Chương 13: A Very Good Day

Bart sat at his solid oak desk, staring at the heavy brass Alchemy Grinder. Next to it sat his shiny black bag of premium coffee beans. He was so close. He could practically smell the coffee. But the metal crank on the side of the grinder was still completely stuck but for a need of single drop of Golden Troll Fat. Bart sighed and looked around, he really wanted his coffee, but he also really liked being alive and not having a troll encounter. Trolls were famous in myths from earth for eating people.

He needed time to form a safe, responsible plan and do some actual research before he went looking for a giant monster.

"We will deal with the troll later," Bart murmured under his breath. He pointed to a small stack of books on the edge of the desk. The return chute, restored when the Archive reached Rank F, had coughed up two battered, uncatalogued books that morning.

"For now, let us do some cataloging. Gregor, can you sort these into the intake pile? Just read the titles and tell me what we have." Gregor pulled himself up onto the wooden stool next to the desk. He picked up a thin, brightly colored book from the world of Greenhollow, a famously peaceful world where even the dragons had taken up gardening. Gregor stared at the cover. He squinted his eyes. He turned the book sideways.

"Well?" Bart asked.

"This one is... a history book," Gregor announced proudly.

"It is about the man who invented bread." Bart frowned. He leaned over and looked at the cover. The title, printed in large, friendly yellow letters, was The Happy Little Sunbeam. Bart slowly looked up at his assistant.

"Gregor. What about the next one?" Gregor tossed the sunbeam book aside and picked up a heavy, green bound encyclopedia of basic gardening. He stared at it for a long ten seconds.

"Ah. Plant magic. Highly dangerous. We should probably lock this in the new basement."

"Wait," Bart said, holding up a hand.

"You told me you read the title of King Aurelius's journal before you stole it." Gregor shifted uncomfortably on his stool.

"I saw the king's shiny face carved over every door in the palace, and it was a shiny book sitting on a shiny desk. It was a guess." Bart took the book from Gregor's hands.

"Gregor," Bart said gently.

"Can you read at all?" Gregor shrugged, offering his usual, confident missing tooth smile.

"I was a thief, boss. I read pockets. I read the presence of shiny coins. I read the heavy footsteps of city guards to avoid em." The scruffy man looked down at the desk, his smile fading slightly.

"No one teaches boys from the slums, boss. Not unless they can pay or are born into wealth. Paper is just for wrapping up fish or starting campfires." Bart sat back in his chair. He was shocked, but his heart ached for his first companion in the new place. He was a librarian. To him, words were a basic right, not a luxury only for the rich.

"Clear the desk," Bart said, pushing his sweater sleeves up.

"Are we fighting something, boss?" Gregor asked, reaching for his belt.

"Ignorance," Bart said firmly.

"We are fighting ignorance." Bart pulled the glowing wooden Intake Tray to the center of the desk. He took The Happy Little Sunbeam and placed it gently onto the wood. He tapped the side of the tray.

"System," Bart commanded.

"Adjust Intake settings. Projection mode. Large print.", Bart had learned that the Intake tray could perform certain additional functions besides just scanning. The blue light of the tray shifted. Instead of scanning the book, it projected the first page into the air as a floating, glowing blue hologram. See the sun. The sun is warm. Bart looked at the floating letters. He had wondered about their shared language before, but Gregor's inability to read finally made the question impossible to ignore.

"System," Bart whispered.

"Gregor is from another world. I am from Earth. Why are we speaking the same language, and why are these letters in English?" Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. The blue screen flashed a quick answer above the desk. OMNI-TRANSLATION FIELD ACTIVE. Spoken Language: Automatically translated for all patrons and staff. Written Language: Automatically translated and rendered in Archive Baseline Script. Current Baseline Script: Keeper's native alphabet.

Warning: Recognition of written symbols must be learned manually. Bart nodded. Gregor was not just learning English; he was learning the magical, universal language of the Archive itself. Bart handed Gregor a piece of blank parchment and a quill.

"We are going to start with the alphabet." Albert the skeleton paused his sweeping. His white bones clattered softly as he walked over to the desk, leaning on his broom.

"Ah. The alphabet," Albert said, his empty eye sockets staring deeply at the glowing blue letters.

"A truly profound invention."

