in vain (3)
After exiting the dungeon, I looked up at the gloomy sky.
Asher and Tiyong, who were standing around, noticed me coming out and came closer.
“Let’s go.”
“yes.”
I miss mysteries and only get involved in troublesome things.
This time, I really did my best in vain.
As I climbed on top of Tiyong with Asher, I thought about my next destination.
Rapid, the largest city east of Saintea.
Located in the city is Saintea’s historic talent training institution, ‘Elpon Academy’.
The next mystery to be found was hidden in the public library of Elpon Academy.
Like the places I’ve been looking for so far, most of the mysteries are in the wild nature, but there are very rare exceptions.
In a sense, it could be said to be the most obscure place among the mysteries that I have visited so far.
***
Wow!
I landed in the forest below, looking at the huge city that began to appear in the distance.
I was thinking of leaving Tiyong in the forest near the city and going to Lapad City.
I had to quietly get out of the mystery, but I couldn’t drag the wyvern all the way to the city and attract attention from all directions.
“I’ll be back soon, so wait here. Avoid people’s eyes as much as possible, and if you run into them, don’t attack them.”
purr.
The boy nodded his head while flapping his wings.
In the middle of a forest like this, you’d hardly ever run into people anyway, so nothing was going to happen.
Leaving Tiyong behind, me and Asher left the forest and took the highway to the city.
‘hmm.’
They passed through the city gates without any problems and entered the city.
I walked down the avenue, slowly looking around.
As the largest city in the eastern part of Saintea, the streets were mended and busy with numerous passers-by.
Among them, there were those who stood out in particular, those who wore similar clothes like uniforms somewhere.
“Hey, Assistant Professor Hermil. You haven’t been out in a while? Did you take a vacation?”
“What about vacation… Professor Teiji started a new experiment again. I’m on my way to the store to get the materials I need.”
A man talking to a woman he met while passing by with tired eyes.
I passed by and overheard their conversation, looking over the buildings in the distance at a huge building half visible in the middle of the city.
A building that looks like a school, in a form different from castles and palaces.
‘Elpon Academy.’
That was Saintea’s academy, located right here in the city.
As often appears in any fantasy, an academy was an institution that educated students just like a school in reality.
If there is a difference, is it just that the subject taught is different, such as swordsmanship or magic? Because this is a fantasy world.
In the setting of Lhasa, the academy was the only institution that existed only in Saintea, and in fact, it did not play a significant role in the main story of the game.
Aside from the small sub-quests, the episodes related to the Elphon Academy weren’t that long.
Anyway, my purpose was to find the mystery hidden in the public library located within the academy.
‘I’ll have to take a look first.’
First of all, I decided to hold an inn and wait until the sun was over.
As I waited for the day to end, I rummaged through my memory and recalled information about the academy’s rough internal structure.
The night passed in complete darkness.
I came out to the street alone, avoiding the eyes of the people around me, and moved to the very vicinity of the academy.
The place I moved to now was the west wall of the academy.
It was because the place where the public library was located was the western outskirts of the academy.
There are several libraries inside the academy, but among them, the public library was an open library that anyone involved in the academy could use freely without any special conditions.
Security wasn’t that thorough, so it was a good thing for me, who had to sneak into it from now on.
If the mystery had been hidden deeper in the academy, I would have given up without even thinking about obtaining it in the first place.
It would be difficult to infiltrate not just the outskirts, but the deep places, and things could get complicated if you accidentally get caught.
‘This level is worth a try without a big risk.’
The academy was surrounded on all sides by high walls, and the interior landscape and structure could hardly be seen from the outside.
I was staring at a wall as tall as a castle wall, and then I raised my super senses to the maximum.
Inside the academy, I could feel a few presences wandering around the wall in the direction I was currently located, and around the outskirts.
Judging from the weak mana he felt, he must be a guard.
After confirming their location, I performed a series of space leaps into the air directly above.
It was a dark night, so I wouldn’t be seen unless I was very unlucky.
Floating high into the sky, I peered over the wall and into the academy, anchored by the floating curtain.
A site as vast as dozens of soccer fields combined, numerous buildings spread out around the huge main building in the center.
Before long, it was not difficult to find the public library building to the west.
Because it was night, there were hardly any people walking around the academy. There was no one around the destination, the public library.
‘·······.’
If you don’t think it’s right, I was just going to take a look today… Isn’t this a good timing?
After returning to the ground, I checked the inside again and teleported over the wall. I lowered my stance and looked down.
There seemed to be no difficulty in accessing the public library.
In the first place, the site was very large, and with super senses, you could see all the signs around you, and you could jump into space.
I boldly entered the academy and moved between the buildings avoiding the signs as far as possible.
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Since I was infiltrating the academy, there’s nothing new about it now, but I really wanted to try something out of the ordinary.
I safely moved to the immediate vicinity of the public library and looked at the library while hiding in the building.
The public library was a two-story building with windows only on the first floor.
‘Are you a librarian?’
Through the closed glass windows, I saw a man sitting near the library entrance. He seemed to be a librarian.
