Chapter 19 - Raphdonia (3)

“Then I’ll be going.”

“Oh, okay... Goodbye...”

After parting with Erwin, I headed straight for the library.

The soothing smell of paper and ink. An atmosphere so quiet you felt obliged to hold in even a cough.

Watching all the scrawny people browsing the shelves, I felt like the only one who didn’t belong...

SNOOOORE!

Surprisingly, there was another barbarian in the library besides me.

Glad to see a familiar face, I walked over and poked her in the back.

“B-Bjorn, son of Jandel?!”

I knew it was you.

Aynar, the second or third daughter of Pheneline.

“Glad to see you made it back in one piece.”

“You too!”

“... You might want to lower your voice.”

Aynar must have felt everyone’s stares boring into her, because she lowered her voice.

“Sorry. I suppose I was startled. I never expected to see another of our kind here.”

That made two of us.

“What brings you to the library?”

“Didn’t you tell me last time to always think before acting? While I was wandering around the Labyrinth, I thought that I needed knowledge in order to think.”

Hmm, I see.

That was rather admirable.

Or it would have been, if she hadn’t been snoring over an open book.

“Sounds like something happened in the Labyrinth.”

“It was hard from beginning to end. Fighting wasn’t a problem, but...”

Aynar continued with a bitter expression.

“Monsters weren’t the only things I had to watch out for.”

She certainly seemed a little different from the other barbarians. All they’d done was brag about how easily they’d beaten monsters.

They wouldn’t admit they’d struggled if it killed them.

“So you decided to study here.”

“Yes. But I really don’t think this sort of thing suits me. Reading is so difficult. I should have learned properly as a child.”

... Oh, so that’s where the problem starts?

“That’s why I intend to visit the sanctuary starting today and have the elders teach me to read again. Though now that I’m an adult, I’ll have to pay.”

Still, it was a little surprising that some offhand advice from me could change someone this much.

Aynar closed the book she’d left open and stood up.

“You’re going right now?”

“If I don’t do it when I think of it, I’ll forget.”

I see.

The more I learned about this race, the sadder they seemed.

“Then I’ll be off.”

After a brief goodbye, Aynar headed for the exit, then turned back as if she’d just remembered something.

“Oh! Come to think of it, I promised to repay you for your advice if I returned alive. If you need help with anything, come to the Angry Bull Inn. Whatever it is, I’ll do everything in my power to help.”

“I will.”

I could only hope she wouldn’t forget that promise in a day or two.

Because I had a feeling I’d be asking for her help soon.

* * *

After Aynar left, I spent a while looking around the library.

After all, an entire building the size of the National Assembly devoted to a library wasn’t something you saw every day.

Even in the game, the library had only displayed an “Under Construction” sign, and you couldn’t enter.

Hmm, but how was I supposed to find a book here?

It wasn’t as if I could tap a few keys and get its location like in the modern world...

Rather than stand around wondering, I decided to ask for help.

“Ahem.”

At my cough, the librarian dozing at the desk slowly opened her eyes.

“How may I help you?”

“I’m looking for books. Something about history...”

“Farcitiev.”

Before I could even explain what kind of book I wanted, the sleepy-faced librarian murmured that word.

At the same time, a faint light sank into my body.

What? Was that magic?

“If you walk around now, you’ll find the books you’re looking for. You can’t check them out, and please make sure to return them to their original places when you’re finished.”

Once the light faded, the librarian delivered those mechanical instructions and went right back to nodding off.

... What was this woman’s deal?

For some reason, I didn’t feel like waking her again, so I wandered around the library as instructed.

As I did, I spotted books here and there that seemed to exert a peculiar pull on me.

It didn’t take long to get a sense of how the magic worked.

Evil spirits, history, the Labyrinth, explorers, Essences, and so on.

Every time I changed the keyword in my mind, the books drawing me toward them changed too.

‘What ridiculously convenient magic.’

With magic like this, it made sense that there was only one librarian. Besides, the number of visitors was practically nothing compared to the library’s size.

I selected the books that drew me most strongly and opened them one by one.

