Published: September 10, 2025
Mr. Satou here. I believe that organizing and tidying up—not just data or objects, but everything so that you can retrieve what you need whenever you need it—is a talent in itself. It’s always when you need something most that you forget where you stored it.
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“—Are there really this many?”
I couldn’t help but mutter, looking up at the towering piles of old books and bundles of paper stacked before me.
We had been guided by Sage Caryu to a room deep inside the headmaster’s office at the academy.
We came here to solve an unresolved agenda item that hadn’t been cracked for over a hundred years during the trial of God Karion, but seeing this mountain of documents made me hesitate a little.
Well, I only have to solve one of them, so I don’t need to be too overwhelmed.
“There are less than thirty agenda items in total. Most are notes of past scholars’ considerations or minutes from debates,” Sage Caryu explained while stroking his long, abundant white beard.
“These are the original manuscripts, but copies are kept in the Great Library inside the tower. Also, to make the agenda accessible to everyone, they are engraved on the bases of the Vermilion Salt Statues on the first floor.”
I see—the statues in the entrance hall serve that purpose as well.
According to Sage Caryu, similar Vermilion Salt Statues with the same role are installed at the chapel of Karion Central Temple and around public water sources within the city.
Since the statues are reinforced with earth magic, they can withstand outdoor conditions.
“Then, should we tour the statues on the first floor to decide which agenda to tackle?”
“Hm, that would be efficient.”
“Indeed, young ladies, that’s correct,” Sage Caryu responded with a kindly grandfatherly smile to Arisa and Mia’s conversation.
“I shall give you the key to this archive, Satou. You can enter this archive from the corridor as well. Feel free to read the materials whenever you like, but taking any documents out is forbidden. Since these are valuable, do take care not to damage them.”
“Yes, I will be very careful.”
Sage Caryu lent the four of us armbands as identification along with the key.
With these, we could freely enter the Great Library on the lower floors.
“This is the ‘Ring of Wisdom’ of the ‘Tower of the Sage’…”
Princess Sistina gazed at the armband in her hand with deep emotion.
It seemed like a rather remarkable item.
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“Shall we go to the Great Library first, or check the Vermilion Salt Statues?”
Shrine Maiden Meier was still offering to guide us.
Looking at my companions, all three had “Let’s go to the Great Library” written across their faces.
“Then please lead us to the library first.”
We headed two floors below Sage Caryu’s room to the Great Library.
The library spanned three floors of the massive tower, and one of those floors was a closed archive not open to the public.
It wasn’t a restricted library per se, but rather a storage for unorganized notes and the private collections of deceased scholars without successors.
According to the map information, the Restricted Library itself was located deep underground.
“So many…”
“More than the library in Master’s study.”
“Maybe about the combined size of the Royal Academy’s library and its Restricted Library?”
My companions murmured as they looked around the bookshelves.
The collection was so vast that the name “Great Library” definitely wasn’t an exaggeration.
It felt strange that the city-state Karisuok had more books than the powerful Shiga Kingdom.
But by checking author information with the map search, I understood why.
Most of the books were written or donated by scholars from this country or those currently residing here.
“Arisa-chan, spatial lens eye!”
With a “Bika!” sound, Arisa enhanced her vision with spatial magic and scanned the spines of the bookshelves.
“Ugh, that’s cheating.”
“Lady Mia, here’s a distant viewing tube. I brought it just in case.”
Princess Sistina pulled out two distant viewing tubes from the Fairy Bag and handed one to Mia.