In this fantastical world where swords and magic coexist, there are actually quite a few fairy tales and stories based on reality. For example, The Little Mermaid has been turned into a fairy tale where she uses arcane magic to conceal her mermaid bloodline, travels to the mainland, and falls in love with a prince. Similar storylines have been replaced with "Edmund's Revenge" and "The Adventures of Corslina," which are closer to the present era.
Compared to the limited content that "The Innocent Knight of the Stained Light" can present to readers, these world-building books make Astrid feel more that this is a real world.
Of course, no matter how fantastical it was, the technology of the Valeria Empire was ultimately stuck in the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. The amount of information that each person could receive was nowhere nearly as broad and fragmented as the internet in her previous life. Naturally, Astrid knew far more stories than Lyra did.
