There are three rooms upstairs.

　One of them is in a communal bedroom.

　In the other room, Kassandra-san had gone upstairs and was now using it as her roost.

　I knocked on the door of the room Kassandra was rooting around in.

'Yes. Who are you?

That's me.

Come in.

　Receiving those words, I open the door - but.

　The door, which opens inward, gets stuck on something in the middle.

''........hmm?　What's going on?

　When I stepped into the room through the slight opening, I saw that the room, which had been empty until the other day, had been transformed.

　The floor is covered with books that have been piled up to about half my height.

　Shelves had been mounted to the ceiling on the walls, and thick stacks of books and papers were crammed into them as well.

　In addition, a desk had been placed at the back of the room, and it was laughably large. It seemed to have a surface area of about the same size as a bed.

　Naturally, there was a huge pile of books on the desk.

　From a cursory glance at the books and paper bundles, almost all of them seemed to be magic-related. Many of them had magical language (Nihongo) spelled out on the covers and spines.

''..........''

　I couldn't help but exclaim.

　That's how much the room had changed.

'Good day to you, Mr. Gerald.

　In this space full of books, Mr. Kassandra was sitting at his desk with a thick book open.

　The beauty of his appearance caught my attention.

　I wondered if she was dressed in a baby doll.

　It was an amber nightgown made of silk that fluttered around her waist.

　The nightgown stood out well against the purpleish blonde.

　It had a bold and bewitching design in places.

　Even though it was a short distance from the entrance to Mr. Kassandra, the garment was so thin that you could see through the skin on the other side.

　Mr. Kassandra, who had been sitting at the desk, turned to me and bailed on me from his chair.

'Please, feel free to come in?'

...Yes, I'm sorry. I mean, when on earth did you bring in all these books?

　When she tossed out the question, she picked up a slightly larger bag and shook it lightly.

'I've gotten into the habit of keeping all my research grimoires in here, haven't I?

'You don't think... that's a magic tool?'

Yes. I wonder if this one has twice the capacity of this mansion?

　A magical tool is a tool that has a magical language carved into a special material.

　They are much more convenient than ordinary tools, but they also require a high level of knowledge of the magical language.

　Furthermore, there are only a few artisans who can work with them.

　Besides her bag, Gant's great shield and other magical tools could also be said to be among her magical tools.

''The books in this room are only part of my research materials. I really wanted to get them all out, but as expected, I couldn't do that because if I did, the books would be buried not only in the mansion, but also in the dojo.''

I'm sure you do.

　Even if it was just Mei Fan's house, it was bigger than an ordinary house. That's how much money Xiao Lang was making as an adventurer.

　The magic tool in the bag, which has twice the capacity of the bag

　It wasn't hard to imagine that if I took out all of the contents, this entire property would be filled with books.

　Nevertheless.........I couldn't help but feel throbbing as I exchanged words with the glossy-dressed Cassandra-san.

　The flickering skin tone from a while ago was inexplicably heartbreaking.

''Ka, Kassandra-san,''

What is it?

I mean, you do get to wear loungewear for a virgin, for nothing.

　I was jittery and nervous, and as I tried to unwind, I said the most outrageous thing of all: "What is wasted meat?

"What is wasted meat, wasted meat?

　...You're still mad at me?

　At my words, Miss Cassandra put her hands on her hips and peeled her cheeks.

　Her flabby breasts sway beneath her baby doll as she follows her movements.

　My eyes are involuntarily drawn to them.

　........stunning.

　I force my gaze away from the fleshly swaying breasts.

　The other party is the duchess and the court's top mage.

　If I displease him too much, he's powerful enough to kill my existence socially and physically.

　I open my mouth to excuse myself.

'No, no, no, no one is talking about the tits,'

'I haven't said a word about the breasts either, Mr. Gerald?

'Oh, yeah, well...'

'And who's always looking delirious with that virgin wasted meat? I'm sure you don't recognize Mr. Gerald?

