Act 1: The mysterious stone tablet - Chapter 2

Kyusaku spent a long time reading his Master's notes and deciphering the text on the stone tablet, working late in the evening until his vision became blurry, at which point he took off his glasses to rub his eyes a bit, knowing he should stop soon.
All this time, Miyaji had faithfully stuck by his side, waiting in his room and doing his own thing, since the less action-filled part of research was less to his taste. Deciphering the ancient curse written on the wall of a forgotten mausoleum was a lot more exciting than doing it in the comfort of your bedroom, after all.

With a sigh, the elf put his glasses back on and stretched his arms before turning in his direction, only to find him sitting with his legs crossed on his bed, eating cookies.

"Don't eat on my bed," he warned him with a frown, "you'll leave crumbs everywhere."

The redhead got off his bed without a word to eat his cookies somewhere else.

"Have you figured out anything yet?"

"I'm not sure... My Master's notes are really hard to read."

"Oh, so that's where you got your handwriting from," he interrupted.

The elf turned to shoot him a glare before looking at his notes again. "From what I understand, it's about the death of a king."

"What a nice forest," Miyaji commented as they exited the carriage, contemplating the trees and shielding his eyes from the sun with a hand. "But it looks extremely ordinary. Never would have thought there'd be ruins from an almost completely unknown civilization in here."

"I guess that's why it was never found."

"But hey, you have some pretty crazy luck, don't you? That's another achievement you can add to an already way too long list. I can't think of any other Archivist who did as much as you, apart from your Master."

"Well, I have been here for a long time after all. My memory and lifespan give me an advantage, not to mention that I've been trained by the very best Archivist. Now, come on, we need to reach our destination before nightfall, or we won't have time to set up camp," Kyusaku pointed out, not waiting for him and making his way towards the trees.

"Yeah, yeah." The redhead rolled his eyes and followed after him. "How did they even figure out the tablet was from this area?"

"It's because of the stone. It's a volcanic stone that only forms around here due to the soil composition."

"Hmm, I see. So that big mountain over there is a volcano?" Miyaji asked, raising his head to admire the silhouette of the mountain in the distance, the mist surrounding it giving it a slightly blueish hue.

"It's been dead for a long time."

The two of them entered the forest with Kyusaku leading the way, map in hand. They took a carriage there as soon as he was able to figure out a location from his Master's notes and the writings on the tablet.
Technically, they should have gone with the Archivists that first made the discovery, but Kyusaku was too impatient, so he simply left them a letter with his findings and left right away with Miyaji.
In any case, finding the exact location of the ruins would take some time; as Miyaji said, this forest was completely ordinary, and nothing had ever been found there before, which meant the ruins had to be pretty well hidden or even protected with magic. Kyusaku hoped to get there first and figure out where the ruins were by the time the others joined them to make their work easier.

The elf let out a cry when his foot slipped and he lost his balance, almost plummeting straight to the bottom of a hidden cavity if it weren't for Miyaji's lightning fast reflexes, his partner holding his arm almost a bit too tight.

"Careful there, the ground is covered in moss."

Kyusaku nodded and it wasn't until his heart had calmed down a bit that Miyaji finally let go of his arm.

"I almost had a heart attack..."

"I heard that it's common for cavities like these to form in volcanic areas. But with the way it's covered in moss and leaves, they're hard to see and you can easily fall. We'll have to be more careful. What would you have done if I couldn't get to you in time, huh?" He scolded, hands on his hips.

"Hahahaha... I don't want to think about it."

Kyusaku decided to proceed with more care from now on, even if that meant they had to slow down quite a bit. For once, that allowed him to actually observe the nature around them. How long has it been since I last took the time to look at the trees...

To tell the truth, for a long time, he avoided looking at them, as it only brought back painful memories and tears. Despite this, being born in the forest, he couldn't help but miss the trees and yearn for them.

Now that decades had passed since his Master rescued him from the flames that engulfed the forest, he didn't feel as much pain when looking at them. In fact, the more he observed the trees – their vibrant foliage, the moss growing on them, the sound of the wind blowing through their leaves – and the more he relaxed and felt at home, and found himself smiling without noticing.

"What is it?" Miyaji's voice called from his side, sounding softer than usual. "You seem to be in a good mood."

"I was just... reminiscing. About my hometown."

"You never really told me about it."

"Well, I... don't remember that much, to be honest. I was six years old when it burned down and Master rescued me... My injuries were so severe that it took me an entire year to recover from them. Between the shock, and the decades that passed since then– I don't really remember what it was like."

If there was one thing he remembered clearly, it was the night of the fire. The screams, his parents' tears as they shoved him into a stranger's arms, and the smell of charred flesh. But he couldn't tell Miyaji about that.

"But you do have some memories, right?"

His ears twitched. Miyaji always talked so softly when he could tell he wasn't feeling well.

"I have a few... but they're hazy. I remember running barefoot in the dew-covered grass, the smell of the moss on the trees I climbed, and the way the sunlight warmed my skin. Oh, I remember a white-haired kid that I used to play with, too. We promised to marry each other when we grew older."

"What? You, marrying someone?"

The elf laughed, realizing now how ridiculous it sounded. "I didn't even know what it meant back then. We were just copying the adults. Well, he's dead anyway, so I guess I won't be marrying him..."

"... I'm sorry, I shouldn't have mentioned it."

