232. Gulliver's Travels (1)
232. Gulliver's Travels (1)
The next day.
Ichika, Ga-eul sunbae, and I went to the academy library together.
"......This is, the library?"
Ichika tilted her head as she looked at the library entrance.
An educational institution said to produce the most outstanding talents in the world.
The exterior was far too shabby for it to be the library of Velvet Hunter Academy.
"It's different once you go inside."
I smiled at Ichika's reaction and answered.
"Really?"
"Yeah. No matter how much Velvet Academy focuses on practical combat. They don't neglect the academic side."
Creak.
The moment I opened the door.
An interior you could never have guessed from the outside unfolded before our eyes.
"Wow."
Ichika let out a short gasp of admiration.
Inside the fifty-story-tall space, each floor featured spacious desks and chairs where cadets could sit and study or read books.
A light like scattered stardust shimmered in the air, illuminating the surroundings.
And overhead, all kinds of books were moving without a sound.
Seeing this sight for the first time, Ichika's eyes went wide as if she were stunned.
Ga-eul sunbae, who was somewhat used to it, didn't have a particularly impressed expression.
"......It looked super small from outside, but it's insanely huge inside."
"Chairwoman Rina's space-expansion magic is on it."
I answered Ichika's question in a calm voice.
I was a little surprised myself, though.
Because this was also my first time seeing the library that had been implemented in the game in reality.
'It really is a bit different.'
As I looked around and went deeper inside.
"......Welco— Gahk!?"
The woman sitting at the desk, who had been greeting us in a listless voice, shot up from her seat.
"J-Jin Yu-ha!? Wh-What brings you to the library—!?"
A gesture as if her whole body was saying, 'Why on earth are you here?'
Yeah. I get it. It's been almost a year since I enrolled in the academy and this is my first time setting foot in the library too.
"Came to do a little reading. Me and these two as well."
"Ah! Yes, yes!"
She looked at Ichika and Im Ga-eul beside me, then fumbled and touched a hologram screen.
Then she handed over three cards with neck straps.
"Here, your entry cards."
"Ah, thank you."
I took a card and hung it around my neck. She then spoke in a voice so fast it was like she was rapping.
"Um, I'll explain the rules. There's no separate time limit for use. However, eating inside is prohibited. And taking books out without permission is not allowed. If there's a book you'd like to borrow, please come here to check it out and we'll lend it to you! Uh, also. You must be as quiet as possible!"
"I see."
"O-Of course! I know perfectly well that Utopia members wouldn't do such things! But providing this guidance is the rule, so......"
"It's fine. It's only natural, isn't it."
"Th-Thank you!!"
When I grinned and nodded.
she bowed her head as if deeply honored.
Like that, as we were going deeper into the library with our entry cards around our necks,
Ga-eul sunbae lowered her voice and spoke.
"......They say you're supposed to be quiet in the library, but she was much louder, wasn't she?"
"You're supposed to keep quiet once you're inside."
"So, savior. What do we do from here? I read the commission letter but I still don't quite get it."
Ichika said in a small voice.
"Right. Investigate and solve the secret inside the library? I don't really get it from just that either. Hoobae, do you have any clue?"
"Well, I did hear something separately."
In reality, Rina had only given me the commission letter and no further information.
I nodded and said that anyway.
Chairwoman Rina's Library Quest.
This was one of the quests that had been popular since Velvet School Life was still a game.
It was a quest where you could really feel the effort put in, because the branching paths differed depending on who you brought along and how you resolved it.
And it was fairly fun too.
How should I put it? It felt like a game within a game, I guess.
The background of this quest is as follows.
Back when the Gate Incident had just erupted and the world was plunged into chaos, Rina was actively working as the savior and one-and-only hero.
At some point, she became aware that her power was being restricted.
Because of that, she had no choice but to reduce her direct activities and pivot toward fostering successors.
However, at that time, everyone in the world looked only to her and depended on her.
If that Rina suddenly scaled back her activities, it would leave a critically fatal void.
'Still, I've caught all the ones dangerous enough to drag the world straight into annihilation. But that doesn't mean the ones that are left aren't dangerous.'
If she left those things loose as they were, many people would end up sacrificed.
So the method she chose was this.
'First, I'll seal these guys inside books....... Later, if I entrust their disposal to promising-looking ones?'
That was the full story behind the Library Quest.
Of course, even that was limited to just three due to the restriction on her power, but.
I explained the rest to Ga-eul sunbae and Ichika, omitting the part about Chairwoman Rina's power currently being restricted.
Because that's a world-level secret that I can't go around casually spilling.
