The Youngest Hides a Lot - Chapter 132

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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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Chapter 132
Haven ordered me around. I hid behind a fairy tale book and scanned the surroundings once.
“What are you doing? I told you to bring me a pen?”
“Understood….”
I answered reluctantly in a small voice and got to my feet.
Then I slowly picked up a pen and turned around. I went straight to Haven’s desk and dumped his pencil case all over it.
“What are you doing! Don’t touch other people’s things without permission, are you insane?!”
He introduced himself quite loudly.
“I said bring me a pen?”
“No, no! Not my pen! Hey, hey! That one’s really expensive…! A real gem!”
I picked up a pen that looked expensive at first glance. Then I approached Haven very slowly and held it out to him.
“Yeah, I brought it.”
“This is it! Give it back!”
The moment Haven reached out his hand, I dropped the pen onto his palm. Since I’d removed the cap beforehand, red ink stained his hand thickly.
“Oh, sorry. I have a bit of a tremor….”
Tap. Watching the jeweled pen fall to the floor, I tilted my eyebrows into a sympathetic angle.
“Really sorry….”
“Damn it!”
It must have been genuinely expensive because Haven quickly bent down and picked up his pen.
“This tiny thing!”
I’d dragged things out long enough—it seemed like it was time for them to arrive….
It was the moment Haven, enraged, was about to charge at me.
“What’s all this commotion?”
They came.
Yuliope appeared as he opened the door, his brow furrowed.
“Are you fighting? My goodness.”
“No, no! Professor! This guy…. Ru? Ru, whatever, touched my belongings!”
Haven saw his chance and reported to Yuliope.
“What are you talking about? Haven, you were bullying Jerdin first!”
Sortie, unable to bear it any longer, spoke up. The girls around her nodded quietly in agreement, saying yes, yes!
I kept a composed expression as I flicked the note that had been sitting on Jerdin’s desk, letting it fall.
Yuliope bent down and picked up the note.
“Did Haven write this?”
When the Professor asked with a furrowed brow, Haven took a step back.
“No, no! I don’t know!”
“…The color of this handwriting is exactly the same as the ink color on Haven’s hand.”
“No, this is….”
A short sigh escaped the Professor’s lips.
“Causing a disturbance at camp results in demerits. Even though it’s only ten days, the Academy’s rules still apply here, you know? Now, if the person at fault apologizes and we move on, this time I’ll….”
“A commoner dared to talk back to me!”
“Haven Abelus. Twenty demerit points. At this Academy, we do not tolerate using one’s status to demean others.”
Despite the exhaustion in his voice, the Professor’s words carried an unmistakable severity. Haven took a step back, his heavy breathing filling the silence around us.
“Once I step beyond these Academy walls, they’ll all be groveling before me anyway….”
“Haven Abelus. An additional twenty demerit points. You’re currently in first place with one hundred points until mandatory expulsion. Quite the steep trajectory.”
“Damn it….”
There was nothing more shameful for a noble house than forced expulsion.
Haven, fully aware of this, finally clamped his mouth shut, his expression seething with indignation.
“Should you cause any more disturbances, I’ll grant you a bonus sixty points on the spot.”
Cough, cough. Yuliope turned away, pouring himself a drink.
“Now then. Everyone, take your seats.”
Thump.
The Young Boy deliberately struck my shoulder hard as he passed.
I brushed it off without concern and sat down.
‘So this is what it’s like—getting into scuffles at school.’
Truly a novel experience.
I had rarely found myself in heated confrontations with anyone.
In truth, when survival itself demanded every ounce of focus, who had time for conflict? Even when tensions arose, ignoring them felt far more prudent.
‘But Haven…. You fool.’
I opened my book, acutely aware of the burning stare boring into my back.
‘I helped you, not Jerdin Camel.’
A sigh escaped my lips unbidden.
As I glanced away, my eyes suddenly locked with a tousled head of hair and a pair of eyes.
Wavy bangs obscured the gaze, making it impossible to say with certainty whether our eyes truly met…. Yet the slight tremor of his shoulders suggested he had indeed been watching me.
‘Jerdin Camel….’
In truth, from the moment I first heard his name, something felt familiar about it.
‘He appears to be a quiet commoner now, but he’ll become a nobleman later.’
Unlike the Abelus Marquis Family, which was slowly declining, he would rise as a newly ascendant noble at a terrifying pace.
‘After graduating from the Academy and working at the Imperial Palace, he’ll earn his title through distinguished service, I believe.’
It was mentioned briefly in connection with events that occurred when Licht became Crown Prince.
And that was merely the beginning.
Every venture he touched succeeded spectacularly, and he accumulated truly staggering wealth.
The Academy’s very decision to permit commoner enrollment stemmed from this principle.
The discovery of exceptional talent.
It was possible because the current Emperor actively pursued the recruitment of capable individuals.
Of course, most who became nobility through such means received non-hereditary baron titles, but Jerdin Camel was rare in rising all the way to the rank of Count.
‘In any case, Haven—don’t come crying to me later, beating your chest in regret. Just stay quiet.’
That is your path to survival….
I shook my head slowly and fixed my gaze forward.
* * *
Once the commotion subsided, Yuliope led us toward the Library.
Haven didn’t push the matter further, apparently intimidated by the threat of demerits.
