Chương 44: The Name on the Book

Bart adjusted his glasses.

"Aldous Veridian is a publication identity." Gregor broke it.

"So he wasn't real?"

"That isn't what the record says," Bart replied, his eyes scanning the faded ink. Elian pointed a finger at the blank author field on the heavy parchment.

"It seems fairly committed to the idea."

"It says Aldous Veridian was a publication identity," Bart clarified.

"We still don't know what that identity represented." Hester Crowl finally recovered her voice. Her broad shoulders squared defensively.

"This is ridiculous. We have centuries of Veridian scholarship, he is the foundational pillar of Pomology."

"No," Bart said, not looking up from the ledger.

"You have centuries of scholarship attributed to Veridian." Conrad let out a low, rumbling scoff.

"That is mere semantics." Bart looked at him.

"In an attribution dispute, semantics are unfortunately most of the job." He placed his hand flat against the ledger's green glass indexing plate again.

"Contributor record. Aldous Veridian," Bart said. The glass flared a soft green. ROOTED QUILL ATTRIBUTION DEPOSIT LOCATED Publication identity: ALDOUS VERIDIAN Contributor record: SEPARATE DEPOSIT Access classification: RESTRICTED PROVENANCE Current review authority: VALID Independent documentary review recognized: Reviewer: BART SANDERS Interested departments: 3/3 CONSENTING A faint click echoed from the back wall of the indexing desk.

The sound drew their attention to a narrow blackwood cabinet standing slightly apart from the endless rows of wooden deposit boxes. A tarnished brass plaque was bolted to its face. ORDER OF THE ROOTED QUILL SEPARATE ATTRIBUTION DEPOSITS PUBLIC NAMES ARE NOT PROVENANCE Bart visibly approved of the sentiment.

"You like these people far too much," Gregor muttered.

"They label their cabinets," Bart pointed out. He walked over and pulled the heavy brass handle. The drawer slid open smoothly, revealing hundreds of thin, sealed archival packets. Bart's fingers moved swiftly through the alphabetical dividers. He stopped near the back, pulling out a slim parchment packet bound with faded green twine. VERIDIAN, ALDOUS It was strikingly thin. Gregor looked from the slender packet to the enormous departmental biographies they had been shown in the quadrangle.

"They wrote more about him than he did," Gregor noted. Bart considered that.

"Apparently considerably more." He carried the packet back to the stone desk and carefully untied the twine. He opened the outer registration sheet. COLLECTIVE ATTRIBUTION REGISTRATION Public publication identity: ALDOUS VERIDIAN Underlying contributor count: 7 Verified contributor identities: 7 Publicly disclosed contributor identities: 0 Gregor leaned closer. He slowly tried to read the number.

"Seven." Gregor glanced toward the Rooted Quill emblem stamped in the corner of the desk.

"I'm not saying anything," Gregor said.

"Thank you," Bart replied.

"But I'm thinking it very loudly." Hester frowned, leaning over the table.

"Seven research assistants?"

"Or students," Conrad suggested, waving a massive hand dismissively.

"It was common practice for early scholars to use…."

"It says contributors," Bart interrupted. He unfolded the packet, revealing seven individual slips of heavy parchment. Their names and identifying details were currently sealed beneath narrow strips of blank spell paper, but their contribution classifications were clearly visible. If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. Bart laid them out across the stone desk.

Contributor A: Pomological Studies Contributor B: Fermentation Sciences Contributor C: Bryology Contributor D: Mycology Contributor E: Soil Alchemy Contributor F: Medicinal Cultivation Contributor G: Agricultural Thaumaturgy Elian looked at the seven slips, then at Bart.

"Seven people. Seven subjects."

"And one Aldous."

"Apparently," Bart said. Hester immediately reached for the first slip.

"Then the Pomological contributor must have been Veridian. The others were simply his…." Conrad slammed a heavy hand on the table.

"That is absurd! The Soil Alchemist clearly…"

"You are doing it again," Bart said sharply. Silence fell over the desk on Bart's retort.

"Doing what?" Hester asked stiffly. Bart looked across the seven records.

"Trying to turn seven contributors into one person." Gregor pointed at the Rooted Quill emblem.

"So the seven roots are these seven people?" Bart ran his finger down the small brass terminology key fixed beside the indexing plate. ATTRIBUTION ROOT A distinct, independently verifiable contribution from which a published work derives.

"No," Bart said.

