“...Looks like there’s something deeper inside. I’ll go first.”

The squirrel sitting on top of Khalid’s head sprang down and scampered forward. He, too, quickly moved ahead through the maze of bookshelves.

Holding the lamp, I looked at the book stuck into the shelf right beside me.

“...This is....”

At that moment, the lower part of the perfectly intact spine suddenly peeled away a little.

Rustle. Bits of old paper scattered apart.

It wasn’t like the book had gotten intimidated by my eyes or anything....

I frowned.

“The book... why is it suddenly doing this?”

To check, I used levitation magic to pull one book out as carefully as possible. As I gently turned the pages, I suddenly stopped.

“It’s blank.”

Because the table-of-contents section of the book was empty.

To be precise, it was not completely blank. It was just that it had either been erased entirely, or the remaining letters were so sparse that it was hard to make out the contents.

“The books here... they’re being erased.”

I murmured to myself.

At that moment, the surfaces of the other books crumbled away again with a faint rustle.

“No, that’s not it.”

My mind spun rapidly. A faint pink gleam flashed through my eyes.

I pulled out another book and checked it.

Every book was being erased in order, starting from the first page.

“This isn’t the contents of the books disappearing.”

I jerked my head up.

The black bookshelves stretched endlessly before my eyes.

“The books themselves are aging.”

It was then.

“Rubian!”

Khalid, who had disappeared between the shelves, reappeared with an urgent look and grabbed my wrist.

“Someone’s coming.”

*****

“What? Someone’s coming to the library this late at night?”

“Yeah. We have to go now. Hurry.”

As disappointing as it was, that was the end of the exploration.

Because of the sudden presence we sensed, it was impossible to keep looking inside the Rare Books Archive.

In the end, I had no choice but to return to the dormitory with Khalid.

“Mmm....”

Click. The moment I carefully shut the door, Sortie stirred a little. I stood on my toes and quietly climbed onto my bed.

“Phew.”

Only after burying myself in the soft blanket did a small breath finally escape me.

The rare books are being erased.

The scene I had just witnessed was still vivid before my eyes.

There might be a clue in there that could solve the problem of the mark....

Thinking of the magic that had filled the inside of the Rare Books Archive to the brim, that possibility now felt almost certain.

First, I need to find out the cause.

At this rate, every book in the Rare Books Archive was in danger of aging away and disappearing.

“Phew....”

Still, I’m really tired.

I pulled the blanket up to the tip of my nose. Once I buried myself in the soft bedding, my body melted like jelly almost at once.

I can’t keep spending every night like this.

Sneaking back and forth while avoiding the eyes of the night patrol took an enormous amount of stamina. My excited heart was still pounding hard.

What if I got caught like this and was expelled from camp?

What if my identity was exposed and I brought shame on the family?

Boyd and Liam still haven’t gotten thrown out yet. I can’t be the one to start that....

Right, right. I’m a good daughter....

Just as drowsiness came over me, I suddenly tilted my head.

But do I really have to move around in secret? Strictly speaking, it’s not a ‘no-entry’ area.

If I got permission, maybe I could at least look inside.

The professor in charge of the Rare Books Archive is....

I heard it earlier during the day.

Yul... Yul... what was it again?

My consciousness slowly blurred.

“Yaaawn.”

Out of fuel. I’ll think about it tomorrow.

I rubbed my eyes with a huge yawn. I’m way too tired today, so good night for now.

“Hello. I’m Linguistics Professor Yuliope Moulton. I’m also in charge of overseeing this camp.”

The next day, we all gathered together in a large classroom.

Because from today on, real class activities were beginning in earnest.

The professor in charge of the Rare Books Archive!

I stared fixedly at the young professor, who looked exhausted down to the bone.

Yuliope tore open bottle after bottle of fatigue-recovery drinks and muttered,

“This morning, we’ll start with some simple indoor activities, and in the afternoon we’ll do an outdoor field trip.... Cough, cough.”

Before he could even finish speaking, he was seized by a violent fit of coughing.

At my side, Sortie whispered softly,

“Professor... he looks really tired.”

“Yeah. He really does.”

I studied Yuliope Moulton as he stood at the podium.

Tousled light brown hair, dry skin, and dark shadows sunken beneath his eyes.

