The Magic Book Rumi
The Magic Book Rumi
The old man who had revealed the magic book's name simply left the tavern without any fanfare. The way he vanished without so much as a goodbye, slipping away at his leisure, gave him the aura of some kind of mountain spirit.
"H-Heok."
It was only after the old man had gone that I managed to find my voice. The bewitched haze lifted, and my head cleared again.
"Wait a moment, sir!"
There were more things I wanted to ask.
Who exactly was he, and why did he keep helping me?
But when I stepped outside the tavern entrance, he had already vanished without a trace.
Left alone, I could only silently repeat the name of the magic book to myself.
He said it was his old friend, didn't he?
I don't know how you befriend a book, but the man's overall mental state was on the astral plane anyway. I decided to just accept it, gathered the things I had placed under the table, and left the tavern.
The old man had already settled the tab at some point, so I could leave right away.
I immediately walked through the city back to my inn room to examine the magic book.
There it was, sitting inconspicuously on the bed.
"Rumi."
That was the moment I called the book's name out loud.
In that instant, something unbelievable happened.
The book resting on the bed floated up into the air and started to fly.
"What the...?"
I am absolutely not speaking in metaphors.
The book was drifting through the air as if it had achieved a zero-gravity state, like astronauts floating through outer space. If any Earthlings had seen this sight, it might have spawned a new religion.
I mean, there's already a religion that worships flying spaghetti, so a flying book would probably be the same deal.
Soon, the book spoke to me.
The moment a voice emanated from its open pages, I felt like the protagonist in some movie meeting E.T. for the very first time.
[Greetings, Mage. I am Rumi, and I will guide you down the path of magic.]
"You can even talk?"
[That is correct. My voice is audible only to you, the book's owner. Please keep in mind that nobody else can hear it.]
"Ah, got it. Rumi."
I was caught off guard for a moment, but I quickly regained my composure.
Better to adapt to the magic book's changes quickly than stand around dazed. If I could figure out the upgraded book's functions, it would help me grow as a mage.
I directed a question at Rumi, the magic book soaring through the air.
"So, what exactly is different about you now? All you've done so far is teach me about four beginner-level spells. Not that it's my place to complain, since I'm learning for free."
[That is because you are unaware of the system by which I introduce spells to you, Mage. To learn magic, you must pay a fair price. With the price you had paid me up until now, four beginner spells were the limit of what you could receive.]
"What's this fair price? What do I have to do to get spells from you?"
Finally, the topic I wanted to hear about had surfaced.
The mechanism by which the magic book introduces new spells.
Rumi kindly explained what I was curious about.
However, the system for acquiring spells turned out to be surprisingly brutal.
[The price is the soul of a living being. When you, Mage, take a life, I absorb the soul of the deceased creature. The more powerful and great the existence you kill, the faster the time comes for me to introduce you to a new spell.]
"That's a pretty cruel system."
Killing powerful and great beings.
The most powerful enemy I had exterminated so far was the elder giant.
Come to think of it, not long after I defeated the elder giant, the magic book introduced me to the Boiling spell.
"Still, it's nice that it isn't complicated. So you're saying I can pay the price by killing monsters, not just people."
[That is correct. However, I do have a preference for the souls of giants, whose homeland is Jotunheim. If you ever encounter giants, please see to it that they are utterly annihilated.]
It likes the souls of giants. What a peculiarly tasteful magic book.
No reason for me to object. For continentals like me, giants are hateful plunderers. They're the ones who constantly attack villages to steal property and livestock. I wouldn't feel an ounce of guilt for killing such vermin.
"Alright, I get the system for introducing spells. So, is there any new spell you can teach me right now?"
[There is no new spell I can introduce at this time. However, I can teach you magical theory, Mage. Specifically, about the rune letters that serve as the origin of all magic on the Midgard Continent.]
"Ohhh."
Magical theory!
To me right now, that was knowledge several times more valuable than spells themselves. As a wandering mage, I'd lacked opportunities to learn magical theory, so compared to Magic Tower mages, my head was practically empty. I could memorize spells and cause physical phenomena, but I had no clue what principles were embedded within those spells. Yet Rumi was offering to teach me magic theory for free.
I immediately knelt and bowed before Rumi, who was flying in midair.
"I shall serve you as my master, Lady Rumi."
[I am not your master. I am your companion who will walk the path of magic alongside you. Please be careful not to confuse the terminology.]
I tried being playful, just in case, but it didn't react at all.
The mood instantly went ice cold.
What are you, some kind of AI? There's absolutely no emotion in your words.
But then again, its voice is feminine, so listening to it kind of makes my heart flutter.
Is this magic book like the AlphaGo of the Midgard Continent?
Since it sounds like a girl, I should call it AlphaGirl instead.
[We will begin the theory lesson right now. Please prepare writing utensils and a notebook, and take a proper seat.]
Once I'd brought out paper and writing tools and sat down cross-legged, Rumi immediately launched into the theory lesson.
I, the wandering mage, was finally learning the magical theory I had so desperately craved.
[On the Midgard Continent, the origin of all magical phenomena is the 'rune.' All magic in this world is rooted in runes. The origin of the Fire Magic you have learned is the rune of the ember.]
"Ah, I already know that much."
