Chapter Two: Library Search
A mirror close to the entrance to the Ancient Labyrinth Library started to glow, and then my party and I leapt out from it.
“Looks like we made it,” I said.
“It seems you’ve mastered control of them at will . . . but it feels a bit different from a transport skill, doesn’t it?” Raphtalia commented. I just nodded. I’d used Transport Mirror to get here, which seemed like a unique skill for the mirror vassal weapon . . . but there was something that felt a bit odd about it. It wasn’t like I had much choice right now, anyway—even with access to Scroll of Return or Return Dragon Vein, I couldn’t use Portal Shield. I was just going to have to make do with these slightly more annoying skills until I could finally regain use of my shield.
Knowing that most of the holy weapons from this world had been captured continued to leave a bad taste in my mouth. The holy weapons were like the pillars that supported the world, and so having three of them in enemy hands was not good. Even worse, that had also led to the holy weapons from other worlds being sealed away. In regard to that point, Rishia used one of the seven star weapons, so maybe we should have brought her along. Too late now, anyway.
“Wow . . . that’s a lot of books,” Sadeena breathed.
“You said it. The library in Q’ten Lo has nothing on this place,” Shildina added. Both of the killer whale sisters were looking around, eyes wide, like they just swam in from the boonies.
“I have returned,” Ethnobalt proclaimed, to which a bunch of nearby library rabbits hopped over. They twitched their noses and seemed to be discussing something with Ethnobalt.
“Yes. Thank you for looking after everything while I was gone. Of course. I completely understand,” Ethnobalt said.
“Who’s that I see there . . . hey!” Just as we were about to start into the Ancient Labyrinth Library, someone called out and so I turned around—to see Altorese. This guy was another ally of Kizuna’s, a merchant—or more like an information broker. He had a pretty androgynous appearance, probably more suited to being a poet or something along those lines. In our world, he would have held a position much like a slave trader.
“I heard that we had some heroes from another world over. I guessed it might be you and your crew, Naofumi,” Alto said.
“Nice to see you again. Have you not heard that we rescued Kizuna?” I asked him.
“Of course, and I’ve been in touch. Your friends were really on the ropes for a moment there! It might sound cold-hearted, but I was seriously thinking about cutting all ties to avoid getting dragged down myself.” Alto’s tone was light, but Glass gave him a real glare as he spoke. Merchants were loyal to money, first and foremost. They went where the wind blew rather than resist it. “That said, it’s not like I’ve been selling information to their enemies either,” Alto assured us.
“You sure about that?” I asked, only half joking. He replied with nothing but a chuckle.
“Which is it?” Glass was less inclined to stay quiet on the matter. “Depending on your answer, you may feel more than just my wrath.” Raphtalia was also nodding at these words. The jokes of a free-spirited merchant clearly didn’t mix with the two deadly serious girls.
“That response meant that he’s done nothing of the sort. If you get all serious when interacting with a merchant, they will just mock you to pieces. Trust me,” I told them.
“You do know a lot of merchants, don’t you, Mr. Naofumi?” Raphtalia said. That sounded like a really loaded statement from her, but I wasn’t about to get into that now.
“Alto, tell us what you’re doing here,” I said, moving on.
“I’m here for a periodic survey of the place. Kizuna has requested a long-term survey of this whole library thing. I’ve hired some adventurers who are in there as we speak, getting the job done,” he informed us. It sounded like they were surveying the labyrinth, then, in an endeavor sponsored by Alto. This was a place packed with a serious volume of knowledge, after all.
“Have you found much of anything yet?” I asked.
“Regrettably, what with the wars and the waves, there aren’t many adventurers showing up anymore. Best I’ve been able to do is sell off materials—at grossly inflated prices—to those who do stop by,” Alto admitted. Business as usual, then.
“Tell me, did you see a bit of a flashy redhead, an arrogant guy in a suit of nobleman-looking armor, and a woman who looks like a bigger version of this girl here?” I asked while pointing at S’yne.
“Mr. Naofumi, I’m not sure that’s enough information for him to go on,” Raphtalia said.
“Right, you mean those three who L’Arc put a bounty on after that little encounter you all had? There are descriptions of them going around, but I definitely haven’t seen them,” Alto replied. Raphtalia looked at Glass and nodded. It sounded like information was getting around.
“I wondered if the descriptions we sent out would have got this far yet, but I clearly underestimated you, Alto,” Glass said.
