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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/kayenano on 2024-11-01 02:10:59+00:00.

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Synopsis:

Juliette Contzen is a lazy, good-for-nothing princess. Overshadowed by her siblings, she's left with little to do but nap, read … and occasionally cut the falling raindrops with her sword. Spotted one day by an astonished adventurer, he insists on grading Juliette's swordsmanship, then promptly has a mental breakdown at the result.

Soon after, Juliette is given the news that her kingdom is on the brink of bankruptcy. At threat of being married off, the lazy princess vows to do whatever it takes to maintain her current lifestyle, and taking matters into her own hands, escapes in the middle of the night in order to restore her kingdom's finances.

Tags: Comedy, Adventure, Action, Fantasy, Copious Ohohohohos.

Chapter 306: Fated Reunion

A hoard of treasure.

Gemstones, jewellery and unassorted tableware. If it shone, it existed upon a heap of gold. 

And that included a dragon.

A truly mesmerising sight. Each scale glimmered like a shard of pristine emerald, putting even the fairy tales to shame. Here was a being who would never know the threat of poverty and all the slightly larger than average strawberries it brought, for he himself was a symbol of wealth. 

Literally so.

He was a walking, flying vault … and that meant I’d brook no excuses!

Indeed, one way or another, this dragon was going to contribute to the prosperity of my kingdom! 

If he could take to the sky, he could take to the Royal Treasury. And I had little doubt my servants would desire nothing more than to catch the rapidly falling pieces of treasure, knowing as my tax inspectors safely retrieved them away that my joy was all the warmer for it.

A fine sight and a finer thought, both worthy of my most innocent smile.

There was just one small problem. 

A blot so familiar it was the signature on every worthy endeavour.

Betrayal.

“My, how wonderful, Miss Fleur,” I said to the clockwork librarian idling upon the dragon’s snout. “... It is Fleur, yes? Or is it Fiore or Flora or–”

“It’s Fleur.”

“Excellent. Because I see loyalty is fragile no matter where I go. A welcome relief. It’s wonderful to know only my time has been betrayed, not my expectations.” 

The girl offered a lively smile. 

She ceased dangling her foot, instead swinging her legs up and down while casually booting the dragon’s snout with her heels.

“I’m not sure what you’re referring to. My loyalty is as durable as the enchanted steel I’m made from.”

“Then it must have been enchanted by a hag to be so brittle. I note you appear to have grown restless from posing. Have you been waiting long?”

“Only from the exact moment I sent you to search for a heroine who I’m told is enjoying a holiday far from here. You appear to have lost your way.”

“Quite so. I should be in my orchard measuring the bounciness index of the spring grass. Instead, I find myself here, forcing myself to wonder how I might have my horse carry this much gold up so many steps. Would you have a suggestion?”

“Yes. That you consider a different dilemma. This gold isn’t yours. It is the property of the Hidden Library.”

I clapped my hands in delight.

“My, then isn’t it well I’ve a more fitting representative to grant it all to me? Two, in fact. A dragon who will doubtless be grateful to be rescued from his plight. And an assistant librarian who’s sadly at threat of being promoted into an impending vacancy.”

Coppelia, for her part, was silently eyeing the bound and helpless dragon before her.

She offered no words at the cruel sight. Indeed, she couldn’t. Especially while she was clearly holding back a quivering finger while deliberating the ramifications of poking said bound and helpless dragon. 

I nudged her with my elbow.

“Oooh, Fleur!” she said, only now peering up at her colleague. She wore the joyful expression of one as accustomed to betrayal as I was. A most fitting handmaiden. “You found the big guy!”

“I did. And you found the Other Library.”

Coppelia pointed behind her.

“You mean the free slides?”

“I mean our greatest shame. This is where the works deemed unfitting for the main library are kept.”

“... Like shopping lists?”

“Like shopping lists.” 

The smile didn’t fall from the clockwork librarian’s lips. But the blush on her cheeks lessened. 

“Yet it doesn’t end there. There are also household cleaning notes, haircut appointment reminders and random scribbles not even legible to whoever wrote them. All given as payment for frequenting our curated shelves, filled with knowledge stretching back to the first word.”

