The walk back to my dorm room ended up being relatively painless.
As the hallway that led back towards my dorm room was completely devoid of people aside from Lucia and me, much like how it was the day prior.
Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, this hallway is almost always empty during the weekend.
Which kinda makes sense as it’s not like the hallway is connected to anything too important.
Can’t say that I’m really complaining though, the less people Lucia and I run into, the less likely it is that Lucia will get into a fight with somebody.
After Lucia and I made it to my dorm room, we quickly finished what remained of our respective lunches and then started rummaging through my selection of books for something that both of us would enjoy.
“Hey, this one looks pretty interesting.”
Lucia remarked before picking up a novel titled “Garbed Mess” out of the medium sized pile of books in the far left corner of my room and showing it to me.
“Hmm… I can’t say that I can really vouch for that one. Frankly, I didn’t even know I had a book with that title in the first place.”
I replied before moving a bit closer to Lucia so I could see the text better.
In turn Lucia shuffled a little closer to me, before turning to the first page of the novel.
Which ended up being filled with rows of unintelligible gibberish.
“Hey, Lucia… you’re seeing this as well, right? I’m not just going insane right now?”
I asked with a smidge of confusion present in my voice.
“Yeah, it’s not just you. I can’t make anything of this either.”
“Maybe it’s written in some sort of code?”
“If the author of this book wrote using some type of code, the book probably would’ve had a piece of paper with the code attached to it.”
Lucia said before flipping through a few pages of the novel in an attempt to find a page written in a language that either of us could understand.
“Ah… so that’s what that piece of paper was for.”
“Otto, please don’t tell me that you left the cipher for this thing back in the library.”
“I thought it was just some loose piece of paper that someone forgot to take out of the novel before they returned it.”
“You didn’t think to skim through it before leaving it there?”
Lucia asked incredulously.
“I was kinda in a hurry that day and the text on the sheet of paper was pretty small and a bit hard to read…”
“Fair enough I guess, still we’ll probably have to find another book to read now since this one is basically a lost cause.”
Lucia said before sighing a little and setting the book down on the left side of my bed.
“That is unless you wanna try and figure out how the code works without the cipher.”
“I think I’ll have to pass, my dad knew a guy who did something like that a few years ago and apparently he ended up in an asylum because of it.”
“What kind of book was that guy trying to decipher? Some kind of ancient tome?”
“All I really know is that the information in that book was somehow related to some sort of magic spell that lets you control the weather.”
“Learning about magic weather spells can drive you insane?”
I asked with a hint of skepticism present in my voice.
“Learning about any sort of magic for an extremely long period of time can drive you insane, Otto. That’s why the professors that teach magic aren’t allowed to give students homework during breaks.”
“Wait, seriously?”
“Well, it’s not like it’s illegal for them to do something like that, as the odds of someone going insane from a homework assignment are still pretty fuckin slim, but most schools would rather not risk it.”
“So it might as well be illegal then.”
“Yup, you probably won’t get jailed as a professor if you did something like that but you’d definitely get your teaching license revoked.”
“And here I was thinking that there weren’t any regulations whatsoever when it comes to magic in this world.”
I remarked before going back to sifting through the pile of books.
“Did you seriously think that one of the most unpredictable parts of this world could just go unregulated? I know that you don’t know that much about magic, but come on, Otto.”
“Yeah yeah, I made an oversight alright? Now, do you wanna find another novel to read before midnight or not?”
I said dismissively.
“Whatever keeps you happy.”
Lucia remarked with a small smile on her face before wrapping her arms loosely around my neck.
“That’s not really what I meant by helping but… I guess it’s close enough.”
I said indignantly before continuing to dig through the selection of novels that I had in front of me, most of which I had already read and knew the gist of.
And a few seconds later, I came upon a novel that had the title of “Havoc Raiser”.
“Oh hey, I thought I returned this one a week ago.”
“I’m glad that you didn’t, it looks pretty interesting.”
“From what I remember this thing deals with a world that’s almost constantly at war and a protagonist who is unwilling to fight anyone.”
“Sounds like a shitshow waiting to happen.”
“Surprisingly, the guy actually handles the situation pretty well. In fact in chapter 8, they were able to-”
Before I could finish my train of thought, Lucia put her hands on my lips.
“Hey, no spoilers.”
Lucia said with a hint of annoyance in her voice before nuzzling the right side of my neck a little.
“Ah, sorry. I'm guessing you want to check this one out then?”
“Just so long as you’re okay with reading a book that you’ve already gone through.”
“Yeah, I’m fine with that. The plot’s not the worst thing in the world, so I’m willing to sit through it for a second time.”
“Great, then let’s get started.”
Lucia said before gesturing towards the right side of the book and motioning for me to sit down.
In response, I just sat down and then flipped to the first page of the novel.
And of course, just like earlier today, I couldn’t really focus on what was happening in the novel with Lucia’s arms wrapped around me.
Though, just like last time… I can’t say I’d rather be reading this thing without Lucia next to me.
