176: Journal

Auguste looked at me strangely.

“I can’t let it go,” I said.

I was not sure what was going on. Surely I had put the book down before, honestly I was sure I handed It to Milo before, which gave me an idea. Walking over to the counter, I placed the book on it, and as I thought, I could let go.

Looking over to Auguste, “Try now?”

Watching as he reached out to take the book, his hand passed straight through it.

“How unusual. I’ve seen bound items before, but never a book, and certainly never a journal—a journal for someone else at that. I have a lot of questions, and now the cookbook makes me even more curious, but I won’t speak my mind here today.” He looked over at Julia.

“I think it’s best we call it here today, he’s out of mana regardless,” Julia said.

Auguste nodded. “We’ll prepare dinner for everyone tonight. Please just relax, and tomorrow morning we will pick it up again. I’ll teach you some more advanced dishes and techniques.”

“And I’ll teach you some amazing desserts!” Julia said.

I picked the journal up, staring at it in my hand, while reaching over and storing the cookbook without thinking, bringing my mana down to next to nothing.

“Thank you, I think I need to go find Milo anyway. Thank you for the lessons today,” I said.

Looking at Lily and Crisplet, I didn’t need to tell them to follow as I rushed out the door. Both of them were trailing behind me. The first person I encountered was Cameron, who was startled by Lily.

“Cameron, do you know where Milo is?” I asked.

He didn’t answer, just staring at Lily, before the familiar voice of Archie came from behind me.
“He’s in the study with Hari currently, sir.”

I didn’t wait, just rushed that way. My mind was racing with what was going on, as it made little sense to me; part of my brain screaming it’s a dangerous cursed item, the other saying it’s just a ridiculously powerful individual running a bookshop for fun.

In my rush, I forgot to knock, bursting into the room with Crisplet and Lily right behind me.

“What’s wrong!” Hari said, jumping to his feet in an instant with his hand on his sword.

Milo didn’t waste any time either, spinning around and already summoning stone in his hands before I even got a word out.

“Oh sorry, wait, it’s nothing bad,” I came into the room, shutting the door behind me as Lily sat by it with Crisplet sticking to my side.

I proceeded to explain the whole day to them, getting to the events with the cookbook where Hari just had a frown on his face.

“He can’t say those things to you,” Hari said.

“It is surprising that the cookbook is exactly the same, including the most recent entry. I wonder if it copies consistently, or if it was a snapshot of the moment you got the book,” Milo said, rubbing his chin.

“You can’t just accuse someone of theft! And certainly not a noble house like that,” Hari said, sounding more and more agitated.

“Do you think they’ll let us test it by writing on a page in the original book and seeing if it appears?” Milo asked, turning to me.

“Milo!” Hari barked.

“Oh, sorry, yeah, they shouldn’t be accusing you and stuff. Are they still here? Could I ask them?” Milo muttered, clearly not listening to much else.

“That’s not the strangest part,” I said.

I explained the rest: how my memory of the shop is all but gone, and I couldn’t tell you where the shop even was now other than in Farnox, and then I got to the journal.

“What exactly do you mean it’s bound to you?” Milo said.

Since it was still in my hands, I just held it out to him. When Milo went to take it, the same thing happened, the book stayed in my hand.

“And look at this,” I said, putting the book on the desk. “Try to take it.”

Hari reached out to take it, where, like in the kitchen, his hand went straight through to the desk.

I immediately had Milo’s full attention.

“How curious! He bound a book to you. Didn’t you get another book from him as well?” Milo asked.

“Two others,” I said, pulling out Events That Formed the Kingdom, and the other, Demonic Invasion? And Who Started It.

Milo reached out, taking the books from my hand, showing they were not bound like the journal, but it seemed Milo was now interested in the contents more.

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“Would you mind if I read one of these?” Milo asked.

I just shrugged. I had read some of the demonic invasion one while we travelled, but honestly, it sounded like both sides got greedy, blamed each other, and it all started over petty nonsense.

“I know they seem fairly mundane by the titles, but I suspect there may be more to these books than meets the eye,” Milo said, already opening it to read.

“Right, back to the accusation,” Hari said.

I just looked between them, exacerbated by both of them being distracted. “Wait a second, we’ve not even discussed the journal. How is it bound to me! I swear I’ve handed it to you before!”

Milo put the book down for a moment. “How? I wouldn’t even begin to comprehend. We have bound items, obviously, but they, from my knowledge, only come out of dungeons, and are bound once used, so either this journal is an original and has come from a dungeon, where he’s tricked it, or he’s far more powerful than we expect, in which case it’s not something I’m going to be prying into, as for me holding it before, I honestly don’t recall, did I read it?”