90. Library

90. Library

We, the elevator destroyers, wandered through the library, weaving between the bookshelves.

It wasn’t for any particular purpose; it was simply because we couldn’t read.

I was trying to find a fun picture book to read with Lucy… but I couldn’t even read the categories written on the bookshelves, let alone the titles of the books.

It’s understandable, as this is the first time I’ve seen human writing since coming to this village. No matter how outstanding a wolf I am, I can’t know something I’ve never seen before.

So, I aimlessly wandered between the bookshelves, trying to find something that looked like a picture book.

But there’s a limit to guessing based on the appearance of a book. Finally, unable to bear it any longer, Lucy asked me.

“What kind of book are you trying to find anyway…?”

“Th-that’s.”

I suppose I have to tell the truth.

Sister said that wolves must be able to admit their shortcomings. I honestly told Lucy that I couldn’t read.

Lucy smiled brightly and said.

“Oh, is that it? Then you should have told me! I can read!”

“Really?”

“Yes, Dad taught me very meticulously.”

She received good home education.

I had a feeling about this when she first mentioned the library. She was interested in the library because she could read.

I asked Lucy with my bright, innocent eyes.

“Lucy, could you read the letters for me then?”

“Sure. Leave it to me. But… what kind of book were you looking for?”

Of course….

“Picture books!”

“P-picture books?”

“Yes. I love picture books!”

Although I don’t have them now, I used to keep picture books in my tail and carry them around because I liked them so much.

The words and pictures blend together to vividly convey the feeling of the book, drawing me into the story. Among them, the fact that there are few words is what I liked most about picture books.

“Uh… I understand for now.”

Hoo hoo.

Perhaps because I asked her to read, but then requested picture books, Lucy looked quite embarrassed.

But I am confident. Because picture books are something that a real man… a real wolf naturally likes.

The reason I think so is very long, complicated, and difficult to put into words, but simply put, it’s because I like picture books.

Anyway, Lucy read the categories written on the bookshelves as we wandered through the library.

“That says ‘Modern History’… that one says ‘Long Novels’, and that one says ‘Other General Knowledge’. But what is general knowledge…?”

“General knowledge is like miscellaneous common sense… I think.”

“Thank you!”

As expected, translation magic is indeed good. Lucy can read the letters but doesn’t know their meaning, and I know the meaning but not the letters, and it complements each other perfectly.

As we skipped over boring-looking books and searched for others, a brilliant idea flashed through my mind.

“Huk!”

“Huk…! Why?”

“You know. Since we can understand each other’s language through magic, maybe we can read letters with magic too?”

“Huk! Seol-ah, you’re so smart!”

Hoo hoo, of course. Who do you think I am?

I quickly took out the stone from my tail. Then I made a wish.

“Stone, please interpret the letters!”

Sparkle!

I grinned and looked around the bookshelves.

Surprisingly, the letters were clearly readable. It felt like real-time translation through a translator.

Magic is the best!

I opened my mouth to Lucy.

“Lucy, I can read letters now too!”

“@^#%~#@?”

“Huk.”

Wait.

Could it be that the language translation magic turned off because of the letter translation?

There’s a limit to the magic the stone can use. It’s like magic capacity; you can’t use multiple large spells simultaneously. That’s probably why.

I quickly switched the magic.

The letters turned back into unreadable scribbles, and in return, Lucy’s words were interpreted correctly. Only then did Lucy sigh in relief and say.

“I was surprised because suddenly we couldn’t communicate.”

“Me too. It seems we can’t use two magics at the same time.”

If I switch them back and forth, it might work… but it would definitely be too cumbersome. In that case, it would be better to just rely on Lucy’s TTS function for everything.

“Okay, Lucy. Read them again.”

“Got it.”

We wandered between the bookshelves again, reading categories and passing them by. After a few fruitless attempts, I took Seol-gu out of the bag and asked.

“Seol-gu, are there even picture books here?”

“Kkang.”

“With a library this big, you know. Surely there isn’t a single children’s book.”

Looking at the library, it does seem like it would be filled with old, antique, and very difficult, complex math practice books.

Still, there should be at least one picture book….

“That one says ‘Botany’, and that one says ‘Magic Engineering’. Hmm… Ah! Look there, it says ‘Easy Magic Engineering Learned Through Pictures’, maybe that’s a picture book?”

“Oh!”

We hurried towards the bookshelf.

The other books had very difficult and boring titles, but this one had a somewhat cute and lively title, giving us a glimmer of hope.

The only problem, however… was that the book was placed very high up.

A height that an 8-year-old child couldn’t reach. We put our heads together and pondered.

“How do we get that down?”

“Maybe if we jump?”

“Then I’ll try jumping!”

