historical

When Vaan heard about Headmaster Tabitha’s condition from Helia Ashenborn, he imagined the librarian to be strict.

However, Dahlia Payne gave him the impression of someone who was both extremely short-sighted and a klutz.

Perhaps the library needed a library assistant because no one else wanted to be Dahlia Payne’s assistant.

‘An accidental bump knocked over three heavy bookshelves and created such a big mess? Is this a test?’ Vaan doubted.

The thought crossed Vaan’s mind.

But when Vaan looked at Dahlia Payne’s expression and body movements, she did look genuinely distressed and troubled by the mess she had caused in the library.

Fortunately, the books were enchanted, making them sturdier and less vulnerable to damage.

After gauging the weight of one of the three knocked-over bookshelves, Vaan determined his present strength was adequate to lift them.

“May I ask if this is a regular thing around here, Lady Dahlia?” Vaan casually inquired as he exerted strength to lift the first bookshelf back into its original position.

“This..” Dahlia Payne slightly hesitated before carefully replying to Vaan’s question with another question, “If I say yes, are you going to quit working as my assistant like everyone else?”

“No,” Vaan gave a flat answer after studying Dahlia Payne’s nervousness.

Afterward, Vaan moved the mountain of books out of the way before lifting the remaining two heavy bookshelves. Then, he checked the labels on the bookshelves and started arranging the books accordingly.

Dahlia Payne heaved a sigh of relief.

“Thank goodness. I finally have a new assistant,” Dahlia Payne rejoiced before mentioning, “If I couldn’t find one soon, Headmaster Tabitha would have kicked me out of the library and found someone else to become the new librarian.”

“Vahn, right? You’re a lifesaver. I don’t know what I would do without my books,” Dahlia Payne added before joining Vaan in putting the books back on their shelves.

As the culprit behind the entire mess, Dahlia Payne didn’t want to leave all the work to Vaan.

However, Dahlia Payne’s nose quickly twitched with itchiness as soon as she picked up the first book in her hand.

“Haa.. A-choo!”

Swoosh!

Dahlia Payne’s sneeze produced a strong surge of wind, blowing down the bookshelves Vaan had just lifted and scattered the few books placed on them.

Vaan: “..”

“I’m terribly sorry, Vahn. I didn’t do it on purpose,” Dahlia Payne quickly apologized as she rushed to pick up the scattered books.

However, Dahlia Payne sneezed again, blowing the scattered books to the other end of the library.

“I-I’m really sorry, Vahn. I’m really not trying to cause trouble,” Dahlia Payne panicked, fearing Vaan would change his mind. “I don’t know why, but my nose itches whenever I pick up a book recently. I will go fetch the books on the other end right away!”

“No, please don’t, Lady Dahlia. Just leave this job to me,” Vaan quickly requested before saying, “It would be best if you stay away from the books for now—No, please don’t go near the books, Lady Dahlia.”

If Dahlia Payne blew down the rest of the bookshelves in the library, Vaan wouldn’t know what he might do. He came to the library to acquire new knowledge, not organize books.

Nevertheless, Dahlia Payne retreated from the books with a dejected look after being told off by Vaan.

Dahlia Payne wanted to help, but she only created trouble.

‘Dahlia seems like a genuinely nice person who doesn’t discriminate against men. If she doesn’t create trouble for me, we could get along very well,’ Vaan mused as he thought about Dahlia Payne’s problem.

“You said it was a recent thing, Lady Dahlia?” Vaan inquired.

“Yes, it started three weeks ago,” Dahlia Payne replied before guessing, “It might a be a sudden allergy. I’m not too sure exactly; no one does.”

Three weeks weren’t exactly recent, but witches do perceive time differently due to their long lifespan. That being said, no one knows the extent of a witch’s lifespan either.

It had only been three hundred years since the world was transformed by mana and the Gehenna Realm.

Vaan thought about Dahlia Payne’s situation and also felt allergy development was a likely possibility.

However, it wasn’t the only likely possibility.

Among the countless possibilities, Vaan also thought of two other likely possibilities besides natural allergy development, such as forced allergy development induced with Curse Magic or immunity-reduction poison.

Any other possibility required more information, something Vaan lacked as he had just arrived.

“Hey, Vahn. I know there are a lot of books to clean up, but you can’t just put the books back on the shelf randomly. You need to put them in their right place and order—”

“I’m not placing the books randomly, Lady Dahlia,” Vaan calmly replied.

“The history books on the history shelf, and place them in alphabetical order of their book titles, right? I know. I am organizing the books correctly, so there’s no need for you to try coming over to check, Lady Dahlia.”

Vaan calmly assured Dahlia Payne as if he knew just what she was thinking.

Due to Dahlia Payne’s short-sightedness, she couldn’t confirm Vaan’s work from her position and did want to check for herself.

As such, she was surprised to hear him say what she was thinking.

“It sees Headmaster Tabitha sent me a very capable assistant this time,” Dahlia Payne marveled at Vaan’s work efficiency.

Meanwhile, Vaan wondered how Dahlia Payne was supposed to continue her job if she couldn’t touch any books in the library without sneezing.

But when Vaan found Dahlia Payne holding a different book to read at her desk, his revealed a peculiar look. She didn’t seem to have any sneezing problem with a non-enchanted book.

‘An enchantment allergy?’ Vaan found it strange, but it wasn’t impossible.

Nevertheless, it was still early to draw a conclusion.