The Mystery of Its Fall

People surged toward Gallo.

Gallo swiftly rose to his feet and raised his voice, still remaining calm. "Everyone!

Please maintain order!

For efficiency's sake, line up and come one at a time.

Book-finding services cost two Fenso, and content analysis costs one Copper Nil per book.

For complicated requests, we'll need to discuss the price specifically!"

Under his direction, the chaotic crowd quickly formed a line that was not especially neat, but reasonably orderly.

Such a bustling gathering also drew the attention of passersby walking past the cafe.

Even if they did not need Gallo's services, coming over to watch the excitement would not cost them much time.

But the most surprised person was the owner of Moonlight Cafe. She had never expected so many people to flood into her cafe so early in the morning.

With more people around, the cafe's business naturally picked up as well.

And all of it was connected to that young man who had been coming here for coffee over the past two days.

Stur helped maintain order from the side, his face filled with a proud smile.

Gallo sat at his "workstation" like an efficient information-processing hub.

When faced with obscure requests from History Department students, he only needed a brief moment of thought before naming several bookstores that carried relevant books.

When dealing with students who needed to write economics reports, he swiftly skimmed through the journals they had brought and pinpointed the key data and contradictions worth citing.

His words were concise, accurate, and straight to the point. Every customer left with an astonished yet satisfied expression.

Coins and a small amount of paper currency kept dropping into his pockets with pleasant clinks, and before long, they were bulging.

Gallo could feel the pockets of his clothes growing heavier at a visible rate.

During all this, he did not even have time to take a sip of the "free" hot coffee the cafe staff had brought him.

His brain ran at full speed, and the abilities of [Learning Lv3] and [Memory Lv2] were pushed to their limits. The catalogues of every bookstore shelf on Lubo Lane unfolded clearly in his mind, knowledge and information obeying his will like his own limbs.

The feeling of being needed, recognized, and quickly earning generous rewards through his own ability formed an indescribable thrill that washed away the exhaustion and anxiety that had built up inside him over the past few days.

He was not merely making money. He was also establishing his own irreplaceable authority and value on Lubo Lane and among the students of Imperial Industrial University.

Nearly two hours passed before the crowd in line gradually dispersed.

Gallo let out a long breath. He felt mentally tired, but his heart was full of satisfaction.

He estimated the contents of his two pockets. His earnings from just over an hour that morning—

were probably already far beyond what he had expected yesterday.

Stur leaned over and excitedly patted his shoulder. "What did I tell you?

You're about to become a famous figure on Lubo Lane! A huge celebrity!"

"I should thank you for bringing me so many customers today. I made quite a lot, so let me buy you coffee."

Gallo stood up and waved to the cafe attendant in the distance.

Stur smiled at him. "I'm heading back soon. I need to collect the wager money from those guys. Thanks to you, I made quite a bit too."

He politely declined Gallo's invitation. Since he still had classes that morning, he headed back directly.

"Whew..." Gallo exhaled deeply. With the rush finally over, he could at last take a proper rest.

Pressing both hands against the bulging pockets on either side of his clothes filled him with comfort and contentment.

He desperately wanted to take all the money out of his pockets, place it on the table, and count it, but he forcibly suppressed the urge since he was outside.

Using his memory to tally it up, he had earned a total of seventeen Copper Nil and two Fenso during that busy stretch.

That was four times yesterday's income.

And the day had only just begun. It was only around nine-thirty, nearly ten o'clock.

If he could earn more than twenty Copper Nil a day, then his monthly income would exceed six Nalang.

One month's earnings would be enough for his entire family to pay half a year's rent.

Gallo contentedly took a slow sip of the coffee on the table. The coffee in the cup had already gone cold.

But someone sat directly across from him. The man wore a brown sweater and had gold-rimmed glasses resting on his large nose.

"Hello, I'm Vanason Joel, a professor in the History Department at Imperial Industrial University."

The man extended a hand to Gallo. The broad back of it bore the dull age spots of an elderly man, along with raised folds of skin and veins beneath it.

"Gallo Channing."

Gallo set down his coffee cup and shook the man's hand.

"What can I help you with, Professor Vanason?"

The man before him was a university professor, but Gallo did not think he had actually sat down across from him because he needed something.

"I come here for coffee every morning. After I finish, I go to work and teach my students."

The man lowered his eyelids briefly, then looked at Gallo again. "But today, I was late by a whole hour.

If I go over there now, I'll only find an empty classroom. Perhaps another professor is already teaching there.

I just hope the principal's office does not receive too many complaint letters from my students."

Gallo continued looking at him, waiting for him to go on.

"Actually, I noticed you yesterday, but... I still had classes to teach then.

But today, you truly opened my eyes. Still... I would like to test you further, even though I already saw people receive help from you with my own eyes."

Professor Vanason handed him a thick book.

"This was the book I read while drinking coffee this morning to pass the time. It's the only book I have with me at the moment."

"You only want to test my abilities? But I charge for my services."

"Of course. Here, one Copper Nil." The professor took out a one-Copper Nil banknote.

Gallo did not pay much attention to the one-Copper Nil note the man placed on the table.

He took the thick hardcover book handed to him. Stamped in gold lettering on the cover were the words, The Thousand-Year Dynasty of Askia on the Southern Continent.

