That brat Haben gave the order. I hid behind the picture book and swept my gaze over the room once.

“What are you doing? I said bring me the pen.”

“All right...”

I answered in a small voice, because there was nothing else I could do, and got to my feet.

Then I slowly picked up the pen and turned around. After that, I went straight to Haben’s desk and dumped out his pen case with a clatter.

“What do you think you’re doing? Touching someone else’s things however you want—are you crazy?!”

That introduction sure was loud.

“You said to bring a pen.”

“N-no! Not my pen! Hey, hey! That one’s really expensive...! Real jewels!”

I picked up a pen that looked expensive at a glance.

Then I walked toward Haben as slowly as I could and held it out to him.

“Here. I brought it.”

“You little—! Give it here!”

The moment Haben reached out, I let the pen drop lightly toward his palm. Since I had already taken the cap off, red ink smeared all over his hand.

“Oops, sorry. My hands shake a little...”

Tap. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Watching the jeweled pen fall to the floor, I slanted my brows apologetically.

“I’m really sorry...”

“Damn it!”

It really must have been expensive, because Haben instantly bent over and snatched his pen off the floor.

“You tiny little—!”

I’d dragged things out long enough, so it felt like it was about time for her to arrive...

Just as Haben, thoroughly provoked, was about to lunge at me—

“What is all this commotion?”

She was here.

With a rattle, the door opened, and Yuliope appeared, frowning between her brows.

“Is this a fight? Honestly.”

“N-no! Professor! That girl... Ru? Ru, whatever her name is! She touched my things!”

As if he had been waiting for the chance, Haben immediately tattled to Yuliope.

“What are you talking about? Haben, you started it by bullying Jerdin!”

Sortie, who had clearly had enough, spoke up. The girls around us chimed in in small voices.

“That’s right!”

“Yeah!”

Keeping my face calm, I lightly knocked the note that had been sitting on Jerdin’s desk so that it fell to the floor.

Yuliope bent down and picked it up.

“Did you write this, Haben?”

When the professor asked with her brow furrowed, Haben took a faltering step back.

“I-I didn’t! I have no idea!”

“...The color of this writing is exactly the same as the ink on your hand.”

“No, that’s, I mean...”

A short sigh slipped from the professor’s lips.

“If you cause a disturbance during camp, you receive penalty points. Even if it only lasts ten days, have you forgotten that the Academy’s rules still apply here? Now then, if the person at fault apologizes and we move on, then just this once—”

“A commoner dared to talk back to me!”

“Haben Abellus. Twenty penalty points. At our Academy, using status to belittle others is forbidden.”

At that tired but stern voice, Haben flinched back. The sound of his angry breathing filled the room.

“As soon as we get outside the Academy walls, they’ll all be kneeling in front of me anyway...”

“Haben Abellus. Another twenty penalty points. With one hundred meaning forced expulsion from camp, you are currently in first place. A steep rise.”

“Tch...”

There was almost nothing more humiliating to a family than a forced expulsion.

Haben seemed to know that too, because he finally shut his mouth, though his face was twisted with resentment.

“If you cause another disturbance, then I’ll give you a bonus sixty points all at once.”

Cough, cough.

Yuliope turned away as she cracked open another drink.

“All right, all right. Sit down.”

Thud.

The boy deliberately slammed his shoulder hard into mine as he went past.

I let it slide and sat back down.

Coming to school means I even end up fighting with kids.

What a truly fresh experience.

I almost never got into open conflicts with anyone.

Really, in the middle of trying just to survive, fight with someone? Even if there was conflict, it was easier on the heart to ignore it.

But Haben... you idiot.

Feeling the burning stare drilling into my back, I opened my book.

The one I helped wasn’t Jerdin. It was you.

A sigh slipped out on its own.

As I shifted my gaze, I suddenly met a pair of eyes beneath that fluffy hair.

His wavy bangs covered them so heavily that I couldn’t be sure our eyes had really met...

But judging by the way his shoulders jerked, he must have been looking at me.

Jerdin Camel...

Actually, I had thought the name sounded strangely familiar from the moment I first heard it.

He looks like a quiet commoner right now, but later he becomes a noble.

And not just any noble.

Unlike the House of Abellus, which would slowly decline, he would become one of those new nobles who rose at a terrifying speed.

After graduating from the Academy, he worked at the Imperial Palace, earned merit, and received a title, I think?

It had only been mentioned briefly, in connection with when Licht became Crown Prince.

But that wasn’t all.

Every business he touched succeeded, and he went on to build the kind of wealth that could only be called enormous.

That was the reason the Academy had allowed commoners to enroll in the first place.

The discovery of outstanding talent.

It was only possible because the current Emperor was the kind of ruler who actively sought to promote talent.

Of course, most people who rose to nobility that way only received a quasi-baron title that could not be inherited.

But Jerdin, unusually, would rise all the way to a countship.

Anyway, Haben, don’t beat your chest in regret later. Just stay still.

That’s how you stay alive...

I shook my head and looked straight ahead.

*****

Once the commotion settled down, Yuliope led us to the library.

