Chapter 60
Chapter 60
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: The Sky Library
-----------------------------------------------------------------
[Chapter 59 - Library]
After moving a short distance away from the rest of the group, Eloise cast a magical barrier to block out sound.
Just in case no one overheard.
She then took out the crystal orb and infused it with mana.
To connect with her brother somewhere far off to the north.
[This is Latis.]
"Pleased to meet you, Elder Latis."
[Sir Arsen, how has the ruin expedition been going?]
"Thanks to your concern."
After a brief exchange of greetings, Arsen got down to business.
He explained the state of the ruin, how they had conquered it, and the additional threats they had faced.
Naturally, he said nothing about the other voice that had come from the Door of Taboos.
"First off, I'd like to discuss how to divide the artifacts we obtained from the ruin."
The enchanted sword and shield were straightforward—they agreed to split them evenly.
Arsen already had all the armament he needed right away, so he didn't require more.
The most important items were the shockwave staff, the heating shield, and the magic vision helmet. Each was an extraordinary treasure, making it hard to divide their value evenly.
And finally, the golden staff of unknown use.
[You said the usage is unknown?]
"That's right."
[Hmm... That makes four in total.]
"Here's my proposed distribution."
Arsen's suggestion was simple.
Just as they had used them in the ruin: the heating shield and magic vision helmet to Arsen, the shockwave staff and the mysterious staff to Marun.
Perhaps deeming it unfair, there was a long silence from the other side of the crystal orb.
"The helmet is useless to Starburmi anyway, isn't it? Your detachment is all mages. It'd be far more useful on our side."
Arsen kept completely silent about the helmet's hidden function—the ability to detect activated magic.
No need to give away information that could weaken his negotiating position. If it ever came up later, he could just say he hadn't realized until then.
Besides, it actually caused visual disorientation for mages, making it truly useless to them.
"In a way, we're taking the artifact that's least useful to you in exchange. As someone who's tested it, I'm sure Sir Marun agrees. Sir Marun?"
"Uh, well, I mean..."
Marun trailed off, glancing between Arsen and the crystal orb.
As if Latis could see him somehow.
Playing it off vaguely might have been the smart move here, but to Arsen, Marun didn't strike him as clever or quick-witted enough for that.
"So, Elder, I've tried it, and..."
Sure enough, Marun started blurting out exactly what he felt.
That it overlapped dizzyingly with a mage's mana vision, making it essentially meaningless for the detachment.
Was it because an ally who should have backed him up was stabbing him in the back like this? Latis's response, when it finally came, carried a hollow edge.
[Very well. But don't you owe us something first? The items you borrowed from us before leaving Belluan.]
"I've already repaid that. I handed them straight over to Sir Marun. Fortunately, we acquired some decent assets beyond that."
Thanks to Bazkal's wealth, the merchant caravan goods they'd brought along were no longer very useful.
They'd only swept up lightweight, easy-to-store items for bartering anyway.
Arsen had settled that with Marun right after they met.
He'd even shown the inventory list from when they borrowed them for verification, so Marun accepted without a second thought.
A few glowing stones were missing, but to Marun, they were just junk, not worth fussing over.
Naturally, Elder Latis's fury was directed at Marun.
[Marun!]
"Uh... Did I do something wrong? I just took them because you said you'd repaid the loan."
Marun's dumbfounded reply left even Latis speechless, and silence stretched from the crystal orb.
After a moment, a heavy sigh came through.
[No, never mind... This is exactly why I said we didn't need a knight as leader and should send someone else.]
Realizing he'd messed up, Marun scratched his head with an awkward expression.
In the ensuing silence, Arsen spoke up again.
"Shall we discuss the next steps? We just head straight south from here?"
A clearing cough came from the orb, as if composing himself.
[No, we won't go south right away. First, we're heading west.]
"Why is that?"
A scraping sound of a chair being pulled back echoed from the orb.
As if straightening his posture.
[Now that we're commencing joint operations in earnest, we should discuss that. You still seem to distrust us.]
The voice carried lingering emotion he hadn't fully masked, and Arsen responded with a wry smile.
"I don't mix personal feelings with business. And I wasn't wrong, was I? So, what is this 'earnest discussion' about?"
[Who we are, what we're seeking... I suppose we should start with some old tales.]
Arsen's eyes widened as he stared at the crystal orb.
Latis began by explaining the origins of his organization, Starburmi.
[At the beginning, our leader obtained a single diary. It belonged to an ancient mage.]
"An ancient mage?"
Arsen glanced at Marun, who didn't look particularly interested—likely he already knew the story.
[According to what he wrote, ancient mages wielded tremendous power. They launched flying ships, leveled mountains with a gesture, and even revived the dead—or so the legends say.]
Arsen swallowed the urge to question if it wasn't all exaggeration and listened quietly.
[The mage's diary mentions that, to prepare for a future catastrophe, they launched a library containing all of civilization's knowledge into the sky. They made it one of the constellations up there. He was one of the ones who launched it himself.]
"A constellation...?"
"Impossible."
Eloise's reaction from the side was the sort any ordinary person in this world might have.
Disbelief or outright mockery.
But the moment Arsen heard it, something came to mind.
Artificial satellite.
