Chapter 83
Chapter 83
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 83
Chapter Title: Adventure Club # 2
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Ark's central library was enormous.
Even if the world crumbled, as long as Ark remained, it could rise again—that was the motto of this hero-training institution known as Ark.
Which was why the library housed all the knowledge and wisdom accumulated by humanity on this continent up to now.
At least, that was the idea.
And the moment I actually witnessed it, I felt a dizzying sense of emptiness amid this sea of documents and scrolls.
“What’s with all these books?”
The central library was about the size of a five-story department store.
Stuffed with specimens and taxidermy of all sorts of beasts, tools amassed by humanity, and all varieties of books, it was practically a massive museum.
Having to find a book in a place like this?
There wasn’t even a search system in this world—could I really track it down?
For now, I headed to the lobby on the first floor, where the marble floor gleamed spotlessly. There, rows of library counters stretched out.
A variety of librarians were already seated there, busy with their work. Most were diminutive nymphs, just like me, Theo.
I couldn’t help but notice once again how many nymph staff members Ark had.
“Apprentice Librarian Dosenoi.”
I gave a light greeting to the gray-robed nymph with blue hair and oversized glasses.
“Excuse me, I’m looking for some materials.”
“What materials are you seeking?”
“I’d like a list of clubs active here at Ark about thirty years ago. Or any records on a group called the ‘Adventure Club’?”
“Is that all?”
Hmm.
Since I was already here, maybe I should check out a bunch at once?
“Books on half-nymphs, magic spells, records on the Angmar Demon King—anything I can access, please let me know.”
“Understood…!”
Her odd speech pattern instantly reminded me of Marmar.
I wondered what Marmar was up to. She juggled so many tasks like an octopus that it wouldn’t surprise me if she were working as a librarian here.
While I was lost in thoughts of Marmar, Apprentice Librarian Dosenoi opened a massive tome and rifled through it.
Then she pulled out a feather quill, scribbled on a scroll about the size of my pinky finger, and handed it to me.
“The books you’re looking for—they should all be here…!”
“Thank you.”
“Be careful not to get lost…!”
No wonder—with a library this big, getting lost was a real risk.
Feeling its immense scale all over again, I set off in search of the location marked ‘4F-3a-41c’ on the scroll.
4F probably meant the fourth floor, right?
Doorr-rrrr-rrrr.
I spotted what looked like an elevator in operation, hopped on, and got off at the fourth floor.
The moment I stepped onto the fourth floor, a musty smell like mold hit my nose. It was a bit stuffy, but not unbearable.
4F-3a-41c.
4F-3a-41c…
Muttering it under my breath to commit it to memory, I arrived at the section for rare books and Ark records on the fourth floor.
Amid the shelves lined with ladders stretching out in rows, I finally found the book I was after.
Its title: *Adventure Club Activity Log, Vol. 1 (Upper)*. Thick hardcover, about three hundred pages. If there was an upper volume, there must be a lower one, right?
I looked around for the lower volume, but it wasn’t there.
Someone must have borrowed it.
* * *
“I’ll check these all out.”
“Understood…! Loan period is one month. Late returns incur penalty points, so please return on time…!”
I handed over three self-improvement books for Aira, a book on fairy ecology, and a stodgy tome on the basics of magic.
Then I showed the librarian, Dosenoi, the Adventure Club Activity Log upper volume and asked,
“Do you know where the lower volume might be?”
“The lower volume of that book…”
Dosenoi rummaged through stacks of scrolls and let out a short “Ah-!” as if she’d found something.
“Is there a problem?”
“The lower volume—it’s been overdue for a whopping twenty-five years…! I, Dosenoi, cannot tolerate this…!”
A book overdue for twenty-five years? Hard to believe.
But in a world where laws and systems weren’t fully ironclad—even the twenty-first century had its share of scofflaws—it wasn’t that surprising.
“Can you tell who borrowed it?”
“It’s written here, but…the ink’s too faded to read….”
“Let me see.”
On the scroll Dosenoi handed me were the borrow date and the borrower’s signature for the Adventure Club Log lower volume.
It was faint, but my keen deductive skills and the talent 《Ten-Ri Eye》 adjusted it enough for me to make out the letters.
*Isaiah Gospel.*
That’s what it said. I never imagined I’d stumble on the very name I’d been searching for here.
Which meant the lower volume was probably lost for good.
Since these club logs were hand-written records, each one was unique in the world.
In the end, I had to settle for the upper volume alone.
Well… even just the upper one had plenty of info.
As I checked out the books and left the library, someone shouted, “Ahh-!”
A small nun came running up, waving her hands wildly. It was Marmar.
“Comrade! To meet here of all places! We really are connected, you and I!”
“Marmar, what are you doing here?”
“You sent me that letter, remember?”
She glanced around furtively, then whispered while covering her mouth.
“Asking me to look into the name Isaiah. So I came to the library.”
“Oh, that. I already found it. Here—the Adventure Club log.”
I showed Marmar the book I’d just acquired. All that was left was to find a quiet, secluded spot and read it.
But now that I thought about it, I didn’t have a good private space in Ark.
The dorm had roommates, and girls like Elga or Mirna popped in and out whenever they pleased. Just as I was musing about setting up a base here, Marmar spoke up.
