Early the next morning, after breakfast at Loving Home, Cynthia went directly to the Lucien City Grand Library.
As the largest, oldest, and most historically significant city in the world, Lucien City's Grand Library held hundreds of thousands of volumes, including ancient texts that had been preserved for over two thousand years.
Two thousand years ago — the era of King Lucien of Unova, she thought as she walked. Her reason for coming to Unova was to investigate the mythological record from that period thoroughly. Her research and tracking had revealed that the traces of that Unova King were spread across the entire world. And in her own Sinnoh, an ancient legend had been passed down:
Long ago, more than two thousand years past, when humans still regarded Pokémon as fearsome beasts and lived apart from them, a king from a distant land came to Hisui. He was accompanied by a legendary Dragon God and a Pokémon with miraculous powers, capable of crossing the distance between two places in an instant.
That King from a Foreign Land led the work of merging humans and Pokémon across the whole of Hisui, had the ring-bearing Pokémon transport people and supplies from his homeland, and established a prosperous city on Hisui's soil. From that time, humanity and Pokémon began to find their way to each other.
According to her investigations, the Unova Region was the homeland of that foreign king. The Dragon God that traveled freely. The Pokémon that could cross space at will.
In pursuit of the truth, she had traveled to Lucien City.
The Grand Library was in the heart of Lucien City's old district, separated from the modern entertainment quarter by a single street, yet atmospherically worlds apart. While the surrounding blocks were glass towers and neon light, the library was an ancient building of dark grey stone, its exterior solemn and heavy with a sense of accumulated time.
Though it had stood for over two thousand years, expert preservation had kept it intact. The main entrance faced a wide stone plaza, flanked by tall evergreen trees whose dense canopy diffused the sunlight into shifting, dappled patterns on the ground.
In the center of the plaza stood a statue.
It depicted a young king in ancient Unova attire: strong-framed, clear-faced, with eyes that were somehow both present and distant. Behind him rose the enormous, ancient form of a dragon Pokémon. Kyurem, the Original Dragon of Unova's legends, Cynthia thought.
At the base of the statue, ancient Unova script was inscribed:
King of Unova. Ruler of all people. Creator of a glorious era. Eternally remembered.
Cynthia stood in the plaza and looked at it for a moment, and something moved in her expression that she did not often allow in public. Any serious historian, standing before objects that carried that kind of history, would feel it.
She adjusted the collar of her coat and walked up the broad stone steps.
The main doors were massive and wooden, inlaid with bronze patterns and ancient insignia — the insignia of the ancient Unova royal chamber. She recognized them immediately. The doors opened onto the smell of old paper and ink, and the noise of the city outside ceased completely.
The interior was vast. The ceiling rose more than ten meters, and above it, a magnificent painted dome depicted King Lucien unifying the continent, standing alongside Pokémon in battle and in peace, the scenes rendered with the particular reverence that only genuine historical devotion produces.
On both sides of the main hall, rows of solid black wooden bookshelves reached toward the ceiling, filled with everything from thick ancient manuscripts to modern academic volumes, all clearly organized.
Crystal chandeliers hung from the vaulted ceiling and cast warm yellow light across the dark polished marble floor, which reflected the shapes of the bookshelves and the soft light in clean, still lines.
A few scholars moved quietly through the space, elderly professors examining shelves or sitting absorbed in reading, their footsteps light. Nobody spoke above a murmur. The whole library breathed with the particular quality of a place where serious thought had been happening for a very long time.
At a desk near the center of the main hall, a man in gold-rimmed glasses and a dark administrative uniform sat with his head bowed over a book, his expression focused.
Cynthia approached and spoke quietly. "Good morning. I'd like to access ancient texts on the history and mythology of the Unova Region, particularly documents related to King Lucien of Unova."
The administrator looked up. A gentle smile crossed his face. "Of course. The King Lucien ancient texts are mostly housed in the deepest section of the library, the Ancient Documents Area.
That section holds unique manuscripts, fragments, and stone carvings passed down from more than two thousand years ago. They are among our most precious holdings." He paused. "However, access to the Ancient Documents Area is restricted. Visitors need to register their identity and explain the purpose of their visit."
He looked at her with a politely questioning expression.
"My name is Cynthia," she said, her tone entirely composed. "From the Sinnoh Region. Mythological archaeologist, and the Sinnoh Pokémon League Champion."
The administrator's expression shifted. The Sinnoh Champion's reputation in academic circles was considerable, and her work in Sinnoh mythology and archaeology was recognized throughout the historical research community.
"Miss Cynthia, it's an honor." He reached into a drawer and produced a registration form and a fountain pen. "Please fill in your name, credentials, and the purpose of your visit. I'll grant you access to the Ancient Documents Area immediately."
"Thank you." Cynthia accepted the form and bent her head to fill it out.
She completed the form quickly and returned it. The administrator checked it carefully, then produced a silver access card from a drawer, engraved with ancient Unova script and the library's emblem.
"Miss Cynthia, this card grants you access to the Ancient Documents Area. Viewing tables and specialized lighting are available. The environment is quiet and comfortable. Please take your time."
"Thank you." Cynthia accepted the card with a small nod.
"I hope your research is fruitful." He bowed slightly.
She turned and headed deeper into the library.
Passing through rows of towering shelves and along dark-carpeted corridors, the atmosphere grew quieter and older with each turn, the smell of ink and old paper intensifying.
