Chapter 140
Chapter 140
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 140
Chapter Title: 40-3. No Lovey-Dovey Acts in the Library
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Librarian Laplace.
He was born the son of tenant farmers. A man who should have had no connection whatsoever to something like magic.
Day after day, he lived a life like a cartwheel, endlessly harvesting crops and planting new ones.
But he possessed a small power from birth.
"Laplace bro! Show us that thing!! That one!!"
"This time, it's putting out our house's bonfire!"
He livened up the village with his 'ability to extinguish fires without touching them.'
Snap. As Laplace flicked his fingers, the bonfire burning in the distance went out in an instant.
"Woooah!! A real wizard!! So cool!"
"Ahh, they've figured me out..."
At first, the mischievous country boy used his ability for things like snuffing out village torches or easily lighting damp firewood.
He even earned the misunderstanding of being a wizard, envied by kids his age.
What changed that ordinary life was largely due to one girl.
"...Miss Claire. It's chilly out here."
"Just this one. I'll go in after I finish this book."
A noble lady who had come to the village for health reasons. A girl whose gloved hands and wooden wheelchair left a strong impression.
Claire von Maxel. She suffered from an incurable disease that was slowly turning her body into wood.
'...A real wizard? I can barely sense any mana.'
She occasionally had the habit of reading in the shade of trees, watching with interest as Laplace used his ability.
A mischievous green-haired country boy and a noble lady. A meeting that never should have happened.
But on a particularly chilly autumn night...
While Claire, feeling stuffy, slipped out for a stroll, something unexpected occurred.
"...Let there be light."
She came upon Laplace lying in the grass. She watched intently as he flicked his fingers, snuffing out stars in the night sky one by one.
"Ugh, nailed it again today. Aren't I just too cool?"
He turned the starlight on and off repeatedly, swelling with pride over his ability. His lips stretched uncontrollably to his ears.
"Kid, what're you doing lying in the grass?"
He jumped up in surprise at the rustling sound of her wheelchair crushing grass. The boy caught saying something embarrassing.
"Uh. Huh?! You, you saw that?!"
"...Of course."
Laplace panicked, terrified she'd heard his smug self-talk. How embarrassing.
He'd just been bored and couldn't sleep that night, so he'd played around with his ability. He never imagined someone would be on that hill people rarely visited.
"You're a real wizard, right? How'd you do that just now...?"
But her response was a misunderstanding. Afraid she'd spread his embarrassing words if he denied being a wizard, Laplace chose the best option.
"...Indeed, maiden."
In truth, the country boy barely knew any magic, but he lied and claimed to be a wizard.
"What, that's cringey. Even with that deep voice, you don't sound any older."
"You're a kid too! Just 'cause your head's big like a croissant doesn't make you an adult..."
Their relationship began from that minor misunderstanding. That was how Laplace and Claire met. The unusual pair quickly grew close.
As time passed, they drew nearer.
"Today you're snuffing out the fireflies too? Amazing!"
"Maiden, to this wizard Laplace, this is child's play..."
"Whatever. Peasant."
Different statuses. Polar opposites. Yet the mischievous boy couldn't just stand by and watch the frail girl suffer.
"...You have talent, Laplace."
"What talent? Claire?"
"The talent of an archmage. I'm a count's daughter, so I know a bit."
Laplace had noticed Claire's illness but stayed by her side as a companion. In turn, she shared tales from beyond the village, fostering his aspirations.
"You snuff out stars in the sky! It must be some ultimate skill...!"
"...I guess I do."
Claire pulled her hat low. Branches were already sprouting from her hair.
"It's a shame even you can't cure my disease."
"...Y-yeah."
Watching the girl turn to wood, Laplace dreamed not of being a fake, but the real thing.
A small wish bloomed in his heart: to become a true wizard and cure Claire's illness.
"Found this. Lady Maxel."
"What's this? A mana crystal orb?"
One day, to help Claire—who could barely move—Laplace gruffly presented images capturing scenery from around the world, like photographs.
"They were selling cheap. You wanted to see the sea, right?"
"Liar. This is expensive. No way you 'found' it."
"..."
Viewing the Land of Water through Laplace's captured images, Claire smiled for the first time in ages. Her coughs worsened, her face paling, but still.
"Thank you, Laplace. I've always wanted to go there someday."
Her smile always shone. An expression that squeezed Laplace's heart.
"...Wasn't doing it for thanks."
Perhaps that's when it started. Their friendship blossomed into love.
"If you train at the Magic Tower, you could become an archmage, Laplace."
"Magic Tower...? Where the sages gather on the mountain?"
One day, as she brushed his roll-bun hair, Claire had said.
"Not just a wizard, but an archmage... You could easily cure my disease then."
