Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 83: A Fictional Story

When the people of the United Library knew “nothing,” it was likewise not on the same level as ordinary people’s ignorance.

The three dolls immediately swiveled their heads and scrutinized Father Kalen.

After a brief moment of stunned silence, Father Kalen gave an “oh” as if he had suddenly understood. He patiently explained the situation and mission of the Order of Shadows, and at the end of his explanation, he said with confidence:

“It should be the protection of my God. Many strange incidents have occurred recently, so the Lord of Shadows has drawn our existence into His veil.”

“However, He only shroud the truth in His veil. He cannot make the truth disappear. You merely cannot remember it. There must be relevant records preserved in the United Library.”

After speaking, the priest took out a piece of parchment edged in copper.

Embossed on the parchment were the words “Kingdom Religious Certificate,” with delicate printed patterns beside them. Beneath that, written plainly, were phrases such as “priest of the Order of Shadows,” “Kalen,” and “from Atla.”

The black ink had soaked deeply into the parchment and shimmered with a strange blue-purple luster. Myss looked at it a few extra times.

Mag accepted the kingdom religious certificate, then took a bizarre-looking pair of glasses from the drawer and examined it repeatedly at length. “The certificate is indeed real, but… forget it.”

She put down the glasses and rubbed her temples. “As for materials related to Divine Blood, I know exactly where they are. I can give you the ones with lower confidentiality levels.”

“But as for the notes this priest mentioned, I need a more detailed description. Specifically, the title, appearance, age, and the nature of its contents.”

“No problem!” Father Kalen said cheerfully. “This begins with an Infinite Notebook from the Night Scrouge period…”

Mag’s fingers slightly twitched. “A what?”

“An Infinite Notebook from the Night Scourge period.”

The priest spoke with reverence. “It’s said that it recorded all knowledge related to Night Scrouge and was written by the warriors of that era. It was previously preserved by the Order of Shadows, and it also recorded countless explorations by the Order’s monks and nuns.”

“My older brother Hermit once told me that this notebook is now hidden in the United Library. If we encountered an incomprehensible difficulty, we could find the answer in the notebook.”

Mag’s eyebrows twitched. Her mouth opened and closed, and her expression grew somewhat sheepish.

“That is a long-circulating fairy tale, Mr. Kalen,” she said carefully. “There’s no such thing in this world as an ‘Infinite Notebook that records everything.’”

“That thing only appears in fairy tales related to Salaar. It’s entirely fictional.”

For a moment, Kalen was bewildered.

“Oh, I remember!” the Myss doll bounced up. “That picture book. Crow priest, look at that picture book in our luggage!”

Father Kalen quickly found the copy of “Brave Salaar” that Scintilla had given them.

He rapidly flipped through the adorable illustrations. When he reached a certain page, the priest’s movements suddenly froze.

[Brave Salaar had three extraordinary treasures.]

[He had a vial of elven spring water kept in a crystal bottle, which could heal all wounds and illnesses, great and small.]

[He had a magical map drawn in golden ink, which could instantly transport him to any corner of the world.]

[He had an infinite notebook that was inexhaustible, recording all of the Chaos Archdemon’s weaknesses.]

“This, this.” Myss swiftly climbed onto the page and poked hard at the notebook pattern with his hand.

The first time he had read it, Myss had directly ignored this information. What a joke. He and Salaar had fought each other for more than three hundred years. That guy only had one head that could go mad, an endless supply of dry mushrooms, and a pile of old books worn ragged from being flipped through.

Therefore, Lord Archdemon had categorized these so-called “treasures” as nonsense humans made up for their own amusement and had never paid special attention to them.

The priest was actually seriously searching for a fairy-tale prop? …Was that Hermit playing tricks on people?

At this moment, Lord Archdemon was about the same size as the simple-doodle Salaar on the page. Both the image and the situation were somewhat comical, but unfortunately, no one present could laugh.

“Hermit wouldn’t lie to me. People’s descriptions of these things may have become distorted, but that doesn’t mean they came from nowhere.”

Father Kalen closed the picture book. “Back then, Salaar may have possessed something else, and rumor distorted it into this. Hermit said that notebook is in the United Library, so it must be here.”

Myss, the person involved: “…”

No, Salaar really didn’t have it! He had seen it with his own eyes!

After thinking it over, Myss figured that the elf spring water that healed all illnesses was probably referring to Salaar’s healing magic. As for the other things, he truly couldn’t think of anything that corresponded to them.

“You really trust your brother,” Tass muttered softly.

“I trust him with my life.”

Father Kalen lowered his aquamarine eyes, not a hint of wavering in his words.

As he spoke, the priest’s right hand unconsciously pressed against his chest. For an instant, Myss almost couldn’t tell whether it was an unconscious gesture or a prayer.

Mag’s gaze was somewhat complicated, and she didn’t say more. “In a while, I’ll have Raymond come over. Mr. Kalen, with him accompanying you, you may freely search the collection area. Of course, only the areas with relatively low confidentiality levels.”

“Don’t worry. Raymond and Redding are my direct subordinates, and they are fiercely loyal to me. I’ll tell Raymond in advance and say that the priest wants to borrow books to pass the time… How does that sound?”

