Rumble!
The moment she pulled out the book from the bookshelf, the library's floor began to shake. The recently arrange bookshelves tumbled down once again. The shaking did not last a long time though, but it did leave the library in such a messy state.
"Just what in tarnation happened!?"
"Hey, can someone help me over here!?"
"Is anybody hurt!?"
After the shaking stopped, the crowd inside the library began to check if there were anybody who suffered an injury or in need of immediate medical assistance. Luckily for them, nobody was hurt. The security head began to do a head count, checking to see if anybody went missing.
As for the crowd outside the library, they did not feel anything at all which caused most of the people in the library flabbergasted. A security department personnel that was stationed outside the library was called inside for inquiry.
"Did you really not feel any earthquake or anything?"
"No, sir. I did not feel anything at all. You can ask anyone outside, nobody felt any shaking of the ground."
"…Okay, go back to your previous position."
The security head and the rest of the people inside the library began to wonder if what they had experienced earlier was just a dream, yet they denied it as there was hard evidence in front of them. The library which they have just organized earlier was turned back in its messy state prior to their arrival.
While everyone was organizing their thoughts and reflecting in their previous experience, a person suddenly shouted breaking their solemn mood. It was one of the security personnel who came inside the library with Rena.
"Sir! Sir! I found something here! You have to look at this!"
Sensing the seriousness of the matter from the personnel's voice, the security head sprinted towards the location of the personnel. Upon arriving in his location, the security head was astounded on what he saw. There was a staircase leading underground found in the floor near the bookshelf where Rena is currently standing. She wasn't able to go back after pulling out the book from the bookshelf as the shaking of the ground prevented her from walking properly.
"How did you discover this staircase?"
"Sir, I was picking up the books that had fallen from the shelves here. Seeing this bookshelf had fallen over, I lifted it back up again only to find this staircase below it."
"I see…the opening of the staircase must have caused the earthquake that we felt earlier."
While the security head was thinking on his next actions, Rena sneaky back to the sofa where Nigel was currently seated. Upon arriving, she quickly seated next to Nigel while wearing a very terrifying face. Nigel was clearly scared by her, slowly inching out from his seat. Rena, however, did not give him a chance as she grab his arms and pulled him near her forcefully.
They were back in their intimate position again, sitting next to each other with their faces an inch away from touching. However this time, the mood was largely different from the previous instance. Rena was letting out a cold and dangerous atmosphere.
"YOU! DID! NOT! WARN! ME!"
"N-no, I did not expect that something like that will hap…Ouch!"
As Nigel was about to say his excuses, Rena suddenly raised her right hand like an eagle about to attack its prey. She quickly jabbed her palm to the right side of Nigel's waist, then pinching him as hard as possible.
"STOP! AHHHHHHH!!"
Satisfied with Nigel's reaction, Rena smiled as she stopped her pinching. At this moment, Nigel promised the heavens to never anger Rena ever again. He also noticed a glint from Rena's eyes as she was performing her torture methods to Nigel. 'Can't be, right?' Nigel thought and sweated at the possibility of Rena discovering her own sadistic side.
"…damn, it still hurts… Sorry, Rena. I really didn't know that the book was a trigger."
"Then why did you make me pull it in the first place!?"
"…because I got a hunch?"
"Like I'll believe that reason! Better tell the truth now or I'll sell you off to the security head."
"Ugh, fine…before you guys arrived, I was looking around the room when I saw that book. I felt something irregular about it, but I thought of it as nothing. However earlier while I was thinking about this whole entire situation, I finally figured out what was odd about the book. I realized that it was the only book in the library that did not fall down! I thought that something must be keeping it in place. So test this hypothesis out, I asked you to pull it out from the bookshelf. But I swear to God I don't know that it will result to this!"
"…Okay, I'll believe you in for now."
With Nigel's quick wit, he was able to figure out a lie to tell Rena. He pondered for a bit if he should tell Rena about his ability but ultimately decided to go against it. He was still not sure if he should completely trust her. His ability is the only trump card that he has right now against anyone, and trump cards should be kept hidden.
While Rena and Nigel were talking, the security head finally thought of his plan of action. First, he tasked the medical officer to bring the silver-haired young girl to the hospital. Second, he stopped the members from cleaning up the library and asked everyone to gather around him, included Rena and Nigel.
"We might have to explore where this staircase will lead us. I am not sure what will happen, and it might become dangerous, so this will be entirely voluntary. Okay, who wants to descend the staircase with me?"
After he asked the people around him, there were five of them who raised their arms, including Nigel and Rena. Seeing this, the head of security was hesitant to add Nigel as he is still, in fact, a suspect. However, they might need more manpower to whatever they will encounter there so in the end, he relented.
