[V15C19] Supporting Each Other

From its rightful position on Cyril’s right hand, Sophocles radiated a powerful light.

Cyril crouched down and touched the ground with his fingertips. Then, the ring’s glow spread across the ground from the point of contact. The area around them started glowing in the same light as Sophocles.

“I, Cyril Ashley, contractor of the Key of Knowledge Sophocles, command you. Tear down the veil between script and reality, and call forth the Restoration Chamber!”

The glow continued spreading until it formed a square the size of a small room.

Eventually, they found themselves inside a cube-shaped barrier. It was rather compact, as each side was only about ten paces long, even by Cyril’s stride.

Monica let out a small gasp.

“That uneasy feeling from when we first got trapped in here, like being covered in a film of oil… It’s gone.”

As she said that, Monica ignited a small fire using chantless magic. Apparently, they could use magic without issue inside this space.

“Wait,” Raul said with confusion on his face. “Then why didn’t you just use this Restoration Chamber thing from the beginning? Then Monica and I could use as much magic as we want…”

“The Restoration Chamber can only be deployed once the conditions are met. If I could pop it out whenever I felt like it, then we wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place!”

Sophocles spoke the truth. Normally, repairing a tampered book was not to be done lightly. Some argued that even the modified portions were a valuable part of history, and thus, knowledge to be kept.

Therefore, a tampered book should first be assessed to determine if restoration is necessary. If so, then it can be handed to an expert for restoration.

However, in this case, destroying or restoring the book was the only way for them to get out. They had to skip the assessment step and perform an emergency restoration.

“Cyril, you must first examine the tome. I will bring it out now.”

“Understood.”

Cyril focused all his attention on his fingertips, searching for a point on the ground. Once he found a concentrated bundle of mana, he grabbed it and pulled.

As he pulled back his hand, a glowing white book appeared from the ground as if it had been buried there.

This book was a copy of ‘The Botanical Specimen Garden’, the world they were currently trapped inside.

Cyril stood up and held the book in front of himself. Then, the book opened on its own and floated into the air.

Cyril paused for a moment to recall the procedure he studied.

“First is disassembly.”

After a swift horizontal flick of his finger, the pages of the book scattered into the air.

Cyril waved his hand, and the pages aligned themselves in rows following the movement of his fingers.

The pitch-black ring on his hand blinked a bright yellow.

“Now comes the difficult part. You must identify the tampered pages, cut them out, and seal them away.”

Each of the floating pages contained rows of magical formulas that Cyril didn’t understand in the slightest.

Finding the tampered pages was far easier said than done. This was a test of knowledge, skill, and experience. An extremely time-consuming task, even for an expert.

To make matters worse, accidentally cutting off a necessary page would cause irreversible damage.

(Even so, I must do it.)

Meanwhile, the yellow roses that had been chasing them emerged from a gap in the trees. At their head was a child-like shadow, the caretaker of ‘The Botanical Specimen Garden’.

“Great Witch, Great Witch, welcome back… Did you find God…?”

That shadow was chasing them—or more precisely, chasing Raul.

The yellow roses eventually reached the Restoration Chamber and attempted to attack. But apparently, this room had the effect of a defensive barrier, so its transparent walls blocked the roses out.

Sophocles spoke in a more rapid tone than usual.

“The walls of the Restoration Chamber are not particularly strong, so they will only buy us a limited amount of time. You must hurry!”

The nearby trees extended branches to assist the yellow roses in attacking the Restoration Chamber.

As the contractor of Sophocles, Cyril could sense the strain on the room’s barrier. It was only a matter of time before the plants destroyed the room and entangled them.

But then, blades of wind mowed down the roses and branches without mercy. This was Monica’s chantless magic. As long as she remained in this Restoration Chamber, she could use magic.

“I won’t let them interfere.”

Monica’s voice contained a quiet, but powerful, determination.

(Monica believes in me… I must do my job too.)

Cyril brushed his fingers against one of the floating pages, carefully tracing the formulas as well as the edge where it had been bound into the book. Then, he repeated this process for the other pages.

Cyril did not understand the lost techniques of the Old Era used to create forbidden tomes. Therefore, he had only one means of searching for tampered sections: comparing the nature of the mana contained in each page.

This was similar to checking the differences in paper quality or bookbinding glue, except on mana instead.

(…Focus. Concentrate on the differences in mana.)

This reminded Cyril of an event from his childhood. The time he helped his mother spin thread.

Searching for inconsistencies or lumps in the thread was also a task requiring intense concentration on his fingers.

Both were painfully meticulous processes. Nevertheless, it was necessary for his work in the Library Society.

(Page 69, Pages 117 to 120, Page 203… the mana feels different there… I think…)

However, Cyril felt uneasy about drawing conclusions based on a hunch.

If the first place, countless years had passed since the creation of ‘The Botanical Specimen Garden’. Wasn’t that enough time for the mana to change on its own?

Cyril examined the mana again, but this time, he found other pages that caught his attention.

