The Prince in the Garden of Knowledge

The Crown Prince Henry couldn’t sleep well last night. How could he?

The unexpected visit by the guardian yesterday was a historic moment for everyone who bore witness to it. Though everyone had returned to their routines, their minds were filled with questions and speculations.

Today, as the new day began, the young mage apprentices continued talking about the dragon throughout the day. In contrast, however, Henry’s mind was full of something else. To Henry, there were two historic events that had happened yesterday, and the other event was the one occupying the prince’s mind.

Sitting on a chair with both hands interlocked to support his chin, the prince reminisced about the beautiful sight of the divine magecraft last evening. He let himself drown in thoughts and paid nothing else any mind.

Lucas sat right next to Henry. He had been listening to the students’ talks.

Unaware that his master’s mind had wandered into his own paradise, Lucas whispered, “As expected. Everyone has been talking about nothing but the guardian. Well, that can’t be helped.”

There are so many questions in my head since yesterday. I believe there should be some texts explaining about divine magecraft in more detail in the library. I should pay a visit before going back to the palace later.

Lucas turned to Henry before continuing, “More importantly, Your Highness, this morning I noticed that you didn’t get a good rest. Should I ask the palace attendants to prepare a restorative bath for you later, sir? It should promote your sleep tonight.”

His consciousness came back to him at his aide’s words.

Henry turned to face Lucas. “Hm?”

“Are you unwell, sir?” Lucas asked, seeing his master’s lack of response.

“No. In fact, I am in a good mood now.”

***

The last bell had rung and the twilight sky painted the surroundings in mellow hues.

Henry was heading alone to the second-tallest building on Athenya’s grounds where the library is.

Yesterday, the Archmages—the best mages in the kingdom—arrived late at Athenya. Archmages were mages who mastered three basic elements of magic. Some of them stayed in Athenya last evening to collect reports from the teachers while the others escorted Henry back to the royal palace.

Divine magecraft, the magic of light and dark, held the power to bring into existence and reduce to nothingness. It was said to be the magic that could only be wielded by a mage who mastered all four basic elements, thought Henry.

Theoretically, Archmages were the closest to being able to wield divine magecraft. However, none of them seemed to be the one who cast the light magic yesterday since all of them were in the royal palace at the time of the event.

Father, who was the youngest master of three elements, obviously wasn’t the caster either. I don’t have enough clues. I need more data.

As he got closer to his destination, Henry heard the sound of someone coming from behind before they suddenly bumped into him.

“Huwayyyahh—”

It wasn’t strong enough to knock the prince down, but it seemed that the female student—the one who bumped—was going to fall instead. Henry instinctively grabbed her by the arm then pulled her towards himself.

“Hiek!”

The honey-brown-haired female student let out a short shriek as she was being pulled.

Henry, who heard the shriek, was puzzled. “Are you hurt, Miss?”

Annette looked up to see who grabbed her, blinked her eyes twice, and released herself from him. Judging from the uniform, Annette noticed the person standing before her was an upperclassman.

“I’m sorry, Senior!” She quickly bowed down.

Senior?

No one had ever called Henry “Senior” before. Not even once. So this is something new to him. Henry paused for a few seconds before asking her one more time, “Did I hurt you somewhere?”

“No, sir!” Annette said, squishing her words out.

She is a new type.

Henry found it amusing that someone actually didn’t recognise him. On top of that, she didn’t make a fuss over him at all, unlike the other female students.

“I’m glad. You are heading to the library, right?”

Annette gave three quick nods.

“Shall we go together?”

“Eh? Oh, okay,” replied Annette awkwardly.

Once they entered the building, Prince Henry asked her, “Do you happen to know where the section for history or ancient magic books would be?”

“Oh, I do, sir. Um, I can show you the way.”

Annette practically lived in the library for the past few months, reading books day and night. She knew most of the library’s layout and sections.

After briefly bowing to Miss Sophie on the counter, both of them then headed towards the main library building—the circular part of it. The lanterns inside had been lit as the glass dome at the top showed the orange sky of dusk.

