Forbidden Book

Elato Harken felt as though he was about to have a heart attack—or perhaps he already was. He had to clutch his chest as he slowly collapsed to the floor. The things before his eyes gradually blurred, while a sharp ringing filled his ears, like the incessant buzz of an electric current.

It was several minutes before the terrible symptoms barely subsided. He reached up and grabbed the side of a nearby bookcase, laboriously hauling himself upright and sending countless motes of dust drifting through the air. They stood out starkly in the hazy light of the overhead lamp.

Old Harken unconsciously adjusted his glasses and looked around.

It had probably been over thirty years since he had last come down here. Ever since his wife, son, and daughter had all died, he had sealed this place away—along with all their belongings.

People had different ways of dealing with death and departure. Some stubbornly left the dead person's things exactly where they were, refusing to let anything be moved. But Old Harken would rather let those things filled with warmth and beauty mold and rot in the basement than see them even once more.

But today was different.

Today, he had no choice but to come down here. He had even prepared for it the day before. He had gone to Ms. Tracy's Tailor Shop, four streets away, and bought a new set of clothes suited to his current figure.

A black coat, a white shirt, brown trousers—he had worn something similar when he got married. Unfortunately, he had grown far too fat to fit into his old clothes. Thankfully, his leather shoes from back then still fit well enough, aside from being a little loose.

The new clothes had cost him forty Imperium coins. It was no small sum,