A Dragon’s Curiosity

Grinding her teeth, a lone elf retreated from the harbor district. Hearing the rumors discussed by various adventurers on the way, the stories about the mysterious demonic cultivator still had not died down, even after a full week.

Directly after she left the student’s party and the Dungeon, stories about a single female elf roaming the first layer, practicing demonic techniques and forbidden spells circulated in the Guild. On top of that, several adventurers seemed to suddenly recall this figure emerging from cleared rooms, drenched in blood and glaring at them with fiery red eyes, further increasing the whispering campaign. Returning on the following day, Nisha had heard the chattering on the street in the nick of time and avoided going inside the underground halls again, lest someone connected her with that imaginary evil-doer.

Since then, she had played chess in the [Eel’s Park], visited the temple to chat with Miss Thana as well as Hale in front of the gates, practiced another musical piece with Henry, picked up her new clothes and had generally annoyed everyone she knew in Thurgau.

At first the dragon had not noticed, however going into the Dungeon and hunting down monsters acted as a great stress relief and balanced her more bloodthirsty character facettes. A single week without tracking down some prey seriously affected her mood and she had cursed herself more than once for saving a group unrelated to herself.

Left without an alternative, she originally planned to visit the Guild in the commoner’s district. Who would have known that the rumors had spread from the other branch of the guild and people threw her suspicious glances as she steered for one of entrances leading to the door. Enraged, but without a countermeasure, Nisha altered her path slightly and entered the Library instead, grumbling to herself all the nice treatments that came to her mind for the next time when she encountered that particular group of students.

Smirking unconsciously at the gruesome scenes in her mind, the dragon quickly arrived at the first level of the library, facing a different clerk than the last time she came.

“Can I help you, miss?”

Praising the standard of the library silently, Nisha reciprocated the business-like smile.

“I’d like to look through some books containing general knowledge. Especially a book on the language of the southern twin kingdoms, Hitia and Kahan. I picked up a skill book last time I was here and the original script is in their language, the Esgan tongue. Due to some troubles with the execution of the skill, referencing the original might help.”

Nisha was not lying. Her last skill book - called [Seals] - remained a challenge. The memory stone revealed a man garbed in the traditional clothing from the twin kingdoms, summoning a seal which transformed into four different weapons, the bow, short sword, pike and an uncommon metal staff with a weird shape which she didn’t recognize. Yet no matter how hard she tried, each of her attempts to recreate the process failed after the initial step and she was left with a useless floating seal containing a single star in her hand. As she couldn’t go hunting, figuring out how to properly use this skill was a far better use of her time.

“The Library can certainly help you with that. On the first floor, all kinds of knowledge is open to everyone. From craft manuals to reference books, we have everything. I believe you should find everything you need on the first row to your right at the end of the hall, the dictionaries are kept over there. If you need further help or need someone to help you with the translation, please don’t hesitate to ask our staff, the Grand Library always supports the pursuit of knowledge.”

Sending the guest off with a bow, the attendant’s directions quickly sent the dragon in the right direction, allowing her to find the books she was looking for. Most residents and adventurers living in Thurgau only ever thought of the countless martial manuals held inside the library, nearly next to none bothered with the regular books aside from scholars. Picking an empty table, Nisha pulled out the [Seals] manual from her space and laid it side to side with a dictionary of the Esgan language. With only a few pages each describing the profound technique within, she guessed it was possible for her to translate the original transcript and find the correct way to utilize the skill. Unlike the small fire or the runes, there was nothing inside her space guiding her how to use Life and Death skills, her progress regarding the other two elements could only be so fast since these two mysterious existences clearly knew the skills she wanted to learn already and used her body to invoke them. What better learning experience was there other than personally experiencing her body moving along the correct paths?

Why was it that she only had two helpers but three main elements, Nisha could only wonder and look into it in the future.

True enough, the words used by the [Seals] manual were quite simple, which only served to excite the elf even more. Without any complicated techniques, the skill evoked such wondrous effects and the original script flowed smoother in her head, the verses comparable to a poet instead of an instruction. One important discovery also showed itself in the original. Instead of [Create Seals], the Esgan manual called the skill [Creation Seal], which was lost in translation. Furthermore, Nisha believed the real translation should be [Seal: Create] as she got increasingly invested in learning the language itself instead of just pulling out a dictionary to translate the book she owned. The runes used in the Esgan tongue reminded her of the black runes residing in her core, maybe a relation existed between them, learning the language would only yield benefits in this case.

Going along the lines of the script, she noticed several discrepancies, signs of sloppy work done by the previous translator. For once, the description did not actually mention four different skills, just ‘a skill that seems to be four at once’. Without the pressure to make the seal deviate into different forms from the first step, Nisha gained a better understanding of the process and had a small idea to test.

Following the small enlightenment, a much bigger one hit her immediately.

Why shouldn’t I put my idea to work right now? It’s not like I can do anything else while translating the remaining pages.

Sinking into her [Soul Space], Nisha focused on her hand, gathering the Life and Death element into her hand. Concentrating on executing the skill, the seal smoothly formed, faster than all her previous attempts so far. The single grey star in the middle shook for a second, before stillness claimed it again.

