Imperial Library (3)
There was nothing particularly mysterious about it.
This archive itself was simply a repository of records—the sole place in the entire world where every fragment of knowledge could be preserved eternally, utterly immune to damage or decay.
“Even when a lifespan ends, history doesn’t flow in this space, so the books last forever. Though the occasional scraps of history that pop out now and then can’t be helped.”
“Wow. That’s my master for you.”
Even I could figure out that much.
“Would you quit it with the ‘master’ already?”
I casually ran my eyes along the rows of shelves.
All of this was the legacy of mages as well. The moment I laid eyes on it, something in my chest began to pound.
Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
The instinct of a mage who hungered for knowledge stirred fully awake. And this was no ordinary knowledge. Even a glance at those ancient grimoires told me they had been left behind by the mages of antiquity.
I had come all this way. Just turn around and leave? After seeing something like that? Out of the question.
Besides, from deeper within I could feel a strange power calling to me.
Yes. This was proof that even the books of this archive were welcoming me.
With something like this waiting, I wouldn’t feel right leaving without taking at least a little something. Wasn’t a bit of greed allowed? I was the Taesa, after all.
“Since we’re already here, mind if I play around a little?”
“No. Hah. You’re actually like this sometimes?”
What was her problem? I was a mage too. I leaned my face right up to the Emperor’s.
“So I’m not allowed to do this? How about it?”
“If you take a grimoire it’ll vanish for certain, and even ordinary books must never leave this place. Understood?”
Looking a little burdened, the Emperor pulled her face back and spoke as if she had no choice.
It was annoying to be treated like some problem child. Showing me a place like this in the first place had been the Emperor’s mistake.
If it had been me, I would never have revealed it. I would have hidden it away tightly and never let anyone see. Yet the Emperor had committed the blunder of showing it to me.
So there was nothing to be done about it.
“Can’t I just look around here and then leave?”
“Aigoo. Fine. I chose the wrong master, clearly.”
The Emperor heaved a deep sigh.
“You’re one to talk, Your Majesty—enjoying yourself fondling my hand like some pervert. You ought to be grateful I put up with that sticky feeling in your palm at all.”
Wasn’t that right? I was the one enduring this situation; she should be thanking me. What was with that look of disgust?
Together with the Emperor I walked deeper into the archive.
“Is there really any need to go further in? Don’t tell me you’re planning to shove this Emperor into some corner of the stacks and have your way with me?”
“Why does Your Majesty’s head only ever fill with things like that?”
Was she a succubus or something? At some point she seemed to have turned into one. The feeling had hit me the moment I saw her walking around naked. A normal emperor didn’t do that—even in her own private chambers. Especially not the emperor of a great nation, walking around completely bare like it was nothing.
“An emperor is human too. It’s been a long time since I bore your child and shared our affection.”
Did I really have to hear that sort of thing?
“Surprisingly enough, that isn’t what I meant. Your image in my mind is shattering right now. Something deeper in is calling to me, I tell you.”
Come this way.
No—this Emperor was already holding my hand, so why was she telling me to come closer? Honestly, this woman never knew how to separate times for joking from times that weren’t.
“Are you going to keep talking nonsense?”
“I haven’t even spoken yet. Why are you like this?”
“You haven’t spoken? Didn’t you just tell me to come this way?”
“Even so, an emperor has dignity. I wouldn’t call out after being refused once already.”
Right. That made sense. Wait—then what was it?
“Then what on earth is this voice?”
“Hearing things, are you? In the archive, nothing that happens is truly strange.”
This way. Just a little closer.
Yes. That was it. That voice. Now that I listened properly it sounded familiar. The voice that had been drawing me deeper inside all this time was exactly this one.
So that was it. This had been leading me inward all along. No wonder I kept wanting to go further. Perhaps this, too, was history.
“Something deeper in is calling me to come this way.”
“Very well. Let’s go see. Just what could it be?”
We walked a long way deeper. Turning left into a new section, then left again, then right. After pressing on for quite some time we finally arrived.
It was the darkest place in the entire archive, one might say. Light still reached this far, yet the space felt strangely, unnaturally dark.
As though it had been prepared just for me.
Yes. You’re almost there.
Whoooosh—
Within that darkness a single book began to shine—brilliantly, as if demanding I look at it. And from within it a human figure took shape.
“Wait. What is that?”
You weren’t alone. Well, of course you wouldn’t enter this archive by yourself.
It was the owner of that voice.
Cleavage on full display, bare legs completely exposed—the kind of outfit nobles would sneer at as vulgar. And the face… was mine?
The face was the spitting image of mine. Olivia’s face stood right before my eyes. And the gaze she fixed on me was full of longing.
She wore a thoroughly cheap yet bewitching smile, her eyes curved into seductive crescents.
“What the hell are you?”