Grabbing a couple of flashlights from the supply cabinet of the library, all the volunteers prepared themselves as they descended into the darkness. They kept on walking down the staircase, which felt like forever for Nigel as the darkness has numb his inner clock.
Finally, the flight of stairs has ended only leading them towards a narrow hallway. It was completely dark, with their flashlights the only beacon of visibility in it. Nigel inspected the walls of the hallway, discovering that it was made out of brick. It was visibly old, judging from the fact that some parts of the wall have cracks in it.
Upon reaching the end of the hallway, they stumbled upon an old Victorian door with frosted glass panels. The security head tried turning the door knob. Surprisingly, he discovered that it was not locked. Turning it all the way down, he pushed the door open to reveal what's inside the room.
Looking inside, they found a huge amount of books and nicely arranged inside the bookshelves surrounding the room, as if acting as the room's wall. The room was surprisingly in good condition, with a trace of dust in it. The room had a table in the middle of it, stacked with different kinds of paper and notes.
But the most striking feature of the room is the floor and ceiling. The floor and ceiling were both inlaid with various runes and symbols. They can't be too sure just how many were there as the room does not have any light source, aside from the flashlights that they were using.
Nigel also wants to read what these symbols meant, checking to see if he can understand any of it. He decided to postpone it later, as it is very inconvenient to do it right now. Everyone began to investigate the room, hoping to understand the purpose of why it was built.
"Hey guys, I found something!"
All of them immediately converge to the person who called them out, curious to see what discovery he found.
"So, what did you find?"
"I found out a couple of research papers."
"And? What's so special about it?"
"The research topics were all about the Charakmanata civilization! Not only that, but they are not the final version. They are all drafts!"
"Charakmanata, and drafts… wait! Don't tell me…!"
"Yes, sir. These are all Dr. Perchard's drafts and notes."
"So this room is built by Dr. Perchard! It's his research room!"
Everyone was shocked by this discovery! This was a huge news, not only for the archaeology field but for everyone who knows even a little bit about Dr. Perchard. It has always been a huge mystery to everyone, especially those on the same field as him, where he stores his drafts.
As a researcher, one has to write a draft first before reaching the final version of his or her research article. The drafts were there in case the researcher needed to change something in his or her article, like to correct a fact mistakenly written in it or edit some parts of the paper after consulting another expert. It might also contain the researcher's initial assumptions of the subject of his or her research, which the researcher might change due to various reasons.
The library was believed to be originally built by Dr. Perchard as storage for his research articles and field notes, which everyone assumed to be true as all of his works are found stored inside it. All of his works, except his drafts.
It was one of the greatest mystery in the field of archaeology, and almost every expert in the field all agree that if one is able to obtain one of his drafts, then they can understand his research more and they might be able to have major progress in understanding the Charakmanata civilization. After Dr. Perchard died, the progress in studying this ancient civilization has significantly slowed down.
Everyone inside the room knew about the significance of discovering this room, making them move more carefully afraid that they might damage any significant materials store here. Knowing now that this was, in fact, Dr. Perchard's hidden research room, the security head decided that it would be best to leave this room and call for additional help. He also needs to inform the university's administration, so that they can plan what they intend to do with this room.
While ascending on the staircase, Nigel was bothered by something inside the room. He was not sure what it is, but he felt that something was odd about it. For now, he buried it at the back of his head and decided to entertain it later once he is able to go back inside that room.
Upon reaching the surface, the security head did a quick headcount and then opened his big mouth.
"There is still one question left that I still don't know the answer. Just how did this staircase open?"
After hearing his question, Rena had a guilty expression on her face, causing the security head to turn his gaze unto her. Seeing this, Rena trembled for a bit, but she still gave out her 'story'.
"I-I was looking for a book to read because I got bored from waiting. So I headed towards that bookshelf and pulled out that book over there. The ground suddenly shook after I did that, so I think that trigger for the staircase mechanism is this book." Rena after pointing out the bookshelf gave the book to the head of security.
"Hmm… I see. However, if the trigger mechanism is inside that bookshelf, then shouldn't someone have discovered the research room earlier? Anyone could have pulled that book from there,"
"I don't think so. If you look at that book, it doesn't have any cataloging mark in it. All of our books and research materials here inside the library has one, but this one doesn't. It means that this book was recently placed there." Nigel said as a reply to the security head's doubt.
"If what you said is true, then there could only be two people who could have placed this book there. You, and that silver-haired lady. If we believe your story, it would seem more likely to be the lady who placed it there. However, we would still need an official statement from her."
"No problem, I believe my case will be resolved soon enough."
'The mystery of the library is finally solved, thank god.' Nigel thought. He suddenly felt light-headed and when he looked around, he discovered that everyone was standing still and motionless.