Chapter 57 - Bibliomania (2)

The hunters sat in a circle in the library.

"..."

"Hmm..."

They formed a wide ring around hundreds of [apocalypses] piled in the center. We had to choose one of them now, but no one dared approach the books.

Naturally. Only moments ago, a book had devoured their companions. Fifty of them, no less. Everyone was frightened or despondent.

Wouldn't you have to be one hell of a lunatic to laugh cheerfully in a situation like this?

"Ahaha!"

Amazingly, just such a lunatic was present.

"Fifty people eliminated right at the start. That's a painful loss."

A blond boy. By his own admission and everyone else's, one of the foremost lunatics in our world. The Inquisitor stroked his chin.

"But progress always entails sacrifice. We must never forget their sacrifice! And we must work all the harder to clear these stages!"

"..."

"Let's cheer up! We nearly lost a hundred people, so it's tremendous good fortune that we only lost fifty. Instead of mourning what we've lost, we should rejoice in what we've preserved!"

The longer the Inquisitor spoke, the uglier the mood became.

Bookmark maids were still wandering around us. They served hot coffee and black tea from who knew where, but of the 250 hunters, only the Inquisitor eagerly accepted a cup with an "Ah! Thank you!"

"Hmm?"

The Inquisitor tilted his head as he sipped his tea.

"Aren't you having any, everyone? It's quite delicious, you know?"

"First..."

I cut him off. Nothing good could come of letting a psychopath keep talking.

"Inquisitor, keep your mouth shut for a bit."

"Pardon? Why?"

"The more you talk, the lower our morale gets. You're killing our motivation. If morale drops any further, we'll really be in trouble, so shut up until I say you can speak."

"Ah, that would indeed be serious."

The Inquisitor beamed.

"Understood, Death King! I'll gladly shut up!"

The hunters looked back and forth between the Inquisitor and me in disbelief.

Don't look at me like that. I'd just gotten a feel for how to handle that lunatic.

"Now."

I deliberately raised my voice, hoping to change the mood.

"I'm sure everyone understands by now that we can't recklessly attack that constellation. For the moment, we have no choice but to quietly follow the Librarian's quest."

The hunters slowly turned their attention to me.

Instinctively, I felt the pressure, but swallowed it down.

'I'm ranked third now.'

The hunter with the third most influential voice here!

I had to become as comfortable with people's attention as I was with breathing. Keeping my face utterly expressionless, I spoke.

"But following the quest doesn't necessarily put us at a disadvantage. Everyone, please take a look at your quest window."

At my words, the hunters gazed into empty space. They would be seeing the same hologram I was.

[Remake the World. Volume 1]

Difficulty: Undetermined

Mission Objective: There are countless worlds, and countless destructions. The constellation 'Shut-In Librarian' calls this discontinuation. The Shut-In Librarian wishes for worlds whose stories were discontinued for unreasonable reasons to resume their stories.

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.

"Finished reading?"

The hunters nodded. Some even answered, "Yes." Was this the effect of making the Inquisitor shut up? It looked as though no one would challenge my authority for a while.

"The most important part is near the end. [If you succeed in saving the world, that world will be registered as your twenty-second floor.] Does everyone understand what that means?"

The hunters looked puzzled.

They still didn't understand what an enormous reward this was.

I said, "The reward can vary enormously depending on which world we save. Let's say we save a world with huge diamond deposits! Then that world becomes our twenty-second floor."

"...!"

The hunters' expressions began to change dramatically.

"Diamonds are just an example. People living in the Tower like us don't need those stupid chunks of coal. But what about a world rich in food, water, and all kinds of mineral deposits?"

"Self-sufficiency..." the Witch murmured. "We really could become self-sufficient."

"Exactly."

I rose and walked toward the pile in the center—the apocalypses the Librarian had selected for us to choose from.

"H-hey! Death King!" Viper shouted behind me. "Touch those without permission, and that tentacle monster will...!"

I picked up an apocalypse at random. The hunters squealed and squeezed their eyes shut. Some even fled, afraid the tentacle monster would spring out again.

But one second passed, then two, then three, and nothing happened. The apocalypse rested quietly in my hand like an ordinary book.

"H-huh?"

Viper cautiously opened his one eye.

"Nothing's happening...?"

"Hehe."

The Librarian laughed, bobbing in midair.

