[V8C31] Warm Socks and a Happy Ending
Translated by Jodas 8: The Witch of the BoundaryThat day, Finn, the youngest among the Apprentice Mages, headed for the Library Office.
Julius had recently complimented him, saying he was finally able to read longer texts, so he thought about going to borrow a book of some kind.
It made him so happy to be complimented. After all, Finn never heard compliments from his family.
Whenever they did anything, Finn’s parents and siblings would always say ‘Watch closely and learn.’ but Finn was an idiot, so he could never learn even after watching as hard as he could.
He would often be scolded ‘Why are you always so bad at remembering? Every time I tell you something, I always have to explain it a second time!’
That was why, on many occasions when Julius was teaching something, he would hesitate to ask about something he didn’t understand and just fall silent.
—What do I do, I don’t get it. I got stuck on the same thing before, and I think I asked Julius about it already. If I asked him the same thing again, won’t Julius get mad?
So Finn wouldn’t ask anything, instead trying and failing to solve the problem on his own and falling silent. Julius would always ask in a gentle voice “What are you having trouble with?”
When Finn mumbled the answer “What you taught me before…” Julius would laugh “Kukuku, I see, so that’s the issue,” and happily repeat the explanation.
“I’m sorry for being such an idiot…”
“Kuhaha, you’re wrong. The true fools are those who’ve abandoned their willingness to think. One who worries over the options is no idiot.”
Those words made Finn oh so happy.
From then on, he kept learning step-by-step, eventually learning to read more or less. It got him thinking he just might be able to finally read a book from cover to cover.
Once he finished reading a whole book, he was going to report his accomplishment to Julius. ‘Thanks to you, Julius, I was able to read a book!’
(Once I’m able to read books… I bet my brothers are gonna be super surprised…Ehehe)
Reading a book. That was an amazing achievement. You could count all the people in Finn’s hometown who could read books on one hand and still have fingers left over.
Imagining his brothers’ shocked faces and Julius’ satisfied face, his mind started to feel all warm and cozy.
Finn stepped inside the Third Spire: Water Bubble.
The Third Spire: Water Bubble was a building that had constantly been expanded and remodeled, but the Library Office occupied about half of the original Spire prior to all those expansions.
The Office was laid out by floor, so the back of the first floor hosted the First Library; the second floor hosted the Second Library; the third floor hosted the Third Library; and there was an Underground Library beneath. Apprentices were only permitted to access the First Library.
Rare books, dangerous grimoires, and the like were apparently stored either in the higher floors or underground. Humans had a tendency to store important things either high up or below the ground.
(What do I do, I’m so nervous…)
Before the door to the First Library, Finn only now started to feel afraid.
Would people think he, the failure of an Apprentice who couldn’t even read properly until now, didn’t belong in the Library Office?
‘You know, maybe I’ll just give up,’ Just as he was about to give in to his cowardly heart, someone called his name from behind.
“Finn.” Behind him stood a girl with fluffy orange hair tied in two bundles and a pointy hat on top: Roswitha.
“Perfect timing, I was looking for you. There’s something I was thinking of giving you.”
“To me?”
“Yeah, here you go.” Roswitha handed him a paper bag.
Finn nervously took the bag, then looked inside. It was a pair of socks.
“Every once in a while there’s a raffle at the personal goods kiosk, you know? I won one of the high-quality presents. It doesn’t fit my size, so I’m giving it to you.”
“…Can I really have it?”
Roswitha smiled at Finn as he asked with much trepidation. Unlike her usual combative attitude, her smile was unusually friendly.
“The two of us are the ‘Socks to Bed Party,’ aren’t we? Besides, it’s started to get a little colder lately.”
Oh right, they did have that discussion once. It was a while ago, but Roswitha apparently remembered it well.
With his heart still restless, Finn looked up at Roswitha.
“Thank you, Roswitha.”
“You’re welcome.”
When was it that they had that lively fight over how they slept, again?
Wren had criticized Tia and Sevil for their ‘Sleeping Naked Party,’ While Sophie insisted on distancing herself from Oliver’s declaration of the ‘Hugging a Pillow While I Sleep Party,’ making a huge commotion… He missed that lively atmosphere.
Right now, Sevil, Wren, Tia, and Rukiye were all heading out on the operation to retake Darwock. On top of that, the Apprentices’ Representative, Ella, was absent from their classes while she recovered from her surgery.
That meant lately, the classroom had been much quieter, and a little lonlier.
“By the way, it’s unusual to see you coming here, Finn.”
When Roswitha said that, Finn groaned “Uuuh…” and averted his gaze.
“…As I thought, it is weird for me to be here, huh.”
“I didn’t say it was weird; I just said it’s unusual.”
Finn clutched the paper bag he’d been given and stared at his feet.
Finn was short, so when he did that, no one could read his emotions.
“I thought maybe I might borrow a book… But it’s really not a place for me, huh…”
He heard the sound a long sigh coming out of her nose.
In the next instant, Roswitha’s face suddenly took up all of Finn’s vision. Roswitha had bent over to meet Finn’s eyes.
Roswitha leaned on her bent knees, glaring into Finn’s eyes.
