Roselle immediately frowned, his train of thought interrupted.
He hesitated for a few seconds, crouched down to right the bookshelf, then picked up the scattered books and put them back one by one: Principles of Mechanics, Improvement of the Steam Engine, Conjectures on Human Machinery, Antigonus Family Notebook, Practical Manual of Machinery... These books all had one thing in common: their author was Roselle.
Huh?
He froze. "Was there something strange mixed in with those books just now?"
Roselle took out a book he had just shoved onto the shelf. Its cover was made entirely of deep-black cardboard, and it exuded an ancient, distant air, without the slightest sign of softening or decay.
There was no writing on the cover, but the words "Antigonus Family Notebook" were written in Hermes on its belly band, as though someone had added it later.
"???"
For a moment, Roselle was bewildered. Is this... really the notebook Zaratul asked me to steal?
But why is it here, casually shelved with ordinary books? As a Sequence 1 Sealed Artifact, shouldn't it be carefully stored underground in the Church's dedicated storage area for Sealed Artifacts?
"Hello, is something wrong?"
Just then, a curious voice called from a distance, "Do you need help?"
Roselle's hands trembled. He hurriedly put the notebook down and said as though nothing had happened, "No, thank you."
"All right. Be careful."
Seeing that the person had no intention of coming closer, Roselle picked up the notebook again. After hesitating for a few seconds, he began leafing through it. Half a minute later, he closed it again, his breathing quickening involuntarily. This was the notebook recording all kinds of Beyonder knowledge that Zaratul wanted!
Several pages with folded corners described knowledge related to the "ancient" Artisan Sequence-pure Artisan knowledge from before it had