"Indeed! Unless I exercise my power, apocalypses are no more than ordinary books. Of course, there are forbidden books that are dangerous even to touch. But those are sealed away in the deepest recesses, so do not worry."

"Hmm."

I nodded. When I opened the book in my hand, another hologram appeared.

It displayed information about the book.

[Tales of Sormwin Academy]

Genre: Romance, Fantasy

Difficulty: Rank D

Participant Limit: 4–5

※ Currently discontinued.

Introduction: Sormwin is a magic academy with a long and distinguished history. It is an ordinary academy filled with friendship and rivalry, love and jealousy. This apocalypse could have remained an ordinary school story, too. If only an artifact capable of destroying the world hadn't been sealed beneath the academy!

Reason for Discontinuation: The villainous noble lady loses her fiancé (the crown prince) to a female student reincarnated into her second life. She goes berserk and breaks the artifact's seal, releasing an archdemon that destroys the world.

"..."

The reason for discontinuation—in other words, the cause of the world's destruction—was downright pitiful. Worlds destroyed by meteors or tidal waves were better off.

'Poor things. An entire world destroyed over some kids' romantic squabble...'

No wonder the Librarian was angry.

Think about it.

* * *

"Ah."

Like a crack forming in a blue gemstone, understanding began to seep into the crown prince's icy eyes.

The long misunderstanding that had kept them apart finally melted away, now that she had lived through a second life.

"My other half was here all along. Lady Sylvia. You were my other half."

Murmuring as though with a sigh, the crown prince sank to one knee. Sylvia held her breath in silence, sobbing in her heart.

Without realizing it, they both understood that they would never forget this moment until the day they died.

At that very moment, the crown prince exploded with a bang.

"Huh?"

The next moment, Sylvia exploded as well.

What reached her fading consciousness was a jumble of screams.

"Aaaah!"

"A demon! A demon has appeared!"

"How unfortunate."

The world.

This was the moment it ended.

* * *

Imagine a romance novel you'd been engrossed in suddenly ending with this crap. Any reader would be pissed off.

That was bad enough for a novel. How much worse would it be for a real world?

'Anyway.'

That wasn't what mattered right now.

"Everyone! Come over and take a look at these books!" I called to the hunters. "Each book has a different difficulty and different contents. We need to pick out the ones we're capable of clearing, then identify which will benefit us the most if we clear them!"

A few hunters stood up. But the vast majority still did nothing but stare blankly at one another.

"Idiot. That's what you get for being so damned polite," the attendant spirit said. "Don't you know by now how bad these bastards are at listening? You've got 250 hunter heads to deal with. Two hundred and fifty. You could bark orders at those assholes and they might still not listen."

'Really?'

"Every time you level up, you hear [Your existence has become more distinct], right? Know what that means? [Your ego has grown stronger.] The higher a hunter's level, the fucking bigger their ego. They don't listen to a goddamn thing."

I see.

I unleashed a lion's roar infused with aura.

"There are hundreds of apocalypses! How the hell am I supposed to read them all myself? Get over here and read!"

They flinched.

Only then did the hunters who'd been glued to their seats awkwardly rise.

"Everyone, listen!"

I kept the orders coming.

"We're splitting into groups. Anyone who's read a few novels or history books, to the left! Anyone who knows absolutely nothing about novels or history, to the right! Move! Hurry!"

The hunters picked up their pace, surging into two groups.

"Readers, split up by your favorite genre! Romance fans, form a romance group! Fantasy fans, a fantasy group! Mystery fans, a separate mystery group! Hurry!"

At last, the library grew a little busy. Under my direction, the hunters began scurrying about.

"Now, we're all going to read!"

I tapped the apocalypse I was holding.

"We'll sort these hundreds of books by genre and distribute them. The romance group will read romance books. The other groups will read through their respective genres, too! As you read, decide whether each book is a flop or a hit."

"Mmph! Mmph!"

The Inquisitor waved his arm eagerly. He was still keeping his mouth shut as ordered.

"... Yes, go ahead."

"Death King! I don't know what constitutes a flop! Please explain the criteria! Is a good story a hit, and a bad story a shitty flop?"

"No, not at all."

I opened an apocalypse to show him.

"For example, this is a flop."

[Surviving a Volcano!]

Genre: Survival, Romance

Difficulty: Rank D

Participant Limit: 2

※ Currently discontinued.