“When the wind is blowing, you can bet I’m riding it,” he replied, almost making being a complete opportunist sound like something to be proud of.
“Oh my,” said Sadeena, looking at Alto. Without Therese here, Sadeena probably didn’t understand much of what we were saying, so it seemed wiser to me if she just kept her mouth closed. “Oh my, oh my!” Perhaps noticing Sadeena’s gaze and attitude, for some reason Alto looked at me, seeking backup. Shildina also seemed to have noticed something and tilted her head while pointing at Alto.
“Is he the same as Keel?” she asked.
“Huh? Keel?” I replied. Why would she think Alto was the same as Keel? “Where exactly do you see similarities between that greedy little puppy and Alto here?”
“This is all your fault, Mr. Naofumi.” Raphtalia rounded on me. “It pains me deeply that people can say whatever they want about Keel, and you’ve created that environment.”
“Little Shildina. Sometimes it can be kinder to pretend not to notice something,” Sadeena said—but she had made quite the show of noticing it herself! Whatever “it” was!
“I’m sorry, why are they all pointing at me and what are they talking about? I don’t even understand the language they are speaking,” Alto said, somewhat flustered.
“The killer whale sisters here are saying that you’re the same as this little doggy we know, Keel, who kinda walks the line between being a boy and being a girl,” I told him. Alto’s smiling face suddenly gave an unexpected twitch. “Dammit, Alto . . . are you a woman?” I asked. He was pretty slender to be a guy and definitely had a feminine side to him . . . Keel was proving to be a successful merchant back in the village, so if Alto shared the same gender question mark, the two of them would really start to overlap in my mind.
“Huh?” Glass and Ethnobalt, meanwhile, were looking at Alto with puzzled expressions.
“Whatever are you talking about? You think I’m a woman? If you want to make a joke, at least try to make it a believable one!” His merchant’s smile was quickly back in place, but that just made it all the more suspicious. Then there were the killer whale sisters! I couldn’t help but wonder how they had seen through his masculinity so quickly.
“It doesn’t really matter if Alto is a guy or a girl. Let’s just put that aside and move on,” I said.
“That would be a big help for me, no doubt, but I presume you want some information?” Alto asked.
“Even you can’t possibly know that once we freed Kizuna from her paralysis, she was corrupted by a curse. And so, we’ve come here to find a way to treat her,” I replied.
“Sounds like you’ve got a pretty serious problem on your hands. This place certainly is a repository for information from around the world . . . and they also copy and replicate documents here, so it’s definitely a good place to search,” Alto told us.
“Do you want to come with us?” I asked.
“I’ll be waiting here, thank you very much. I don’t like to get my hands dirty—or bloody, at least,” he replied with a smile. He was a merchant, after all. His was a different battlefield.
“Let’s head into the Ancient Labyrinth Library,” Ethnobalt said, leading us deeper into the building. We soon came to what looked like fairly provisional facilities: something that looked like an inn and then a tavern. I remembered seeing a row of shops in here before. Proceeding further inside, we came to a pretty fearsome-looking door. Beyond here lay the stairs down to the underground.
“Beyond here lies a labyrinth created by an ancient civilization. As I’m sure you are aware, Naofumi, it is an extremely dangerous place, so please steel your hearts before we enter,” Ethnobalt explained, perhaps laying it on a bit thick.
“I’ve got a parting gift for you all,” Alto said, passing us discs that looked like CDs. These were the same kinds of tools that Kizuna had used previously in the never-ending labyrinth. So they could be used here too. “Do you know how to use them?” he asked.
“I have some idea. They can take you to a registered spot inside the labyrinth, right?” I said.
“That makes this easier, then. Ethnobalt . . . do you have any idea where the book you are looking for is located?” Alto asked.
“Give me a moment.” Ethnobalt gripped the book vassal weapon, spreading its pages out around us and focusing his concentration. It looked like he was using some kind of power of the book vassal weapon.
“The book has increased the accuracy of my ability to search,” Ethnobalt explained. “It’s a big help. That said . . . our desired item appears to be pretty deep down.”
“That might work out, then,” Alto said brightly. “Those tools I gave you will currently take you to the deepest floor that we have reached. There’s a door there that I wanted to get Kizuna to try and open—I’d appreciate it if you could give that a try. If it still won’t open, just take the other path you see there.”
These tools really were going to help us out.
He continued. “I’ll also try collecting information on the people you are looking for and anyone else acting suspiciously. Having said that, we have gathered quite a lot of information already.”