Along the corridor walls, at regular intervals, hung ancient paintings and yellowed stone carvings depicting the life of King Lucien of Unova, mythological scenes, ancient landscapes, and images of humans and Pokémon in the early days of their coexistence.
Cynthia walked slowly and looked at each one, her gaze focused and serious. Every object spoke of a glory and a history that only deepened her determination to understand what lay behind the legend.
After several minutes, at the end of the corridor, a heavy bronze gate appeared, its surface covered in intricate carvings of ancient symbols. Above it hung a wooden sign with five gold-plated characters in ancient Unova script: Ancient Documents Area.
Cynthia held up the silver card to the sensing panel.
A clear tone sounded. The ancient runes on the gate lit with soft gold light, and with a low, resonant creak, the two bronze doors swung slowly apart.
A wave of air came through the opening: older, denser, carrying the particular weight of things that have been kept carefully for a very long time. As though two thousand years had been compressed into this one space and she was stepping into them.
She took a breath, composed herself, and walked in.
The shelves were organized by type, each section labeled in ancient Unova script. She had done her preparation and moved through them efficiently, arriving quickly at the section dedicated to the Chronicle of the First King of Unova's Founding.
The documents here were not numerous, but each was a rare and unique copy, displayed with care in the best positions on the shelves. Cynthia put on her reading gloves and removed each item carefully, brushing thin dust from the surfaces before opening them.
The first was a thick stone tablet recording the Battle of the Three Kings, Lucien's unification of the Unova Region, the establishment of the Kingdom, the founding of the Pokémon League.
It mentioned his Legendary Pokémon companions, but said nothing about any journey to Hisui. The silk scrolls and bamboo slips that followed were primarily concerned with governance strategies, agricultural development, and the harmonious integration of humans and Pokémon, detailed and accurate, but still without the connection to Hisui she was looking for.
Cynthia set them down with a slight frown.
She did not stop. The more thoroughly a piece of history had been buried, the more carefully it tended to be hidden. She worked her way methodically through the shelves.
Then her fingers touched something on the lowest shelf: a small book bound in dark animal skin, entirely unadorned, its cover blank. Unremarkable in appearance, and yet there was something about it.
She took it out carefully, brushed the dust from the cover, and opened it.
The manuscript inside was written in an extremely old form of Unova script, the strokes strong and certain, carrying the particular quality of someone who writes with complete authority and no need to perform it. Even after all these centuries, the writing was clear.
As she read through the pages, Cynthia's breathing changed. Her eyes moved faster, and stopped.
This was a manuscript written personally by King Lucien of Unova.
The first half recorded the unification of Unova, the establishment of Lucien City, the hope of a world where humans and Pokémon lived as one. Then she turned to the later sections, and a story that had been buried for millennia unfolded before her completely.
Unova was settled. The people lived in peace. Pokémon and humans were close companions, and the land was free from conflict.
I had heard that in the far north there was a desolate land called Hisui, where humans feared Pokémon and considered them beasts, hiding in the mountains and forests, living in constant fear.
I could not leave it as it was. I took Kyurem and Hoopa and traveled the distance to Hisui.
The land was impoverished. The mountains were endless. Humans and Pokémon distrusted and fought each other constantly. I stayed to guide the people out of the mountains and show them that Pokémon were not beasts, that they could live together.
Hoopa, using the power of its rings, transported food, supplies, and craftsmen from Unova. I chose a place in inland Hisui with good land and built a city, a place where humans could live in peace.
I taught them to work alongside Pokémon, to cultivate crops, to train, to build. As time passed, the barriers between humans and Pokémon came down, and the people merged into a life together. That city became increasingly prosperous, the first place of genuine peace on the land of Hisui.
When I saw that order had taken root, I quietly left. I left no name and no monument, only the hope that this land would never again know war, and that it would be peaceful for generations.
All the people of this world, regardless of region, are under my protection. May all beings live in lasting peace, and may the years pass without sorrow.
Cynthia held the manuscript and did not move for a long time.
Every fragment, every legend, every incomplete ancient record she had spent years collecting: at this moment they all connected, each piece finding its place with perfect precision.
The legendary king from a foreign land in Sinnoh's ancient stories was Lucien.
The God Dragon was Kyurem.
The Pokémon that could cross between two places in an instant, transporting supplies like a miracle, was Hoopa.
She had been searching for this history for years. Now it lay in front of her, plain and clear, without exaggeration or myth. Simply the record of a king with a compassionate heart, crossing vast distances, protecting ordinary people in every land he reached.
Cynthia sat with the manuscript and felt, for a moment, as though she had traveled through two thousand years: seeing a man at a desk on a warm afternoon, writing these words in a hand that was strong and unhurried.
"Lucien," she said quietly to herself, and felt the weight of that name settle differently than it had before.
He was not merely a historical king. He was the person who had looked at every land suffering from the separation of humans and Pokémon and had moved, again and again, to change it.
She closed the manuscript carefully and returned it to its place. Then she carried all of it with her and left the Ancient Documents Area.
Back at Loving Home, the fireplace in the lobby was still burning. The man who shared a name with that great king was resting his chin on one hand, watching the Pokémon playing on the mat with an expression of quiet contentment.
He heard her footsteps and turned his head. When he saw her face, one eyebrow lifted slightly, and a small smile appeared.
"Back already? Did you find what you were looking for?"