"The emblem predates this deposit. The Order calls an independently traceable contribution an attribution root."

"So this book actually has seven roots," Gregor summarized slowly.

"Yes."

"That's still suspiciously convenient." Bart looked at the seven rooted emblem.

"I agree." He picked up the original registration request form beneath the seven slips. PUBLICATION IDENTITY APPLICATION Requested identity: ALDOUS VERIDIAN Applicant count: 7 Public contributor disclosure: WITHHELD BY REQUEST Separate provenance deposit: ACCEPTED Publication identity registration: APPROVED IDENTITY COLLISION REVIEW Existing scholar named Aldous Veridian: NONE FOUND Biographical identity submitted: NO Individual personhood claimed: NO Bart stared at the last lines.

"Looks like they checked whether the made up person was already real""What would they have done if he was?" said Gregor Bart considered the question.

"Presumably asked them to make up somebody else." Elian's expression changed.

"Then the Rooted Quill knew. From the beginning, they knew Aldous Veridian wasn't an actual scholar." Bart shook his head.

"They knew seven contributors had registered a name under which their work could be published. They made no claim that the name belonged to a person." Gregor frowned.

"Seven people pretending to be one person."

"Seven people publishing under one name."

"Boss, you are becoming very generous here, what's the difference?"

"Precision matters," Bart said. Elian stepped forward, his brow furrowed in confusion.

"If this was officially registered, why does nobody know? How could the entire academic history of Greenhollow lose track of seven people?"

"Because the Rooted Quill maintained two records," Bart explained, gesturing to the thin packet and then toward the empty space where the heavy biographies usually sat.

"A public record for the publication, and a sealed provenance record for the contributors."

"They lied to the university," Conrad said grimly.

"The Rooted Quill didn't claim Aldous Veridian was one man," Bart said. He held up the registration form.

"Your departments did." Gregor looked between the three professors.

"What did he look like?" Gregor asked. Hester answered immediately.

"Tall. Silver haired. Clean shaven." Conrad shook his head.

"Every proper rendering of Veridian in the Soil Alchemy faculty depicts him bald." Maud frowned.

"Our statue has hair." Hester turned to her.

"You have a statue?"

"You don't?" Gregor looked at Bart.

"Three horses?" Bart closed his eyes briefly.

"No." He pulled one of the secondary tracking logs from the desk. He compared it against the original Rooted Quill record.

"Here," Bart said, pointing to an early entry.

"Year 412. The orchard trials. Submitted under the publication identity Aldous Veridian." He looked at Hester.

"And 200 years later, your Pomology biography stated that Veridian personally conducted his famous Ravespire orchard trials." He turned the page.

"The Rimewater fungal survey. The contribution was registered under Aldous Veridian." He looked at Maud.

"And later Bryology texts claimed Veridian traveled to Rimewater."

"There," Bart said, tapping the original log.

"What?" Maud asked.

"The original records never said Veridian traveled anywhere," Bart said quietly. Gregor's face lit up with understanding.

"So the horses are innocent?"

"Completely, but that's not the point" Bart confirmed. Bart reached the final page of the registration packet. One separately sealed form remained. PUBLICATION IDENTITY - JUSTIFICATION PETITION Submitted by: 7 contributors Reason for identity consolidation: RESTRICTED Rooted Quill determination: EXCEPTION APPROVED Bart placed the petition against the indexing plate. The green glass flashed. CURRENT ATTRIBUTION DISPUTE PROVIDES DISCLOSURE BASIS PETITION ACCESS: AUTHORISED Hester leaned forward.

"Open it."

"Immediately," Conrad agreed.

"For once, we all agree," Maud said, very eager to know the truth. Gregor looked at Elian.

"Should we be worried when that happens?" Bart broke the brittle wax seal. REQUEST FOR PROTECTIVE PUBLICATION IDENTITY Reason: DISCLOSURE OF INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTORS EXPECTED TO MATERIALLY PREJUDICE REVIEW AND CERTIFICATION. Elian frowned.

"Why?" Bart turned the page. Seven individually sealed contributor declarations were attached behind it. He peeled back the spell paper covering Contributor A. Bart read the name and then the occupation twice. Hester leaned closer.

"Well?" Bart looked at her.

"Your Pomological contributor wasn't a professor." Hester's expression hardened.

"Then what were they?" Bart turned the declaration around. OCCUPATION: ORCHARD KEEPER Nobody could speak for a moment again.