Since it was a space only those permitted by the empire could enter, he’d vaguely thought the interior would be extraordinary too, but it wasn’t particularly so. There were just ordinary bookshelves attached to every wall. Because of that, it also felt like a space surrounded by bookshelves rather than walls.
“Naro, by the way, you can’t take the books here outside. Copying them isn’t allowed either.”
“Yes, I’ll keep that in mind.”
Moreover, the time wasn’t unlimited either. After a certain amount of time passed, the clerk who had helped them enter would knock on the door to signal them.
Mellian, perhaps intending not to interfere so Naro could look around comfortably, or perhaps because her body was very tired, went to sit in a chair prepared on one side and rested.
Naro quickly approached the first bookshelf he saw. Indeed, even just skimming through, the books and materials looked extraordinary. Naro took out and examined mainly materials that seemed likely to have recorded major incidents from the past.
Most were old books. However, the items in Roton’s Room were thoroughly managed by the Roton’s Room clerk. Above all, the materials and books here were surrounded by a small amount of mana on the outside, so it seemed that no matter how old they were, they could be preserved as-is in their original form without being damaged.
Naro skimmed through the materials with quick hands. He had to find information somehow within the limited time. This opportunity might never come again. He’d heard this from Mellian later too, but Roton’s Room wasn’t open all 365 days of the year.
They’d keep it open for a certain period, then suddenly lock it for several months for the safe preservation and management of books, and during that time, even people with passes couldn’t enter except for the clerks working at the Lupel Library.
So this was his only chance. But contrary to Naro’s impatient feelings, the materials containing the information he wanted couldn’t be easily found.
Before he knew it, cold sweat had formed on Naro’s forehead. His hands became busier and his eyes moved quickly. He’d examined two of the three bookshelves surrounding the walls, but there was no harvest. If he couldn’t get what he wanted from the last bookshelf either, he’d have to start over from the beginning.
Mellian was dozing off, perhaps tired. Naro pulled himself together and approached the last bookshelf. He put strength in his eyes and scanned the books on the shelf, even taking out and checking suspicious ones directly.
Now only the last row of the bookshelf remained. Naro was examining it calmly when something suddenly caught his eye. It was a document with several sheets of paper bound together with string, without any cover. At the premonition that stabbed the back of his neck, Naro quickly pulled out that document.
“Huh?”
But strangely, it was literally blank paper with no writing on it at all. There was no writing to be found on the first page, or the next page, or the page after that either.
Wasn’t this it either? Just as he let out a sigh in disappointment, the thought “What if?” flashed through his mind. Naro looked around here and there. Naro’s eyes passed over the dozing Mellian and reached the candlesticks attached to each wall.
The candlesticks were covered with transparent lids. He thought it was probably to prevent fires. Naro immediately put his thought into action. He opened the transparent lid, took out the candle, and held it under the document.
Then an unbelievable thing happened. A transparent yellow light rippled around the document, and letters began to appear on the paper.
Naro instinctively knew his thought was correct. All the items stored here were surrounded by a small amount of mana, and he’d heard that the range of what mana could do was infinite. So he’d thought that perhaps the contents of this paper were hidden with mana.
There would be no reason to bind and store completely blank paper in Roton’s Room. Of course, he hadn’t known it would really react to fire. He’d just tried it as it came to mind and was lucky.
Naro gulped down his saliva and began examining the document in earnest. He first looked at the cover. The characters that appeared in reaction to heat were written exactly like this:
<Erwin Mana Knights Order Document No. 552>
Author: Flens Rihill
* * *
Ray sat in a chair, blankly staring into space. The air in the room was quiet as if it would calm his mind, but his noisy head wouldn’t easily settle down.
Ray looked down at his hand. He’d swatted Naro away with this hand earlier. He regretted it even now. Because Naro had looked quite flustered.
“Haah.”
But he really couldn’t stop the action that had reflexively burst out even himself. When Naro’s hand touched him, or more precisely when he felt Naro’s body temperature, a tingling sensation spread through him for a moment. That inexplicable feeling managed to reach deep into his chest and made his heart beat irregularly. Not stopping there, when the appearance Naro had shown last night and even that warmth came to mind, he was helplessly swept up in an unidentifiable emotion.
If he hadn’t quickly swatted away Naro’s hand then…
Ray shook his head and ran his hand through his hair. He’d thought it would be enough if Naro would just stay by his side, if he would just always smile brightly within sight. What more had he come to want from Naro?
“The difference in how we like…”
Ray muttered blankly. Perhaps because he’d thought too much, fatigue rushed in abruptly. Just as he was closing his eyes tightly like that.
