Chapter 31 - Unraveling Circles
Waking up the next day, my body still felt a little heavy from last night.
_Guess it'll take some time before I'm fully back in shape._
Yawning and stretching a little, I got up and started preparing to leave.
Before heading out, I made sure to bring the magic scroll I had asked Emma for.
_Maybe I'll take a deeper look at it in my free time._
Once I returned to the palace, I holed myself up inside the royal library.
Between checking old records and managing the incoming requests from various city lords, I heard the Hero Party would take at least two more days to reach Sunderhold City.
_Traveling really is slow in this world with carriages. I wonder if there are faster ways… some kind of teleportation, or a different type of ride maybe?_
By noon, I stepped out for a quick lunch at one of the local vendors before returning for my daily lesson with Prince Edward and Princess Maya.
Honestly, I feel like I've taught them everything I could—basic knowledge, critical thinking, and logical reasoning.
It's up to them now, to explore, read, and learn more—just like I am.
After a shorter-than-usual lesson, they left. I was once again alone in the library, with nothing but free time and books.
_Maybe I should finally take a look at the scroll Emma gave me._
I carefully unrolled the scroll.
Two magic circles appeared before me—an outer one filled with characters, and a smaller inner circle nested within it.
Both circles had ancient symbols engraved at what looked like clock positions.
"I'll need to go through these characters one by one…"
I searched through the older tomes from the library, matching the symbols and translating each meaning onto a piece of paper.
These characters… they aren't used anymore.
Each one represented something: an element, a command, a structure. Together, they guided mana into a specific form—a spell.
It was slow, grueling work.
_"This is hard…"_
It had taken me hours just to translate even part of the scroll. The sun had already begun to set by the time I looked up.
The light spilling through the library windows turned orange and gold. The sky outside was painted with the hues of a gorgeous sunset.
_This world really is… enchanting._
_Sigh… I'll need to eat double tonight after all this brainwork._
But at least, I was beginning to understand.
The structure of the scroll… the components of the spell…
_Something's off._
This wasn't a typical summoning scroll—definitely not meant to summon a magical beast, as the Hero Party was led to believe.
The design, the flow of mana, the core glyphs…
_Viscount Ironhart… he was planning something else entirely._
Whatever this spell was truly meant for—my summoning was not an accident.