“Do you mean . . . about the harpoon vassal weapon hero?” Glass asked, to which Alto nodded. They say the one who controls the flow of information can control the world . . . but I had to wonder just how much information would sate Alto.
Even if we knew the location of S’yne’s sister, we still didn’t have any means to properly resist her. We needed to find any possible way to get even a little bit stronger—and in order to do that, we needed to heal Kizuna as quickly as we could.
“I need to say something else first,” Ethnobalt said. “Please do not use fire magic under any circumstances. That is one of the rules of the Ancient Labyrinth Library.” There had to be a good reason for that. In any case, I couldn’t use fire magic.
“Let’s get moving,” I said. Everyone nodded. We tossed out our discs together, and they started to spin and create pillars of light. Then the discs passed through their respective pillars, and we headed after them.
When I thought about this world just in the context of this scene, it really was like being inside a video game.
Passing through the pillars of light, we emerged into a kind of passageway almost completely buried in books. One of the books was even flying around in the air like a butterfly. It was a monster called a Demon Magic Book. I was pretty repulsed by it already, and then the flying book bared its fangs and attacked.
With a surprised gasp, I quickly incanted Stardust Mirror and created a barrier, but the book spread its pages and spat water.
“Hah!” Raphtalia drew her sword from her scabbard and unleashed a slice in Haikuikku before sheathing it again. That took care of the closest of the book monsters, but a reinforcement flock was already heading toward us. This was why you had to stay quiet in the library!
“Yah!” Now Glass whacked one of the books with her fan.
“Formation One: Glass Shield!” I let one of the incoming books bite onto my Glass Shield. The fragments of glass that broke off weakened it.
“Hah!” S’yne used her scissors to chop up the books. We seemed to be defeating them pretty easily.
“Little Naofumi! Flying books? These really are fun monsters!” Sadeena enthused, getting a bit excited again.
“This is the big city now! Stop acting like some kind of country bumpkin!” I told her. Shildina seemed to be taking things a bit more in stride.
“There’s a lot of them, so we’d better help out too!” Sadeena said.
“Count me in!” Shildina said.
“Just don’t go too wild,” I cautioned them. Sadeena proceeded to pierce a book with her harpoon, while Shildina imbued magic into an ofuda and then activated a spell. A blob of water emerged from the ofuda, drenching a book and finishing it off. From Ethnobalt’s warning, it seemed fire wasn’t allowed, but water was okay—I wasn’t sure about the criteria there.
“There are some pretty freaky monsters out there, huh?” I said. These things were almost like those balloon monsters. I flicked through the pages of a defeated one to see what was inside. It was written in a language I couldn’t read. Ethnobalt also picked one up.
“Are you going to copy that?” I asked him. This place was basically a locker of weapons for the book vassal weapon. There were countless potential weapons just lying around on the ground.
“. . . As I suspected, I can’t copy monsters. Also, books have quality and category ratings. Every single book isn’t handled as an individual weapon to be unlocked. Haven’t you seen that too, Naofumi? A weapon that turns into something else when it’s copied?” Ethnobalt asked.
“Yeah, I have,” I responded. One example was the Spirit Tortoise Carapace. Maybe because it was connected to the Spirit Tortoise Heart Shield, it had turned into something other than the weapon the old guy had made for me.
“It has to be a book functioning as a weapon, and also the content of the book makes a difference,” Ethnobalt explained.
“Hmmm . . . it’s that simple, is it?” I said. It sounded like I’d be fine putting one into the mirror, so I tried it. The result was a mirror that looked like a folded book with the name “Mirror Demon’s Book.” The unlocking effect was magic plus three. This category of monster looked like it would have multiple types. Appearance-wise, it overlapped with the Book Shield.
The monsters also dropped a material called “intellect powder.” Potions created using it could be sold for a large amount, and they had some kind of doping effect too. It was an item that was something like those seeds in that old RPG. Once per each material type, a hero could obtain levels just by unlocking the weapon from them. Even pennies can eventually become a fortune if you save enough of them. These were materials that adventurers who had reached the level cap hoarded like treasure. Maybe that explained why there were some pretty strong people in this world, even when those people didn’t have a vassal weapon. I wondered if I should be collecting them for enhancement myself. There was probably an upper limit in place.
I got my mind back on track and checked out my surroundings. Just as Alto had said, it looked like we had arrived at a fork in the road. One branch had a large door, which was locked. The other one was open to carry on.
