Chapter 19: Rafdonia (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 19: Rafdonia (3)
"Then I'll be heading out now."
"Ah, yes... Goodbye..."
After saying goodbye to Erwen, my next destination was the library.
The soothing smell of paper and ink. The quiet atmosphere forced you to hold in a sneeze. Among the other twig-like people searching for books, I felt like an outsider here, but...
Honk—!
To my surprise, there was another barbarian in the library. I reached out and poked them in the back, glad to see them.
"Bjorn, son of Yandel?!"
So it is you.
"Ainar, third daughter of Fenelin. I'm happy to see that you're unscathed."
"As am I!"
"...I think we need to lower our voices."
Ainar also sensed the piercing gazes aimed at us, so she lowered her voice.
"Sorry. I was surprised because I didn't expect to see another one of us here."
The feeling was mutual.
"Why are you at the library?"
"Last time we met, you told me I should always think before I act, remember? While exploring the labyrinth, I felt the need for knowledge I could use to think."
Hmm, I see.
Her determination was quite commendable... if not for the fact that she had been snoring over an open book.
"Something must have happened to you in the labyrinth."
"It was difficult from beginning to end. Fighting wasn't a problem, but..."
Ainar continued her thought with a grimace.
"It wasn't just the monsters I needed to watch out for."
She certainly was different from the other barbarians. They had only bragged about how easily they had defeated the monsters. They would never admit how hard it actually was.
"That's why you decided to come study."
"That's right. But as expected, this is not a good fit for me. Reading is very difficult. I should have studied harder when I was younger."
...Oh, so that was the root of the problem?
"So, starting today, I plan to visit the holy land and learn from the elders again. But now that I am an adult, I will have to pay a price."
This was a little surprising. I hadn't expected that my half-hearted advice would get someone to change so much.
Immediately after she finished speaking, Ainar closed the book she had opened and got up from her seat.
"Are you going to go right now?"
"I gotta do it when it comes to mind, so I won't forget."
I see. The more I got to know them, the more I thought of the barbarians as tragic.
"Then see you later."
Ainar headed toward the exit after a brief goodbye, but then she turned around as if she had just remembered something.
"Oh! Come to think of it, I said I would repay you for the advice if I came back alive. If you ever need any help, come to the Angry Rhino Inn. Whatever it is, I will help as much as I can."
"I will."
I hoped she wouldn't forget this promise within a day or two. I'd be asking for her help pretty soon.
***
After Ainar left, I looked around the library for a while.
It was not every day that you saw a building the size of the National Assembly being used entirely as a library. In the game, the library only ever displayed the sign "under construction" and did not let you enter.
Hmm, but how do you find a book in a place like this?
I didn't think you could find the location with a few clicks of a keyboard like you could in modern times...
I decided to ask for help instead of spending the time trying to figure it out.
"Ahem."
When I coughed, the librarian who had been sleeping at the desk slowly opened her eyes.
"Can I help you?"
"I am looking for a book. It's related to history—"
"Parsytiev."
Before I could explain what kind of book I was looking for, the sleepy-looking librarian murmured something. At the same time, a faint light entered my body.
What? Is this magic?
"Now you will be able to find the book you are looking for while you're looking around. You can't take the book out. And after reading it, be sure to put it back in its original place."
As the light faded, the librarian rattled that off like a robot and then dozed off again.
...What is this woman?
I didn't want to wake her again, so I wandered around the library as instructed. While doing so, I came across books here and there that I felt like I was drawn to. Slowly, I quickly realized what kind of magic this was.
Evil spirits, history, labyrinths, adventurers, essence and more. As soon as the keywords in my head changed, the books that called to me did as well.
What is this convenient spell?
With magic like this, I could understand why there was only one librarian. And compared to the size of the library, there were almost no visitors in the library to begin with. Of the books, I selected only the ones that I felt the greatest attraction to and opened them one by one.
The Fallen World.
The first book was nearly seven hundred pages and described the early history of this world. Most of the content matched up with the game.
Thousands of years ago, living on this land became impossible due to a witch's curse, and the final citadel, Rafdonia, was able to escape that calamity. It was said that a portal to another dimension had been opened by the royal family for the citizens starving from a lack of resources. That portal had become the labyrinth of today.
