Chapter 174 Page Numbers
After scrutinizing the text several times, Aleshia still couldn't piece the words together. Embarrassed, she asked, "How does it read? Sorry, I can't understand it. How do I read this?"
Lucia kindly refrained from judging her. After explaining how the words fit together and what they meant individually, she encouraged Aleshia to try to decipher it herself, having provided her with some helpful education.
"Alright, I think I've got it. Does it say 'Dispell Malignancy?'" Aleshia asked slowly, carefully articulating each syllable.
After a long pause that left Aleshia feeling uncertain, Lucia finally replied, "That's what I see it says. You did great—you got it right!"
Aleshia released the breath she had been holding, feeling a sense of accomplishment from Lucia's reaction.
Still riding high, Aleshia said, "Alright, I've had fun. Let's turn to the next page."
Aleshia double-checked the word and mentally noted its meaning. She then glanced at the edge of the page to find the corresponding page number. "163?" she remarked. "That doesn't seem like too many pages to flip through."
Aleshia repeated the number aloud to help her remember it, and Lucia did the same. After both of them had recited the number a good number of times, Aleshia randomly flipped to a page in the book, but it wasn't the one they were interested in; it turned out to be blank. Nonetheless, Aleshia searched the page for any signs of a numbering system. In the corner of the page, she noticed a tiny number etched so faintly that she might not have seen it if she hadn't been searching for it so intently.
"Lucia, there are page numbers in the corners," Aleshia informed her.
"What does it say?" Lucia asked, repeating her mantra, "163."
Aleshia focused intently and eventually managed to make out the digits. "I think it's either 89 or 80, but I can't tell clearly."
"That's fine; it just means we're more than halfway there, so keep flipping," Lucia encouraged, returning to her repetition of "163."
Aleshia flipped through a few more pages and decided to check the page number. This time, it was 166. Knowing she was close to her goal, Aleshia carefully counted in her head while the background noise of Lucia repeating "163" filled the room. She counted backward as she flipped back three pages, but when she read it, she didn't see anything resembling the spell she thought would be there. Curious, she double-checked the page number.
"What?" Aleshia exclaimed, feeling bewildered. The number she could faintly see read 34. In a rush, she returned to the last page she had viewed, and to her surprise, it displayed a completely different number: 200.