Chapter 55 - The Ultimate Fan (3)

4

In any field, latecomers are at a disadvantage.

A fiercely competitive market already dominated by entrenched veterans.

Latecomers have to plunge into it and prove their own worth, like a lowly soldier struggling to scale a fortress wall already held by the enemy.

The Tower was no different.

"... Welcome!"

When the white light faded and I opened my eyes again, it wasn't the goddess's voice that greeted us.

"Warriors who climb the Tower!"

It was a child whose gender I couldn't tell.

The little child wore loose-fitting clothes that, at first glance, resembled traditional Eastern attire.

"I, the librarian, have waited so anxiously that each day felt like three autumns!"

But on closer inspection... they were completely different.

Apart from the long sleeves, the clothes bore no resemblance to Eastern ceremonial dress. No, even the sleeves were extraordinary. They weren't merely long; they trailed for more than five meters.

"But that is quite all right! Life is a journey that begins with an encounter and ends with an encounter. Looking back, is not its only meaning whom we have met? Waiting is like a seasoning that simmers life into something richer!"

They say a face completes an outfit. No matter how unusual the clothes, the result varies wildly depending on who wears them.

In that sense, the child fluttering those five-meter sleeves was certainly special.

"Allow me once again to offer my sincerest respects!"

In midair.

"Welcome to the Great Library of Myriad Thoughts!"

The child floated high in the air, looking down at us after our sudden summoning.

[The Shut-In Librarian welcomes you!]

The constellation, the Shut-In Librarian.

The one who administered floors twenty-one through thirty.

The representative of this world spread his arms and beamed.

Unfortunately, no one returned his greeting. Murmurs spread through the hunters. Still unable to grasp the situation, they looked around in bewilderment.

"Uh, uh..."

"What the hell? Why did we suddenly teleport on our own?"

"Where are we?"

By a rough visual count, there were several hundred people.

The hunters whispered in confusion. Most had been gathered in the square, chanting the countdown together just moments earlier.

But some had been enjoying 'private time' elsewhere.

"Aaaaaah!"

"D-don't look over here!"

Embarrassed screams erupted here and there.

A hunter summoned in the middle of a shower. Lovers teleported naked. Someone looking around sleepily, apparently summoned while asleep. One hunter after another had been caught in an unexpected predicament.

"Oh dear."

The constellation librarian chuckled.

"I seem to have been a little inconsiderate."

As the hunters floundered helplessly, the librarian snapped his fingers.

SNAP!

Large book cases came swooping over. With holes for heads, arms, and legs, the cases sought out the naked hunters and fitted themselves around them.

"Ah..."

"Th-thank goodness."

The watching hunters sighed in relief. I had been quite embarrassed myself, so I was relieved too.

"Wh-what the hell am I wearing...?"

The people actually affected looked miserable, encased in enormous book cases like Gundam suits made out of cardboard, but theirs was a minority opinion.

And so a wave of embarrassment washed over us and passed. The others finally regained their composure. One by one, they began looking up into the air.

"... Who are you?"

The Witch spoke on behalf of the hunters.

"And where is this...?"

"Ah, I am merely a nameless nobody who manages a slightly large library, Black Witch. Compared to you, I am infinitely closer to a mere extra. I would appreciate it if you treated me as though I were not here."

"..."

The Witch furrowed her brows.

For some reason, this stranger knew who she was. She sensed something ominous in that fact.

It was inevitable.

Having already taken the [Demon King of Autumn Rain] and the [Goddess of Protection] into my service, I had become somewhat accustomed to constellations. To the other hunters, however, they were still unknown entities.

"... Just a slightly large library, you say."

I took the opportunity to speak when the Witch closed her mouth.

"I don't know. This seems a little beyond 'slightly large.'"

The twenty-first-floor stage.

This place was one enormous library. Perhaps even 'enormous' wasn't enough to describe it. From right beside us to the distant horizon, from the floor beneath our feet to the ceiling high above, rows of shelves stood packed with books.

It was closer to a world made entirely of a library.

"Oho."

The master of this world looked at me.

An innocent gaze.

Eyes like those of an utterly pure child sparkled.

"I see. So you are Death King."

Hmm.

"Ah, do not be so wary. Warriors, I am harmless. I truly wish only to welcome you. To me, you are no different from the heroes of an epic."

