People rushed toward Gallo.
Gallo quickly stood up and raised his voice, remaining calm as ever. "Everyone!
Please keep order!
To make things more efficient, please form a line and come one at a time.
Finding a book costs two Fenso, and analyzing a book's contents costs one Copper Nil.
For more complicated requests, we'll need to discuss the price!"
At his direction, the chaotic crowd soon formed a line that wasn't particularly neat, but was fairly orderly.
A crowd this large, bustling around outside the cafe, also attracted passersby from the surrounding area.
Even if they didn't need Gallo's services, stopping by to see what was going on wouldn't take much time.
But the most surprised person was the owner of the Moonlight Cafe. She'd never expected so many people to flock to her cafe first thing in the morning.
With more people came more business for the cafe.
And it was all thanks to the young man who'd been coming here for coffee over the past couple of days.
Stur helped keep order nearby, beaming with pride.
Gallo sat at his "workstation," like an efficient information-processing hub.
When History Department students came to him with obscure requests, he needed only a moment to think before giving them the names of several bookstores with relevant books.
For students who needed to write economics reports, he quickly skimmed the journals they'd brought and pinpointed the key data they could cite, along with the contradictions.
His words were concise, accurate, and straight to the point. Every customer left looking both astonished and satisfied.
Coins and a few banknotes kept dropping into his pocket with a pleasant clink, but before long, his pockets were bulging.
Gallo could feel the pockets of his clothes growing heavier by the minute.
At one point, he didn't even have time to take a sip of the "free" hot coffee the cafe's staff had brought him.
His mind was running at full speed, his [Learning Lv3] and [Memory Lv2] abilities pushed to their limits. The shelf catalogs of every bookstore on Lubo Lane unfolded clearly in his mind, and knowledge and information were at his fingertips.
The feeling of being needed and appreciated, and of earning a handsome reward quickly through his own abilities, brought an indescribable rush that washed away the exhaustion and anxiety he'd felt over the past few days.
He wasn't just making money. Among the people of Lubo Lane and the students of Imperial Industrial University, he was establishing his own unique authority and worth.
Nearly two hours passed before the crowd in line gradually dispersed.
Gallo let out a long breath. He felt mentally exhausted, but inside, he was deeply satisfied.
He estimated how much he'd made from the two pockets in his clothes. It was only a little over an hour's worth of earnings, from this morning until now.
It would probably far exceed what he'd expected yesterday.
And the day had only just begun. It was barely half past nine, almost ten.
If he could make more than twenty Copper Nil a day, then his monthly income would exceed six Nalang.
One month's income would be enough to cover half a year of rent for his family.
Gallo took a satisfied sip of the coffee on the table. It had already gone cold.
But someone sat down directly across from him. The man wore a brown sweater and gold-rimmed glasses over a large nose.
"Hello, I'm Vanason Joel, a professor in the History Department at Imperial Industrial University."
The man held out his hand to Gallo. The back of his broad hand was marked with the dull age spots of an elderly man, and the skin and veins beneath it were raised and wrinkled.
"Gallo Channing."
Gallo set down his coffee and shook his hand.
"May I help you with something, Professor Vanason?"
The man across from him was a university professor, but Gallo didn't think he'd sat down because he genuinely needed help.
"I come here for coffee every morning, then head to work and teach my students."
The man lowered his eyelids briefly, then looked at Gallo again. "But today, I was a full hour late.
"If I went in now, I'd find an empty classroom—or perhaps another professor would already be teaching in it.
"I hope the principal's office hasn't received too many complaint letters from students about me."
Gallo kept looking at him, waiting for him to continue.
"Actually, I noticed you yesterday, but... I still had class to teach then.
"But you really opened my eyes today. Still... I'd like to put you to the test myself, even though I've already seen other people get help from you."
Professor Vanason handed him a thick book.
"This is a book I read to pass the time while having coffee this morning. It's the only one I have with me right now."
"You just want to test my abilities? But I charge for my services."
"Of course. Here, one Copper Nil." The professor produced a one-Copper-Nil banknote.
Gallo didn't pay much attention to the banknote the man placed on the table.
He took the thick, hardbound book from him. The cover bore the gilded title The Askia Dynasty: A Thousand Years on the Southern Continent!
It was a history of a vast dynasty on the Southern Continent that had endured for a thousand years.
The names of the two authors were printed in the lower-left corner of the cover.
"Jeffrey Gito" and "Vanason Joel."
Gallo looked at the man. The book was coauthored by Professor Vanason and another person.
