I’m starting to wonder if potions can cause a hangover.

They shouldn’t, from what I heard, but I’m still feeling bad since I went overboard at the frontier. I can move well enough by now, at least, and my grip strength is back to normal, but the feeling that I banged my head into many walls after running a few marathons is still here.

Very annoying, very hard to move, and very hard to keep a clear head.

Even after some days of rest, in which a certain archmage kept annoying me to help with his book on silver magic, I was still not one hundred percent. Worse, I didn't hear the dream voice at all during this time, so no way to continue that talk.

Should I try actually knocking myself out? If at least the world would give the chance for it...

“Here am I, Your Highness. What can I be of use?” I marched into the throne room after the guards opened the door for me (I learned my lesson already) and made a proper curtsy. It was a bothersome call, but as is, I couldn't exactly ignore the king like before.

Either way, I’m getting good at this, you know? Who would expect some of my least useful classes to be this convenient, eh? Guess I should thank my parents if I ever had the chance to see one of them...

The throne room had the full ensemble today, by the way. The king, queen, their older daughter, the huge knight, the office lady, the old mage, and a set of the more important nobles who were at the capital. Easy to do when you have teleporters.

Since we have so many of these here, though, it means we wouldn’t be talking about my ‘real’ self and job. Or to be more specific, calling me here was likely to make a show instead of giving orders. Unusual since you could have a ball for such, but I'll play my part still...

I could be wrong about it too. It was the first time I got called into the full throne room since the day they tried my magic, so who knows?

It’s possible something was happening and the king couldn't clear the room to talk. I had an idea as to why he would call me for this, at least, but only an idea. Getting stared like this again was getting to my nerves too, so my mind wasn't the clearest...

All should go well as long as I keep the proper acting, but not being sure feels bad.

“To start, I would like to acknowledge your exploits in Frercross...” The king started to go on about the mess at the frontier while I forced myself to not utter the ‘where?’ and ‘who?’ whenever he mentioned a name. I never really stopped to think about that place’s name or who the hell was the leader there, so it was more about 'nod and stay quiet' for me. That is until he came up with a different subject. “On the more pressing matter, we received new information from the eastern frontier. Something some believe would work best with a hero there. Are you already in condition to move again?”

“Yes, Your Highness. Another day would be ideal, but I can move on whenever the conditions are in place.”

I could notice a twitch on the queen and on the knight captain, with some negative reaction from the bureaucrat lady too. They were something like the ‘head-on’ faction in my head, so if they didn't like this idea, it was likely something troublesome. Some of the nobles were clearly in favor of whatever was coming, though, so it seemed this time they were the minority. Either that or the ones who actually knew, and arguably cared, about me, noticed I was pretending to be fine...

Not a good sign, but nothing I could do. Keeping the facade was more important.

“Then I’ll have you move to Wyrnrock with Princess Eleonora and any other backup you believe necessary. Getting there, find the local lady and his information team so they can explain the situation better.”

It was a very short order, so I was feeling a little weird. A mission this vague didn't feel like something planned. The most likely situation was that I took things a little too far and either got too many people angry or made them believe in my skills too much.

Such an annoying equilibrium to keep…

But since he was talking about ‘backup’ and everything I need, it seems that I’ll end up on something big again. I'll need some heavy backup for it then...

Taking Lhori again wouldn’t be good, though, and it’s impossible to have the two sisters at the same place for safety reasons, so the archmage’s son was the best, I guess... Randoul was around, so he should be at the castle too.

Better talk with Cal and see what he thinks. But first, to see if I have some information to pick here...

“Can I ask what is the ‘information’ you got that prompted calling me like this?”

“Movements on the frontier. In special, on a certain temple very close to the border. Something big enough to be a chance.” He answered in a grave voice but without giving too many details. “I don’t have all the information, so you’ll need to hear anything else from the locals. Just be sure to not overdo it.”

The standard procedure then… Still felt like it was too little to go on, and a little too convenient too, convenient like a trap if you will.

I could deal with a trap if I know it’s coming, though.

“I shall see it done then.” I nodded at the order and then made another curtsy before giving my farewells and starting to leave. “Now, if I will…”

Prim and proper, but still someone who stole a nobility title by having a bunch of nobles arrested. That part of the history was going far and wide by now, which was exhilarating even.

