Chapter 56. Bibliomania (1)
Chapter 56. Bibliomania (1)
1
Silence fell over the Great Library.
Hunters with weak stomachs retched. Hunters with strong stomachs stared at the quest floating before their eyes and sank into careful thought.
Only one Constellation.
"Ah."
The Librarian alone fluttered his five-meter sleeves and spoke.
"Please clean up your own vomit. Is that not basic manners? The library's cleanliness can only be maintained if all of you, our patrons, work hard at it."
Clap!
The Librarian lightly clapped his hands. From behind the bookshelves, from the shadowed, dark corners, things of unknown identity approached. At a glance, they might have looked human in that they had arms and legs, but.......
The Witch narrowed her brow.
"...Bookmarks?"
The unidentified things had bodies made of bookmarks.
In the middle of each bookmark, a strange picture was drawn. A handmaiden's outfit? A maid's outfit? In any case, clothing that old-time serving girls might have worn was printed on them.
"Oh, you've hit it exactly. They are bookmark maids!"
The Librarian gave a little "ahem" and placed his hands on his hips.
"They will attend to you until you clear the 30th floor."
The bookmarks with maids drawn on them bowed their bodies.
"When you wish to eat or use the restroom, tell the bookmark maids. They may not look it, but they are quite capable."
"They're monsters... right? For now?"
"Heh."
The Librarian covered his mouth with his sleeve.
The Constellation's eyes were smiling slyly.
"You may think of them that way."
The Librarian's eyes smiled, but his voice did not. The hunters flinched. For the first time, the Constellation's voice, which had been bright from start to finish, turned cold.
"While you stay here, there are several things you must be careful about."
The Librarian spoke.
"First. Never touch any book I have not permitted. Do not even lay a finger on them. These are all books I collected with blood and sweat. They are Apocalypses, the only copies in this universe. The worthless scum who touch books without even asking their owner's permission......."
"Fuck."
At that moment, some hunter spat out a curse.
"That's fucking rich. In the end, you're the boss monster!"
"...Hmm."
"Hey! You guys grab your weapons too! Quest or whatever, if we just kill that bastard, we clear all the way to the 30th floor. What the hell is this 'I' bullshit! If all 300 of us attack at once, we can beat him down!"
The crowd stirred.
The Librarian did not particularly stop the agitator. He merely stood still, smiling with his eyes, watching. Seeing the Constellation's silence, the hunter grew even more arrogant.
"We can beat some little brat like that! Death King or whatever, some green kid cleared the 20th floor solo, right?"
"......."
So he was dragging me into this.
"What makes you think we can't do it too?! Huh?"
The people were of different races, with eyes in every imaginable color. But the emotion in those eyes was exactly the same.
Envy. Jealousy. Greed.
Every one of them was an all-too-familiar emotion.
"You all stay out of it! No, everyone from the five major guilds, step back!"
The hunter shouted not only at me, but at the Witch and the Sword Saint. He even shouted at the Heretic Questioner and the major guild masters, including the Count.
"You monopolized the raid from the 11th floor onward, and I didn't like it anyway. Huh? Acting like you alone represent the Tower. Dragging in some brat from nowhere and fabricating some new hero or whatever. You think we don't know you're pulling tricks?"
The Witch bristled.
"You—who do you think you're......!"
Squeeze.
I grabbed the Witch's wrist.
"Hold on."
"Please hold back, Death King. If we leave people like that alone......."
"Still, hold on for now."
I whispered into the Witch's ear.
"Right now, all of this is being broadcast live."
The Witch blinked.
"Broadcast? What do you mean?"
"It's being projected as a hologram in Babylon's plaza."
"......!"
In the past, I hadn't earned an epithet, so I couldn't even set foot on the 21st floor. Even so, I knew in detail how this stage worked, what the quest was, everything.
"It's like a television program. The people gathered in the plaza are watching everything we do. In real time."
"Why would they do such a thing......?"
"That Constellation said it. We're no different from [characters]."
I said quietly.
"Naturally, there must be [readers] watching the characters."
That's right.
Indeed, in the past I had watched from the plaza too. Although I couldn't participate in the raid, I had watched the entire process of the hunters with epithets clearing the 21st through 30th floors.
'Even now, a hologram will be floating in the plaza.'
Every move of the people gathered here was being broadcast live.
What lines we recited, what actions we took.
Hundreds of thousands of readers were watching all of it vividly.
In the truest sense, we were standing on a stage.
"Don't let your guard down just because there's no one watching, Black Dragon Master."
"......."
"If you say something strange here or show a bad image, it'll stay in other people's memories for the rest of your life."
The guild master before me understood immediately.
How terrifying that was.
"...I see. So this stage isn't about whether or not you clear it."
I nodded.
"Yes. 'How' you clear it is what matters most."
So that we wouldn't do anything that could be held against us later. So that to the people—no, to the readers—we would truly seem like heroes from a book.
We had to perform and embody our roles ourselves.
"We've already entered a work called [The Great Library]."
That was the moment.
After the quest appeared, a notification that should have come rang out.