“Are we going through this large locked door?” I asked.
“Yes. That’s what Alto seemed to suggest—that maybe Kizuna could open it,” Glass said.
“So we’re here to rescue Kizuna, but we need Kizuna to do it? We’ll have to deal with that later. What’s down there?” I pointed at the path without the locked door.
“There’s a big maze down there. It hasn’t been completely explored yet,” Ethnobalt said.
“I’d say we’re in a pretty big maze already,” I commented. This place is a labyrinth, right? What is the difference? Additional pointless twists and dead ends?
“What’s beyond the door . . . is what I’m getting at. Why did Alto think Kizuna would be able to get inside?” I asked.
“Just take a look at the door,” Ethnobalt replied, pointing at large lettering written on it. It was pretty worn and I couldn’t really read it, but it looked like some kind of relief. I’d seen a similar relief—or symbol—back in our world. The Church of the Three Heroes—or actually, it was the Four Holy Pillars—had a symbol a bit like this.
“It says ‘four holies’ in ancient letters,” Ethnobalt revealed.
“I see. So the idea was that one of them might be able to open it?” I asked.
“That’s right,” he replied. There was a large gemstone in the place that looked like the lock. This definitely looked like something only one of the four holies could open. In that moment, the gemstone part of the mirror started to glow as though it was trying to say something.
This “something” was linked to my shield. Did that mean Atla’s consciousness was trying to impart something to me?
“Do you think failing verification is going to trigger some kind of trap?” I asked.
“Honestly . . . I don’t know,” Ethnobalt admitted, somewhat reluctantly. I guess that was asking too much.
“We only just got here. If a monster comes out, we’ll just have to defeat it. If something happens we can’t handle, we can just leave,” I reasoned. S’yne was already prepping to leave at a moment’s notice. I stood in front of the large door and raised the mirror. The gemstone in the door started to glow and a shaft of light reached toward the mirror. Once that light reached the gemstone on the mirror, there was a clinking sound, the lock on the door unlocked, and the door swung heavily outward.
Another scene just ripped right from a video game.
“Looks like one of the holies from another world can still open it,” Raphtalia said.
“Probably any holy or vassal weapon user,” I said.
“It all seems to have worked out, sweet Naofumi, which is all that matters,” Shildina said.
“A little optimistic, but okay. Can’t you feel anything, Shildina? You can read stuff from old things, right?” I asked.
“Hmmm . . . unfortunately my precision has been falling a bit, and I’m not exactly omnipotent. This looks too old to extract any residual memories from—in fact, it’s not really something that would collect them anyway,” Shildina assessed. Okay, so that sounded like a complete bust.
“Let’s get moving,” I said.
“Sure . . . if you’re sure it’s safe,” Raphtalia said, worried.
“Raph,” said Raph-chan.
“Raph-chan is sensitive to these kinds of traps, right?” I confirmed. She struck a confident pose in response. This all looked legit to me. Just had to hope that things kept going this smoothly.
Beyond the door, we quickly reached some stairs that headed downward.
“Watch out for monsters,” Ethnobalt said, cautiously looking all around. “I’m also going to investigate our surroundings a little as we proceed. We might be able to find some useful information.”
“Sure thing,” I replied. As for the monsters . . . they looked like nothing we couldn’t handle. They were strong, but no match for some of the most powerful vassal weapon holders in this world. The only thing that did look of interest was what looked like a trashcan just casually placed along the path. It filled with what looked like a bunch of useful items. Glass and Ethnobalt said it was a treasure chest, but it really looked like a trashcan to me. There were other boxes that looked more like actual chests, that much was true, as well as little tricks and gimmicks with a treasure-hunt kind of vibe to them.
I looked at one of the bookshelves on the wall.
“With so many books, I bet there’s some juicy info on the waves somewhere in one of them,” I commented. Maybe something easier to understand than those ancient texts that even Rishia and Trash couldn’t decipher. “Just what kind of books can we expect to find down here?”
“Well . . . stories written by unknown authors, and all sorts of varied materials. There are even some books mixed in that current world administrations are not especially pleased about the existence of,” Ethnobalt explained. I gave a low whistle. I guess that came with the territory when talking about a library this size. “There’s also a whole bunch that are so encrypted there’s almost no way to read them at all.”
“They won’t be any help, then, even if they do talk about the waves,” I mused.
“No need to worry on that score. You have a library rabbit with you; I can get the general gist,” Ethnobalt replied.
“Really?” I questioned.
