The building’s interior was cool and refreshing, almost as if Erika was standing inside the cellar under Ronja’s inn. Magitech tools were definitely involved, but it was shocking that people would use something so valuable on something as minor as comfort.

Then Erika remembered where she was. She’s not in her backwaters village anymore. She was with Marian, standing in a building run by one of the most influential organizations in the world. Such a tool was probably just a minor expenditure for them, barely worth noting.

As she followed Marian into the brightly lit lobby with crystals glowing gold, she suddenly felt out of place. Her steps faltered and then stopped just outside the last glass door. She just stood there, watching Marian continue on without her.

Compared to her, Marian looked much more fit to be in such a high-class place.

“Erika, keep up.” Marian noticed that Erika had fallen behind and turned. “Is something wrong?”

Erika shook her head, unsure what to say. The problem, if she could call it a problem, was minor, but she still wished that she could fit in a little more. From where she was standing, she could see quite a bit of the lobby. There weren’t many people inside; however, most of the present people were dressed in bold, colorful clothes. The fabric looked so expensive, she’d have to save for a long, long time to even think about buying some. 

They were enjoying drinks, talking with each other, and reading. They fitted in so well.

She didn’t belong here…

“Come on, we don’t have all day,” Marian stepped back and grabbed her hand. She continued her way, leading Erika forward. 

Erika allowed herself to be pulled, and she did her best to hide behind Marian, trying to avoid the gazes of the people around her. However, she couldn’t avoid the eyes of everyone, and Erika imagined their thoughts. They were probably mocking how she dressed, or the weird things she did that outed her as someone who didn’t belong.

For the first time since she left the village, Erika felt homesick.

As she began to lag behind again, Marian tightened her grip. She leaned in close to Erika and whispered to her. “Are you scared? Or does this place make you uncomfortable?”

Erika hesitated, not wanting to show any weakness in front of the woman she admired. This whole time they were traveling, she had acted strong, so she didn’t want to ruin her image now. With a deep breath, she shook her head. “No, I’m okay now.”

A smile crept onto Marian’s face, and Erika felt that she was being seen right through. She began to fidget as Marian stopped walking and turned to look at her.

They stopped. In the middle of the lobby floor.

If people weren’t looking before, they were definitely looking now. Erika wanted to dig a hole into the ground and bury herself, but she couldn’t exactly do that, so she gave in and nodded.

Satisfied, Marian patted her head again. “Good. Be honest with yourself and me for little things like that. Rovers who are not true to their art do not walk far…” There was a distant look in her eyes, but it quickly disappeared when she shook herself. “Don’t worry too much about standing out. As long as you are the real deal, it doesn’t matter what others think of you. I have faith that you’ll succeed.”

“…Thank you.” Erika took a deep breath and once again began to ignore the gazes of the people around her. Even if they were looking, it meant nothing. Slowly, the feeling of being watched faded, and she felt more at ease. She was still conscious of the way she dressed and acted, of course, but it felt like her tense muscles managed to relax.

Marian’s words meant a lot to her, and they held a lot of weight. If Marian had confidence in her, then she should be more confident about herself as well. She stood up a little straighter.

“As a reward, I’ll buy you some clothes later.” Marian winked at her.

“What? How can I let you do something like that for me?”

“Don’t worry; normal clothes don’t cost that much. Besides, I took you out here with me, so naturally, I should take care of your needs, don’t you think so?” Marian’s tone booked no room for argument, and they continued on all the way to the desk at the back of the lobby. 

It was already late, and there was only a single receptionist sitting behind the desk. She was reading a book, but when she heard Erika and Marian’s approaching footsteps, she marked the page she was on and snapped it shut.

“Good evening. Welcome to the Consortium. How may I help you?”

The receptionist smiled at them, pulling a few errant strands of hair from her face. It was a friendly smile that looked genuine and instantly made Erika want to be friends with her. She looked down at the receptionist’s chest and read the name tag—a single short name: Grace.

Marian took the lead. Being already tall and slim, she struck an authoritative figure. “I want to access the inner library.” She took out a small badge, once again from her mysterious pocket, and slid it over the counter to the receptionist, who began to scan it with a device.

Grace nodded. “Okay, so inner library access, right. Do be aware that you need a certain amount of privileges to access— oh, it passed!” She gasped and looked at Marian again with new eyes. “You’re…”

Marian put her finger to her lips with a smile, and Grace closed her mouth, eyes wide. Erika could clearly see the worship in Grace’s eyes.

It was a bit confusing since while Erika knew that Marian was skilled, she didn’t know who Marian was in the grand scheme of things. But judging by Grace’s reaction, Marian was someone of significant status.

To think that she managed to catch Marian’s attention…

“Okay, L— Miss Marian. Um… the library is on the right side if you go all the way down. I’ve cleared you with the system. Good luck with your research.” She bowed deeply.

She pointed at a set of double doors leading off to the side.

Erika was about to leave, but Marian stopped her. 

“Second, I want to schedule a meeting with Sarth Cuvier in a private room here. If I remember correctly, he settled here, right?”

“A meeting with Lord Cuvier?” Grace asked. “That might be able to be arranged. We’ll send someone over to ask him, but he might refuse to meet you. Unfortunately, you can’t force a meeting with him as you are….”

Marian shrugged. “It’s not that important, so it’s okay if you don’t succeed. But do tell him that I have a method to help him recover if he’s interested. In return… Well, that can be settled in person. Did you get everything?”

“Yes, ma’am!” Grace saluted her.

“Good. Tell him that he can pick the time. I’ll be here tomorrow morning for the reply. Have a great evening.” Marian nodded slightly at the receptionist and then took Erika with her toward the library.