Knock knock—
At the knocking sound, he shot up from his seat. Was it Naro? His outstretched hand hesitated as it was about to turn the doorknob. The smell coming from beyond the door wasn’t Naro’s. Ray tilted his head and opened the door.
“Ah.”
The other person made a low sound in their throat. A man with an unfamiliar face stood in front of Ray’s door wearing a gentle smile. The smell passing by the tip of his nose was strangely familiar. It was the distinctive fragrance of this inn.
“Hello. I’m an employee of this inn.”
That scent was coming from the clothes the man was wearing. Ray recalled occasionally seeing those who wore clothes similar to the man’s and guided them while staying at this inn with Naro.
“So?”
“Your companion asked me a favor before going out. To make sure you have a meal when lunchtime comes.”
The man was holding a long rectangular tray with food on it. Ray’s green eyes scanned the food. They were foods he’d sometimes eaten in the cafeteria on the first floor.
“…”
“Guest? Won’t you accept it? When you finish eating, I’ll come back later to collect the empty dishes and utensils.”
“I don’t need it. I don’t have to eat, so take it back.”
“What? But… your companion specifically asked me to make sure you don’t skip meals.”
“I’m not particularly hungry.”
“Ah… then I understand.”
Ray pushed the door and turned around. Just as the figure of the bowing employee was gradually disappearing between the closing door, Ray hesitated.
“…What are you doing?”
Ray twisted his head and lowered his gaze slightly. The man who called himself an employee, just before the door completely closed, pushed his foot in to create a gap and nimbly entered inside. One of the man’s hands still held the tray with food, and the other hand was at Ray’s waist.
With dripping sounds, red blood fell onto the quality carpet. The light-colored carpet was stained red.
“Haha, so you should’ve just quietly eaten it… urk!”
Even while bleeding, Ray grabbed the man’s collar without changing his expression and pushed him toward the wall. The man, subdued so easily, struggled and resisted to escape from Ray’s hand. But when Ray didn’t budge as if he were a huge mountain, the man panicked.
Ray brought his hand back and roughly pulled out the object embedded in his waist. As droplets of blood scattered, one or two drops also splattered on the white bed covers.
It was a long, sharp-tipped needle made of silver. It had some thickness to it, so it also looked like a nail.
“Who are you?”
Ray took his gaze off the needle and stared at the man.
“Is your target me? Or…”
“Kuk…!”
When strength went into the hand gripping his collar and he began to suffocate, the man pounded on Ray’s hand.
“Is it Naro?”
Ray’s eyes flashed. His vertically split pupils became even darker. The same went for the blood vessels bulging on the back of his hand.
“Speak. Who are you? Why are you doing this? If you tell the truth, I’ll at least spare your life.”
“Kkeuk…”
The man fumbled through his pocket with difficulty. At the jingling sound, Ray reflexively became alert, but what he pulled out was a shabby pocket watch.
“Damn it… kuk! When on earth…”
The man muttered while looking down at the watch. He couldn’t understand at all what he was saying. Ray thought for now. If he continued choking his neck like this, he might really suffocate and die. Since he’d promised Naro not to carelessly take lives, he couldn’t let that happen.
It seemed better to restrain him with something moderately appropriate and wait for Naro to come.
“First…”
Ray hesitated. Before he could continue speaking, blood dripping from his nose wet the carpet once more. Ray fumbled around his nose with one hand and tilted his head.
“Why… urk.”
At that moment, his heart repeatedly expanded and contracted as if it would burst, and his breathing became ragged. His head hurt as if it would split in half, and coughs burst out ceaselessly as if someone were grabbing his lungs and shaking them with their hands.
Soon his eye level began gradually lowering. He could see the man who had escaped from his grasp coughing while rubbing his neck. Strength wouldn’t enter his body, and he couldn’t move his arms and legs as he wished.
“Haha, wow, this is really a dragon? I didn’t see wrong?”
Ray instinctively felt it. That his humanization had been undone now. But not by his own will—by a forceful power. Ray recalled being stabbed near his waist earlier and tried to move somehow, but it was insufficient.
“Hey hey, don’t crawl around on your own.”
The man crouched down and made eye contact. The voice humming a tune and muttering that he could become a billionaire was truly unpleasant.
Before he knew it, a rope was in the man’s hand.
“Yes, it’s me. I almost died but I succeeded anyway. I’ll return right away.”
With that voice as the last thing he heard, his body was lifted and then he immediately felt like he was falling again. It seemed he’d been put into something like a backpack.
“Just sleep well.”
A creaking sound was heard as the backpack’s knot slowly tightened. The amount of light seeping in also decreased along with it, and Ray’s vision went dark like that.
