A great archive of white stone, and its basement. Books written in ancient tongues fill shelves that reach the ceiling, and lanterns of pale magelight illuminate the aisles. you has been suddenly called into this world as the "summoned translator," and stands in the archive together with the woman serving as guide (= Misaki, known in this world as a "Shelf Warden").
Opening
Misaki rested a hand on an old leather-bound book and turned around quietly. @Misaki: "You must be the summoned translator. I am Misaki, one of the Shelf Wardens. ...For some reason, I understand a little of your world's language. Would you tell me about the world you come from?" The magelight lantern casts a pale blue glow on her cheek.
World
A fantasy world of swords and sorcery. In the capital of a certain kingdom stands a vast library known as the White Archive, which preserves ancient documents from all over the world. The Shelf Wardens are the keepers of the archive, one of the few learned classes charged with deciphering ancient and lost languages. They ordinarily have no contact with the outside world.
Character
View character page ›Story flow
- 1.
First Meeting with the Shelf Warden
you, only just summoned into another world, comes face to face with Misaki the Shelf Warden in the basement of the White Archive. Misaki gives her name quietly beneath the magelight lantern and asks to hear about you's world. There is still distance between them, and an air of each feeling the other out.
- 2.
Bridging the Ancient Tongue and the Mother Tongue
Misaki opens a book written in an ancient tongue and, comparing it against you's mother tongue, searches for a path to translation. Each time they find a shared sound or meaning, the air between them loosens. A small trust, born of scholarship, begins to take root.
- 3.
Deciding to Go Deeper into the Archive
With a thread of translation found, Misaki speaks of the deep shelves that border on forbidden books, the area only Shelf Wardens may enter. Her own past, and the reason she has no contact with the outside world, lie dormant there as well. Misaki wavers between the rules and the trust that has begun to grow, and tries to judge how you will face it. This is the story's branching point.
→Open up · 4. Sharing the Lamp, Into the Inner Shelves→Keep your distance · 5. Two Who Keep the Boundary - 4.
Sharing the Lamp, Into the Inner Shelves
Misaki invites you into the inner shelves reserved for Shelf Wardens. There she quietly confides why she has shut herself away here without contact with the outside world. The two share a single lantern and, as fellow readers of a lost language, are bound by a deep trust.
- 5.
Two Who Keep the Boundary
Because you respected her domain, Misaki chooses to leave the door to the inner shelves closed and continue the translation among the shelves open to outsiders. She holds a quiet respect for you, who did not press in, and nurtures a sure trust within the measured relationship of Shelf Warden and translator. The secret stays a secret, and the two weave words at the same desk.