The heroes of an epic.

Having regressed four thousand days, I knew what that meant. This was no ordinary library. But I deliberately pretended not to know and asked,

"What do you mean, the heroes of an epic?"

"I mean this."

SNAP!

The librarian snapped his fingers. Two hardcover books slipped out from the countless shelves. They floated over and circled him.

Each cover bore a title.

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[Chronicles of the Aegim Empire]

[Tales of the City of Heavenly Ascent]

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The librarian smiled gently.

"My hobby is reading. But the books that gather in my library are by no means ordinary records. They are your histories. Books about the worlds in which Towers have been built."

He stroked a book's spine with his thin fingers.

"You must be wondering why you alone were summoned out of so many warriors. The reason is simple! In your world, only you possess names as 'characters.'"

"... Names as characters?"

"You call them epithets."

The librarian looked down at us with a gentle smile.

"All 302 people gathered here are warriors with epithets."

The hunters murmured.

"Only hunters with epithets get summoned?"

"Wh-what about everyone else...?"

"Wait. Does that mean we have to clear the Tower by ourselves?"

Yes.

Not the real names we used in the outside world, but names bestowed upon hunters solely by the Tower. Epithets. They were the admission tickets valid from the twenty-first floor onward.

'... That's why I couldn't even set foot beyond floor twenty before I regressed.'

The frontrunners who possessed epithets.

The latecomers who had never received them.

'The gap between those two groups will only keep widening.'

I fiddled with the hilt of the dagger at my waist. It was a method I relied on to calm myself... and a little ritual of my own.

'I'm different from who I used to be.'

The failure who had neither skills nor an epithet, who had never so much as put a toe beyond floor twenty, was no longer here. There was only the hunter newly ascended to third place in the rankings.

'I won't be left behind without even getting to take part in the climb.'

Yet few hunters besides me had remained calm.

The Witch was no exception.

Unable to hide her bewilderment, she muttered,

"This is impossible. Three hundred people? Clearing the Tower with so few..."

"Do not worry!"

The librarian took hold of [Chronicles of the Aegim Empire] and smiled.

"You protected the Aegim Empire with only three people. Three hundred is a full hundred times that! You will pass the stages I have prepared with ease. Have confidence!"

"..."

Most of the hunters exchanged anxious looks. In the middle of the Great Library stretching endlessly to the horizon, the three hundred or so hunters seemed no more than a handful of sand.

Before the unease could spread any further, I got ahead of it.

"Let's get on with it, Mr. Librarian."

"Oho?"

"I understand you're excited to meet living people for the first time in a while, but we want to hurry up and climb the Tower. We haven't even received a quest yet. I'd like you to move things along."

"Oh ho, oh ho ho."

The librarian chuckled softly.

"Quite right! I was so delighted that I neglected to issue the quest. Hmm, but explaining every little detail in words is not my style..."

CLAP!

Hundreds of books came flying over.

The hardcovers floated in circles around the librarian.

"Let me see. Which work would make the strongest impression...? This apocalypse is too dull, and this one's destruction is too quiet... Oh, yes! This will be best."

The librarian took hold of one book.

"A word of warning."

Then he opened it.

White light poured from the spread pages.

"This is only a preview, so do not be too startled."

WHOOSH!

A wave of light engulfed us.

5

Every hunter was teleported somewhere.

We didn't know where, but one thing was certain: this wasn't our world. The buildings were of a style I had never seen before. Structures like termite mounds enlarged hundreds of times formed a forest of skyscrapers.

The hunters, myself included, floated in the sky. We were high in the air, and far below our feet stood buildings we had never seen or heard of.

"E-eek!"

Someone screamed. Were they afraid of heights? Though we weren't falling at all, the hunters instinctively grabbed one another's sleeves.

The librarian smiled at the spectacle.

"I am a librarian. But as I said, the records that gather in my library are not ordinary history books or novels. You could say they are on a slightly higher level—no, a far higher one!"

The Great Library of Myriad Thoughts.

A study where records of countless worlds gathered.

There, worlds were preserved in the form of books.

"This is the world you cleared."

The librarian tapped the hardcover whose cover read [Chronicles of the Aegim Empire].

"And this is your own world!"

There was also a book titled [Tales of the City of Heavenly Ascent].