“Normal history-related books are in this section, but if you are looking for the one which is more focused on the history of magic itself, then the ones on the second-floor shelves would be better.”

“Hm…”

“Oh. For the books about ancient magic, they are on the fourth-floor shelves. The ancient spellbook would be on that side while the ancient tomes would be on that side. As for research, it would be—”

Henry was silently impressed. “Are you a library assistant?”

“Eh? I’m not, sir.”

“You are incredibly knowledgeable about this library.”

“Oh, I… spent a lot of time here,” said Annette, carefully picking her words.

“Hm…”

Henry made a quick glance at her. I guess she visits the library quite often.

The idea that someone lived inside a library, of course, would normally not come to one’s mind.

“If I want to find information about ancient divine magecraft, which section would that be?”

Annette’s shoulders flinched a little. “Ancient… divine magecraft?”

“Yes. I’m looking for books explaining it.”

“Oh. Then, um, the fourth-floor bookshelf would contain them.”

“Could you come with me?”

“Me? Ah, okay, sir.”

Henry would normally try to do his own thing or just with the help of Lucas. However, he found something calming about being with this girl. Her presence felt comfortable to him.

Maybe because this girl is calm? She doesn’t care about me much and goes straight to the business, thought Henry as both of them slowly climbed the stairs.

On the fourth floor, Annette escorted the prince to a section of the bookshelf.

“These books are the ones talking about divine magecraft, sir.”

Henry scanned the books on the shelf quickly. It was indeed lined with books about ancient divine magic. All of a sudden, he wanted to test something.

“Could you recommend some good ones?”

“Oh, um…” Annette looked at the line of books on the shelf next to her before she continued, “This book talks about the origin of divine magic itself, the theory behind it and what it is capable of. It is the most comprehensive one, in my opinion, but the language it uses is hard to understand. Um…”

Henry took the book from her but then Annette pulled a nearby rolling ladder and climbed it, pulled a book from the upper shelf, then climbed her way down.

“This book is less complete and the explanation is not as detailed, but it is a newer book and way easier to understand. Um, there are other books which have explanations that these two books don’t have, but I don’t think those are that important. Although if you have specific information you are looking for, I think I can try to find it.”

Henry silently took the second book from Annette and stared at her. She even knows the exact place of a certain book along with the content of the book.

“Thank you so much. You’ve been a great help. Have you read all of the books in the library?”

“Eh? No, of course, I haven’t. There are so many books I haven’t touched yet.”

“What books have you read here so far?”

“Um…” Annette turned to the bookshelf next to her and calmly answered, “For example, this book here, this one, this one, and this one, they are mostly about ancient magecraft. And then, hm, from different sections would be books about advanced magic, which is interesting how they talk about applications of magecraft to create a new magic spell. There’s also from that section, books about magic spell theory, which is also interesting because it talks about how to code a magic formula and personalise it. And then there is also books of magical beings and spirits which—”

This girl… A flash of a distant memory came into Prince Henry’s mind as he stared at Annette’s golden eyes gleaming with excitement. He then raised one hand and placed it on top of Annette’s head, which made her stop.

Annette looked at Henry in confusion. “Um… Senior?”

“Oh. Hmm… I can see you love books so much, especially books about magic.” A gentle smile formed on his lips as he gave the female student a small head-pat.

“Hehe… The library is an amazing place,” Annette softly answered and let out a soft giggle.

“Right. I haven’t heard your name.”

“Oh. My name is Annette Heinz, sir.”

“I see. I’m Henry. Have you been visiting the library every day since you were still in the intermediate course?”

“Eh? N-no. I am fairly new to this academy.”

“How long have you been a student here?”

“Um, since late summer?”

Henry looked at her questioningly. “You seem to have read a whole year’s worth of books. What about class?”

“Um. That’s…” Annette visibly looked nervous. “I, um, have been skipping my classes. Today was my first day attending.”

Henry’s eyes widened as an idea struck him. So she is the Ghost of Athenya, thought Henry as someone called him.

“Your Highness!”

The prince’s aide rushed to Henry, signalling that it was time for him to leave. Deep inside, Henry couldn’t help but think that it was a shame.