The bloodbound Archivist
Chapter 2: "Alice"
“I still haven’t gotten an answer,” she said, her voice carrying the weight of curiosity — and something darker beneath it.
“So I shall ask once more.
Would you be the one who awakened me?”
My throat went dry.
Like a desert.
“W-Well yeah, but just so you know I totally didn’t mean to do that… and who would you be?”
She giggled.
“You may call me Alice.”
Alice, huh.
That couldn’t be her real name.
“You know it’s rude not to introduce yourself,” she added.
“Oh—right. My name is Lucien… Lucien Voggard.”
“Lucien, hm?” She tilted her head. “Then I shall call you Ciel. My summoner.”
“Ciel? That’s not even close to my name.” I frowned at her.
She didn’t care.
Summoner?
There was just no way.
The mana pressure coming off her was on another level — like trying to power a magic cannon with a candle flame.
“You keep calling me that, but… I don’t think I have enough mana to handle a familiar of your level, haha…”
“Is that so?” she replied, smiling in a way that made my skin crawl.
“Even so, I was brought into this world by your blood.
And now — your blood runs through my veins.”
Wait.
“…Hold on. Are you saying you absorbed my blood to create your body?”
She laughed again, light and eerie.
“Ahaha! You’re sharp. Good, good. Yes — that’s exactly what happened. Though even I do not fully understand how such a thing came to be.”
Great.
So now I had a blood-powered weird girl bound to me through a biological magic ritual I didn’t even know I performed.
…Okay, that sounded cool.
I was still more worried than excited.
“Now, if I may ask you, Ciel… where exactly are we?”
She brushed imaginary dust from her frilled skirt.
“I fell here,” I replied.
“I see… but that does not answer my question. And besides — how do we leave? This atmosphere is positively barbaric. The smell down here isn’t fit for a lady.”
“That’s… kind of the problem.”
“Oh? And what problem would that be?”
“I don’t know how to get back up.”
She tilted her head.
Then smirked.
“Oh. Is that all?”
Before I could say wait—
she grabbed my arm.
Suddenly—
we were back above ground.
My feet weren’t even touching the floor.
She had dragged me all the way up.
With no effort.
Just how strong is this girl?
“What the—?! What did you just do?!”
“Simple.” She brushed her hair aside proudly.
“I floated all the way up here.
So — what do you think of my abilities, Ciel?”
She stopped.
“…Ciel?”
Her voice sounded distant.
“Are you okay?”
“Y-Yeah, I’m good—”
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My knees gave out.
The world spun.
And everything went black.
I had passed out.
At least — I think I had.
Everything felt numb.
I woke up the next morning with sunlight on my face and a dry taste in my mouth.
Mana exhaustion.
From a single spell.
Well… it’s not like I expected her to do that.
I pressed a hand against my forehead, trying to piece things together.
In fact — I couldn’t even tell if any of it had been real.
It was too weird.
“A dream, huh?”
Figures.
Getting forcibly bonded with a familiar?
That would be ridiculous.
Not that it hasn’t happened in the past…
…but never from a box.
“…She named herself Alice. Like the hero?”
A high-pitched voice echoed in my head, sing-song and smug.
“Oh? So you’re awake~”
I froze.
That startled me.
Am I hearing voices now?
“I knew not getting enough sleep would drive me crazy someday…”
“Crazy? What are you mumbling about?”
My eyes widened.
“What? This voice— how?! So you are real!
Wait — what are you doing in my head?!”
“It seems your concerns about your mana were accurate. You passed out, and I had to drag you to bed.”
“So that’s what happened…”
I sighed.
“I told you. I’m not cut out to be a master. Or a real summoner. This title—”
“Right. Well, regardless, I’m stuck with you now — even if I hate it, Master.”
Her tone dripped with sarcasm.
“And from what I noticed, I cannot maintain a physical form if you remain unconscious for too long.”
“You can’t break the contract yourself? There has to be a way. What about severing the pact by mutual rejection? I read about it once.”
“No. Our case is very unique. And if I somehow managed it, I would lose this body — or rather, I would lose my mana supply and eventually disappear.
Even your almost-nothing is better than that.”
“…So we’re stuck with each other.”
Even without seeing her, I could feel her staring at me.
“I suppose so.”
———
he rest of the day went… as normal as things could after something like that.
Curiosity didn’t pay for bread.
And books wouldn’t shelve themselves.
Even so, I still wanted to learn more about “Alice” — or rather, her situation.
While I was digging through some of the older records, Harold walked in.
“Big bro Lucien, what are you reading?”
“…”
“Big bro Lucien?”
That startled me.
“Huh? — Oh, it’s you. How are you doing, Maron?”
He stared at me.
“Your memory can’t be that bad…”
“Haha… anyway, what brings you here?”
“Just need a gardening book.”
“Gardening? Didn’t know you were into that kind of stuff.”
“Well, I’m not. But for some reason there have been low-level monsters in the forest recently, so my mom doesn’t want to go there.”
