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CHAPTER START---
---X773, February, Bosco, Ishgar Archive Monastary…
Walking through the stone hallways of his headquarters, Wizard Saint Aven Etis unconsciously plays with the wooden prayer beads around his wrists, following his nose to the kitchens. The delectable scent grows as he rounds the corner to see an open dooryard, the sound of pots and pans moving about only becoming apparent when closer to the door.
He carefully steps into the doorway and immediately moves aside, allowing a woman carrying a large tray of fresh bread to leave.
The massive monastery kitchen is filled with men and women, all busy at work. They wear simple robes and head wraps with their aprons on, all working in organized chaos to feed the residents of his monastery and prepare the usual food for people in need.
Most of the people are similar in complexion to Jura, but even here in his home, the young man towers over them, now standing at 6ft3 -190cm-. However, Wizard Saint Aven Etis dwarfs him, standing at 7ft -210cm-. He wears his usual black and white robes, boasting a short white beard with matching eyebrows and a head of long white hair, tied neatly in a ponytail.
Stepping deeper into the kitchen, he avoids interrupting anyone, moving to an empty sink and grabbing a wooden cup along the way. He reaches into his robes and takes out a small bottle of pills, dropping two into the cup before placing it back into his robes. He takes his medicine with a cup of water, and while doing so, notices a tray being organized a few tables away.
"I'll handle that one," he says, his tired but confident voice earning a gently smile from the woman preparing it.
"Would you like me to bring your dinner down there as well?" She asks while placing a second muffin alongside the plate of meat and rice. "We got fresh bananas and I made bread with it, I know you two love it when I make that."
"We love everything you make, but no, tonight will be a clear night, so I'll eat with Jura."
"I'll bring the bread there then," she says, placing a slice of banana bread and a cup of tea on the tray. "All set."
"Thank you," he says before she moves to another station. He takes the tray and quickly leaves the room, moving deeper into the monastery and descending a few flights of stairs. After nearly a minute of walking, he finds himself within the mountain, the path well lit by lights on the walls.
"I don't remember it being this far," he mutters, feeling his frail body becoming more exhausted with each step.
Eventually, he arrives at a massive chamber, leading to two thick doors, each the size of a barn door and made of high Magic Resistant and durable Maginium, boasting the symbol for the Ishgar Archives on the front.
Walking to the door, he places a hand on it, and it immediately opens for him. He steps into an underground library. The main base of the Ishgar Archives, the Mountain of Knowledge.
A massive section of the mountain itself is hollow, allowing them to place a library that's capable of preserving the knowledge of the ages in the case of disaster or attacks. This leads to the sight in front of him, bookshelves reaching higher and descending lower than he could see, touching every wall of this cavern.
He looks above and below, seeing the autonomous Archive Lacrimas floating about, collecting books and taking them to one of the research halls to the right, all while constantly restocking the shelves.
Wizard Saint Aven Etis walks to the wooden railing and looks over the side, seeing the steep drop off into the abyss of knowledge is littered with glowing lights moving about. 'He's already pulling from the lowest floors…'
The entire Archive is structured like a pit within the mountain. Instead of walking among the shelves to find books, there is a railing around the pit where people shall not pass. To retrieve any book, just as in the annex archive at the Sabertooth Guild, you go to the research area and use the Archive Lacrimas to request books.
This allows continuous vertical expansion without needing to worry about people fitting between the shelves. This is also why, when the books descend beyond sight, the structure tunnels horizontally through the earth, expanding for many more miles of shelves.
History, languages, art, science, Magic. Anything deemed important enough to be preserved if a continental war were to erupt exists within these walls. Sabertooth and other annex archives feed this main archive and hold less essential material. Even the Magic Council cannot withhold essential information from this archive, leading the both organizations to have nearly identical copies of their restricted sections.
And during the most recent era of this organization, which predates the Magic Council, they've even collected dangerous artifacts which can be weaponized by the Magic Council itself. For this reason, entry into this chamber is highly restricted. Even sitting members of the Magic Council and other Wizard Saints must gain permission before stepping into these halls.
