Chapter 5
Chapter 5
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: Phantasmal Library: Celestia (4)
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After encountering the uninvited guests who had wandered into the library, an hour had already passed.
In that past hour, a great many things had happened between me and these intruders who had come to the library.
There had been several disturbances utterly unfit for a place like a library.
And the result of it all was the two mages now kneeling before me.
“…….”
“…….”
A silver-haired girl with her witch's hat pulled low over her bowed head.
Beside her, a middle-aged man rolling his eyes with a troubled expression.
The two thieves had knelt of their own accord to reflect on their misdeeds.
Of course, it had taken a bit of a show of force to reach this point, but the outcome was a good one, so there shouldn't be any major issues.
I sat in my chair overlooking the pair, mentally verifying once more the information they had shared with me up to now.
"So, you're from a nation you call the 'Astio Empire'?"
“……Yes. That's right.”
The first to answer my question about the intruders' origins was the girl wearing the witch's hat.
—Lua Polaris.
She was apparently an apprentice mage affiliated with the Blue Tower.
From what I gathered, an apprentice mage was a novice who had yet to be recognized as a full-fledged mage.
The one who had informed me of this fact was the middle-aged mage kneeling beside her.
“Y-Yes, that's correct……!”
The middle-aged man with a dignified appearance sitting next to Lua affirmed it in a trembling voice.
—Creighton Lukbart.
Unlike Lua beside him, this man seemed to be a mage of considerable skill.
He had introduced himself as the chief mage of the Mage Legion.
In fact, a high-ranking mage who had earned the moniker "Iron Wall Magus" on the northern frontlines.
"Empire……."
I pondered briefly as I listened to their responses.
There had been a time when I believed escaping this library would take me back to the world where I once lived.
But judging from these uninvited guests before me now, that possibility seemed extremely slim.
The two of them had clearly come from somewhere entirely different from Earth.
The Astio Empire.
These people from a foreign nation I had never heard of spoke a language called "Imperial tongue" that was completely unfamiliar to me.
Even their descriptions of daily life in the empire felt distant from the modern society I had known.
No matter how I looked at it, they had no connection to the world I had lived in.
‘The Phantasmal Library: Celestia might have been linked to entirely different worlds from the start.’
Moreover, the reason they had ended up here was little more than coincidence.
They had simply opened their eyes inside this library by some happenstance.
It was a situation similar to mine, where I had become trapped here after my car accident.
The difference was that I had already met my death, while their bodies were still alive and intact.
Which meant there was no telling how long these two might remain here.
‘Will they end up trapped here forever like me? Or will they return to where they came from?’
If they were lucky, the two might make it back to their own world.
And if they did, they might never return to this library again.
Even so, it was undeniable that the mages before me were my sole lead to the outside world.
‘Even if they do return to their world, I need insurance—just in case.’
I needed information.
Special information that I couldn't obtain within the confines of this sealed library.
And so, I decided to stake everything on a gamble with these two mages.
Investing in the possibility that Lua and Creighton would return to this library again.
That was the choice I had made.
"I need information from the outside."
Thud—.
I closed the grimoire in my hand and spoke to the two still kneeling before me.
At my words, Lua lifted her head, her face filled with puzzlement.
"Information from the outside……?"
"Yes. Ideally, information on magic I don't know about."
Lua and Creighton.
It was clear they placed immense value on the grimoires in my library.
And the reason was likely that the magical system of [Celestia Maker] shared much in common with the magic they used.
[Celestia Maker], the game where you authored grimoires and stored them in a magical library.
Why that game had led me to create magic from another world—I still had no guesses about that.
But one thing was certain: the time I had spent was far from wasted.
‘Magic alone is the only means that can save me.’
The path I had to follow was the same then as it was now.
One and only one.
Creating magic.
That alone was the sole way I could escape this library.
If I stayed trapped here forever, my mind would rot away until it shattered completely.
Before it reached the point of no return, I would use the magic I created to break free from this place.
And once more feel the pulse of a living body.
That was the only goal I now held.
"For hundreds of years, I have been confined to this library. The books here are all ones I personally authored over that long span of time."
I told the mages before me the truth of my situation.
About the Phantasmal Library: Celestia.
How long this vast library had held me captive.
Before stating my demands, I intended to explain my background.
"Does that mean……you've been sealed away here for hundreds of years……?"
“H-Hundreds of years……?!”
But perhaps my words had been conveyed a bit inaccurately.
My tragic reality seemed to have been exaggerated even further in their minds.
I could tell from the way Creighton spoke of seals and such after hearing my story.
“Th-Then……a grand mage who was sealed away hundreds of years ago……how did you come to meet us……?”
Lua, too, was gazing back and forth between Creighton and me with trembling eyes.
Since it wasn't fundamentally far off, I saw no need to correct their misunderstanding.
They could think of it however they liked.
What mattered more was the main point to come next.
"I don't know how you ended up here. Perhaps you were fortunate, or perhaps not."
“…….”
"But the proposal I'm about to make isn't a bad deal by any means."
With that, I met Lua's eyes.
The first two guests to visit my magical library.
If their arrival here was fate, then I would simply extend the hospitality befitting guests of the Phantasmal Library: Celestia.
"From this moment, I grant you permission to peruse every book in the First Archive. In special circumstances, I will even allow you to check them out."
“Wha……?!”
"The magic in the First Archive consists mostly of daily-use spells and basic magical theory."
“…….”
"But depending on the merits you accrue, I am willing to grant phased access to the higher archives—and permission to check out from them."
Permission to peruse the First Archive.
And phased access to the higher archives based on their merits.
Lua and Creighton's faces filled with shock upon hearing this.
In Lua's case, she even stared at the grimoire before her with trembling hands as she spoke.
“Th-This incredible magic……it's just for everyday use and not for combat……?”
Before Lua lay the grimoire inscribed with the incantation for [Heat Ray], a spell I had created two hundred years ago.
It was a bridge spell I had devised to develop the magic in the Third Archive.
I nodded to her and continued.
"Spatial magic. Summoning magic. Necromantic magic. Collect spells from these three fields and bring them to me."
“……!”
"It doesn't matter if they're basic spells. Even if they're not complete incantations or grimoires—just magical theory is fine."
Even if it was merely a foundational paper rather than a finished spell, it wouldn't matter.
I had the ability to refine and improve them.
What I needed were leads.
New leads to take one step further.
"If you bring me the magic I require in any form, I will let you take magic commensurate with that merit."
“M-Merit-worthy magic……!”
"And someday, when the day comes that I finally escape this accursed library—."
Gulp—.
The two mages swallowed hard in unison as they looked up at me.
The gaze of those revering something untouchable.
I smiled at them and spoke.
"I will personally create the magic you desire."
Magic is not omnipotent.
But it is possible to mimic that form, at least partially.
The vast knowledge accumulated in this grand library over centuries.
An overwhelming structure born beyond the lifespan permitted to mere mortals.
Incomprehensible magical power born from the obsession to reach the other side of the world.
Long ago, this library had transcended my very common sense.
"I will grant your wish."
“…….”
My gaze fell upon the two mages before me.
And the two pairs of eyes brimming with desire nodded quietly toward me.
A single promise—.
It was in that instant that the gathering known as the "Celestia Secret Society" began.