The notification that was supposed to follow rang out—not in the Witch's voice, nor the Librarian's, but in the Tower's voice.
[Welcome, Death King.]
I smiled inwardly.
[The 20th-floor clear reward is being granted!]
The reward for protecting the Aegim Empire and the continent yesterday.
The time had come to receive the reward.
2
The Tower is harsh to latecomers.
But by the same measure, it grants a greater reward to the frontrunners.
[Normal Stage Reward.]
[Blessing, the protection of the God of Beauty (美神), descends!]
[From the 21st floor to the 30th floor, you may observe the favorability of characters.]
The rewards did not end there.
The reward for completing the hidden quest still remained.
[Hidden Stage Reward.]
[Blessing, the protection of the Snake God (蛇神), descends!]
[From the 21st floor to the 30th floor, you may observe the psychology of characters.]
'Nice!'
They were privileges beyond compare.
In this quest, the key was which role you performed and how well.
'These are exactly the privileges I need right now!'
To perform a role, being good on your own wasn't enough. I had to see through the psychology of other people—the other characters—too.
Because acting is never a solo play; it's always a team play.
'Status window.'
Before getting to work on the quest in earnest, I checked my condition.
+
Name: Death King (死王)
Rank: D-rank
Skills (5/6)
1. I Want to Be Like You (S+)
2. Regressor's Clockwork Watch (EX)
3. Sword Constellation (A+)
4. Goblin High Society (F)
5. Hundred Ghost Reincarnation (SSS)
6. None.
※The blessing of the God of Beauty (美神) is in effect.
※The blessing of the Snake God (蛇神) is in effect.
+
'Okay.'
I glanced back at the Witch. Only then did I realize I was still holding her wrist. Letting go as naturally as possible, I muttered a plausible command to myself.
'Character window.'
Swish!
A hologram rose before my eyes.
And I witnessed a status window I had never seen in my life.
+
Name: Black Witch (黑色魔女)
Favorability: 82
Preferred genres: [Romance]
Disliked genres: [History]
Preferred characters: [Prince on a white horse], [Younger men], [Wolf men], [Airheaded men]
Disliked characters: [Psychopaths], [Soldiers], [Politicians], [Incompetent female leads]
Preferred plots: [Repayment], [Sacrifice of the small for the great]
Disliked plots: [Oblivion], [Betrayal], [Female lead's misunderstanding]
Psychological state: 'If our appearances really are being broadcast to Babylon... for the sake of the future, I must perform a noble persona. Clearing is a secondary objective. Yes. I must move with thoroughly political calculation. In that case, the wisest tactic is.......'
+
"......."
Uh.
As I lost my words in bewilderment, the Witch's expression hardened. She seemed tense, wondering if some problem had arisen with me.
"What's wrong? What is it?"
"Uh. No, it's nothing."
"...Then that's a relief. But if there's any information I need to know, tell me quickly. I'm still working out countermeasures in my head."
"Yes, yep."
The Witch turned her head and sank back into thought.
With a very serious gaze.
Looking at the Witch's profile, I was tormented by a certain emotion.
'What is this?'
What was this unidentified sense of guilt?
'This feels exactly like... secretly peeking at someone else's diary.......'
-Puhahahahak!
The guardian spirit sharing my consciousness was already losing it.
He kicked the air with his feet and roared with laughter.
-A pr, prince on a white horse! Prince on a white horse......! Heh! Someone who's aged as much as she has and keeps up her looks with elixirs—at her age, a prince on a white horse! A z, zombie! Go find a nice horse somewhere and ride it! Aren't you supposed to be a hero! If you just put a crown on a hero, doesn't he become a prince? Wow, a match made in heaven!
"......."
I stared blankly at the guardian spirit.
-Huh? What's with that look? Feels like you're glaring at me?
I muttered low in my mind.
'...Character window.'
-Huh? Huh huh? Hey, Kim Zombie! What are you trying to do right now!? You bastard! Hey!
The guardian spirit waved his hands in panic.
But waving his hands couldn't stop the command.
The guardian spirit's character window was laid bare before my eyes.
+
Name: Sword Emperor (劍帝)
Favorability: 59
Preferred genres: [Wuxia]
Disliked genres: [Everything except Wuxia]
Preferred characters: [Macho men], [Rivals], [Mothers]
Disliked characters: [Weaklings], [Pushovers]
Preferred plots: [Victory], [Catharsis]
Disliked plots: [Defeat], [Frustration]
Psychological state: 'Shit! That doesn't work on me too, does it?'
+
'Pfft!'
I burst out internally.
I almost broke my blank expression.
'M, mothers? Sword Emperor, I never took you for one, but don't tell me you're a mama's boy.......'
-I'll kill you!
The guardian spirit glared. It wasn't just glaring—he was outright raging. Thrashing. Flailing his limbs and throwing a fit.
-I'll kill you! Fuck! Turn it off right now! Forget it! Erase it from your brain, you bastard! If you don't erase it right now, I'll blow your head off! I'll really kill you! I'll cut ties with you for good, you punk!
