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Volume 2 Chapter 1 Part 3

It may look like a child is trying to imitate an adult, but there is no way to change it. For Siluca, it was embarrassing to have her navel exposed like she had it now, but according to Aishela, there was nothing wrong about showing it.

Siluca thanked Irvin, and she straightened herself up and went to the Head Mage’s office.

「Come in. 」

When she knocked on the door, words spoken in a rough tone came back at her.

「Excuse me. 」

There were three Mages in the room besides Margret. Naturally, all three are women. Siluca was familiar with all of them from her days at the Magic Academy and Magic University, even though all of them were several years older than her. They all studies at different Faculties, but their grades should have been equally excellent, and although they have different personalities, they were all equally beautiful.

(Can I really stand side by side with someone like them?)

Thinking like that, Siluca felt depressed.

The one with the rich blonde hair was Laura Hadley. She is one of the few pure-bloods whose father and mother are both Mages. Only one in 5,000 to 10,000 people has the talent necessary to become a Mage, and it is not something that is passed down from parent to child. Since the total number of Mages belonging to the Association is about 5,000, she is a very rare breed indeed. As for the Faculty she was enrolled with, it was the Red Faculty of Liberal Arts

Laura got enrolled into Magic Academy at the age of 3, and she advanced to the Magic University at the unusually early age of 10. Her specialty was the Movement and Displacement Magic, and it was rumored that she could manipulate multiple targets at once with the grace of a top-class acrobat.

Then there was Helga Pialosa, who cut her black hair short. Based on what Siluca had heard about her, she was supposed to have already mastered the essence of the Life Magic. Her nickname at the Magic University was 「Spiral」, and it was rumored that she could perfectly imagine and transform life forms down to their smallest units in existence.

The last Mage in the room was Colleen Messara, who always tied her brown hair into two buns. She was not very skilled at activating spells instantly, but as long as she could take her time, she could manipulate even the most powerful and complex types of magic. Because of that, she was especially proficient at Creation Magic, and it was rumored that she would be hired at the Mages Association’s Magic Treasure Workshop in the future. It seems that she also owns a number of magic treasures that she made herself.

「My name is Siluca Meletes. Nice to meet you. 」

Siluca looked around at the three of them before she gave a deep bow and introduced herself properly.

「Nice to meet you too. 」

The three of them bowed back, but their voices and expressions didn’t seem to be all that welcoming.

(Looks like working here is going to be difficult…)

But even though she thought like that, she was prepared to be treated like that to some extent. After all, Siluca had turned down the offer to become Vilar’s contracted Mage not once, but twice. Not only that, but at the current moment her status is only that of a Mage serving one of Vilar’s subordinate Lords who is the lowest class Knight who does not even have his own territories, so it was only natural that Vilar’s contracted Mages would not think too highly of her.

「There are no other contracted Mages. Including you, the five of us are the closest people to Lord Vilar. That is why you will not have any time to rest or relax. That is why I will have you acquire all of the necessary knowledge so that you could be of use to the Earl as soon as possible. 」

Margret stood in front of Siluca and said so while looking down on her.

「There is a library in the castle over there, and books and documents that are stored there record the entirety of Artuk’s history, climate, decrees, petitions and rulings that have been made ever since House Contstance began to rule this land. I want you to look through all of them and hammer them all into your head. 」

Margret continues, showing Siluca the door in the back of the room and handing the key over to her.

「Understood. 」

Just like she expected, if she is supposed to be of any use to Vilar at all, she will have to familiarize herself with the history and the laws of Artuk first, so Siluca did not wait and used the key to open the sturdy wooden door.

A peculiar smell of dust and mildew wafted through the air when she came inside.

The wooden windows that have been scattered here and there across the entire library have been lowered, causing almost no light to seep inside. Siluca pulled out her magic wand and waved it lightly to turn on the magic light. As she walked through the room holding it up, she saw that all of the bookshelves have been stuffed to the brim with the tomes of various sizes, and the same was with the wooden boxes and the myriad of papers inside of them.

(The sheer quantity of them is amazing…)

Since the Constance family is a prestigious family that has lasted for more than ten generations, it was inevitable that there would be many records of their administrative activities left behind. All of these documents must contain more the 200 years worth of history in them.

「How many days will it take for you to remember all of them? 」

Margret called out to her from the entrance.

「I think that ten days should be enough for me to get through them. 」

Siluca takes a quick look around the library, returns to Margret, and answers.

「Oh? 」

Margaret said as her brow twitched.

「Will you really be able to read through so many of them so fast? 」

「Yes, I should be able to do so. I have absolute confidence in my speed reading, comprehension and memory after all. 」

Siluca answered strongly. If she was not capable of doing at least that much, then it would not be possible for her to finish six Faculties in four years.

「Fine then. Report back to me after ten days, and I will test you on how much you j=have learned. 」

Margaret snorted at Siluca and turned her face away from her.

「Great. Time limit is going to act as an additional motivation for me. 」

Siluca nodded her head. At that time, the sound of a bell could be heard somewhere in the distance.

「It seems that Lord Vilar is calling for us. 」

After Margaret said so, she opened the gorgeously decorated double doors and passed through them. Beyond them was the room that must have been Lord Vilar’s office.

「I will get to it right away. 」

After Siluca called out to the three senior Mages who were left behind, she tried to start working right away, but…

「Stop right there! 」

However, the moment she was about to start walking, she was stopped by a high-pitched voice. When she turned around to see what this was all about, she saw that Laura had a triumphant smile on her face.

「What do you want? 」

Siluca asked while a bad feeling started blooming at the back of her head.

「No one usually enters the library, so as you can see, it is quite dirty. So, first of all, before you start working, you have to clean it all. Every corner of this place should be so squeaky clean that there should not be even a single speck of dust left. 」

「A cleaning duty…? 」

「We all did the same thing when we came here. 」

Helga said calmly, and Colleen nodded along with her.

「Understood. 」

Now that Siluca has been told that this is how it was here, she had no choice but to accept it.

(I am sure that if I asked Irvin to do it, he would be able to take care of that right away, but…)

However, just because he is her personal attendant, it does not mean that she should be letting him enter somewhere where the secrets of the entire country might very well be kept.

She let out a big sigh as she looked inside. According to a quick estimation that she did, cleaning everything in the library should take her around three days at the very least. Reading through all the books and documents would be tough because of it, but she did not want to give the other four Mages reason to feel good about themselves by saying that it is impossible or that she cannot do it.