B4 - Chapter 6 - Rain Check

The next day, Lily was forced to describe every bite of her meal to an overly excited Lotte. It was extremely evident she was jealous, but that didn't stop her from asking more and more questions, as if trying to experience it vicariously.

Lily couldn't help but feel guilty, especially since she hadn't even been able to bring any leftovers for Lotte to try. She very nearly told her about Hana's plan to invite everyone later in the year, but managed to hold back, not wanting to spoil the surprise.

Everything else continued as normal, and that was when Lily realized she hadn't received any further information about the invite from the Viremonts. Part of her wondered if she should approach Clarissa and ask about it, while the other half thought maybe she might get to sneak out of it if they forgot.

However, at lunch time, Lily's hopes were dashed as Clarissa walked up to their table. There was a moment of brief friction between Hana and Clarissa as they shot a few glares at one another, but that was all.

"Lily, do you mind coming with me so we can speak… Privately?" Clarissa asked.

Lily wanted to refuse and say she could tell her right here and now, but then she noticed the girl seemed unusually downcast. Seeing this, Lily mentally sighed and sucked up her rejection before nodding and standing up. They only walked off to the side where nobody could overhear their conversation.

"I regret to inform you that we will have to have a raincheck on our dinner invitation. Something has come up, and my parents had to leave earlier than expected."

"Oh… Um… That's okay," Lily replied awkwardly.

Honestly, Lily didn't mind and, in fact, was secretly thrilled as she had been dreading the evening. Yes, last night had been a wonderful experience, but she also had the support of Hana, her friend, while the Viremonts were all effectively strangers. She definitely couldn't count on Clarissa to support her if she was nervous or unable to converse.

But what gave Lily pause was Clarissa's expression. The girl had previously seemed peeved about being forced to invite Lily, but now she seemed upset that it wasn't happening anymore. Was she actually secretly looking forward to it?

No… I don't think that's the case. Maybe she was just looking forward to having dinner with her parents?

Hana's family situation had genuinely surprised Lily, as the prevailing view was that noble families were quite distant. Sure, they would brag about their offspring and try to push them into the best situation, provide them with the resources they needed, or defend them from issues, but it was always described rather coldly. Sort of a "what's best for the family" rather than "what's best for the individual" scenario.

Clarissa still hadn't replied, and it was growing awkward. Lily wasn't sure what to do; it looked like the girl might have needed some comforting, but they barely knew each other. She feared that if she tried anything, the girl might even lash out at her.

"Do you have any idea when it will be rescheduled?" Lily asked, hoping to move things along.

"I… Don't…" Clarissa responded, lacking a lot of her usual bravado. "It depends on the scale of the situation and whether it's just business or an emergency. It might be days, it could be weeks…"

"I see… Well, I hope it's all resolved soon," Lily said, trying to sound optimistic.

"I'll let you know if I hear anything," Clarissa responded and began to walk away.

Seeing this, Lily also began to return to her table, but not before she caught what might have been a whisper of "thank you" from Clarissa. She even turned to face her, but the girl was already returning to her own seat, where Fredrick was waiting for her.

Weird…

When Lily returned to her own table, naturally, everyone wanted to know what had happened. The reason Clarissa took Lily aside was probably just to avoid the others seeing her state, not really about the message's content, so Lily saw no reason not to divulge it.

"Looks like my dinner got canceled for now."

"Hey, that's great news," Lotte replied. "You were really dreading it, so now you're off the hook."

Lily frowned a little. "I don't know if I'd say I was dreading it…"

"Was the food that good that you had a change of heart?" Lotte asked.

"It was out of this world," Hana replied. "I swear I had dreams about it."

"Ahh! You two are making me so damn jealous," Lotte whined.

Lily gave half a chuckle before sighing to herself. Truthfully, she was relieved, but after seeing Clarissa, she didn't know what to think anymore. It just seemed kind of sad, especially when she recalled the scene of Hana and her dad as she departed.

Well, it's not like I can do anything. I've got enough on my plate, plus it's not like she even wants my help. She's much too proud for that.

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

And so Lily chose to shelve it, returning her focus to her friends and their discussion, which had shifted to the dungeon. Hana wasn't lying when she mentioned the third floor last night, and it seemed like she was very tempted to keep the lead they currently held.

"Since Lily will be busy this weekend, I'll do some scouting on my own. That way, when we next go in, we might know where to go. Although I hope you two won't mind if I end up accidentally solving it myself," Hana said teasingly.

"Sure, go ahead," Lotte giggled. "That way, you can help us reach the third floor. After all, it sounded like you might need potions to progress there."

"Are you spending the weekend in the lab?" Lily asked.

Lotte nodded. "Sylwel is offering some extra lessons, so I thought I'd take the chance. Soon, the student will be the master."

"I think you have some ways to go before beating the professor," Hana replied.

"I was talking about Lily," Lotte revealed. "I don't think anyone is crazy enough to surpass him."

Lily smiled. "I'll gladly pass the torch. Maybe at the interschool competition I can even introduce you to Miss Camilla, my original teacher."

"That would be nice, as long as she doesn't charge me for it," Lotte said with a wink.