He couldn't believe ancient mages had that level of technology, but the first association was that.
[We call it the Sky Library. Our goal is to bring it back to the ground and claim that knowledge. If you regain the great magic of the ancients, Sir Arsen, you could achieve anything you desire—restoring Lord Belluan, reclaiming your territory.]
Even after Latis's voice cut off, no one spoke.
Both Arsen and Eloise were overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the tale, fantastical as it seemed.
"'Starburmi' meant something like that?"
Arsen had half-worried they might try dropping a meteor or something, but this was far more benign.
After sorting his thoughts for a moment, Arsen asked again.
"So... To summon that library, don't we need to go to the south?"
[Correct. The place from which it can be summoned is a ruin near Eleanor territory in the south. You must call it from there yourself, Sir Arsen. No one without the qualifications can do it.]
"You've tried already?"
[I didn't see it myself, but our organization's founder, who discovered the diary, attempted it. Naturally, he failed. Later, we learned about the 'successor'—the one recognized by all the ruins—and that only the successor can summon the library.]
"What's a 'successor' exactly?"
As he asked, Arsen recalled what the Door of Taboos in the ruin had said.
'You are a race unauthorized for entry.'—declared to everyone except him.
[We don't know the details. All we know is that only the successor can use the ancient ruins.]
"Then why not head south right now?"
[We'll get to that—continuing from earlier. Our leader gathered forces to search for the successor and finally found one. They headed to the ruin to summon the library.]
"And?"
[The lord of Eleanor territory, where the ruin is, attacked us. We did nothing but pass through his lands secretly. Our leader and several elder mages perished, the successor died, and we suffered losses too grievous to recount.]
Latis's voice seemed emotionless at first glance, but Arsen detected suppressed rage beneath.
[The lord of Eleanor seized all our artifacts, bolstering his power. Now he rules several territories in the south, styling himself king. He's known as Giant King Nardoc. That's why we can't go south. Many of our mages were captured as prisoners, so he knows plenty. He won't tolerate intruders heading to the ruin in his kingdom.]
"What about the chance he's already summoned it? He might have secured his own successor."
[Impossible. Summoning the library requires not just the successor, but a password. Our leader hid a paper with the password separately, known only to him. Besides... if he truly had summoned it, he'd have conquered the world by now.]
Arsen rubbed his temples amid the complicated tale and glanced sideways. Eloise looked just as confused, but Marun, unlike before, now wore an intrigued expression.
He must not have heard up to this point.
"So where's that password?"
[In one of the western ruins where we left something behind. Inside a ruin that can't be passed without a successor. That's the first reason for heading west.]
"First reason? What's the second?"
[The underground tunnel.]
"An underground tunnel?"
[A secret passage made by the ancients. An enormously long one stretching from the west to the southern coast. Ah, the coast, I mean...]
"No need to explain that far."
[Understood. Anyway, the plan is to infiltrate Giant King's territory secretly via this tunnel.]
"You could have done that from the start."
[We only learned of the tunnel a few years ago.]
"Ah."
The conversation paused briefly, and Arsen sat still, trying to calmly organize his thoughts.
Library, password, Giant King, tunnel...
He searched for flaws in Latis's words, but for now, everything seemed to fit.
Only the successor can summon the library from the south, the password is in a Starburmi-hidden ruin. Retrieve the password, take the secret passage, summon the library...
"So, what are you really after?"
[What do you mean?]
"Starburmi's goal. What do you want with the library's knowledge?"
Knowledge alone couldn't be the end.
Knowledge was acquired to be used somewhere, after all.
Latis's next words carried the enthusiasm of a dreaming boy.
[Our goal is to restore the world to how it should be. Exactly what 'how it should be' means... opinions differ among us, so I can't answer precisely, but at least everything will be better than now. Everything.]
"I see."
Starburmi apparently wasn't a blind organization united under one goal.
People formed factions, naturally.
[The top priority is overcoming humanity's aversion to mages—everyone except successors. Records say ancient mages were revered and worshipped, not treated as they are now. Something's clearly wrong. We believe the library holds the answer.]
Their stated purpose seemed unproblematic to Arsen.
The prejudice against mages was a shackle stifling civilization's progress.
Of course, he couldn't take it at face value, but Arsen feigned belief outwardly.
"I never imagined you'd have such grand aims. I share Starburmi's values."[Thank you truly for saying so.]
The tone sounded genuinely moved, but Arsen felt no such emotion inside.
He just thought he needed more contact to uncover their true objectives.
[Now, to the specifics: first, crossing the plains to the west...]
The two spent a long while hammering out detailed plans.
Using what was laughably crude for a "continental map" that Marun had brought.
[Good, that should suffice.]
"Thank you for your efforts. One thing I'd like to ask, though."
[What is it?]
"The southern king—why 'Giant' King? How tall is he?"
Latis chuckled in response to Arsen's question.
[They say he's a knight nearly ten feet tall. He was already famous as a giant lord before.]
Arsen pictured a knight standing three meters tall.
Come to think of it, he'd heard rumors long ago of such a massive knight.
Unless he was bedridden like some giantism sufferer unable to support his own body, a knight who controlled his physique at that size...
And if he charged adeptly wielding a weapon?
'I hope to God I never have to fight the Giant King.'