"Good. She's quite happy with this. Perhaps if I...
Wait, what?
But I used to...
Oh, sod it all. Another spell?" The Codex sighed, after a fashion, as it found another spell in its repertoire too potent for it to use in its current state.
"This is becoming rather bothersome. How can I strengthen my magic when most of it is beyond my current abilities? The old master had a ritual to top me off written on page 4, but how can I get the new one to cast the spell when we can't communicate, let alone her use magic?
I wonder if there's any mages in this city? Do I dare seek them out? Can I even do so?
No, perhaps not now. I can feel my appetite enhancing ritual slowly reconstituting itself from use. I will continue as I've been doing. Hopefully as my arcane abilities improve, more spells will unlock. And if they don't, hopefully I'll be both strong enough to ask for help, and should the need arise, protect the Master from that help."
The Codex looked around the manor with its magical eye. It saw Inigo take a few small bites of his cake, then set it aside. The elf worried the book a little. Or rather a lot, to be honest.
Now, it was well known that all Elves were magical, but what that meant was widely misinterpreted. Most of the common peoples of the world believed that meant there were far more mages among the Elves then the other races, when in fact it was quite the opposite. Less then a tenth of a percent of the Elven population could use magic, and only a handful of those were strong enough to rise to the title of Archon.
However, what the Elves lacked in quantity, they certainly made up for in quality.
Even an Elf mage of the lower ranks was TERRIFYING. The Codex remembered his second master, for whom he would never capitalize his title, meeting with one such Envoy. The fool had been so arrogant, completely unable to sense the sheer scale of power before him, daring repeatedly to address the young elf as if he was the superior one. That single Envoy, whose low title signified he'd finished his magical training and was deemed only fit to be a lowly messenger, held enough power in his body to have wiped out the city and the entire College of Magic it contained with a single word, and even the efforts of a hundred human Mages would have done absolutely nothing to hinder his efforts.
The Codex had been left gibbering in fear. It was sheer luck that the Elf considered the human more amusing than insulting.
Elf society, as you might have guessed, is a strict magocracy. The most powerful of Elven mages rose to the title of Archon, the supreme rulers of their oligarchic society, and the Codex trembled to even think what kind of power such a monster could wield. Fortunately for the rest of the world, the Elves were as isolationist as they were powerful, content to live on their island and allow limited trade in their valuable luxury goods.
The Codex was not up to date on current world affairs, but it had the guess that this city likely held the bulk of the contracts, if the sheer quantity of silks and spices was any indication. There were also an awful lot of Elves walking around, as well...
The Codex certainly remembered its original Master, its Creator, and the lessons of the world he'd taught the book. The Elves loved to give off the impression that their society was harmonious, though in reality it was anything but. Elf society was very harsh and unforgiving. The Archons were unquestionable gods to their subjects. Their will was Law, and to disobey them was to surrender not only your own life, but that of your entire family as well.
Given the only authority an Archon could reasonably respect would be that of another Archon, the only rules they were beholden to was to attempt no harm to one another, and to keep their word. To break this unwritten code would be to invite their own destruction at the hands of entire Council of Archons, a process rather notorious for the sheer scale of collateral damage involved.
Complicating the system further was the fact that, unlike humans, dwarves, and halflings, magic did not travel down family lines. A no-name clan could suddenly spawn an Archon and be propelled to the top of the societal heap. Likewise, a prominent clan could lose its sole mage and plummet. Violence inevitably followed these shifts in power. The formerly oppressed would take vengeance on their now weaker enemies, and the former oppressors would be torn apart by their ex-slaves as they fell. It was not unheard of for whole clans to be destroyed during such upheavals.
Was Inigo a refugee from such a thing? A mage on the run, or perhaps a common clansmen chased from his home by the literal hounds of hell? Or perhaps he was from a low family? The Elves were notorious for their poor treatment of the lower classes, after all. Perhaps he'd bartered passage on a trading ship, eager to make a better life somewhere else? There was a reason there were so many Elves in ports like Erano, after all. "I'm not sure why some humans think they're somehow in tune with the natural world, given they're all dedicated urbanites..."
Though, even if he did not have the talent for spell casting, all Elves had a natural ability to sense magic. In that, at least, they were honest in their assertion of harmony. All Elves knew at an instinctive level if someone ("Or something") was magical, and just how potent it was. It did make for a very well-ordered society, since one knew at mere proximity if someone was to obey or be obeyed.
Thus far, Inigo had not shown any signs of recognizing the Codex for what it is. Perhaps his Master had been wrong, and not all Elves had that ability? Or perhaps, given the raw levels of strength involved in Elfkind, the Codex was simply far too weak for the butler to notice?
That second one was far more terrifying, given the Codex's plans for the future. How strong could it get before the tall elf noticed his presence? If Inigo was a mage, and he figured out what the Codex was before it was strong enough to properly defend itself and Elizabeth...
Had the Codex a head, he'd have shook it to break that rather frightening and unconstructive chain of thought. Elizabeth was slowly rising from her seat, evidently still in pain even with the aid of the relief spell.
As she began to slowly make her way down the hall, one hand on the wall, the Codex thought, "This is foolish to worry about. I may be weak, but surely not so weak that my sense magic spell would fail to notice something as strong as an Elf mage. Still, I should work on my concealment techniques to make sure the butler doesn't notice me just yet."
The Codex watched as Elizabeth stopped partway down the hall, panting heavily as she rubbed her jam-packed gut. "I think I shall give the Mistress an hour before her bedtime snack. Do not worry, Mistress, I may not yet be able to enlarge you directly, but I shall do all I can to make you truly magnificent."
Unable to help itself, the Codex cast another small charm on the red-haired young woman, shocking her as her overpacked belly somehow growled in yet further hunger.
"Hmmm... I wonder if my charm of stomach enlargement still works...?"
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