The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities.
The Egyptian Museum, opened in 1902.
Of course, the locals usually call it the "Pharaoh Museum."
This museum has long stood on the banks of the Nile, listening to the majestic breath of the mother river day and night, faithfully recording the changes that have occurred over thousands of years in this ancient land.
The museum walls were yellowish. A stone statue of Hathor, the goddess of fertility with cow horns, hung above the arched main entrance. In the niches on either side were European-style reliefs of the Nile goddess; one held papyrus and the other held a lotus, symbolizing Upper and Lower Ancient Egypt respectively.
Above the entrance were Greek inscriptions and Greco-Roman style sculptures, while the large dome featured a unique religious style.
On the wall at the main entrance, there was also a metal carving of a Scarab, which served as the museum's logo.
"Hi, Forest."
A woman with chestnut hair tied back in a bun, wearing round old-fashioned glasses and holding a history book, looked every bit the literary girl as she greeted the girl who walked in.
"Hi, Eve."
Mori Tsukisa took off her domed straw hat and hung it on the Pharaoh statue by the door, then tossed her rolled-up newspaper onto the desk, letting it unroll.
There was a musty smell in the air.
"The newspaper you wanted."
Evelyn thanked her, her eyes remaining immersed in the pages of her book. "How much have you learned?"
—This 'Miss Forest' had come to work at the library two months ago. Before that, she had been the museum's only librarian.
When she first met the girl, the latter was leaning lazily against a bookshelf, holding a copy of 'An Introduction to Ancient Egyptian.'
'Hi, I heard from the curator that you're proficient in Ancient Egyptian?'
'Can you teach me?'
Her small face framed by long black hair, Evelyn had nodded as if possessed.
And so, the number of librarians grew from one to two.
—Though Evelyn was curious how this girl of about fifteen or sixteen had managed to persuade the stingy, mean, and serious museum curator.
"How much have I learned..."
Mori Tsukisa pinched a cookie from the table and popped it into her mouth. "Hello?"
The accent when pronouncing Ancient Egyptian was very strange, but the girl was a very fast learner.
"In another month or two, I'll have nothing left to teach you." Evelyn closed the book, returned it to its designated spot, and turned to look at the girl eating cookies.
"You learn too fast, Sen. I still recommend you go to that university. It would be a waste for you not to go to school."
The girl shrugged indifferently, walked to the other side of the library, and pulled out a book titled 'Legends.'
Evelyn wasn't quite sure of Mori Tsukisa's background—according to her, she was just passing through during her travels. She was only in her teens; where were her family members?
Would they just let an underage Child run around everywhere?
If I had a younger sister, she would be about this age, wouldn't she?
Evelyn shook her head and walked behind the girl in her high heels, a crisp, cold scent of green wood gradually becoming apparent.
"Atlantis?" Standing behind her, Evelyn lightly rested her chin on the top of Mori Tsukisa's head. The girl was looking at a specific page in 'Legends.'
Evelyn was used to the girl always focusing her energy on supernatural things. Over the past two months, besides learning Ancient Egyptian, the girl had read almost every book in the library.
The ones she couldn't put down, besides this 'Legends,' were 'Holy Stone' on the top shelf of the third bookcase.
"Doesn't exist?"
Mori Tsukisa turned a page intently, not forgetting to answer her elder sister as her eyes scanned the text. "Aren't you also constantly searching for Hamunaptra? The sun golden scripture?"
Evelyn raised her eyebrows, her silver bracelets clinking as she reached for the top of Mori Tsukisa's head. "That's because there's evidence that it once existed. But Atlantis..."
Mori Tsukisa reached out her finger and pointed to another page of the book. "What about here? This doesn't exist either?"
On the mottled yellow paper, a massive city loomed behind the clouds, surrounded by the shadows of winged dragons—clearly the work of some obscure artist, somehow included in this book that Evelyn considered to be written by a fraud.
"L...A...P...?" Evelyn twirled Mori Tsukisa's black hair, slowly spelling out the somewhat blurred handwriting on the page.
Mori Tsukisa repeated it as if to correct her.
"Oh, that Boy hasn't given up yet?"
Evelyn reached out and closed the book in Mori Tsukisa's hands.
"What was that kid's name again? Anyway, there's nothing good in this fraud's book. I don't understand how someone as smart as you can believe these fabricated stories."
Mori Tsukisa turned her head. Since Evelyn was a head taller than her, facing this mature lady, the youthful-looking Mori Tsukisa had to look up like a younger sister.
"He said his father saw it with his own eyes..."
"Saw what?" Evelyn pulled Mori Tsukisa toward the exit. "Dragons?"
"Stop it, Little Forest. Do you really plan to help that kid look up information for a fairy tale like that?"
Mori Tsukisa blinked. "I think... it's very interesting."
"Dragons are just legends." Evelyn had long since come to view this incredibly exquisite girl as her own sister. The two walked into the museum garden and sat on a bench not far from a statue.
"Study Ancient Egyptian well. I'll have the school send you an invitation. Go there for further studies, Little Forest." Evelyn held Mori Tsukisa's small hand and rubbed it a few times, her beautiful eyes full of concern. "Also, you still haven't made it clear—where are your parents?"
"You have to give me an address so I can mail it to you."
Mori Tsukisa shook her head with a smile.
This was the umpteenth time she had refused Evelyn.
However, the other woman didn't lose heart.
Knowing this would happen, the woman curled her finger and lightly flicked Mori Tsukisa's forehead. "Anyway, you're not allowed to run off everywhere. It's too chaotic here. I don't want to see you become someone's new wife one day, wearing a black veil and coming to find me crying with a big belly."
Mori Tsukisa swung her legs absentmindedly, her gold-trimmed skirt fluttering to reveal her fair feet and five delicate toes.
A touch of emerald scenery.
"Hey!"
Evelyn's finger brushed across the girl's arm. "Princess, please listen properly."
Mori Tsukisa looked back.
The slanting Sun cast shadows, and the girl's hair was tinted with occasional dark blue glints.
"I saw you running off with that Roux or whatever last time. Who are those filthy miners? You can't keep making me worry like this."
"I know, I know, Eve. You're nagging just like my grandmother." Glancing casually, Mori Tsukisa saw a strange woman walking gracefully into the museum through the iron fence.
"Someone's here, I'll go attend to them!"
Evelyn failed to catch her, and the girl ran off, leaving only a golden silhouette behind the swaying hem of her skirt.
"Hey! Don't run off!"
"Got it, got it!"
The Shadow raised its hand high, waving it wildly as she frolicked away.
Truly a handful... Evelyn sighed and slowly stood up.
She thought of her brother who disappeared from time to time, and her heart was filled with even more worry and helplessness.
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