A Day

The books Mr. Victor had given him went onto the empty shelves one by one.

A cool breeze stirred the white curtains. It had come from the Snow Mountains, followed a winding river, passed through a sea of trees, and slipped through the attic into Breeze City.

There were two pieces of bad news... All right, Annan admitted that talking to himself was boring.

But when he was alone, he had to find some way to amuse himself. Annan continued his train of thought.

The first piece of bad news was that he had run out of meditation materials. The second was that the publisher still hadn't returned.

He had used up the last of his Magic Materials in the carriage yesterday. After that, Annan had tried meditating like an ancient wizard, but it had barely worked.

Annan hadn't tried casting the Lesser Summoning Spell, either. In theory, he was unlikely to summon Wood again, but if he did, Wood couldn't exactly run back to Pinglin Town. And as an evil magical creature, he would be more dangerous in Breeze City than in Pinglin Town.

Most importantly, if Wood came to Breeze City, Annan would stop receiving his weekly share of thirty copper coins.

Annan put the last book on the shelf, pushed the empty box under the bed, and picked out Stephen's Alchemy Techniques at random.

But the book's obscure writing kept its meaning firmly out of reach, while the rooftops stretching beyond the attic window tugged at Annan's heart.

He opened the book: Stephen's alchemy. He closed it: alchemy's Stephen. He opened it again: Stephen's alchemy. He closed it again: slime alchemy.

Annan was far more mature than he looked. He didn't particularly want to go out and play, but... when you arrived somewhere new, you had to