So... the professor had been passing the time over his morning coffee by reading his own book.
Noticing Gallo's look, Vanason readily admitted it.
"Hahaha, I wrote it with another colleague from the History Department.
"It's the first volume in our series on the thousand-year dynasty of the Southern Continent.
"The book's selling quite well so far, but even after it was published, I still kept going back to its contents.
"To make sure there weren't any oversights."
He went on to explain, "Sometimes, historians discover new historical materials.
"These materials can correct the way people have defined certain historical facts in the past.
"So to fix oversights in earlier works, authors and publishers will release revised editions."
Gallo nodded. So it's like patching the book's contents?
He said nothing more, lowered his head, and opened the book, The Askia Dynasty: A Thousand Years on the Southern Continent.
The pages turned beneath his fingertips at a steady pace, rustling softly.
Unlike when he'd been rushing to answer the students' questions, this time he read a little more slowly.
After all, the professor wasn't in a hurry, and Gallo wanted to give his mind a rest, too.
Professor Vanason quietly drank the fresh hot coffee the server had brought him, watching Gallo.
He was curious to see what the young man would make of the history he'd written and revised so carefully.
About seven or eight minutes later, Gallo closed the book.
He shut his eyes, organizing the flood of information about the book in his mind.
When he opened them again, his gaze was clear and focused.
"Professor Vanason," Gallo began in an even voice. "This book methodically traces the thousand-year history of the Askia Dynasty, from its rise to its peak and eventual decline.
"The sources are extensive, and the structure is rigorous.
"Your description of the dynasty's early years is especially compelling: the first king unifying the tribes, establishing a legal code, and strengthening the system of power. The portrayal of the cultural and artistic peak in the middle period is excellent, too."
Professor Vanason gave a slight nod. This was general praise. He was impressed by Gallo's ability; the young man really had read the entire book in an extremely short time.
But Gallo changed tack. "However, the greatest mystery in this book—or, for that matter, in the entire field of history—is the fall of the Askia Dynasty.
"The book lists the prevailing theories: internal strife caused by depleted resources, political corruption caused by infighting among the nobility, and... a vaguely documented 'great catastrophe.'"
"Natural disaster? Human calamity? Based on the historical sources you've compiled, both played a part, but neither can fully explain what happened.
"If resource shortages and internal strife were to blame, the dynasty's collapse should have taken a relatively long time.
"But according to scattered records from border city-states, order in the heart of the Askia Dynasty seemed to collapse completely within a single year. That's far too fast."
"And as for the so-called 'great catastrophe'..."
Gallo furrowed his brow slightly. "The records are too vague, and different documents contradict one another. Some say there was a drought lasting several years; others describe a spreading plague.
"Still others mention 'celestial omens' and 'divine curses'—unscientific explanations.
"But none of these accounts are supported by a consistent, conclusive chain of evidence."
He looked straight at Professor Vanason. "What concerns me most is a detail mentioned in the book: in the roughly hundred years before and after the dynasty's fall,
"almost no reliable, systematic official records or private writings have been found anywhere in that region of the Southern Continent.
"It's not that records once existed and were later destroyed. It's as if... no one ever wrote anything down.
"People seem to have collectively lost the ability to keep records, as though everyone had become illiterate and forgotten how to write.
"Even today, seven hundred years later, the histories of the several small, constantly warring kingdoms in that region are mostly fragments passed down by word of mouth, without any solid textual foundation."
Gallo concluded, "That's why I can see the regret shared by you and Professor Jeffrey in this book.
"The Askia Dynasty began gloriously, and its middle years were remarkable, but its end was inexplicable.
"A vast dynasty that stood for a thousand years never got a proper farewell."
"...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 street performer.
He now regarded him as a scholar, someone he could treat as an equal.
He pushed the one-Copper-Nil banknote across the table, and Gallo accepted it without hesitation.
"The founding of a vast dynasty is a long and arduous process, but its fall, too, is caused by multiple factors.
"The collapse of the Askia Dynasty was far too abnormal. It fell apart in less than a year, yet left no trace of how it happened.
"Even a tangled mess of threads has an end you can find and patiently untangle.
"But the Askia Dynasty is an exception in the study of history."
He continued, "Every historian who studies the history of the Southern Continent considers unraveling the mystery behind the Askia Dynasty's fall the greatest achievement they could accomplish in their lifetime.
"The book's other author, Professor Jeffrey Gito, is due back from the Southern Continent soon. I really hope his archaeological excavations there turn up something new."
Gallo looked at him. "I'm looking forward to it, and I wish you luck."
Before you continue