“Teacher Jerian!”
It was none other than Jerian who called Naro’s name.
“I knew it was you, Naro-ssi! I saw you from afar and was wondering. But what brings you to the Lupel Library?”
“Ah…”
Naro hesitated for a moment. When he first met Jerian, he had asked various things about the Dragon Tribe. But if he said he came here to learn about the Dragon Tribe even now, it would definitely look unnatural. In a situation where the Knights had recently put out a bounty on a dragon’s egg, it could look suspicious if a commoner from a small village said he stopped by here to investigate matters about dragons.
“Since I came to the capital, I thought I’d look around a few famous places. I saw this library in a guidebook before coming here.”
“Well, the Lupel Library is large with beautiful exterior and interior, so tourists often come here too.”
“Then you, Teacher… Ah! Are you here because of preparing for your professorship?”
Naro, who was about to ask why he was here, nodded as if understanding. Come to think of it, Jerian being at the library wasn’t particularly strange.
“That’s right. I have a lot to study and write about. But what about Ray-ssi, why are you alone?”
“Ray is in the lounge for a bit.”
Somehow Naro and Jerian ended up walking side by side and talking. While doing so, Naro briefly explained what had happened with Mellian, and at the news that the princess had ultimately accepted Naro’s treatment, Jerian was very happy.
“I knew you could do it, Naro-ssi.”
“It’s still too early to say such things.”
Naro gave what must have been his umpteenth sheepish smile. But then, an inner area a bit further away caught his eye. It was a space that seemed cut off from the general area where bookshelves were lined up at regular intervals.
That place looked quite plain. There was one staff member watching the desk, and behind that employee was a door leading somewhere. Just then, someone approached the desk employee and held out a thin rectangular object like a card.
The employee checked that object and tapped the crystal orb placed in front of the desk with their hand. The person who approached familiarly held that rectangular object up to the crystal orb that began to shine brightly. Soon the light of the crystal orb rippled once and was dyed green.
A few seconds later, with a click, the door behind the employee opened by itself. That person left the object near the crystal orb and disappeared beyond that door.
It seemed like a series of processes to enter a secret space.
“Naro-ssi? What are you looking at?”
When Naro stopped blankly, Jerian approached.
“Do you know what kind of room that is?”
Unable to contain his curiosity, Naro pointed to that area and asked Jerian.
“Ah, are you talking about Rotten’s Room?”
“Rotten’s Room?”
Jerian, who had followed Naro’s gaze, nodded.
“Hmm…”
Jerian paused for a moment. He seemed to be pondering how to explain.
“You know that books and materials in this library can be freely read by everyone regardless of status, right?”
“Yes.”
“But there are also materials that can’t be. The space where those are stored separately is right there.”
“Is there a separate standard for distinguishing such materials?”
“It’s simple. Sensitive content that people shouldn’t easily know about?”
At Jerian’s words said with a grin, Naro nodded as if understanding. Though he didn’t know well, it seemed they were materials treated as classified. Jerian added that inside that room were materials containing content that must never be mixed with books anyone could freely read, content that didn’t easily allow accessibility.
“Besides that, I know they store works of very high historical value that shouldn’t be handled carelessly, detailed accounts of past incidents and accidents that occurred in the Empire, or writings written by past emperors.”
Naro, who heard Jerian’s explanation, flinched. Among what he said, there was just one thing that bothered him. Detailed accounts of past incidents and accidents that occurred in the Empire. Then perhaps inside there might be materials containing accounts of the dragon attack incident?
While looking for books related to the Dragon Tribe with Ray, Naro had secretly searched for anything that might have recorded that history. But he hadn’t found any materials where that incident might be recorded. Come to think of it, it was strange that in this library gathered with vast books and materials, there wasn’t a single record containing that major incident that occurred in the Empire.
Could it be because they’re stored separately?
“That’s a place not just anyone can enter, right?”
“That’s right. You need an entry pass to go in there.”
“Where can you get that entry pass?”
Then Jerian smiled with a somewhat troubled face.
“I know you’re very curious, Naro-ssi, but it would be better to give up on Rotten’s Room. That entry pass isn’t something you can get just because you want it. It’s an item only given to people directly permitted by the Imperial Palace.”
Moreover, even when the Imperial Palace chose people to bestow that entry pass upon, they set very strict standards. It wasn’t something you could get simply by being a noble or having money and power. Including those things, they strictly examined how long a family’s history was, its legitimacy, as well as loyalty and trust toward the Imperial Palace and Empire.
Because of this, there weren’t many even among nobles who possessed entry passes. Besides nobles, there were cases where it was given to intellectuals who had made great contributions to the Empire or contributed to the Empire’s development.
For these reasons, the Rotten’s Room entry pass was also accepted as proof of receiving the trust and recognition of the Empire’s imperial family. Perhaps because of this, from some point on, the trend of people who didn’t care at all about the various secret records that could be seen inside Rotten’s Room and just wanted to possess the entry pass itself was increasing. Just holding that item in hand would naturally raise a family’s prestige.
“I suppose that’s how it is…”
“Yes, if you really want to enter, you have no choice but to ask someone who has an entry pass, but… that won’t be easy either.”
Naro, who had expected it to some degree, nodded weakly. With such standards, he definitely wouldn’t be able to get that entry pass even if his whole life passed.
A possibility for just in case flashed through his mind, but that hope deflated like a balloon losing air before he could even try it.
“Ah, it’s already this late. I have materials I need to finish by today, so I think I should get going.”
“Yes, I kept you here for no reason.”
“Please give my regards to Ray-ssi too.”
Jerian disappeared with quick steps, waving his hand vigorously. It seemed the preparations to become an official professor were quite tight.
Naro, who parted with Jerian, turned his steps back toward the lounge. It had taken quite a while talking after meeting Jerian by chance. He had told Ray he’d be right back.
At the thought that Ray would be sitting still and waiting, Naro’s steps naturally quickened.
“Ray…”
Naro, who stepped into the lounge, halted. The first thing he saw was a large mountain collapsed over the desk. Of course, it wasn’t a mountain but Ray’s back.
Approaching close to the table, he could see Ray’s face with his eyes tightly closed. From between his slightly parted lips, faint sounds of breathing could be heard.
“…You really were tired.”
This was the first time seeing Ray collapsed asleep anywhere like this. At home, no matter how sleepy he got while studying, he didn’t collapse on the desk.
But it was understandable to some degree. Ray had been continuously maintaining his human form since arriving in the capital. Though he had said it was okay to return to being a baby dragon when resting in the inn room, for some reason he didn’t release his human form.
Naro naturally sat in the seat next to Ray and looked at his soundly sleeping face. His thick eyebrows were neat, and with his eyes closed like this, the usual coolness he exuded wasn’t felt well. It was a face that made you keep looking at it, to the point where it wouldn’t be lacking even if a sculptor copied it and made it into a work.
“…”
As if entranced, Naro reached his hand toward Ray’s face. The first place his carefully extended finger touched was his eyebrow. He stroked the thick eyebrow once and came down to poke his cheek. Ray always said things to him like he had good skin, it was transparent, and so on, but the same was true for Ray. His skin texture was as smooth as his scales.
This time he moved to his nose bridge. The nose bridge sliding smoothly down from between his brows was like a well-carved cliff on a high-altitude mountain.
Inside the lounge with no one around. Naro moved his finger slowly like a brush, like a child drawing freely on white drawing paper. The final destination of his hand that had been touching Ray’s face here and there was his lips.
The moment he felt a soft sensation at his fingertips, Naro halted. The days when he had continuously kissed these lips as a morning greeting rose up all at once in his mind like balloons flying up into the sky.
