-guard has made his every opponent surrender in fear. Hence why it is considered the strongest sword, he has yet to lose a battle with it after all.”

“Woah…! That sounds really cool… Making your opponents forfeit at the sight of the might of your weapon!”

“I agree.” For the first time, she smiled. “Although I still believe that the princess’s sword is my favourite.” She averted her eyes again, flipping through the loose pages of her soon to be catalogue.

“Oh, it seems I found it.” She held it out at the awkward distance again, but this time she placed it back in her lap and lifted the pages up. She stood up, walked around the low table in between us and sat down next to me. Without looking my way this time, she placed her hand above the page and said, “Libra Imothy.”

“What are you doing?” I asked her full of surprise as soon as her hand started glowing.

She turned her head my way. “Oh, this is my only speciality I would say. I can summon a pretty much limitless amount of copies of these sort of pages. I have yet to fully hone it, but I can also summon copies of art from memory…” Her cheeks turned a little red. I guess she gets embarrassed as well when talking about herself.

“Oh…” She turned her eyes back on the page she was trying to copy… and accidentally got distracted because of me. “I wanted to hand you a single copy, but I guess I will hand you some spare ones.”

“Thank you for the copy, but really, I don’t need the thirty-six other ones.”

“I understand… You counted that pretty quick…”

I handed the spare ones back to her and closely looked at the page.

Kusanagi no Tsurugi. The absolute number one strongest sword in known mythology home to the Far East. The original name is rumoured to be: “Heavenly Sword of Gathering Clouds”. It is difficult to tie a single story into the blade, but I will try to write down the most interesting one once I have made my choice. The blade is seen as the embodiment of the highest form of courage. There is also an added form of mystery and divinity since it’s a sword so rare that barely anyone has ever seen it. Although now it is rumoured that Princess Hikari, the princess—and next in line for the throne—of East-Twynne has successfully summoned it. Since the rumours first came to surface, she has gone missing which makes the rumours more difficult to confirm.

Kusanagi no Tsurugi, huh…