"The first step to get the most help is to filter out the useless books."
That was what Albert had announced as he created a translation key for everyone to decipher and get on with the books.
But that took way too long.
Like kids learning language in a kindergarten, they all kept tracing their finger over one word at a time and reciting each letter like idiots.
It didn't help even more when they mistook words and forgot what they were reading. Something Luka was largely guilty of. It wasn't that he was dumb, he just couldn't focus like pretty much everyone else.
Albert was confused for a second, then remembered exactly what they were looking for.
"Something akin to a stamp. A way to press the entire spell in front instead of working it along."
In that case.
He could make them look for more 'stamps'
And so, on the second day, Albert devised a new system for the others to hunt the spell.
In a line, everyone in the Asahi estate stood in front of him as they took over the lawn. None of the others from the academy had come here yet.
"Alright, listen up."
"Sir, yes sir!"
"What we're going to?—"
"Sir, yes sir."
Albert gulped.
"What we're going to do now—"
"SIR, YES SIR!"
That incident of talking back to one's seniors was solved by bringing Eugene, who was buried in the books, out to the lawn and forcing him to show them how hot the fire they were playing with was.
Albert cared little about things like pride and reputation unless they helped him in the future. All that mattered to him was the most efficient way to solve a problem without hindering future solutions.
Threatening someone was half of it.
Threatening them through Eugene was the other half.
"Alright, I have diagnosed all of you with a case of severe idiocy, so what we'll be doing now is that you're just going to look for patterns."
He drew out multiple words on a sheet of paper in all the ancient languages and handed it to them. The books leading up to the information he would then need would be find. If the patterns were remotely similar, but in a different language, he would able to find them too.
Their decryption of the ancient language was already at a point where the texts would be just slightly differing. That didn't mean it would be easier to decipher.
Short time periods could face a lot of change in their way of communication depending on the time and the pace of advancement. The best example of such a case was the difference between writings in English during the early nineteenth and twentieth century as compared to writings in the twenty-first century.
A rapid, fast paced life led to more clear and simple communication, which in turn caused the way things were written to change rapidly.
Where one might describe a person as someone with streaks of gray hair pulled to the side, smoking a pipe with a gray tight tail coat and hat, slowly bowing and speaking of the weather, eventually became 'boring' as time went by.
And for the people who called boring people boring, describing them any other way became almost cryptic.
Getting rid of this problem as the ones who called others boring was rather difficult. The bigger problem was that in case the ancient books did not call magic magic, but perhaps something like touch of god's hands or something along those lines.
It was a risk he would have had to take, no matter how much he broadened the amount he was letting the others filter in.
Thankfully, it seemed to have worked.
On the morning of the second day.
"Spells with a single thought." Albert ran into the library where Eugene and Noa sat, flipping through the books. His words gathered both of their attention at once. "This might just be it."
The other two watched the man speak as he slammed a book on the table and showed it to them.
Written in the ancient language that Albert had picked up completely on the fly, were the words that spoke of the ancient lord of Asahi. An epic poem hoping to tell a tale of a foolish lord and his snake like advisors who, in their own greed, pushed the country into ruin and damnation. At its crux the lord of Asahi.
Once an Archmage unchallenged by even the heavens, he served the great Shogun of the East in a time not as tumultuous as the present.
Faced with war where he lost his eldest son, the archmage had returned to the shogun victorious.
Tears in his eyes, he proclaimed victory and the citizens cheered along.
[Great Shogun] The snake had hissed [He is after your neck next! He bends the people to his will, makes them praise him, is this what you will let bring down your legacy?]
The poor rat of a lord was snugly coiled up by the snakes. It's hisses like a melody, the man closed his eyes.
[Kill the Archmage, bring me his head]
And if he resists.
[Bring me the heads of all whom he loves]
Foolish foolish snake and the foolish foolish rat knew not they were not fighting against a worm, but an eagle.
The eagle enraged raised his blade. And the next thing anyone knew was a rain of flames, a rain of thunder, a rain of death falling over the country.
People died. People fled.
War began again.
But the single lord was unstoppable. His only goal to kill the men that dared touch his family.
"What a damn badass. Hard to believe that Ikuro Asahi is from the same lineage. Even more so when you realize the situation of the east is partly because of their family."
Eugene shook his head at Albert's words. "Believe it, that guy can grow strong. A heck more strong. Anyway, I guess there may have been fewer dungeons in the past. There's no way they could have so many dungeons and be living in peace."
"The dungeon break is quite annoying, huh?" Noa muttered. "It would definitely kill a lot. But they were also stronger."
The people indeed were stronger in the past. The rise of the dungeons had lowered their numbers.
"Almost as if to get rid of threats…"
Both Eugene and Albert looked at each other, and then laughed.
"We can make many theories right now, huh?"
"Of course, but there's little point to it."
Thoughts were just that, thoughts.
They all looked down.
They read the books once more.
Unfortunately, there was little about the spell in the ballad.
But there were words of the archmage's death.
Sitting atop a lofty throne after having killed his defiler, the man told his family to live not as rulers but as protectors in the times they had been ushered into.
He sealed away his skills, but told them to pick it back up in times of need.
Behind a forest of bamboo, around the waters of Koi, from where bamboo shoots clapped.
The man left his secrets, his strength, his legacy.
Himself.
The three stood up.
Eugene pushed the tables away and ran out of the library.
"ASAHI! LORD ASAHI!"
"Y-yes! Yes sir?!"
The people came rushing out.
"This house, how long have you had it?"
"Thousands of years."
"Dig it up! Dig the fucking house up, right now!"
"W-what?"
Eugene and Albert, like poster evil boys, forced everyone out of the mansion.
"How do we go about this?"
"I'll crush it."
"Don't. Lift it with your shields. We only need a small part lifted around the koi pond. It would be faster to dig in every room."
"Sounds like a plan."
And so, Eugene, Noa, Luka, and Marcin Fonias all picked up their swords and started cutting the floors open.
The lord of Asahi cried.
His cries fell only on deaf ears.
In the room where they had shared tea and snacks, the ground was cut open and a large passage meters deep revealed itself.
"I-it's here!" Eugene called and everyone came running. The crying Lord Asahi's tears dried at once as he ran too.
The group of people went tumbling down the hole and toward the passageway.
There, underneath the rocks, on a throne of stone sat a corpse. A skeleton, in its hands a ring, on its shoulders robes.
And behind it.
Spread over the wall.
"Haha…."
"O-oh… dear lord…"
"This…?"
Were the secrets of the spell that could fix any and all.
The spell that was to be the key to a war.
"Bring all your people, Lord Asahi."
"Yes?"
"I am going to teach this all to them. In four days, you'll be setting out to conquer the East."
"Excuse me?"
The historical war was about to begin.
Everyone slept a peaceful sleep that night.
Everyone except Eugene Hall.
His business for the day didn't end yet.
His work remained under the dark moon.
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