Chapter 7

“Your gratitude? Why are you talking like you don’t even know us…?” asked Dann, his ears sagging sadly. “In any case, it’s time for you to leave.” “Leave? Does that mean you’re staying here?” Dann wasn’t letting it go. “If you’re staying here, then we can, too—” “This isn’t an inn. They’re just doing me a favor.” “All right…” “Wands…?” said the girl in the group, confused. Occasionally, her long ears would poke out from where they were hidden in her hair. She looked up at the sign. “Is this a wandmaker’s shop?” “Yes, it is,” Yuui said with a nod. “What? Is this wand store important? Yuui, I know we don’t have any connection as adventurers anymore, but we’re still classmates at the Academy, and we can’t ignore this. No matter how little money you have, you can’t rely on this run-down place. I know you don’t want to ask us for help, but—” “Rozalia, stop,” commanded Tomah as he placed a hand on her shoulder. “But, Tomah,” she protested. “Ix is an excellent wandmaker. I told you, didn’t I? He realized those teeth were suspicious with a single glance.” Tomah shook his head. “And Yuui trusts this store, so it has to be a good one. Don’t speak that way.” “…You’re right. I’m sorry, Yuui,” said Rozalia, bowing her head. “Water under the bridge.” Yuui’s reply was curt. “You really mean it when you say you’ll make time to talk later?” asked Tomah seriously. “Will you promise to?” “I don’t lie.” “Right. Well, we’ll take you at your word and leave it at that for today. We’re staying at an inn near the center of town. It’s the one with a bird carved on the sign… If you do come to speak with us…you’ll find us there.” “Understood.” “Oh, and about Ix. Rozalia cast some emergency magic on him. He shouldn’t be at risk of dying.” “He’s lucky his brain wasn’t mush,” added Rozalia. “I closed all the dangerous injuries I could find, but it will take time for them to seal completely. And I could have missed something as well. Have him rest for the next two or three days and make sure to keep an eye on his condition.” “I trust your skill, Rozalia. Thank you,” said Yuui. “And finally…he dropped this.” Tomah held out a bulging bag. “I’ll make sure he gets it.” “You’re being pretty cold,” grumbled Tomah, dropping his gaze before suddenly grinning. “Well, see you later, Yuui. Apologize to Ix for me, please.” The three of them walked away down the road. Puzzled, Yuui traced where Tomah’s gaze had been and realized he’d been staring at her right hand. She looked down and sighed. “…Hah.” She released the tension from her shoulders. Right now, Ix took priority. Yuui had been clenching her fist so hard, it had gone dead white. 5 After entering the library, Ottou took a few steps, then stopped in his tracks. Yuui had been warned that the boy would be like this beforehand, but she was still shocked to see it for herself. Taking his arm, she quietly led him over to the wall. Though he didn’t resist, his eyes were glued straight ahead the whole time. Eventually, he started walking on his own. If what Morna had told her was true, he should be back to his usual self momentarily. This whole situation had actually been Morna’s doing. While Ix’s life wasn’t at risk, his wounds were severe, so he would be bedridden for a few days. They were on a deadline, however, so Yuui had intended to continue researching by herself. But during that time, Morna had announced she would be closing the shop for a while to avoid the attention of the people who’d attacked Ix. Since Ottou wouldn’t have anything to do for a few days, Morna had suggested he help Yuui. Ottou didn’t seem opposed, and Yuui could use all the assistance she could get, so she took Morna up on her offer. Nevertheless, Yuui doubted that was the whole story. Perhaps Morna had closed the shop as a pretense for helping her out. Yuui couldn’t be certain. Ottou was frozen so perfectly still, he might as well have been dead. Apparently, he was always like this whenever he encountered a new place or situation. He would certainly make for a strange sight for any onlookers. Fortunately, however, there were few patrons in the library, so they made it to their destination without too many stares. After a while, Ottou blinked, as though he were waking from a dream, and stared up at Yuui. “Ah, that’s right, Ottou,” said Yuui, sorting what she wanted to say in her head. “I’d like you to look for Agnasruze books.” “The town by the volcano where you can find gemstones,” he replied. “Yes, that’s the one,” she confirmed. Without another word, Ottou slipped into the shadows of the bookcases. “Oh…” Yuui didn’t even have time to tell him that there were only paper bundles and battered books that way. Reflecting on their exchange, Yuui wondered if she’d said the wrong thing. Ottou’s abilities were admirable, but she still didn’t know how to make the best use of them. She wasn’t confident that she could communicate with him the way Ix did. As it was, he was like a diamond in the rough. She sighed. Well, she at least felt better now that she had a clear topic of research, rather than something as vague as “dragons.” Ultimately, they’d been set on this path thanks to what Ix had murmured when he’d regained consciousness briefly. “Research Agnasruze.” That was all the direction he’d given them. Yuui had no idea how looking into a town was related to a search for dragons. When she’d tried pressing him for more details, she only managed to get some broken, disjointed thoughts from him. Something along the lines of “There was a strange request,” which meant nothing to her. Though she didn’t really get it, she was hesitant to interrogate an injured man. He might have just been rambling in delirium, so Yuui wasn’t sure how much she should believe. But it was the only lead, or something even slightly resembling a lead, they’d found so far. Anyway, it felt as if they were trying to catch clouds. But she decided they might as well look into it, which was how they wound up coming to the library… There weren’t many books on geography, and the ones that were there were strictly regulated. The library had affixed them to stands so you couldn’t easily move them. Yuui scoured these texts for clues, but they mostly contained information on large cities. She couldn’t even find anything on some of the regional villages in the kingdom. It hadn’t been that long since she’d started researching, but she was already feeling like giving up. Surely this was the kind of thing they’d be better off asking around for in the city; they should be hitting up merchants and travelers, not poking around in the library. But Yuui was haunted by what had happened to her in Leirest. It made her wary of reaching out to strangers. Still, no one had told her to take off her hood since she’d passed through the gates. That’s right… She didn’t have time to be afraid of that. If she couldn’t get the wand repaired by the end of summer… Yuui could hear that shattering sound again just thinking about it. “A book on Agnasruze.” “Wh-what?” yelped Yuui, realizing Ottou was standing in front of her and holding out a book. She accepted it absentmindedly. It was less a book and more a bundle of papers with a cover. The handwriting on the front was so peculiar that she couldn’t make out its title. The text was quite old, and the paper was poorly preserved. The cover felt gritty and not from a lack of quality—it was coated with what appeared to be sand or dust. Yuui’s fingertips whitened in the stuff. “Um, Ottou, this is…,” muttered Yuui. “It’s a book,” answered Ottou. “Says who?” She flipped gently through the pages. It appeared to be a ledger. The interior was filled with columns of item names and numbers, in the same handwriting as the cover. It went on like this for page after page. Evidently, the text hadn’t been well cared for, since the crushed remains of insects clung to its pages. Though there were a few notes here and there, they were uninteresting and didn’t seem to have anything to do with the ledger itself. Just scribbles. Yuui couldn’t see why this thing deserved to be stored in a library. They’d probably just grabbed a stack of papers to fill the shelves.