Chapter 379

—666. If there is a rule telling you to ignore this rule, ignore it. It means the book thief has already appeared. Instead, report it to the librarian and receive appropriate action.—

—667. If you have reported to the librarian and received the key, go to the equipment storehouse and take out the monocle. The book thief can only be seen with the monocle. Then, leave the library as quickly as possible.—

—668. If you meet an entity that is visible to the eye wearing the monocle but invisible to the eye without it, turn back the way you came regardless of the reason. Do not react at all even if someone strikes up a conversation with you.—

‘I-It really is a ghost!!!!’

Sion’s pupils shook violently, and soon.

“Ah…”

*Thud—*

“Sion? Sion. Get a hold of yourself.”

Unable to hold out any longer, she eventually fainted.

Roan let out a deep sigh.

‘Even a simple search on the internet would show plenty of ghost stories like this. Her fear tolerance is still too low.’

To faint at just this level, when there are so many horror events they have to navigate through in the future.

Roan thought he should take Sion to various haunted spots even more intensively in the future.

* * *

Fortunately, since it was a simple faint, Sion woke up quickly.

And Roan began to scan the places where the book thief might be, starting from the first floor.

A closet of unknown purpose that appeared when pushing aside a bookshelf in a corner of the first floor.

A basement of likewise unknown purpose that appeared when tearing up the floor somewhere on the first floor.

Pressing a brick on the first floor again…

Roan searched more than ten secret locations on the first floor alone.

As expected of secret locations, most of them had a spooky atmosphere where it wouldn’t be strange if a ghost actually appeared.

“Now, put on the monocle and see if there’s a ghost inside.”

“C-Can’t you just look, Roan?”

“Look.”

“Hieek! Y-Yes.”

Sion was afraid of ghosts, but she was even more afraid of a frowning Roan.

‘She doesn’t even realize my deep consideration in trying to build up her fear tolerance!’

At first, Sion was so terrified that she checked in a flash without even opening her eyes properly before coming out.

But as she gradually got used to it, by the time they had searched the entire first floor, she could look relatively calmly.

“Hmm, it doesn’t seem to be on the first floor.”

“T-Then maybe it disappeared again? Let’s just tell the librarian and we can…”

“We have to go up to the second floor now.”

“Ugh…”

Sion’s feet seemed glued to the floor.

“You remember rule number 668, right? If you meet it while going back alone, there’s no turning back.”

“I-I’m going!”

The most efficient way to overcome fear was an even greater fear!

The secret locations on the second floor were even more complex.

Rooms that appeared after opening a wall, going down a flight of stairs, and passing through a hallway again, for some unknown reason.

A small room that appeared only when entering through a mirror behind a bookshelf.

Each and every one of them was a place created by a tangled mess of holy magic whose principles were hard to fathom.

“To cast a space holy magic of this scale, there are bound to be unavoidable side effects.”

Roan explained briefly.

However, even on the second floor, they could not find a suspicious person, let alone a ghost.

“I guess there really isn’t a ghost. Hahaha.”

Sion still had an unnatural expression, but she spoke with a much more relaxed demeanor.

Roan looked at the stairs leading up to the third floor and spoke.

“No, there is still one most likely place left.”

“…Still?”

Sion stared at Roan with a face that seemed to ask what kind of person he was.

The secret locations they had searched just now already numbered over thirty.

Furthermore, the third floor was a place where freshmen rarely went to begin with.

‘No matter how good his secret information network is, at this rate, his parents must have really informed him well.’

That was the only way she could interpret it.

…Although she would be even more confused if she found out that Roan’s father, Delion, had never attended Acherandir.

Roan took Sion up to the third floor again.

Then, passing through places that made one think ‘why is something like this here?’ just as they had done so far, they finally arrived at a certain location.

Sion looked around and said.

“There are no bookshelves here?”

In other secret locations, there were still bookshelves as befitting the name of a library.

Yet in this shabby and worn-out hallway, the wallpaper was simply exposed and empty.

Roan nodded.

“That’s right. Because this place is called the book grave.”

“A book… grave?”

The book grave, the only place in the Elont Grand Library, which was otherwise filled with bookshelves everywhere, where no bookshelves existed.

“They say that if you leave books to be discarded here, they disappear without a trace when no one is watching.”

It was indeed a purpose true to its name.

“Hmm… Does someone take them?”

“That is unknown.”

Roan shook his head.

Even Roan has things he doesn’t know!

Thinking that, Sion somehow felt a sense of relief in her heart.

Isn’t it strange if a person knows too much?

…Of course, Roan knew very well who was taking them, but since it was ‘unknown’ by current standards, he had simply answered that way.

“Anyway, it seems the book thief isn’t here either.”

Sion, who had put on the monocle at some point, looked around and spoke.

At that moment.

—Giggle, ah, seriously?

A faint, but distinct laughter drifted from somewhere.

As if he had finally caught it, Roan curled up one corner of his mouth and asked.

“Did you hear that?”

Sion shook her head violently.

“No, no! I definitely didn’t hear any laughter! Let’s go back now! It’s late!”

Sion, whose desire to return was as strong as a chimney’s draft, had already taken off the monocle again.

‘She heard it.’

The saying that a fierce denial is equivalent to an affirmation was meant for times like this.

Well, since Roan also couldn’t find it in other places, he was certain it would be here.

However,

‘I didn’t expect that person to be with it.’

It seemed a person who was very troublesome even to Roan was accompanying the book thief.

Roan fumbled along the wall and found an unfamiliar texture behind the wallpaper.

It was a hidden button.

