Chapter 97
#97: Librarian Ernst (18) - Eris's Farewell
“You’re… leaving? You?”
“Yes. I’ve been transferred elsewhere.”
“I-I see.”
Ernst’s voice was utterly flat.
His tone made it sound as if he were talking about nothing more than an ordinary, unremarkable matter.
It wasn’t all that unusual for an employee of a major trading company to move from one posting to another, so objectively speaking, nothing about it was strange.
But not to Eris.
She had vaguely assumed Ernst would keep staying here.
On the outskirts of Aldridge.
That he would remain in this quiet, nostalgic place, out of the way and untouched by most people.
So even though the day of parting was drawing near because she was going to Sky Academy, she only felt a little regret and wasn’t all that anxious.
She had thought that after studying for a few years and coming back to Aldridge, she would be able to meet Ernst again.
But if that wasn’t the case.
If this farewell really was the last.
‘…No, that can’t be.’
Eris quickly corrected the thought that was starting to turn pessimistic.
“Where are you being transferred to?”
“I’m sorry, but that’s confidential work information.”
“Does an ordinary employee’s place of residence really count as confidential work information?”
“Apparently so. It seems the higher-ups don’t regard me as an ordinary employee.”
That was only natural.
In general, people rated 5th-tier power as “domain-level power” and 6th-tier power as “national-level power.”
A 5th-tier knight could storm a lord’s castle in a surprise attack and cut off the lord’s head, and a 5th-tier mage could burn down an entire village in that domain in an instant with that level of firepower.
They weren’t strong enough to face a group’s combined strength head-on and win, but as individuals they could move with remarkable freedom.
If they sensed the other side gathering strength, they could simply slip away, wait for an opening, or strike somewhere else entirely.
And 6th-tier power could use that same tactic against a nation.
In other words, instead of a lord they could take the king’s head, and instead of a village they could wipe out a city.
To stop that, you either needed to counter it with power of the same 6th-tier level, or, if a bit inferior to that, prepare a huge amount of forces that combined quality and quantity as much as possible.
The very reason neighboring countries stronger than Rabelosia couldn’t treat this little nation lightly was none other than Delphinalis.
Even the royal family worried about what would happen after Delphinalis’s death and were trying to raise someone to succeed her; in that light, the mere existence of a 6th-tier powerhouse in the nation’s number-one trading company was absurd.
Ernst judged himself to be a fool who couldn’t cast even a single spell unless he was in the workshop he had spent so long modifying, but even if you accepted that claim and lowered his rating, he was still 5th tier. Still high.
How could anyone possibly see such a talent—as someone it wouldn’t be strange for royal recruiters to come calling on the instant his abilities were revealed—as merely “an ordinary employee”?
No, before that.
‘Why on earth was a talent like this working as a librarian here?’
The answer was 『He created a new workplace and identity simply because he needed an environment where, regardless of practicality, he could read the books he wanted to read to his heart’s content and occasionally share his impressions with visitors』, but Eris, the honor student of Aldridge Training School, could not reach that mad truth.
She thought in a thoroughly rational and commonsense manner.
The reason a 6th-tier powerhouse had to be stuck in a rural backwater like this. And the reason he was now leaving.
There could only be one, couldn’t there?
‘Exterminating demons. Right, that was the purpose from the very start!’
The moment she realized the truth, a thrilling shiver ran down the back of Eris’s neck.
If she had been her old self, she would have reached a conclusion at this point, but Eris, who had grown considerably through many experiences, once again exercised caution and the virtue of communication.
“Ernst. Please answer seriously.”
“Yes?”
“Is the reason you’re leaving this place really because of the trading company’s orders? Is there no other reason, such as having finished all the ‘work’ you had to do?”
“…….”
Ernst stared at Eris as if wondering what on earth she was talking about, then suddenly remembered that she had classified his ‘reading books’ as ‘work.’
If he borrowed Eris’s way of calling reading ‘work’, then having read every book in the library might indeed mean he had ‘finished his work.’
He shrugged and answered.
“Personally speaking, I’m not very keen on calling that work, but…. Well, if I follow your wording, then yes, I suppose so. I’ve finished everything I had to do here.”
At Ernst’s confirmation, Eris’s eyes widened.
Carefully, she lifted the grimoire she had just received from Ernst, probably made with a demon as material, and asked:
“Is this related to it, this demon?”
“What else could it be but that thing—the book?”
By this point, he had practically said it outright.
At the very least, Eris judged it that way.
However, a question still remained.
Why on earth would an employee of a mere trading company go around hunting demons?
「The perfect superhuman crown prince…? Hmm, there seems to be some misunderstanding. The imperial crown prince I know is a man who likes to slack off and enjoy himself more than you’d expect.」
「A man who does nothing but think about fulfilling the crown prince’s duties day and night, never even glancing at another path? I think the Archmage has mistaken him for someone else.」
「I’m not just saying that; I mean it. If you rate that man that highly, you’ll inevitably feel the gap from the real thing.」
Then, suddenly, a conversation she had had with Ernst flashed through Eris’s mind.
At the time, she hadn’t taken it all that seriously.
There was no way a mere librarian would know much about the imperial crown prince.
But now that she knew Ernst’s abilities, the story was different.
