The Dark Dawn Society (1)
"What on earth is wrong with these kids?"
Roughly five books had lost their vitality. Every single one of them moved sluggishly now, their once-soft pages turned stiff and parched, as if they had been soaked in coffee or water and then carelessly dried. It was unmistakably abnormal.
"Hmm⋯." Grandmother had never mentioned anything like this, so I felt completely at a loss. For now, I pulled the five books out and examined them as best I could.
"They seem a little warm⋯." When I ran my hand over the inside of their thick covers, I felt an unusual heat, unlike their usual state. It was as if they had caught a cold. As for the slightly damaged inner pages, I tended to them with care and restored them as much as possible. Their former soft, resilient texture returned, yet the fever still lingered. They fluttered their pages and even coughed.
⋯⋯The cause clearly lay with the patrons who had borrowed these five books.
"Did they spread some kind of illness⋯?" But if it were an airborne contagion, the other books should have caught it too. That meant another method must have been at work. One thing was certain: regardless of the reason, those patrons were at fault. And that meant they had violated the rules.
-3. Damaging or soiling books is prohibited.
The intent of this rule was simple: "Do not read books in a filthy manner." If those patrons heard it, they might protest that they had been as clean as possible. Indeed, when I observed them reading, none had committed any blatant discourtesy like spitting on the pages while turning them. Yet the books had still been damaged. It could only mean they had found a way to harm the books without my noticing, then concealed the evidence.
My mood sank. It felt as though the books were suffering because of my mistake. They occasionally annoyed or troubled me, but in the end they were my colleagues, my family, sharing the library with me. Thinking that my carelessness had made them ill⋯
"⋯⋯I'm sorry."
I silently nursed the five books. I covered them with dry towels to bring down their fever—wet ones would have been better, but since they were books by nature, I had no choice but to use chilled, thoroughly dried towels instead. I thanked the Story of the Ice Kingdom for its help during the process. After fashioning makeshift beds from paper and writing tools for the little ones, I placed them near my librarian's desk. Then I stepped into the management room and opened the Access Log.
It was a book reserved exclusively for the librarian, recording the identities of every visitor and the manner of their arrival. It contained not only the people from the Anomaly Management Bureau but also snippets of information on the ordinary humans and monsters who had visited in between. I was not the type to pry into patrons' details, so I rarely opened the Access Log unless the situation was truly extraordinary. But this was extraordinary.
Flip, flip⋯
"⋯⋯Here it is."
I found the records for five individuals.
[Dmitri Ivanov — entered via the staff door of Russia's Biblio Globus.]
[Lucia Fernandez — entered via the emergency exit of Spain's Biblioteca Nacional de España.]
[Daniel Gordon — entered via a sealed door in London's Cecil Court.]
[Takahashi Hana — entered via a ■■■ door in Japan's Tengaron Used Bookstore.]
[James Miller — entered via the restroom door of a Barnes & Noble in the United States.]
"⋯⋯"
I was a little bewildered. The nationalities and entry points of the five main suspects were all different. Come to think of it, their appearances had been completely different too, so perhaps it was only natural.
"⋯Or has something else happened to Earth⋯?"
If some anomaly capable of sickening books had spread across the globe the same way the Laugh Encyclopedia had once painted the world with laughter, then I was in for another headache. For now, I slipped out through the doors each of the five patrons had used. Every single one led to an ordinary bookstore or library, and the Earth visible beyond showed no obvious abnormalities.
"So they only used those doors temporarily⋯"
Someone had planned this meticulously. I returned to the stacks and continued thinking.
"⋯⋯Waiting for the next patron would be foolish." If the books' vitality drained further while I waited, that would be disastrous. Rather than hoping for a patron who might or might not appear, I needed to track them down myself. But how? The information I currently possessed was scant. Even if I tried to write, too much time had already passed; there was nothing left worth obtaining. Reversing time was impossible, even with the books' help.
As my emotions churned into a murky mix of gloom and anger—
Knock, knock.
Creak⋯
A new patron had arrived.
"Hmm. So this is the place Bishop mentioned."
A man in a black coat, wrapped in an intensely metallic scent of blood, appeared.