In one hand, he held a fatigue-recovery drink as if it were the water of life, and in the other, an old book.

Huh? That book....

My eyes widened slightly.

“Cough, cough, hack!”

“Professor... are you okay?”

When someone asked, Yuliope hastily gulped down the fatigue drink. Then he pulled a fresh bottle from inside his coat and gripped it in his hand.

“Of course, of course. What you’re seeing right now is simply an adult office worker suffering from chronic fatigue. Now then, if looking at me has made you realize anything, please choose your future path carefully. Understood?”

Hahaha, haaa....

A loose, unfastened laugh drifted from the mouth of the slender handsome man. He took another long swallow, draining about half the bottle.

“Phew. In order to do that, I highly recommend enrolling in a high-level Academy so that you can gain more opportunities.... Ah, wait.... If our Academy’s admission rate goes up, that means my workload increases, doesn’t it...?”

Muttering in a grave voice, Yuliope fidgeted with the book in one hand.

Even in his soulless state, the way he handled the book was extremely careful.

Just like I thought, that’s a rare book.

Because the letters written on the spine were in an ancient language.

Without thinking, I read them.

< Beautiful Views of Babiles >

It must be a record of the old capital.

That was my vague guess.

“I guess the professor’s got... a lot on his mind.”

“Looks like it.”

At Sortie’s whisper, I gave a fitting murmur back.

“Anyway, let’s all have fun together. For reference, on the last night we’ll be holding a presentation, and we’re also planning an outdoor party at Lake Reim. Overtime work, exciting, right?”

The professor mechanically pulled up the corners of his mouth.

“Yeees.”

“Hahaha. You’re all cute, very cute.”

Yuliope dropped into his chair like someone waiting for the last leaf to fall.

“Cough, cough. No, but my drink....”

With trembling hands, he searched through his inner pocket. Apparently, he had already drunk everything he’d brought.

“A-all right, everyone, c-calm down.”

It seemed like he was the one who needed to calm down.

“You can all sit quietly, right? Read the fairy tale books in front of you or something. There’s something I need to go get in a hurry....”

“Yeees.”

The children answered quickly out of pity, and the professor hurried out of the classroom. Even then, he still tucked the rare book carefully under his arm.

“...Will Professor Yuliope still be alive by the last day?”

Someone whispered.

“Please let our professor stay alive.”

The children clasped their hands tightly and prayed.

Anyway, we quietly read the fairy tale books that had been prepared in advance.

But why did he bring a rare book here in the first place?

I turned the pages absentmindedly as I thought.

If he’s in charge of the Rare Books Archive, then he should know there’s something wrong with the rare books.... Or does he not know?

The face of the zombie-like professor who looked half dead floated into my mind.

Yuliope Moulton....

If I remembered right, I didn’t think things had ended very well for him in the original story.

It was while I was slowly thinking about Yuliope that—

Tap. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Something struck my shoulder and fell onto the desk.

“What’s this?”

It was a crumpled note. Since it had fallen half-open, my eyes were drawn to the contents without thinking.

< Stuttering Jerdin! Go home! >

And on top of that, it was written in red.

Ugh, again?

I looked around and spotted a boy sitting diagonally from me with his head lowered.

It was the very same boy Haben had been mocking yesterday. His hair was so fluffy he looked like a little poodle.

“Hey. Hand it over.”

At that moment, Haben snatched the note roughly out of my hand.

“What are you looking at? You going to snap back at me again?”

Hooooo.

I took a long, deep breath. Hold it in, hold it in.

“Tch, you’re nothing special!”

When I kept my mouth shut, Haben must have thought I’d gotten scared, because he barked at me triumphantly and then moved away.

“What is his problem, seriously....”

Sortie glared at Haben’s retreating figure.

Haben then started picking a real fight with Jerdin.

“Oh. You brought a lot of pens too, huh? How’d you buy them? They’ve even got jewels in them. Obviously they’re fake, right?”

“No! Th-that was from my mother—!”

The fluffy-haired boy finally lost patience and jumped to his feet. At that very moment, Haben deliberately flicked the pen away.

The pen rolled across the floor and, of all places, stopped right against the tip of my shoe.

“......”

“Hey. Pick that up and bring it here.”