"Thank you, Albert," Bart said.

"It is just basic phonetics."

"Observe the letter 'A', Master Gregor," Albert continued enthusiastically, pointing a bony finger at the projection.

"Notice its shape. A steep, jagged mountain. It represents the crushing, impossible weight of mortality that every living creature must eventually climb, only to fall from the peak." Gregor swallowed hard. He looked at the letter 'A' with sudden terror.

"Albert, please," Bart sighed.

"It makes an 'Ah' sound. It is not a symbol of death and do not frighten the student. Go ahead, Gregor. Try drawing it." Gregor nervously scratched a shaky, jagged triangle onto his parchment. As he wrote, a heavy, black bound book sitting on the edge of the desk began to rattle. It was The Almanac of Inevitable Doom. It had sacrificed one of its pages to help fight the language ventilation leak a few days ago, but being one page thinner had only made it crankier.

It was incredibly pessimistic and hated being ignored. The Almanac flipped itself open. Bright, glowing red ink began to bleed across its blank pages, spelling out words in angry capital letters. THE THIEF'S PENMANSHIP FORETELLS THE END OF DAYS. Bart placed a heavy brass paperweight on top of the Almanac, but the red ink just seeped out from under it, glowing even brighter.

"Ignore the book, Gregor," Bart said gently. They spent the next half hour working through simple letters and sounds. Gregor confused C with K, reversed three letters, and accused Q of being an O with a tail.

"Let us try a word," Bart said finally.

"Spell 'Cat'." Gregor gripped his quill tightly. He stuck his tongue out in deep concentration. He wrote three large, messy letters on the parchment. K - A - T.

"Close," Bart said encouragingly.

"You heard every sound perfectly. In this word, the first sound is written with a 'C'." The Almanac of Inevitable Doom rattled violently under the brass paperweight. A TRAGIC ERROR. DOOM IS UPON US ALL. Gregor threw the quill down on the desk.

"This is too hard, boss! The skeleton is making it scary, the angry book is yelling at me, and none of these squiggles make any sense!" Bart looked at his frustrated assistant. He pushed the heavy Almanac away and slid the parchment back toward Gregor.

"You were a thief, Gregor," Bart said softly.

"You used to steal silver and food just to survive. But you do not need to do that anymore. You are the Junior Helper in Archive Acquisitions. You steal forgotten history. You rescue lost ideas." Bart picked up the quill and wrote six clear, neat letters on the bottom of the parchment.

"Words are the most valuable things in the multiverse," Bart said, pointing to the letters.

"And this is the most important one for you to know." Gregor looked at the six letters. He frowned. He looked at the glowing blue letters floating above the Intake Tray. He looked back at the parchment.

"G," Bart prompted gently.

"Guh," Gregor said, his brow furrowed.

"R." Gregor slowly followed the letters, sounding them out one by one until the pieces finally joined together.

"Gregor?" Bart smiled.

"That is your name." Gregor's eyes went wide. He picked up the parchment and held it close to his face. He traced the letters with his dirty finger. He was not looking at a squiggle anymore. He was looking at himself.

"Gregor," he whispered in awe. He grabbed the quill. Carefully, slowly, and with terrible handwriting, Gregor copied the six letters directly beneath Bart's perfect writing. G - R - E - G - O - R. The Almanac of Inevitable Doom flipped a page. The angry red ink shifted, settling into a shade of maroon. ACCEPTABLE. BUT YOU WILL STILL PERISH ONE DAY.

"I wrote my name, boss," Gregor grinned, completely ignoring the doom and gloom. His chest puffed out with pride.

"You did," Bart agreed.

"Soon, you will be able to read it anywhere." The blue System screen popped into the air above the desk, accompanied by a soft, pleasant chime. SYSTEM ALERT: STAFF TRAINING SUCCESSFUL. Acquisitions Training Progress: 1% New Skill: Name Recognition Alphabet Training Initiated. Bart smiled. He leaned back in his plastic chair and picked up his Beaumont Public Library mug. The tea was still terrible, but Bart hardly noticed.

He took a sip, watching Gregor happily practice writing his name all over the parchment while Albert cheerfully explained how the letter 'T' was shaped like a tombstone. It was, without a doubt, a very good day at the archive.