"Unfortunately, I can't promise that," Lily replied, winking back.

The trio continued chatting until the rest of their friends showed up, at which point Arthur and Thomas announced their intention to reach the second floor over the weekend. It really seemed like everyone was preparing for a very eventful weekend, spurred on by the festival's residual energy.

***

Nothing else really noteworthy happened, and soon the weekend had arrived. While everyone else was preparing to enter the dungeon, Lily was preparing herself to once again enter Arakil's library. Yes, her promised day had arrived, and from his recent long periods of silence, he'd been spending countless hours researching for this.

Tomorrow she also had her promised appointment with Rose, but today was all about Lily, and she was going to make the most of it. After breakfast and wishing her friends good luck, she returned to her room, locked the door, and neatly prepared her bed for the dream. Once Arakil confirmed he was ready, she proceeded with the small ritual and, once again, succumbed to the magical sleep, transitioning into the world within the grimoire.

Lily's eyes opened, and she saw Arakil's figure opening the door to the library. The first thing she did was sprint over and throw herself at him. She squeezed his side in a tight hug, causing him quite a bit of surprise as he gently patted her head.

"It's good to see you in person again, Lily."

"It's good to be back. I missed you."

"But I'm with you all the time?"

"It's not the same…"

After Lily received a heavy dose of "loving family" after witnessing Hana and her parents, she'd grown extremely lonely. She didn't admit it to anyone, but she had been hoping for Margit, Camilla, or Arakil at the time to show her the same amount of affection, but it wasn't possible. Now, within the grimoire, this was the closest she could get to it.

Arakil must have realized this as he silently let her get her fill, while continuing to gently rub her head reassuringly. Eventually, Lily let go and, with a determined nod, grabbed Arakil's hand and walked into the library.

"What's all this?" Lily asked, blinking in surprise.

A lot had changed since her last visit, as tables with huge rolls of parchment, which had been unraveled on top, were scattered about, piles of books littered the floor, and several chalkboards bore all manner of strange symbols and words.

"Ah. Sorry, I've been quite deep into my research, and I've left the place in quite a state."

"That's fine, I just hope you've been having fun?"

Arakil paused for a moment and then nodded. "I will admit it's been surprisingly enjoyable. It's not every day you get to take an existing magic and reapply its fundamentals to another similar category. I even scoured several history books and, to my surprise, couldn't find any trace of someone doing similar, so it might even be a new innovation entirely!"

Lily could practically feel the sheer excitement in his voice and couldn't hide her smile as she was positively delighted that Arakil finally had something to enjoy. He always claimed he had been fine, and while he occasionally reveled in witnessing something exciting, such as some of the performances during the tournament, or the professor's demonstrations, or even Darien's flight spell, he'd never shown this level of enthusiasm.

"Does that mean you've managed to get it working?" Lily asked, her curiosity and desire both brimming.

"I have no idea."

Lily blinked several times before finally reacting. "What!?"

Arakil scratched the back of his head and gave an awkward smile. "I honestly have no idea. I don't have an astral affinity, so I can't use it."

Lily was left flabbergasted as Arakil was researching a topic he couldn't even work with! To Lily, that felt like a fish trying to learn how birds fly, or in their case, trying to teach a bird to fly. Lily knew Arakil was a god of magic, but this now seemed too far even for her to comprehend.

"I thought astral magic was supposed to be neutral… Why can't you do it?"

"Astral isn't alone in this regard, and you'll find that several categories of magic require an affinity or attunement to reach the pinnacle. In fact, some even use it as a safeguard when they develop their spells, so that only their followers can use it to its full extent. In this case, if you aren't attuned, then you can't properly 'guide the stars', as the texts say."

"I see… I hope that isn't an issue for us, because I don't know the first thing about guiding the stars. I was really hoping you'd be able to show me."

"When you understand the principles behind it, it doesn't matter whether you can cast it or not," Arakil said, sounding a tiny bit defensive. "Theoretically, I've got everything working correctly, but I just lack the correct energy for it to succeed. While my knowledge of astral magic is admittedly limited, especially when it comes to constellations, my knowledge of glyphs and inscriptions is exceptionally broad and deep."

"That's great news!"

Arakil nodded but then held out a finger. "But, don't get too excited just yet. There might be some issues to resolve as we go along, but I don't expect anything too troublesome. Frankly, the most difficult part might be in your hands as you'll need to correctly progress through constellation magic with somewhat minimal input from my end."

"Don't worry, Arakil, I won't let you down. I'll give it my all!"

"That's wonderful, but save that enthusiasm for later, as we first need to do a progress check."

"B-but…"

"No buts," Arakil said sternly. "We've always started these lessons with a progress check, and it's fundamental to keep your foundations strong. The stars aren't going to be running away anytime soon, so we have plenty of time on our hands."

Lily opened her mouth and then closed it, having no good excuse to keep whining and insisting. At the end of the day, Arakil was right, and he was looking out for her, so instead she gave a nod and dove right into a demonstration of all her current spells.

As Arakil watched Lily's performance with scrutinizing eyes, a small smile slowly crept at the edge of his face.