4

Rubelmel invited Ains farther inside.

“It was rather dusty on the way here, wasn’t it?”

Rubelmel walked along beside Ains.

“That’s true. If my curiosity hadn’t been so strong, I might have turned back.”

“That gloominess and dustiness were intentional, you know. Most people would turn on their heel because of how uncomfortable it felt, but…”

Ains gave a wry smile and said, “Sorry.”

“So Ains-san is quite an unusual person, isn’t he?”

“I hear that a lot.”

“Yes, yes, I can see that,” Rubelmel laughed, and Ains followed her lead and laughed as well.

“What is this place? The way the books are arranged is different from the other bookshelves.”

Pointing at a single book enclosed in glass, Ains asked Rubelmel.

“The books lined up here are very precious ones, unlike the books outside. Most of these are original copies.”

At the back of the passage, there was a table and chairs.

Rubelmel urged Ains to sit there, and Ains, feeling grateful, lowered himself into a chair.

“By precious books, do you mean you like books, Rubelmel-san?”

Ains asked this toward Rubelmel’s back as she busied herself with something some distance away from where he sat.

“This is not my library, but from the owner’s point of view, these must be precious books.”

Holding a tray with teacups, saucers, and a teapot in both hands, Rubelmel came over to the table where Ains was waiting.

She placed a saucer in front of Ains, then set on it a cup that had been warmed beforehand. Tea that released its fragrance along with the steam was poured from the pot.

A lemon was placed at the rim of the cup, and Rubelmel offered it to Ains, saying,

“I do not know whether it will suit your taste, but…”

“Thank you.”

Rubelmel also sat down in a chair facing Ains and poured lemon tea into the other cup.

“It’s delicious.”

“Ufufu, I’m glad to hear that.”

Rubelmel said this with a smile, but when she saw Ains take the tea without any caution at all, she completely let her guard down. Seeing how defenseless Ains was, Rubelmel judged that even if a problem arose, she could kill him easily.

“Why are you here, Rubelmel-san?”

Rubelmel enjoyed the flavor of the tea that Darius had mocked as cheap tea leaves.

“I came here to steal a certain book being kept here.”

“It must be tough, coming all the way to the back of a library like this just to get it.”

Listening absentmindedly, Ains made Rubelmel think that this man really was completely harmless.

Ains wondered what sort of book it was that someone would go so far out of their way to retrieve.

“What book is it called?”

Ains’s casual question lightly pierced Rubelmel, who had already dropped her guard.

Rubelmel thought that the two of them had carried themselves naturally all the way to this point. She felt that hiding it awkwardly or lying here would only amount to digging her own grave.

Let us be open and straightforward.

If the harmless Ains before her became an obstacle, she could just kill him quickly.

“Yes, Ains-san, I am sure you have heard of it as well. It is the original copy of the ‘Original Canon.’”

Rubelmel smiled warmly at him.

“Huh, so it really had become such a famous book after all. But isn’t it hard to read? I just read it for the first time earlier, but isn’t the copy easier to read?”

Seeing how naturally the conversation continued, Rubelmel let out a small breath, thinking she had been overthinking things after all. Having already entered enemy territory, perhaps Rubelmel had been more tense than necessary without realizing it.

“That’s true. The original looks like it was scribbled down in a complete mess, after all.”

“Rubelmel-san, that’s harsh. Maybe it was written carefully, even if it looked like that?”

“No, I do not think so. It looked as though a snake had been drawn across the page. I thought it was pictographs.”

Rubelmel gently smiled as she enjoyed her conversation with Ains.

From there, while changing the topic from the Original Canon to other books, to magic, and to many other things, Rubelmel’s spirits lifted with this calm conversation she had not had in a long time.

Her conversation with Ains. Since he was a servant of a distinguished house, his knowledge of magic was on equal footing with Rubelmel’s, and even simple small talk felt extremely pleasant.

Ains also spoke about how, in the middle of a lecture, he had lost patience and picked a fight with one of the academy’s instructors. Rubelmel listened to it with amusement.

“I see. If it is you, Ains-san, then it is no wonder these lectures would seem boring to you.”

Rubelmel laughed while covering her mouth with her hand.

Ains slid his empty cup toward Rubelmel, asking for a refill.

She nodded, quietly tilted the pot, and poured.

Another gentle moment, with the fragrance rising again.

Ever since joining the organization known as the Next-Era Luminaries, Rubelmel had long forgotten a time this peaceful. It was such a happy moment that she even forgot her purpose of stealing the Original Canon.

It was so peaceful that both Rubelmel and Ains failed to notice even the sound of the bell signaling the lunch break.

Ains tilted his freshly poured tea to drink it, while Rubelmel rested her cheek on her hand and watched him happily.

Rubelmel felt that a life spent like this, having trivial conversations with someone and passing the days in peace, would also have been a good life.

Even without his right arm, he was surely an excellent sorcerer. But when speaking with him, the air about him was not that of a servant serving a distinguished house.

She sensed in him an air somehow similar to herself and to those who sided with the Next-Era Luminaries.

Perhaps he would become an ally. If that happened, perhaps after leaving this place, she might be able to keep spending peaceful moments like this that cleared her heart, even in the gaps between her daily duties—that was the faint hope she held.

That peaceful time was brought to an end by a third party who entered this “Forbidden Archive.”

“Ains-dono! Might you be in here?”

It was a man’s voice.

The voice coming from the direction of the entrance to the Forbidden Archive was calling out to Ains, who was enjoying tea in front of Rubelmel.

“Ah, it’s Seidel-san. …This is bad, did I maybe go over time?”

Ains immediately set the cup on the saucer and stood up from his seat.

Rubelmel’s thoughts immediately began to race. Ains was harmless, but what about the owner of that voice just now? If he was similarly harmless, there would be no problem.

Turning past the bookshelves, Ains spotted Seidel.

“Seidel-san, did I maybe go over time?”

At Ains’s wry smile, Seidel showed a somewhat flustered expression.

“It is about the time, yes, but… Ains-dono, why are you here?”

Seidel asked gently, but he knew what sort of place this was.

And besides Ains, he sensed another person’s presence.

Seidel heightened his vigilance toward his surroundings.