At that, a gleam of understanding lit up in Ga-eul sunbae's eyes.
"Ah....... To nurture the strength of her successors! The Chairman didn't kill the giant monsters from the past, but sealed them inside books, huh?"
"Yes, exactly. We find the three books that contain those giant monsters here and resolve them. Of course, the books will only open with the commission letter."
She was jumping to her own conclusions, but I immediately nodded and affirmed it.
"Th-Three books!? That means there are three monsters?"
"Yes. That's right."
"But, which books?"
Ichika asked, but I didn't answer that question and headed straight for the spatial transporter.
Originally, the progression of this quest began with entering the library, collecting various clues, and finding those books.
But, well.
'Do I even need to do that?'
I can just find the book immediately without bothering to get the clues.
— 37th floor.
The reading room on the 37th floor where we got off was silent and empty of people.
I strode straight to the most secluded corner of the reading room.
A single book overflowing with a sense of incongruity, wedged among boring academic papers that no one would ever seem to look at.
It was disguised as a book of the same color and same material.
But for this book to be here was unmistakably out of place.
『The Principles of Virtual Magic: The Connection Between Ancient Shamanistic Faith and Mythology.』
『Gate-Based Applications of Reinforcement Materials.』
『Gulliver's Travels』
『The Gate Era: Sustainable Development of Civilization.』
『On the Ecology of Goblins.』
『A Classification of Unique-Grade Monsters.』
There it was. Gulliver's Travels.
It was a children's book that had been famous worldwide even in the world I came from.
Anecdotes that occur when Gulliver visits the land of little people.
It was the moment I picked up that book.
Woong.
'Wow, so this is causality?'
No wonder I'd had the feeling that I shouldn't explain the contents in advance.
The feeling grew even stronger the moment I picked up the book.
An intuition as if it was warning me that using my game knowledge to find the book was permitted.
But nothing beyond that.
'Tch. I see why Chairwoman Rina doesn't use her power recklessly.'
I pulled out the book and turned my gaze toward Im Ga-eul and Ichika.
"Hmm....... I won't say anything else. Just, please be sure to remember that there's a reason I chose you two."
I smirked and opened Gulliver's Travels.
* * *
Fwoooosh—
The moment Jin Yu-ha opened the book, light immediately filled her vision.
"Your Majestyyyyyy!!!"
Im Ga-eul, who had been frowning at the brilliant light for a moment, snapped her eyes open at someone's voice.
"......Huh?"
"Your Majesty, you must slay that giant at once!!"
'Y-Your Majesty? G-Giant?'
She was flustered because some elderly women with snow-white hair were shouting at her.
'But who are these people anyway, and why are they calling me Your Majesty?'
Im Ga-eul glanced down at her own body and her eyes flew wide open.
'Wh-What is this!!'
Her body was draped in dazzling silk,
the place she was sitting was a jade throne made of pure gold.
What's more, the jewels studded all over it were glittering dazzlingly!
"Your Majesty, the provisions that giant has consumed so far alone already amount to half of our stockpiled food supply!"
"Not to mention, while the neighboring Raitel Kingdom is already eyeing us sharply for any chance to strike......! Is it truly right to fill that giant's belly and drain the national treasury!?"
"Please, behead the giant, and preserve the peace of our nation!!!"
The old women continued to cry out.
'Let's stay calm.'
Old women shouting and spitting as they yelled, herself suddenly turned into an emperor.
There wasn't a single thing that wasn't bewildering.
But Im Ga-eul calmed her heart as much as she could.
'First, grasp the situation.'
Right, this happened after Jin Yu-ha opened the book.
So this place must be the world inside the book.
And she seemed to have become the king in that book.
'So....... The book was titled Gulliver's Travels, right?'
She had a memory of seeing it when she was young, but she was so young then that she only vaguely remembered the contents.
On top of that, there would be the monster that Chairwoman Rina had sealed here,
so it was dangerous to definitively assume the contents would be exactly the same.
'Then first, I need to look like a natural king......?'
But could she really pull it off?
She'd never once had the experience of being a person of authority?
She kept her mouth shut and agonized for a moment.
Soon, an expression of resolution rose on her face.
'No, I have to.'
Because this was a task that Jin Yu-ha had entrusted to her out of trust.
Haaaah—
She let out a long breath and drew up her inner self.
That is, the Squinting Mastermind.
She slowly tilted her head back, rested it against the chair, and leisurely crossed her legs.
And her red lips parted.
"......The likes of you dare to raise your voices in our presence."
A languid, low tone filled the space.
"......!!!"
At that, every person who had been beseeching her turned pale and shut their mouths, lowering their bodies.