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Chapter 235
Investigating the Vittae Temple
It was already dark by the time we returned to the temple.
We were welcomed as the renowned guests and were quickly guided to the room where we’d be staying in the temple.
Of course, we also had dinner in the temple.
…As expected of a meal in a temple of life, it was close to a vegetarian’s meal… or isn’t this actually a vegetarian meal?!
But surprisingly, they tasted good.
“…Where’s the meat…,” Carbuncle protested.
Meanwhile, I could see Clavis’ face wrinkled as he wolfed down his food.
“It’s tasty enough, so what’s the fuss?” Ein asked as he elegantly ate.
“It still tastes different. We need meat,” Carbuncle said.
Clavis nodded in agreement.
“We’re not here for recreation, it’s already good that it’s delicious, right? We’re here for business, don’t be fussy,” Ein said again.
I was dumbfounded looking at their interaction.
Ein is the youngest, but he acts so mature…?!
Carbuncle is fussy because she’s a dragon, so it’s understandable…
Clavis… Is it because he’s of the wolf tribe? Will he die if he can’t eat meat?
I mean, it can be dangerous to feed carnivorous beasts with just vegetables, no matter how you tried to… but Clavis is a beastman, so…?
Now that’s something that piques my interest…
Carbuncle and Clavis grumbled as they quickened their eating pace.
In a few moments…
“I’m done!” Carbuncle put back her empty bowl with a noise, ‘Clank!’
“Kuu-chan…! Be careful!” I was scared the bowl would split into two, since the one using it roughly was a dragon…!
Carbuncle stood up quickly and walked towards the door.
“Where are you going?” Maiara asked.
“I’mma ask around and search around the temple for any clue,” Carbuncle said.
‘Clink’
A similar noise, yet smaller in intensity made me turn from the leaving Carbuncle to the direction of the voice—it was Clavis who also put down his empty bowl as he followed after Carbuncle.
“Ralph, you too?” Maiara asked.
“Yeah, it’d be faster for us to split up and look around,” Clavis said as I saw his fluffy ears twitching, his nose twitching… and it was at that time that I realized.
Carbuncle and Clavis had the best five senses than the rest of us, so it was the best choice for them to look around!
Anyway, nobody but me could see Clavis’ twitching wolf ears as I was the one to put the illusion magic, so it was safe.
So, they went off to look around the temple, leaving me, Maiara, and Ein behind as we were still eating.
Maiara finished next, followed by Ein, and finally, me.
“So… What’s our plan?” I asked.
Should we also split up and look around, following Carbuncle and Clavis’ example?
“Hmm…,” Ein was thinking for a moment before he raised his head and asked to the young elf of this temple who assisted with our dinner, “Is there something where you keep the record of the saints throughout the history in this temple?”
The young elf didn’t expect to be called out so suddenly, so in a fluster, he answered, “Uh-huh? Me? Ah… We keep our records and other references in the temple’s library.”
“There’s a library here. Good,” Ein smiled, his smile seemed to say ‘That’s our clue!’
“Young one, can you guide us to the library?” Maiara asked.
The young elf seemed to be flustered when Maiara made the request, as he quickly nodded with a flushed face.
Oh my…?
Maiara covered most of her skin, yet maybe that was what made her stand out and exude a mysterious beauty air that even the young elf that had been living in the temple for a long time could be this flustered.
“Please follow me, dear esteemed guests,” The young elf spared no time in guiding us.
We quickly found ourself inside the library in the temple.
I was a bit anxious as well as excited.
I was excited because I was quite the nerd, and I was wondering how different the book collection in Riviera and in Cielle would be.
Meanwhile, I was also anxious… What if the elven kingdom had different language system in their books? What if the languages used in their books here were of ancient languages that none of us could read?
I was afraid our cover might get blown up if there’s any cultural difference I didn’t know…
I was sure that our language was a universal one, but who knows each race or each kingdom had their own, secret language found nowhere else, rarely known by outsiders?
As I tried to calm my mind down, I saw Ein who was walking next to me.
At the sight of the calm and confident Ein, I silently heaved my sigh of relief.
Ein has the Oracle of perfect memory. If he’s this calm, I am sure it’s nothing big!
It was painful to admit, but this younger child has more smarts than what he looks.
His Oracle is a cheat, there’s no way I can win against a blessed genius like him…!
I calmed down my competitive heart that just rose up from the dead—old habits die hard.
We’re a team. Having someone I can rely on is actually nice. I don’t need to feel pressured to be able to do everything myself now.
I smiled to myself.
In the middle of our journey towards the temple’s library, I saw the sight of Carbuncle and Clavis passing by, seemingly serious on keeping a look around.