Ugh, well, that's just, you know...

　No, I'm trapped!

　Cassandra's expression turns lecherous.

'Oh?　I wonder if Mr. Gerald always looks delirious with this meat of mine?　What a slut.

No, no...

　I try to deny it, but I can't get the words out.

　Mr. Cassandra's tongue is on the tip of his tongue, and he is completely flirting with it!

　Now Mr. Kassandra was holding his chest (probably intentionally) between his two arms.

　The munchies and the crushing of her breasts were visible through her baby-doll.

　She even crossed her legs in that state.

　And then.........I saw it.

　The baby doll, further over there.

　The base of the thighs that emerge flesh white, the final barrier that protects the most important part of the woman.

　The pale peach-colored women's underwear!

　But it's only for a moment.

　When she finishes crossing her legs, the baby doll swoops up and covers her underwear again.

'I thought you were more serious than that.

　We'll reassemble.

　Peek-a-boo. Glancing.

"Ugh.

'I can't believe you gave me those lustful eyes.

　The pale, peach-colored fabric........

　Every time Kassandra-san crosses her legs, I see it reflected in my eyes.

　I can't look away, I can't look away.

''See, you're still looking so slutty........''

Oh, my God...

　My face gets hot.

　My heart rate jumps at Kassandra's teasing gaze.

'I'm so disillusioned with Mr. Gerald that he's been this shifty.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

　I forced my heart, which was beating a throbbing sound, to suppress it by raising my voice.

　........Really, this guy is heartbreaking.

'.........Sierra said to come down for dinner.

Oh, yeah.

　Forcing a change of subject, Mr. Cassandra turned boringly to his desk.

　She looked down to the page of the book that had been left open.

'I'm sorry, but could you tell her I can't go for a bit right now?

　He tells me this in a disinterested voice.

'What?　But I think the food will get cold when it's late...

'I can at least reheat it myself. I'd rather work on deciphering this now.

Well for someone who wants to proceed with the deciphering, you seemed intent on teasing me earlier, though.

The only way to get results is to take a nice break.

I think you should think of another way to relax, though.

　My heart is going to explode sooner or later if I'm being teased every time I take a breather.

　But still.........

''Deciphering?''

　I'm curious about the word "deciphering".

　My father once told me that there are two types of grimoires.

　The first is a grimoire written by a top-notch mage to pass down his technical system to the next generation.

　The other is an ancient grimoire that is sometimes unearthed - an ancient book.

　Although ancient books are regarded as important in researching the development of magic and clarifying the origins of magic, it is said that deciphering them takes a lot of time and effort.

　After all, it takes ten top-notch mages to decipher an ancient book.

　It is said that even with those ten people, it can take more than a hundred years to decipher the book.

　.........Well, it's easy to understand if you translate it into English. If a Japanese person tries to decipher English by themselves, it must take a tremendous amount of time.

　There are no dictionaries and no Japanese in this world. It is understandable that it would take a long time.

　Since I used the word "deciphering," it was not hard to imagine that Cassandra was reading an ancient book now.

'What?　Is Mr. Gerald interested in ancient books?

Yeah ... a little bit.

Then you're welcome to come in.

Are you sure?

　I know that the ancient books are valuable, that's all I know.

　I'm sure it's not something you can just show people.

I don't mind. I'm sure your student, Mr. Wizard in Passing, has some interesting advice for you...

Then....

　I headed over to Kassandra's place, careful not to collapse the tower of books.

　As I approached, she shifted the ancient book and notebooks so that I could see them better.

'This is where I'm trying to decipher it now, isn't it?

　

　The letters have been scratched off in some places and are no longer legible, but the part that Kassandra is pointing at is barely recognizable.

　Naturally, as a Japanese man with memories of my previous life, I could read the contents of the letter.

　What was spelled out there....

A rare person has come from the underworld. I will use the truth of the word and spirit to defeat the demons and bring peace to this world.