You could call me another you. Perhaps a future you. Or a you from a parallel world. One of the possibilities you carry.
“Another me? What kind of nonsense is that? There’s no way I’d dress like that.”
Her chest was completely bare to the eye. Even the side slits of her clothes left nothing to the imagination; I couldn’t even tell if she was wearing undergarments.
No. There was no way I would wear something like that. Was this the first Olivia?
Sorry, but I am ‘you.’ No one else. The mage Olivia.
As if conscious of the Emperor, she looked straight at me and deliberately said “you.”
Then this woman was “me.”
The way she spoke as if warning me not to deny it made it clear that was simply the truth.
“Oho. So that’s the future you, is it? Then it seems I claimed you quite splendidly.”
Regrettably, the Emperor has nothing whatsoever to do with me.
She laughed with a soft, mocking trill while slyly ridiculing the Emperor; for a moment the Emperor’s expression stiffened as though she had taken a hit.
“Let’s say you are me. Why would I turn into someone like you?”
No matter how I looked at it, something felt off. There was no way I would wear something like that. Forget Noah’s memories—even as a noble I could never put that on.
A woman dressed like that couldn’t possibly be a noble. Not even wearing a proper dress; putting on something like that was the same as declaring herself a light woman.
There are all sorts of causes. Corruption. Getting to know men. The clothes themselves don’t mean much. If I had to explain, maybe it’s to look good for a man. Or trying a new taste. A change of mood. Something like that.
It wasn’t only that outfit. Olivia shifted through various appearances.
My current clothes. A mage’s robes. A gown. Or the sleek official uniform worn by Attelina and the teachers.
“Me? Corrupted? And if what you say is true, you’re just the collection of every possibility every Olivia could hold? Still—corruption?”
You should have some idea.
Was she talking about the fragment of the Demon King? Even so, the idea that that was me… it didn’t make sense. I couldn’t believe it.
When long years pass, things change. You’re the same, Olivia. Just think of me as one of every possibility. A possibility of the future.
Olivia returned to her original appearance and smirked. That look was far too unnatural. There was no reason for this body to try looking good for any man.
“Personally, I rather like that Olivia.”
“Is that really what matters right now?”
Also… I am your past as well.
“No, that’s enough of that.”
Where did she get off playing games?
If she showed my past, who knew what would happen. Alone I might not care, but revealing my past self in front of the Emperor was pure suicide.
“Your past is nothing more than bratty little Olivia, isn’t it?”
Yes, yes. That’s right. A little kid. In any case, I am Olivia’s history.
That lewd woman who claimed to be me spoke in a bored, uninterested tone.
“So what do you want? Why did you call me? And what is that book you came out of?”
Your history. The history book of Olivia. I want to give you a warning.
“A warning?”
From now on, events that will shake the Empire and the world will erupt one after another. When they do, don’t despair even a little, don’t grow sick of the world because it’s a bother, and don’t be drawn by any temptation—live as ‘Olivia.’ That is the answer.
Don’t grow sick of the world? I was already thoroughly sick of it.
I had thought more than a few times about throwing this noble life away entirely, and if not for the Four Heavenly Kings I would have left this place long ago.
Then once I dealt with all the Four Heavenly Kings…
What would happen when this world became too tiresome?
Hearing that Olivia’s words suddenly made the thought surface.
After defeating the Four Heavenly Kings, what would become of me?
Would I become the Olivia standing in front of me?
So don’t think such things. Simply live as Olivia. Now you’ll need to give a clear answer.
The Olivia she meant here was that Olivia, of course. Sorry, but I couldn’t live deceiving myself as that Olivia.
If you say that, then it can’t be helped.
“What?”
If you’d just said you’d live quietly, I wouldn’t have gone this far.
“Kh—?”
Looks like the only way is for me to take that body. I’ll finish it before those damned reapers come to cut things short.
That damn woman suddenly stretched her hand toward my chest. As if she intended to use my body herself, she began pushing her arm deep inside me.
Resisting was difficult. The Emperor who had been beside me was nowhere to be seen. Before I knew it the woman had thrust her arm deep into my body.
This is a space for you and me alone. Living history cannot approach other history. If you take me in, you will become me.
At this point I had no choice but to strike back hard. History or not, if this woman stole my body I would be in danger. No—if this mass of history entered me and began to devour me, I had no idea how I might change. That was the greater danger.
Strange memories gradually began to flow in. Countless memories. Everything that future possibility had experienced poured into me.
Countless memories. Countless Olivias.
All of them tangled together into a single personality that gnawed at my mind like a parasite.
Ah. So that was it. This was the future me.
Possibility or whatever—it was the future me.
Sick of the world, running wild however she pleased—countless futures flooded into my memory.
That future me—now became me.
You should have listened to me. Then none of this would have been necessary.