Whenever Cyril lacked confidence or felt anxious about his work, he had a habit of reviewing it excessively.

(Did I miss something? I should go through it again… No, I can’t. There’s no time for another review…)

As much as he wanted to review, the yellow roses were storming down on them like an avalanche.

——Hurry, but be precise. Hurry, but no mistakes. Hurry, hurry, hurry…

Cyril furrowed his brow and glared at the rows of pages, until he noticed someone standing next to him… Monica.

“Monica?”

Cyril called her name, but there was no response. Monica was staring blankly at the magical formulas written on the pages.

She occasionally glanced around and used chantless wind magic to hold back the yellow roses, before going back to staring at the pages.

“Here and here,” Monica said, pointing at a few pages. “Something feels off.”

“What…? Can you actually read this?”

“No.”

Monica sent another blade of wind to keep the yellow roses at bay, then turned back to the magical formulas and explained.

“I can’t decipher all of the magical formulas written here, so I converted them into numbers to find the patterns behind them. The parts ignoring those patterns are here… and this other page.”

Cyril looked at the pages Monica pointed to with bated breath. To be honest, he had no clue what she was talking about.

But strangely enough, the pages Monica said were off seemed to match the pages where Cyril sensed a difference in mana.

He touched the pages Monica pointed out again to double-check. The difference in mana felt greater compared to the other pages.

(I have to believe in myself.)

It was as though she had placed her small hand on his back to reassure him.

Suddenly, Cyril was reminded of something Monica once told him.

—— “I want to become someone you can rely on, Cyril-sama.”

With his fingers still on the pages, Cyril lifted the corner of his mouth slightly.

“Monica.”

“Yes?”

“You’re very reliable.”

“…Yes!”

Monica nodded with her round eyes sparkling.

He could not possibly say it in this situation, but to be honest, the face she was making looked pretty cute.

＊　＊　＊

Cyril was working on restoring ‘The Botanical Specimen Garden’, and Monica assisted him while fending off the plants with chantless magic.

Meanwhile, Raul could do nothing but watch as the helplessness weighed on his back.

Cyril and Monica were doing their best in their own way.

And Raul? He was just standing there.

(…My pockets are empty. I don’t have any rose seeds.)

Raul glanced at the yellow roses attacking them.

If they were being controlled by an ordinary mage, like someone else from House Roseberg, Raul could take control of them by pouring in mana. His mana capacity was simply that overwhelming.

But right now, the plants after them were powered by ‘The Botanical Specimen Garden’. He was powerless to stop them, and he knew it.

Until now, brute forcing things with mana had been enough.

(I… I’ve been completely relying on the power I inherited…)

Raul tried to avoid negative thoughts because it was easier that way. However, this was nothing more than running from his weaknesses.

The helplessness and self-deprecation he had been ignoring for years came crashing down all at once.

He was just an empty flowerpot. A vessel for reviving the First Thorn Witch. Once this thought got stuck in his head, it became difficult to ignore.

(…I’ve never accomplished anything on my own.)

At times like this, Raul wondered what his older sister would do.

Perhaps she would slap him and say something like…

—— “Stupid brother, what are you just standing around for? Use your head a little!”

(But it’s not as scary if I don’t have to think…)

The weak part of himself quickly started making excuses.

But Raul understood the truth. Allowing yourself to be paralyzed by fear and anxiety solved nothing.

The friends who had taught him that were right there next to him, still doing their best.

Raul took a deep breath and slapped his own cheeks. Then, he lifted his head with determination.

“Cyril! Could you, like… scold me a bit? Like telling me to stop whining or something!”

“Stop acting like a child! I’m busy here!”

“Ah, yeah! That’s perfect! Thanks!”

Raul let out a breath and chuckled to himself, then faced Monica.

“Monica! I’ll try my best to help… But if I screw up, can you cover for me?”

Monica turned to Raul and nodded with clenched fists.

“B-Br…”

She stuttered a bit, leaving Raul to tilt his head in confusion.

“B-Bring it on…!”

That was not a phrase Raul expected to hear from Monica, but it gave him a deep sense of relief. Monica must have thought about the best way to reassure him.

Cyril had told him to stop acting like a child, so Raul could stand tall again.

Monica said to “bring it on,” so Raul could feel confident facing a challenge.

Raul turned to the yellow roses and began an incantation.

This was different from the incantation he used to control roses, and he stumbled over the lines a few times. But this was something he really wanted to learn, so he had studied it to the best of his abilities.

Raul Roseberg was a man who had yet to accomplish anything with his own power… And he was going to change that.

He pointed both hands forward and concentrated, manipulating his mana as carefully as possible.

“Defensive barrier!”

Raul wanted to learn magic other than the plant manipulation he was born with. In which case, a spell for protecting his friends would be best.

He poured his immense mana into a defensive barrier over the Restoration Chamber.

Louis would probably scoff if he saw this. The barrier turned out to be terribly awkward and unbalanced.

But it was still enough to cover the entire Restoration Chamber without any gaps.

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