　If we translate it directly into our language, it would be something like 'A mysterious person comes from the other world, defeats the demon race with magical language and brings about an era of peace'. To some extent, though, it's a literal translation.

　However, even if I could read it, I honestly don't understand the meaning of this alone.

　I regretted that the sentences before and after were lost.

　As I tilted my head, Kassandra-san asked me.

'Mr. Gerald. Is there something we can read into the meaning?

No I'm sorry, but I'm not.

'Well I'm really sorry to hear that. I was hoping you might be able to find something new for me.

　Cassandra sighs in disappointment.

　A little bit of guilt was stimulated.

　I can read the meaning into it. I can even explain what it says in this world.

　But an ancient book is essentially like gathering ten or more top mages to decipher it.

　If I could easily decipher it, it would be nothing but unnatural.

''Even if it's not me, I'm sure there are mages who can help you with your research, right?''

''I don't see the use of a bunch of old mages in the middle who are only proud of their knowledge. Rather, fieldwork and talking to young talents like yourself will bring you much better results.

Is that the way it works?

Yes. To tell the truth, the person I'd most like to talk to is 'the great mage who passes by'. Your ability as a mage who can fend off even the demon race is very interesting.

　Kassandra's words were filled with some heat as she said this.

　She must be very fond of magic.

　Her voice was even more bouncy than when she was teasing me.

'I suspect that this ancient book, from what I can see, is referring to the origins of magic. We don't currently know when or where the magical language was brought to humans, but I have a feeling that there may be some mention of it here. As far as I know, there's a disconnect between ancient and modern records, but as long as ancient books existed, there must have been magic and magical languages in ancient times. But somehow it's only in the modern era that magic came to be recognized in the records.

　Mr. Cassandra begins his explanation in flowing words.

　Why is it that people who are so studious love to explain things like this....

　I think this is really a kind of nerdy disposition.

　Even the most beautiful woman in the world was certainly going to run away from the man with this.

　But still.

'I see, so...'

　You mentioned the origin of witchcraft.

　That would make sense in terms of the description in the previous paragraph, "From the underworld comes a rare person, who, through the reasoning of the spirit of the word, strikes out the demons and invites a moment of peace in this world.

　This sentence must contain the information that Kassandra-san is seeking.

''Ha!　Mr. Gerald, you've got a flash of inspiration!

　Kassandra-san reacts sensitively to my words that I inadvertently blurted out.

　Her eyes are sparkling........and she's even pulled her body closer to mine.

　Softly, a mature scent tickles the tip of my nose, but she seems indifferent to that as well.

It's not like that. I see, it's just that I'm convinced that Kassandra-san carries a lot of books around with her because she loves magic.

'Well I guess what you did with me was premature.

　At my words, Kassandra-san's expression takes a turn for the worse.

'More importantly, you should really come downstairs (sic) quickly, right?　If you stay in that one and Sierra gets in a bad mood, it's going to be a huge pain in the ass.

... well. Maybe we could grab a bite to eat for a break.

Yeah. Come on, let's go. Oh, and make sure you get dressed properly, okay?

　As I tell him that, I leave the room quickly.

　If I'm told to help them get dressed, that would be too much of a surprise to my heart and could be disastrous.

　--

　Kassandra looked at Gerald as he left the room and closed the ancient book that was open.

　The thick book made a rather heavy thud as it closed.

　The scent of mold and dust mixed with the distinctive scent of old books tickled the tip of my nose.

　Kassandra inhaled it with a satisfied look on her face. This scent was familiar to her research-oriented mind.

'I wonder what you read into it?'

　In the room where no one else is present, she mumbles to herself.

　

　I know that expression. I've never seen it in the mirror, but I'm sure Kassandra confidently has a similar expression when he gets some special inspiration.

　Perhaps he had discovered something from the ancient book.

　It must be something very interesting to Cassandra.

　The insight he had accumulated as a mage had turned this interest into a conviction.

''Hmph.......Really, it's been a long time since I've met an interesting gem.