It was a history of a massive dynasty on the Southern Continent that had endured for a thousand years.

The names of the book's two authors were also printed in the lower left corner of the cover.

"Jeffrey Gito" and "Vanason Joel."

Gallo looked at him. This was a book co-written by Professor Vanason and another person.

So... the man had been passing the time over coffee in the morning by reading his own book.

Noticing Gallo's gaze, Vanason openly admitted it.

"Hahaha, I wrote it. I wrote it together with another colleague from the History Department.

This is the first volume in the Southern Continent's Thousand-Year Dynasties series.

The book is selling rather well at the moment, but even after publication, I often revisit its contents.

To avoid any oversights."

He continued explaining, "Sometimes, historians discover new historical materials.

And those materials may correct people's previous definitions of certain historical facts.

So, in order to fix flaws in earlier works, authors and publishers release revised editions."

Gallo nodded. So it was like applying a content patch to a book.

He said nothing more, lowered his head, and opened The Thousand-Year Dynasty of Askia on the Southern Continent.

The pages turned beneath his fingertips at a steady rhythm, making soft rustling sounds.

Unlike when he had dealt with the students' urgent requests earlier, he slowed down somewhat this time.

After all, the other man was in no rush, and Gallo wanted to relax his mind a little.

Professor Vanason quietly drank the fresh hot coffee the waitress had brought and watched Gallo.

He was curious what this young man would be able to see in the history he had personally written and repeatedly deliberated over.

About seven or eight minutes later, Gallo closed the book.

He shut his eyes, making a final organization of the flood of information in his mind regarding the book.

When he opened them again, his gaze was clear and focused.

"Professor Vanason." Gallo spoke in a steady voice. "This book systematically traces the thousand-year course of the Askia Dynasty, from its rise to its zenith and eventual decline.

The historical materials are detailed, and the structure is rigorous.

In particular, its descriptions of the first king unifying the tribes, establishing a code of laws, and strengthening the power structure during the dynasty's early years, as well as its portrayal of the cultural and artistic heights of the middle period, are excellent."

Professor Vanason nodded slightly. This was broad praise, but he truly admired Gallo's ability. The young man had genuinely finished reading the book in such a short time.

But Gallo abruptly changed direction. "However, the greatest mystery in this book—or rather, in the entire historical community's understanding of the Askia Dynasty—lies in its destruction.

The book lists the mainstream theories: internal strife caused by resource depletion, political corruption brought about by aristocratic infighting, and... a vaguely recorded 'Great Cataclysm.'"

"A natural disaster? Human calamity? Based on the historical materials compiled in your book, both were present, but neither can explain it perfectly.

If it had been resource depletion and internal conflict, the dynasty's collapse should have been a relatively prolonged process.

But according to scattered records from the border city-states, order in the core region of the Askia Dynasty completely disintegrated within a single year. That was far too fast."

"And the so-called 'Great Cataclysm'..."

Gallo frowned slightly. "The records are far too vague, and different sources contradict each other. Some say it was a drought that lasted for years, while others say it was a spreading plague.

Others mention 'celestial anomalies' and 'a curse from the gods,' explanations that are not scientific.

But none of these claims has a unified, conclusive chain of evidence."

He looked Professor Vanason directly in the eye. "What concerns me most is a detail mentioned in the book: for roughly one hundred years before and after the dynasty's fall,

almost no systematic, reliable official historical records or private writings have been discovered throughout that region of the Southern Continent.

It was not that records once existed and were later destroyed. Rather... it was as if they had never been written at all.

People seemed to have collectively fallen into a state of... impaired record-keeping, as though everyone had become illiterate and forgotten how to write.

Even today, seven hundred years later, the histories of the several small nations locked in constant conflict across that land are mostly fragments passed down orally, lacking any solid textual foundation."

Gallo concluded, "So I can see the regret you and Professor Jeffrey expressed in this book.

The Askia Dynasty began magnificently, and its middle period was splendid, but its ending was an inexplicable collapse.

A vast dynasty that stood for a thousand years did not even receive a dignified final curtain."

"...Excellent."

After nearly a minute of silence, Professor Vanason finally let out a long breath. The way he looked at Gallo had completely changed. He no longer saw him as an interesting oddity on the street.

He had already recognized him as a scholar, one worthy of being treated as an equal to a professor.

He pushed the one-Copper Nil banknote on the table toward Gallo, who accepted it naturally.

"The establishment of a massive dynastic regime is arduous, and its downfall is likewise shaped by many factors.

The fall of the Askia Dynasty was far too abnormal. It collapsed in less than a year, yet there was no clear beginning to the collapse.

Even if a tangled mass of thread has been kneaded together, one can always find an end and slowly unravel it.

Within the study of history, the Askia Dynasty is an exception."

He continued, "Every historian who studies the history of the Southern Continent considers uncovering the mystery of the Askia Dynasty's fall to be the greatest achievement of their life.

The other author of this book, Professor Jeffrey Gito, will soon return from the Southern Continent. I sincerely hope his archaeological excavation there will bring back some different discoveries this time."

Gallo looked at him. "I'm looking forward to it as well. And I wish you good luck."