“…….”
“I’ll give you a lot. Please! If I get caught this time too, I’m seriously going to have to repeat the year!”
“Haa…….”
Viola let out another deep sigh.
Honestly, she didn’t care whether he received demerit points or had to repeat the year. There was only one reason she was considering it.
“Payment.”
Viola slightly raised her head and looked at the student standing in front of her.
He must have run over in a hurry, because he was panting heavily and beads of sweat had formed across his face. His eyes were filled with desperation.
Judging by how desperately he was clinging to her, the monster’s condition seemed to be more serious than she had expected.
“How much can you pay?”
Viola finally asked.
At that moment, the student’s eyes lit up.
“You’ll help me?!”
“I asked how much you’re paying.”
The student immediately rummaged through his pockets and began counting his money. Viola watched him with an indifferent expression. In truth, she had already made up her mind.
All that remained was to determine whether the payment offered by the person responsible for the incident was worth enough to compensate for her labor.
“T-This much……!”
The student hurriedly held out a few small gold and silver coins. Viola glanced at them, crossed her arms, and evaluated them coldly.
“That’s not enough.”
“What? But……!”
“I’m going to subdue a monster for you, keep this a secret so you can avoid repeating the year, and you’re offering me that little? The payment is far too small.”
“W-Wait!”
The student frantically pulled out more money and tried to hand it to her. He looked so desperate that Lily, who had been watching from the side, let out a small laugh.
“Viola, you’re pretty cold.”
“Of course. This isn’t even an official duty.”
Viola answered firmly and carefully counted the money the student had offered.
There was quite a larger pile of round metal coins than before. This amount would make for a reasonable deal.
“……Fine. I’ll accept.”
Viola finally took the money and nodded at the student.
The student let out a sigh of relief, his eyes even welling up with tears.
“Thank you!”
“That’s enough. Stop crying.”
Viola glared at him for a moment before getting straight to the point.
“So, where’s the monster?”
The student flinched and cautiously opened his mouth.
“……The library.”
Viola stared at him in disbelief.
“The library?”
“Yeah……”
“You’re telling me a monster is running wild inside that enormous library?”
“Ah, it’s not ‘running wild’ yet! It was…… still quietly sitting in a corner, you know?”
Viola furrowed her brows in disbelief.
She wanted to run straight to a professor and shout, ‘There’s a student here who’s definitely going to repeat the year!’ but she had already accepted the money, so she had to take care of the matter properly.
“Haa…… Fine. Let’s go.”
Viola resigned herself to the fact that she would have to give up lunch and started walking toward the library.
Lily followed behind her, laughing as though she found the whole thing entertaining.
“Looks fun, so I’m coming to watch.”
“If you come and get in my way, I’ll make you clean it up with me.”
At Viola’s icy threat, Lily finally shut her mouth.
Who would have thought she would have to fight a battle instead of having lunch?
‘Making money is really hard.’
She let out another deep sigh inwardly.
When they arrived at the library, it was much quieter inside than Viola had expected.
Viola stopped and looked around. Bookshelves stretched high into the air, while small reading lamps were placed throughout the library, casting a soft, gentle glow.
“Where is it?”
The student hesitated before pointing toward the depths of the library with a trembling hand.
“Th-There…… near the restricted section for ancient documents……”
The ancient document section?
That was where some of the library’s most important books were kept.
And now, apparently, a monster that could go berserk at any moment had been summoned there.
“You really know how to make good decisions.”
Viola crossed her arms and let out a deep sigh.
Lily gave a small laugh, clearly intrigued.
“So, what are you going to do?”
“Obviously, I’m going to get rid of it.”
Viola quietly began walking toward the direction of the monster.
Deep inside the library, at the far end of the ancient document section.
Something was crouching in a corner between the tightly packed bookshelves of various sizes.
Viola cautiously lowered her gaze.
A massive darkness slowly moved, revealing its shape.
It was a long, shadowy figure—a shadow monster.
