TGS - Chapter 5
Chapter 5: The Library
Kadera City was merely a remote city, and the temple built there was not of the highest standard, but its collection of books was surprisingly rich.
The room was filled with a faint, herbal scent. Rows of bookshelves, arranged symmetrically, held books bound in papyrus. A sheet of paper, nearly half a person's height, was posted to the side, densely inscribed with the titles and locations of the books.
But this was not all. The truly precious texts were written on parchment, sealed and securely locked away in metal chests. Only the head priest possessed the corresponding keys.
In the era Lotus came from, ancient Solancia had long been lost to the river of history, leaving behind only fragmented artifacts and records to show later generations its former glory.
Every page here was something that, in later ages, could only be found in museums and historical research institutes.
Lotus glanced around, unable to shake a sense of temporal dislocation. But she quickly reined in her wandering thoughts and floated purposefully toward the first row of bookshelves.
Although she had managed to fool Alyuin with her divine act, as long as they continued to communicate in dreams, she could be exposed at any moment.
After all, when it came to knowledge of this era, Lotus knew even less than the nine-year-old princess. And Alyuin was exceptionally clever... a single careless mistake could expose her.
The first row of bookshelves held works related to Solancian mythology.
Lotus had originally planned to just scout the place out. She would wait until she had accumulated enough power to physically turn the pages, then return to fill the gaps in her knowledge. She wasn't worried that her learning pace might fall behind the young princess's; in that respect, she had sufficient confidence in herself.
As she thought this, her translucent fingertips unintentionally passed through a book.
It was like a drop of water falling onto the surface of a wide, placid river, or a new blade of grass sprouting on an endless riverbank plain. In that instant, a torrent of Solancian text flowed into her consciousness like a steady stream.
After what might have been a few seconds or a few minutes, Lotus lowered her head, her expression complex and unreadable as she stared at the ordinary book before her.
It was a transcription of folk songs praising the River Goddess. Its simple yet deeply emotional passages had just entered her mind, word for word.
From that moment on, it became "knowledge" she possessed.
"...Time for a test."
Lotus reached for the next book.
The complete genealogy of the gods.
The legendary biography of the first King of Solan.
The customs and culture of the neighboring Kingdom of Kasnie.
A detailed explanation of the entire process for firing exquisite glass.
Different shelves, different subjects. After testing twelve books in a row, Lotus felt as if she had just attended a dozen crash courses. She clasped her wrist and began to ponder the pattern.
She could learn the contents of a book by touching it—even though she couldn't actually touch it. The process was fast, comprehensive, and had no side effects. Her recall was perfect; the passages were imprinted on her mind as if by a printer, and she could recite them fluently on command.
The strange thing was, the previous night in the princess's room, Lotus had tried touching the book Alyuin was reading. As one might expect, nothing had happened.
Why could the books here trigger this strange reaction, while the princess's book could not?
Was it because they were part of the Kadera Temple's collection?
She had a habit of setting aside questions she couldn't immediately answer, waiting for new clues to emerge before reconsidering them.
So, Lotus pushed her questions aside and turned back to the shelves filled with books. The pages, bearing knowledge from every field, had become the first intangible power she would master here.
Her priority now was to extract the maximum value from these books.
When the sun chariot driven by the Sun God reached its zenith, Lotus withdrew the hand that had been continuously touching the books and glanced at the giant hourglass standing nearby.
"The princess's morning lessons should be over."
Lotus made a mental note of her progress. Just as she was about to return to the princess, she heard the library door behind her open.
She instinctively turned, and her eyes fell upon a little girl holding a book, dressed in the robes of a junior priestess.
The girl looked to be about the same age as Alyuin but seemed more childlike, with a cherubic face and large, round, doe-like eyes.
After a brief glance, Lotus paid her no further mind and floated downstairs.
The schoolroom had indeed been dismissed. A dozen or so children filed out in a line. Perhaps because of the rule against making noise near the library, they all spoke in hushed tones, laughing quietly with their companions. When their eyes occasionally darted toward the princess walking behind everyone else, their voices dropped to a whisper.
Alyuin's expression was serene. The others made their intention to ostracize her quite clear, but she paid them no mind.
The attitudes of children often reflect those of their parents. From that perspective, merely being ostracized was a relatively favorable outcome.
The princess returned to her quarters to find steaming bread and broth on the table. This was the daily meal for the temple's students, delivered by attendants at every mealtime.
She sat at the table and began to eat her bread, her eyes casually scanning the room. There were faint signs that it had been searched.
Alyuin's expression remained unchanged, but her eyes slowly darkened.
