"Honestly, I don't think we can rule out solving the problem with a few more extreme, but more convenient, methods."
After two days of digging through the humus layer made of books, Kraft had proved that the Wood family's genes contained not a shred of talent for archaeology or history.
Come to think of it, that was only natural. Old Wood and Professor Anderson had spent most of their lives studying Anomalous Studies without collecting even a single relic touched by supernatural power. Actions spoke louder than words; that said it all.
It had nothing to do with memory or learning ability. A Medical School professor might be able to clamp the spasming stump of an artery as it retracted through a bloody mess, but that didn't mean he could find useful information in a pile of paper pulp fit for recycling.
Brother Raymond, Kup, and Yvonne were successively recruited into the massive undertaking, helping clear a corner of the sea of books.
Their contribution was limited. Every legible passage was badly damaged: some had beginnings but no endings, others endings but no beginnings, and some were missing half their text outright. The rest were in a frustrating state: you couldn't see the whole text without peeling them apart, but peeling them apart would ruin the page.
Fans of difficult jigsaw puzzles might have enjoyed it. Unfortunately, everyone here had some degree of trauma from solving mysteries.
The initial guess had been right: most of the books had come from the Monastery library. They covered a broad range of subjects, from the predominantly religious and scholarly works to practical handbooks on local hydrology, geography, and crop cultivation.
Kraft even found a book on herbal medicine. It wasn't a general textbook, but a guide to treating common and widespread illnesses with