21st day, 3rd month, 1106th year of Yukea Calendar

In a world ravaged by prolonged conflict, where nations experience rapid cycles of growth and decline, stands the formidable Grevirian Empire - a vast nation comprised of diverse cultures and races.

Just as any other day, Karla gazed upon the bustling capital from her vantage point. Sipping on her tea, she observed the individuals down below with familiarity. After years of this morning routine, she possesses an intimate understanding of Rustata's southern region - though she is unfamiliar with its northern sector, which lies on the other side of the palace.

It goes without saying that Karla is a member of the Imperial family and presently resides in the royal palace. As the Empire's second princess and fifth in line to assume the throne, she holds a distinguished position within this palace walls.

There is a line of people coming from the main road in the form of a parade or so, the sight of it brings a grimace to Karla's face. Even without a see-far spell she already knows most of them are kids her age. But she did it anyway just to make sure, yeah those people definitely participated in the Awakening ceremony that takes place today.

When children turn ten years old, they must partake in the Awakening ceremony that is held every spring. They, along with their parents, will come to the city and have their children awakened at the grand assembly park. That is fine, and it just proves how blessed the empire is. The problem lies in the fact that Karla is also ten now, which means she has to participate in today’s ceremony.

Karla enjoys her position as the second princess, but she doesn't enjoy the responsibility that comes with it. So far, Karla managed to get away from royal duties by emphasizing her age. But after the ceremony, that excuse will be invalidated.

Worse yet, if during the awakening, she managed to obtain a ridiculous ability and be forced to join the military. Karla still remembers her sweet art-loving older brother Lucius, he used to have a smile on him and was always laid back. But when they discover the potential of his ability, he’s forced to join the military. His smile now replaced with an emotionless mask, he becomes serious and rarely plays with her anymore. Karla knows she must have a useless ability if she wants to continue a peaceful life.

Karla sighs as she puts down her tea.

“Honestly, I don’t need any special ability, my position, and prestige are already enough as a blessing. Don’t you agree with me, Sarah?” she asked the maid who was pouring tea.

“Well princess, it is written in the imperial law that every citizen has a right to become awakened. Because it is a blessing granted by the gods and should be distributed equally”

“And I’m saying that my luck being born as royalty is already a blessing. Isn’t it unfair if I have two blessings instead of one?”

“That just shows how noble you are, princess,” Sarah said with a smile.

“Oh! Speaking of… have you prepared the speech for your public debut?”

Karla shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Sarah is a great maid she had to admit, but she keeps pushing Karla into doing her royal duties. Karla suspects someone from her family had a hand in this behavior, but she can't figure out who is responsible. After all, Karla had six siblings and three stepmothers.

“Where is your sister?” Karla dodged the question.

“She is preparing your clothing for the ceremony, princess.”

“You can do that then,” said Karla as she sips her tea. “You’re better at that anyway, please call Anna for me.”

“As you wish, Princess” Sarah puts down her tea set then bow before leaving.

Good grief, Karla thought. She is so annoying sometimes, I wish Anna can take over as my handmaid. Not even bothering to finish her tea, Karla went to the library. It’s the only place other than the toilet where the servants won't bother her. That is because only a few people are allowed to enter it, she could hide there for an entire day without being found.

The palace hallways are wide enough for two carriages to go through with tall walls adorned in intricate carvings and plush tapestries. The high, vaulted ceiling overhead is painted in luxurious shades of azure blue, while the smooth, polished tiles on the floor reflect light from decorative chandeliers above. It was a breathtaking interpretation of heaven and earth.

When Karla reaches the end of the hallway, she takes a peek around the corner, and she can see a guard patrolling the hallway that leads to the library. Karla crouches like a sneaking cat, her footstep lithe, agile, quiet.

Since most guards are trained in detecting magic Karla can’t use magic to aid her this time. She has to rely purely on her skills, which she had trained for years by sneaking around the palace.

As the guard turns around to patrol the hallway she just came from, she side steps along with him taking great care to stay out of sight. The guard started to walk to the hallway, she didn't miss this opportunity to sneak through, her steps quickened the further she was from the guard.

“To do that while wearing a heavy dress, not even the great gentleman thieves from stories can do that!” Karla pats herself at the back when she closes the library door.

She joyfully hummed as she strolled amidst the towering bookshelves, each of which contained hundreds of books spanning various genres and types - from annual reports penned by ministers to works of fiction crafted by renowned authors. The library is indeed grandiose; it can rival even the libraries housed within great kingdoms in the west or those belonging to the Grand Empire in the east.

Today, Karla's inclination is towards adventurous literature. She has selected a few from the fiction section and also procured some historical chronicle en route. In her honest opinion, history often surpasses even the most finely crafted works of fiction. 

She uses magic to make the books lighter, so she can carry it with one hand, she also puts a tea set in a pan and makes it lighter too. Karla took those items to the deepest part of the library, in front of a particular bookshelf.