“Weren’t you the one who stood in the way when Dammer was about to attack me? You were so brave during the magic battle, too! Why would you be intimidated by the Library Office of all things!?”
Brave? Him?
Finn’s mouth hung half open as Roswitha stood straight up in front of him. As she did, Finn raised his head to follow her gaze. Roswitha puffed out her chest and declared with overflowing confidence.
“This is the Wedge Tower, it exists for the mages! You’re one of those Apprentice Mages aren’t you? What’s wrong or embarrassing with borrowing a book!? Come on, we’re going in!”
Roswitha grabbed Finn’s hand and led him onwards. Their strides didn’t match, so Finn had to move his feet a little faster to catch up. Crap, his legs were getting tangled.
“Gyah!”
Roswitha paled as Finn tripped.
“Sorry… I forgot you had an issue with your legs.”
“I- It’s okay. I can deal with this.”
He had pride in his toughness, if nothing else. He didn’t want Roswitha worrying over such a minor thing.
Roswitha’s brows moved uncomfortably, and she made a frustrated face.
“I’m aware I’ve always paid too little attention to the people around me. Sometimes I even forget Ella can’t carry anything heavy these days.”
At the moment, Ella had only just had her surgery to allow her to emit mana.
Usually, people had mana openings in their palms, but in Ella’s case, the openings were extremely narrow, making it hard for her to emit mana properly.
“Ella must have it hard, huh.”
“But once the bandages come off, she might finally be able to use magecraft. Isn’t that such an exciting thing?”
Definitely, being able to do a new thing was exciting. He could totally understand that feeling.
Roswitha, who was good at magecraft, was probably always borrowing lots of difficult-looking books on magic. But she instead, she walked towards the section for ordinary books. She was guiding Finn, who was unfamiliar with the Library Office.
Roswitha had lamented that she paid too little attention to the people around her, but Finn thought she was more than kind enough.
Among the ordinary books, in the section where most of the purely recreational books were gathered, stood a familiar figure. Someone whose shoulder-length black hair had a single purple lock on each side: It was the Shaman, Sophie.
Sophie grabbed a book off the shelf, then with a serious expression, flipped all the way to the back page.
“That’s a… Strange way of reading you’re doing there.”
Whether she heard Roswitha’s muttering or not, Sophie’s face shot up with a start.
Her pink eyes went wide like saucers.
“Wow, Roswitha and Finn? That’s new~. What did you come to borrow?”
“I was wondering if there were any books that even I could read, so I came to check…”
After that response, Finn nervously asked something that had caught his curiosity.
“Why do you read from the back, Sophie?”
“I’m checking to make sure this book has a happy ending before I take it out.”
It was Roswitha who raised an indignant “Hah?” to this idea.
Roswitha furrowed her brows and made a face that said she had trouble understanding why anyone would do such a thing.
“Books are made to be read from the beginning! It would be a huge waste if you knew the twist right from the start!”
“I wanna have a sense of security, okay! I don’t wanna read any stories where, no matter what happens, the protagonist ends up loved and happy! I don’t want their friends to die either! If a character I grow attached to dies, I won’t get over it for a whole month, you know!”
That was a big deal. Apparently reading books is a much more complicated thing than Finn had assumed.
While Sophie ranted about the books that hurt her heart to Roswitha, she turned to Finn and suddenly spoke with the attitude of a reliable older sister.
“Oh right, Finn, just leave it to your old pal Sophie to pick the perfect book for you! I’ll give you one with a guaranteed happy ending!”
“Isn’t that just a spoiler?”
Roswitha didn’t miss a beat with her criticism.
Sophie pouted and turned to face the bookshelf.
“Just let me have this, okay~! I won’t tell you the twist, you know… Oh, how about this one?”
Sophie grabbed a book off of the bottom shelf. It looked like a relatively easier book to read, with bigger letters than the others.
It seemed to be an adventure story targeted for children.
“You know, I think the protagonist of this one’s a little like you, Finn~!”
“Like me…?”
‘Then he’s gotta be a useless worthless coward, right?’ Finn thought.
Yet Sophie giggled cheerfully at Finn.
“He’s a really hard worker~! He cares a lot about his friends and is super brave because of it~, and even when things get dicey in the middle of it, everyone works together to overcome the challenges and it all wraps up in a happy ending and…”
“Like I said, you’re just spoiling it.”
“Ah!”
Sophie covered her mouth with her hand.
Finn stared at the book in Sophie’s other hand.
While Roswitha had called all of that ‘spoilers,’ after hearing Sophie talk so excitedly about it, it really made him want to try it out for himself.
“I want to borrow that.”
“Once you’re done with it, let me know what you think! You know, I think the main character’s friend is super cool~!”
“Again, spoilers.”
“Ah!”
While laughing at the exchange between Sophie and Roswitha, Finn held both the paper bag of socks and the book tightly to his chest.
Tonight, he would wear some warm socks and read a book with a guaranteed happy ending.
(Once I’m done reading this book, I’m gonna let Julius know. I’ll say ‘Thanks to you, I just read through a whole book!’)
—The next morning, the Apprentices were informed that Julius had been imprisoned on charges of treason.