Failure didn’t discourage her. On the contrary, there was even a slight improvement, showing that the dragon was on the right path. Therefore she continued to cast the seal over and over again in her space while she also continued to translate the book on the outside.

In this way, she’d complete both tasks at the same time effectively.

Igniting a huge amount of enthusiasm due to easily succeeding in doubling her capabilities, Nisha finished translating the text in one fell swoop, flipping the pages of the dictionary.

Finishing the last few notes, the elven girl released a big sigh and leaned back in her chair, satisfied with her work.

“This is certainly unusual. Are you aspiring to become a scholar in the future?”

At some unknown time, an elderly man in a long grey robe sat down across her table, his own book now resting on his lap while he studied her.

Flinching at the unexpected encounter, Nisha quickly studied his features and assessed if he was a danger or not. Considering how she did not even register his presence until now was sufficient proof just how deeply she had immersed herself into translating.

“I’m sorry, mister. You surprised me. And I don’t know what I’ll do when I grow up. Maybe being a scholar would fit me, at least I enjoy reading and going through old books.”

Strictly speaking, this statement hadn’t always been true. At the beginning, she even despised books. Her grandfather Eldrin made an effort to teach her with the help of books, however due to her blindness, he could only read for her and tell her about their contents. Even after Annabelle discovered the trick with the magic imbued ink, it was too much to rewrite all the books in the cottage. As such, reading was an activity her grandfather could do but she would never be able to perform in her lifetime, building up a lot of resentment.

Of course this initial bitterness subsided once she realised how much useful information and fantastical stories hid themselves in books. In Eldrin’s collection, there were quite a few novels to stave off the loneliness which had accumulated during his stay at the hunting grounds.

A thin veil clouded her eyes while Nisha reminisced the past.

“True, most young people like you don’t know what they want to do in life yet at your age. Don’t worry about it. If you don’t mind me asking, what are you working on right now? You were quite captivated by it.”

Waving his hand in the air as if to shoo away her worries about the future, the scholar continued.

“Let me take a look at your work, maybe I can help you spot some mistakes.”

Pointing at the opened dictionary and the stack of paper in front of the elf, the scholar indicated he was familiar with the Esgan language as well.

“Then I’ll trouble you.”

Having no reason to turn him down, Nisha easily handed over her close to complete translation of her skill book, which she already acquired some hints to perfect the seal.

Referencing the dictionary from time to time, the elderly man slowly worked his way through her translation, making notes at certain points and taking as much time as a candle before he pushed the scripts back to her.

“It’s unusual to have a translated skill butchered this much before it is handed out. I should really inform the others to check who was in charge of this book before getting it ready to be released.”

His muttering voice peaked Nisha’s interest. In his regular tone, the man continued.

“It’s fortunate you chose to come here and interpret this skill again. I take it you couldn’t get it to work? That’s actually no surprise, someone working here slacked off at work and didn’t properly transcribe this book. I made some notations at the side where your translation is off, however all in all it’s at a pretty good level, most of the things you missed are sayings or implications not only based on the runes itself, but the context. It’s admirable to see someone so young studying so earnestly. Did you study the Esgan tongue for a good amount of time already?”

Browsing through the additions, Nisha discovered that quite a few of the passages she’d been struggling with had various notes on the border of the page, not only did the scholar correct the mistakes, but he also annotated his process so the elf could herself retrace his work.

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I have introduced myself yet. My name is Nisha. Though I haven’t been studying for long, I have seen similar runes in the past and took an interest in them, hence I’m now studying the Esgan language. Thank you very much for your help.”

Bowing in her seat, the dragon was quite elated about the easy to understand explanations, showing her how to improve her growing mastery in the foreign language.

“Haha, it is my pleasure. To see someone grow interested in expanding one’s knowledge and horizons is a form of joy for all scholars. My name is Brooks, I am one of the employees responsible for this wing of the library and specifically foreign languages. If you are interested, I can pick some books to help you with learning more about the Esgan tongue. That is, unless you already have a teacher?”

“No, it’s just a hobby I have pursued on my own. I’d be glad to have senior guide and teach me.”

While Nisha had no doubts she’d be capable to delve deeper into the mystery of the black runes residing in her core, the instruction of an expert would certainly help in quickly gaining mastery.

“That’s the spirit. Let me gather some materials for a while.”

Promptly rising from his seat and abandoning his own book, the scholar Brooks marched along the shelves without hesitation, periodically pulling books from low and high positions. Returning in just a dozen breaths, a stack of reading material piled up in front of Nisha.

“These are some beginner level edition both in the common tongue and in Esgan. You can actually find some that have the same content on the left and right side each, to make a direct comparison between the translation and the original. With that, the first steps to mastering a new language would be easier. Also, I’ll tell the reception you can borrow these all at the same time, I hope you will find it simple with these books and make some progress. You can always find me too when you come here, I’m usually tending to the area around here, in case you can’t solve a problem.

Excuse me now please, I got called by a colleague, but please do continue reading, it’s always a pleasure to introduce the new generation to the wonders hidden behind the letters.”

In this manner, old man Brooks left the scene before Nisha even had the chance to properly thank him.

Shaking her head and organizing the pile of paper he just dropped on her, the dragon gradually forgot about her anger regarding being unable to enter the Dungeon and lost herself in a new challenge.