Father Kalen nodded solemnly.

“Then it’s settled.” Mag clapped her hands.

……

Raymond staggered back to his room and buried his face in his pillow, enjoying his hard-won rest time.

When he had first heard about an institution called the “United Library,” he had thought the work wouldn’t be this heavy.

Who could have imagined that merely running behind Lady Mag would exhaust him to the point of nearly collapsing, let alone the additional effort spent dealing with the situation.

“Ugh… Bring the basic files related to Divine Blood to Lady Mag’s room, then be responsible for receiving that Father Kalen next… Oof…”

Raymond sighed heavily, his limbs feeling as if they were glued to the bed.

He sincerely hoped that this Kalen had a better temper. After all, what kind of priest would mix with scum like Kendrick?

“That Kendrick Karns just had to come at such a troublesome time. Miss Mag is unlucky too, ending up with this kind of dogshit relative.”

He muttered, reluctant to sit up for a long time.

“I’ll go, brother.”

Redding sat down beside his bed and patted his back. “I was the one who received them earlier anyway. We’ll just swap. Lady Mag won’t mind.”

“Really?”

“I’m confident I can convince her.” Redding said with a grin, “I know how exhausting handling abnormalities can be. Listen, you need rest.”

“Besides, you’ve never liked dealing with people anyway, right? Leave it to me.”

“You really are a saint.”

Raymond let out a long breath and flopped back onto the bed.

Redding stood and poured a glass of water, leaning against the wall as he slowly drank it. “Speaking of which, how is the abnormality in the restricted area?”

“It’s still…” Halfway through his dizzy answer, Raymond suddenly reacted. “No, I can’t tell you that, you sly guy. Your clearance level clearly isn’t high enough…”

As he spoke, Raymond turned his head sideways and looked at his brother who was still leaning against the wall.

The wall that Redding was leaning on was covered in elegant wallpaper. Peacock-feather-like patterns were printed on the dark green fabric, looking at first glance like wide-open eyes.

Redding wore clothes identical to his and leisurely drank the water in the glass. He had a smile on his face and didn’t look tired at all.

Looking at that face, so familiar it was uncanny, Raymond’s mind suddenly went blank for a second. It was like staring at a word for too long and suddenly finding the word unfamiliar.

For one instant, in the gap between two heartbeats, Raymond suddenly wondered, did he really have a brother?

But the thought came quickly and vanished even faster.

Exhaustion drowned that inexplicable thought, and Raymond lowered his head again. “…I’ll sleep for a while. Take the Divine Blood materials and go to Lady Magnolia’s room.”

Redding put down the glass and gave an affirmative response.

Ten minutes later…

“…Raymond isn’t feeling well? All right.”

Mag didn’t press the matter. She pointed at the priest, who was now carrying the breadbasket again. “Since it’s you, I won’t introduce him again.”

“Before the library reopens, you’re responsible for receiving Father Kalen. Take him around the collection area more. I’ll handle the relevant procedures for them.”

Redding swept his gaze around. “And Mr. Kendrick and Mr. Myss…?”

“I locked them in the confinement room,” Mag said calmly. “Those two fools snuck off to get intimate and I caught them red-handed. You don’t need to worry about them.”

“Understood, Lady Magnolia. Father, shall we go to the collection area now?”

Redding placed a large stack of Divine Blood materials on Mag’s desk and turned to Kalen. Hearing that Kendrick and Myss had been locked in the confinement room, he seemed to be in a good mood.

Kalen hesitated. There were still three soft, fluffy major problems in front of him, and finding the notebook wasn’t urgent to that extent.

Seeing that the priest didn’t immediately agree, Redding nodded understandingly and took a small bell from his pocket. “This is a summoning magic device. If you want to find me, just shake this bell.”

After saying this, he gave a bow and tactfully left the room.

“What a measured young man.”

Lady Mag praised him. “If Kendrick had even half his honesty, Grandfather wouldn’t have been angered to that extent.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she looked toward Salaar, only to find that Salaar hadn’t heard a single word. The soft doll had bounced out of the breadbasket and was wholeheartedly rummaging through the Divine Blood materials.

Myss joined him in shuffling the papers around. The two cotton lumps rolled around miserably, somehow turning the smooth office desk into something with the atmosphere of a chaotic battlefield.

“I hear that the ‘Order of Shadows’ possessed deep understanding of abnormal things. Then what about Divine Blood?”

Mag helped the two dolls open a scroll, but her eyes were still fixed on Kalen.

“Our understanding is no greater than yours, Madam,” Kalen said cautiously.

Myss listened for a moment but quickly lost interest.

Salaar still didn’t want to expose his identity, which meant they couldn’t tell Mag everything. The urgent priority was to undo this damned magical curse, and then…

“Hello, Mr. Gray, Mr. Black,” a voice said.

That voice was thin and delicate, completely unfamiliar. Myss subconsciously turned his head, and then he saw Salaar.

To be exact, a stick-figure Salaar.

His eyes were only two black ink dots, and his laughing mouth took up half his face, making him look utterly silly.

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The author has something to say:

Salaar:

Myss: ? Things are starting to get interesting. (in that tone)

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