'I can't just stand by and do nothing!'
He shouted at the Duke.
His face was a mess of sweat and tears, and he was desperately screaming.
It was an impious and miserable sight, hard to believe that he was once someone who admired Lord Bell more than anyone else and envied the Duke.
However, the Duke did not show any discomfort at the sight of Giles Smore.
No, he didn't even look at him.
This time, he replied indifferently.
'Then will you go in there?'
It was the question that made Elbert and Rigrin step back.
But Giles Smore.
'Yes!'
He answered confidently as if he had been waiting for that question.
'Lord Smore! Impulsive actions are-'
Rigrin tried to dissuade him, as if to rebuke his reckless answer, but Giles Smore shouted before him.
'The Smore family has protected this place for generations. This place is our family's, my grave. I'll go. So please don't give up the library, head of the family!'
After resolutely shouting, he jumped into the library before anyone could stop him.
Elbert shouted urgently.
'If an ordinary person rushes into that place with their bare body, they will be torn to shreds by the storm!'
However, Giles Smore's desire to protect the library was faster than Elbert's shout.
He threw himself into the purple storm.
'No-!'
But the next moment.
Swoosh.
'……?!'
Contrary to Elbert's prediction that he would be torn to shreds by the storm, Giles Smore entered the storm beyond the library after a slight resistance.
'…….'
'What is this…….'
An ordinary person, just a librarian, passed through so easily where no great magician or powerful magic knight could pass.
A deep silence fell for a moment.
Elbert, Rigrin, and everyone else there stared blankly at the place where he had disappeared.
How long has it been since then?
'I found it, I found it……!'
Giles Smore came out of the storm with something in his hand.
Then,
Fshhhhh…….
As if it were a dream, the purple storm that surrounded the library subsided.
What he brought out was a thick oval pendant necklace.
He smiled brightly and held out the necklace to the Duke.
But everyone's eyes were fixed on something other than the necklace.
Rigrin parted his lips with difficulty.
'Lord Giles Smore, your skin is…….'
I couldn't see Giles Smore's condition properly because I was hidden by the crowd.
But soon I could see Giles Smore's figure between them.
'Gasp.'
I quickly covered my mouth with both hands, almost screaming.
Half of Giles Smore's face was melted.
Not only his face.
His whole body was severely burned.
At a glance, the pain seemed severe, but Giles Smore just smiled brightly.
'I can throw myself in there hundreds of times if it means I can protect the library.'
His face, smiling brightly and revealing his teeth, even felt somewhat mad.
Elbert and Rigrin shuddered, but the Duke only checked the pendant necklace he received from him.
He tried to open the pendant, but it wouldn't open.
'It's locked.'
Elbert explained from the side.
'It seems to be locked with magic. This is…… it was made so that only the owner can open it. Perhaps the owner of this pendant is…….'
'The first.'
'……It is very likely. It would be of great research value.'
Elbert replied with a serious, yet slightly excited face.
'Is it impossible to open this?'
'Unfortunately, the current level of magic does not reach the level of the first head of the family.'
As if he had never been excited, Elbert's expression soon became gloomy.
At that answer, the Duke laughed coldly and sneered.
'Even after a thousand years, Lord Bell has still not escaped the shadow of the first.'
After confirming that he could not open the pendant, the Duke neatly lost interest.
At the same time.
Thud-
Giles Smore collapsed.
Rigrin quickly gave instructions to move him to the infirmary.
'But.'
The Duke said, looking at Giles Smore's receding figure.
'Didn't you say that no one could enter there?'
At his question, Elbert squeezed his eyes shut as if what was coming had come.
'……Yes, that's what I said.'
'Then Lord Giles Smore is not nobody.'
'That is…….'
Elbert couldn't continue speaking.
He also didn't know how Giles Smore could enter the storm that no one could break through.
While Elbert was hesitating, the Duke stared intently at the library and muttered.
'……Is he the chosen one?'
'Pardon?'
Elbert asked back, but the Duke turned away without any regrets.
'Rigrin, clean up the situation and be careful about keeping things quiet. Assign a high-level healer to Giles Smore and report to me when he is finished with treatment.'
'Yes, head of the family.'
Everything that was confusing was organized with his few words.
The surroundings began to be organized under Rigrin's command.
The Duke left the scene.
He was leaving…….
Suddenly, he stopped walking.
Right in front of the bushes where I was hiding.
'……!'
At that moment, his eyes met mine through the bushes.
I was so surprised that I widened my eyes and froze.
The Duke already knew that I was hiding there.
Thump, thump……!
My heart was pounding as if it would explode.
What should I do? I secretly eavesdropped on the conversation, so he will be very angry. Should I go out now and apologize?
At the time, the fact that I might have incurred his anger weighed on me more heavily and frighteningly than the fact that I had seen some secret of Lord Bell.
Out of fear, I squeezed my eyes shut and lowered my head.
I waited for him to call my name.
But after a long time, no sound came.
When I carefully raised my head.
'…….'
There was no one there.
"Miss?"
It was Giles Smore's voice that broke the long reminiscence.
"Ah……."
Lost in the afterglow of the reminiscence, I blankly looked at him.
Misunderstanding that, he said with a slightly embarrassed expression.
"It seems my complaints were too long. I'm sorry."
He must have thought that I was tired of listening to his story.
I quietly stared at him.
The appearance of him being a mess from the shock of entering the magic storm overlapped with his clean face.
I looked at him and shook my head.
"No, thank you for telling me."
Remembering how he risked his life to protect the library, I felt a little sorry for him.
Some people ridiculed him as a ghost, but his heart for the library was genuine.
Was that why?
I wanted to reassure him a little.
I blurted out the words almost impulsively.
"You will be able to return to the library."
Lord Bell, who failed to become a magic, hired him back as a librarian.
This time again, he would fail to become a magic without any change, so the words that he would be able to return to the library were sincere.
"Yes?"
Giles Smore looked surprised at my words.
I regretted saying something unnecessary for a very short time.
'This much is okay.'
I'm not telling him the truth, I just want to comfort him a little.
"So don't be too upset."
"……!!"
Giles Smore's eyes widened.
After a while, he muttered.
"I've been feeling it all along, but your vocabulary is considerable, Miss. It's hard to believe that you're 10 years old."
"……!"
For a moment, I almost flinched without realizing it.
No one has questioned my vocabulary so far, so I must have spoken too comfortably without realizing it.
In the moment of regretting comforting him for nothing.
"Surely it's because you've read a lot of books, right?"
Giles Smore judged differently.
"Well, you often visited the library and read a lot of books. I remember that the topics and genres were also diverse……."
Giles Smore's eyes began to sparkle.
I was getting more and more burdened.
"You love books, Miss."
That was true, so I couldn't deny it.
"Yes, yes."
I nodded slightly.
Giles Smore's eyes were now sparkling like stars.
"I have realized something after seeing you, Miss."
"Realized something?"
Suddenly?
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