Introduction: This world has been devastated by nuclear war. Yet humanity's tenacity is astonishing! The protagonist and their lover have survived even on the war-ravaged surface. After overcoming every kind of hardship and adversity, the couple vows to become a new Adam and Eve.

Reason for Discontinuation: On their final day, the protagonists happen to camp in an active volcanic region. The volcano erupts during the night. Rocks hurled from the volcano strike and kill both the protagonist and their lover. Humanity goes extinct.

In a grim voice, I said, "Not just an ordinary flop. An absolute shitshow."

"Why?"

The Inquisitor tilted his head.

"A new Adam and Eve. Isn't that wonderfully romantic?"

"Saving this world is pointless. It's already been through a nuclear war."

I sighed and closed the book.

"What would we do with a twenty-second floor crawling with radiation? Get radiation poisoning and die together?"

"Aha."

Incidentally, in the past, the Flame Emperor had cleared the Great Library in a truly astounding way.

For every floor from twenty-two to twenty-nine, he had chosen worlds covered in [lava] or [volcanoes].

'Crazy bastard.'

The Flame Emperor was immune to fire. Even in a hellish world of flowing lava and erupting volcanoes, he could take a leisurely stroll.

He'd selected apocalypses based solely on [how easily they could be cleared]. He hadn't given the slightest thought—not even a tiny bit—to which apocalypses would benefit us if saved.

'Play our cards right, and we could get eight whole treasure troves!'

Honestly, a bastard who lived only to admire himself was no help at all. In the end, everyone else living in the Tower paid the price.

'This time, I'll pick only apocalypses we can milk for all they're worth.'

Apocalypses teeming with monsters that would give hunters useful combat experience. Apocalypses full of rare minerals. Apocalypses set in ruins packed with precious artifacts. Apocalypses where sweet-and-spicy fried chicken and sweet-and-sour pork frolicked through forests, and fried shrimp danced in the sea.

No, scratch that last one. It would be pretty terrifying if it actually existed.

Anyway!

"Remember! It doesn't matter whether the story is shit!" I shouted as I handed out books. "Don't worry about infuriating protagonists or plots that make no sense. Just read! Read from beginning to end and work out whether saving that world would benefit all of us..."

I faltered, stopping in the middle of handing out books.

One hunter met my eyes.

"... Excuse me, Black Dragon leader?"

"Yes? What is it?"

It was the Witch.

Slowly, I spoke.

"This is the [Mystery] group."

A gathering of people who regularly enjoyed mystery novels. For some reason, the Witch was sitting there with perfect confidence.

Hadn't her character window said she was a romance fan?

"I know."

She nodded as though it were obvious.

"You don't think I sat down without knowing where I was, do you?"

"Uh... Black Dragon leader, you like mysteries?"

"Of course."

SLURP

The Witch demurely sipped her black coffee.

"I'm an intellectual woman."

"..."

Holy shit.

Why was this guild leader suddenly pretending to be normal? She liked drama and romance. She was obviously the sort of reader who went wild for outrageous romantic melodrama.

'Don't tell me.'

Something dawned on me.

'She doesn't want people to know she's a romance fangirl...?'

Come to think of it, the [Romance] group was unusually small. There wasn't even a single man in it. By contrast, for some reason the [Martial Arts Fiction] group was packed with men.

I'd wager fewer than a handful of them actually read martial arts fiction.

'Wow.'

My mind went blank.

'They're keeping up appearances even in this situation?'

"I told you," the attendant spirit grumbled. "High-level hunters live on pride alone. And these assholes all have epithets, too. They'd rather die than lose face. Didn't you see those fifty idiots charge off on a suicide mission together? They're all crazy bastards."

This was going to drive me insane.

"But, Black Dragon leader... Even so, this is a bit..."

"Even so, what?" the Witch asked calmly.

Her impassive face felt like an impregnable fortress. Desperately searching for something to say, I continued slowly.

"No... I've always thought you were a very romantic person... So it's a little surprising to see you in mystery rather than romance..."

The Witch's fingers paused around her coffee cup.

"Hmm, really?"

Her voice sounded exactly as it always did.

"Do I seem like someone who belongs in romance?"

"Yes. Actually, seeing you anywhere else feels a little strange... Almost like you're wearing clothes that don't suit you..."

"Ah."

The Witch set down her cup and stood.