“Yes. I’m capable of determining if any texts that we encounter will suit our purposes or not,” Ethnobalt replied. I mean, there was a bird whose greatest pleasure was to pull a wagon, so I guessed there could also be a rabbit with a book-searching function. “On that note, having investigated the immediate vicinity, I don’t see anything that can be of any help to us, so let’s carry on. It feels like it is a little deeper inside.”
We continued onward, checking the books as we went.
In video games there were sometimes dungeons set in libraries, but I was now realizing that they really didn’t capture the utter banality of looking for that one needle-in-a-haystack book in real life. Even when we relied on Ethnobalt’s instincts, this was going to take quite a long time.
“Can’t we just push forward as deep as possible first and then search as we come back out?” I suggested.
“That’s not a bad idea . . . but we could easily walk right past the very thing that could end this entire expedition,” Ethnobalt reasoned, even as he took down a book, leafed through it, and then returned it to the shelf. As he did so, the books from a nearby shelf whirled up into the air, forming . . . a dinosaur . . . perhaps. No, a dragon. The monster’s name was “Magical Tome Dragon.” Now things were really getting a bit crazy. A dragon created from books! Was this some kind of joke?
“Another pile of books. Another dusty old monster. Let’s fight,” I said with dry enthusiasm.
“Here we go!” Raphtalia said, a lot more eagerly than me. The battle itself . . . was hardly worthy of mention. Another resounding victory. Ethnobalt picked up the book that had formed the most vital organ of the Magical Tome Dragon and checked its contents.
“. . . This one talks about the Demon Dragon. It also describes techniques it used through a complete understanding of the magic of the world to draw power from distant subordinates and form powerful magical spells,” Ethnobalt said.
“Yeah, I remember that guy,” I muttered. Back in our world, the Demon Dragon had taken over Gaelion, absorbed Filo, and then even hacked my shield.
“There’s a chance that my library rabbit search ability latched onto this book because the Demon Dragon knows the way to break the curse on Kizuna,” Ethnobalt mused. Then he wiped the dust from the book and placed it back on the shelf. The other books that had formed the dragon proceeded to also return to their shelves. Some of them were pretty beaten up now—I wondered for a moment if that would be a problem.
We continued to explore the labyrinth. However, the monsters that opposed us also continued to become stronger. We were still yet to face one that could break through my defenses, but Stardust Mirror was getting broken more often than when we arrived. It should be pretty enhanced by now . . . and S’yne was starting to breathe hard too . . . We clearly still were not up to full power in this world.
“Shall we take a short break?” I offered.
“Yes. That sounds like a good idea,” Raphtalia replied.
After finishing our little library camping trip, we started to explore the labyrinth again. Both sides of the way forward continued to be lined with bookshelves, which appeared to stretch off into infinity ahead of us. Every now and then we came to an open space stacked high with bookshelves all around or had to climb a ladder to continue. At other times we found ourselves turning left, then right, then left again, but with S’yne’s Ariadne’s Thread and the killer whale sisters’ ultrasound, we never got lost. Solving a maze was always easiest when looking at it from above. Expanding the range that could be seen, even just a little, could bring you closer to the exit. We also had Raphtalia and Raph-chan along, with their resistance to the kind of magical traps we were facing, so they were a big help too.
By the evening of our second day, however, I was really starting to wonder just how big this place was.
“Ethnobalt, is there still no sign of a book that could help cure Kizuna?” I asked. Ethnobalt proceeded to use his search skill again.
“We are getting very close,” he reported. “Just a little more, I think.” We proceeded to clear the maze and continued on a little further. Then Raph-chan, the killer whale sisters, and Ethnobalt all reacted at the same time to a bookshelf ahead of us.
“Raph!” said Raph-chan.
“Oh my?” said Sadeena.
“There . . .” said Shildina.
“There’s something about that bookshelf,” Ethnobalt confirmed. I moved over and stood in front of it.
“I wonder if we are going with a classic trope here,” I muttered—referring to the old chestnut of pulling a certain book to make a secret passage open. Of course, this could all just be a trap—or pulling out a certain book might provide some kind of key or hints for a future puzzle.
“Right! I’m taking out the books!” I said.