I saw Carbuncle questioning a passerby that seemed to be intimidated…
Kuu-chan… Even if I try to help hide her presence with my Oracle, I guess we can’t fully hide her domineering attitude and her naturally intimidating aura as the dragon, huh…?
Hopefully she came off as a cocky elf…
…Not that it’s a good thing, but better than her true identity being found out, anyway.
The library we entered was… not quite like the library that I had imagined.
It was a simple and small library that contained mostly books related to their faith, the history of the temple and the village, and records.
I mean, they are important and all, but rather than a library, it would be more fitting to call it as the records room.
But with regards to our mission, this place was perfect.
“Please take your time looking around the library,” the young elf said.
“Thank you. You can take your leave now,” Maiara said.
“But…! I will be on stand by here just in case there’s something you need me to assist you with,” the young elf was eager to help.
“It’s this late already and we might be here for quite some time. You must be tired. It’s alright, we will collect all the questions we have and ask you or the Elder Priest the next day,” Maiara smiled kindly.
I could’ve sworn I saw the young elf’s thought floating in the air, seemingly saying, ‘If you smile like that, how can I say no?’
The young elf nodded before he slightly bowed to leave us.
Being left on our own accord quickly made me feel a sense of freedom, despite knowing full well that it wasn’t within the young elf’s intention to monitor us. But still…
We quickly separated inside the library to look around.
Maiara quickly went to review the records of the saints and saintess. Ein went towards the section about the history of the temple and the village, leaving me with the books and records about their faith.
I scanned through the books’ titles, luckily I could read most of them as they were written in our universal language in Sphaela.
There were some books that I couldn’t really understand what it was about—and I guess the language looked like elven languages as well as some ancient language. I had learned the ancient language as it was used for magic chants, but I couldn’t have imagined a whole story being written in the ancient language for magic. As a result, there were some parts that I couldn’t really be sure what it was about… As expected of the elves!
I began scanning through the pages of books that I thought might possibly contain any clue about our objective to help Eneida… but found no clue at all.
I closed the nth book I scanned as I sighed in disappointment.
I turned to look at Maiara and Ein who were silently flipping through the pages. Maiara flipped the pages slowly and elegantly, while Ein flipped the pages with a ridiculous speed… It was as if he hadn’t read the pages at all and only flipped mindlessly, but I could see his eyes darting around to scan the whole book…
W-whoa, this madman…!!
I couldn’t have disturbed the two serious people, but I also didn’t think it would be best to needlessly meddle in their investigation, so I walked around the library, to the innermost corner that we agreed was pretty much useless.
The records in these shelves are mostly about the weather and climate of the region, the statistics of their population, their folklore and cultural stuff… I tried reading the statistics of the population to find out any mysterious death, diseases, or curses, but there were none of it…
I was bored and out of any idea on which book to pick to investigate.
This is hopeless…
I mindlessly looked at the books from a far and just randomly plucked several books to entertain myself before I went back to the hopeless and boring job of scanning through all the books, if I must.
But first, maybe I could play Scrabble using these books…
From left to right… Upper to lower and lower to upper…
V… I… T… T… A … E…
V… I… D… A… E… S… T… I… N…
Whoa, the person who sorted out these books must have been bored to arrange them to be able to form the words!
I expressed my sympathy to the temple’s librarian as I slightly pulled out the book that started with “A” in its title to complete my Scrabble.
Yup, I can only find those two words, so later I’ll check the books I slightly pulled out before I check every book from left to right, up and down, and…
My brain blanked the moment I saw the middle part of the section disappearing.
HUHHHH?!
WHATTT?!
The books and the shelf in the most bottom, the middle section disappeared as if some magic took them in an instant.
D-did I screw up something here?
How am I supposed to take responsibility over this?!
I wiped my eyes several times to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating… Yep, I wasn’t hallucinating.
Instead, I found out that in the place of the section that disappeared… There seemed to be a small hidden passageway that was covered in dust?!
T-t-t-t-t-this is…
A HUGE DISCOVERYYYY!!!
I tried so hard to cover my mouth and to hold myself back from yelling out.
[You’ve unlocked a hidden map! Would you like to explore it?]
If my life were an RPG, I guess such a narration would pop out now.
B-but, holy heck?!
This is crazy!!!
Spooky. The side quest plot thickens.
Don’t get caught, Lyra’s group.
Gackt1, reporting for duty
I’m late this time, sorry ( ￣▽￣)
So far, the investigating is almost like wild goose chase, well, can’t be help, they already go at all the location they can be, talk with everyone they can talk and now all they can do is follow any thing can be count as clue
And look at that, sometime what you need is not just sharp mind, but some luck too, well, usually guess nobody come to library to play scrabble with book tittle, where else can be safer to hide a leaf than in the forest ? Now let’s see where this discover will lead Lyra to
As always, thank you for the chapter, take care of yourself, Lynne-san