Haben must really have been afraid of those penalty points, because he didn’t pick another fight.

We all sat in a little cluster in the children’s collection room of the Central Library, the place we had briefly stopped by yesterday.

“Now then, I brought this book to show all of you.”

The professor pulled out an old book.

It was the very same one she had been carrying tucked under her arm since earlier.

“Does anyone know what this is?”

“An old book!”

“That’s right, an old book. Then, does anyone know the ancient language written here?”

“Me!”

“Of course not.”

Yuliope laughed softly, her face caked in fatigue.

“Very few people can read the ancient language. And during this war, a great many scholars who knew it died as well... Ah, listen to me. How embarrassing.”

As she stroked the book, the professor’s face clouded over.

Ah...

I looked at the professor’s strangely gloomy face.

Come to think of it, I felt like I had heard something about it in passing.

They said Academy scholars died while trying to retrieve ancient books discovered on Babilon’s western border.

That had been back when dark creatures were still swarming everywhere. To be honest, deaths like that had been extremely common.

Of course...

The loss felt by the people left behind was not something that could be dismissed just because such deaths were common.

Yuliope clapped her hands once, brightening the mood.

“Now then, anyway! I brought this to show you that our Central Library once had many precious old books like this. So when you go back home, what do you do first?”

“Register for the Academy entrance exam!”

“Yes, very good!”

Yuliope nodded like a peddler selling miracle cures.

Just then, one of the children asked,

“But is that book really that great?”

After taking a long drink, the professor smiled as if the question were adorable.

“It is a tremendously important document. It is a [N O V E L I G H T] precious book that contains records from thousands of years ago.”

“But it looks older and dirtier than my new book...”

“And that is why it is important.”

Yuliope smiled warmly.

“When something grows worn, that is proof that time is passing. And the piling up of time is a meaningful thing.”

The children tilted their heads. I raised my hand a little and answered.

“Dad says that people grow older every day too, but that just means they grow wiser every day. Is it something like that?”

Yuliope lifted her brows slightly as she looked at me.

“Yes, exactly. There are things whose value comes from being old.”

“But how can a book from thousands of years ago still be in one piece?”

“That is exactly what our Academy is proud of. Preserving old books...”

At that moment, Yuliope slowly fell silent.

“Professor? Are you all right? Shouldn’t you hurry and drink your drink?”

Sortie, sitting beside her, asked with concern. Yuliope smiled faintly and drank another dose of fatigue-recovery medicine.

“Thank you. In any case, it is because our Rare Books Archive possesses a blessed environment specialized for preserving ancient books.”

“Waaah!”

The children, not knowing any better, burst into applause.

I stared quietly at the book in Yuliope’s hands.

Just as I thought. Professor Yuliope knows the contents of the old books are being erased.

The old book was definitely in good condition.

What felt a little out of place was the small bookmark tucked into the middle of it.

She marked it with a bookmark. Right up to the part that had turned blank.

Yuliope carefully opened the book to the place marked by the bookmark.

“This is a document that records the appearance of Babiles, our capital, here. Its title is < Beautiful Views of Babiles >.”

“I can’t read a single bit of it!”

“That’s because it’s the ancient language. Back then, there was no division into separate nations, so everyone used this ancient language as their common language.”

Yuliope explained it step by step.

“Is it different from the common language of the continent we use now?”

“Completely. The current common language of the continent is almost identical to our Babilon Imperial language. As for the ancient language, if we were to compare it...”

After a pause, she added the next part. I could more or less guess what she was about to say.

“It is similar to the ancient language of the Magic Kingdom.”

I curled my fingers slightly into my palm.

“That in itself is evidence that mages once lived on this continent in ancient times.”

“Wow, that’s amazing! Then could I have been friends with a mage too?”

“You probably could have. Now then, shall we take a look inside?”

Yuliope slowly turned the pages.

Because it was a book with many illustrations, the children focused on it with considerable interest.

I really should go find her later.

I looked at the professor’s lifeless, shadowed eyes and thought,

But if I go to her out of nowhere, won’t Yuliope be wary?

That said, I couldn’t exactly blurt out that I knew the secret of the Rare Books Archive.

Isn’t there some way to win the professor over naturally...

Hmm.

Folding my arms, I sank into thought. I felt like Liam had said something about this once...

*****

During the break.

“Um, uh...”

Someone approached me while I was putting my bag in order.

“Hm?”

“Th-thank you for earlier. A-and yesterday too...”

It was fluffy-haired Jerdin Camel.

He had pale purple hair that curled and fell heavily enough to cover even his eyes.

Thin cheeks. Hesitant movements. A small voice.

I smiled as kindly as I could.

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it. But...”

I abruptly jumped to my feet and stuck my face right in front of his.

“W-what is it?”

“If you’re really grateful to me, then remember what happened today for a long, long time. All right? And if you ever end up writing an autobiography or something later, you can use it as one of the episodes.”

“I-I don’t know what you mean, but...”

Jerdin nodded awkwardly.

“I think it probably will stay with me for a long time...”

Dad, I just got acquainted with one of the richest men on the continent-to-be...