Magical (A Quest of Vacations, or Starsigns, or Something Else)

"It's not like the new librarian is any less strange," You point out. "I mean, I think he's a decently famous artist?"

"He's one of the best artists on all of Kovomaka." Raspberry sounds almost offended, as if she thinks you've underestimated the man's abilities on purpose. As if you know anything about the world of Beauty magic. "He graduated from this school centuries ago, but doesn't talk much about it. Nobody from that time really does."

Of course they don't. If they did, that wouldn't be a lost piece of history, would it?

Paprika nods along, though you aren't sure how much of this she really gets. "So he's come back to his old school in order to take up a profession which doesn't suit his talent?"

"...Well, he's actually published a couple lesser-known books of poetry, but he has always been better associated with more visual media. His sculptures are the best, but most of his work comes in the form of paintings." At this point, Raspberry sounds like she's swallowed an art encyclopedia. "Roses are a common motif, perhaps because that's how his magic expresses itself."

"We didn't exactly ask you for a whole biography," Caramel drily remarks. "You may as well throw in his family history while you're at it."

She shakes her head. "I can't. There's not much known about his family. Given recent events, it's safe to say his parents are wizards, but other than that..."

Paprika still just nods along. You aren't sure how much of what you've been saying is sticking with her, but you wouldn't be surprised if the answer is 'not a lot.' "I suppose that's something we could look up in the library later?"

Well, you're going to be there anyway...

---

Once you're all finished eating, you all go straight to the library. "I'm still not sure how everything's sorted..." You admit. "I mean, I know where certain things are, but not how they got there. And then there's the stickers..." You still aren't sure how the school can afford that many stickers for all the library books, you never see them anywhere else.

Caramel nods. "The sticker system does seem pretty pointless, doesn't it? All those tools to channel magic better... reduced to labels that take months to fully understand, to the point where it may as well be another language. I think there might be a sheet that explains it somewhere, though..."

"If there is, it's probably gotten lost by now," Raspberry sighs. "And I don't think you can get ancient or cultural language credit for mastering the library sorting system. I'm not even sure Will-O-Wisp teaches those subjects."

"I mean, they definitely don't teach the sorting system..."

You should probably just ignore them.


[ ] You'll find possible reactions in books about those magic types, right?
-[ ] Look for books about Water magic.
-[ ] Look for books about Beauty magic.
-[ ] Look for books about Beast magic.
-[ ] Look for books about Sound magic.

[ ] You are genuinely curious if there's a sheet that explains the sticker filing system hidden around here. It'll be like an adventure, but much lower stakes.

[ ] ...Or, you know, you could try and get those two back on track.

After giving it some thought, you decide to look for some sort of clue as to how the sticker filing system works. You could probably go up and ask if there's some sort of translation paper lying around, but... it'd probably be more fun to go look for yourself.

As you walk, you notice that some books have several more stickers than others. You pass one that has just a simple Poison Sticker, while another has stickers for Love, Light, and the Starsign of Day. You can't see any sort of pattern to this, but you suppose that's what you're meant to be looking for.

Your first step, of course, is to look around the main desk area. The librarian appears to be out at the moment, most likely not having finished his lunch break yet. That, or he's trying to sort through things, in which case there may not be a translation sheet to find. Miss Ketchup seemed to know the filing system pretty well, but then, she's worked here for centuries.

Compared to that, someone who probably hasn't been here since he was a student is much less likely to know where everything goes, unless he does a lot of things with sticker code. You'll have to ask Raspberry about that later.

There's a number of papers scattered around the area. Old newspapers, art magazines, the kind of stuff you'd see by the counter of the shop in Green Tea Village whenever you were taken there. At least one magazine for conspiracy theorists- the front page talks about the possibility of there being planets hidden inside the sun itself, and you know that can't actually be a thing.

There's also the obligatory article about Gran Degree still being alive somewhere, but just about every magazine has come with one of those at some point in time, and you're still not sure he ever existed, so that doesn't say as much as you'd think it would.

There's a nearby shelf for returning books that were checked out, a few books about mythical creatures, and, for some reason, a sketchbook and an assortment of drawing pencils.

There's also a large amount of paper with things written on them. You don't see any stickers, but there's a lot of piles of paper, and maybe it was all written out without stickers, anyway. You can't imagine this sort of thing would be simple to put together.


[ ] ...Okay, maybe you should ask a staff member about this. Make things go faster.

[ ] Search through the papers on the desk. Maybe you'll find something!

[ ] You're vaguely interested in the newspapers...

[ ] ...Why does he have a conspiracy theorist magazine?

...You have no idea where to even start with this. If you try sorting through it, you'll just be distracted by magazine articles about brush size and whether or not Will-o-Wisp Academy was originally created solely to churn out soldiers in a war against powerful monsters. Which would probably be good for the entertainment value, if not the information.

Still, you think you might need an adult for this. Or at least someone who has some sort of idea what's going on. And you can't find that just sticking around here.

You guess this means you'll be seeking out the librarian.

---

Despite being, apparently, a famous artist, the man is surprisingly easy to approach. "The sorting system?" He pauses to think about it. "I know it's typed up somewhere, so if there's nothing there already, I can just print out more copies. Or ask Ketchup to do it..." You aren't entirely sure why he'd be asking her in particular, but you suppose it would be helpful to have someone around who has experience with how the computer system works. "Come along, it shouldn't take more than a moment."

That... was surprisingly easy. Particularly when there are so many mysteries surrounding this man.

You wonder if there are any he'd be willing to answer.


[ ] So, why is he working here, anyway?

[ ] Why ask Miss Ketchup?

[ ] ...Never mind.