MTM 154

Perhaps because she was an expert, Michelle walked without hesitation, as if she knew exactly where the books on Hartiros were located. As she climbed the spiral staircase leading to the second floor and stepped deep into the recesses of the bookshelves, she found heavy, ancient volumes, completely different in texture from the books on the lower floor, packed into every available space. Michelle climbed the ladder without hesitation and pulled out a leather-bound volume covered in a thick layer of dust.

“Would you mind holding this? It’s quite heavy.”

“Oh, yes! Don’t worry, I’m fine!”

Harto carefully took the thick book from the librarian.

“Hmm, this will be good for reference too. Ah, this record looks quite interesting as well.”

“Oh…”

A far greater number of books than the list Robert had written on a slip of paper piled up in Harto’s arms. With the stack of books piled so high he couldn’t see in front of him, Harto transformed part of his body into slime to wrap around them. Michelle, who had come down from the ladder, paid no mind to the sight and lifted some of the books before walking toward the table.

Thud!

As the books piled up on the table with a heavy sound, Michelle dusted her hands off with a satisfied smile.

“Thank you so much, Ms. Michelle….”

“Don’t mention it. If you see any other books you need while you’re looking, just call out anytime.”

Michelle quickly said her goodbyes and went back downstairs. Harto watched her receding figure for a moment, then sat down in front of the books piled up like a wall.

“I didn’t realize there were this many…. Will I be able to read them all before Zed wakes up?”

Harto glanced at the wall clock, picked up the thinnest book, and carefully turned the first page. Fortunately, the first book was full of illustrations like a picture book, and the simple explanations made it much easier to understand the content.

Just as Noel had told him, “Har-” was indeed a word meaning “life of the earth.” But when Harto checked the etymology of the suffix “-tiros,” his eyes trembled. “-tiros” was a word symbolizing destruction, ruin, and disaster. In the end, to put it simply…

“A disaster that destroys and brings ruin to the life of the earth…”

The whole world called Hartiros that, and he himself had suspected as much, but he felt a pang of sadness when he saw the meaning set in print with his own eyes.

According to records, Hartiros first appeared in the diary of a researcher investigating Silpirnoa 300 years ago. Speculation visit our site ran rampant; they ranged from theories that he was a fragment of a meteorite fallen from the sky to claims that he was a monster conjured by witches living in seclusion in the forest using forbidden dark magic.

The first place Hartiros appeared was the “River of Life” in northern Silpirnoa. Records stated that Hartiros appeared during the worst drought imaginable, one in which not a single drop of rain had fallen for over two months, leaving the riverbed exposed, and, strangely enough, the river began to flow again immediately afterward.

But that was not all. Hartiros also appeared when humans were mercilessly cutting down the trees that served as the birds’ nests, and in the places he had visited, the forest grew back more lush than before at an abnormally rapid pace.

It was written that even when an unprecedented downpour caused a flood that threatened to sweep away an entire village, as soon as Hartiros appeared, a stone wall rose from the ground to block the water.

“…Huh?”

Something was wrong. The more pages he turned, the more the being once called a disaster was depicted as a hero who appeared in every crisis to save the world. By the time he reached the passage describing how, when the forest caught fire, torrential rain poured down from a cloudless sky to extinguish the flames, Harto’s confusion reached its peak.

“W-what…? Am I misreading the text right now?”

Flustered, Harto carefully read the book’s contents once more, fearing he might have missed something.

That was when it happened.

“I see you’ve read it all here?”

Harto froze upon hearing that familiar voice. He slowly raised his head, expecting the worst, and saw Gerard standing there with a languid smile.

“Ugh!”

Upon recognizing Gerard’s face, Harto recoiled in shock. His mind was consumed by the single thought of getting out of there as quickly as possible. He turned his back on Gerard and tried to run, but his legs couldn’t keep up with his mind, and he tripped over the chair leg.

Crash!

“Aaah…”

Despite the loud noise, he wasn’t seriously injured, but the impact on his knee hurt enough to bring tears to his eyes. The thought that his knee would be covered in a dark bruise crossed his mind, and Harto’s brain automatically conjured up the image of an angry Zed.

“Huh? I didn’t do anything. You tripped on your own.”

Gerard stood next to the seat where Harto had been sitting. He waved his hands to prove he was innocent.

“Is something wrong?”

Michelle came up the stairs, drawn by the loud noise echoing from the second floor. She looked back and forth between Harto, who was standing awkwardly, and Gerard, who was staring at him from a distance.

“Oh, uh, no! I just tripped because I wasn’t paying attention… I’m really sorry for the commotion…”

Harto blushed with embarrassment as he straightened the knocked-over chair. Michelle gave a small nod and went back downstairs. Harto rubbed his sore knee before returning to his seat.

“We… shouldn’t be together. Please, just go.”

As Harto drew a line and put some distance between them, Gerard let out a hollow laugh.

