Sotheby: Wow! So this is the library in Vertin's school!
Sotheby: So many people here! Hmm, they're probably around my age.
A gorgeous sap-green dress jumps into the library of SPDM. Its owner keeps talking in a sing-song tone, like a chirping goldcrest.
Sotheby: Heh heh, we've also got this many shelves in the library of Sotheby's Manor!
Sotheby: Are there any alchemy workshops and potion warehouses here, like in our manor?
The young lady stands on tiptoe, looking around this place curiously.
Sotheby: Where can I find Ms. Bouanich? Madam Z told me to come here, but she didn't give any other clues.
Sotheby: sighs The people here really need Mr. Teakettler, who is always nice and warm to the guests. Just twist his teapot ear, then he can take you anywhere.
Sotheby: If not so, placing a Luck-A-Day Potion at the entrance would help as well.
Sotheby: If I had made it before I came, Ms. Bouanich and I might have met by now. Or she will just pop up behind me!
Matilda: Are you looking for me?
Sotheby: Oh, my word!
Sotheby: Oops, that was too loud. Where are my manners!
Sotheby straightens the wrinkles on her dress and gives out her hand like a real lady.
Sotheby: Nice to meet you! Are you Ms. Bouanich?
The other girl nods haughtily. Her uniform speaks for herself.
It seems to be a historic "first meeting" for them.
Sotheby: That's fantastic. How did you find me? Did you see me in the Oneiromancy? Or through a crystal orb?
Sotheby: Either way, it is the great arcanum ...
Matilda: Hah! I'm much greater than that. Look at you, dressed as if you'd just been to a ball. You are as eye-catching as … the pigment poured on a sketch!
Matilda: I saw you the moment I came into the library!
Sotheby: A ball? Ha! Does the Foundation hold balls, too?
Matilda: No, I'm saying ... Hmm, does every friend of Vertin's talk this way?
Matilda: Never mind. Madam Z told me you wanted to look up the materials on "the mysterious school that believes in numbers" here.
Sotheby: That's right! Ms. Moissan told me she will thoroughly check the documents in the Foundation archive, so I'll go through the books in the SPDM library!
Sotheby: If we can find anything about that school, we can be of more help to Vertin and her team!
Matilda: I'm sorry, Ms. Sotheby, but I'm afraid this situation is going to disappoint you.
Matilda: While you spent the last hour looking for Teakettler's ear, the kindhearted monitor assistant already gained the valuable access to the library. But I haven't found any records regarding "the mysterious school that believes in numbers" yet.
Like a bolt out of the blue.
Sotheby: Oh! But, but Ms. Moissan said, there are soooo many books here that they can cover the entire back of a Stronsay Beast!
Matilda: That's a bit exaggerated, but, ahem, she's right!
Matilda: Nevertheless, the librarian was transferred to a more important position years ago due to the "Storm."
Matilda: Many old books are not yet sorted. Some even went missing in the chaos.
Matilda: The only relevant materials I could find are the stories of Pythagoras and some books on mathematical theorems, but I don't think they have anything to do with Vertin's issue.
What Matilda sees now is a pair of tear-dimmed eyes.
Sotheby: That means ... I can't do anything to help them?
Matilda: Please stop being emotional. It doesn't work on this professional member of the Foundation!
She looks away and clears her throat like a grown-up.
Matilda: Ahem! Without field investigation permission, I can't take you out to collect information.
Matilda: But in fact, there is still another reference room only known to the most outstanding monitor assistant.
Sotheby: Hooray!
Other students in the library cast disgruntled glances at them.
Matilda: Shh, shh! It's a violation to make noises in the library! Please follow me, Ms. Sotheby!
Tall shelves.
Unfamiliar surroundings.
An impossible mission.
The girls walk through the shelves like fish swimming through coral.
Sotheby: Thank you so much, Ms. Bouanich.
Sotheby: You mentioned "ball." I haven't heard that word for a very long time.
Sotheby: I remember what Mr. Karson, my butler, had taught me. He said, "Express your gratitude to fair ladies by holding a grand ball."
Sotheby: I'll write to my father and ask for a brand-new, unsinkable, and maneuverable rock 'n' roll park. I'm sure he will gladly say yes.
Matilda: Maneuverable rock 'n' roll park?
Sotheby: Yes! We can hold a twist ball on it when Vertin and her team are back!
Matilda: Please allow me to say NO! The monitor assistant of SPDM will never participate in such an inelegant activity.
Matilda: Wait. Did you just say Vertin and "her team"?
Sotheby: ...?
Matilda: Ahem, we can talk about the ball later.
Matilda: The kindhearted Matilda Bouanich will try her best to help you with the task. But o-of course, it's only out of her sense of responsibility, not for some personal reasons.
They go faster and faster.
Finally, they reach their destination.
