Contrary to Ian’s hopes, even though the appointed time had arrived, no one who looked like Dolores appeared. There was only a red-haired madwoman rampaging around like a lunatic.
In the end, Ian let out a deep sigh and walked with Yuna toward Dolores and Ari, who were sitting together on a bench.
“Mm?”
Dolores, who had been quietly swinging her legs, tilted her head when she saw the two of them approaching. Her red hair drooped limply with gravity.
“Who might you be?”
Her voice was rather thin. If Eunha had a comfortable, ASMR-specialized voice, and Yuna’s was slightly sharp, Dolores’s was simply high-pitched.
The kind of loud voice that made your ears tingle a little if you kept listening to it.
Before the gazes around them could gather for no reason, Ian quickly answered.
“Dolores. Right?”
At his cautious question, Dolores’s eyes widened slightly. She covered her mouth with both hands in black gloves and took one step back. Though “back” only meant she shifted slightly into the seat beside her.
“Oh my, don’t tell me……?”
Her pupils trembled faintly as she spoke. Ian nodded.
“That ‘don’t tell me’ is probably right. I never really chose a nickname, so it’ll be hard to prove, but I’m—”
“Secondhand Newbie!”
Dolores cut Ian off and shouted. Passersby nearby flinched in surprise and looked back at her. Ian’s brow furrowed just as much as their gazes.
“No, keep your voice—”
“You weren’t a woman?! Why are you a man?!!!?!”
Her voice rose another decibel. Ian, who had suddenly been turned into a netkama, twisted his face in outrage. He could let it slide if her loud voice drew aggro, but he could not tolerate her fabricating lies in that loud voice.
After all, when some loudmouth started making things up, it somehow had a way of sounding persuasive. He needed to explain quickly before Yuna got the wrong idea.
“I have never once pretended to be a woman, so what the hell are you talking about?”
“No! Your way of speaking was clearly feminine! Like, ‘It is so-and-so, you see!’”
“That was a concept.”
“What!”
“If anything, I’m more surprised that you’re not a concept……”
Ian let out a deep sigh, leaving the shocked Dolores behind, and turned to the other woman sitting beside her.
A petite figure. Medium-length hair that reached her shoulders. Blonde hair that looked dyed, with only the roots black. She was a woman without any particularly distinctive features. Ian gave her a slight nod and moved his lips.
“You’re Kim Ari?”
“Ah, yes! Nice to meet you! Ah, no. Nice to meet you!”
When Ian asked, she smiled awkwardly and held out her hand.
Originally, magicians did not tend to shake hands with each other. How would you know what spell they had prepared on their palm before suddenly grabbing their hand? What if your wrist flew off because of it?
But the other party was a novice magician. At most, all she could do was use magic that made light shine from the tips of her fingers. There was nothing particularly dangerous about it.
To begin with, unless his sighting device reacted, there was no need to be overly sensitive. So Ian held out his hand without much thought and lightly took her small hand.
“Yeah, nice to meet you—”
That was when it happened.
[Wooooong!]
A familiar vibration sounded from somewhere.
It was the same vibration that rang out when a grimoire conveyed its will. But Ian’s grimoires were perfectly quiet. The Touch of Recreation tucked inside his coat, the Book of Contracts getting beaten up inside his bag, and the Deep Sea Records beating up that Book of Contracts—none of them were vibrating in particular.
Then who was the cause?
“Aah!”
There was no need to think about it. After all, the only people here who possessed grimoires were Ian and Ari.
“Wh-what’s wrong, Moses?”
Saying something that would have gotten her head smacked with a Bible if a devout Christian had heard it, Kim Ari slapped the pocket of her brown coat with her palm. But the vibration did not stop. Rather, it grew louder.
[Wooooong! Woong! Wooooong!!!!]
“Ah, what’s wrong with you, seriously! You’re embarrassing me! Stop it, stop! I don’t even know what you’re saying!”
[Wooooooooong!!!!!]
“Don’t just vibrate, say something, please!”
Ari stamped her feet.
It seemed that, since it had not been long since she became the owner of a grimoire, she was having trouble figuring out the cause of the vibration. When Ian first picked up a grimoire, hadn’t he also failed to realize that it was vibrating because it wanted to talk?
It was not as if he perfectly understood the wills of grimoires even now, but he could at least grasp them roughly. Giving a little help to a rookie mage was within his ability. Ian released the handshake, looked down at her vibrating coat, and opened his mouth.
“It looks like your grimoire is making a fuss. Can you show it to me for a moment?”
Since they were in a street with few people passing by, there was no need to worry about someone seeing the grimoire.
To begin with, even if it was seen, a grimoire basically just looked like a pretty book. Unless one had set foot in the mystic and possessed knowledge of magic, it was impossible to recognize a grimoire as a grimoire. Thanks to that, he could make the suggestion without feeling burdened.
Ari readily accepted his proposal.
“Ah, sure! Come to think of it, Senior Secondhand Newbie, you said you had a grimoire too!”
“……It’s Shin Ian.”