“Why? Because of the prince?”

“……”

Harto didn’t answer. He deliberately avoided even making eye contact with Gerard, and buried his nose in his book instead. Gerard shrugged, then raised both hands in a gesture of surrender.

“Calm down. I really won’t say a word to you today. I’m already done with what I came [Read on]here to do. It’s just….”

He rummaged through his pocket, pulled out a ripe orange, and placed it on the pile of books Harto had stacked up.

“Here, peel this and eat it.”

Gerard left behind a greeting so brief it was almost bland; he turned without a second thought and headed back down to the first floor.

“…….”

Harto scratched his head as he watched his back, wondering if he’d overreacted. He stared at the orange sitting alone on the books for a moment, but couldn’t bring himself to eat it, so he pushed it to the corner of the chair next to him.

Harto gathered his thoughts and opened the next book. But this book, too, was filled with nothing but glowing stories praising Hartiros, so he immediately picked up another one. It was a collection of personal accounts compiled from the testimonies of people who claimed to have seen Hartiros with their own eyes.

At first, Harto continued reading because he was interested, but his brow gradually furrowed. The more he read, the less credible it became. The witnesses’ accounts were riddled with contradictions and lacked any consistency. They ranged from claims that Hartiros took the form of a winged unicorn to the absurd description of a giant tree with three legs. Faced with depictions that bore no resemblance to Hartiros’s actual appearance, Harto let out a sigh.

Ultimately, it was highly likely that these were fictional stories born of people’s fear or imagination. Yet, among all those countless speculations, there was one record that stood out.

[He was a monster shaped like a black slime, but his eyes alone shone a jewel-like blue.]

The witness said that Hartiros looked hungry, so out of pity, they shared some food with him. However, the latter part of this account was also riddled with speculation. It was merely a guess that, when a fire broke out in a nearby village later on and the monster appeared to put it out, “Could it have been Hartiros?”

However, this story made Harto realize something.

“This… must be an incident that happened around the same time.”

Harto immediately opened the book he had been reading earlier, which compiled accounts of Hartiros’s misdeeds and the resulting damage. He wanted to find a record that matched the village and the time period mentioned in the eyewitness account he had just read.

Eventually, his gaze fell on a place name written there: “Ash Hollow.” The records stated that it was a lawless region notorious for bandits who had taken up residence there and engaged in all manner of plundering. In the end, the village that Hartiros had burned to the ground was, in reality, a den of villains.

Harto wrote “Ash Hollow” on a piece of paper lying on the table so as not to miss this important clue. He saw a glimmer of hope; perhaps there were circumstances unknown to the world behind the countless evil deeds committed by Hartiros.

Thud.

Just then, Gerard, whom Hartos had thought had left the library entirely, reappeared, dropped a ripe red apple, and vanished. Hartos was baffled by Gerard’s behavior; he came and went like the wind, leaving no time to even say thank you.

Harto regained his composure and turned the page. Though there were a few sensational novels featuring Hartiros as the [Read on]protagonist mixed in here and there, he didn’t have time to waste on fictional stories.

Thud.

At the sound that rang out once more, Harto couldn’t help but stand up. Gerard, who had been about to leave something behind again, paused.

“If you have something to say, say it.”

Gerard stared at Harto with wide eyes at his rather cold tone, then let out a sigh.

“No, actually… I have my own reasons for doing this. It’s not like I’m trying to pull a fast one on you because I have ulterior motives… Well, I can’t say there aren’t any at all, but I’m not acting on those intentions right now.”

Although he couldn’t fully trust Gerard’s excuse, Harto decided to hear him out for now.

“What are these ‘reasons’ you’re talking about?”

When asked so directly, Gerard hesitated for a moment before finally speaking.

“The Archpriest asked to escort the two of you for the time being.”

“Escort? Us?”

Harto’s eyes widened. Neither he nor Zed were weak enough to need an escort, and life at the temple had actually been quite peaceful.

When he saw Harto’s baffled face, Gerard asked back; he was just as confused.

“Weren’t you going to Silpirnoa? I heard the Archpriest said everything yesterday.”

“Silpirnoa?”

“Well… I don’t really know the full details myself. But when I saw you piling up all those books here, I naturally assumed you were going to Silpirnoa to investigate the traces of ‘Hartiros’ left behind.”

Hartiros. The moment that name slipped from Gerard’s lips, Harto’s gaze stared wandering. If the Archpriest had told Gerard that, it meant Zed knew the truth as well.

‘Harto… Should we go back to our cabin? Let’s live there and hunt like we used to. Just the two of us, without anyone knowing.’

Suddenly, the proposal Zed had whispered sweetly in his ear last night came back to him vividly.

‘That can’t be….’

His heart started racing. Just as his doubts turned into certainty and anxiety began to rear its head…

Zzzzzzzz.

…The communication device in his pocket emitted a loud buzzing sound.