“Really? I didn’t know we accepted litter. Didn’t we only take books as an admission fee?”

“Books by the famed and the illustrious. But how are we to know who will one day be a great wizard or a great hack? What is a shopping list today might contain the key to a working philosopher’s stone in the future. Or so our master believes. And so this sad pit is needed to bury the tragedy which is our lax admittance rules, until one scribble might prove valuable a thousand years down the line.”

Coppelia tilted her head in thought.

Then, she looked around her at the scattered bricks once more.

“Huh. Which meeting did we talk about this? Because I’m pretty sure I fell asleep.”

“There was no meeting. And stop falling asleep.”

“Oh, phew. So just regular secret stuff, then?”

“Regular secret stuff you’re not told precisely because of this attitude. You started working in the library before I did, and you’re still an assistant.” 

“Ahaha~ I try.”

The younger librarian’s smile quivered.

“Try in the other direction. If you want to know all the secrets of the library, you need to start taking your duties more seriously. The way you mess around doing who knows what in the muddiest, bleakest and saddest backwaters of the continent instead of your assigned task is unacceptable.”

I gave a little gasp.

To think Coppelia’s work involved straying into the Granholtz Embassy! When did that happen?

“Hey! I take my work seriously! I review every bakery I visit in the Coppelia Guidebook!”

“That isn’t your job.”

“Hmmmm~ are you sure? Because it sort of feels like our jobs are flexible. I thought yours was making sure the big guy takes his witch’s brew so his snores don’t shake the library. But you’ve gone ahead and added a bunch of chains which really don’t look secure in the slightest as well. They must be comfortable. I don’t hear a thing.”

Fleur sat up a little straighter, the pride evident in the way she ceased swinging her legs.

“Naturally. Unlike yourself, I take my role seriously. Which is why I’ve been working hard to resolve all the issues the library currently faces.”

“Really? Does that include the bottom floor bathroom? Because I’m tired of hearing the complaints just because humans are gross.”

“Actually, yes. We’re now finally able to afford hiring a plumber.” 

“... Eh? We have to pay someone?”

“Of course we have to pay someone. We have to pay everyone. Do you think our workers from Witschblume hike through a forest out of generosity? Or that the enchantments maintain themselves? Or the treants are fine with just eating intruders?”

“I mean, I figured that’s what the free buffet table is for.”

“The free buffet table isn’t free. And I’ve decided to get rid of it. The library isn’t a restaurant.” 

Coppelia gasped.

She stepped away, seeing at last the full extent of the betrayal before her.

“Oh boy. You’re in trouble now. You know how much the big guy likes those cheap pancakes.” 

A girlish laugh filled the stale air.

“Trouble? Why would I be in trouble? I’m doing as I’ve been commanded. My role is to keep the library functional. Something my gift shop, my fundraisers and my enslaved overseer exploiting the minds and vulnerabilities of the very wealthy has allowed to happen.”

“Well, you better be quick. You don’t have much time to fix the bathroom before you get bonked.”

“I have all the time in the world. Because the first issue I’m fixing is the most pressing.”

Fleur pointed at the dragon beneath her. At last, her lively smile was erased.

“Him.”

In response to the knitted brows, the ancient green dragon gave a whiff of a snore. Whatever words lost in time that meant, Coppelia could only agree with a shrug.

“Eehh, if he did something to annoy you, I’m sure he didn’t mean it. You know what he’s like.”

“I know exactly what he’s like.”

The girl with the pinafore dress raised herself, standing upon the dragon’s snout.

She briefly peered behind her. The expression of distaste she wore as she took in the sight of the dragon was still stuck to her face as she turned to us.

“He is lazy,” she declared. “Do you think this is some alchemist’s concoction I’ve put him under? That I forced him into these chains? He is simply tired. From a short flight, no less. He’s spent so long curled up in his lair that only a whisper of an unearthed 5th edition of The Arcane Atlus could rouse him. And this is the result. A slumber as though he’s just burned down a minor town.”

Fleur clenched her fists, trying and failing to quell her dissatisfaction. 

In fact, she only seemed to grow more discontent.

“... Are you aware, Copp...

Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1ggv762/the_villainess_is_an_ss_rank_adventurer_chapter/