Chapter 45: The Compulsion Spell
Harold’s eyes suddenly hardened as he made up his mind, and Percy smiled as Harold brought out his library card.
"I’d like to borrow this, please."
"Of course."
Percy helped Harold check the book out, and Harold bowed very low to thank Percy for his help before he left the library. Percy smiled and opened up a large textbook to begin reading, but Percy’s reading was cut short as another girl entered the library. Percy looked up from the book he had been reading and smiled at her kindly.
"What can I do for you?"
The student was a young girl who looked to be in her second or third year at the academy. She had on large round glasses, and there were freckles on her fair cheeks. Her red hair was very bushy, and the dark circles under her eyes told Percy that she was the sort of person to stay awake for hours reading at night. The girl slid her library card forward on the desk and stammered out a request for a book she needed for her classes, and Percy nodded.
"Give me a moment; I have just what you need."
At this time, it was already late in the evening at the academy, and most of the students had left to return to their dorms. Rita was preparing a meal in the upstairs kitchen, and Viva was downstairs with Lana in the storage room, so Percy and the young girl were the only ones in the library.
KA-Cha!
The girl turned around as she heard the door opening, and she was surprised when she saw a young rabbit demihuman in a maid’s outfit entering the library. The demihuman walked gracefully with her hands joined in front of her, and she looked around the empty library calmly before her eyes finally settled on the young girl.
"Hello, Miss. May I inquire as to the whereabouts of the librarian?"
The young girl took a step back in surprise when she heard the classy way the maid spoke! It sounded like the maid was some sort of noble from high society! The young girl raised her hand towards the higher floor, and the maid looked up to see Percy grabbing a book from one of the shelves. The maid nodded and simply waited silently until Percy came down the stairs.
Percy looked through the book in his hand while talking.
"This textbook should have what you’re looking for. It isn’t the revised edition, but it should have everything you need. Hello, Fio. It’s been a while."
Percy smiled at the young rabbit maid as he handed the book to the young girl, and the maid curtsied very low as she greeted Percy.
"It’s an honor to be in your presence, Master Percy."
Percy had already felt Fio’s mana signature before she came into the library, and Percy could also sense another mana signature lurking outside the library. Leonart had sent Percy a message about two days ago that the kingdom’s princess would be coming for a visit, but Percy didn’t think that she would come this quickly! If Percy knew she was coming today, then he would’ve told Rita to add a few more servings to the meal.
"The young miss desperately wants to see you, but you see, she’s quite shy around strangers, so she would prefer if the meeting was done in private."
Fio spoke up when she saw Percy’s curious gaze, and Percy just laughed! Percy knew that Vivian was shy, but he thought she would’ve outgrown it by now.
"Come, I’ll help you check out."
Percy called the young girl with round glasses over, and he took her library card and helped her to check out her book. Percy marked the card and recorded the girl’s name before he handed her the card.
The girl still looked confused by what was going on, but she was even more confused when Percy suddenly spoke to her.
"When you’re done using her to look around, make sure you return her safely to wherever you found her. If I find out that you hurt even a hair on her head, I’ll find you, and I’ll kill you. I’m talking to you on the other side."
Percy looked directly into the girl’s eyes, and a woman on the other side of the academy stepped back in shock when she realized that Percy was looking at her! The woman was one of the beautiful vampire soldiers who had come here two days ago! Her name was Galen, and she had been searching the city with her comrades to try and find the second half of the medallion.
As a vampire, Galen had a very high affinity for [Blood] and [Mind] based magic, so she had been using a mind control spell called [Compulsion] to take control of the minds of various students in the academy, and she was using them to search the school. The girl in the library was one of the students that Galen had taken under her control, and Galen sent her there because Galen felt traces of vampire magic around the library. But Galen couldn’t believe Percy was able to notice her so easily!
’Did he really notice me, or was he just talking to the girl? No, he wouldn’t say something like that to a student. And he spoke about mind control. That isn’t something anyone just talks about. That librarian isn’t normal.’
Galen quickly deactivated her [Compulsion] spell and pulled herself away from the young girl’s mind, and Galen decided that she had to report this to her superior! There was something going on in that library, and there was a chance that they might be able to find what they were looking for in there!
Back in the library, the young girl who had been under Galen’s compulsion magic suddenly stumbled as she felt her senses returning to her! The girl looked around in surprise, and then she looked down at the book in her hand.
’This is the textbook I was looking for. When did I borrow this?’
The girl was completely confused about what was going on. The girl had been walking towards the library to borrow this book when she suddenly lost consciousness, and the next thing she knew, she was already inside the library with a book in her hand! A hand fell on the girl’s shoulder, and she looked up at Percy’s worried face.
"Are you okay? You look really tired."
The girl blushed slightly when she saw Percy’s handsome face so close to her, and she stammered out that she was fine! Percy told her that she had to be more careful.
"You should try to get some more sleep. Staying up late to read isn’t healthy."
The girl’s blush deepened as she realized that Percy had seen right through her, and the girl bowed to him kindly and quickly left the library. Percy watched her go with a calm look on his face. The girl would have a headache for a few days, but Percy had applied a few spells on her body to make sure her mind couldn’t be taken over by a compulsion spell again, so Percy knew she would be fine! Once the girl left the library, another person finally entered with a loud yell!
"PERCY!"
Vivian burst through the door and ran towards Percy happily before jumping into his arms! Since there were guards preventing anyone from entering the library, Vivian had turned off her disguise, and she was in her regular form now. Percy caught Vivian, and he lifted her up and twirled her around with a laugh!
"Look at you, Vivian! You’ve grown so much!"
Vivian’s face was glowing with unbelievable happiness, and she wrapped her hands around Percy’s neck and hugged him like he was her last breath of fresh air!
"I missed you so much, Percy. You didn’t come see me for ten years."
