Chapter 146

“…What?”

Noah took her eyes off the book she clutched in her arms and glanced at the man who appeared behind the bookshelf. She immediately composed herself and shot fiercely, causing the man to stiffen. Looking at his outfit, he seemed to be an employee of the Magic Department.

“The minister’s library is off-limits. You can’t just touch ancient books… If you have anything to look for, I’ll help you.” He murmured, unable to look at her straight in the eye. Then, he checked the bookcase number. “H-line… the books are mainly about concealment magic….”

It seemed Noah came to the H section already. The man looked at the book, poking his head out as if he were checking it in her hand, but Noah hastily shut the book so he could not see the title.

“I’m not really looking for anything. I just came here to see if there’s anything fun, but it’s not really like that either.”

“Yes, yes… well, what can I do for you-”

“No thanks. I’m going out, so get out of the way. Is Adrian still down there?”

With the book on her side, Noah brushed past him and the man followed her with sloppy steps. Noah spoke, pulling something out of her pocket, “What the hell is that experiment, when does it end? I’m getting tired of it.”

“Oh, well, the dragon is uncooperative today, so I think it’ll need another hour or so…”

“An hour, yes.”

The man kept his gaze fixed on Noah, who eventually stopped walking and turned towards him. “An hour… that’s enough. But you, aren’t you tired?”

“Pardon?”

“All the Imperial City officials are overworked, I mean.”

Noah narrowed the distance without hesitation, and the man stepped back, noticeably nervous. She then grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him, a bright smile appearing on her lips. “I’m saying, let’s have a good dream, for an hour.”

“……!”

“Good night…”

Without mercy, she poured powder into his mouth with a short and dull apology in her mind. She couldn’t let his supervisors find out that she was searching for information regarding cloning magic. 

The man’s eyes slowly began to fall, and Noah dragged him down the bookshelf. The sleeping powder only worked in response to the magical powers of the wizard, so it wouldn’t harm the human body. Of course, there would be side effects if the amount was three times the normal.

Noah whispered, tapping the man’s cheek. “You stood and showed me around.”

“Yes…”

“Nothing happened here, okay?”

After a weak nod, the man dropped his head and fell asleep. As soon as she had confirmed whether he was finally asleep, Noah poked his head against the bookshelf.

Kwang!

Just in time, a tremendous explosion resounded from downstairs. The vibration was so intense that it shook to the bottom of the library. Noticing that the resonance between her and Muell, which was blocked by the restraint, was shaking, the child seemed to be rebelling very well.

Nice, Mu. Noah moved back to the next bookshelf and quickly found relevant books, scanning each one of them. 

“…Is this enough?”

About half an hour later, Noah had scanned ten ancient books, collecting all the basic structure of cloning. Now, she had to find something extremely important for the rest of the time. 

No matter how much attention had been focused on the disobeying dragon, the fact that Adrian saw Noah climb up to the library and made no move could mean that there weren’t really crucial things, which needed to be kept hidden, in the library…

She passed through the bookshelf in front of the left wall, organizing her thoughts.

“……?”

Suddenly, her steps came to a halt, a strange feeling creeping into her. At the top of the wall, in the middle, appeared something that she had not seen when she entered the library.

Eleanora Collection.

Intricate golden letters glistened under the light. Only then did Noah realize the meaning of the order that was listed on the wall.

What was contained in the glass box was the dismantling and design of numerous inventions, and they were thoroughly arranged in the order in which Eleonora had invented them.

In the months of the Continental Calendar, at the age of several years, any invention, any invention of the year, any design of the next year… The whole wall was like a chronicle of the Great Witch Eleonora Asil. It was too obvious who arranged these in such appalling detail.

“You’re a true stalker, Adrian.”

Isn’t this much of a fan of Eleonora? Even if it was harsh or hateful, Adrian must have loved Eleonora inside.

Noah began to skim through the inventions of Eleonora, giving a cold assessment. From engineering machines such as mana steam engine devices, mana turbines used in ships, automatic direction indicators, and gas engines to rolls that curl hair, traps to cut human ankles instead of mice, face recognition devices, and automatic printouts — all kinds of items directly related to real life. 

The self-destructing nano-chip, the design of 100 consecutive bazooka guns, and the appalling weapons… 

It was truly diverse.

Besides the invention, there were also a lot of designs that seemed to have not yet been completed, and all she could recognize was the design of the airship using propellers.

All of these were a feat Eleonora had achieved in just fifteen years, from the age of ten to twenty-five.