Imperial Library (3)
Little by little. Little by little, everything grew darker.
Ah. Aaaah, right. This isn’t how it should be, is it?
First I have to erase that history. Only by erasing that history can I become whole again.
So even if this library has to be smashed to pieces right now—
“Olivia!”
Swish!
A sudden cutting sound rang out, and my body floated weightlessly upward.
The Olivia who remained—that whore, nearly gone—receded endlessly into the distance.
Her body, already half-severed and dissolving into mana, the history of the future, smiled as if she had already achieved her purpose.
And then, when that Olivia crumbled into dust and vanished, a Scribe holding a scythe and the Emperor stood before me.
“……Emperor.”
“Get a hold of yourself.”
The Emperor slapped my cheeks lightly.
Each strike left a strangely foul mood, yet somehow sorted my head out. Right. I am simply me.
“I think my head went a little strange for a moment.”
It felt like someone had flipped my brain over. Like they had cracked open my skull, pulled the brain out, and scrubbed it raw. I needed a moment to reorganize my thoughts.
My head was still definitely a mess.
Had I become my past self? Or had I regressed?
My history had become me. Yes. That too was true. With every one of those experiences poured into my head, I couldn’t honestly be the same as before.
Things the current me had never lived through now sat complete inside my memories.
A me who might be the Demon King. A me who might be one of the Four Heavenly Kings. And a me who rebelled against the family, ran away from home, and lived a debauched life.
So many different versions of me.
Being the Demon King would actually be better. But an Olivia who knew men? An Olivia who, disgusted with the world, chased nothing but pleasure.
“Uwehk.”
For a second something tried to come up from inside.
I am Olivia. Olivia. The memories were scrambled, but right now I needed to focus on reality.
That was me, so either way it didn’t matter.
I would erase the unnecessary things from my head and keep only what still held meaning for me.
“You all right?”
Just as I finally got the memories under control, the Emperor held out a hand.
He pulled the half-crazed me to my feet. Then I looked at the Scribes, who seemed needlessly angry.
The moment I stood, a Scribe stepped forward.
It felt exactly like they had come to scold a disobedient child.
“Your Majesty. This is problematic. Even if she is the Taesa.”
The Scribe glanced back and forth between the Emperor and me.
The atmosphere was deeply unsettling. It felt as though they were scanning me from head to toe.
What exactly was that alien existence?
“I know. Enough.”
“If you simply come on the appointed days, you may read as many books as you wish. Why must you—”
“I said I know. Enough of that already.”
The Scribe was scolding the Emperor.
What kind of bizarre scene was this?
Seeing how the Emperor couldn’t properly push back, was the Scribe actually the stronger presence here?
“This isn’t the first or second time.”
That alien being now shook its head as if thoroughly fed up.
If it really wasn’t the first or second time, there was nothing to be done. Even I would be pissed in their place.
“Ah, come on, just leave it at that.”
“If you do this even once more, we may lock Your Majesty in here and leave ourselves.”
“Hey, isn’t that a bit much?”
“If you think it’s too much, then simply stop, Your Majesty.”
The Scribe threatened the Emperor in a completely emotionless voice.
Just how scrambled was the hierarchy of this country?
Even a powerless Emperor got chewed out this hard by a Scribe?
I left the library together with the Emperor for the time being.
“You all right? You seem a little different from earlier.”
“Ah. I almost got killed by history.”
If things had gone wrong, my head might not have been able to take it.
“Hmm. Almost killed by history, you say. That would certainly be dangerous. Planning to come back later for revenge?”
“Revenge? Honestly, there’s no point.”
“Unexpected.”
Even if every last one of them was me, there was no reason to take revenge. In truth, the future me had been trying to warn the present me.
Anyway, that Olivia and I were ultimately one being.
What still bothered me was why I was even in the library in the first place.
History or whatever, it was still me. Why I was there—that one thing I couldn’t figure out.
According to the Emperor, this Imperial Library had been built at the founding of the Empire.
So it wasn’t a place where future and past gathered together; it was better to think of it as a record room that held only the past.
Yet I still had no idea why I remained there as history.
The Scribes had forced us out quickly, but someday I would probably have to look again. Once the Founding Festival ended, I would have to find another chance.
And when I did, I would look into the Four Heavenly Kings as well.
“I’ll head back for now.”
“Do that. Rest a little today.”
Perhaps because the atmosphere had grown more serious than usual, the Emperor didn’t try to keep me any longer.
On the way out of the Imperial Palace, exhaustion settled particularly heavily into my body.
The future me had known almost nothing about the Four Heavenly Kings. No—maybe she had deliberately erased it, just like me right now.
“Anyway, that means the Founding Festival is the real problem.”
What a pain in the ass. I had to put on a big show of skill in front of those steppe hicks. There was nothing quite like making people go through this kind of trouble.
Then I sensed a presence beside me.
“Will you be able to manage it?”
“Claire? You startled me. You were here?”
I never would have guessed Claire was nearby. Completely unexpected.
“I am a member of the Assassin Guild, after all. Someone has to keep an eye on the guild members who occasionally guard His Majesty.”
I casually scanned Claire from head to toe.
Right. That was how she would play it. Of course.
“Don’t worry. I can handle it. What’s got you so worried?”
“Yes, I know you can. Still, it’s a gathering of countless tribal chiefs. Will you be able to perform well without getting tense?”
What did she take me for? If I were the type to get tense, chaos would have broken out long ago.
“If I don’t perform well, should I just screw the whole thing up?”
“This is the matter of becoming the Empire’s representative. I don’t know if His Majesty has gone senile, but in practice the Empire’s pride, its face—everything rests on you, young lady.”
