Thea clicked her tongue behind her teeth as she jotted down yet another title that should have been on the shelves but was missing. That makes twelve total so far, and I’ve only checked five sections.
The library, like any other in the empire, was divided up into categories, and then subcategories beneath them. Thea had decided that to test her theory—and to benefit the library in the long term—she would find several of the smallest categories and see if all the books that were supposed to be present actually were. Given the mess she’d uncovered in the records room, she hadn’t been surprised when several titles were missing.
It’s true that someone could have taken them out to read them here in the library, but these are obscure categories. It would be rare that someone would even take one out to read, let alone this many.
Whether the books had been lent out or misplaced was still to be determined, but this was going to cause quite a mess. And while the mess itself made her want to groan in frustration, a bit of righteous anger stirred in Thea’s chest as she pressed her pencil to the paper a bit too hard for the last letter of the book title, creating a bit of graphite dust that she had to blow away.
It’s bad enough they are rude to other librarians, women, and even perhaps students and patrons, but misplacing or losing the books His Majesty has entrusted to us is detestable. To come back to the central library after all these years only to find it in this state had disappointment and indignation warring within her.
She pushed her pencil through the twists of her hair that was pinned atop her head and let her hand and the note board fall to her side. She’d planned to simply show that the circulation desk was not keeping records correctly, but her nagging suspicion had led to checking the shelves as well. The situation was larger than she’d first imagined.
The day had only just begun, so there were no students or patrons at the moment. That made things easier since the likelihood of the books just being out and about in the library went down considerably due to that. Surely the staff wasn’t reading all of these books at this very moment? There was one last thing she needed to check though.
A pass by the return cart where books sat before being returned to the shelves showed her all she needed to know, as it was empty except for one book, and that one wasn’t a part of any of the sections she’d checked. The talkative young man at the circulation desk cast an inquisitive look her way, but she was already headed towards the stairs.
Up on the third floor, Thea made her way to Adrien’s office. One two things had to be true: either Adrien was unaware that things had gotten this bad due to his propensity to delegate work and his absorption into his own research or he had become lax with the other librarians in the time she had been gone. But since he seemed the same when she’d met him a few days ago, the former was more likely.
She fully expected the door to still be locked, but surprisingly, the handle turned in her hand. Thea found Adrien sitting at his desk, having returned from wherever he had gone off to early this morning. A book lay open to one side, and as she entered, he set down a tea cup after having just taken a sip from it.
Adrien’s brows raised before he broke into a broad smile. “Ah, Thea! Welcome back!”
Thea acknowledged his smile with a small one of her own. “It is good to be back working even if a rocky start is expected.”
“Hmm? Rocky start?” Adrien then seemed to notice the note board in Thea’s hands. His smile fell away and he stared at the note board suspiciously as if it might bite him. “We’ve hardly discussed your new duties yet, so what have you gotten up to in such a short time this morning?”
“I apologize, but while I was familiarizing myself with things again, I had an interesting interaction and then happened to notice some things that were not quite right. I’ve compiled a brief report. I do hope you’ll be able to look it over as soon as you’re able.” Thea placed the note board on Adrien’s desk. Clipped onto it were three sheets of paper: one detailed her interactions with the two men at the circulation desk, one explained the discrepancies found in the records office, and the last contained detailed lists and explanations of the missing or misplaced books she’d uncovered.
Adrien chirped a nervous laugh as he reached for the note board. “You always did have a knack for working hard, even when there wasn’t much work assigned. It makes me curious what you’ve managed to get up to while I was a bit occupied this morning.” Truthfully, he sounded more trepidatious rather than curious.
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Thea stayed silent which forced Adrien to consult the note board. As his eyes quickly scanned the pages, his expression darkened a little more with each page. He placed the board back down on his desk. Closing his eyes, he rubbed his temple with two fingers for a moment before looking up again with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
“Quite the headache you’ve uncovered,” he said, standing slowly. “But I guess there’s nothing for it. This can’t be allowed to go on, and this oversight must be fixed immediately.” He touched a mana stone on the desk causing it to glow a gentle blue color. A barely audible chime sounded from outside the office before the archivist Thea had spoken with earlier showed up in the doorway.
“Yes, Head Librarian? You needed me?” The man sounded perplexed and no small bit winded. It seemed that Adrien didn’t call on him often, and the sudden summons had startled the man.
“Yes. Classes have not let out yet for independent study. I’d like a meeting of all the available librarians called immediately.”