We huddled together in the Children’s Archive of the Central Library, which we’d briefly visited yesterday.
“Now then, I’d like to show you all this book.”
The Professor withdrew an aged tome from his grasp.
It was the very same book he’d been tucking under his arm all this time.
“Does anyone know what this is?”
“An ancient manuscript!”
“Precisely. An ancient manuscript. Now, does anyone recognize the archaic language written here?”
“I do!”
“Of course not.”
Yuliope chuckled softly, his face caked with exhaustion.
“There are precious few who can read the ancient tongue. And with so many scholars perishing in this recent war, those who understood it have largely vanished. Ah, I’m truly ashamed.”
The Professor’s complexion darkened considerably as he caressed the book’s spine.
‘Ah…’
I gazed at the Professor’s oddly somber expression.
Now that I thought about it, I seemed to recall hearing something in passing.
‘Academy scholars died while retrieving an ancient manuscript discovered at the Western Border of Babylon, didn’t they?’
It was when the black magic plague still swarmed thick across the land. Honestly, such deaths were distressingly commonplace.
Of course, the grief of those left behind could hardly be dismissed as merely commonplace.
Yuliope clapped his hands sharply to lighten the mood.
“In any case! I brought this to show you that our Central Library houses such precious ancient manuscripts. So when you return home, what will you do first?”
“Register for the Academy entrance examination!”
“Yes, excellent!”
Yuliope nodded like a traveling salesman hawking wares.
Then one of the children asked a question.
“But is that book really so valuable?”
The Professor, having drained his drink, laughed as if charmed by the question.
“It’s an extraordinarily important document. A precious book containing records from thousands of years past.”
“But it looks older and dirtier than my new book…”
“That’s precisely why it’s important.”
Yuliope smiled warmly.
“When an object grows old, it proves that time has passed. The accumulation of time is itself meaningful.”
The children tilted their heads in confusion. I raised my hand slightly and offered my thoughts.
“My father once said that even though people age every single day, it’s the same as becoming wiser every day. Is it something like that?”
Yuliope looked at me and raised his eyebrows slightly.
“Yes, precisely. There are things whose value lies in their antiquity.”
“But how does a book from thousands of years ago survive intact?”
“That’s precisely what our Academy prides itself on—the preservation of ancient manuscripts…”
At that moment, Yuliope’s words trailed off slowly.
“Professor? Are you alright? Shouldn’t you drink more of your beverage?”
Sortie, sitting beside me, spoke with concern. Yuliope smiled faintly and drank another dose of the fatigue recovery potion.
“Thank you. In any case, our Ancient Manuscript Archive is blessed with an environment specially designed for preserving ancient texts.”
The children, understanding nothing of the matter, clapped their hands in delight.
I stared intently at the book Yuliope held.
‘So Professor Yuliope knows that the contents of ancient manuscripts are being erased.’
The aged tome was certainly in excellent condition.
What struck me as peculiar was the small bookmark wedged into the middle of the ancient text.
‘He’s marked it with a bookmark. All the way to the sections that have turned blank.’
Yuliope carefully opened the page where the bookmark was placed.
“This is a document recording the appearance of Bamiless, the capital here. It’s titled ‘The Beautiful Landscapes of Bamiless.'”
“I can’t read any of it!”
“It’s ancient language. Back then, there were no national divisions, and everyone used this ancient tongue as a common language.”
Yuliope explained methodically.
“Is it different from the continental common language we use now?”
“Completely different. The current continental common language is nearly identical to our Babylon Empire’s language. The ancient language, you might say….”
He paused before continuing. I could roughly anticipate what he would say next.
“It resembles the ancient language of the Mage Kingdom.”
I clenched my fist slightly.
“That itself serves as evidence that mages once lived on this continent in ancient times.”
“Wow, how fascinating! Then could I have been friends with a mage back then?”
“You certainly could have. Well then, shall we take a look inside?”
Yuliope slowly turned the pages.
Since the book contained many illustrations, the children showed considerable interest and focused intently.
‘I should definitely visit him later.’
I thought this while observing the Professor’s dark, lifeless eyes.
‘But if I visit him abruptly, won’t Yuliope be reluctant?’
I couldn’t simply blurt out that I knew the Archive’s secret.
‘I need to find a way to naturally win over the Professor’s heart….’
Hmm. I folded my arms and fell into thought. I seemed to recall something Liam had said before….
* * *
Break time.
“Um, um, over here.”
Someone approached me as I was organizing my bag.
“Huh?”
“Ah, I, I was grateful just now. Y-yesterday too….”
It was Jerdin Camel with his tousled hair.
He had wavy, pale purple hair that covered even his eyes.
Thin cheeks, hesitant movements, a small voice.
I smiled as kindly as I could.
“Don’t mention it. Don’t worry about it. But….”
I shot up and shoved my face right in front of Jerdin.
“Why, why are you doing that?”
“If you’re truly grateful to me, remember what happened today for a long time. Understand? If you ever happen to write an autobiography or something, feel free to use this as an episode.”
“I, I don’t quite understand what you’re saying….”
Jerdin nodded awkwardly, still bewildered.
“It does seem like something I’ll remember for a long time….”
Father, I’ve become acquainted with one of the wealthiest people on the Continent (to be)….

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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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