“Go ahead,” Ethnobalt told me. I proceeded to roughly pull the books down from the shelves and quickly found one that seemed to be fixed in place. Upon close inspection, it wasn’t even a book. It was a switch shaped like a book. I pulled it, and with a clunking sound, the bookshelf slid backward, away from me. Okay, that was pretty cool. It was my first time seeing such a setup in action. Beyond the new opening, however, was another large and decorative door like the one we had first entered in the labyrinth. Another shaft of light extended from the gemstone and touched the gemstone on the mirror, but then it flashed away with a crackle and was gone.
“Huh? It failed? Maybe this one needs a particular weapon to open?” I wondered.
“That could be the case,” Raphtalia answered.
“I hope there’s a way we can get this open . . . but I have a sneaking suspicion that we won’t be able to,” Ethnobalt muttered worriedly. He was from here originally, so he would probably know—and as it turned out, after we tried all of our weapons, none of them opened the door.
“This is a tough nut to crack,” I bemoaned. “Not much we can do if we have to get all the vassal weapons or holy weapons together in order to proceed.” All these annoying tricks and traps were finally getting on my last nerve. I started to wonder if we could just bust it down. Considering the steps taken against those using fire, we’d probably just get kicked out.
I looked at the relief on the door again, hoping for some hints of some kind. It appeared to be depicting some kind of tree blossom.
“That looks like a flower,” I said.
“Indeed it does . . . but what kind of flower is it?” Ethnobalt commented, seemingly puzzled.
“Sakura lumina,” Shildina whispered quietly. I looked again and indeed it did have the same kind of look to it.
“Sorry, but probably not. That isn’t a sakura flower,” I said. It was definitely some kind of plant though.
Then I realized something.
“In our world, the closed-off nation of Q’ten Lo played the role of pacifier if the four holy or seven star heroes ever started acting out, right?” I confirmed.
“Yes, that’s right,” Raphtalia said.
“So even though this is a different world, they also have four holy heroes—meaning we may also find nations, technology, or roles similar to our world here as well, right?” I continued.
“You think the tools of someone related to that is the key here?” Raphtalia asked.
“Could be,” I replied. At my response, Raph-chan clapped her paws. Then she leapt toward Raphtalia and pointed with a cry of “Raph!” It looked like she was about to start something.
“Why don’t you try using your own power as a pacifier, Raphtalia?” I asked her. Regrettably, I was unable to use the power of the Sakura Stone of Destiny Shield in this world, but Raphtalia should still be able to use her powers as Heavenly Emperor.
“I can use them as a skill . . .” she said.
“If you can do something to back up Raph-chan, we might be able to get this door open,” I said.
“Very well. I’ll give it a try,” Raphtalia agreed. She proceeded to sheathe her katakana and hold it in front of herself. She regulated her breathing to match Raph-chan’s and started to focus her power.
“Raph!” Raph-chan stamped down on the ground with one foot. A magic circle proceeded to appear on the floor, rippling out in sync with Raphtalia. It looked like she could definitely use the power of the Heavenly Emperor.
“Five Practices Destiny Field Expansion . . .” With a groan, Raphtalia staggered to her feet. Then Raph-chan let out a long and protracted “Raph!” Both of them were clearly doing their best, but the door didn’t budge at all. I could tell they were pushing themselves harder than they should be. It seemed there was no way to just force this door open.
“Raphtalia,” Glass said and moved over to the staggering Raphtalia, stepping into the magic circle in the process. That caused the pattern of the magic circle Raph-chan and Raphtalia had created to shake and quiver for a moment. Glass herself shone softly.
“Ah!” Glass, thinking she had—literally—put the wrong foot forward, attempted to move back from the circle.
“You’re okay there, Glass,” Raphtalia told her.
“Raph!” agreed Raph-chan. As Raphtalia smiled, Raph-chan collected something to create a ball of magic and pushed it into the door. With a faint clicking . . . the door quietly opened.
“I can’t believe it actually opened,” I said. In video game terms, it felt as strange as using the key from one dungeon to open the door in a totally different dungeon—like something that should never be allowed to happen was unfolding right before my eyes. It would have been just like me to think that the result was all that mattered, but in this case, even I couldn’t quite accept it.
“Glass, what’s your intuition here? Do you have any idea what just happened?” Raphtalia asked.
“Don’t tell me, Glass is like the Raphtalia of this world? Could we really get that lucky?” I said. Could she really be the Heavenly Emperor of Kizuna’s world? It sounded pretty implausible, but then there was Raphtalia herself—someone with the blood of a pacifier, right by the side of one of the four holy heroes.
“. . . No, I’m sorry, but I’ve no idea how this happened,” Glass replied.