“Ah, I see,” the archivist said before doing a double take. “B-but we can’t pull everyone into the meeting room, my lord. Leaving the desk unguarded especially would be—”
“Have them gather on the first floor within sight of the circulation desk, then.” When the archivist continued to hesitate, Adrien narrowed his eyes. “I mentioned this needed to be done immediately, yes?”
That prompted the archivist into action. The man spared a curious and concerned glance at Thea before disappearing down the hall to pass along the order.
“Thea, why don’t you head down and find a good spot to watch the proceedings.” Adrien had lost some of the severity he’d donned when the archivist had been around now that it was just the two of them again, but the tilt of his brows still showed his displeasure. “I’ll be down once everyone is gathered, and we’ll be sure to talk about your duties thoroughly once this is over.”
Thea suppressed a slight shiver. It had been her intention to bring some responsibility for their actions onto the librarians she’d encountered today, but Adrien when he was displeased could be quite unpredictable. She almost pitied those men now—almost. Adrien’s mention of a “thorough” talk left Thea a bit wary for herself as well. Nothing could be done about that now though; the errors in records and missing books were inexcusable and had to be fixed regardless. Trying to downplay what she’d reported now would make her complicit in her opinion.
All Thea could do was nod and see this through. “I’ll head down, then.” At least the indignant part of her felt quite satisfied with Adrien’s reaction.
***
Emillia stole glances at the boy that followed closely behind her as she led the way to the headmaster’s office. He was half a hand’s width shorter than her, yet he stood with his shoulders back and his eyes forward. His long, midnight blue hair pulled back with a leather tie and his equally dark blue eyes were quite pretty and seemed to give him an air of maturity as well. Where most children his age hunched their shoulders or looked down at the ground when confronted or in a new environment, he simply looked around with slight interest, somehow full of confidence.
If only I had some of that confidence…
Emillia’s mouth ran dry and her hands turned clammy as she recalled how she’d run past Rosalina to show him the way to the headmaster’s office. She hadn’t looked back to see what expression was on the older girl’s face, but Emillia was sure she would have to make up for her actions later. But she had seen the looks on the other student’s faces. They seemed so self assured that this boy—Luin, the teacher had called him—was not going to be returning to that classroom.
Will I really be heading back alone?
“Your friends are quick to make assumptions, aren’t they?”
Having been thinking about that exact thing, the boy’s sudden question made Emillia tense up. She swallowed before finally answering, her pace quickening slightly. “Y-yes, I suppose so. But they aren’t really…um, they aren’t friends exactly.”
“I apologize. So, what would you call them?”
Another glance behind her caused her eyes to meet Luin’s steady gaze, so she turned away quickly. “Ah, well, I would say they mentor me.” Well, that was at least close to the truth, at least on the surface. She couldn’t bring herself to say she was more like their attendant or assistant really.
“Mentors, hmm?” A quiet moment where only the sound of their footsteps on the tile floor could be heard fell between them before Luin spoke again. “How can they be mentors of yours when you’re in the same class as them? Aren’t mentors someone older and more experienced? They may be slightly older than you, but wouldn’t that mean it is more impressive that you’re in the same course as those older than you?”
Emillia’s feet stopped moving as she stood still in the hallway. Her throat felt tight. She wanted to deny the things he’d asked, but no answer would come. It was as if she had never realized there was a large door in front of her—one that led to another way she could live—until suddenly this boy's words had pointed it out to her. But the door frightened her. She’d have to open it alone, wouldn’t she? And on the other side would be even more struggles, right?
“Sorry if I spoke out of turn,” he said after her long pause. “You don’t really need to answer any of that. My thoughts often wander.”
Luin’s voice right behind her prompted her feet to move again. She walked as quickly as she dared, and soon they were right outside the headmaster’s office. “Here you are: the headmaster’s office.” She knocked on the door.
“Yes?” came a deep voice from inside the office.
“Headmaster, it’s Emillia from class 1A. I’ve shown Luin the way so that he could come meet with you as you asked.”
“Come in, come in,” came the answer from inside.
Luin stepped forward then, moving past Emillia to open the door. The barest of smiles was on his lips as he paused and said, “I won’t me long. You’ll wait for me and walk me back to class as well, right? I don’t know if I’d know my way back after one trip.”
“Ah, well, yes. I can do that,” Emillia said quickly.
“I appreciate it,” Luin said before slipping inside the office and shutting the door behind him.
Emellia leaned against the wall just to the side of the door and stared at the toes of her black shoes as they poked out from the hem of her uniform’s skirt. Somehow, though she normally would have been certain Rosalina, Evrett, and the others were right, she found herself unable to think that the boy would be doing anything other than heading right back to take his place in class 1A.