Erika felt the receptionist’s curious gaze burning into her back, and she knew what the receptionist was thinking: who is this bumpkin following this esteemed Lady Marian around?

She had no idea, but it’s become more and more apparent that Marian wasn’t just the traveler she claimed to be. There was something more about Marian that the older woman kept from her, even if it wasn’t out of malice.

Indebted to Marian as she was, Erika still couldn’t shake the uncomfortable feeling in her stomach.

“Marian…”

Her voice was especially loud in the empty hallway. Erika cringed.

“Some things are too early for you to know,” Marian replied, once again guessing Erika’s thoughts. “For now, just keep your eyes on what’s already in front of you.”

“Yes…”

They reached the library, and once again, Erika’s view of the world was refreshed. Books. Hundreds upon thousands of books. It would probably take her an eternity to read through them all. It filled dozens of shelves, far more than she could count.

There were more Rovers, too, sitting at tables scattered all over the library. Most of them were absorbed in their reading, and she caught some of them writing on a piece of paper, taking notes.

Curious, she tried to read the titles of some of the books, but the content quickly overwhelmed her fledgling reading skills.

She could only read the labels. Agriculture. Science. Pre-Cataclysm History. 

…Rovers for Dummies.

Erika wanted to grab it, but Marian dragged her away.

After nodding a greeting to the elderly librarian sitting at a desk, Marian swept past all of the books, paying them no attention on her way to the very back of the library. “There are many books, but most of them are quite mundane and are there for ease of cross-referencing. You can probably find their duplicates and more in the city library, and you can read them in your own time. What we’re looking for this time is specific to Rovers and goes into much greater detail than most of these do.”

When they finally reached the back of the library, they were greeted by a closed set of doors. However, Marian fished out her badge and slotted it into a hole in the door. With heavy grinding sounds sounding from the walls, indicating the movement of some strange, hidden contraption, the door unlocked and swung open by itself.

It then closed by itself after Erika and Marian passed, and this time they found themselves in a much smaller room. It wasn’t even an eighth the size of the previous library, yet the somber atmosphere at the books gave off made it seem that much more impressive.

None of the books stood out. Most of them had practical bindings and text fonts.

“What are we looking for?” Erika asked, looking around. She and Marian were the only ones in the little room. She was alone with a famous Rover… it made her heart pound with excitement, but Marian didn’t notice this time. The woman was too busy looking through the shelves.

“Looking for books about specific Blessings. Unlike the books outside, which provide basics, these books go into much more depth. Some of these are about famous Rovers in history and what their Blessings were. For example, this one…” Marian pulled out a book and held it up. “This one is about a particular Rover named Reil Dresmont, hailing from Rembert.

“His Blessing was an ability that allowed him to form a lance. While he was alive, he gained the reputation for having an unstoppable offense and that there was no shield that he could not shatter. An exaggeration, of course, but it doesn’t stop him from being studied by similar Rovers from around these parts.”

“Oh! Then, do you have an entry?”

For once, Marian blushed, and she shook her head. “No, most certainly not. Reil was famous because he served in Rembert’s military, and the military popularized him. I’m just an unknown wanderer.”

“Then why did that receptionist react so strongly to you?” Erika asked, finally getting a chance to ask the question that had been on her mind. “First, she was normal, and then suddenly she looked like she had seen a god descend before her.”

Marian shrugged. “I can’t help it that I’m who I am. That badge has my number of Rings recorded on it.”

“Rings?” Erika asked. “What Rings?”

“These.” Marian held up her hand, showing Erika her palm. She closed her eyes for a moment, and Erika felt that distinct feeling of a Rover’s Blessing starting up. Then, when the Blessing truly came alive, Marian’s palm began to glow, and something red appeared— a single script, surrounded by four rings. 

Erika remembered seeing it when she first completely awakened, but at that time, she had been hurting too much to think. Obviously, in hindsight, the rings wouldn’t be there for no reason, but she really needed a break at that time.

She might as well ask now, though.

“What do they mean?”

“Simply put, it’s how much power you can draw from your Blessing. You mentioned that you don’t know how to use your Blessing, right?” Marian asked.

Erika nodded. Even now, as she was trying to prod at the Blessing in her mind. Like a petulant child, the Blessing continued to ignore her, doing nothing but radiating that feeling of “control.”

“Turn around and try to manifest your Blessing.”

Helpless to get the Blessing to do anything, Erika did as she was told and deferred to the expert. She squeaked when Marian pulled down the back of her shirt. 

“W-what are you doing?!”

“What do you mean?” 

Erika couldn’t see Marian’s expression, but she could hear the confusion. She blushed and shook her head, indicating that nothing was wrong. When Marian didn’t get a reply, she continued doing what she was doing.

Although, she didn’t pull down the shirt any further and just seemed to stare at Erika’s back before finally letting Erika’s shirt back up. “As I thought, you’re Ringless.”

“You were looking at my Mark?” Erika asked.

“Of course.”

Erika blushed and looked away. “So I’m Ringless, which means I can’t draw any power, right?”

“Correct. It’s normally not difficult to manifest your first ring, but there’s a trick to it. However, we must first know what the trick is. That’s what we’re here for.” Marian pointed at the books around them. “We’re going to see if any of those contain Blessings similar to yours, and then we’ll see how they did it.”

She carefully placed the dissection of Reil Dresmont back where she found it and clapped her hands. “What are you blushing about, Erika? Time to practice those skills I taught you.”

Without allowing Erika to offer any alternatives to wading through all that text, Marian put a book into Erika’s hands.

YuriDoggo

This is the end of this version. Sorry if you like it, but I hope you like the new version when it comes out!