In truth, archmage was no easy realm, and with half her body turned to wood, she had given up hope.
Claire, now bedridden and unable to move even an inch.
It was too late for Laplace to confess he wasn't a wizard.
Telling the truth would only shatter her remaining hope. He needed a pure white lie.
"I'll give it a try."
He boldly headed to the Magic Tower but crashed into the wall of his lack of talent and returned. He'd tried studying magic alone since childhood.
His innate mana was too low. Magic was heavily influenced by bloodline.
He hadn't gained an ability like Dennis, nor was he a natural like Ariel—just human, so it was inevitable.
A dragon born in the countryside wouldn't mean him.
He took odd jobs like cleaning and hauling, seeking a way, but no cure existed for a disease turning the body to plant matter.
Cause unknown. Incurable, no treatment. Rejected outright even by the Magic Tower, he trudged back to the village.
"..."
In his absence, her condition had worsened gravely. Arriving at Claire's home at last, Laplace was shocked.
"Failed... huh? It's okay..."
In just a few months, Claire rasped faint breaths. Vines covered her body—a horrific sight filling his vision.
"Sorry, Claire... I'm actually... not a wizard..."
He rushed to her side, confessing immediately. Words too late.
He hated his powerless self. No matter how many books he scoured or efforts he made, some things remained out of reach. What wizard couldn't save the girl before him?
"...No, Laplace."
Claire soothed him. Flowers bloomed on her bamboo-thin arms, signaling life fading.
"No way. Claire. I'm a fake..."
"To me, you were always real."
She smiled, wiping tears from the crying green-haired man. Half her face was wood now, but her light endured.
"I knew from the start. Even if fake, it was fine."
The green-haired boy's eyes widened in shock. The girl wore an expression saying she'd known all along.
"The time with you was magic to me."
Even knowing his wizard claim was a lie, Claire had played along. Hearing her words, Laplace resolved himself.
Weeks passed. Her life hung by a thread.
'There must be something I can do with my ability.'
Laplace thought of one last resort.
On the hill where they'd first met, he flicked his fingers repeatedly, quietly waiting for someone.
Soon, a small figure in a black cloak approached.
"What lunatic's flickering the magic lamps of the Library of Truth?! You?!"
Its true form: a Grim Reaper with a skeletal face. The death god jabbed a bony finger accusingly.
"And if it is?"
A place that could change everything.
Laplace believed such a space existed somewhere. That's why he'd broken the Akashic Records to make a connection.
"The higher-ups are furious!"
His ability to snuff out even starlight in the night sky. An ultimate skill touching concepts.
"Because of a mere human like you!! How'd you damage a library even Demon Kings can't touch?! Fix it now!"
"Make me an archmage, and I will."
He proposed not fixing it until he became an archmage.
"You can do that much, right? Claire told me."
The ability to extinguish fire without touching it. Seemingly trivial, perhaps.
But for his beloved, Laplace strove.
Decades devouring every magic tome in the library, training alone.
"Long time no see, Claire."
"Laplace...?"
The fake wizard became a true archmage.
Eventually, honing his ability, he performed the feat of curing Claire's incurable disease.
As we entered the library, starlight poured down. A landscape like walking atop transparent auroras.
"Laplace!! Bringing an outsider here!! What happened to your title as librarian!!"
One step forward, and a tiny skeleton spotted us, yelling. The black-cloaked death god looked adorable.
As far as I knew, he'd accepted the librarian role in exchange for halting Claire's symptoms temporarily.
"Quiet, skullhead. I'm bringing the hero who stopped our library's wipeout."
"What? So the otherworld death god really screwed up!"
The librarian managing the Library of Truth, deep in the temple of the God of Wisdom Akasha.
That was Laplace's true identity. A man capable of any madness for his beloved.
In that sense, he and I were kindred spirits.
He'd agreed for the same reason—thanks to Claire. Being a prequel, I worried he might not be an archmage yet.
But snuffing out the sun as headmaster left no doubt.
"Could I... get some book recommendations, Administrator?"
I asked the skeletal face. Laplace was this library's librarian; that death god was the chief administrator. Recommendations from him made sense.
"This guy's crazier than Laplace! Asking me for book recs?"
The clear, clattering of teeth was crisp. Its cackling laughter grated on the ears.
A hub where info from past eras flowed in, regardless of route—as long as it was history.
I could confirm missed flags here too.
I needed max info. On the remaining two Demon Kings. Horizon's location. Much to learn.
"Don't badmouth Licht."
In that instant, glass swords materialized around the skeleton, threatening the administrator. Pine, no. We'd get kicked out...
"My apologies... guest... Please wait a moment..."
Despite my worry, the Grim Reaper menaced by Pine responded politely.
What the hell? That's not its character. Something's up?