Reading with the Fingertips
"Junior Abel, do you like reading books? Lisa absolutely loves reading! Sometimes she doesn't even come out of here all day because she's so busy reading! Isn't that amazing?"
Anes chattered away without stopping, standing right between Abel and Lisa.
She was doing this in the hope that the two of them, who would be working together in the archives, would break the ice and get closer.
Flinch!
"...!"
However, with Lisa tightly clutching the hem of Anes's skirt and hiding behind her, it wasn't easy to strike up a conversation.
She's incredibly wary...
Abel couldn't easily figure out how to handle a child who resembled a tiny herbivore.
There had been children in Magia Bell, but most of them were so energetic that he didn't even need to try to entertain them; they would run up to him and babble about whatever game they wanted to play.
But this elf girl. She was visually impaired and seemed highly introverted.
"Lisa, Junior Abel. I have to get going now! I have my own work to do!"
"Huh...?!"
Startled, Lisa shook her head, clutching Anes's skirt even tighter with both hands.
"You can do it, Lisa! Just dump all the hard work onto Junior Abel."
Anes patted Lisa's small shoulders with her hoofed hands and walked straight out of the archives.
"..."
"..."
Only Abel and Lisa were left in the archives.
"Um..."
The moment Abel made a sound and shifted slightly, rustle— Lisa immediately hid behind a nearby tower of books.
What should I do...
Abel, pondering for a moment with an awkward smile, thought, Right.
He came up with an idea. Without taking a step forward, he bent slightly at the waist toward Lisa and spoke.
"I have grey hair. My eyes are black. And I am wearing a butler's uniform."
Understanding that the child could not see, he described his appearance to make himself feel a bit more familiar to her.
"..."
Seeing her poke her head out slightly and peer in his direction with her closed eyes as if observing him, Abel smiled gently.
"I'm about twice as tall as you, Senior Lisa, but I limp on one leg, so I can't run very fast. As for my face, I often hear that I look far too easygoing."
He even mentioned things he considered his own weaknesses, trying to get the girl to let her guard down even a little.
Step...
Before he knew it, half of the girl's maid outfit came into view.
"I didn't come here to bully you, Senior Lisa."
"...!"
"If there's anything difficult, I want to help you."
He conveyed his sincere desire to be of help.
Step.
The elf maid... Lisa stopped five paces away from Abel.
"If I call out... the book's name and number... please put it on the shelf!"
At the words spoken in a trembling voice,
"I will do so."
Abel straightened up, let out a soft breath, and spoke gently.
"The Little Prince and the Small Rose, A15."
"On Edible Grasses in Contaminated Lands, B27."
"Introduction to Dungeonology, F132."
While organizing the books she held, she spoke without looking back, identifying which book Abel was touching and where it should be placed.
That's amazing.
If it were simply a matter of memorizing the names of the books and their locations on the shelves, Abel could have done it too.
But what surprised him was the towers of books that seemed to be piled up at random. The girl knew exactly which titles made up those towers and in what order they were stacked.
Her senses were also incredibly sharp; every time he touched a book, her long ears twitched slightly, letting her know which book had been moved.
To the elf girl, this small, room-like archive seemed to be entirely within her grasp, like a domain of her own.
Thud!
However, to make it easier for his small senior to track his movements, Abel intentionally let the books bump together with a slight sound as he moved them.
That's one tower cleared... Hm?
He turned his head to clear the next tower of books.
"Ugh...!"
He spotted Lisa groaning on her tiptoes, trying to place a book on a shelf three tiers up, but she was too short to reach.
"Senior, let me—!"
As he took two steps closer, tap, tap. Lisa immediately took two steps to the side.
"...?"
Abel stopped speaking and took another step forward with a puzzled look.
Tap. Lisa retreated another step to the side.
"Haha... Senior, if you just leave it there and tell me, I'll put it away for you."
"Okay..."
He had known it wouldn't be easy to get close, but her reaction showed that closing the distance would be far more difficult than he had anticipated.
This is going to be difficult. How can I get her to open her heart?
Abel thought as he slotted a book into an empty shelf.
Knock, knock, knock.
After working for a long while, a knock sounded at the door.
"I brought food!"
"Ah, yes!"
Recognizing Anes's voice, who had left a few hours ago, Abel, who was standing near the entrance, opened the door.
"Usually we eat in the dining hall, but Lisa always eats here. Is that alright with you, Junior?"
Anes handed over a basket containing bread and soup. Abel accepted it, saying it was perfectly fine.
"Senior Lisa. Food is here."
"...!"
Perhaps because Anes had arrived, Lisa scurried over and clung tightly to Anes's side.
"Lisa, did you work hard with Junior Abel?"
"Mhm..."
"Hehe. Was Junior very helpful?"
At Anes's question, Abel looked at Lisa with a bit of tension.
Nod, nod.
Lisa nodded twice, much more readily than he had expected.
So I wasn't a nuisance...
Abel, who had been worried that his presence might make the girl uncomfortable, let out a quiet sigh of relief.
"Now that I've delivered the food, I'll be off. Junior, I have work to do!"
True to form, the maid Anes left the room in a flurry.
"..."
"..."
