Chapter 4

“…Someone in there? Hello?”

I found myself waking up to this voice. My body felt stiff after falling asleep at my desk, despite me spending most of my nights at it. I don’t think I used a bed for the last week or so.

“What, can anyone just stroll in the Archives and take whatever?”

I rose up from my seat like an arrow.

“Don’t touch my books!” I shouted, fully conscious.

I couldn’t see the speaker, but a few moments after my exclamation, he finally located my desk.

Would it be Annol again, so soon? Clearly it wasn’t.

This newcomer was dressed in a fancy coat, had a twirly mustache and dark, sharp eyes. To summarize, he looked like some sort of villain. The moment he saw me, his eyes narrowed further.

“Tch, finally. Are you the librarian here?”

“I am Inspector Simona Magaven,” I told him gently.

I didn’t actually care about my title that much—but it was more accurate to say I was a mother to all books, their guardian and nurturer; calling me a mere librarian was an insult to everything I lived for!

“My apologies, Inspector,” he said, stressing that last word with a smile that wasn’t even pretending to not be derogatory. He probably found it hilarious that a thin, mousy woman like me was granted such a lofty title just by sitting around here all day; I got that reaction a lot, too.

“And you are?”

“Does that matter?”

“In Manners of all Manners, Lady Boothida claims that a proper communication is established if both parties are—”

The man clicked his tongue impatiently. “You may call me Mr. Grey.”

A codename? Interesting.

How’d this guy even get here? Wasn’t it the Royal Police’s job to catch criminals? I mean, it wasn’t nice to judge a guy just based on his appearance, but he was asking for it…

“All right, Mr. Grey,” I said. “How may I help you, oh seeker of knowledge?”

Unlike Annol, this one cut straight to the chase.

But, just like Annol—

“Tell me everything that you know about vampires.”

He came for the exact same reason.

***

While launching into a lecture not dissimilar at all to the one I gave Annol yesterday, I made myself a mental note to check if there was some vampire fad in town recently.

However, the so-called Mr. Grey wasn’t taken in by my babbling.

“I don’t care about that nonsense!” he spat. “I need concrete details. Appearance, weaknesses, bloodlines. And here I thought the Royal Police was supposed to be useful.”

“Are you aware these creatures are regarded as fictional by most people?”

He smirked. “Are they now?”

No, don’t make me think silly stuff again…

I sighed. “There are no factual records of vampires, as such. Well, unless you want to directly ask our very own rumored vampire, I guess…”

Mr. Grey gave a throaty chuckle. “You mean that old fool Rashim? Could never stand the guy. But no, he’s not a vampire.”

One, that was not who I meant.

Two, so this man knew him? Very interesting.

Three, how exactly did he know Inspector Rashim wasn’t a vampire?

“Hmm. Then I guess the fact you came here of all places is because… you already tried everywhere else.”

Mr. Grey’s mustache twitched. I didn’t need Cold Reading and the Art of Facial Expressions to know I was probably right.

Not many people knew about the Archives, and those that did wouldn’t regard it as a particularly trustworthy or useful source of information—hence my conclusion.

The villain clicked his tongue again. “Bah. Why’s everyone so nosy lately? I can’t stand it.”

And, to my actual surprise, the man turned on his back and actually started walking away.

“Really? Giving up so easily?” I called after him. “When there is still so much knowledge buried here around you?”

Mr. Grey stopped in place, turning furrowed brows toward me. “With each passing moment I only get the feeling I’ll be wasting my time here, librarian. —I will be back. But I expect you to form a useful summary for me in the meanwhile.”

Hmph. Who was he to order me around, anyway?

He vanished behind one of the shelves and I could hear nothing more of him, but my mind instantly went to other places.

Two men searching for information about vampires in the span of a single day… Could that be a mere coincidence?

It couldn’t be, right?

Annol, too, said he’d be back at some point. Thinking about this and that, I knew that I still had some reading to do.

***

These past two days were rather hectic.

By my standards, of course.

Usually, I’d get maybe a handful of guests in a single week on average, not including messages from above. I wasn’t used to having so many people (again, by my standards) visit my sanctuary of words and ideas.

Therefore, while I expected it, I definitely wasn’t used to a third visit on a third consecutive day.

“Ah, Mr. Yellow, I’ve been expecting you,” I told the unsuspecting youngster.

Annol blinked at me, and then cocked his head. “I beg your pardon?”

“Just a little joke. Sorry, Mr. Savuatuk.”

(Incidentally, it turned out that my guess was right, and the name did seem to indicate a northern ancestry, though quite rare.)

The man looked uneasy. “So, uh… did you end up finding anything interesting?” he asked me. He didn’t look like he had a lot of hope.

“Yes!” I said, practically jumping from my seat such that it caused him to blink again. “It turns out Accamidacca was wrong, Ploytheny claims the Sacking actually happened in 1100!”

“…Uh, what?”

“Oh, you meant about your so-called vampire problem,” I said, settling back into my seat. “Yeah, I kept reading and found out a lot of further information.”

“Yes…?”

“Yes. But before that, I have to ask… you got in trouble because of this vampire business, right? To be more precise, in trouble with people who… might be like you?”

He looked just as shocked as before.

“How did you…”

“I am an inspector, after all!” I said with a raised finger. “It’s my job to figure things out!”

The young man nervously passed a hand through his hair. “Yes… I found a certain group of people rumored as vampires, but… uh, let’s just say they wanted to do some bad stuff to me. That’s another reason I wanted more information…”

“Mhm, makes sense. So you’re being chased by a bunch of maybe-vampires, probably-mob, while also trying to figure out things about yourself, and I assume either control or reverse your situation.”

“Yes, that’s about it. …You really are much more of an inspector than I thought.”

I started rubbing my palms. “Alright. It’s quite possible that at least one of your problems can be solved. It’s actually a bit funny, but that condition is—”

At that point, I was cut off by a nearby voice. Once more, its owner was hidden by the shelves.

“I’m back, Inspector! Where are you? Why is this library such a mess?”

But while unseen, I did recognize the voice.

As did Annol, actually, judging by his expression.

“You’d better hide,” I told him sweetly. “But don’t worry, I’ll take care of the nasty ‘vampire’ for you.”