After finishing her meal in a slow, deliberate manner, she went to her clothing chest. She opened it and pulled out a cloth-wrapped dagger from the very bottom. Only after carefully inspecting the wrapping and confirming it hadn't been disturbed did she let out a subtle sigh of relief.
There were indeed spies from the royal city in the Kadera Temple, but their surveillance wasn't particularly strict; their search of her belongings had been cursory. It seemed that while her uncle was wary of her, he didn't truly take her seriously.
For the young princess, this was, at least, moderately good news.
Watching from the side, Lotus couldn't help but marvel at Alyuin's meticulous attention to detail. But then again, it made sense. Without such acuity, the historical Alyuin would never have had the chance to leave Kadera City.
Having reached a relatively comforting conclusion, Alyuin finally relaxed. Her gaze flickered between the book she had left half-read the previous night and her bed. In the end, she chose the bed.
She wanted to dream again, hoping the Goddess of the Yilu River might appear...
Lotus hesitated.
Enter her dream? A river goddess who spent all her time sending dreams to her followers would seem far too idle.
It would be better to wait a few days—at least until she had finished "reading" the books in the library. At her current pace, that wouldn't take more than a week.
And so, with a clear conscience, Lotus floated out of the room to conduct other experiments.
Only two people currently resided in the courtyard where Alyuin lived, the other being Tarsha.
Most Solancians had a habit of napping in the afternoon. When Lotus floated into the arrogant girl's room, Tarsha was fast asleep. The furnishings here were a clear step above the princess's, and beautifully bound books were piled high on the table—obviously reading material she had brought from home.
In this era, books were still a luxury. To be able to bring so many, Tarsha's family had to be one of the most prominent in Kadera City. No wonder the other girls flocked around her as if she were the moon and they the stars.
Lotus tried touching the books, but her arm passed effortlessly through the entire stack, from the top volume to the one at the very bottom. Her special reading technique from the library was useless here.
She then touched Tarsha's forehead, but she wasn't pulled into a dream.
The River Goddess's spirit then drifted from one room to another, touching books and then people. Throughout the afternoon, she was never again able to automatically absorb knowledge.
She did, however, find one other person whose dream she could enter. He was an ordinary attendant having a very ordinary dream. Wiser from her experience, Lotus did not reveal herself. She simply observed from his blind spot for a short while before exiting the dream.
What was different about this attendant...?
Lotus's gaze fell to the attendant's bedside. Lying there was a small booklet, somewhat old but well-preserved. Judging by the cover, it was a collection of hymns in praise of the Goddess of the Yilu River.
Was it because his faith in "Lotus" was exceptionally devout?
Alyuin certainly hadn't seemed like a believer before.
Her thoughts yielded no answers, so Lotus silently returned to the princess's room.
Alyuin was sitting on her bed, pinching the blue chalcedony she had received between her thumb and forefinger. She turned it over and over, examining it with a searching, slightly sullen expression, like a cat whose owner had failed to show up for its regular feeding.
Lotus, the feeder who had failed to show up on time: "..."
She felt a pang of guilt.
There was something strange about seeing a little wolf cub with the expression of a cat.
The afternoon arithmetic lesson was taught by a young female scribe, who eyed Alyuin curiously several times before the class began.
The princess looked up and met her gaze calmly, startling the scribe into hastily averting her eyes.
Aside from her initial forwardness, the scribe's attitude was relatively friendly. Seeing that all was well, Lotus returned to the library upstairs to continue absorbing knowledge.
Yes, her primary goal was to not be stumped by the princess's questions.
The hourglass in the library was turned again and again, marking the passage of days.
A week passed in a steady routine: following Alyuin to the schoolroom by day, and testing her abilities to enter dreams and absorb knowledge by night. Lotus finally devoured all the books in the library and had also figured out the general conditions for her powers.
She could enter the dreams of those with a profound faith in the Goddess of the Yilu River and communicate with them there.
Take, for example, the stern-faced priestess. Her faith in Lotus was utterly pure and true. Even in her dreams, she recited poems in praise of the goddess, her expression so gentle she seemed like a completely different person.
After much consideration, Lotus decided to reveal herself to the priestess. She didn't say much, only asking her to provide the young princess with some assistance, but to do so discreetly.
"I will act according to Your will, merciful Goddess," the priestess said with immense piety. "The child is one of Your followers. I was already doing my best to protect her."
Lotus gave a slight nod. "I trust in your loyalty."
That single sentence brought tears to the priestess's eyes.
Feeling she had made her point, Lotus departed.
However, the depth of a priestess's faith in the Solancian era far exceeded Lotus's imagination. Because of that one sentence, the faction of the Kadera Temple represented by the priestess was now firmly on the young princess's side.
Of course, Lotus herself was still completely unaware of this.
One week later, she entered the young princess's dream once more.
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