To patch the fragmented eras in the future ...
And to store the currently unimportant files and reports ...
People built this reference room in the shape of a box with gray and white walls.
During this awful time, which might last for ages, people call it—
The footnote of history.
Matilda: Here we are: the reference room storing "unnecessary information." It's a place ignored by most staff.
Matilda: Even so, this careful, reliable monitor assistant will not let go of any details.
She knocks on the rusty sign haughtily.
Matilda: I hereby officially appoint you as the chief assistant of monitor assistant of SPDM! I will take my responsibility and teach you how to become a devoted Foundation member!
Matilda pulls off the cloth covering the archive cabinet.
Dust rises in the air.
Matilda: Here is your first task: read through these unsorted, old files, all of them.
The monitor assistant takes a dusty file from the cabinet. The paper inside has already turned yellow.
Matilda: I have searched all the archived ones. These are the last parts.
Matilda: Most of them are discarded administrative documents, low-priority materials, and substandard reports written by rookie investigators.
Matilda: By the way, you should know I didn't sort any of them out for you, and they don't necessarily have what you want!
Sotheby: It's alright! Leave them to me! I love reading!
Matilda: Humph! You'd better do.
Matilda: Here's the key. Keep it safe. You can sit on the cushion there when you sort out the files. I-I don't want your dress to stain the stone bench.
Matilda: I'll go see if I missed any files. Listen! This monitor assistant will test you on your familiarity with these files when she's back!
Three Hours Later
Matilda: Double check completed. Looks like I didn't miss any relevant files.
Matilda: Phew! Quite a long day.
Matilda: I doubt if that spoiled lady can finish all the materials. She must have been bored and fallen asleep, waiting for her Teakettler in the dream ...
Matilda: It takes much more than dancing at balls to be a Foundation investigator.
Matilda: I'll send her back to that teacher when she wakes up.
Matilda: In the end, it will be the kindhearted Matilda who finishes the task for her. Being a great monitor assistant comes with great responsibility!
Again, Matilda gently pushes the door open.
Surprisingly, she is welcomed with an energetic greeting.
Sotheby: Oh, Ms. Bouanich!
Standing on a ladder, Sotheby gives her a big smile with a stack of files in her hand.
The files she didn't finish reading are scattered on the ground, while the others have been well organized in the cabinet.
Matilda: You ... You didn't fall asleep? Did you sort out these files?
Sotheby: Hmm? Yes! And I love these books in uncommon shapes! There are so many wonderful stories!
Sotheby: I often read books with Sasana when Father wasn't at home. We read and read until the Redcomb Aves woke up the sun. Moreover, these files are much easier than Ms. Moissan's reading task.
Sotheby: Here, the gentleman from River Conwy tamed a whole group of Afancs! How marvellous is that!
Matilda: Oh, okay. Looks like you meet the basic requirements for being a rookie investigator!
Matilda: I-I guess you are qualified to be my chief assistant.
The young lady doesn't pay much attention to the mumbles from the monitor assistant.
She is busy announcing her big discovery.
Sotheby: And I also found this interesting report! It tells a lot about the "Storm" and the "numbers."
Sotheby: Oh! Will this be helpful to Vertin?
Matilda: Hmm? Show it to me.
She takes a pile of yellowed paper from Sotheby.
This neat and orderly written report has no beginning or end.
Obviously, the author is a meticulous person.
Matilda: "… I have to say, it is undoubtedly a violation to submit such a report, but it will be a travesty of the truth and human sense if I cover it up."
Matilda & Writer of the Report: Peace, sense, justice—they have always been the creeds in my heart, and are now the reason why I have decided to write down the whole thing.
Writer of the Report: A long time has passed since the first attack of the most severe crisis in our time. But we are still wondering, what on earth does it mean?
Writer of the Report: That was the eve of the millennium, of which no one had any memories, illogically. The next day, time was already reversed to 1996 the moment we opened our eyes.
Writer of the Report: We walked out of the building made of gray and white marble as usual, hardly aware that the sun we bathed in was from another time.
Writer of the Report: Our survival was unexpected and almost unbelievable in such a calamity which swept the globe.
Writer of the Report: Why did the headquarters of the Foundation survive the reverse? Why couldn't we find our younger selves in the outside world? Did any other regions survive it as we did? What was the cause behind this calamity?
Writer of the Report: I didn't know, nor did anyone else.
Writer of the Report: Things remained unclear until time was reversed again. This time, we all witnessed that rain in the '80s.
Matilda: ...!
Sotheby: Are these files Vertin needs?
Matilda: I, I think so.
She says in a trembling voice.
This monitor assistant, who always claims to have a cool head, has never panicked so much.
Matilda: It's a report written by someone who witnessed the "Storm"!
Matilda: And it has recorded the "Storms" before Vertin became the Timekeeper?!
