Ace woke up early that morning. He had sure as hell passed out drunk the night before. It was quite the lovely adventure. In the end, he really managed to get some fun. However, all of that fun and games were now taking their toll. As he headed to the streets of Crocus with a monumental headache, Ace decided to buy a large bottle of water before he went to his destination. Still with squinty and tired eyes, Ace took a sip from his bottle as he tried to adjust to the light outside. It would seem that the sun had just risen and with it Crocus. The streets quickly filled with their usual movement and liveliness. Ace would normally still have a couple of hours of sleep left before having patrol duty, however, he had a different task in store for the day.

Ace had been informed that lady Luciel was looking for someone to help her with a task. Ace had only been a couple of days in Fiore, but so far he already knew who Luciel was. She was none other than Lady Merlin’s protegée. Merlin was a mage that lived up to her own legend. She was perhaps the most famous sorceress of the entire continent. Right hand to the King himself, Merlin had found Luciel abandoned long ago and adopted her like her own daughter. It went without saying, that if Lady Luciel requested something from you, it was almost impossible to refuse. Either way, Ace was really intrigued to see what kind of person she was. After all, she was the closest person to Merlin in all of Fiore. If Merlin was the epitome of magical strength, perhaps Ace could catch a glimpse of what he strived to achieved after meeting Luciel.

Walking towards the Royal library of Crocus, where he was supposed to meet Luciel, Ace was awe-struck yet once again. So far, the Holy Capital had managed to make him wonder how such architectural feats were possible. This time, standing just in front of the tall building, he couldn’t help but begin to think how in the world had the people who designed the place managed to build it. Standing out from its surroundings, the Royal library was truly a work of art. The style with which it was designed was clearly different from the rest of the area. Ace actually wondered how old was the place. “Whoa…” The Lyon swordsman couldn’t help but get lost in his thought. He was a man of great curiosity. Once something caught his attention, it was pretty difficult to make him snap. After just a couple of days in Fiore, Ace was pretty happy about it so far. He didn’t quite expect to find such interesting things to do every day. The only thing he hoped was that the surprises would continue.

As the blue haired man stood before the tall building, a small platinum headed girl made her way from behind. “Beautiful isn’t it?” The stranger startled Ace. His heart pounded rapidly due to the suddenness of the remark. Looking at the girl with a patch in one eye, Ace immediately knew that she was Luciel. “Yeah. I can’t wait to see what kind of books they have inside.” Ace was a book enthusiast. He enjoyed reading. No matter what topic it was, Ace was fond of discovering new things through lecture. Perhaps that was the reason he was so excited over the request this day. He was anxious to discover what kind of task he’d have to do in the library. Luciel approached him as she proceeded to speak, taking something out of her pocket. “So. I need you to do something for me.” As she handed over a piece of paper with some kind of intelligible scrabbles and symbols, the patch eyed girl continued. “I need you to translate this note for me. It is written in ancient Valan Runic language. Perhaps the only place where you’d encounter books about that dead language in Fiore are stored here. I’d like to translate it myself, but unfortunately Lady Merlin has requested my assistance for other matters.” Ace grabbed the note as he nodded. “You can count on it” Flashing a smile, the swordsman proceeded to head inside. “Make sure to leave the translated note with the librarian when you’re done. I’m counting on you!” Luciel tried to tell the man, but it was already too late. Ace was already busy thinking about the best approach to decipher the text.

Before he began with his task though, Ace pondered through an endless pile of books that had previously caught his attention. As an avid reader, he had developed speed reading techniques, so he was not that concerned about his task at hand. Flying through the piles and piles of books that had titles each more interesting than the last, three hours had passed before he knew it. Immersed in the reading, he casually passed his hand through the table where he sat and accidentally brushed with the note in Valan Runic. Noticing he had been wasting time, Ace decided it was better to get done with the task first. He’d be able to read at his leisure once he was done. After all, he didn’t want to let Luciel down. Neither did he know when she’d be back looking for the translated note. Luckily enough, he had previously arranged in an organized and systematic manner every reference material that would be useful for his quest. To be honest, he too was intrigued by the hidden message. As he flew through pages and book after books, Ace finally gathered together the pieces of the puzzle. He proceeded to lift the paper up as he carefully read its contents:
“Let’s see:

• Hare Meat
  
• Cabbage
  
• Potatoes
  
• Ox Hooves…………?
  

The mage was left speechless for a second. Was that really it? Perhaps he had mistakenly translated the note due to his hurry. Going through his notes and the books once again, Ace was completely sure he had no error. So much for a simple grocery list. Ace couldn’t help but chuckle. He actually wondered what kind of face would Luciel put when she read the translation. After leaving the note in the library desk for the blond-haired mage, Ace returned back to his reading station. He still had a bunch of books he wanted to go through before they closed. He’d better get to them as soon as possible!

-Exit-
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