[The Ruined World]

The first book I opened, nearly seven hundred pages long, recounted this world’s early history.

Most of it matched the game.

Thousands of years ago, a witch’s curse had made this land uninhabitable, and only Raphdonia, the last stronghold, had escaped the catastrophe.

With limited resources leaving their subjects to starve, the royal family had opened a passage to another dimension.

That passage had become the Labyrinth of today.

[Alchemy's Basics Annotated IV]

The second book described the processes by which magic crystals from monsters became bread, water, and steel.

Though I couldn’t understand any of the principles behind it.

I read everything I could get my hands on, cramming knowledge into my head.

[Sacred War III]

Thanks to that, I learned in greater detail why barbarians and elves had their current relationship, as well as what evil spirits were.

People understood evil spirits to be wicked beings that crossed over from another dimension and stole bodies.

Well, when you put it that way, were they really wrong?

[Evil Spirits of the Abyss]

Unfortunately, this book didn’t explain why evil spirits appeared.

It did, however, go into considerable detail about how Raphdonia’s royal family and the temple had declared evil spirits targets for extermination, and the efforts they’d made toward that end.

From an evil spirit’s perspective, these were some fucking great tips.

According to the book, as long as I didn’t utter any forbidden words, there was almost no chance I’d be suspected of being an evil spirit.

[Dungeon and Stone], for example.

... I’d better rein in the shouts of “Sparta,” too.

[How Have Explorers Evolved?]

[The Twins of Raphdonia’s Royal Family]

[On Heroes]

[The Life of Bifron the Camp Warden]

After continuing to read book after book, I finally found the information I wanted.

[On the Death of the King]

This book covered the death of Lavigion III, known as the First King, or the Immortal King.

But I didn’t care about the various suspicions surrounding his death or the changes it had brought about.

What mattered to me was when it had happened.

Let’s see, the date...

“A hundred and fifty years ago...?”

That was the moment my hypothesis was proven correct.

The date of the king’s death given in the book was roughly a hundred and fifty years ago.

In other words, the world I was in now was a hundred and fifty years in the future relative to the game.

Because no matter which race you chose, the game began the day after Lavigion III’s death.

Damn it.

I’d practically have to live in the library for a while.

“Whew...”

I closed the book and gave my eyes a brief rest.

Even if I’d only read the important parts, I’d gone through ten whole books. My eyes felt like they were splitting apart.

Still, I decided to finish the remaining two books I’d taken out.

Just a little more. There might be something important in them.

[Dimension’s Instability Observation Records]

Was this the book the blond man who’d saved me when I was crawling on three limbs had read?

It contained cases similar to mine, along with statistics.

Just as he’d said, being dropped in the outermost region supposedly happened once a century, if that...

“Bullshit.”

Speaking from experience, cases like that must have been far more common.

People just didn’t know because nearly everyone fucking died.

Since the rest was mostly statistics, I skimmed through the pages, only to pause at the last one.

At the end, the author offered a hypothesis: “Entering a portal at the moment it closes may be related to dimensional instability.”

If that was true...

Then it was my own fault after all.

Let’s move on before I get depressed.

[The Complete Compendium of Grade 9 Essences]

Finally, the last book.

It cataloged the abilities of Essences dropped by Grade 9 monsters like an encyclopedia, but unlike the game’s descriptions, it didn’t provide exact numbers.

[Goblin]

Patience (Low) Smell (Low) Poison Tolerance (Low) Dexterity (Low) Sight (Low)

*Constantly applies paralytic poison when using melee weapons.

*Creates traps.

Looking over the other monsters, it seemed that stats of twenty-one or higher were labeled Medium...

But I had no way to determine the threshold for High.

According to the notice on the first page, information on Grade 8 and above had to be purchased from the Explorer Guild.

“Whew...”

I closed the book and stretched a little.

At some point, it had grown dark outside.

There were hardly any visitors left, either. The library must have been getting ready to close.

After putting every book I’d read back in its place, I returned to the inn.

Then I had a simple meal and collapsed onto the bed.

And so ended my third day in the city.

“Twenty-seven days left...”