Kyusaku shook his head. "He just returned to the forest a little earlier than me. I'm not sad, I can't even recall his name. But I remember the time I spent with my Master after that very well."

He remembered how they used to bring him potted plants to cheer him up, but it only made him cry even more. Despite this, he refused to get rid of them, and still took care of them properly. He remembered all the stories they would tell him to distract him, and how it inspired him to become an Archivist.
Now, neither them nor the potted plants were left. His desk was covered in research papers, the storage under his room full of his Master's notes, and every surface of his bedroom was often hidden by a pile of books, which regularly prompted Miyaji to compare it to a dragon's hoard.

His childhood felt so distant – and it was, since it was 90 years ago – that he suddenly found himself missing the forest. No, he just missed a simpler time.

"Miyaji, should I get some plants?"

"You're gonna need to choose between that and the books."

"Uh... Nevermind."

He definitely couldn't get rid of his books, but they already took up all the space he could have used for plants. But now that he had remembered, he couldn't help but miss being surrounded by nature. Forest elves were born from the forest, they lived their lives in symbiosis with the trees and flowers; and when they died, they returned to the forest. It was in his nature to long for it.

"Maybe if you move out and buy a house–"

"Suggestion rejected. Moving out would be inconvenient. It takes time, finding a good place isn't that easy, I would probably have to take several days off to buy all the things I would need, and I wouldn't be as close to the Archives, which means I wouldn't be able to work as much."

"Maybe that wouldn't be so bad for you. At least for your health."

"HEY! My health isn't that bad," the elf protested. "Anyway, it's not like I have money for a house."

"What?!" Surprised, Miyaji caught up with him to be able to see his face. "You've been working there for the entirety of a human's lifespan, surely you must have saved up a bit?"

The elf didn't dare look him in the eyes. "I may have spent it all on books and antiques."

"I'm not even surprised," the redhead replied with a sigh. "But why do you suddenly want to get plants? I don't remember you ever having any. Just books."

"I..." Kyusaku briefly looked at him before turning away again. "It's nothing." I miss my village... I miss the forest.

The pair managed to reach their destination before night fell, and decided to set up camp as the sun was already setting and the forest was becoming darker. Elves might have had pretty good hearing, but their sight was only slightly better than a human's.
For this reason, Kyusaku had opted to let Miyaji set up camp when it became too dark for him to see after an unfortunate accident in their ten years of partnership where he walked straight into a tree and the redhead was unable to stop laughing for a good five minutes.

He's clearly not human... Kyusaku thought as it seemed that his partner had no trouble seeing in the dark at all, watching him deftly set up their tent while he sat between the roots of a tree.

At first, he just thought he didn't know much about humans – but now, too much evidence had piled up.

For some obscure reason, Miyaji had always been vague when talking about himself, and never revealed much. Even what he knew about him, he couldn't be sure it wasn't all a lie. His name could be fake for all he knew, it wasn't like he would pry. If Miyaji needed to keep his identity a secret for whatever reason, it wasn't his problem. He'd talk about it if he wanted to.
Besides, Tsubari did a thorough background check on everyone wanting to work in the Archives, and he trusted him. If he let Miyaji work as his partner, then he would trust Miyaji too; though after ten years of working together, it did bother him a little that he never told him anything, as he couldn't help but wonder if Miyaji didn't trust him.

He could at least have picked a better lie. As far as I know, humans don't have animal-like hearing and built in night vision.

With a sigh, Kyusaku took out his notebook and reviewed everything he had written down for the third time, as if he would miraculously find something new there. To no surprise, he didn't receive any revelation while rereading them, and let out a frustrated sigh.
Even Master couldn't find out so much as the name of this unknown and ancient kingdom, so it's unlikely that I would discover its exact location in such little time...

The fact that this kingdom seemed quite small and had little to no contact with other known civilizations of the time led him to the conclusion that they lived hidden and secluded somewhere in this forest, perhaps concealed by magic.
Although Kyusaku was not very good at using spells, he had still studied them extensively and knew them well. Most spells of this kind would have stopped working after so long, so it didn't leave them with many options.

With another sigh, he found a rock to sit on, resting his head in his hands.

"That's the 28th time you've sighed today."

"Please stop counting," the elf replied, sighing again.

Rolling his eyes, his partner came closer, deciding it was time for a break, and sat down between the roots of a tree, but he quickly stood up again, eyes wide.

"Kyusaku, the rock you're sitting on has writing on it."

Surprised and not really believing he could have missed something like that, he stood up and crouched in front of the rock to see it indeed had old letters carved into it. Recognizing it as the language of the kingdom they were looking for, he immediately grabbed his notebook to translate it.

"Here lies the nation of..." Kyusaku read, but the name had been damaged over time and was unreadable. "Ugh, of course the name had to be the only part that got damaged!"

"Look closer," Miyaji pointed out, "it looks like it was done on purpose."

"...You might be right... 'Please let it be forgotten'," he finished. "They definitely didn't want to be found or remembered. But at least, the entrance shouldn't be far!"

Feeling motivated again, the elf surveyed their surroundings one more time, paying more attention to details, before taking a few steps back to better observe the scenery – when he slipped on the moss.

Before he knew it, he was scrambling to grab onto something – anything –, Miyaji above him yelling his name and their fingers just barely brushing against each other.