Having such a cool character to play was too good.

It even worries me if I’m having way too much fun with it. Would hate to waste it while Mr. Hero isn’t around to play his part in my plan. You need a hero to be a villain, right?

Leaving the throne room was very uneventful after that, only some nods to the knights and servants waiting close by and a last glance at my back to see the scheming. A weird meeting, but nothing big enough to be worrisome. Housekeeping wasn't my part of the job, so the only thing I could do now was link up with the poker-faced maid and her roguish princess. Two people who were waiting for me just around the corner.

“Can’t believe they’re sending you again already!” Elen complained as she got off the wall she was leaning at and then stared at me. “So, be honest a little, can you go? In safety, I mean.”

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I wasn’t sure how exactly she knew what was happening inside the throne room, but again, she was the nominal leader of the spec-ops. Spying like this shouldn’t be that much trouble for her. Especially because I’m sure she has some sort of deal with her father.

It always made me want to meet this one person who trained her. Seemed like someone interesting.

“I won’t die, and I can move well enough. I’m not one hundred percent, but I don’t plan on fighting unless we really need to. It shouldn’t be a problem.”

“That’s not an answer, dumbass. It’s a ‘maybe’ at most, and I’m not letting you go on if that’s all you can give me.”

“Don’t try to avoid answering this time, milady. She’s very serious right now, and so am I.”

They want to push it, eh? And here I thought we had this solved last time already… Nothing to do other than be a little more serious again, I guess.

Kinda a pain since I’m leaving character too much lately. Add that to giving up my hairstyle and it was possible I would start to feel weird soon. The best I could hope was that nothing big would break my cracking character...

“I’m fine, okay? I’ll be more careful to not get into any direct fights like last time, so don’t worry about it.” I tried to explain in an unusual tone, getting the attention of the two girls as I moved on. “Fighting head-on is never my plan. That’s a hero’s thing, not mine…”

I'd prefer to not repeat myself, but they have to remember that I'm not a hero. The hero is sleeping right now...

“If you’re sure, then I’m with you. What do we need this time? Dad’s not giving you much information, but he can get anything else this time.” Elen asked as she seemed to know as little as me at the end of the day. “Most of what I have is either here or on ‘your’ lands, though. We could always steal some artifacts too...”

“No need. I can make do with what I have. I’m going a little blind here until we reach 'whatever city' and get a briefing proper anyways, so… Get ready for a trap and pray should be the plan.”

“Troublesome.”

“Should we prepare for worst-case scenarios then, milady?” Eve gave her opinion as she heard the sudo-plan. “Something in case we have to fight an army or if the whole city turns against us.”

“For these, it would be better to draw some backup. Maybe even some of Sis’ forces, since we can move those without much.”

“Either of those is way too much… But I got an idea here. I’ll need you to talk with your sister for sure, Elen. Or to be specific, I need to borrow that teleporting artifact she has. And I need some items on the carriage, Eve.” I said while turning to the path leading to my room. “A copy of what I got last time, a good amount of gold for emergencies, and a new set of clothes. Something praty-like. And some poison too, maybe, the powerful sort. If we go spy this time, then it should be useful…”

“That is easy enough. Won’t be more than an hour to get it all, milady.”

“Your weird luggage is always fun to see… I should be able to borrow that artifact for a while without drawing much attention too.” Elen said after hearing the list and smiling. “Should we leave after dinner then? Eating here one more time wouldn’t be too bad.”

“It works for me. I’ll go deal with the ‘reinforcements’ in the meantime, okay? More effective if we split up…” As I said so, neither of my companions seemed too happy with it, but the idea was too logical for complaint. Half the reason my plans worked was because no one had time to think about them before I moved, so rushing was the way.

A good plan executed right now instead of a perfect plan tomorrow, or something of the kind.

“Sigh… Just don’t overdo it, understood?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep it safe.” I was already leaving their side as I answered the princess, so no one could see my face and notice the ‘as much as I can’ that I whispered right after. Safety was a minor problem for me, anyway.

So, I shook off the talk from my head and sped up my pace a little more. My target should be in the library right now, so I could solve it fast.