She was calling the Emperor senile right out loud.
“Come on, it’s not that serious.”
No—when she put it like that it suddenly felt extremely shaky. Even if I forced every last one of them to their knees, it meant I would be remembered as the Empire’s representative.
I was going to end up handling all the diplomacy with those hicks myself.
A girl who just wanted to be a mage was somehow becoming a full-time diplomat.
“Besides, both His Majesty and you, young lady, may have remarkable bloodlines, but you know how the nomadic tribes treat women.”
Claire trailed after me in a way that didn’t match her age at all, voice anxious.
“Right. They say women are nothing more and nothing less than baby-making tools.”
“Well, it isn’t quite that barbaric an era anymore, but the contempt is still quite severe.”
She had a point. Strictly speaking, women didn’t exactly rise easily in the Empire either, but if the bloodline or ability was good enough you could still get somewhere in the middle. The nomads’ gaze would be different, though. If both the Emperor and the Taesa were women, then unless I showed off some serious skill, looking down on us would feel completely natural from their side.
In that case I would either have to slaughter the whole lot of them or show them right in front of their eyes exactly how well I could shoot.
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Really? Wouldn’t it be better to send the second young master, or even the Hero?”
Yeah. Those would be more convenient for her.
“Second Brother is busier with family affairs right now. And the Hero is good with a sword at best—archery isn’t really his thing.”
Second Brother was one thing, but the Hero? The Hero wasn’t even from the Empire to begin with. Sending Adellina as a substitute would be better than that.
“Then perhaps we could select someone from the Mage Corps who handles a bow with magic, or the most skilled archer from the knight orders—”
“Nah, I’m fine.”
Treating me like some incompetent weakling was starting to hurt my feelings.
“So you intend to step forward alone?”
“If possible, yes.”
“Hmm. If you’re that set on it, I suppose there’s no choice.”
“Planning to stop me that day?”
Surely even the Assassin Guild wouldn’t try to block me. No, they wouldn’t.
“That isn’t it. Simply that, just in case, I will keep guild members ready at all times—”
“Why?”
“In the worst case, the tribal chiefs will need to forget what they saw.”
“Hey, I told you I can do it fine. I can hit the mark with my eyes closed.”
She was still looking at me like some ordinary noble young lady. Was she still thinking of the old Olivia?
Crushing those hicks underfoot wasn’t going to be that hard.
“If you’re that confident, I won’t try to stop you any further. However, let me say this once more.”
Honestly, anyone watching would think we were mother and daughter rather than noble young lady and maid. After nagging this much she should have gotten tired of it by now.
My head already hurt; dealing with this one thing after another was just annoying.
I was still a student at Adellina, so I still had a room in the dorms, but the thought of students pestering me the whole way there was already exhausting.
Having Claire pester me on top of that was a bit much.
“Anyway, how’s Noel? Come to think of it, things were so hectic I never asked Second Brother.”
“Ah. Miss Noel seems quite taken with the second young master. And the second young master doesn’t appear to dislike her either. If it were Young Master Lockton, who will one day lead Ashtar, it would be another matter—but since it’s the second son, the burden on the family is lighter.”
True. Lockton was destined to become the head of Ashtar, so marrying Noel—someone from outside—could provoke resistance from the nobles within Ashtar territory.
Father the Duke had been able to marry Katrina, head of the Assassin Guild, during the second period of chaos in Ashtar, but that had been a special case.
“So you’re saying marriage is possible?”
“Yes. After all, Miss Noel is part of the Hero Party. Among people of unclear origin, she’s about as suitable for Ashtar as one can get.”
Congratulations, Noel. Thanks to the Hero Party title she managed to snag herself a decent groom.
The second son probably wouldn’t refuse. If it benefited the family he usually went along with things, and he himself didn’t dislike her, so it might proceed smoothly.
Even if he did dislike it, I would force the match myself.
It was better to keep that girl Noel tied down nearby so she couldn’t go jumping back onto the Hero or pull any other nonsense. Binding her to Ashtar was the best option.
I gave a small nod.
“Hmm. Is that so.”
“Weren’t you the one who pushed the two of them together, young lady?”
“Well, yeah, but—”
What now? What was she digging into this time?
“Is there a particular reason? I heard the two of you became close, but no matter how I look at it, she doesn’t seem like someone you would deliberately bring into Ashtar as a daughter-in-law.”
Why are you so curious about that, anyway?
If she wanted to keep the maid position she should stop interfering more than necessary. Or else save the conversation for when I visited the estate.
“According to Miss Noel, the two of you even formed a sworn-sister bond.”
“Uh. Uh-huh.”
No way. She was actually pushing that angle? Sworn sisters? Fuck.
Fine. Whatever. If it meant I could drag that runaway girl back home, I would even play sworn sister or whatever else. Anything was better than her getting pulled in by some weird bastard again.
“I see. Understood.”
“Why?”
“Well, you did grow close even at Lord Eldacrad’s mausoleum.”
There was a lot I could pick apart there, but I decided to let it go.
“You’re accepting it pretty easily, though.”
“Yes. It’s your word, young lady. Besides, it isn’t a bad thing for Ashtar either. She’s an excellent mage, so if she bears children they will certainly be of help to Ashtar.”
That’s exactly the kind of thing a maid shouldn’t be saying.
Did she really think she hadn’t been found out? No—she already knew I knew and was talking like this on purpose, wasn’t she?
Just as chaos and confusion started to sink their claws into my head once more—
before I knew it, the Founding Festival stood right before my eyes.