It was time to enter the room with the kingdom’s secrets. The first thing that caught my eye in the dim room was a mummified mermaid.
It was a mummified mermaid. Its upper half looked like a monkey, and its bottom half looked like a fish—it was definitely a mermaid.
There were plenty of other things, like rusty swords, old wooden slips, and yellowed stacks of papers, but the mermaid mummy was so impactful that nothing else was registering.
The large glass case containing the desiccated mermaid was sitting in a corner of the room, covered in dust, yet it had such a strong presence.
What a shock! The government has been hiding the existence of cryptids after all! Though in a fantasy world with monsters, cryptids don’t feel that special... They don’t feel that strange, I guess.
After realizing that the mermaid mummy wasn’t such a big deal, I immediately lost interest in it, but for some reason Patrick was now overreacting to it.
“What is that thing...?”
“It’s probably some monster from the sea.”
“It’s not a monster,” he objected. “Monsters don’t leave carcasses behind.”
He was right. Once a monster died, its body disappeared. Since they were quasi organisms completely made out of magical energy, the moment they stopped being active they would turn back into magical energy and disappear as if they’d evaporated, leaving only magic stones behind. For that reason, it was impossible to taxidermy a monster or make weapons out of their claws.
Does that mean that mermaid’s not a monster but an animal? Is it something that can be explained by biology like regular mammals and fish, even though it looks like that?
What a shock! The government has been hiding the existence of cryptids after all! This is the second time it’s been proved today. They’re probably hiding the existence of UFO’s along with cryptids. Are we really going to be all right? Is the kingdom going to “disappear” us?
I glanced over at Ronald, worried about whether we’d be able to safely return home after seeing such unbelievable things.
“I apologize,” he began, sounding regretful. “I don’t mean to rain on your fun, but that’s fake. An amateur just put together the bones of a monkey and a fish.”
Then why is it being stored in the basement like it’s some precious thing?! I won’t be fooled! I’ll bring your conspiracies to light!
As I fumed all on my own, Patrick made his way to the display case housing the mermaid mummy, not seeming skittish.
“The bones on the monkey side and fish side are pretty different.”
“What? Really?”
“Look here.”
He’s right. The more I looked at the suspicious mermaid’s hips, the more obvious it became that this was a poorly made fake. Ugh, what a boring world. But I still believe there are aliens. Before I could ask why they were storing such an item, Ronald answered.
“It seems that an important person made it long ago. We can’t make it public, and no one has the heart to throw it out either.”
Who the heck is this important person who had enough free time to make this thing? I’m sure they would be okay with throwing it out. They probably made it when they were a kid anyway. It’s like your parents keeping your crafts from elementary school in a storage closet, only it’s been several hundred years.
Though the mummified mermaid had stood out quite a bit, its importance drastically decreased. I needed to focus on my original objective, so I began scanning the secret room.
The room, which could be called the forbidden archives, turned out to be quite large once we entered. It was filled with things like wooden slips that felt ancient, carefully bound stacks of papers, and a metal box that was wrapped with chains... There were items that were historically valuable and things that couldn’t be revealed to the public. I once again felt that I’d come to a dangerous place.
“Is it really okay to show me this place?” I asked Ronald.
“It’s fine. You probably won’t tell anyone.”
It was true that I wouldn’t reveal secrets I’d found out here to others, nor would I let them accidentally slip. The same went for Patrick. Everyone here can keep their mouth shu—
“Wowie! There are so many old things!”
I wonder if this is fine. She’s the last person who should be here. I started to get worried, and I glanced over at the potential risk’s brother to see if things were okay.
“I wonder if this is fine,” Ronald said. “She’s the last person who should be here.”
It seemed that her dear brother felt the same way.
That very same potential risk continued to explore the room on her own, her unfortunate danger on full display. Stop! You’re going to end up seeing something you shouldn’t, and they’ll erase your memories. They’ll show you a glowing pen thing!
Nothing here should’ve been interesting to Eleanora, but she began rummaging around with a strange persistence.
“There’s a wonderful scent coming from somewhere,” Eleanora remarked. “This smells like...a desert at sunset,” she mumbled to no one as she sniffed the air.
Now that she’s mentioned it, something smells like flowers enveloped in something. There’s nothing about it that smells like a desert at sunset, though. Actually, what does that even smell like?