“Maybe that happened because you are a Spirit,” Shildina said. Yes, that could have been it. The requirements might just have been met by coincidence.
“Once we’ve saved Kizuna, it might be worth looking into your family tree,” I said to Glass. If we were lucky, we might find weapons close to those of the sakura stone of destiny or other useful information. Who knew where the hints Ethnobalt needed might be hiding, after all. “In fact, maybe some information like that is lying around somewhere in this library?” I said.
“There is a truly astronomical number of books stored here, so even with my searching instincts . . . I can only sense an approximate location,” Ethnobalt explained. “It is quite a bit deeper in from here too.” If there was something to be gained from it, we had to give it a try. It seemed like too obvious a hint to pass over. Half filled with expectations, half with anxiety, we pushed onward.
The first thing we found was a spiral staircase, which looked as though it headed away into infinity. The lack of bookshelves was a jarring change.
“Looks like we’re going down,” I said.
“Indeed,” agreed Raphtalia.
“I can’t wait to see what’s down there!” Sadeena exclaimed.
“No need to get so excited about it!” I retorted. We weren’t here on some kind of fun field trip. Even as I had that thought, however, I also wondered if being able to enjoy whatever this world—these worlds—threw at you was the only way to survive them. I wasn’t quite on the level of the other three heroes, but it was possible to enjoy this experience a bit like a video game. You just had to be careful not to think of it as actually being one.
We headed down into what felt like an infinite pit. One piece of luck, at least, was that there were no monsters down here. We had no idea when this place had been created, after all, and it had been pretty tucked away behind the bookshelf and the door—it seemed unlikely monsters would be just hanging out back here. We continued downward and finally reached the bottom of the spiral.
That led to another corridor, which led to a switch. Flipping the switch made the wall slide open. I wondered if it was safe to think we were now leaving the secret passage. Having done so, anyway, we came out into a room. On the right side there was what looked like the inside of a closed door. On the left side . . . I did a double take. There were books floating like steps in the air, leading up to a floating chamber created from bookshelves.
“This place . . . might be the chamber of the master librarian. The legends do speak of such a place,” Ethnobalt breathed.
“It feels like a pretty nasty monster is probably waiting up ahead,” I commented.
“I sense it too, but that’s no reason to consider giving up,” Raphtalia said.
“That never crossed my mind. Everyone, just be ready to fight if we have to,” I told them. Everyone nodded or voiced their agreement, and with me in the lead, we climbed the floating book steps and proceeded toward the chamber above.
“It doesn’t look like there’s any monsters here after all,” I said, looking around. Nothing of the sort caught my eye. I was taken with the scary thought that the “boss” might only appear once we actually touched or took something. The chamber contained a glowing bookshelf . . . and, beyond that, a small red vial placed on a wooden table. The vial had a barrier surrounding it, seemingly indicating its importance. And the vial was also glowing. The walls of the chamber were rare for this place. In spots without bookshelves, there were murals or something painted on the walls. They looked like the walls of the pyramids, very symbolic. One showed a cat-like creature with wings. I wondered what that could be. The tail was too reptilian for it actually to be a cat. It even looked like it was wearing clothing. What was it, some kind of monster unique to this world?
It also looked like there were pictures of the holy weapons . . . and the vassal weapons too. They were depicted as though they were shining.
The small vial, meanwhile, contained a red liquid that looked like blood. I touched the barrier and it instantly dispersed. Picking up the vial, I gave the contents a sniff. It smelt like blood too.
“What is it, the holy grail?” Another trope that turned up frequently in this kind of fantasy setting—the blood of an ancient holy man.
“That might be the special poison written about in the notes left by the first master librarian,” Ethnobalt pondered.
“That’s also a thing, is it?” I asked.
“Yes, but the only record is in those notes left by the first master librarian. It looks like this is where he kept it,” Ethnobalt replied. Shildina was looking at the vial with an incredibly suspicious look on her face, and then she spoke.
“I don’t think it’s either good or bad . . . but this vial has something incredible about it. Something other than residual thoughts,” she explained.
“This vial?” I asked. I decided to try appraising it . . . and was shocked by the result. Maybe the information was too dense, or there was too much of it, because my appraisal failed. This really was something out of the ordinary, that was for sure.
“This stuff looks pretty dangerous,” I said.
“The notes of the first master librarian described it. One drop means eternal pain, two drops means eternal loneliness, and three drops . . . means something truly terrible,” Ethnobalt revealed.