What makes this bookshelf special? It’s because Karla noticed the books weren’t alphabetically arranged, it seems that the books are put in random order. At first, she just assumes this is a mistake from the librarian and puts the books in the correct order but the next day they return to their original positions. She asked the librarian about the matter, yet strangely he can’t tell what's wrong about this bookshelf, to him the books are properly arranged despite Karla’s insistence.

What gives? Karla thought, excited about the discovery. There must be some magic involved, but Karla doesn’t have the capabilities to examine it, so she has to make do with just her wits.

She noticed a distinct red book, the cover is blank without titles or the author-name. It also faintly glows the moment the librarian leaves her alone. She opened it and found it empty except for the first page. It says :

For those whose mind blessed by the Goddess of wisdom

You have a right to answer this question.

What is the hidden message from this bookshelf?

For those whose strength is the arcane arts

Beware! Curses await those that do not proceed warily.

Risk is necessary, yet those who take too many will fail.

For those whose strength is their mind

The books are in the correct order according to their alphabet.

To see the truth, a shift in perspective is necessary. How many moons are in the sky?

For those whose strength is their body

Turn back.

Karla realized that this is a riddle of some sort, you either solve it with magic or through logic. Opening with brute force is cautioned against and although Karla’s skilled in using basic spells, she is far from being a mage.

That means she had to figure out the riddle, and there are two clues to start with.

The books are in the correct order according to their alphabet.

When books or any other items are sorted alphabetically, it is usually from their first letter, Karla reason. Does that mean the message is the first letter of the book titles? She got herself a piece of parchment and started to note the first letters of the books in chronological order :

Tgncugvjcvykbctfrncpuqhvjgtgcnkuvjgtqctvwpcvjguyqtfrtkpeguu

“What? These are just random letters, where are the message?” Karla tried to sort the letters in other various ways, but not a single word can be deciphered. No, the clue said that these books are properly sorted, which means the key to solve this is in the second clue.

“A shift in perspective and the number of moons in the sky, huh? This is such an awkward sentence as if the writer wants people to be suspicious of it” Karla already tried playing around with it before but to no avail. That means the shift has to be something specific that you can not find by random.

“There are two moons in this world Isana and Rifta, the celestial sisters, the number two, and a shift in perspective. A shift by two?” Karla murmured while holding her head. In the end, it took her nearly two days to figure out the message, and she can’t help but laugh when that happens.

“I’m a genius! wahahahaha” Karla proclaims proudly while her servants smiled wryly as if this is a recurring event.

“Did you figure it out then, Milady?” Anna asked. She was chasing Karla who suddenly leaves her room.

“Yes, I do Anna! This is so simple. Look, this is the hidden message” Karla gave her a piece of parchment.

“Hmm, what’s this? Release That Wizard, Plans of the Realist Hero, Artuna the Sword Prince. What are these, Milady?”

“Those are book titles, of course. These three books must be in that bookshelf”

“I see, but how does Milady solve it? It was just random letters, is there really a message hidden there?” Anna looks at the upper part of the parchment where Karla worked out the message, but she can’t understand it.

“By shifting the alphabet by two! It’s brilliant because that’s exactly what the riddle said. Most riddles need to be interpreted by some unique logic. But this riddle just tells you how to solves it” Karla can’t help jumping up and down as she explained it.

“But what does shift by two means?” Anna tilted her head.

“Their positions! Oh, come here let me explain” Karla took the parchment from Anna and began laying down on the hallway floor. If any other servant or members of her family see this, things could get awry quickly, but Anna doesn’t care and goes to sit beside her.

Karla took out a pencil and started to explain while writing “The letter ‘A’ is the first letter in the alphabet is it not?”

“Well yes?”

“What shift by two means is that the true meaning of the letter is shifted, which means the real letter is actually two letters after it. Karla draws an arrow connecting the A and C: So that means A is actually C, B is actually D and so on.”

“The first letter on the message is T, so that means it’s actually V?” Anna asked after listening.

“Not quite, you see these incomprehensible jumbles of letters used to be normal sentences, it’s become like this because it has already been shifted. That means to turn it back to its original state it needs to be shifted back, not forward.”

“I think I finally understand Milady” Anna claps her hands in excitement.

“T is R! And G is E…” Anna took a pencil and started to slowly decipher the message.

Both Karla and Anna were full of smiles at this point. They both feel a kindred affinity with each other, Karla Could tell they have the same interests and a mischievous streak. They were ‘Women of Culture’ as Anna called it.

That was two years ago Karla recalled as she pulled three particular books on that bookshelf, the tea set and books she bought floating steadily in midair. She snatches those two when the bookshelf gradually becomes transparent, revealing a lounge of some sort. There were soft sofas all over that seemed perfect for leisure reading, but there were also numerous desks if one prefers that.

She and Anna would often lay on the sofas while reading books or talk excitedly about the adventures they took. Now she used the lounge behind the bookshelf as her secret base.

But there is one problem, though. Karla looks at a wine bottle that was present on top of a mahogany table.

She is not the only one to solve the riddle.