Mappeun (the map) showed this place marked in red, so I came in with some preparation—but this was a bit much.
‘Forget a purification blessing, I think I need a feather duster first?!’
The moment the door opened, I was met with a cloud of dust and could only helplessly start sneezing.
Maybe because of all the books, the dark and cold library looked even worse than I expected.
It wasn’t a joke—every bookshelf was visibly covered in dust, and the scattered books lying around clearly hadn’t been touched in a long time.
The desk area was at least somewhat wiped clean, but it didn’t look like the place had ever been properly ventilated.
A stale, musty air.
Still, thankfully, the smell of paper was masking the other odors.
“Anyway.”
After wiping my nose a few times, I carefully walked into the library, passing by the librarian who was standing like a statue blocking the way.
“Are you handling the library cleanup alone?”
“Yes, I am doing it alone. Ah, let me introduce myself—I am ▲▲▲, the librarian in charge of the long-established and beautiful grand library of the Belmond Duke’s family.”
“Haha, nice to meet you, Librarian! Is it okay if I just call you Librarian?”
“…Call me whatever you like.”
Her voice was still cold and indifferent.
But I didn’t let her attitude affect me, and instead asked brightly,
“By the way, is there anything I can help you with?”
“What… what do you mean?”
“Uh, well, I mean…”
She definitely seems like a high-pride NPC.
I put on my best “I have no idea what’s going on” expression and continued.
“The library looks a bit poorly maintained. I was just wondering if you might need any help.”
“E-excuse me…?”
“Honestly, it’s just way too big for one person to manage!”
Maybe sincerity would still get through to her? From her tired, worn-out look, she probably wouldn’t hate the idea of someone helping.
I smiled brightly at her again.
And then—
“Aaaaaaaaaah!!!”
Suddenly, a piercing scream exploded from her.
“Wahh!”
I also let out a short scream.
It couldn’t be helped—my eardrums felt like they were about to burst from that shout.
After barely calming my shocked heart, I carefully spoke to the librarian, who was still grabbing her head.
“F-first, please calm down…”
“How dare you! How dare you say that!”
“…Pardon?”
She shouted so loudly her voice cracked, then suddenly bowed her head and started muttering like a mad person.
“This is the Belmond Duke’s library, a sacred place that stores precious heritage… Managing this library is not a simple job anyone can do. It is a serious duty that only a select few chosen by the great Duke himself can handle. And you say it’s poorly maintained… poorly maintained?!”
Her rapid-fire speech was hard to fully follow, but I tried my best to think of a way to calm her down.
“Wait a second, Librarian!”
“Why!!! Are you going to say something else to mess with my feelings?!”
“It’s not that… aren’t libraries supposed to be quiet?”
“…Ah.”
As if she had finally come to her senses, she cleared her throat and straightened her posture.
“I-I’m sorry. But this is a precious space I’ve maintained for a long time. I can’t accept it being insulted without reason.”
“Well, I don’t think it’s without reason.”
Saying that, I stepped back and observed her carefully.
At first glance, her face wasn’t different from the other servants. In other words, where a face should have been, there was just a pitch-black void with no end.
So I couldn’t read any expression from her face at all—but from a slight distance, things I had missed started to become visible.
‘She’s extremely neat.’
Unlike the chaotic state of the library, her own appearance was immaculate.
Her hair was tightly tied up, and her clothes had not a single wrinkle or stain. Everything about her showed a kind of obsessive perfectionism.
I turned my gaze away from her and looked back at the library.
“To me, there are still a lot of things that need fixing.”
“Where exactly do you see things that need fixing?”
I was a bit worried she might suddenly start screaming again, but I continued anyway.
“It’s dirty.”
“What?”
“When was the last time you swept or cleaned this place?”
At my question, her body stiffened.
‘When… when was it?’
As if searching her memory, her voice wavered for a moment, but in the end she gave no answer—only excuses.
“I-I mean… but! The book organization is perfectly maintained…”
“Really?”
I walked past her and entered the library.
Bookshelves reached all the way to the ceiling, blocking every direction, with narrow paths forming a maze in between.
The inner areas were completely untouched, thick with dust, while the outer shelves were irregularly empty, like missing teeth.
Those empty spots were probably filled by books lying on the floor.
“What system do you use to classify these books?”
I had my reasons for asking.
Leaving aside her situation, if I was going to find books related to Lorax, I would have to navigate this place too.
But right now, there was no way to tell where anything was placed, and there was no computer or search system like in the modern world.
So it seemed impossible.
And as expected—
“T-that is…”
She couldn’t say anything.
“From what I can see, there doesn’t seem to be any clear system. Do you have your own way of organizing things?”
“U-uhhh…”
I expected her to either explode in anger or deny everything.
But my prediction was completely wrong when she suddenly collapsed onto the floor.
“Librarian?”
“My shortcomings… were this obvious… I couldn’t even hide it…”
“Hey…”
“Sob, sob…”
No tears fell, but she was clearly crying.
“I have dedicated my life to protecting the beautiful library of the Belmond Castle… but for some reason, I could never organize it perfectly.”
I glanced at the tens of thousands of books spread around.
How was she even planning to organize all this alone?
“So actually, I tried organizing them by publication date… but I couldn’t even decide which of these two books should come first…”
Oh.
So this person is just seriously obsessed with organization.
I’d seen someone like that at my old job.
The type who couldn’t feel at ease unless everything was arranged exactly the way they preferred.
I used to think it was just personality—but more like stress and overwork turning into obsession.
But considering how harsh life must be in the Belmond Castle, I could somewhat understand her.
After a short moment of thought, I reached out my hand to the kneeling librarian.
“I’ll help you.”
Of course, my real goal was to complete the annoying aide’s request—but whatever.
Honestly, I didn’t even have the confidence to dive into that mountain of books and find Lorax’s writings myself.
“H-how?”
“Let’s start with cleaning.”
Forget classification—if we tried organizing in this condition, we’d just get swallowed by dust.
But the librarian, now holding my hand as she stood up, didn’t seem happy about it and shook her head.
“C-could I just handle the cleaning myself?”
“Why?”
“I… don’t like having people in the library…”
Introverted personality trait added.
Right, I even heard from the aide that she never leaves the library.
Hmm, in that case…
“Nope. Librarian, you’re coming outside with me now.”
“W-why?”
“You want a reason? Then I’ll explain it to you. Very specifically, and in detail…”
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