Without another word, he ran his fingertips across the surface of the box and began analyzing the runes. His magic flowed precisely, guided by his will, along the one correct path. With a soft click, the lid sprang open.
Noelle's eyes went wide instantly, her face written over with disbelief.
Abel set the box down calmly and told her it was open. She took it back and examined it over and over, suspecting it had broken. After all, most people needed at least an hour to solve it.
Abel offered no explanation and simply reminded her that she had made a promise. Noelle studied him with a complicated expression, then finally relented.
He followed her quiet footsteps as they went inside. A sign on the wall reading "No students beyond this point" stood out prominently. He asked where they were headed. Noelle pointed forward, but what lay ahead was nothing more than a cold stone wall. She reached up and took a small pendant from around her neck. It looked like a seal. She pressed it against an inconspicuous golden relief carved into the wall, and then a hidden doorway silently took shape in the stone.
Abel stepped through after her. A world swallowed by books opened up before him. Noelle announced softly that this was the research club.
Abel looked around. Hundreds upon hundreds of volumes, an impressive sight. He asked where the other members were, and received an unexpected answer. Noelle told him plainly that she was currently the club's only member. Abel suspected the labyrinth circuit was the reason.
He walked toward the shelves and began leafing through at random. All of it was ancient texts, clearly from a great many years ago. He asked which was the oldest volume in the collection. Noelle said with quiet regret that many magical texts had been burned during the Great Calamity.
Abel fell silent, fragments of history piecing themselves together in his mind. Two hundred years ago the sages defeated the demon king, but the peace was desperately short-lived. Driven by the hunger for territory, humanity plunged almost immediately into a war far longer and more brutal. A hundred years of bloodshed, and the lives it claimed far exceeded anything the demon king had ever taken. Exhaustion and suffering turned into a deep hatred of magic. A movement arose with the aim of wiping magic from the world entirely. Countless precious magical tomes were reduced to ash in the flames.
And to uncover the secrets of the ancient magic that had once far surpassed what existed today — that was the purpose for which this research club existed.
Abel thought that was a remarkable motivation. He knew that in this era most people could no longer even perceive the decline of magic. To have recognized it and taken action was already something exceptional.
Noelle was surprised. She asked why he wasn't mocking her the way everyone else did. After all, most people thought magic tools were simply more convenient.
Abel understood that frustration deeply. In an environment like this, she had chosen to hold on and pursue ancient magic. She must have endured a great deal of loneliness and the weight of being misunderstood. So he told her with complete sincerity that he would never mock her efforts.
Those words stirred something quietly within Noelle. She asked for his name in a soft voice, a hint of shyness in her tone. Then she formally introduced herself and handed him a key to the room. She invited him to come back tomorrow. There was something she wanted to show him.
The next evening came quickly. Abel found Ted asleep in the library. Knowing he had been run ragged by clubs chasing him for days, he didn't have the heart to wake him. He left alone, but was stopped in the corridor by Alyssa.
She asked with some nervousness which research club he was thinking of joining. When she learned he still hadn't decided, she gathered her courage and extended an invitation. She admitted that she had always longed to experience riding a flying dragon.
A thread of nostalgia stirred within Abel as well. Since reincarnating, he had not yet seen a dragon in this era. So he agreed to go with her and have a look. Alyssa lit up at once, checked with him several times to be sure, then bounced off happily. Abel couldn't help but think she really ought to make more friends.
Afterward he headed for the Ancient Magic Research Club. But at the door he sensed a familiar presence. It was Teacher Emerson.
Abel went straight to the point and asked what he was doing there. Emerson smiled and said he was the club's faculty advisor, then quickly added that he only dropped by occasionally. The over-explanation only made Abel more suspicious.
Emerson turned it around and asked what he was there for. Abel said he had a prior arrangement with someone.
Emerson raised an eyebrow, his expression carrying a meaningful undertone. He let slip, with an air of mystery, that Noelle was a genius personally recommended by the headmaster. Within just one year she had been granted exemption from all standard classes, and was self-studying here because most of the faculty's courses no longer met her needs. With that said, he suggested Abel apply for the same exemption.
Abel declined immediately. He reiterated that all he wanted was a quiet, uneventful school life.
But Emerson's smile suddenly dropped, and he pointed out the contradiction. As long as Abel was in contact with Noelle, quiet and uneventful was never going to happen.
Abel argued that he was simply interested in the book collection. Emerson pressed further, pointing out the inconsistency in his behavior. If he truly craved calm, why would ancient magic hold any interest for him at all?
Emerson slowly drew closer, his hand reaching out as though to touch Abel's cheek, but in the end he only clapped him on the shoulder instead. His tone shifted back to its usual lightness, and he turned to leave with a smile.
Abel stood there alone with a decidedly strange feeling. He quietly activated his analytical eye. A tiny magical rune had appeared on his shoulder. A listening device. He raised his hand and crushed it without a second's hesitation.
Emerson, wherever he was, smiled knowingly. Found out, as expected.
Abel pushed the door open and stepped into the research club. Noelle was reading quietly. When she saw him arrive, she set the book down at once. She said softly that she had been waiting, with an oddly direct candor. A faint sense of something passed through Abel. Was that a friendly thing to say?
He brought up the arrangement and asked what she had wanted to show him. Noelle lifted a wooden box with careful, deliberate hands. From inside, she drew out an old and damaged ancient book.
Abel could see at a glance that it was sealed under layers of powerful runes. Noelle said her family called it the forbidden grimoire.
Abel recalled what the history books recorded, that this text harbored power capable of shaking the world. During the era of the Great Calamity it had been the spark that ignited conflict more than once. He asked why she was showing him something so dangerous. Noelle said she had heard he might want to see it, so she had brought it.
Abel recognized the immense value of the book and began forming a new suspicion about her lineage.
Noelle undid the seals, saying this was a treasure she was showing only to him. Abel leaned in to examine it. The pages were engraved with extraordinarily complex magical formulas. Even in their damaged state, the level of craft was unmistakably high. He turned the pages quickly and found the handwriting strangely familiar, too, until he saw the inscription: "To my dear comrade Adona."
He went still. A storm broke loose inside him.
He asked if this book was a relic left by one of her ancestors. Noelle nodded and said her ancestor had received it from a mage they deeply respected. She asked if he could understand it.
Abel gave a modest answer on the surface. Inside he felt anything but calm, because this book had been written by his own hand.
He pointed to the pages and gave her a rough explanation of what was written. As he spoke, he quietly observed the reactions in her face. The line of her brow and eyes gradually overlapped with a face from long ago. He was certain now. Noelle was a descendant of Adona, the hero of water.
Noelle listened with total absorption, pure delight spreading across her face. She begged him to tell her more of the book's secrets, but Abel already had plans the following day. He saw an opportunity and proposed a trade. If she would let him use this research room, he would come back in his spare time and continue reading the grimoire with her. Noelle accepted the terms and smiled with genuine happiness.