Both books were written in the Words of the Era and were quite well preserved. They were respectively titled The Secrets of Aether: One to Thirteen and Compendium of the Wise.
After a cursory look through them, he found that the former discussed the fundamental operational and usage rules of aether—the "spirit" of the Sixth Epoch. It was somewhat similar to the Aether Mechanics Doctor Schneider was studying for. The latter was not a book related to the power of Witches, but one exploring philosophy, human character, and the inner spirit.
The ring among the miscellaneous items was not an extraordinary object either, but it seemed to be some kind of symbol of identity. The newer of the two notebooks contained knowledge written by Miss Chloe, and seemed to be a notebook she had used for study. The other showed signs of having been frequently read, and only after opening it did he discover that it was a diary.
"Oh! Ladies' diaries cannot be read casually."
Shade thought to himself that only about two-thirds of Leisha and Dorothy's diaries had been opened to him so far, satisfying his peculiar reading hobby.
Thus, Shade first softly apologized to Miss Chloe, whom he was holding in his arms, before opening the diary.
There were no dates marked in the diary. Everything had been written line after line. Shade had no time to start from the beginning, so he flipped directly to the last page with writing in the latter half of the diary. There was not much on that page, only six paragraphs of letters. The first three read:
The vegetables are nearly gone. I hope That Gentleman returns soon, or we will be forced to eat snow again.
It is so cold, but fortunately they did not drive me out. Reach