"Well, if you insist, Death King, I suppose I have no choice. I've never read a romance novel in my life, but all right. Perhaps I'll take this opportunity to acquaint myself with a new genre. A proper hunter should always challenge herself with something new."

"Very wise words..."

"Yes. All right."

The Witch headed toward the romance group with light steps, like a cowboy walking off into the wilderness in a Western.

All I could do was watch her go with extremely mixed feelings.

"Remarkable, Death King!"

The Inquisitor looked up at me with shining eyes. He, too, was sitting in the mystery group.

"Once the Black Dragon leader sits down somewhere, she rarely budges. Ahaha. What a remarkable newcomer we've gained!"

"... Master of the Pantheon, do you read mystery novels, too?"

The Inquisitor beamed like an angel.

"I know Sherlock Holmes!"

"..."

"Oh, and I know Dr. Watson, too."

I quietly recited the command in my mind.

'Character window.'

Letters smoothly appeared before my eyes.

Name: Inquisitor

Affinity: 50

Preferred Genres: [Fairy Tales] [Myths] [Legends]

Disliked Genres: None

Preferred Characters: [Humans]

Disliked Characters: None

Preferred Plots: [The Greatest Happiness for the Greatest Number]

Disliked Plots: None

Mental State: 'I know Sherlock Holmes! Oh, and I know Dr. Watson, too.'

Holy shit.

Goose bumps rose on my skin.

'His outward behavior and inner thoughts are exactly the same?'

What's more, there wasn't a single thing he disliked or hated.

'Is this guy really human?'

Shock and horror.

A pure, natural-born crazy psycho.

"Hmm? What's wrong, Death King?"

The crazy psycho tilted his head.

I considered how to respond for a moment. Then I took a marker from inside my clothes and wrote on the back of his hand.

[Fairy Tales]

With a solemn expression, I said, "Inquisitor."

"Yes!"

"From now on, you're in the fairy-tale group."

"Fairy tales!"

"Yes. You're the only member of this group. You'll have to examine and evaluate every book assigned to it all by yourself."

"Oh! What a weighty responsibility!"

The crazy psycho's eyes sparkled. I nodded.

"Yes, very weighty. I'm counting on you."

"Ahaha. Don't worry, Death King! I'll evaluate them thoroughly!"

Right.

Not that there would be a single fairy tale among these hundreds of apocalypses.

I searched thoroughly for any other hunters pretending to be normal. The results were astounding. Over a hundred of the 250 were lying about their reading tastes.

'These crazy bastards...'

In the end, dividing the groups alone took three hours. I had sent no fewer than 112 pretenders to their proper places.

But even I... couldn't say a word when I reached the last one.

Name: Viper

Affinity: 32

Preferred Genres: [Otherworld Stories], [Overpowered Protagonists], [Rampaging Protagonists], [Harem]...

Disliked Genres: [Politics], [Crime]

Preferred Characters: [Older Women], [Younger Sisters], [Married Women], [Innocents], [Coy Girls], [Cross-Dressing Pretty Boys]...

Disliked Characters: [Mafia], [Gangsters], [Blond, Tanned Delinquents]

Preferred Plots: [Summoned to Another World, I Turn Out to Be a Total Cheat Character Descended from the Strongest Dragon on Earth and the Strongest Empress of the Demon Realm, So I'll Show You What It Means to Be Unrivaled—Got a Problem with That?], [It Seems My Little Sister Has Become a Creator God for My Sake, but as an Ordinary High School Student Who Only Wants a Quiet Life, I Find This Rather Troublesome], and so on, including [Cheats], [Unrivaled Power], [Harem], [Good Grief, I Suppose I'll Have to Step In]...

Disliked Plots: [Cuckoldry]

Mental State: *'Wow, fuck. What the hell are the Nine Great Sects and One Gang? Why is martial arts fiction like this? Every line I read is the Beggars' Sect or escort guards, nothing but sweaty fucking men. Shit. Don't they have any consideration for the reader?'*

This person wore a patch over one eye.

This person was a swordsman known as the Heavenly Martial Sect's leader.

This person... was the emperor of light novels.

"Huh?"

Viper turned toward me.

"What? What are you looking at? I'm busy reading."

And Viper was sitting in the [Martial Arts Fiction] group.

"Nothing..."

I simply couldn't bring myself to say anything.

"Sorry for interrupting your reading. Please, carry on..."

"All right."

I turned away and trudged off.