What if he hadn’t been talking carelessly back then?
What if Ernst had really spoken with knowledge of that crown prince?
If so, it wasn’t impossible to understand.
For a small country like Rabelosia, a 5th-tier talent was an incomparable treasure, but among the mighty powers that had made a name for themselves across the continent, there were nations that possessed multiple 6th-tier powerhouses and could deploy 5th-tier forces in groups.
To nations that already possessed many fully fledged 6th-tier powerhouses, someone like Ernst—an unfinished 6th-tier—would be precious, but not irreplaceable.
If he were a member of some organization run by the Empire, and therefore knew the crown prince’s character even from afar… then everything would add up.
She asked in a trembling voice.
“Have you been doing this kind of thing all this time?”
“Not exactly. This is the first time I’ve deliberately settled down in one place and focused this hard.”
“So you have been doing it, then.”
Silence fell for a moment.
Eris hesitated, choosing her words, then eventually asked with resolve.
“Is there any way I can help you?”
Demon extermination was an extremely dangerous task.
Besides, if Ernst really was one of the Empire’s agents, his mission might include things beyond demon extermination.
More than anything, Eris also had plans to enter Sky Academy.
Helping Ernst would be a risk-laden endeavor that would mean taking on all that danger and even changing her future plans.
Still, Eris couldn’t help but say it.
Because even if she had to bear all of that, she wanted to help him.
Ernst tilted his head, as if trying to understand Eris’s intention.
To Eris, he looked like someone unaccustomed to being offered help, as though he had never received such kindness before.
In the end, Ernst answered.
“You’ve already helped me. Reading the same books and sharing our impressions together—that was one of my wishes after living as if I were constantly being chased. So I don’t need any more help than that.”
Such a modest word of thanks, coming from the mouth of someone who made demon extermination his profession, felt almost too humble.
Eris felt a pang in her chest.
She knew.
Ernst’s words were not an excuse to turn down Eris’s offer.
He was speaking from the heart, saying that those small, quiet moments he had spent with Eris were exactly what he had wanted.
She held back the feeling that tears might spill out and said,
keeping her voice from wavering was terribly hard.
“If that’s all it is, I can do that as much as you want. By meeting face-to-face like this. If that’s impossible, then through letters at least.”
“Meeting in person is difficult. Letters as well.”
At that ruthlessly cold refusal, Eris bit her lip.
But Ernst’s words weren’t finished.
“However, if you can refine the unique spell I taught you to the absolute limit and merge it with the grimoire you now hold in your hands. If you can truly turn it into a single 『library,』 then your library and mine might become connected as one. If that happens, we might even be able to exchange books, with notes on our impressions tucked inside and so on.”
Eris let out a dry laugh.
Clever as she was, she could estimate how many hurdles would have to be cleared to realize Ernst’s words.
The spell Ernst had created and taught her was something so revolutionary that it could itself become the seed of a new school.
It might be possible to use it in simple ways, but reaching the pinnacle would be difficult; let alone completely dominating and merging a grimoire made from demon material—whether even her master Delphinalis could do it was uncertain.
In other words, if you translated Ernst’s words into plain language, this was what he meant.
If Eris was sincere, then let her try to surpass her master.
“Ha. Ha-ha.”
A dry laugh slipped from her lips.
Her voice, which had been sinking into gloom and sorrow, had dried out under a searing heat before she knew it.
Eris’s green eyes flashed with determination.
The flames in her chest, which had been dying out, began burning once more.
Only, this flame was a little different in nature from the one she had held in the past.
It was tenacious, but not cloying, and unlike before, when it had burned only within her, it instead gave her endless vitality.
“Fine, prepare yourself. I’m going to throw so much at you all at once that you’ll get sick of reading it.”
“I’ll look forward to it.”
Despite Eris’s resolve-filled declaration, Ernst’s reply remained as flat as ever.
Even though this might be their final conversation, he didn’t change his businesslike attitude.
Was that an expression of not minding if he parted from Eris like this, or did it mean he was sure they’d meet again and saw no need to make a fuss?
Hoping it was the latter—no, resolving to make it the latter—Eris tried to leave the library.
Then, suddenly, Ernst called out from behind her.
“Come to think of it, customer. May I ask you one question?”
Eris stopped walking.
“What is it?”
“Could I have become a good librarian?”
Eris thought for a moment before answering.
“No. Objectively speaking, you were disqualified in many ways.”
“I see.”
“But.”
“…?”
Eris calmly continued.
“For me, it wasn’t bad.”
Ernst blinked once, then the corners of his mouth twisted upward slightly.
It was still something too awkward and sinister to call a smile, but it was entertaining to look at in its own way.
This time, Eris asked the question.
“Was I a good customer?”
“In terms of the rules, not really. Normally, books can’t be brought into this library from outside, but because you mostly read books that weren’t officially registered, you were treated as an exception the whole time.”
“I see.”
“But.”
Ernst added, without holding anything back.
“Personally, it wasn’t bad.”
Eris smiled.
Unlike Ernst’s awkward smile, it was a smile so beautiful that anyone watching would have held their breath without realizing it.
For a moment, the delinquent librarian and the delinquent customer laughed together.
Then the customer turned around and walked straight out of the library.
Resolving that what might be their final farewell would not be one.