“Got it, Senior Ian! Here, the grimoire!”
Rustle, rustle.
Ari rummaged through her coat and took out a small grimoire.
It was about half the size of the grimoires Ian possessed.
The letters written on the cover were in Ancient Greek. It was impossible for Ian, a native Korean, to interpret them, yet he was able to understand the words “The Sixth Book of Moses” as if it were nothing.
He was not seeing it with his eyes and translating it; his mind understood it on its own.
It was a sensation as if he were looking at his mother tongue. The Eighth Book of Moses had been the same, and it seemed this grimoire also had no language barrier.
‘Does that mean my overall compatibility with grimoires is high? Even if it has an owner, there’s no problem reading it.’
Ian had immediately succeeded in interpreting the title of the grimoire Eunha possessed, the Lesser Key of Solomon, as well. The Sixth Book of Moses was no exception.
However, even if his compatibility was high, there was no great meaning to it if he could not read it anyway. Though it was possible to threaten it by saying he would read it.
“Let me borrow it for a moment.”
“Ah, yes! Here……”
Ari held the grimoire out to Ian without the slightest suspicion. Dolores, who had been quietly listening to their conversation, let out a gasp and grabbed Ian’s wrist.
“Please wait a moment! If you directly touch another magician’s grimoire, you’ll feel a headache so severe it’s hard to endure! It’s even worse if you read the contents! I’ve even seen people faint!”
“It’s fine. I only need to say one thing.”
Ian gently removed Dolores’s hand and gave a faint laugh.
“And I’ll probably be fine.”
“What? What does that……”
Before she could continue, Ian brought his hand down over the Sixth Book of Moses. The grimoire, which had been thrashing more violently the closer his hand came, went completely still the moment his finger touched the cover.
[…….]
It looked as though it had hardened like stone. After confirming that he felt no headache despite making contact with the grimoire, Ian grinned and tapped the cover with his finger. Then he brought his mouth close to the cover and whispered.
“If you don’t shut up, I’ll split you in half.”
……Tremble.
At Ian’s words, the grimoire shook its body madly from side to side. But there was no vibration sound. The threat had worked.
The Sixth Book of Moses trembled as if frightened and meekly crawled up toward Ari’s arm. She picked up the grimoire with a curious expression.
“Oh……! How did you do that? It never listens to a word I say, even if I’m about to die.”
“The words ‘I’ll kill you’ have persuasive power when spoken by someone who’s actually killed before.”
“……?”
“It’s basic common sense for magicians, so engrave it into your head.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about……”
Ari put the grimoire into her coat pocket with a bewildered expression. Ian did not bother making her understand and turned his head.
The reason the Sixth Book of Moses vibrated the moment they shook hands was probably because he possessed a grimoire of an Outer God.
Back then, the Eighth Book of Moses that came to the library had also known that Ian possessed a grimoire of an Outer God. That was why it had desperately struggled to keep its cover from opening. The Sixth Book would not be much different.
‘No, perhaps it realized who killed the Eighth Book.’
The thought suddenly occurred to him. Ian’s face naturally turned cold.
Of course, it was still in the realm of speculation. Since the Lemegeton was in Korea, there was no law saying the Books of Moses could not be in Korea as well.
But when he shook Ari’s hand.
The fact that it had started to struggle from the moment actual contact occurred. The fact that it vibrated more strongly as his hand got closer. Considering several such details, it was not difficult to make an inference, so it was worth suspecting.
‘For now, should I stay on guard?’
He did not think the Book of Moses could cause some kind of harm. But he was not going to think too optimistically either. It could suddenly summon an angel and attack, so it seemed best to maintain a minimum level of suspicion.
If worst came to worst, he would have to consider killing Ari and destroying the grimoire.
“……”
Well, that was also a last resort. Unless things were quite extreme, that would not happen.
Thinking that, Ian turned to Dolores. She was staring at Ian, who looked perfectly fine even after touching a grimoire, with sparkling eyes.
“You’re an amazing person! To be perfectly fine after touching a grimoire! Do you perhaps have a special constitution? Or are you both a psychic and a magician? Whatever it is, the fact that you’re amazing remains the same! This young lady is deeply impressed!”
“Uh, sure. More importantly, when are we going to our owl?”
One way to deal with a madwoman was not to refute her inner world. Fortunately, it seemed to have worked properly, as Dolores covered her mouth with a gasp and gave an embarrassed fake cough.
“A-ahem! That’s right! It seems it’s about time I guided you! Then, everyone, please follow me! It’s not very far from here, you know?”
She immediately shifted into an elegant expression, spun around, and began walking somewhere. Ari trotted after her, and Yuna whispered from behind Ian.
“She-she seems like a lunatic. Should we run away now……?”
“……She is a lunatic, but she seems like a nicely insane one. It should be fine to follow her.”
“Ugh…… Just in case, I should get ready so I can use magic……”
Yuna rustled around, stuffing medicine made from ghoul blood into her pockets, and her shoulders trembled.
Ian let out a deep sigh and followed Dolores.
He had a feeling this was not going to be an easy companionship.