The Annotated Edition of Basic Understanding of Alchemy IV.
The second book described the process through which mana stones derived from monsters were turned into bread, water, and iron. I didn't understand any of these laws.
Still, I read whatever books I could find and drilled the knowledge into my head.
War of Sacred Relics III.
From this book, I learned more about how the barbarians and elves' relationship had reached its current state, and what the evil spirits were. People believed that evil spirits were beings that came from another dimension to possess their bodies. Well, that wasn't completely wrong.
Evil Spirits of the Abyss.
Unfortunately, this book did not explain why evil spirits appeared in this world. However, the Rafdonian royal family and the Temple declared the evil spirits agents of annihilation and included ways to identify evil spirits written in relative detail. From the point of view of an evil spirit, this was useful information. According to the book's contents, as long as you didn't blurt out taboo words, you'd hardly ever be suspected of being an evil spirit. For example, "Dungeon and Stone."
***
After Ainar left, I looked around the library for a while.
It was not every day that you saw a building the size of the National Assembly being used entirely as a library. In the game, the library only ever displayed the sign "under construction" and did not let you enter.
Hmm, but how do you find a book in a place like this?
I didn't think you could find the location with a few clicks of a keyboard like you could in modern times...
I decided to ask for help instead of spending the time trying to figure it out.
"Ahem."
When I coughed, the librarian who had been sleeping at the desk slowly opened her eyes.
"Can I help you?"
"I am looking for a book. It's related to history—"
"Parsytiev."
Before I could explain what kind of book I was looking for, the sleepy-looking librarian murmured something. At the same time, a faint light entered my body.
What? Is this magic?
"Now you will be able to find the book you are looking for while you're looking around. You can't take the book out. And after reading it, be sure to put it back in its original place."
As the light faded, the librarian rattled that off like a robot and then dozed off again.
...What is this woman?
I didn't want to wake her again, so I wandered around the library as instructed. While doing so, I came across books here and there that I felt like I was drawn to. Slowly, I quickly realized what kind of magic this was.
Evil spirits, history, labyrinths, adventurers, essence and more. As soon as the keywords in my head changed, the books that called to me did as well.
What is this convenient spell?
With magic like this, I could understand why there was only one librarian. And compared to the size of the library, there were almost no visitors in the library to begin with. Of the books, I selected only the ones that I felt the greatest attraction to and opened them one by one.
The Fallen World.
The first book was nearly seven hundred pages and described the early history of this world. Most of the content matched up with the game.
Thousands of years ago, living on this land became impossible due to a witch's curse, and the final citadel, Rafdonia, was able to escape that calamity. It was said that a portal to another dimension had been opened by the royal family for the citizens starving from a lack of resources. That portal had become the labyrinth of today.
The Annotated Edition of Basic Understanding of Alchemy IV.
The second book described the process through which mana stones derived from monsters were turned into bread, water, and iron. I didn't understand any of these laws.
Still, I read whatever books I could find and drilled the knowledge into my head.
War of Sacred Relics III.
From this book, I learned more about how the barbarians and elves' relationship had reached its current state, and what the evil spirits were. People believed that evil spirits were beings that came from another dimension to possess their bodies. Well, that wasn't completely wrong.
Evil Spirits of the Abyss.
Unfortunately, this book did not explain why evil spirits appeared in this world. However, the Rafdonian royal family and the Temple declared the evil spirits agents of annihilation and included ways to identify evil spirits written in relative detail. From the point of view of an evil spirit, this was useful information. According to the book's contents, as long as you didn't blurt out taboo words, you'd hardly ever be suspected of being an evil spirit. For example, "Dungeon and Stone."
...I should also put a limit on shouting "Sparta" from now on as well.
How Have Adventurers Evolved?
The Royal Rafdonian Twins.
About A Hero.
Life in Camp Bifron.
I was able to finally get the information I wanted as I continued to read all kinds of books.
About the King's Death.
This book dealt with the death of Ravigion III, who was called the First King and the Immortal King. However, the various suspicions surrounding it and the changes that resulted from his death were all positive. What was important to me was the timing.
Let's see, the date was...
"It was 150 years ago...?"