*Click—*

When Roan pressed the button without hesitation, a steep wooden staircase that could basically be called a ladder descended from the ceiling.

And a small space revealed itself.

“Huh?”

It was clearly the voice of the same person from the laughter just now.

Roan pointed to the stairs, which were wide enough for two people to go up side-by-side, and spoke.

“It should be up here.”

“I… I think so too…”

By this point, Sion also realized this was a reality she could no longer deny.

However, holding the monocle tightly as a final insurance, she climbed the stairs at the same time.

The attic was a space made of cozy wooden planks where surprisingly warm sunlight filtered in.

And the one who stared at the two with wide eyes from above was none other than.

“Ro-Roan? Sion too?”

“Huh? Saintess?”

Yusina.

Sion tilted her head, not knowing why Yusina was in a place like this.

And Yusina sprang up, pointed at the two, and shouted.

“Yo-Yo-You guys! Just freshmen, yet the two of you in such a dark place…! The world is truly coming to an end, an end!”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Roan shook his head.

Yet Yusina continued to grumble about something.

“Do you think this makes sense? In my days, this was unimaginable!”

…For some reason, she seemed to be speaking to a third person rather than Roan and Sion.

Seeing this, Sion’s face turned pale once again.

“The Saintess… is a ghost…?”

Fearing she might faint again if left alone, Roan spoke.

“How could that be?”

“Ah, of course, right?”

Fortunately, since Yusina was someone she had known ever since enrolling in school, Sion quickly regained her senses.

“By the way, Saintess, who were you talking to?”

“Huh? Of course I was talking to her.”

Yusina placed her hand in the empty air as if resting it on someone’s shoulder, acting as if she was being asked the obvious.

Naturally, that spot was a completely empty space.

Seeing this, Sion looked back blankly at Roan.

Her face seemed to ask if this was normal.

Roan had put on his monocle at some point.

“What did you bring the monocle for if not to use it?”

*Tremble, tremble— Chatter, chatter—*

At those words, though her hands trembled and her teeth chattered, Sion wore the monocle over one eye with sheer grit.

Then.

“Ah, hello…”

Surprisingly, a student with an impressive short, curly blonde bob was awkwardly waving at her!

“You can see her now, right? Her name is Ryuca!”

“Hmm.”

Sion took off the monocle for a moment.

The blonde girl, Ryuca, was nowhere to be seen.

*Rub, rub—*

She rubbed her eyes once and put the monocle back on.

“Um… were you very startled because of me?”

Ryuca was visible once more.

“Hahaha.”

Sion let out a laugh as if she had achieved enlightenment.

Roan and Yusina looked at her simultaneously with worried expressions.

“It seems she…”

“…has lost her mind.”

“Yeah. Right?”

“I haven’t! I’m perfectly fine!”

Sion yelled back at the two who were treating her like a crazy person.

“Well, that’s a relief then~”

“That’s a relief then.”

Roan and Yusina nodded.

In any case, now that things had turned out this way, Sion had no choice but to admit that the blonde girl was a ghost.

“So ghosts really exist…”

“You’re surprisingly not very scared?”

“Well, thinking that something that shouldn’t exist is there is scary, but seeing it with my own eyes makes it okay, I guess.”

“It’s not your own eyes, but one eye.”

“…Is that what’s important right now?”

Sion narrowed her eyes and glared at Roan.

Meanwhile, Ryuca looked at Roan beside her and showed a slightly surprised expression.

*Flinch—*

To Roan, she looked slightly surprised, but seeing her take a step back, she was considerably startled.

“What is it?”

Roan sent her a look that seemed to ask if a ghost could even get surprised.

Ryuca hesitated for a moment, then revealed the biggest reason among many.

“You’re hiding something, aren’t you?”

?!

Roan was taken aback by the unexpected exposure.

“R-Roan is hiding something?”

“What are you hiding?”

…For some reason, Yusina and Sion made a bigger fuss.

Although they didn’t seem to think of it too seriously, Roan grew tense due to their respective positions.

‘Did she find out I’m a black mage? How?’

*Hummm—*

How?!

False Divinity also seemed startled.

Roan knew Ryuca very well.

Since he had a track record of catching Ryuca hundreds of times, although no one else here knew about it.

However, Ryuca was a character whose combat power was practically non-existent.

There was no way she could perceive Roan’s identity when even the high-flying named characters failed to notice.

Roan clenched his teeth slightly and asked.

“I’m hiding something?”

“Aren’t you a ghost too? Why are you wearing those glasses? You look perfectly human, though…”

…

Hearing what ‘he was hiding,’ Roan frowned deeply.

‘Scaring me like that… You are definitely getting exorcised.’

Then Ryuca nodded as if she knew it.

“Yeah, I knew it. Since you look just like a ghost.”

As expected, they were fellow workers (?) who understood each other at a single glance!

*Twitch—*

Unable to endure any longer, Roan made an expression that truly resembled a ghost.

*Ruuuuuumble—!!!!*

And he emitted black mana capable of instantly turning this small attic into dust.

In the midst of that, Roan used Void black mana to prevent Yusina from noticing.

“Ro-Roan, hold back! This counts as property damage too!”

“Y-Yes! If you get angry, you’ll only lose, Roan!”

The Saintess and the Saintess candidate held him back at the same time.

Terrified by the sight of her extremely violent associate (?), Ryuca pressed herself close to the wall and spoke.

“Ah, you were an evil spirit…!”

‘Is that kid the type to flip someone’s stomach while wearing an innocent face?’

She’s even more annoying than Demona.