"Then I'm leaving."
"Ah, yes ... Goodbye..."
After saying goodbye to Erwen, my next destination was the library.
The soothing scent of paper and ink. A tranquil atmosphere that makes you stifle a sneeze. Standing among the other people, who looked like twigs searching for books, I felt like a stranger here, but…
Honnnnnkk-!
To my surprise, there was another barbarian in the library. I reached out and nudged them both in the back, for I was glad to see them.
"Bjorn, Yandel's son?!"
So it's you.
"Ainar, Fenelin's third daughter.
It's good to see you're unharmed.
"Me too!"
"I think we should lower our voices."
Ainar also felt the penetrating stares looking this way, so he lowered his voice.
"I'm sorry. I was surprised because I didn't expect to see another one of us here."
The feeling was mutual.
"Why are you in the library?"
"Last time, you said I should always think before I act, remember? Exploring the labyrinth this time, I felt the need for knowledge to think."
Hmm, I see.
It was quite commendable. If it weren't for the fact that he'd been snoring over the open book.
"Something must have happened to you in the labyrinth."
"It wasn't easy from beginning to end. Fighting wasn't a problem, but..."
Ainar continued his thought with a grimace.
"I didn't just have to be careful of monsters."
She was certainly different from the other barbarians. They only boasted about how easy it was for them to defeat monsters. They never admitted how difficult it really was.
"That's why you decided to come and study."
"That's right. But as expected, this isn't a good option for me. Reading texts is very difficult. I should have studied more when I was younger."
…Oh, so that was the root of the problem?
"So, starting today, I plan to visit the Holy Land and learn from the elders again. But now that I'm an adult, I'll have to pay a price."
It was a bit surprising. I didn't expect someone to change so much with my lukewarm advice.
Immediately after finishing speaking, Ainar closed the book he had opened and stood up from his seat.
"Are you going right now?"
"I have to do it when the thought comes to me, so I don't forget."
I see. The more I learn about them, the more the barbarians seem like a sad people to me.
"So, see you later."
Ainar headed towards the exit after a brief greeting, but turned around as if he remembered something.
"Oh! Now that I think about it, I said I'd return the favor if I came back alive. If you need any help, come to the Furious Rhinoceros Inn. Whatever it is, I'll help you in any way I can."
"I will do that."
I hoped he wouldn't forget this promise in a day or two. I would ask him for help soon.
***
When Ainar left, I stayed for a while looking at the library.
It was not every day that you saw a building the size of the National Assembly that was used entirely as a library. Even in the game, the library only displayed the «under construction» sign and did not allow entry.
But how do you find a book in a place like this?
I don't think you can find the location with a few clicks on the keyboard like in modern times...
I decided to ask for help instead of wasting time trying to find out.
«Ejem ».
When I coughed, the librarian who had been sleeping at the desk slowly opened his eyes.
«Can I help you?»
«I'm looking for a book. It is related to history...»
«Parsetiev ».
Before he could explain what kind of book he was looking for, the sleepy-looking librarian muttered something. At the same time, a faint light entered my body.
¿What? ¿Es magia?
«Now you will find the book you are looking for while you look around you. You can't take out the book. And after reading it, be sure to return it to its original place».
When the light faded, the librarian spat out those words like a robot and dozed again.
... What is this woman?
I didn't want to wake her up again, so I wandered around the library following the directions. In doing so, I came across books here and there that made me feel like I was drawn to them. Little by little, I realized what kind of magic it was.
Demons, history, mazes, explorers, essence and much more. As soon as the keywords in my head changed, the books that called me did too.
What is this convenient magic?
With this kind of magic, he could understand why there was only one librarian. Compared to the size of the library, there were almost no visitors. Among the books, I selected only those for which I was most attracted and opened them one by one.
[The fallen world]
The first book was almost 700 pages long and described the early history of this world. Most of the content matched the game.
Thousands of years ago, life became impossible on this earth due to a witch's curse, and the only fortress, Rafdonia, was able to escape that disaster. The royal family was said to have opened a passage to another dimension for citizens hungry for lack of resources. That had become today's labyrinths.
[Annotated Edition of Basic Understanding of Alchemy IV]
The second book described the process by which mana stones obtained from monsters were turned into bread, water and iron. I didn't understand any of these principles.
I read any book I could find and drilled the knowledge into my head.
[Holy III War]
In this book, I learned more about why barbarians and fairies developed their current relationship, and what evil spirits were. People believed that evil spirits were beings that came from another dimension to possess their bodies. Well, that wasn't entirely wrong.
[Demons of the Abyss]
Unfortunately, this book did not explain why evil spirits appeared in this world. However, the Rafdonian royal family and the Temple announced evil spirits as objects of annihilation and included indicators of evil spirits written in relative detail. From an evil spirit's point of view, it was good advice. According to the content of the book, as long as you do not spit out taboo words, you will hardly be suspected of being an evil spirit. For example, Dungeon and Stone.
...I should also just shout «Sparta» from now on.
[How have explorers evolved?]
[The Royal Rafdonian Twins]
[About a Hero]
[Life at Camp Bifron]
I was finally able to get the information I wanted while still reading all kinds of books.
[On the Death of the King]
This book was about the death of Ravigion III, who was called the First King and the Immortal King. The important thing for me was the moment.
Let's see, the date was...
«150 years ago.....?»
It was at that moment that my hypothesis was proven correct. The date of the king's death indicated in the book was about 150 years ago. In other words, it was now 150 years after the game's setting, since regardless of which character you chose, the game began the day after Ravigion III's death.
