'Then how…' Noble's mind spun for a moment.
How had Emira known that Noble had taken one of the books? Was she bluffing to force her niece to defend herself? Had Emira found the book on the ground and made assumptions?
Or had Noble's floating book trick not been convincing enough, and the rumor spread that she was sneaking things out of the library?
Whatever the answer, Noble could feel that Drune was being truthful about it not being him.
"My mistake," Noble winced. "Could you point me in the direction of the records by King Cron?"
"The official historical records are in the archive," Drune pointed to the area of the library where Noble and Counsel had spent weeks studying. "If you want the king's journals, Her Grace would be the one to ask."
"Are you saying you don't know where they are?" Sarai tried to sound haughty. "Surely a librarian of your caliber must know where every book is placed."
Drune studied the redhead's face before his eyes darted away. "Perhaps Her Grace does not remember, but you took those books and have not returned them."
The two ladies exchanged glances. "How long ago was this?" Noble asked quickly.
"Why, it was the morning of the, uh, centennial celebration. Perhaps the books are mixed with the others you requested?" Drune pressed his lips shut, knowing he had likely angered the former queen for calling her careless. His knees bent, and he looked like he might faint.
"Thank you, Drune, that will be all for now," Noble released the librarian before she needed to use her Ability to lift him from the floor.
He bowed quickly and rushed from the room like it was on fire. Or like he was about to be…
Sarai shut the door behind him and their exit sealed seamlessly.
"What do you want to do now?" She asked her friend.
Noble thought for a moment.
"We can search your room later for the books, though if Emira took them then there is no telling where they might be. For now, let's look at what is here and see if there is anything else obvious we can glean." Noble pointed to the books next to where Emira's journals must have been kept. "Do you want to continue to look at the most recent books while I look at the oldest ones? We will eventually meet in the middle then."
"That's as good of a plan as any. Assuming you can stay." Sarai gave her a meaningful look. "You cannot hide from your official duties, you know."
"I have an appointment after lunch with General Theo and a few other advisors about what to do moving forward. I would be lying if I said I am looking forward to it. I have seen how much my father and Fort have struggled with how things should be run and they only had a department or directorate to run. But a whole country? I would rather hide out here with you."
Noble smiled faintly. Just because things needed to be done did not mean she wanted to do them. Keeping the kingdom running while they finished out the Nightmare was not only necessary. It was vital.
Even if it wouldn't impact her final evaluation–which Noble was sure it would–having starving citizens or unorganized troops due to Noble's negligence would not go well when the Lord of the Mountain finally came.
And he would come. If nothing else, they would find a way to lure him.
"I will be happy to have you as long as you are able," Sarai picked up a book and brushed the dust from the top. "I will call you if I find anything."
Parting ways, the two ladies went to work. While Sarai found a chair and made herself comfortable, Noble went in search of the oldest of the tomes. 'They must be near the back wall.'
With a glance to make sure her friend was doing well, the floating Awakened drifted toward the rear of the hidden library.
Or so she thought.
"Oh!" Noble gasped, earning a quick response from Sarai.
"Are you ok?!" The redhead came with a sword already manifesting in her hand.
"Yes and no," Noble responded, pointing.
What the woman had thought was the back wall had a small doorway into an even bigger chamber. The amount of books in the second room dwarfed the first many times over.
"Whoa!" Sarai's eyes went wide. "How can all this even be stored inside the palace?"
"Are we even in the palace?" Noble wondered. "I think those runes do more than just protect this place from outsiders."
It was possible that somehow the palace was formed around this immense space, but something in Noble had felt off since the moment they entered the library. It was like this place was a dimension of its own.
'This is insane!'
"What I thought would take a few days may take weeks," Noble sighed. "Which is when the horde should be set to arrive again, with or without their Master."
"We will work quickly then. Though I do wish Nickel were here to pick out what books he thinks are important again," the redhead pursed her lips.
Knowing which books to skip entirely would be helpful. The information they sought was surely read by more than just the monarch who wrote it.
"We will just have to fend for ourselves and do our best to find what Emira hid. Maybe she hid them in plain sight here? the covers are yellow and look very worn." Noble was pretty sure that the forbidden knowledge would have been taken to a new place, but it couldn't hurt to at least check.
"I'll look while I read," Sarai returned to her post, leaving Noble to peruse the shelves silently.
Floating up and down the aisles grew tedious, though Noble did find the spot where the books should be. A multi-level gap on one set of shelves was clear of dust. Noble looked at the books on either side briefly and confirmed they were around the same time period.
Part of the professor wanted to stop and look at these journals more deeply right away. It made sense logically that whatever was hidden in the missing journals might be hinted at either by the king's predecessor or successor.
But that was not the plan she had proposed to Sarai.
'I will be back to visit you in a little bit...'
Noble turned away and eventually found the deepest recesses of the Royal Library. The kings and queens of old were quite verbose, and the journals had somehow been kept in excellent condition in this strange space.
Noble pulled out the very first book and brushed off the thick layer of dust. No one had been here in quite a while.
As soon as she opened the book, Noble realized why. She frowned.
The words were translated by the Spell as usual, but they still read very strangely. If Noble had thought to compare it, it would have been like trying to read Old English through a modern lens.
No, that wasn't quite right. Noble could still understand what was being said, it was just very slow going. The information was about how the first king had conquered the land with the help of his brother who then moved northward to make a home of his own with a queen of rare beauty. Though the queen had far more land and influence than the king of Crestfall, the two groups lived in harmony.
The process to set up the first ruler's city-kingdom was painstaking.
'Setting up a workable government usually is...'
After over an hour of grueling focus, Noble felt herself begin to drift off to sleep.
She was startled by Sarai's voice.
"I solved a mystery!"