The Baby Has No Strength to Hide! - Chapter 26

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 26
“A Librarian? You mean Ailien’s work is hard? Even at home? Is that why you were crying?”
[A Librarian manages the library. And I’ve never thought of it as hard! All the people I served were kind and lovely. It’s just…….]
Norman paused for a moment, gazing into the empty air. Even through his translucent eyes, an unspeakable longing was palpable.
[I truly miss them all.]
“You were crying because you missed them?”
[No? I wasn’t crying about that. It wasn’t because of missing them.]
“Then why were you crying?”
[Because I lost a book.]
“A Librarian lost a book?”
The pointed remark struck home. Norman stiffened, his wrinkled eyes crumpling further as he buried his face in both hands and began to sob. Ailien wasn’t sure what a ghost had accomplished that warranted such tears, but she wasn’t the sort of child to simply walk past someone weeping. Her voice turned gentle.
“Stop crying and find it carefully. It must be somewhere here.”
She even raised her tiny fists and shook them encouragingly. That ought to count as proper support. At least she wouldn’t be bothered on her next visits to the library.
[Y-you’re leaving just like that?]
“What, how else would I leave?”
[You must help me!]
“Me?”
Ailien’s eyes went wide, and she pointed to her own chest with one small hand.
Norman himself found it absurd to ask such a small child for help, yet he had no choice. She was the only one who’d ever acknowledged his existence.
[Please. You are the only one who can help this Norman.]
“The only one… …”
Kiki shook her head slowly. There was something different about Ailien’s tone. Her narrow little chest puffed out, and her round belly thrust forward.
“Then I’ll help you find the book!”
[Really? You truly are a kind child!]
“What’s the title of the book Norman is looking for?”
[The title is The Secret Forest and the Rabbit Knights.]
“The Rabbit Knights?”
Ailien’s ears perked up. The title alone delighted her. And knights, no less! They sounded bold and magnificent.
“Wonderful! I want to be the commander! Commander of the Rabbit Knights!”
[Ha ha. What a fitting position for you, young one.]
Norman smiled warmly and nodded, but his expression quickly grew serious as he raised an opaque finger.
[However, finding this book is far more difficult than you might think. My master created it through Magic, you see, which means it possesses Sentience. When it senses a stranger’s presence, it hides among other books or flees.]
“If I find it, it has to come out! How impertinent!”
Ailien spun around, calling out into the empty space. But the Central Library remained perfectly still. She pouted her lips. She’d felt it before when studying here with Kaius—this was a place that had nothing to recommend it.
“But if you only live an easy life, there’s no fun in it. Where should I start looking?”
[You must gather three Golden Carrots to find where the book is hiding.]
“Golden Carrots? I’m good at pulling carrots!”
Ailien, delighted, mimed pulling something from the ground. But Norman shook his head firmly.
[Golden Carrots aren’t real carrots—they’re story fragments that the book has scattered about. Only by collecting all three fragments hidden throughout the library will the Rabbit Burrow, where the book truly hides, open before you.]
“Wow!”
Ailien’s eyes sparkled at Norman’s explanation. She didn’t quite understand all of it, but it sounded like it would be fun.
It was like an adventure straight out of a book!
[Hmm, I’m not sure it will be easy. Do you think you can manage it, young one?]
Norman, suddenly anxious, spoke carefully—but Ailien was already prepared to set out. Kiki and Didi stood solemnly beside her as well.
“Don’t worry. I’m a wonderful child!”
“Chirp!”
At Ailien’s declaration, Didi wagged his plump tail in agreement. Kiki simply yawned, looking as though she’d just inherited a tiresome chore.
[Very well. Let us search for the Golden Carrots. The first one lies in the tallest tower of the History Section.]
“The tallest tower?”
Norman pointed toward the History Section. Among the shelves lined with books, there was nothing that remotely resembled a “tall tower.”
Ailien’s face fell visibly.
“Where is any tower there?”
[Precisely. That’s why I haven’t been able to find it all this time.]
Norman let out a long sigh. He remembered that the book was terribly important and how to find it, yet he’d forgotten what it contained.
[It’s a tower my master created with great care.]
Memories from his living days had grown as indistinct as his current form. He recalled how splendid and beautiful his master had been, but her face and name eluded him entirely.
The fact that he remembered his own name at all was because that memory of her calling it had been too precious to lose.
‘Norman, how do you like this?’
‘The Rabbit Knights? It’s such an ill-fitting title, isn’t it?’
‘Ha ha! I suppose so. It’s my first time writing a fairy tale, so it feels rather awkward.’
That person was strange indeed. As if they had wandered in from another world entirely, there was something about them that suggested they might vanish without warning at any moment. Everyone loved them so much that they feared the parting that seemed always imminent.
But the one who worried most about their disappearance was…….
“Let’s go look for it!”
Ailien bolted toward the History Section, her feet barely touching the ground. The air there was thick with the smell of old books—like standing in a forest carpeted with rustling autumn leaves. In the center of that vast space sat a colossal book, nearly the size of an adult man’s torso, resting on its own special stand as if it had been waiting there forever.
[That’s The Glory of the Empire! The very first three-dimensional pop-up book to enter this library!]
“Wow, it’s bigger than you!”
[It was created through a collaboration between the continent’s greatest author and craftsman of that era. Do you have any idea how difficult it was to acquire? It’s a tale that brings tears to the eyes.]
Norman launched into an enthusiastic recounting. He described how even the emperor of that age had coveted the book, only to have the former master of this place snatch it away through rather underhanded means—but Ailien merely stifled a yawn.
“Can we open it up?”
[But… well…….]
Before Norman could protest, Ailien was already grunting as she clambered onto a chair, then onto the desk itself. Gripping the thick leather cover with both small hands, she pulled with all her might. The heavy front cover creaked and groaned as it began to lift.
“Hngh!”
Bang!
The book swung open with a resounding crash.
Whoosh!
A tremendous gust of wind erupted from between the pages. Ailien staggered backward, nearly toppling over—but then something impossible unfolded before her eyes. The papers that had been pressed flat began to spring upward.
“Wow!”
Walls of paper rose skyward, sharp spires climbing as if to pierce the heavens. Paper bridges unfurled, and tiny paper soldiers lined the ramparts. It swelled to a size vast enough to fill the banquet hall of a grand noble estate, and in an instant, an enormous paper empire was constructed atop the book. So intricate and delicate was the craftsmanship that every single window had been cut through.
It was as though an entire castle courtyard where children could play freely had been transplanted there whole. The sturdy paper fortifications were broad enough for Ailien to run across without hesitation, and the unfolded paper pillars were smoothly connected so she could climb and descend with ease.
The paper empire that had materialized in the middle of the library stood in overwhelming splendor, extending an invitation to Ailien.
[There! The flag atop the highest central tower!]

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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