Chapter 1

Chapter 001: Miss Thief Beneath the Setting Sun

The largest mage tower in the empire stood in the southern part of the Frederick Empire’s imperial capital, in a city named Potsdam.

The Royal Mage Academy was also located there. As the empire’s most important cradle for mage talent, the Potsdam Royal Magic Academy was regarded by mages across the world as the highest-level institution of learning. In the world of mages, the power of a spell was directly related to the depth of their research. Ever since the empire had established its hegemony over the continent in one fell swoop during the Thirty Years’ War, the already powerful imperial academy had also taken the opportunity to plunder vast amounts of academic materials and talent from other nations. Over the next several years, it gradually established an absolute leading position in the academic field.

And as one of the symbols of this top institution, the dean’s mage tower had also become the academy’s landmark building.

The lower floors of the mage tower had always been open to the entire academy and visiting tourists as a library. Thanks to the progress of modern magic and the high caliber of the students, the library here had always required only one student to help manage it.

Miss Librarian’s name was Maria Theresia.

Every day, Theresia would leave her bed beneath Potsdam’s gentle sunlight. After washing up, she would check the registration records of the students who had stayed overnight in the mage tower, inspect the self-study rooms and reading areas for any books left behind, and confirm that every volume in the collection was in its proper place. After directing the magic brooms to sweep the main hall once over, Theresia would reopen the mage tower’s doors before the academy’s mages began their work and studies.

The first batch of students to arrive at the mage tower would then see Miss Librarian sweeping the entrance to the mage tower. To Theresia, that stretch of ground before the doors only had meaning if she cleaned it bit by bit with her own hands.

Once all of that was done, Theresia could hand the library’s operation back over to the magic system, while she herself returned to her exclusive post and began reading.

But in such a warm and gentle spring, Miss Theresia met the person who would change her daily life.

The sun’s light gradually softened, and a gentle orange glow cast a different sort of atmosphere over the mage tower. The apprentices were about to finish an entire day of study. After sunset, they would return to their own lodgings and begin the academy’s nightlife.

According to the usual plan, Miss Theresia would leisurely pass the entire day here, then register the students who intended to stay overnight in the library that evening. Finally, she would shut down most of the library’s systems, complete the statistics and sorting, and end her day’s work.

Now, most of the apprentices in the library had already left. Only some apprentices preparing to stay up all night for exams, along with mages preparing lessons, remained. After completing their registration, they would be allowed to stay here for the entire night.

Miss Theresia wandered through the reading area together with her wisdom frog. After confirming that she had recorded the names of every apprentice and mage, Theresia picked up the key ring from the wisdom frog’s back, went to the door of the library lounge, and opened it.

—And then she saw the blond girl lying in the lounge, sound asleep.

Orange sunlight spilled through the lounge windows, making the girl’s white apprentice uniform shine brilliantly. Her long golden hair fell along the line of her back, leaving Theresia breathless for a moment.

“So pretty... Huh? No, wait, no one is allowed in here during the day, hey!”

The moment Theresia reacted, she panicked. She dropped the keys and hurried over, placing both hands on the blond girl’s shoulders and shaking her. “Classmate? Classmate? Wake up. The sun is almost down!”

The scent of sunlight drifted from the girl’s golden hair. That lazy posture made Theresia unable to stop herself from thinking of the fat orange cat she had fed back home.

Only after being shaken for quite a while did the blond girl finally hum twice and sit up.

“You’re awake? School’s almost over, you know,” Theresia asked with concern. “What major are you in? This lounge isn’t open to the public during the day. How did you get in? This violates library rules. You’ll get a demerit. Hurry and tell me your name.”

“You already told me I’ll get a demerit, and you still expect me to tell you my name?” The blond girl yawned, then opened her eyes and stared at Theresia with a pair of deep blue eyes that made one think of stars reflected in lake water. “Are you stupid?”

Although someone had stared at her and called her stupid, Theresia was still stubbornly thinking about school rules. “But this place isn’t open during the day. The library rules say this place is only open to the public at night!”

“Isn’t it already open now? I just came one step earlier than you did.” The girl’s eyes rolled once, and she spoke slyly. “So, you have to prove that I came here during the day to sleep.”

“Uu...”

The lounge was one of the few places the library management system did not monitor, so Theresia naturally had no way to produce evidence proving whether the other girl was lying.

Seeing that Theresia did not answer, the blond girl immediately grew smug. “See? The burden of proof lies with the claimant. You believe I entered this place during restricted hours, so you have to produce the corresponding evidence. Otherwise, your claim is only a hypothesis, and it doesn’t stand.”

“Then what’s your name?” At this point, Theresia no longer cared whether the other girl had actually broken the rules. Instead, she tried to find something like a nameplate on the other girl’s school uniform. “I won’t give you a demerit. Just tell me your name, okay...?”

The blond girl stuck out her tongue and made a face. “Not telling. I don’t believe you really won’t give me a demerit, white-haired, white-eyed librarian.”

Theresia rubbed her own hair, a little surprised. “You know me...?”

“How could anyone in this school not know you? Miss Grand Library Administrator, Theresia, the mascot of the mage tower.” The blond girl got off the bed, avoided the wisdom frog on the floor, and stretched. “All right, since it’s already night now, I’ll be leaving first.”

“You’re the only one who knows my name, but I don’t know yours. I want to know your name.”

“I refuse to answer, because what you just said was a statement.” The girl blinked playfully.

Theresia steeled her heart. “Then I can only call you by a nickname. Are you fine with that?”

“Sure. Call me whatever you want.”

Without thinking, Theresia said, “Thief!”

“But I didn’t steal anything. According to your hypothesis, you believe I entered the lounge during restricted hours. That doesn’t count as theft.”

“Ugh...” Theresia was instantly at a loss for words.

The blond girl smiled, turned around, and left the lounge with light steps.