Yet, when the man rounds the corner to the only occupied research chamber, the 12-year-old Oberon Alkwan is there, hovering in the air while working on a floor to ceiling blackboard.
Oberon is slightly taller, but still a child, dressed casually and oblivious to the world. But Aven takes note of the many tables around stacked with books, constantly being returned and replaced by the Archive Lacrimas.
Oberon has been here since his 12th birthday nearly six weeks ago, and in that time he's rarely left this room. Aven clears some space at one of the tables and places the tray before sitting opposite it.
"Your dinner will get cold," he says, noticing Oberon freeze for a moment, before going back to work on a series of Runes.
"I'm almost done with this, but…" his voice is drenched in frustration. "I just can't seem to solve it."
"Good food and tea should help."
Oberon sighs, turning around and descending to the table, taking the seat by the tray. "Ooh, she made more."
He watches the boy eat the banana bread first. "How is the research going?"
"Pretty good. This is the last thing I want to solve, then I just have to go practice somewhere with a lot of space, and no people."
"And about your reading, how is that?"
"Oh, I got done with all the books this morning," Oberon says, and the man suppressed the urge to glare at him.
"All the books?"
"Not the restricted ones…the Archive Lacrima got real mean about it."
"Good, and can your Super Archive Magic store all of that information?"
"Yeah, it's fine," Oberon shrugs. "Super Archive Magic converts data into Magic Energy and sets it aside in your Magic Container, but all this stuff doesn't take enough Magic Energy to bother me."
"Storing most of the main Archive in your Magic Container, that's…unbelievable."
Oberon swallows a mouthful of rice and meat before looking up at the man. "I assumed everything here was in your Super Archive."
"Because I'm the Head Archivist? Or because I'm a Wizard Saint?"
"Yes?"
The man sighs as Oberon drinks some tea. "If you have the Archive then you've read about me, well, what do you know of my incredible power?"
"You have Barrier Magic, and you're really smart. But there wasn't anything about you fighting."
"Because I'm not very good at it," he admits. "Wizard Saints are powerful, that is simply a rule. The power of a Wizard Saint must dwarf that of anyone else. However, to every rule, there is an exception. I am that exception. At best I was as powerful as your Ace, Gildarts Clive, is now. But that young man still has room to grow. Even at my best I'd barely qualify for the title, and now that I'm sick and dying, even less so."
Oberon frowns. "But you still have it."
"Because these archives predate the council. It may be called the Ishgar Archives, but we receive information from all over the world. We are a neutral factor, and my position on the Magic Council, among the Wizard Saints, reflect that. Really I should be a council member, but I can't very well be fully aligned with any government, so Wizard Saint was the middle-ground. That's why in a few years, when I'm gone, Jura will take my role and place as Wizard Saint."
"Yeah, he mentioned that. He always wanted to be a Wizard Saint, but now…I guess you being sick really ruined it. He didn't want to inherit it like this."
"He will face many challenges when that time comes. I hope you can be there for him as a friend, as much as a political ally. After all, I suspect in a decade or so Makarov will hand his title over to you."
"Yeah, as far as I'm concerned, Jura and Ichiya are Fairy Tail."
"Good. Now, I may not be your Fairy Tactician Mavis Vermillion, but I know a thing or two about this," Aven says as he grabs the chalk and walks over to the board, quickly drawing out a sequence of Runes. "Politics alone isn't enough to be a Wizard Saint, I'm also a scholar…"
He steps aside, a confident smile on his withered face while taking in Oberon's expression. The boy floats out of his seat and eagerly studies the Runes. "Wow, how did you—"
"I helped the Magic Council stabilize Etherion after your Master Precht laid the foundation for that weapon, compared to that, this was child's play."
Oberon traces the drawing with his fingers, muttering under his breath about it before turning to the man. "This sequence should stabilize the containment field while letting me slowly reinforce it with the energy of the Ethernano! You really did solve it!"
"Yes, but I have to ask. Aside from the obvious favor of you never using this near any of my archives, what kind of Spell requires such a high density of individual Ethernano Particles?"
CHAPTER END---
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