With capped pen in hand, I started to move away from the shelf. I would have left the library without incident, but I saw a certain symbol out of the corner of my eye. It caught my attention, so I turned my head in its direction. I recognized it from [Ferrum Online]. The symbol was that of an equilateral triangle inside of a circle.
As with all magic, the arcane circle was the building block of transmutation. This magic circle would be used for a three-point reaction wherein the elements involved would be denoted at each angle of the triangle.
I quickly withdrew the book on transmutation magic out of its alcove on the shelf. There were two types of magic that I wanted to learn first, and transmutation was one of them. Once I had managed to get my small arms around the book’s leather cover, I realized that the huge tome was almost as big as me. I considered opening the book and trying to read its contents, but I knew it would be pointless. I still knew nothing about the written form of Common.
Just then, I heard frantic footsteps coming from the hallway. The sound was coming from the opposite direction of the way Melissa had gone, so I knew she hadn’t turned around.
The adventure was over, it would seem. It was time for me to once more play my part in the great play of Ferrum.
Preparing to re-enter my perpetual confinement, I gripped the transmutation textbook and fountain pen tightly in my hands as I rolled onto my side, mimicking a clumsy baby. A moment later, Tabitha threw open the door to the library and looked inside. In the center of the library, I was innocently rolling around on the ground.
“Oh, there you are, Thale!” Tabitha Feldrast said with relief in her voice. “I was worried about you.”
My mother easily lifted me in her arms. I kept a tight grip on the spoils of my adventure, and they came with me as I rose into the air.
“What’s that you’re holding, Thale?” Tabitha Feldrast asked. After a moment, she lifted the book from my hands and read the title aloud. “Introduction to Transmutation Magic? Oh, I see. You’re a little mage, aren’t you?”
As she spoke, we walked through the hallway. By the time she was done speaking, we had reached the main foyer. It would have taken me four times as long to travel the same distance.
I felt my lips curl into a grin as I thought of the library and all the knowledge contained within. Once I learned to read, I would decipher all the information on magic held in that library. My journey to defeat Lothar could start much earlier than I expected due to this treasure trove of information that was so close at hand.
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At the top of the stairs, my mother’s pace suddenly stopped, and she looked down at me with shock on her face. After a moment, the shock transformed into glee.
“Thale! You’re smiling! How wonderful!” Tabitha Feldrast said with a broad smile. She quickly descended the stairs while using her other hand to move the hem of her skirt out of the way of her feet. “Everyone! I've found Thale! He’s okay!”
Within less than a minute, everyone residing permanently in the Feldrasts’ home arrived in the main foyer. The maid, the guard, my two sisters, my mother, and I gathered within the front room of our house. All told, there were six people within the foyer, yet the room still seemed to be sparsely populated.
All the adults in the room seemed tired but relieved that I had been found. It wouldn’t have been good if they had lost the next Count of Northwind less than a year after his birth.
“Was Thale in danger?” Miriam asked, her wide red eyes fixed on me.
“No, no, not at all,” Armond said as he patted Miriam on the head. “We just lost track of him for a few minutes. It’s fine. Babies do that sometimes.”
As he was talking, Armond snuck a worried glance at his wife out of the corner of his eye. He seemed concerned that she would blame him for my disappearance.
“Guess what, dear!” Tabitha said happily. “When I read the title of this book out loud, Thale smiled!”
Armond’s expression perked up. “That’s great news! I was worried that he would never smile.”
Hold on. I hadn’t been smiling? Crap, that was an oversight on my part. I hadn’t been a particularly “smiley” person in my past life, and I had forgotten to fake one every so often. As I looked between my two parents, I could tell that it had been a significant source of stress for the two of them. They must have been concerned that I had a developmental disorder.
“How about it? Can you smile for daddy?” Armond said soothingly to me as he moved his face within a meter of mine.
I moved my lips into a smile, though I could tell the smile didn’t reach my eyes. I had never been much of an actor. I was great at hiding my emotions, but I was terrible at faking them.
My father smiled back at me. It seemed as though he was about to say something, but he was interrupted by the sound of knocking coming from the front door.
Sir Walter placed a hand casually on the scabbard of his sword as he walked over to the door. The guard peered out through the small glass pane built into the door before turning back to us and saying, “The honorable Lord Riomed Koravin has arrived, though he doesn’t have an appointment. Should I let him in?”
“Of course you should let him in,” Count Armond said with a faint hint of annoyance in his voice. “He’s a friend, and it’s freezing out there.”
Walter opened the door, allowing Lord Riomed Koravin into our home. His was a name I recognized from [Ferrum Online], but I knew more information about the baby he carried in his hands: Nina Koravin. Though, in [Ferrum Online], she was better known as Nina Feldrast, Countess of Northwind and wife of Thale Feldrast.