Low-level monsters?
That was unusual.
This area was probably the most peaceful in the entire country. The village hadn’t had any monster problems in years.
Something had to be going on.
After getting the book he needed, Harold left.
Later that afternoon, I heard a commotion outside the library.
Considering the books hadn’t helped me learn anything useful about Alice, curiosity won again.
I stepped outside.
A group of villagers had gathered near the entrance of the village.
“What’s going on?” I muttered.
“Big bro Lucien!” one of the kids from yesterday shouted.
“Hey, kiddo. What’s all that?”
“A group of adventurers showed up!”
“Finally!” the kid’s grandpa said. “Maybe now we’ll get some peace.”
Apparently, because of the monster activity in the forest, a bounty had been issued to clear them out.
Paid well, too.
…Not interested.
Okay.
I was interested.
But it’s not like I could do anything. Besides, I had my own problems to deal with.
I studied them from a distance.
Four members.
A fighter.
An archer.
A mage.
And—
Not a swordsman.
A samurai.
That had to be their leader.
Not above B-rank… probably.
Still strong.
Way stronger than me.
“Either way, I don’t really care about them,” I told myself as I went back inside.
“Ciel?”
Alice’s voice echoed calmly in my mind.
“Y-Yeah?”
“You’re quite smart, aren’t you?”
“Where’s that coming from?”
“While you were unconscious, I took the liberty of exploring your library. Some of your research was quite impressive.”
I paused.
“Those… aren’t mine. They belonged to someone far more brilliant than me.”
“Oh? And who would that be?”
“Uriel Voggard.”
“Uriel Voggard,” she repeated thoughtfully. “A relative, I assume?”
“My grandfather. He died a while back.”
“Well, humans do have such short lifespans.”
She chuckled.
“Right… but that’s not how he died. He was an adventurer. Apparently he was cornered by a group of monsters.”
I leaned back in my chair.
“If becoming an adventurer means dying like that, I’ll pass.”
“So you plan on living your whole life in this village?” she scoffed.
“How boring.”
She didn’t stop there.
“It already sucks that I’m stuck with you, but you don’t even do anything all day. Do you know how annoying that is? You’re driving me crazy here, Master~”
“Look, I’m not your master, alright? And even if I did become an adventurer, with my mana I’d just be walking to my death!”
Silence.
Too much silence.
“Alice?”
No response.
…Great.
Maybe I said too much.
It was getting late anyway.
I climbed into bed, my thoughts drifting back to my grandfather.
“Come on, kid. You can do better than that. I believe in you.”
I sighed.
“You’d be disappointed if you saw me now, old man…”
Sleep claimed me soon after.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.
I woke up in the middle of the night.
“…Who the hell comes to a library this late?”
I rushed downstairs and yanked the door open.
“We’re closed, you know—”
A group of people stood there.
Front and center was a tall, slim but toned guy with a katana. Strange runic tattoos coiled around his arms — strength-enhancing magic.
Long hair.
Sharp smile.
Fierce eyes.
And loud.
Very loud.
“HAHA! THANK YOU FOR OPENING THE DOOR, DEAR STRANGER!”
“Can you not shout? Everyone will be mad at me later.”
He froze.
Then bowed.
“S-Sorry!”
A short girl in dark robes stepped forward. Masked. Quiet. The mage from earlier.
Threatening, in a ghost-like way.
“I apologize for our idiot leader. We’re the Red Claw — a group of adventurers staying in this village. I’m Alya, a mage.”
The tall beastwoman cracked her knuckles.
“Calli. Fighter.”
The elf gave a short nod.
“Fabil.”
The samurai stepped forward again like he owned the night.
“I’M CLAW! A SAMURAI!”
Hah.
I knew it.
“You must be the group sent to deal with the forest monsters.”
“Indeed,” Alya said.
Calli leaned forward. “So, shortie — mind if we stay here for a while? That forest was rougher than we thought.”
“Su—wait. Here? In the library?”
Fabil shrugged. “It’s the biggest building around. And the villagers said we’re too loud.”
“This is no laughing matter,” I muttered. “I don’t have beds for everyone.”
“No problem,” Alya replied. “We have tents.”
Why would I let strangers stay in my library?
Adventurers, of all people.
Then a voice whispered in my mind.
This could be a good chance to learn from real adventurers, Master.
I looked at them.
“Uh… just a second.”
I stepped back inside.
“Ugh… are you serious? These guys are—”
“Weird? That’s quite something coming from you.”
“Oh shut it—”
I realized too late I’d said that out loud.
“If you don’t have enough space, we can find somewhere else,” Alya said from the doorway.
I tried to suppress the grin creeping onto my face.
I tried.
And failed.
“I mean… if you say so…”
“CIEL!”
Alice’s voice rang in my head.
Fine.
Having them here couldn’t be that bad.
“Just kidding — o-of course you can.”
And just like that, they started setting up tents all over the library.
I couldn’t say it didn’t make me uneasy.
I hadn’t talked to strangers in a long time.