I’m a wolf who’s good at jumping. With the feeling of diving into snow, I looked at the book, wagged my tail, and then powerfully extended my knees.

And I fell without much success.

“Kkang!”

In fact, this was a future that was already foreseen. The book was placed very high up. If it were within jumping distance, there would have been no need to ponder.

Lucy thought hard and came up with another solution.

“What if we combine our strength?”

“How?”

“I’ll climb on top of you, then you can approach the bookshelf, and I, having grown taller, will pull out the book.”

“That’s a great idea!”

The so-called “piggyback ride” strategy.

I’ve always been the one riding piggyback, so I’m not used to giving piggyback rides, but it’s worth a try.

I bent over to let Lucy climb on.

A heavy feeling.

But I can endure it. Because I’m a strong and powerful wolf.

“Kkeu-eung….”

“Got it! Now walk towards the bookshelf!”

“Ah, okay…!”

Wobbling, I walked towards the bookshelf as if I might fall at any moment. I tried to steady myself by wagging my tail, but it wasn’t easy.

“Uh, how is it, Lucy? Can you reach it?”

“A little closer! Kkeu-eung….”

“Hurry…!”

My legs are trembling. I can’t see Lucy’s hands to know if she can reach it or not.

“Lucy… I…!”

“Just, wait a moment. A little more…!”

This is it. I can’t hold on any longer.

“Ah, I reached….”

“Kkang!”

Crash!

In the end, we spectacularly fell to the ground. My butt hurts.

“Ouch ouch… Are you okay, Lucy?”

“Yeah…. I don’t think this method will work. Right?”

“Yeah.”

The only fortunate thing is that my magnificent tail acted as a cushion, catching Lucy as she fell from a height. In return, my tail became unceremoniously shriveled… but it can’t be helped. It’s a better choice than getting hurt.

“What do we do now?”

“I know… it’s too high over there.”

I considered climbing the bookshelf like a tree to get the book, but I had a bad feeling that I might slip and fall when trying to come down, so I decided against it.

This isn’t a soft snowfield, so if I fall incorrectly, it would be a real disaster.

After much deliberation, I turned my head and spoke to my bag.

“Seol-gu, that book… Seol-gu?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Seol-gu is gone!”

Could it be that while we were messing around, he wandered off on a different path?

Geez, this is why foxes are no good. How could he disappear in the time it takes to blink? With such carelessness, he’ll be lost soon.

I put on a determined expression and shouted to Lucy.

“Lucy, now is not the time to look for picture books. We have to find Seol-gu!”

“Ah, okay!”

Seol-gu always leaves tail hairs where he goes. If we follow those tracks, we’ll know where Seol-gu disappeared.

“Okay, Seol-gu. Don’t worry, a very cool wolf is coming to find you! Just hang in there until then!”

“Kkang?”

“Find who? I’m coming to find you. Because you got lost… Seol-gu! You were here!”

“Kkang kkang.”

But fortunately, Seol-gu was right beside me. I quickly hugged him, afraid he might disappear again.

“I thought you were lost, you silly fox. I was so worried!”

“Kkang kkang, Kkang kkang kkang.”

“What did you bring…?”

Next to Seol-gu, a table lift, just big enough for one person to stand on, was placed there.

There wasn’t such a large object here just a moment ago. Did Seol-gu bring it?

“Did you disappear to bring that?”

“Kkang kkang.”

“I appreciate you bringing it, but you should have said something before disappearing! I was worried.”

When I scolded Seol-gu, my conscience pricked me, but why?

Ignoring the inexplicable prickling sensation, I pulled the lift and placed it in front of the bookshelf. Using this, I should be able to get the book very easily.

The lift had a single stick that moved vertically. I guess this is used to adjust the height.

Now, what do I do with this….

“Kkang kkang.”

“You’ll operate it? Hmm, I don’t really trust you… Okay. I’ll trust you as much as a single tail hair.”

I entrusted the operation of the lift to Seol-gu and stepped onto the lift.

Seol-gu skillfully moved the stick with his paws, and soon I slowly rose upwards.

Then, the book appeared before my eyes.

Easy learning with pictures… something or other. I picked it up without hesitation.

“Okay, let’s go down now.”

“Kkang.”

I wonder what the content will be like.

Lucy and I huddled together and opened the book.

“In Figure <1-15>, magic source a forms magic field a’ according to Jarro Morges’s law, and this… this doesn’t seem like a picture book, Seol-ah.”

“Y-yeah.”

We were tricked.

The title was cute and lively, but the content was like a book used in a university major lecture. There was only one picture every few pages, and the rest were filled with text.

“Let’s find another book.”

“Yeah….”

We politely put the book back and set off on our journey to find a real picture book.