Period 11: Research and Relaxation

"It's done." Mero said as she put down her pen. It may have taken most of the morning, but she finally succeeded in transcribing the communication spell from her scroll into the magic index she'd taken from library island. While the scroll had to be sealed away and carried a certain level of risk whenever she used it, the index had an active connection to the mahou-net that was already transmitting through the school's magic barrier, so it should be virtually undetectable. Yuna was still asleep, now was the time to contact cosmo entelechaia. She activated the spell and the magic circle on the page displayed the image of the grave keeper's palace.

"Averruncus." Dynamis' voice said as he appeared on the page. "What is your current status? Have you completed the mission objective?"

"Dynamis?" She raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing there, where is the master?"`

"The Life maker is preparing the altar. You may speak with me. What is the problem?"

"I may? Do not mistake your place Dynamis. You may be the general of cosmo entelechaia, but you are not the life maker." Mero raised her voice slightly.

"And neither are you." He answered, without losing his temper. "Our master will be sequestered in the inner chamber for the next several days, and we all have our assignments. So have you completed the mission objective?" He repeated.

"I've located the target." She said reluctantly. "However, there's been a complication." She explained the issue with the world tree, and that they would likely not have enough mana to power the rewrite until right before the operation began.

"I see . . ." Dynamis stroked his chin. "I will relay this to the master, though there may not be anything we can do about it."

"Yes, do that." She said. "And general . . . . you'd do well to respect my station."

"Goodbye."

X

"Okay," Yue said. "Next paragraph." She was sitting at her desk in her room, surrounded by textbooks and furiously taking notes. Open at the center of the table was a thick book filled with latin inscriptions.

"Yue?" The door creaked open and Nodoka appeared in the doorway. "Are you in here? We haven't seen you all- what are you doing?"

"Nodoka!" Her friend jumped up and pulled her into the room. "What are you doing here? Did anyone follow you?" After making sure the hallway was empty she shut the door.

"I just came to see how you were doing. What is all this?"

Her eyes darted back and forth. She was clearly hesitant to share the information, but Nodoka was her best friend. She picked up the book from her desk and handed it to her.

"Look at this." Nodoka flipped through the book, running her fingers over the foreign words and geometric symbols.

"Where did you get this?"

"From library island."

"What?! But how-"

"I managed to salvage this one." Yue said. "It was in the piece of the duffel bag I held on to."

"T-That's amazing!" Nodoka cried. "What does it say? Is it the magic book?!" Yue shook her head.

"I don't know. It's in lain just like the others. I've been woking to translate it." She waved her hand toward all the language books scattered on her desk. "The most I've been able to piece together is some vague references to energy and spirits and elements."

"So that's what you've been doing all the time." She nodded. "But Mero-san can read latin. We can just ask her."

"No!" She said immediately. "We should keep this a secret for now, especially from Mero-san."

"But why?"

"Don't you find it strange? That entire time in library island, she seemed to know much more than she was letting on. Like with the golem, and there was that incident in the stairwell."

"Yue, what are you saying?"

"I-I don't know exactly. I still don't know how we were able to escape. I was just coming to, and I saw this light."

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"Yeah, I saw it too. Whatever it was, it saved us."

"But at that moment I saw Mero-san. It looked like she was . . ." Yue shook her head. "Either way until we know what this is, we should keep it between us."

"Alright." Nodoka agreed. "I'll help you, after all it could be fun." She smiled. "What have you got so far?"

"Not much." Yue sighed. "I got all these books on modern latin, but they're only giving me bits and pieces. I think this may actually be a form of classical latin, but I can't be sure."

"I guess this might be too much for an amateur." Nodoka said. "It's not like either of us are language experts."

"Yeah," Yue's face suddenly lit up. "But we know someone who is."

X

"Don't be so nervous." Yue said as her friend fidgeted in the hallway next to her.

"B-But-" Nodoka stammered.

"Relax we're only asking our teacher for a bit of advice." She said as she knocked on the door. "No need to get so worked up." A moment later Konoka opened up the door and welcomed the guests.

"Oh, Yue and Nodoka, come on in!"

"Sorry for intruding." Nodoka said before entering.

"Ah Nodoka-san and Yue-san." Negi greeted them as they walked in. "What a pleasant surprise!"

"Good morning sensei. Uh s-sorry to bother you during break." Nodoka said.

"Not at all!" He smiled. "You could never be a bother Nodoka-san." She went completely red. "What can I do for you?" Yue stepped forward and reached into her bag.