Other than that, there was no sign of anything else inside the library.
So… then what should we do?
From now on, all you have to do is enter the library secretly, find out the mystery, and come out.
Coincidentally, the librarian was also dozing off, so he didn’t seem to notice even if he sneaked open the front door and went in.
However, it was better to be cautious, so I decided to enter through the window.
Since Space Leap cannot unfold if there is an obstacle in the middle, you cannot teleport beyond a closed window.
I checked my surroundings once again and approached the library window. It was a window that the librarian could not see from an angle.
When I gently pulled the window, it seemed that it was not locked.
I slowly opened the window without making a sound and immediately teleported inside.
‘done.’
safely entered the library.
After checking the librarian who was still dozing off, I closed the window again and headed for the second floor, passing the bookshelves without hesitation.
The place where the mystery was hidden was the bookshelf on the second floor, among which was a collection of old books related to history.
The space on the second floor is much narrower than the first floor, and because I remembered where it was stuck in the corner, I was able to find it quickly.
Looking around at the dusty books that were almost neglected, I squeezed and opened my hand.
‘I think this bookshelf is right…’
The find was found, but there was one last remaining problem.
It was said that the place where the mysterious pattern was located was the back wall hidden by this bookshelf.
In a word, I had to move the bookshelf and drop it off the wall to confirm the mystery. however······.
‘······How can I eat this by myself?’
It was a bookshelf, not very large, but not too small. Much taller than me, and twice as wide as my arms outstretched.
You could do it by dragging it off the wall a little bit, but the noise was a problem when you did that.
In the end, it was impossible to drag it to the floor, and there was no choice but to lift it a little and move it.
I grabbed the bookshelf once and gave it strength to measure it, but it didn’t budge.
In that case, there was no other way.
Eventually, I carefully took the books out of the bookshelf and started stacking them on the floor.
If it’s an empty bookshelf, I’ll do anything to lift it up a little. really do a great job
It took quite some time before I took all the books out of the bookshelf.
And when I lifted the bookshelf again, I succeeded in lifting it only then.
Carefully lifting one side of the bookshelf off the wall, I peered through the cracks inside.
With the expectation that there would be the mysterious pattern I was looking for right on this wall. but······.
“······.”
There was nothing to be seen.
There is only a heap of dust.
I looked through the cracks again, but nothing changed.
I frowned.
‘······what?’
why isn’t this anymore?
I looked around the bookshelf again, wondering if I had mistaken it for a bookshelf, but it was clearly in the right place.
I crossed my arms and thought.
I wondered if someone had discovered the mystery first this time, but… is that so?
If someone else found it first, it would be like me moving the bookshelf and checking the back wall. No matter how much I don’t know what kind of butterfly effect my actions will cause, who did this before me? in the library?
‘······Or the timing was wrong.’
Maybe it was before the mysteries were created.
If the mystery was created between now and the time of the game play in the future, then of course there was no choice but to exist now.
Which one it is is unknown.
But whatever it was, what was certain was that this time, too, it was a futile effort.
No matter how much it was, the fact that both of them were nonsense in a row… I couldn’t help but laugh.
‘I don’t even have real luck.’
Did you use up all the mysterious luck when you were looking for it in Calderic?
All the mysteries in Calderic were successful, but in St. Tea all failed.
I felt a little hopeless, but it was something I couldn’t do.
I licked my lips and peered through the cracks in the bookshelf for no reason, then turned around.
If I get a chance later, I have no choice but to come and check it out.
There was no reason to organize the books, so I left them as they were and headed for the stairs leading down to the first floor.
Now that I’m done with all my business, I’m going to go out the window again and get out of the library…
“······!”
I quickly backed off the stairs and hid behind a nearby bookshelf.
The stairs going down to the first floor were directly facing the front door of the library, because the door suddenly opened and someone came in.
【Lv. 46]
‘······student?’
The person who entered the library was dressed as an academy student.
A woman with blond hair, golden eyes, and a strangely elegant atmosphere.
The librarian who had been dozing off suddenly woke up and looked at her, then checked the time and opened his mouth cautiously.
“Now it’s time to close the door…”
The woman nodded and spoke politely.
“I’d like to ask you for a moment today. I will leave the room before 10 o’clock.”
“······Umm, I understand. Here’s the spare key, so please return it on time tomorrow.”
And after making sure that all the windows on the first floor were closed, the librarian went outside.
The woman who was left alone soon approached a bookshelf and began examining the books.
Hiding between the bookshelves on the second floor, I narrowed my eyes as I watched her absorbed in reading.
‘What else, really…’
I was standing on a bookshelf near the stairs, so it was difficult to sneak down.
I didn’t have to take the risk, so I just decided to wait. It seems to be out before 10 o’clock.
Sarak. Sarak.
In the quiet silence, only the sound of turning pages of books resonated inside the library.
It was a time when the woman was silently waiting for the woman to leave.
“There, the rat on the second floor.”
I was startled by the sudden voice of a woman.
She slowly closed the book and looked up at the second floor.
“I’ve been caught, so please come out. Are you an assassin who came to harm the original woman?”