Ronald tilted his head in confusion without trying to sniff out the scent, but Patrick seemed to understand.
“You two get what she’s talking about?” Ronald asked. “Is there such a smell?”
“It does smell faintly of flowers, but not desertlike... Do you know what it is, Patrick?”
“I can smell that something smells like perfume, but I don’t know where it’s coming from.”
Thanks to our heightened senses that came with being at high levels, Patrick and I were both able to smell the scent that Eleanora was talking about. It was incredible that Eleanora was able to notice it without the same advantages as us.
Eleanora went deeper into the room in search of where the smell was originating from.
“Oh, this is... But this shouldn’t smell so...”
Eleanora arrived at the farthest part of the room. I was worried if it was okay for her to rummage in this area.
“This is actually the area where all the documents relating to the foundation of the kingdom—in other words the first king—are located,” Ronald said.
The perfume-detection dog Eleanora had brilliantly found the documents we were looking for. Though it was probably a coincidence, it was a magnificent move on her part. Eleanora finally found the source of the fragrance.
“It’s this notebook! The smell is coming from this.” Eleanora held a black notebook up high. It was probably an antique item from before the foundation of the kingdom, but it didn’t look too weathered.
“Whose is that?” I asked.
Ronald just placed his hand over his mouth with a dubious look. “There shouldn’t be something here that’s not in the catalog... Did an intruder leave it behind? No, that’s not possible. In that case, what is that...?”
What? Is it some unknown item? It didn’t seem likely that something within Eleanora’s reach had been undiscovered until just now. That’s strange...
Reading the contents of the notebook would probably reveal some information, but Eleanora was only interested in its smell. She brought the notebook up to her nose. As she took a long sniff, a look of happiness washed over her face.
“Ah... This is such a lovely scent.”
I knew she liked nice fragrances, but it was rare for her to be so enamored by a smell. Maybe there’s something dangerous in that scent. It smells like crime.
“I wonder what this smell is,” I said.
“There’s something mysterious about it, like when you think something’s ended but it’s only just begun. There’s also a loneliness to it, like a desert at sunset. There’s also a joy to it, like being able to live as you please...”
“I see...”
“More than anything, this smells like the real thing.”
“Is that so?” I limply responded.
“Finally... He was finally able to make something real.” Overcome with emotion, tears began streaming down Eleanora’s face.
I would’ve liked some information that would help us narrow things down, like the scent of a flower from a certain place or a fragrance that can only be obtained at a certain location... My senses weren’t as sensitive as Eleanora’s, so I wouldn’t be able to understand. I decided to give up on figuring out what the smell was.
After getting the notebook from a teary Eleanora, I immediately scanned the contents. There was an entry written in rounded, cutesy handwriting.
“Ugh, he’s so annoying! Also, I saw that girl for the first time in a while, and she was split in half! I was so surprised!!!”
What the hell is this? It’s as unintelligible as Eleanora’s thoughts on the scent. I showed the notebook to Ronald, thinking if he could deduce the contents then we’d be able to figure out what this was, but it only furthered our confusion.
“I think I would remember something like this...” he said.
One mystery just leads to another... Perhaps this entry hadn’t made sense because I’d flipped to a random page. I flipped through the notebook and checked the first page.
“Starting today, I’m going to jot down my thoughts and feelings from my daily life. I hope the rest of my day is wonderful!”
It seemed like a diary, or rather, a collection of memos. The adorable, round handwriting meant that the owner was probably a woman. I skimmed the notebook as I flipped through the pages.
“Work was so tough today. I’m so exhausted! I want comfort.”
“My boss, who I admire, and my crush were hanging out together. Feeling kinda sad.”
“My crush told me, ‘You’re weirdly feminine when it comes to certain things’! Is that a good thing...?”
“Got demoted. I’m definitely not going to forgive my boss, grrr!”
“I might’ve unlocked some secret power... I’m totally going to use it to get back at my boss!”
“I’m suddenly in an unfamiliar place? Where am I? I’m so lonely.”
“Ugh, he’s so annoying! Also, I saw that girl for the first time in a while, and she was split in half! I was so surprised!!!”
Oops, I made it to the newest entry. After a quick skim, it seemed that it was eighty percent about the owner’s romantic relationships, and the rest was all complaints about her boss. Most of it was stuff that didn’t matter, and it felt like the owner’s imagination was running wild with the part about the secret power... Really, what is this?