“Then let’s go read it together!”
“I don’t know where we could.”
“I’ll invite you to my place! It’s not far from here!”
“Your place, Marmar?”
“Yeah! I call it my revolutionary outpost secret base. But since you saved my life, comrade, come on in anytime!”
Marmar’s place, huh.
I was curious about how my comrade Marmar lived.
So I followed her. She led me through Ark’s gardens, across a clear stream, and into what could be called the forest encircling the Ark grounds.
Rustle, rustle.
The deeper we went into the underbrush, the more uneasy I felt.
“Marmar, is this really the way?”
“Yup!”
A dorm out here?
I couldn’t picture it.
“Ta-da! This is my outpost base!”
What appeared before my eyes was a rundown shack you could barely call a structure.
Broken windows, triangular roof with bug-eaten, damp wooden shingles creaking away—a decrepit brown hut.
It looked so musty that even if you lit it on fire, it’d just smoke white without burning.
In front of the hut, stones were circled for a fire pit with traces of past use, a pot perched atop, and a makeshift drying rack with laundry and worn blankets lined up.
“Comrade, watch your step there! Rabbit traps! I set a bunch to catch rabbits!”
“Ah-.”
Was this a place for humans to live?
This was straight-up wilderness.
My vision went dark.
I’d grumbled about the inconvenience of a three-person room in the rundown Truth Hall dorm, and now I felt ashamed. This wasn’t living—it was survival…
I couldn’t believe my eyes and had to ask.
“Marmar, you really live here?”
“Yup!”
“I heard there’s staff housing. Why not there?”
“That costs fifty thousand coin a month! Plus a five hundred thousand coin deposit. Rent’s too steep…”
Droop.
Marmar’s proud diamond tail sagged limply to the ground. Seeing it, I reflected.
I was the one who brought Marmar here and planted her as Ark staff.
But I’d been too busy with other things to notice how hard she had it.
I figured she was scraping by in some modest room, but this exceeded my worst expectations—I felt terrible.
“Still, I got lucky! Found this abandoned hut! Asked Ark, and they said no one uses it, so Marmar could live here!”
“I-I see.”
“I’ll go brew some tea, so go inside and sit, comrade! I’ll fetch some water from the nearby ditch!”
Marmar vanished into the brush with a rustle. I looked around, then stepped into the rundown hut.
Surprisingly, the interior felt lived-in. Barely enough room for a bed and table, but it had the essentials.
A bed covered in a quilt patched so much it looked like mosaic art, and a broken all-in-one desk that looked discarded from a classroom—they stood out.
There was an old-looking beaker and alcohol lamp, plus dishes and pots. Not new, of course—scavenged, clearly…
Creak.
I awkwardly crammed myself into the all-in-one chair. Opening the book with a thud, I saw neat writing boldly on the first page.
*This is the record of the Adventure Club. Unauthorized viewing by non-members is forbidden. Violators will suffer a terrible curse.*
A curse, huh.
Ridiculous.
Brushing it off, I turned the page. A handwritten table of contents appeared.
*Location and History of the Adventure Club.*
*1st Quarter. Truth Hall – Rooftop Room*
*2nd Quarter. Hope Hall – Underground Guild*
They’d split the records by clubroom moves. Location made an easy dividing line, so it made sense.
Truth Hall rooftop room.
I’d suspected something there. But it was already a storage space.
I’d rummaged around hoping for more, but found only dust, cobwebs, and someone’s lost coins.
So, did Hope Hall have something?
Flip.
Turning the next page, I jolted in surprise.
Pitch black.
The page was utterly blacked out.
“What the hell.”
It looked like a kindergartener had smeared an entire canvas black with crayon and labeled it ‘Kim.’
Flip—. The next page too.
Flip—. And the one after, no—every page to the end was coated in black ink.
Only one thing it could mean.
Someone had deliberately hidden the information. Blacked it out so no one after could read it.
Why?
No way to know right now.
The only info I got was that the club’s second quarter was at a place called Hope Hall.
Better than nothing.
Just then, the hut door creaked open.
“Comrade—. Couldn’t find a single tea leaf…. Rabbits must’ve eaten them all. No tea, but… here’s some plain water at least…!”
Marmar, face and hair full of leaves, handed me a gourd. It held cold plain water.
Her reflection showed in it—a face embarrassed at having nothing but water to offer a guest.
“Thanks, I’ll drink it.”
Having already received Marmar’s tail as a gift, I gulped down the water, set the gourd aside, and asked,
“Marmar, do you know where the Hope Hall building is?”
“Hope Hall?”
Marmar’s face darkened intensely.
“Where’d you hear that name?”
“I need to find Hope Hall. But as far as I remember, there’s no such building on Ark grounds.”
“Hope Hall’s an old, closed-off building. It’s in the fairy woods here. All my tools came from there too.”
“Really?”
Lucky her—she knew the spot.
“Where is it?”
“But… best not to get interested. Rumor has it a scary monster lives there!”
An old club building possibly tied to Angmar Demon King, shut down with whispers of a monster inside.
Felt like I was on the right track.
“Marmar, I want to go there. Can you show me the way?”