The Labyrinth opened at midnight on the first of every month.

A month here was exactly thirty days, meaning I’d have to enter the Labyrinth again in about four weeks.

“...”

What could I do in the city during the time I had left?

No, what should I do?

As I sorted through various thoughts, drowsiness quickly washed over me.

Tomorrow, I’d start by finding a new companion.

* * *

“Mister! Mister! Wake up!”

Erwin came knocking on my door first thing in the morning.

Leaving aside how excited she sounded...

‘Why on earth is she here?’

Surely she wasn’t going to tell me she wanted to come with me instead of her sister now.

Honestly, I’d thought we had no further business with each other.

“What is it?”

“Look! I made a contract!”

The moment I opened the door, Erwin blurted that out without any explanation.

“A contract? Oh, did you use a ‘spirit stone’?”

Spirit stones were items that allowed elves to form contracts with spirits of other elements.

Provided the user was lucky.

“Yes! After we parted yesterday, I managed to form a contract with a new spirit!”

“You were lucky.”

In the game, a spirit stone cost around 150,000 Stone.

The success rate was only ten percent.

For her, it must have been a gamble that meant throwing in practically everything she owned. And she’d actually succeeded?

“Yes! My sister bought them for me, and it worked after about ten tries!”

... Fuck, had she come here to rub it in?

As a barbarian born with a muscle spoon rather than a silver one, whose only inheritance was this body, I could only feel deprived.

When we first met, she’d said something about having a younger sibling to look after, so I’d thought she had it rough. But now that I looked, she was as privileged as they came.

Her sister had probably bought her that bow, too.

“Anyway, it looks like you contracted with a wind spirit.”

“Yes! I was lucky in all sorts of ways. Fire and wind work well together!”

“All right, now dismiss it.”

I spoke with a deep sigh.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t jealous, but that wasn’t why.

“Huh? But I haven’t really shown you yet...”

“Do you intend to make an even bigger mess in here?”

“Oh, oh! I’m sorry!”

Only then did the swirling wind die down.

Ugh, what was all this chaos the moment I woke up?

When I frowned, Erwin’s excitement gave way to an expression of belated realization, and she began watching my reaction.

“I-I’ll clean it up?”

I didn’t know why that was a question.

Had she been planning to make me do it?

When I nodded, Erwin quickly tidied the wrecked room.

Surprisingly, it took her less than ten minutes.

She’d said last time that she was good at laundry and cleaning. Apparently, she’d meant it.

Not a single movement was wasted.

Like a master out of a martial arts novel.

“Should I clean some more?”

“...”

“I’ll clean some more...”

“No. This is enough.”

Honestly, I wasn’t sure it was even possible to clean any more.

Somehow, the room looked cleaner now than when I’d first checked in.

She’d done well, so I should give her a little reward.

Besides, I had something to ask of her later.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t said this yet. Congratulations on your contract with a new spirit.”

“Hehe, thank you!”

“Have you had breakfast?”

“Not yet.”

Since she hadn’t eaten, we went downstairs and continued talking over breakfast.

“What can you do with a wind spirit?”

“I think I can slightly alter an arrow’s path after firing it, or make it fly much faster. Things like that!”

Compared to what I’d expected, those were rather one-dimensional applications.

Couldn’t she spin an arrow to improve its penetration, or silence the sound of it being fired?

If she could, her combat effectiveness would improve considerably.

“Oh, I hadn’t thought of those... But I suppose they might work?”

What was with that tone?

For some reason, it annoyed me.

“Anyway, I’m glad you came. If you’re done eating, let’s head back up.”

“Huh? Why?”

“We have something to do in my room.”

Erwin tilted her head.

She looked as though she had absolutely no idea what I meant...

“Surely you didn’t think what you did last time repaid your debt in full?”

“H-huh? It didn’t?”

She really did have an innocent side.

CLICK.

After locking the door so no one could enter, I sat Erwin down on the bed.

“Now, try using your Ability.”

Whether using the skill exhausted her, how long it took before she could use it again, what hidden weaknesses her stealth ability had, and so on.

There was a mountain of things to check.