Damn. For now I will have to live in the library.
«Uf...»
I closed the book and let my eyes rest. Although I had only read the important parts, after flipping through ten books, I felt like my eyes were going to fall out. But, even so, I decided to read the last two books I had published.
Just a little more. They may have valuable information.
[Dimensional Instability Record]
Was this the book that the blonde who had saved me from crawling on all threes had read?
The book contained cases and statistics similar to my case. As the blonde had said, falling into the outermost part was something that only happened once every hundred years...
«Mentates».
Speaking as someone who had experienced it firsthand, there must have been many more such cases. However, they simply did not register because they had all fallen dead.
The rest of the book was just statistics, so I flipped through the pages and stopped at the last chapter. The author's reasoning was written at the end: «Entering the portal when it closes can influence a phenomenon of instability».
If that was true...
Ultimately, it had been my fault. Before I could be sad, I moved on to the next book.
[Rank 9 Essence Compilation]
This was finally the last book. In this book, the essence abilities released by rank 9 monsters were organized like an encyclopedia, but unlike the game's annotations, the information was not provided with exact numbers.
[Goblin]
Patience (low), Smell (low), Poison resistance (low), Dexterity (low), Sight (low)
*When using a hand-to-hand combat weapon, paralyzing poison is always applied.
*Crea trampas.
Looking at the information about other monsters, if the stat was 21 or higher, it seemed to be marked as average... But there was no way to know the exact level of a rank «higher» stat. Based on the information on the first page, it appears that information about creatures above rank 8 should be purchased from a scout guild.
«Uf…»
I closed the book and stretched. Before I knew it, it was dark outside the window. It was almost closing time for the library and there were almost no visitors left.
I put all the books I had read in their place and returned to the inn. After a simple meal, I got into bed. With this, the third day in the city had passed.
«Is that 27 more days...?»
The labyrinth opened at midnight on the 1st of each month. A month here was exactly 30 days, so that meant I had to re-enter the maze in about four weeks.
«...»
What could I do in the city the rest of the time? No, what should I do? As I organized these thoughts in my head, I quickly fell asleep.
When tomorrow comes, let's start by finding a new ally.
***
«Lord! Sir! Come on, get up!»
Erwen came and knocked on my door first thing in the morning.
His excited voice was one thing, but...
Why the hell did he come here?
He probably wasn't here to say he would follow me instead of his sister....
To be honest, I had thought we wouldn't see each other again.
«What's happening?»
«Look! I have managed to make a contract!»
As soon as the door opened, Erwen started spitting out words.
«Contract? Oh, have you consumed a 'Spirit Stone'?»
Spirit stones were objects that allowed fairies to make contracts with spirits of other attributes.
That is, if they were lucky....
«Yes! Yesterday, after you left, I successfully signed a contract with a new spirit!»
«You were lucky.
Spirit stones cost about 150,000 stones in the game. The success rate was only 10%. It must have been the same as risking all his winnings, but he had achieved it.
«Yes! I used the ones my sister bought me and after about ten tries, it worked!»
...Damn, was he here to make fun of me?
As a barbarian who had only inherited this body, he had a feeling of deprivation. When we met, I had thought she was a pitiful girl with a little brother to take care of, but it turned out she was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. Perhaps his bow and arrow had also been given to him by his sister.
«Anyway, it looks like you made a contract with a wind spirit».
«Yes! I was lucky in many ways. Because fire and wind go well together».
«Okay, let's cancel the summoning first», I said with a sigh.
I would be lying if I didn't feel envious, but for a different reason than this.
«Excuse me? But I haven't even taught you it well...».
«Are you going to mess it up more here?».
«Oh! Sorry!»
Only then did the furious wind calm down.
Ugh… Why did I have to wake up to this mess?
I frowned, and Erwen, who was exultant, began to notice my reaction.
"Should I clean it?"
I didn't know why it was a question.
Were you going to force me to clean it?
When I nodded, Erwen quickly tidied the messy room. Surprisingly, it took less than ten minutes.
She had said that she was good at washing clothes and cleaning, and it seemed to be true.
There wasn't a single wasted move, just like a master in a martial arts novel.
"Should I clean a little more?"
«...»
"I'll clean more..."
"No. This is enough."
To be honest, I wondered if it was possible to tidy the room even more. For some reason, it seemed cleaner now than when I'd first walked in.
Good job, let me give you a carrot. I also need to ask you a favor later.
"It seems I haven't said this yet. Congratulations on signing a contract with a new spirit."
"Hehe, thanks!"
"Have you had breakfast?"
"Not yet."
We went down to the first floor to eat and talk.
"What can be done with a spirit of wind?"
"To change the trajectory of an arrow that has already been launched, or to send it much faster, things like that!"
Compared to what he had expected, it was a very simple and straightforward effect. Wasn't it possible to rotate the arrows to increase their penetration, or silence them while firing? If either of those things were possible, their combat power would increase even further.
"Uh, I hadn't thought of that... but it should be possible?"
What is that tone of voice?
It gets on my nerves.
"Anyway, it's a good thing you're here. When you've finished eating, let's go back upstairs."
"Excuse me? Why?"
"We have to do something in the room."
Erwen tilted his head. He seemed to have no idea what she was talking about…
"You didn't think you'd paid off all your debts last time, did you?"
"S-Sorry? No?"
How naive.
Dream!
I closed the door so no one could enter and sat Erwen down on the bed.
"Now, use your powers."
Any difficulties in using the ability, how long it took to use it again, what kind of weaknesses the stealth ability hid, etc.
There were a lot of things I had to learn.