Then, after hurrying through guards and servants who didn’t notice me zooming past them at all, I reached the handsome dark-haired mage focused on his studies. He didn't even notice when I sat by his side.

“’Sup,” I called out after a while.

“What?!” The focused guy shouted in surprise, drawing an angry stare from the caretaker of the library. “You should not scare the others like this, Lady Illia. What do you need of me?”

“I had something to tell you, no? Couldn’t manage it last time and all…” I mentioned the talk in the other city as I tried to spy on the writings of the guy. “By the way, are you writing about me too? Now I’m honored…”

“Your ‘silver magic’ is way too interesting to not be researched, milady. Until now, we never saw something that could affect artifacts, and with the way you’re using it lately…”

“C’mon, it’s not that big. And your father was working on that already, wasn’t he? Wouldn’t it work better if you two went at it together?”

“My father is taking an approach to his theories that I believe is wrong, and he won't hear me. All I can do is write my own paper on this.” The mage answered a serious tone and then continued making me feel he was fighting with his dad. “He believes you’re simply using spells only heroes can, but I’m sure that’s not the case. All I heard and saw, your speech at the wall in special, made me sure that you are not working on the unusual rules heroes have. Your magic seems too ordinary to be like that...”

“And why so? I’m sure what I do isn’t in any book about magic. I looked.”

“But your spells are in the same system as those books, right? The spells Sir Hayato uses are, in his words, ‘more about imagining what you want than anything else’. They’re barely spells.” He continued while moving through his sheets until he was showing a comparison between two different spell circles. “There is a system here, and they sometimes do look similar, but are still, in a word, nonsense. Not something a layman would understand, but you can see around here that his spell is something else entirely, no? It lacks the signs of an element or the basic runes. If it was possible to translate them, at least…”

“Can’t you just take a bunch of books and read them? Most spellbooks have a bunch of translated spells in them, right?” I asked in between his words as it seemed weird that the studious type in front of me wouldn’t know those. I mean, I could read a lot already, and I even memorized some by now.

Even these 'hero-styled' ones had some comments on them, and I could make some details even if barely. They were indeed very generic and random, though.

“Well, yes, but going only by the broad lines and rune sets is not enough. The changes are too many for me to get them all and to find all the rules. I would need a whole team of researchers to manage it effectively…”

“I still don’t get it…” I got close to the paper and started to point out what I knew. “I mean, isn’t it like this: the circle says the method, the center calls the element, these runes are for intensity, range, and size, and these others here go through the more minute details. Their singular meanings are even down here...”

But Cal stopped in place as I was speaking. More so, he was staring at me as if I was saying more than nonsense right now. It kinda stung a little, to be honest…

Even if I’m not a specialist or anything, I know a bit about it. I even managed to modify those spells a while ago, you know? No way I’m THAT wrong…

Reading these was the reason why I had my big theory on magic made. It was almost good enough to show off if you asked me. I even had some papers on it... Which I would never show anyone still, but alas.

“Lady Illia, where did you learn this? No. Who taught you this? Or what did, maybe.”

“Huh? The spellbooks around here. What more? Most of them have some rough translation of the runes in them… Even yours do.” My finger went to a line on the parchment where a full, but not very grammatically correct, translation of the spell circle drawn above.

Every book was like this.

Even if I would prefer they kept the runes and fixed the order of the words to not be the exact way it was ordered in the spell, it was readable.

“Hmmm… There is… nothing there, Lady Illia. What exactly are you pointing at?”

“The… Words?” I mumbled while wondering if I finally went crazy until something dawned on me. Something I only thought about right after arriving, and then started to believe was no more than normal. “Can I ask what exactly do you see here?”

“The singular runes? This one should be the one related broadly to ‘fire’, I believe.”

“And if I said that it was more like ‘raise heat’ than ‘fire’, what would you say?”

“I would ask where exactly you learned that,” Cal asked, now more intrigued than confused as the gears in my brain finally finished the connections.

“My plan was to simply invite you as someone powerful that would be useful, but it seems I actually need your help again.” I got uncharacteristically serious as I got up from my chair and spoke with a tone I hoped would show how serious it was. “Get your things and follow me. We’ll need to read every single book on heroes and artifacts this place has, and by then I’ll be sure if my magic is something that special…”