It was at that moment that my hypothesis was proven correct. The book stated that the date of the king's death was about 150 years ago. In other words, it was now 150 years after the setting of the game, as, no matter which character you chose, the game started the day after the death of Ravigion III.
God damn it. I'd have to live in the library for the time being.
"Whew..."
I closed the book and let my eyes rest. Even though I had only read the important parts, after looking through ten books, I felt like my eyes were going to fall out. But still, I decided to read the last two books I had pulled out.
Just a little more. They may have valuable information.
A Record of Dimensional Instability.
Was this the book that the blond who had saved me from crawling on three limbs had read?
The book contained cases and statistics about situations similar to mine. Just as the blond had said, falling into the outermost part of the labyrinth was something that only happened once every hundred years...
"Bullshit."
Speaking as someone who had experienced it firsthand, there must have been a lot more of these cases. However, they were just not recorded because the people it had happened to had all dropped dead.
The rest of the book was just statistics, so I flipped through the pages and paused at the last chapter. The author's explanation for the phenomenon was written at the end: "Entering the portal at the moment it closes may cause an instability event." If that was true...
Ultimately, it had been my fault. Before I could get upset, I moved on to the next book.
Compilation of Rank Nine Essences.
This was finally the last book. In this book, the abilities of the essences dropped by rank nine monsters were organized like an encyclopedia, but unlike the in-game notations, the information was not provided with exact numbers.
[Goblin]
[Patience (low), Smell (low), Poison Resistance (low), Dexterity (low), Sight (low)
*When using a close-combat weapon, paralyzing poison is always applied.
*Creates traps.]
Looking through the information on other monsters, if the stat was twenty-one or higher, it seemed to be marked as medium rather than low... But there was no way to know the exact metric for a "high" ranking stat using this book. According to the information on the first page, it seemed that information on creatures above rank eight had to be purchased from an adventurer guild.
...I should also put a limit on shouting "Sparta" from now on as well.
How Have Adventurers Evolved?
The Royal Rafdonian Twins.
About A Hero.
Life in Camp Bifron.
I was able to finally get the information I wanted as I continued to read all kinds of books.
About the King's Death.
This book dealt with the death of Ravigion III, who was called the First King and the Immortal King. However, the various suspicions surrounding it and the changes that resulted from his death were all positive. What was important to me was the timing.
Let's see, the date was...
"It was 150 years ago...?"
It was at that moment that my hypothesis was proven correct. The book stated that the date of the king's death was about 150 years ago. In other words, it was now 150 years after the setting of the game, as, no matter which character you chose, the game started the day after the death of Ravigion III.
God damn it. I'd have to live in the library for the time being.
"Whew..."
I closed the book and let my eyes rest. Even though I had only read the important parts, after looking through ten books, I felt like my eyes were going to fall out. But still, I decided to read the last two books I had pulled out.
Just a little more. They may have valuable information.
A Record of Dimensional Instability.
Was this the book that the blond who had saved me from crawling on three limbs had read?
The book contained cases and statistics about situations similar to mine. Just as the blond had said, falling into the outermost part of the labyrinth was something that only happened once every hundred years...
"Bullshit."
Speaking as someone who had experienced it firsthand, there must have been a lot more of these cases. However, they were just not recorded because the people it had happened to had all dropped dead.
The rest of the book was just statistics, so I flipped through the pages and paused at the last chapter. The author's explanation for the phenomenon was written at the end: "Entering the portal at the moment it closes may cause an instability event." If that was true...
Ultimately, it had been my fault. Before I could get upset, I moved on to the next book.
Compilation of Rank Nine Essences.
This was finally the last book. In this book, the abilities of the essences dropped by rank nine monsters were organized like an encyclopedia, but unlike the in-game notations, the information was not provided with exact numbers.
[Goblin]
[Patience (low), Smell (low), Poison Resistance (low), Dexterity (low), Sight (low)
*When using a close-combat weapon, paralyzing poison is always applied.
*Creates traps.]
Looking through the information on other monsters, if the stat was twenty-one or higher, it seemed to be marked as medium rather than low... But there was no way to know the exact metric for a "high" ranking stat using this book. According to the information on the first page, it seemed that information on creatures above rank eight had to be purchased from an adventurer guild.