It had been quite a while since I met the guardian spirit, but this was the first time I'd seen him so flustered. The more disadvantaged a person is, the louder they get. Unlike the guardian spirit, I was completely at ease.
'Until the 30th floor, keep your mouth shut and bow your head to me. Otherwise, I'll pull up your psychology window every chance I get.'
-Kgh......!
The guardian spirit seethed. His snorting was impressive. But what good was impressive snorting? The guardian spirit couldn't hit me, and he couldn't block my ability.
-Just you wait! Someday you'll get yours!
'Heh heh.'
A "just you wait" from that guy wasn't scary at all.
While I was testing my new privileges, the hunters gradually split into two factions.
One side was the radical faction that followed the agitator and wanted to gang up on the [boss monster] together. The other side was the cautious faction, including me and the Witch, that wanted to observe the situation for now.
The radical faction numbered about 100.
The cautious faction numbered about 200.
"Foolish."
The Sword Saint, who had kept silence from start to finish, spoke.
The aged swordsman was looking at the radical faction as if they were pathetic.
"Have you already forgotten that the Constellation just showed us worlds being destroyed? If he wished, that Constellation could throw us into such a world and then slip out at his leisure. And yet you would pick a fight. You're insane."
"......."
"If you're attempting mass suicide, I won't stop you."
At the Sword Saint's single remark, half of the radical faction broke away.
The hunters remaining in the radical faction now numbered about 50.
"Hey! Don't chicken out!"
The one who had first incited the hunters shouted.
"Death King cleared the 10th floor alone! The 20th floor was solo play too! Boss monsters are all like that originally—the major guilds are just trying to monopolize the profits. If you're going to live your whole life wagging your tails at the five major guilds, then get lost!"
That agitator seemed to be a fairly high-ranking hunter as well.
After all, 50 people were still swayed by the hunter's words.
'Maybe he's the head of a fairly solid mid-sized guild, even if not one of the five major guilds.'
Most importantly, I didn't remember that agitator's face or epithet. Flame Emperor, Alchemy Ministry Head, the Witch, the Sword Saint, and so on—I had obsessively followed every top ranker without exception.
If someone like me didn't remember him, he couldn't have been that famous.
"Hmm—"
There was a reason for everything.
"—Have you finished sorting things out?"
The Librarian looked down at the 50 radical hunters.
Like planets revolving around a sun, hundreds of books were orbiting the Librarian.
"Yeah! You boss monster bastard! Fifty is more than enough to take down a little brat like you......!"
"My apologies. I'm not particularly fond of clichés."
Snap.
The Librarian grabbed a single book.
The title [Epic of the Sealed World] was written on the cover.
"I'll simply finish this quickly."
Fwoosh!
The book opened and white light burst forth. But this time, the light didn't stop at flashing. Dark, murky arms. Countless tentacles poured out and swarmed the radical hunters.
The hunters screamed.
"Wh, what is that?"
"In this Apocalypse, humanity was annihilated, and only a single mage survived."
One. Two. Three.
The radical hunters were seized by the monster's tentacles and dragged into the air.
"Well, after passing through various hardships, the mage came to resemble a tentacle monster more than a person. He is a protagonist I am quite fond of. He ranks about number 9 among my favorite characters."
"Kyaaaak!"
The hunters dragged into the air were soon swallowed into the book.
"S, save me!"
The hunters who had luckily avoided the tentacles began to flee, but it was useless. Slither! Ten times more tentacles than before burst out of the book. Some hunters were caught by the wrist, some by the waist, some by the ankle.
"This mage—that is, my favorite character—specializes in sealing magic. Should I call it a relationship of guest and master? In exchange for occasionally handing over [materials], the mage willingly grants my requests."
In an instant, 50 hunters were devoured by the book.
The Librarian smiled faintly.
"Just like now."
Plop.
Plop, plop. Patter. Plop plop.
The book that had swallowed the hunters began to vomit something out.
Gluttony and vomit.
We held our breath and stared at the scene unfolding before our eyes. We couldn't see it from here, but... the hundreds of thousands gathered in Babylon's plaza were probably holding their breath just like us.
"Ah."
What the book vomited out were giant bookmarks.
As tall as a person.
Bookmarks with arms and legs.
"The mage's hobby is dressing the works he creates in maid outfits."
In the middle of each bookmark, a handmaiden's outfit was drawn.
"He's a bit of a pervert, you see."
"......."
"Well, what can you do? All of humanity except himself was annihilated. It would be stranger if he kept his sanity."
The hunters looked around with terror-stricken faces.
Fifty bookmark maids stood silently.
If you looked around the library a little more broadly, not just 50, but hundreds—thousands—of bookmarks were working, holding mops or dishes.
"......."
The hunters fell silent.
That many, just counting what entered their field of vision.
This Great Library stretched beyond the horizon.
If you counted the entire library, how many bookmarks were wandering around?
"Mm. It's gotten tidy! The useless extras have been cleared away."
Snap!
The Librarian closed the book.
"Now, do you feel like becoming protagonists?"