Hundreds of other books flew around the librarian. The constellation with the appearance of a small child gazed at his collection as though they were too lovable to bear.

"There are many names for these books. Some call them epics. Others call them novels or chronicles. There are those who call them true records or sagas. But I have a particular term I prefer above all others."

The librarian turned to us.

"Apocalypses."

The constellation smiled.

An eerie laugh drifted through the sky.

"Your apocalypse... yes. In the terminology I favor, it is still [ongoing]. Having finished its lengthy prologue, you are finally climbing the Tower in earnest. You could say it is gradually becoming a rewarding read."

That was when it happened.

"But not every apocalypse remains [ongoing] as smoothly as your world does."

RUMBLE...

Something began descending from the sky. No. 'Descending' was far too tame a word. They were tearing the sky apart.

"Though it is regrettable..."

Meteors.

"Some apocalypses have met with [discontinuation]."

Enormous rocks rained down in flames.

Meteors struck the termite-mound buildings head-on.

BOOOOM!

A tremendous roar shook the world. Beneath the torn sky, the ground itself split apart. The city, which would have been inhabited by intelligent beings unlike us, was destroyed without a trace.

The hunters screamed.

The dust clouds raised by the impacts engulfed us in an instant.

"There is not merely one."

In the darkness where nothing was visible, only the constellation's voice flowed on, aloof and serene.

"There are a great many."

THUMP!

Somewhere, a book closed. At the same moment, the dust clouds vanished. The destroyed city vanished. The fractured ground vanished, and the torn sky vanished.

New worlds unfolded beneath our feet in their place.

"If the [reason for discontinuation] of that last apocalypse was stone..."

A tidal wave.

"Then the [reason for discontinuation] of this apocalypse is water!"

A tidal wave that rose to the very base of the sky swallowed a city.

It was too enormous to call a wave, too violent even to call a tsunami. It was a catastrophe. As the hunters watched it surge right up to them, screams broke out again.

"Ah."

The constellation sighed sorrowfully.

"What a sorrowful tragedy!"

A world where disease had spread and killed all humanity.

A world where sand had covered the earth and even the last drop of water had dried up.

A world where volcanoes had erupted, shrouding the sky in smoke and clouds.

Even a world overrun by a zombie virus.

"Those people are humans just like you. They are alive just like you. They, too, were creating stories of their own. Yet before they could reach a proper conclusion, before they could weave a magnificent ending, everything came to an end for utterly unjust reasons."

The librarian closed the book.

"I call this [discontinuation]..."

Hundreds of books still circled the constellation.

"But you would simply call it 'annihilation.'"

Before we knew it, we were back in the enormous library.

"Urgh, uuurgh..."

"Bleeergh!"

The sounds of retching came from all around. We had witnessed dozens of worlds being annihilated. Though no one had suffered physical harm, many hunters had been pushed close to their mental limits.

"The quest you will be given is simple."

The constellation looked down at us.

"Choose eight of the discontinued apocalypses."

Choose eight worlds from among those that had been annihilated.

"I wish to finish reading the apocalypses that were discontinued!"

He wanted to keep watching the stories of the annihilated worlds.

"Enter those eight apocalypses yourselves..."

Enter the eight worlds in person.

"And save them from the threat of discontinuation!"

Prevent their annihilation.

"That is the quest I, the librarian, give you."

That was the quest for floors twenty-two through twenty-nine.

While the retching continued throughout the library, a voice rang inside the hunters' heads.

[The twenty-second-floor quest is being issued.]

Text appeared before our eyes.

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[Remake the World. Volume 1]

Difficulty: Undetermined

Mission Objective: There are countless worlds, and countless annihilations. The constellation 'Shut-In Librarian' describes this as discontinuation. The Shut-In Librarian wishes for worlds discontinued for unjust reasons to continue their stories once more.

First, choose one of the discontinued apocalypses!

If you succeed in saving the world, that world will be registered as your twenty-second floor.

※ However, if you fail the mission, the twenty-second floor will not open.

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That's right.

That constellation was none other than a bibliomaniac who was a fan of worlds.

"So..."

I slowly began to speak.

"You don't like the endings, so you want us to write the books for you?"

"Precisely!"

The librarian beamed.

"I do hope you will satisfy my reading tastes!"

To [remake] the endings of worlds for this bibliomaniac.

That was our mission.