* * *
The man was "black." By which I mean every article of clothing except his skin was black. A black fedora, a black coat, a black dress shirt and suit trousers beneath the coat—everything. His hair and eyes were pitch-black as well. He removed his rain-soaked fedora, revealing sharply slicked-back hair that left a striking impression.
"The librarian of the Shinbi Library. Are you the caretaker of this place?"
"Are you a patron?"
I suppressed my anger as best I could and greeted him in my usual manner.
"A patron⋯ You mean someone who reads books?"
I nodded.
"Then I would like a recommendation. Something related to darkness."
"That can be arranged. What is your name?"
"Gallerhad Chancellor."
His low, resonant voice filled the air. Before lending him a book, I wrote his name in the ledger.
[Gallerhad Chancellor. Mage.]
He had not lied. A mage, just like Edward Bishop, who had previously visited to peruse Abyssgetia and The Aesthetics of the Bottomless Pit. Now that I thought about it, this man had mentioned Bishop moments ago. A recommendation from an acquaintance. Chancellor appeared to be a colleague of the mage called Bishop. This was a first.
"Please come in."
At my words, Chancellor quietly followed me into the stacks. While I searched for a suitable book, he gazed at the five ailing volumes lying in their sickbeds.
"⋯⋯Come to think of it, many of those books are related to darkness as well."
After some deliberation, I pulled out The Truth of the Dusksini and handed it to him.
"Much obliged."
Chancellor examined the book for a while, yet he did not seem particularly absorbed in reading it. Recommending a book that would please every patron was difficult. It was a pity, but I would simply have to grow from the experience.
"A fine book. I never expected it to feel as though it were stabbing my eyes."
"Thank you for using the library."
"There are even better books here besides this one⋯ Might I return another time?"
"Of course. The library always welcomes its patrons."
"Is that so⋯ Then allow me to offer one piece of useful information. About those five books."
"⋯⋯?"
What?
"Bishop has been spreading word of this library throughout our Dark Dawn Society. Some members are already attempting to enter. It seems I am the only one who has succeeded so far."
"⋯⋯"
"However, there is one member who has not come in person. Instead, he has repeatedly sent his slaves in his stead. That man is responsible for the state of these books. He achieved it through transcription."
⋯⋯!
Transcription⋯? So he copied the contents of these books to create duplicates? That was a method I had never even considered. It also explained why I had been unable to determine the cause, and why Grandmother had left no knowledge about it.
-8. Removing books from the library is prohibited.
This rule only forbade the physical removal of books. It did not prohibit the removal of knowledge acquired by patrons. Doing so would contradict the library's purpose of allowing patrons to utilize that knowledge. Therefore, the culprit had exploited this loophole—extracting the five books' contents without technically violating the rules.
"That member enjoys collecting grimoires. He is also notorious for corrupting holy scriptures. Upon hearing of this library⋯ he grew greedy."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Consider it a token of goodwill for the excellent recommendation. For now, at least."
⋯This man's aura was, to put it kindly, extremely vicious. Perhaps even more so than Edward Bishop's. Especially the powerful grimoire energy emanating from inside his coat. It felt like the rough, trembling roar of a lion.
But for the moment, there was no problem. He was a well-mannered patron, and above all, he had provided a crucial lead regarding the most urgent matter at hand.
"Then I shall take my leave."
After offering me another greeting with his fedora, the man stepped outside. Once he was gone, I repeated a single word under my breath.
Dark Dawn Society.
The mage faction to which Bishop, Chancellor, and the mastermind behind this incident all belonged.
⋯For now, I needed to find that member.
. . .
"A charming space. It possesses a distinct character compared to the elves' Yggdrasil or the Eternal Recorders' Archive of All People. Perhaps it is the legendary Akashic Records spoken of in myth. Maintaining a good relationship with it would be most beneficial."
Whoosh⋯
In a rainy London alley, the man who had emerged from the weathered door of a closed used bookstore murmured to himself. Scattered throughout the alley were numerous corpses wearing police coats—magic police officers belonging to the British government. As the man tapped the book inside his coat and muttered something, a black lion burst forth and devoured every last body.
"Perz, you have crossed the line. Still, it seems a fine opportunity has arisen that will spare me from staining my own hands with blood."
Murmuring the name of a certain member, the man vanished into the alley now steeped in darkness.