“Can I ask why you summoned something like that?”
Viola gave the student an incredulous look.
The student awkwardly smiled and scratched the back of his head.
“Well…… it was small at first……? It was just a little shadow creature……”
“You didn’t think it would grow that big?”
“……Yeah.”
Viola closed her eyes and quietly took a breath.
For a moment, she genuinely wondered whether this person’s head needed to be filled with common sense before experiments or magic.
“……!”
While she was thinking, the shadow monster slowly rose to its feet.
As it moved, the shadow cast across the floor swelled and rippled like a living creature.
“If we don’t get rid of it right now, that thing could consume the entire library in shadow.”
“But you can’t use magic. What are you going to do?”
Viola rummaged through her bag and pulled out a sturdy rope and a small hand axe.
Lily blinked and opened her mouth.
“Don’t tell me you’re planning to solve this with brute force?”
“If magic doesn’t work, then I have to use my body.”
Viola answered casually and immediately climbed up using the bookshelf as a foothold.
“Hey, hey! What are you doing……?”
Ignoring Lily’s shout, Viola climbed onto the top of the bookshelf and took precise aim at the monster.
The shadow monster instinctively raised its head toward her.
Its red eyes stared directly at her.
“Good. Let’s finish this in one shot.”
Viola gripped the rope tightly and took a deep breath.
The shadow suddenly stretched out like a hand and tried to grab her.
Viola swiftly ducked and leaped across the gap between the bookshelves to the other side.
The monster’s attack swept through empty air.
At that exact moment, Viola threw the rope.
The rope landed perfectly around the monster’s middle, and Viola immediately pulled it tight with all her strength.
“GRAAAH!”
The monster struggled in confusion, but Viola remained steady.
She firmly tied the rope to a pillar on the floor and shouted briefly.
“Lily! Use your light magic! Maximum output!”
“……You really do solve everything in the most brutally straightforward way possible.”
Lily flicked her fingers.
The entire library suddenly lit up brightly.
The shadow monster had nowhere left to escape.
Viola drew her dagger and precisely sliced through the monster’s core.
At that moment, the monster’s shadow shook violently and spread in every direction before eventually being absorbed into the floor and disappearing.
The library became peaceful once again.
Viola wiped the sweat from her forehead and sheathed her dagger.
“No wonder people say I’m not a cleaner but a problem solver……”
The student stared at Viola with an expression of admiration before suddenly remembering something. He turned to Lily.
“Um…… Could you keep what you just saw a secret?”
Lily glanced at the student and smiled brightly.
“Don’t worry. I’m not interested in you!”
“Ah, okay……”
The student awkwardly scratched the back of his head.
Lily then approached Viola, who had already begun tidying up the library as though nothing had happened.
“Aren’t you tired?”
“I’m not tired, so put that potion away right now.”
“Tch.”
Viola untied the rope she had secured and let out another sigh.
‘Still…… I made quite a bit today.’
Whatever had happened, the extra income was pretty good.
Viola headed straight to the dining hall.
After fighting a monster, her hunger was strangely churning in her stomach.
Fortunately, the dining hall was quiet since lunchtime was already over.
Viola raised a hand toward the familiar cook and approached.
“Are there any sandwiches left?”
“You’re pretty late today. Of course there are.”
Viola briefly thanked the cook before leaving the dining hall and heading toward the back of an old greenhouse in a corner of the academy, where weeds had grown thickly.
It was a secluded place that students rarely visited.
Occasionally, a runaway cat or frog would suddenly appear, but even those were quiet at this hour.
She sat down on a flat stone that served as a sort of wooden bench and opened the paper wrapping.
‘It’s quiet…….’
The area behind the greenhouse was Viola’s favorite place to eat.
The gentle breeze, the pleasant sunlight, and the soft background noise reminded her of the countryside in her hometown.
For this brief period, she could focus solely on her meal without anyone disturbing her.
“Hello?”
……At least, that was how it should have been.
