Co-Research with Chief Librarian ~Part Three~/Story

## Introduction

 Ah, you came. I've got good news. We've made some progress, thanks to the data you all collected. あぁ、来てくれたか。いいニューズがある。君たちの集めたデータのおかげで進展があったぞ

 Just as we hypothesized, it seems that the rate at which magazines are tainted is faster.
I believe it's due to their highly contextual nature, specific to the times and audience of their period. 仮説どおり、雑誌の侵蝕のスピードは早いようだ
雑誌というものは基本的にその時の時流に則って生まれた、特定の人々に宛てられたものだからだろう

 We don't have much empirical data to go off of, but once one is targeted, it gets messy real quick. Basically, countermeasures must be set in place as quickly as possible with regards to the tainting of literature other than books. 今までの事例は少ないが、一度狙われるとやっかいだ。つまり文学書以外の侵蝕には早めの対策が必要だということだな

 So, I'd like to ask you all to purify the tainted magazine we found this time. The tainted work is... ということで、君たちには今回見つかった雑誌の有碍書の浄化をお願いしたいんだ。今回の有碍書は……

 ...I'd say this isn't the time for long-winded explanations. ……悠長に説明している場合ではないと思うがな

 Right, it's that time already... Cat. I'm leaving the rest to you. I'm off to a conference. ああ、もうそんな時間か……ネコ。後は任せたぞ。俺は会議に行く

 I get it, so hurry up and leave. The higher-ups' impression of you will worsen, you know. わかったから早く行け。また上の心証が悪くなるぞ

 Alright, then go ahead and ask Cat for any details... Thanks, I'm counting on you. じゃ、詳しいことはこいつに聞いてくれ……すまないがよろしく頼むぞ

## Cat's Whisperings 1

 "Magazines ares tainted faster"... You may not know very well about this, but this discovery is a major breakthrough. Both he and you have done truly great work. 「雑誌の侵蝕のスピードは早い」……お前はよくわかっていないだろうが、この発見はお手柄だ。あいつもお前も仕事をしたということだな

 He was able to give evidence for correlations between book type and tainting speed, and the likeliness of tainting. あいつは書物の特性によって侵蝕スピードや侵蝕されやすいかどうかも決まってくることを証明した

 If you look at it the other way, you could say that books specifically attract negative feelings arising from people, but their tainting rate is slow. 逆に言うと、文学書は特に人々から生まれた負の感情を惹きつけてはいるが、侵蝕速度は遅い

 This is ultimately just my guess, but maybe the literature being tainted is the kind that many people are still reading today. おそらくだが、侵蝕された文学は現在においても多くの人々に読まれているからだろう

 Basically, books are a good place for Taints to accumulate, to our chagrin.
It's terrible, but it goes along with them flocking to specific places. つまり文学書は侵蝕者のたまり場になりやすいということだな、やれやれ
不良が特定の場所で群れているのと一緒だ

## Cat's Whisperings 2

 This is a good opportunity to relay the government's opinion to you. いい機会だ、ここで政府の見解もお前に伝えておこう

 Do you know what the Taints are in the first place? They are negative feelings that have taken on a physical form. そもそも侵蝕者とは何かわかっているか？　負の感情が形となったものだ

 However, whether many or few, everyone in the world harbors negative feelings of some kind. だが多かれ少なかれ負の感情というものは誰でも持っている

 So how were the Taints created? Up until now, many conjectures have been proposed, but nothing has been decided for sure.
The currently popular explanation for this is that with the growth in population, the negative feelings of people have increased drastically, which has something to do with the appearance of Taints and the tainting of literature. 侵蝕者がどうやってできたか。今までさまざまな推測がされてきたが、どれも決定的なものはなかった
人口が増加し、人々の負の感情は大幅に増えた、それが侵蝕者の出現と文学の侵蝕に関わりがあるというのが現在の主流の説だ

 So that's why what the Chief Librarian has made clear this time will definitely be very meaowningful in our purrification activities from now on.
I'm sure both you and that Chief Librarian will get busier and busier from now on. だから今回館長が明らかにしたことは今後の浄化活動で重大な意味を持つはず
今後はお前もあの館長もますます忙しくなるだろう

## Chief Librarian's Souvenir

 Speak of the devil, you're back already... 噂をすれば帰ってきたな……

 Hey, what were you talking about behind my back! おい、どんな噂をしていたんだ

 Doesn't matter. More importantly, I gave all the information about our current situation to them. そんなことはどうでもいい。それより、こいつに今の現状について話を通しておいた。

 Ahh, how very considerate. I see... We'll be getting busier from now on.
To tell the truth, just now I've gotten government approval to use a certain something. ああ、気が利くじゃないか。そうだな……これから忙しくなるぞ
実はさっき、とあるものの使用許可を政府から貰ってきたんだ

 That thing, huh... And them, too... アレか……ということはあいつらも……

 Don't make such a grimace. 嫌そうな顔をするな

 ...I am not excited at the prospect of being dragged around by those hooligan kids. ……あの悪ガキたちに振り回されるのは吾輩は御免だ

 Now then, you all must be tired, too. Let's be done with the business talk and dig into some of the souvenirs I bought for us. This time it's mashed sweet potatoes with chestnuts. さて、君たちも疲れただろう。今日はもう堅苦しい話はなしにして、買ってきたお土産でも食べようか。今回は栗きんとんだ