Once they were alone again, a brief silence fell, but—
"Shall we sit down over there and eat?"
"Yes..."
Having broken the ice a little, Abel walked over to an area relatively free of books, sat down at a distance from Lisa, and began to eat his bread.
It's not hard bread. It's incredibly soft.
Abel was surprised by the quality of the food as he tore the bread and dipped it in the soup.
I should match her pace, right?
If the person next to you eats too quickly, it makes it hard for the other person to eat at their own pace.
With that thought, Abel looked over at Lisa.
Huh...? She's not eating; she's reading?
He stopped eating for a moment, seeing Lisa with her bread and soup bowl set aside, holding an open book.
Slide... slide...
She slowly moved her hands, tracing the raised braille dots on the page.
Wooden boards...?
Noticing that the material was wood, Abel thought, This is it!
A grin spread across his face as he took another bite of his bread.
"May I borrow some carving knives and wooden blocks?"
"You're the new guy, right? A...bel? Did you say Abel? What do you need them for?"
"Carving is a hobby of mine, so I was wondering if I could use them."
"Sure, sure. Take them. We were going to throw those wooden blocks away anyway, and all the workshop tools are shared."
With the permission of the dwarf artisan in the workshop, Abel selected a few carving knives and wooden blocks.
Thud. He carried them over and stacked the blocks in a corner of the archives.
Creak...
Not long after, Lisa quietly opened the door and walked in.
"What... is this?" she asked Abel, sensing the square wooden blocks that hadn't been in the archives before.
"Ah! I know how to do a bit of carving, and I saw you reading earlier, Senior."
"...Books?"
"Yes. You said you loved reading, but it seemed like you didn't have many books."
Even making a regular book cost a significant amount of money. However, making a braille book for the visually impaired was an even more difficult process, requiring far more time and expense.
Though she loved reading, Lisa, as a mere servant, could only afford a few books even if she saved up all her wages.
"If you teach me braille, I want to make books for you, Senior."
"...!"
In an instant, Lisa's closed eyes fluttered open. Though both had lost their light and turned opaque white, the shape of her eyes was as beautiful as pearls.
"Mmm..."
To teach him braille, she would have to spend time facing a stranger.
But the desire to read more books with her own hands—not having someone else read them to her, but feeling the words herself—won out.
"Y-Yes!"
Lisa decided to teach Abel braille.
"This is this word..."
"Yes. I've memorized it."
They mostly studied after finishing their work organizing the archives.
"The next word is..."
At first, they sat five paces apart.
"You... memorized all of this already?"
The second time, they were three paces apart.
"Y-You memorize incredibly fast..."
On the third day, they sat right next to each other.
As the days went by, the distance between Lisa and Abel grew closer and closer.
Tap! Tap!
As soon as he learned the words, Abel began carving the contents of the books Lisa requested, turning the wooden blocks into pages.
Carving small, uniform grooves into a wooden board was no easy task, even for a highly skilled artisan.
"Listen, Abel! Back when I was traveling around, I was an artisan on par with a Sword Master! People called me the Puppet Master! No, seriously! I was surrounded by warriors right on the verge of awakening their Mana Roads, but I totally suppressed them all with my puppets!"
Back when he lived in Magia Bell, Abel had learned carving from a close older neighbor named Charles, who did woodwork. Thanks to him, Abel was able to carve the braille books with ease.
Charles was the kind of man who carved human muscles, blood vessels, and even bones in his quest to create a living doll to be his wife. Having learned under such a man, Abel's carving skills were far from ordinary.
He was a big talker... but his skills were definitely the real deal.
Although he had originally used these carving skills to make wooden statues of Seraphina or animal-shaped puppets, reproducing the muscle memory to carve braille went smoothly.
Tap. Tap. The pages were completed without a hitch.
And on the fourth day.
"Senior Lisa! I've finished carving The Salmon's River just as you requested!"
"R-Really?!"
Whether from sheer surprise or joy, Lisa completely forgot her wariness of Abel, clinging to his leg as she reached for the book.
Rustle—
She immediately traced the wooden braille dots attached to the thin pages.
"Ah...!" A voice filled with deep emotion escaped her lips.
The story, which she had always only heard with her ears, was now transmitted to her mind through her fingertips, painting each scene vividly in her imagination.
"Haha!"
Seeing his small senior so happy, Abel felt a deep sense of pride, as if all his hard work had been rewarded.
Rustle—
Taking a brief break from organizing the archives, Abel and Lisa sat down to read.
Knock, knock, knock.
Then, a knock sounded.
"..."
"..."
When neither of them answered from inside the archives, creak—
"Is no one here...?"
The door opened quietly, and Anes, holding a food basket, poked her head in to scan the room.
"Oh my."
She let out a soft exclamation at the sight before her.
"Ah...!"
The elf girl was eagerly turning the pages, her sightless eyes sparkling with delight.
And she was sitting right on the lap of the grey-haired young man.
"..."
The young man kept his eyes closed in silence, quietly waiting while the girl read.
Lisa is such a shy child... How did you get close to her so quickly, Junior?
She wanted to ask, but she didn't want to disturb their peace. Smiling warmly, Anes set the basket down and quietly closed the door.