I'd learned from Miss Grace at the magic shop that runes are the origin of magic. I was about to say I didn't need basic explanations, but that wasn't what Rumi intended to say.
Because Rumi started casually tossing out advanced knowledge from the get-go, not basic stuff at all.
[No. You know nothing at all about runes. And that is not just you, Mage. In this world, there are only 'two mages' who can dare claim to 'know' runes.]
"Who are those two?"
I asked who those two mages were, but Rumi didn't answer.
It cleanly skipped my question and resumed the lesson.
[We are continuing with the lesson now.]
"Okay."
So it's a no-nonsense magic book that sticks strictly to the lesson.
That's actually better.
It's way better than derailing the lecture into some unrelated tangent.
[First and foremost, you must learn the 24 Primitive Runes. The Primitive Runes are the ancestors of all runes. The runes developed in the modern era are nothing more than variations of the Primitive Runes. Only once you learn the Primitive Runes can you say you have taken your very first step in magic.]
"Then what have I been doing all this time? I didn't even know Primitive Runes existed."
[You could say you have been crawling like a baby.]
"So I've just been waddling around."
The moment our conversation paused, new letters began to engrave themselves onto Rumi's paper body.
Unlike before, what was being engraved now wasn't a spell, but magical knowledge itself.
The pages that had been blank were now filling up with new knowledge.
The Primitive Runes that Rumi taught me took these forms:
ᚠ Fehu.
ᚢ Uruz.
ᚦ Thorn.
ᚨ Ansuz.
ᚱ Raido.
ᚲ Kenaz.
Including the remaining characters, there were 24 in total.
It felt just like learning the notation and pronunciation of the alphabet.
As I carefully examined the Primitive Runes, Rumi meticulously explained their magical meanings to me.
[The Primitive Rune Kenaz means 'fire.' Ancient mages could control all phenomena related to fire using just this single Kenaz rune. Of course, for modern mages with insufficient magical inspiration, it is an impossible feat.]
Lengthy lectures continued for each and every rune.
By the time the full commentary on all twenty-four runes was finished, dawn had already broken.
I had received a whopping eight-hour lesson in a single sitting. Even with short breaks in between, I was so tired my head was spinning.
My notes were already densely packed with Rumi's lecture content.
[Then, we will end today's lesson here.]
And so, my first lesson with Rumi concluded.
I dragged my exhausted body to bed and immediately fell asleep.
Living alone, the room felt lonely whenever Rebecca wasn't around, but with Rumi by my side, it somehow felt like I had gained a roommate.
*
The magic book's functions had upgraded, but nothing really changed dramatically from the next day onward.
Whenever anyone other than me hung around, Rumi would stop moving and stay still like an ordinary book.
Which meant there was no commotion at the inn because of Rumi.
My adventurer work continued as usual.
Running quests with the two lovers I'd formed a fixed party with.
Rebecca and Kate were still awkward around each other, and a sense of frustration nagged at me every time we took on adventurer work.
What was the trick to getting two girls to actually get along with each other?
I racked my brain, but no answer came.
Then, I was back in my inn room, listening to Rumi's lecture.
At some point, I realized I couldn't focus on the lesson.
My head was so full of worries that Rumi's voice wasn't getting through to me.
Thwack!
Suddenly, my forehead stung.
Rumi had lightly smacked me with its spine.
[Mage. What are you thinking about during a lesson? You haven't been listening to a word I've said for a while.]
I answered Rumi honestly.
"I was thinking about my lovers. They haven't been getting along well lately."
[Tell me what the problem is. At this rate, you won't learn anything even if we continue the lesson.]
"You're saying you'll give me advice?"
[Lending wisdom to my companion is my role.]
I never thought I'd live to see the day I'd get life advice from a flying book.
But at this point, I was desperate enough to grasp at straws. After hesitating, I decided to spill the problem about my lovers to Rumi.
I told it the same story I had unloaded to the old man at the tavern.
"Kate keeps trying to yield everything to Rebecca. She said she won't be greedy because she's the second. If you were in my shoes, what would you do with these girls?"
After laying out the story, I hung my head with a gloomy expression.
Then, Rumi, who had been silent for a long while, suddenly spoke to me.
[It seems I cannot solve this for you.]
"Yeah."
I figured as much.
I hadn't expected much, so I gave up easily. That was when...
Rumi opened its mouth once more.
[But you, Mage, are perfectly capable of solving it yourself.]
"What?"
I thought I had misheard for a second.
But Rumi was clearly telling me I was the problem-solver.
"How am I supposed to solve this? This kind of worry can't be fixed with magic. That elder mage who handed you over to me thought the same thing."
[Then I will ask you. What are you?]
I answered briefly.
"A mage. A wandering mage who has nothing."
[Before you are a mage. I asked what you are.]
My words caught in my throat at Rumi's echoing question.
What am I?
"...I am."
My gaze landed on the mirror hanging on the wall of the inn room.
My reflection was clearly visible on the mirror's surface.
Goat horns like a demon.
Deep, captivating eyes that mesmerize women.
There stood an incubus.
A creature born to charm women.
A man who could make every woman in this world fall for him.
I opened my mouth and said out loud who I was.
"I am... an incubus."
In that instant, all my worries were resolved.
A single, solitary solution surfaced in my mind.