Leona and Reading

Leona’s fifth birthday vignette revolves around his reading about the preservation of food during cold waves in a history book from an unspecified eastern country that seems to be written in a foreign and/or dead language. 

Leona says that he found it unexpectedly in a secondhand book market in the town outside the school and it contains a lot of words and expressions that he is unfamiliar with and needs to decipher, as he only recognizes select words.

Leona says it has been a while since he found such a good book, and he stays up all night reading it through to the end.

Leona also mentions reading a history book back home, which part of the reason why he knows more about the Ferrymen of the Isle of Woe than any of the other overblot characters at the time of their kidnapping. At the beginning of the NBC event he overlaps with the other characters at a book fair.

Malleus gets a specialist book written in a dead language for Leona for his birthday, about his favorite subject: ancient incantations. (Written in two different ways on EN, “ancient incantations” is the more accurate version.)

Leona recognizes the book as far more valuable than the school’s gift budget should allow for, saying, “mages would be all over it, but even plain ol’ linguists would be champin’ at the bit to get their paws on it.”

Malleus explains, “We have the same book in our castle library. I can vouch for what a fascinating read it is,” and Leona thanks him for the thoughtful gift, adding, “I wasn’t expectin’ to get actual treasure outta this birthday interview. I should thank that fool of a bookseller.”