“This is a totally hazardous substance,” I commented, and whistled, wondering if it was intended to be used for suicide. Maybe this first master librarian rabbit took his own life using it, but why then leave it so carefully for those who would come after him? That said, it didn’t look like there was much left. “Enough with the toxicology. What about the bookshelf?” The moment I touched it, however, my fingers sparked away, rejected.
“Maybe we can’t—” S’yne started.
“Lady S’yne says that maybe we can only take one of the two,” her familiar relayed. “She has seen treasures like that in the past.”
“What? So I’ve screwed things up by getting hands-on too quickly?” I said. It would be a real pain if that was the case!
“No . . . I think I have a different explanation,” Ethnobalt interjected, reaching for the bookshelf himself. In the same moment, writing from the bookshelf started to crawl toward him across the walls.
“Watch out!” I pushed Ethnobalt aside and raised my mirror, but the writing passed right through me and flowed on toward Ethnobalt. He gave a gasp of surprise.
“Are you okay?!” I shouted. It looked like the writing was practically mobbing him, and then it just faded away.
“I’m fine. It looks like it was some kind of library rabbit verification device, and now I have the correct authority displayed in my field of view,” he reported.
“Okay then,” I replied. That sounded promising.
“Now I will use the authority of the master librarian to break the seal on the bookshelf,” Ethnobalt said. He turned into his rabbit form and extended a paw. The light around the glowing bookshelf proceeded to scatter. It looked like the barrier had been removed. Then Ethnobalt took down a few books and started to read them.
“It looks like . . . this is what we came for. It explains how to break curses placed on the four holy weapons, among other things.”
“Sounds good,” I said.
“Also . . . there’s an ancient text here, much like the one I gave Rishia,” Ethnobalt reported.
“She said she couldn’t decipher that one . . . but maybe she needs this book first?” I guessed. Ethnobalt showed me a page. The images on it did look very similar. There was also the winged cat thing that was on the walls of this room. It looked like it was attacking something that had a halo, but I couldn’t really make anything out.
“Please decipher it with Rishia once we get back,” I requested.
“Of course. When we discussed this matter before, it seemed she was further ahead than we are. If we work together, I’m sure we will proceed with uncovering the truth of the waves,” Ethnobalt said.
“I’m counting on you,” I told him. Ethnobalt continued to read the book about curses.
“Okay . . . it looks like that vial you picked up is also effective in removing any problems placed on the four holy weapons,” he reported.
“Really?” I asked.
“Yes. It has multiple applications. It seems we have completed our mission,” Ethnobalt said. He proceeded to take out his CD disc from his bag and imbue it with some kind of magic. “That completes registration of this location. Now we can come back here at any time, meaning we can leave at once.”
“That didn’t take as long as I was expecting. A bit anticlimactic for me,” Sadeena mused.
“The faster we find it, the better, if you ask me,” Shildina responded, quick to oppose her sister.
“That’s right,” Raphtalia added. I also thought it best that we reach our goal as quickly as possible.
“But there is still a path that goes deeper. It looks like this isn’t the bottom floor,” Sadeena said suggestively.
“In a video game, that would be optional content. There might be more powerful magic or better weapon recipes or materials down there, but also a tougher challenge,” I told them. Raphtalia and Glass turned to look at the path downward, their eyes suddenly intense. I had to admit, I felt the temptation too. We did need to boost our strength as much as possible. “If it looks like we might have time, we can come back with Itsuki, Kizuna, and the others,” I said.
“Good idea,” Raphtalia said.
“We do need to concentrate on making some better food recipes first,” Glass chipped in. She was still bringing that up.
“Searching for treasure is so exhilarating, right, little Shildina?” Sadeena said.
“I do enjoy searching for old casks of wine in sunken ships,” Shildina agreed.
“Raph!” Raph-chan added. Sadeena and Shildina also worked salvage, so they probably had some idea how this felt. Raph-chan was now up on Sadeena’s back, pointing the way forward.
“Are we not going back—” S’yne said.
“Are we going to continue deeper?” her familiar asked, rephrasing. S’yne’s question all brought us back to ourselves, anyway.
“We’re going back first. We’ve found what we came for, and I can’t really see anyone else coming down this deep before we come back. S’yne, take it away,” I said.
“Okay. Ariadne’s Thread!” S’yne used her skill, instantly transporting us back to the dungeon entrance, and then we headed outside. Thus, we found the information required to treat Kizuna and escaped from the Ancient Labyrinth Library.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login