Chapter 1

“I knew it!”

I couldn’t help but exclaim aloud.

It took hours of research, but I was finally vindicated.

The Sack of Nowendi did happen in 1099. Dating it to 1101 was an error made by conflating it with the similar yet geographically distant War of Ruins.

Feeling more than a little smug, I took the heavy tome of History through Ten Different Lenses, Vol IV back to my desk hidden in the gloomy jungle of bookshelves, placing it on top of my “Stuff to Pursue Later” mountain and carefully inserting one of my dried leaf bookmarks into the right page.

That’d show Junior Investigator Mashe when she shows up next (whenever that happened). Arguing about recorded historical facts with me? Bad idea.

Now that my most pressing (read: interesting) duty was done, I could take a breather.

The Royal Police Archives were as quiet and dusty as always, but I liked it that way. Not many people came here despite the fact that it contained a wealth of knowledge probably not at all inferior to even the library of Apperton University. Also, despite its name, things like police files actually took very little space in their lonely corner of moldy, locked cabinets.

Partly because I turned this place into my own private library, more or less, but still…

Now my eyes strayed toward the “Still Reading” mountain—I was hesitating between Ten Ghastly Tales, The Importance of Importing and Rare Ailments of the Heart and Mind—before realizing I was missing something.

Wait a minute.

Lenses was written by Accamidacca, who lived before the Apperton Unification, meaning when West Appert was isolated, so historical records were limited. While Accamidacca was a trustworthy historian, what if there was another account from the South at the time?

I gnashed my teeth; quite embarrassing for a self-proclaimed possessor of knowledge. I already knew that facts couldn’t be determined from a single book alone.

“Now I have to make sure…” I grumbled while rising from my desk again.

…Now, where would I find relevant books? Some Ploytheny? Or maybe I should try the Memoirs of King Apoa?

Where would those be? Despite how long I worked here, I was never an orderly woman and the Archives were awfully messy, not even a catalog in sight. Arranging everything was just too much of a bother… I preferred using the time to read more instead.

For now, I made my way to one of the shelves that mostly contained history books, though they also had speculative fiction, romances, a few cookbooks… Like I said, messy.

“Ah-ha!”

There were some Ploytheny books right there, though these were high up, so I needed to get my stepladder. Too bad I couldn’t fly. After climbing the rickety steps, I examined the shelf.

West and South: Troubles of Our Times? Probably not that, but… why was it that I only had Volumes I and III? Where did II go to?

As I tried moving the books around to see whether it got shuffled somewhere, I ended up accidentally knocking one of them out of the shelf, and it fell right on top of my head.

“…Owie.”

There was a thud from the floor and I could feel a bump forming on top of my head, but the small crack I heard a moment later worried me more.

I felt a small part of the stepladder break beneath me, making both it and myself totter.

Uh-oh.

I did think that the wood was looking kinda brittle there for a while…

Unable to keep my balance, I felt myself falling backwards.

I resigned myself to further pain and wondered if I could sue for a work-related hazard, but luckily there was no need for that.

“H-hey!”

Along with this unfamiliar voice, someone grabbed me from behind, stopping my fall. Despite this effort I did twist my foot a little when I landed, but well, probably better than the alternative.

“…Hey, are you alright?”

Now that I was on solid ground again, I turned to face my savior.

It was a rather handsome-looking guy.

Oh no.

After reading such masterpieces as Her Most Beloved and Men as Cattle, I knew where this was going.

Was this the start of my very own romance!?