Royal Academy/Library

The Royal Academy Library is located in the Royal Academy and managed by the mednoble librarian Solange. It is said to be the second-most extensive library in the country of Yurgenschmidt.

The main purpose of the Library is to hold books that might prove useful to the students. As a result, the majority of books and documents are directly related to the curriculum of the academy. However, it also contains information of research of past and current professors and a small assortment of writings for the purpose of entertainment.

The library is supposed to be managed by a staff made up of multiple archnoble scholars, supported by further med- and laynobles. Though due to the effects of the recent civil war and the following purge the only person currently employed as a librarian in the royal academy is the mednoble Solange.

Spoiler from Part 4 Volume 7 The archnobles work at the royal academy only during the winter season and then move the to royal palace library during the other three seasons. Librarians of the lower ranks stay in the royal academy all year long.

The royal academy library is fitted with a variety of magic tools both to protect it's content and help in it's purpose.

These tools are built into the structure and substance of the library itself.


 * Humidity Management - A magic tools used to keep the humidity of the library at a certain level, to prevent moisture-related damage to the books and documents.
 * Light Magic Tool - A tool shining down multi-coloured lights shortly before the ringing of the bells to alert students too engrossed in their reading to hear the bells.
 * Ground Cleaning Magic Tool - Tools to keep the floors clean.
 * Sound-dampening Magic Tool - Tools to reduce the noise in the library.

These tools are built directly into certain shelves.


 * Time-Stopping Magic Tool - A tool to prevent old documents from rotting away.
 * Sunlight Protection - A tool to prevent scrolls from being damaged by sunlight.


 * Schwartz and Weiss - Two magically animated dolls fashioned after the appearance of large Shumils, created to work as assistants to the librarians.
 * Grutrissheit Replica - A Magic Tool in the shape of the Grutrissheit held by the statue of Mestionora. It is currently unknown what this magic tool does, but it absorbs large amounts of mana.

Once the library opens with the beginning of the classes, new students are allowed to register at the library. This would grant them permission to enter the library and borrow books. There is a registration fee of one small gold per student. The introduction for new students would proceed according to the duchy's ranking and after that it is freely accessible.

If a student decides to register at the library, they have to get in touch with a librarian. The current librarian Solange prefers to register many students at once, making new students of the same duchy getting an appointment together. The librarian would hand out a wooden board acting as an invitation to register at the library. When arriving at the library, there is an opening in the door meant for the wooden board to be put in. It would inform the librarian of the arrival of unregistered students and open itself.

Behind the first door lies a bright hallway ending in a second door, illuminated by the sun shining through the windows. The librarian would await the students behind the second door. Another door towards the left would lead to the reading room, the heart of the library. The registration would be executed in the librarian's office which is located to the right. The Library is split into two floors.

To make sure that even students deeply absorbed in their reading do not miss the sound of the bells by accident, the library has a magic tool that shines multi-coloured light down on the entire place at the chime of the bells.

According to the estimation of the current librarian Professor Solange, including the ones in storage for preservation, the library currently holds between thirty- and forty-thousand books and documents.

The library employs a number of magic tools, both for protection of the books and documents and for convenience. These include tools to manage humidity, protect from sunlight and employ lights that are synchronized to the academy's bells. Currently, only the most vital magic tools are active, since Professor Solange lacks the mana capacity to keep the full complement running all on her own.

The books on the shelves, save for the chained books on the second floor, can all be borrowed and brought from the library to the dormitories for a deposit. It is also possible to request for the librarians to bring materials from storage, but those can not be taken out of the library and can only be read within its halls.

It is relatively common for students that aim for a career at the academy itself to start out as assistants to professors. Being sent to the library for errands is often one of the first duties fulfilled by such freshly minted assistants.

The first floor is where the main entrance and counter are located. Off to the side are office-facilities for the staff.

Going straight ahead from the entrance leads into the reading room and then the library proper, containing the bookshelves and carrels, providing the students with spots for reading and working on copies.

The first floor holds an estimated twenty-thousand books and documents - ranging from simple wooden boards to bound and leather-covered books - dealing mostly with class subjects, lending themselves as study resources. There is however also a small corner in which story books and bibles are kept. Due to most students and even many professors considering the academy library as a place only for studying and research, few ever learn of the existence of this corner and show open surprise if they end up finding out by change.

It also contains halls where the librarians can dine together without gender restrictions.

The second floor consists mainly of three-layer bookcases with attached writing desks. While some contain regular books, there are also many that contain barrels filled with scrolls.

There are also bookcases with chained books. Unlike most other shelves, in these the books are put horizontally. The reason is that the metal plates and rivets used to chain the books to the shelves could damage the neighboring books if pulled out carelessly, so they are put on stacks on top of each other, so the readers are forced to carefully lift the desired book off, without a chance to scrape the others. The chains are only long enough to reach to the attached desk. This way of storing, in addition to leather belts around the books, also help to prevent the parchment of their pages from swelling if exposed to moisture.

This floor holds mostly material pertaining to research from past professors. Since many of these materials were written by professors while they were doing the research, few take the time, effort and tedium of transcribing their findings and binding them into proper books, preferring to instead just write everything down on scrolls. Apart from the bookcases, the second floor also contains the living quarters for the library staff and a large statue of Mestionora, the Goddess of Wisdom.

While the statue itself is made of stone, the book she holds is a magic tool with the appearance of a real, leather-bound book encased in many feystones of a variety of colours.

The living quarters on this floor are exclusively for male librarians.

This floor contains the living quarters for female librarians.


 * To reach the library one has to leave the central building and walk south.
 * The building for the specialized course for apprentice knights is the furthest away from the library out of all three specialized courses.