"Phew..."
I closed the book and stretched. Time flew by, and it was now dark outside the window. It was almost time for the library to close, and there were almost no visitors left.
I put all the books I had read back in their original places and returned to the inn. After a simple meal, I jumped into bed. With this, my third day in the city had passed.
"Is it twenty-seven more days...?"
The labyrinth opened at midnight on the first of every month. A month here was exactly thirty days, so that meant that I had to enter the labyrinth again in about four weeks.
What could I do in the city for the rest of that time? No, what should I do? As I was organizing these thoughts in my head, I quickly fell asleep.
When tomorrow comes, let's start with finding a new ally.
***
"Mister! Mister! Come on, get up!"
Erwen came and knocked on my door first thing in the morning.
The excitement in her voice was one thing, but... Why the hell did she come here?
She probably wasn't here to say that she'd follow me instead of her sister... To be honest, I had thought we wouldn't see each other again.
"What is it?"
"Look! I succeeded in making a contract!"
As soon as the door opened, Erwen started rambling.
"Contract? Oh, have you consumed an Elemental Stone?"
Elemental Stones were items that allowed elves to make contracts with spirits of other attributes.
That is, if they were lucky....
"Yes! Yesterday, after you left, I successfully signed a contract with a new spirit!"
"You were lucky."
Elemental Stones cost about 150,000 stones in the game, and the success rate was only 10 percent. It must have been the equivalent of gambling her entire earnings, but she had succeeded.
"Yes! I used the ones my sister bought me, and after about ten tries, it worked!"
...Fuck, was she here to mock me?
As a barbarian who had just inherited this body, I suddenly felt destitute. When we first met, I had thought she was a pitiful girl with a younger sibling to take care of, but it turned out she had been born with a silver spoon in her mouth. Her bow and arrow had probably also been given to her by her sister.
"Anyway, it looks like you made a contract with a wind spirit."
"Yes! I was lucky in many ways. Because fire and wind go well together!"
"Okay, let's cancel the summons first," I said with a sigh.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't envious but for a different reason than this.
"Pardon? But I didn't even get to properly show you..."
"Are you going to make more of a mess in here?"
"Oh! Sorry!"
Only then did the raging whirlwind in my room subside.
Ha... Why did I have to wake up to this mess?
I frowned, and Erwen, who was overjoyed, began to notice my reaction.
"S-Should I clean it up?"
I didn't know why that was even a question.
Were you going to make me clean it up?
As I nodded, Erwen quickly organized the messy room. Surprisingly, it took less than ten minutes. She had said she was good at cleaning and doing laundry, and it seemed to be true. There was not a single wasted movement, just like a master in a martial arts novel.
"Should I clean up some more?"
"..."
"I'll clean up more..."
"No. This is enough."
To be honest, I wondered if it was even possible to tidy the room any further. For some reason, it seemed cleaner now than when I had first checked in.
Well done, let me give you a carrot. I have a favor to ask of you later as well.
"Looks like I haven't said this yet: congratulations on making a contract with a new spirit."
"Hehe, thank you!"
"Did you have breakfast?"
"Not yet."
We went down to the first floor to have a meal and talked.
"What can you do with a wind spirit?"
"Change the trajectory of an arrow that has already been fired, or make it go much faster, things like that!"
Compared to what I had expected, this was a very simple, straightforward effect. Was it not possible to rotate arrows to make them penetrate deeper, or silence the arrows as they were shot? If either were possible, her combat power would increase even more.
"Uh, I hadn't thought of that... but it should be possible?"
What's with that tone of voice?
It got on my nerves.
"Anyway, good thing you're here. When you're done eating, let's go back upstairs."
"Pardon? Why?"
"We need to do something in the room."
Erwen cocked her head. She looked like she had no idea what I was talking about...
"You didn't think that you had repaid all of your debts last time, did you?"
"S-Sorry? Didn't I?"
How naive.
Rattle!
I locked the door so no one could enter and sat Erwen on the bed.
"Now, use your powers."
Any difficulties using the essence's ability, how long it took to be able to use it again, what kind of weaknesses were hidden in the stealth ability, et cetera.
