The Sharp Prince and the Soft Pauper

Chapter 16: The Archives

Todoroki and Dabi looked at the four boys as they told the story of why there were in the castle and why they were in Todoroki's room. Todoroki said, "Hmm. I understand." Izuku was shocked, "You do?" Todoroki nodded, "Yes, you simply wanted to find out what happened to your father and why nothing came to light about his death. I am willing to help you, if you want." Bakugo was skeptical, "Why the hell would you want to help us?" Todoroki said, "Because I'm going to take over after my father and I don't want such a thing to be repeated. By bringing the transgression to light, I can force order and cause the guilty parties to be detained and dealt with." Izuku said, "No. I don't want anyone to get hurt or in trouble because of what happened. I just want them to acknowledge that what they did was wrong and to be better rulers. I don't want anyone to suffer over this." Dabi looked at Izuku before patting his head, "You're a good kid." Izuku replied, "Thank you." Todoroki stood up, "If you want to know more about what happened, then follow me. I'll take you to the archives." Kaminari asked, "What are the archives?" Dabi said, "It's where all the information regarding the royals and other aspects of the law are stored, such as trials, trade agreements, etc. It should have the trial of Midoriya's father somewhere in there. We just need to find it. While avoid being detected by the guards of the door, and the several thousand guests for the party. But I'm sure it'll be fine." 

It was not fine. As of right now, Bakugo and Kaminari were running around the castle grounds to avoid being caught by the guards. Meanwhile, Izuku and Kirishima were following Todoroki and Dabi around the courthouse to avoid the thousands of guests that had decided to take the party elsewhere. Izuku sighed, "It'll be fine he said." Todoroki said, "Just be quiet so that they don't hear you." Suddenly, Bakugo and Kaminari appeared before them, panting. Kaminari whispered, "We finally caught up to you. We just lost the guards, so the archives should be unguarded right now." Dabi said, "Then let's go right away." The six of them ran towards the archive room. Todoroki held out a key. Kirishima asked, "What is that for?" Todoroki said, "It's a special key to open the archives. It only responds to those of noble blood. It's mechanism is triggered when it is used to open the archives. Then, the user must spill three drops of blood on the top of the key so that it identifies them as a noble. Once the key recognizes you, the archives' lock will loosen so that the key can be turned and the doors can be opened. It's a complex system to protect the archives. Each key is especially made in order to respond to a certain person's blood. Also, the blood needs to be fresh. This way, no one but the nobles with a key can be able to enter the archives." Izuku said, "Wow. That's a pretty sophisticated system and basically fool proof. It makes it almost impossible for a person other than the nobles to use the key and enter the archives." Bakugo said, "Shut up nerd." He then turned to Todoroki, "What the hell are you waiting for? Open the damn door before the guards come back." Todoroki made no reply and simply turned so that he could insert the key. Once the key was inside the lock, he pulled out a small blade and made a small cut in his arm. He winced as he made the cut. Then he put the blade away and moved his arm to the top of the key. He lets only three drops of blood fall on it before he moves away and takes out a handkerchief to stop the bleeding. As he does that, the door makes a sound the indicates that the lock has been loosened to allow the key to be turned. Todoroki does so and pushes open the doors. Dabi said, "Now we have to walk down five flights of stairs." Kaminari groaned as the others began their descent down the stairs. After another half hour of walking, Todoroki stopped. Dabi said, "Well, welcome to the archives. The four boys stared at what was in front of them with awe. There were hundreds of bookshelves lining the room, each filled with thousands of books. Izuku smiled, "Oh... my... god. It's so beautiful. So much knowledge about the kingdom must be here." Dabi smirked, "What a nerd you are." Izuku blushed. Todoroki said, "Well, it's going to take a while to  find what we need, so we better start now. I can let the four of you down here for a few hours once I leave. I just have to come back to get you out." Kirishima frowned, "Why do you have to leave?" Todoroki replied, "If I am gone for too long, my father will send out a search party for me. If he does that, then they'll find us down here and the four of you would be arrested. It's better if me and Dabi leave and keep them off your trail. We'll make sure no one even tries to come down here." Kirishima smiled, "All right. Thanks Todoroki. That's super manly of you." Todoroki simply nods as he and Dabi begin their walk back up the stairs. The four boys then spread out over the library with the hopes of finding something about Izuku's father. They began with the closest shelves to see if they were more recent. Unfortunately, they were of different ages, some ten years old while others seventy years old and so on. They sighed as they searched through books quickly. 

Several hours had passed. Not a single one of them had found anything relevant to Izuku's father and they had already checked fifteen shelves in total. Kaminari sighed, "Man, I wish we brought food with us. I'm starving." Izuku turned to him, "How can you be thinking about food when you're surrounded by all this knowledge?" Kaminari replied, "Is it all really that impressive?" Izuku hesitated for a moment before saying, "Well it has to do with the kingdom's history. Though there are some... questionable books here. I found one on... erectile dysfunction." Bakugo let out a mad laugh as Izuku said that. Kirishima chuckled a little as he opened the next book. He then stopped. He turned to everyone else, "Guys. Look, this talks about the shield that Izuku's dad made and what happened." The other three ran to Kirishima to see what the book said. They gasped. Bakugo said, "What the actual fuck??!?!"