"We were hoping you could help us with something." Just as she was went to pull out the book, they all heard another knock at the door. Konoka answered it again and Mero walked in.

"Hello- oh." She looked around. "I apologize, Am I interrupting?"

". . . No." Yue said before removing her hand from her bag.

"What brings you here Mero-san?" Negi asked.

"Nothing in particular." She answered. "I just wanted to talk to Asuna-san."

"Asuna? That might be difficult right now." Konoka said.

"Why? Where is she?" Konoka and Negi looked at each other, then they both pointed at the bunk bed simultaneously.

"There."

"She's still sleeping?" Nodoka said. "It's almost noon."

"Wake up Asuna, we have guests." Konoka gently shook her roommate.

"Huh? What time is it?" Asuna began rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"You shouldn't sleep all day just because it spring break." Yue said.

"Give me a break Yue-chan." She groaned. "I was already up early this morning for my paper route."

"Paper route?" Mero wondered.

"Asuna-san, Asuna-san!" Nodoka pointed frantically trying to warn her of something.

"Huh what is it?" She looked down and realized her pajamas had apparently popped open in her sleep, baring her naked breasts for her audience. "Kyaa!" She quickly crossed her arms over her chest, and Negi averted her eyes while she became decent again. Mero looked at her own chest, then back at Asuna.

I suppose it would be inconvenient to have such large breasts. She thought.

"Alright I'm up now!" Asuna said finally hopping down from the bed. "But I'm not doing anything until I get some breakfast."

"Okay, I'll whip something up." Konoka tied an apron around her waist, before turing to her visitors. "Have you guys eaten yet?" Soon the six of them were gathered around the small room sharing a home cooked meal.

"Konoka-san's home cooking is delicious as always." Negi said.

"Oh, Negi-kun!" She blushed.

"Indeed." Mero said taking a bite of her omelet. "These are exquisite."

"So hey, what did you want to talk about anyway?" Asuna turned to Mero.

"It's about what happened in library island." Asuna blushed at the memory of carying the girl in her arms.

"Oh, uh that? Uh d-don't mention it. We don't have to talk about it." She stammered.

"No, you were truly amazing back then." Asuna somehow managed to blush even more.

"Eh? What's going on?" Konoka asked. "Did something happen in library island?"

"Nothing at al!" She cried. Negi's smile melted away.

"I still don't like that you all went there. If something happened to any of you I don't know what I would have done."

"Sensei . . ." Nodoka met his gaze.

"We weren't in any danger." Mero said confidently. "I had the whole situation under control."

"Really?" Asuna teased. "It looked like you were in a pretty bad spot before the rest of us showed up."

"Hmph." Mero frowned. "I would have been fine. I seem to recall you needing my help in the stairwell."

"Grr, you mean right before I had to save your butt from-" Her retort was cut off by a sudden fit of laugher from Nodoka.

"What are you laughing at Nodoka-san?" Mero asked.

"Im sorry Mero-san." She wiped her eyes and composed herself. "I just couldn't help thinking, 'wow these two are really great friends'." Both girls looked at each other and blinked.

"What are you talking about?" They said simultaneously.

"Nothing." Nodoka giggled.

X

"Well that was a waste of time." Yue said as she returned to her room. In the end they had just spent the entire afternoon talking. It wasn't a bad way to spend the day, at the very least Nodoka seemed to be getting along with Negi sensei, so perhaps it wasn't a total waste, but she never got to discuss the book with him. She was still hesitant to let Mero know about it. She was definitely hiding something, and until Yue knew what, she couldn't completely trust her. That evening she went back to work translating the book. She worked through the night, checking and double checking her facts. In the end it was clear to her what she had. She still had a lot of work to do before she could decipher all the contents accurately, and it would be almost impossible to verify it's authenticity, but she couldn't deny it longer. This was a spell book.

X

"Aurgh! This is no good at all!" Yuna cried.

"What's wrong Yuna-san?" Mero asked.

"Everything! It's spring break, our long awaited vacation! No, it's the springtime of our youth!"

"What does that mean?"

"It means we should be out living our lives, taking the world by storm! Not cooped up inside a dorm room reading manga and eating snacks all day!" Mero looked confused.

"But you did stay in the dorm room and eat snacks all day."

"Exactly! Don't you feel your youth is being wasted?"

"No." She answered immediately.

"Of course you do!" She jumped to her feet. "Well no more! Tomorrow were going full speed ahead into our precious youth!"

Mero sighed. This mission just kept getting more ridiculous.