The walk back to my dorm room ended up being relatively painless.
As the hallway that led back towards my dorm room was completely devoid of people aside from Lucia and me, much like how it was the day prior.
Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, this hallway is almost always empty during the weekend.
Which kinda makes sense as it’s not like the hallway is connected to anything too important.
Can’t say that I’m really complaining though, the less people Lucia and I run into, the less likely it is that Lucia will get into a fight with somebody.
After Lucia and I made it to my dorm room, we quickly finished what remained of our respective lunches and then started rummaging through my selection of books for something that both of us would enjoy.
“Hey, this one looks pretty interesting.”
Lucia remarked before picking up a novel titled “Garbed Mess” out of the medium sized pile of books in the far left corner of my room and showing it to me.
“Hmm… I can’t say that I can really vouch for that one. Frankly, I didn’t even know I had a book with that title in the first place.”
I replied before moving a bit closer to Lucia so I could see the text better.
In turn Lucia shuffled a little closer to me, before turning to the first page of the novel.
Which ended up being filled with rows of unintelligible gibberish.
“Hey, Lucia… you’re seeing this as well, right? I’m not just going insane right now?”
I asked with a smidge of confusion present in my voice.
“Yeah, it’s not just you. I can’t make anything of this either.”
“Maybe it’s written in some sort of code?”
“If the author of this book wrote using some type of code, the book probably would’ve had a piece of paper with the code attached to it.”
Lucia said before flipping through a few pages of the novel in an attempt to find a page written in a language that either of us could understand.
“Ah… so that’s what that piece of paper was for.”
“Otto, please don’t tell me that you left the cipher for this thing back in the library.”
“I thought it was just some loose piece of paper that someone forgot to take out of the novel before they returned it.”
“You didn’t think to skim through it before leaving it there?”
Lucia asked incredulously.
“I was kinda in a hurry that day and the text on the sheet of paper was pretty small and a bit hard to read…”
“Fair enough I guess, still we’ll probably have to find another book to read now since this one is basically a lost cause.”
Lucia said before sighing a little and setting the book down on the left side of my bed.
“That is unless you wanna try and figure out how the code works without the cipher.”
“I think I’ll have to pass, my dad knew a guy who did something like that a few years ago and apparently he ended up in an asylum because of it.”
“What kind of book was that guy trying to decipher? Some kind of ancient tome?”
“All I really know is that the information in that book was somehow related to some sort of magic spell that lets you control the weather.”
“Learning about magic weather spells can drive you insane?”
I asked with a hint of skepticism present in my voice.
“Learning about any sort of magic for an extremely long period of time can drive you insane, Otto. That’s why the professors that teach magic aren’t allowed to give students homework during breaks.”
“Wait, seriously?”
“Well, it’s not like it’s illegal for them to do something like that, as the odds of someone going insane from a homework assignment are still pretty fuckin slim, but most schools would rather not risk it.”
“So it might as well be illegal then.”
“Yup, you probably won’t get jailed as a professor if you did something like that but you’d definitely get your teaching license revoked.”
“And here I was thinking that there weren’t any regulations whatsoever when it comes to magic in this world.”
I remarked before going back to sifting through the pile of books.
“Did you seriously think that one of the most unpredictable parts of this world could just go unregulated? I know that you don’t know that much about magic, but come on, Otto.”
“Yeah yeah, I made an oversight alright? Now, do you wanna find another novel to read before midnight or not?”
I said dismissively.
“Whatever keeps you happy.”
Lucia remarked with a small smile on her face before wrapping her arms loosely around my neck.
“That’s not really what I meant by helping but… I guess it’s close enough.”
I said indignantly before continuing to dig through the selection of novels that I had in front of me, most of which I had already read and knew the gist of.
And a few seconds later, I came upon a novel that had the title of “Havoc Raiser”.
“Oh hey, I thought I returned this one a week ago.”
“I’m glad that you didn’t, it looks pretty interesting.”
“From what I remember this thing deals with a world that’s almost constantly at war and a protagonist who is unwilling to fight anyone.”
“Sounds like a shitshow waiting to happen.”
“Surprisingly, the guy actually handles the situation pretty well. In fact in chapter 8, they were able to-”
Before I could finish my train of thought, Lucia put her hands on my lips.
“Hey, no spoilers.”
Lucia said with a hint of annoyance in her voice before nuzzling the right side of my neck a little.
“Ah, sorry. I'm guessing you want to check this one out then?”
“Just so long as you’re okay with reading a book that you’ve already gone through.”
“Yeah, I’m fine with that. The plot’s not the worst thing in the world, so I’m willing to sit through it for a second time.”
“Great, then let’s get started.”
Lucia said before gesturing towards the right side of the book and motioning for me to sit down.
In response, I just sat down and then flipped to the first page of the novel.
And of course, just like earlier today, I couldn’t really focus on what was happening in the novel with Lucia’s arms wrapped around me.
Though, just like last time… I can’t say I’d rather be reading this thing without Lucia next to me.