There were a whole load of things I needed to learn.
"Phew..."
I closed the book and stretched. Time flew by, and it was now dark outside the window. It was almost time for the library to close, and there were almost no visitors left.
I put all the books I had read back in their original places and returned to the inn. After a simple meal, I jumped into bed. With this, my third day in the city had passed.
"Is it twenty-seven more days...?"
The labyrinth opened at midnight on the first of every month. A month here was exactly thirty days, so that meant that I had to enter the labyrinth again in about four weeks.
What could I do in the city for the rest of that time? No, what should I do? As I was organizing these thoughts in my head, I quickly fell asleep.
When tomorrow comes, let's start with finding a new ally.
***
"Mister! Mister! Come on, get up!"
Erwen came and knocked on my door first thing in the morning.
The excitement in her voice was one thing, but... Why the hell did she come here?
She probably wasn't here to say that she'd follow me instead of her sister... To be honest, I had thought we wouldn't see each other again.
"What is it?"
"Look! I succeeded in making a contract!"
As soon as the door opened, Erwen started rambling.
"Contract? Oh, have you consumed an Elemental Stone?"
Elemental Stones were items that allowed elves to make contracts with spirits of other attributes.
That is, if they were lucky....
"Yes! Yesterday, after you left, I successfully signed a contract with a new spirit!"
"You were lucky."
Elemental Stones cost about 150,000 stones in the game, and the success rate was only 10 percent. It must have been the equivalent of gambling her entire earnings, but she had succeeded.
"Yes! I used the ones my sister bought me, and after about ten tries, it worked!"
...Fuck, was she here to mock me?
As a barbarian who had just inherited this body, I suddenly felt destitute. When we first met, I had thought she was a pitiful girl with a younger sibling to take care of, but it turned out she had been born with a silver spoon in her mouth. Her bow and arrow had probably also been given to her by her sister.
"Anyway, it looks like you made a contract with a wind spirit."
"Yes! I was lucky in many ways. Because fire and wind go well together!"
"Okay, let's cancel the summons first," I said with a sigh.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't envious but for a different reason than this.
"Pardon? But I didn't even get to properly show you..."
"Are you going to make more of a mess in here?"
"Oh! Sorry!"
Only then did the raging whirlwind in my room subside.
Ha... Why did I have to wake up to this mess?
I frowned, and Erwen, who was overjoyed, began to notice my reaction.
"S-Should I clean it up?"
I didn't know why that was even a question.
Were you going to make me clean it up?
As I nodded, Erwen quickly organized the messy room. Surprisingly, it took less than ten minutes. She had said she was good at cleaning and doing laundry, and it seemed to be true. There was not a single wasted movement, just like a master in a martial arts novel.
"Should I clean up some more?"
"..."
"I'll clean up more..."
"No. This is enough."
To be honest, I wondered if it was even possible to tidy the room any further. For some reason, it seemed cleaner now than when I had first checked in.
Well done, let me give you a carrot. I have a favor to ask of you later as well.
"Looks like I haven't said this yet: congratulations on making a contract with a new spirit."
"Hehe, thank you!"
"Did you have breakfast?"
"Not yet."
We went down to the first floor to have a meal and talked.
"What can you do with a wind spirit?"
"Change the trajectory of an arrow that has already been fired, or make it go much faster, things like that!"
Compared to what I had expected, this was a very simple, straightforward effect. Was it not possible to rotate arrows to make them penetrate deeper, or silence the arrows as they were shot? If either were possible, her combat power would increase even more.
"Uh, I hadn't thought of that... but it should be possible?"
What's with that tone of voice?
It got on my nerves.
"Anyway, good thing you're here. When you're done eating, let's go back upstairs."
"Pardon? Why?"
"We need to do something in the room."
Erwen cocked her head. She looked like she had no idea what I was talking about...
"You didn't think that you had repaid all of your debts last time, did you?"
"S-Sorry? Didn't I?"
How naive.
Rattle!
I locked the door so no one could enter and sat Erwen on the bed.
"Now, use your powers."
Any difficulties using the essence's ability, how long it took to be able to use it again, what kind of weaknesses were hidden in the stealth ability, et cetera.
There were a whole load of things I needed to learn.