Into the Library Kingdom
KWAAAAAANG!
The explosion rocked the auditorium violently.
A mana stone blast, concentrated into a single point, sent up a massive pillar of fire.
It was a savage, deadly scene — and yet the crowd actually cheered. The timing of the explosion was simply too exquisite.
The Principal had just shifted his weight and raised his aura when the blast went off, precisely on cue. The coincidence was so uncanny that everyone assumed even the explosion was part of the Principal's show.
"A sky-walk!!"
It had reached the point where people were coining absurd phrases like sky-walk.
"F-fuck. This is a nightmare, right? A nightmare. It's a nightmare!"
Milo punched himself in the cheek. Thwack! A crisp crack rang out and his head snapped to the side.
"Huh? That hurt?"
"Because it isn't a dream."
"It's not a nightmare?"
"You hauled it in yourself. Why are you acting surprised?"
"Hauled it in myself? What kind of horseshit—"
"Forgot already? You carried it out of the basement storage with your own two hands."
Milo blinked stupidly. Then, apparently dredging the memory up from the back of his mind, he yelped in a panic.
"That was the bomb?!"
"Seems like it was."
"You—! You ordered me to!"
Milo shrieked, grasping at straws.
"Got proof?"
"...Proof?"
Milo's mouth flapped open and shut.
"Now, no need to worry anyway. Every last Republic bastard behind this is dead. All we have to do is keep our mouths shut."
"R-right? I didn't know anything, I swear!"
"That's right, and I'll keep it secret... more or less. So relax."
"More... or less?"
"More or less."
Milo stared at me with a face twisted like a crumpled rag. It was the look you'd give a demon or a con artist — though honestly, among all the looks I'd received, it was one of the milder ones.
In the end, Milo had no choice but to nod.
Then—
"Eeeeeeek! Eeeeeeeek!!"
Someone let out a bizarre shriek and bolted desperately from the auditorium.
It was Evangeline. Her face bone-white, she ran for her life, with Andy chasing right behind her.
"Let's go."
I set off after Evangeline.
She ran like a woman possessed, not even stopping to catch her breath, until she finally skidded to a halt in front of a cube-shaped building — the Central Library.
"Huh? The Central Library isn't even open right now!"
Milo shouted in alarm.
Elysium Academy had a handful of taboos, and the Central Library was subject to one of them.
The Central Library may be accessed only during operating hours.
It sounded like your typical school ghost story, but the difference was that unlike ordinary ghost stories, Elysium Academy's taboos were real.
Break a taboo, and a Rift spawns with a certain probability.
That said, in these early stages the probability was vanishingly small. It only climbed to a meaningful level from the mid-game onward.
But I'd transmigrated into Hard Mode. And Hard Mode might well have pulled the Rift's arrival forward.
"Hey! If you go in there—"
I grabbed Milo as he tried to lunge forward. He turned back with a scrunched-up scowl.
"Outside operating hours, only students with special authorization can enter the Central Library. It's dangerous. We have to stop her right now."
Milo said it dead serious, looking ready to start swinging fists if it came to that. Once a student got tangled up in something, the man turned solemn as a funeral.
"What if they're authorized?"
"What do you— you clearly don't understand how strict the Central Library is. Fewer than ten students in the entire school have ever been granted entry authorization."
"Is that so?"
I pointed at Evangeline.
Despite it clearly being outside operating hours, the Central Library's main gate stood wide open. It looked, to any observer, extremely welcoming.
"Huh?"
Milo blinked dumbly.
In that moment, Evangeline and Andy slipped straight through the main gate.
"Let's go."
I started toward the Central Library.
This time, Milo didn't argue about permits or anything else.
Whoa—
Andy gasped out loud the moment he stepped into the Central Library.
Before him stretched a landscape of surreal, otherworldly wonder.
The Central Library was a world made of books.
Books were stacked into buildings and towers, and other books walked the streets between them. Some books had opened market stalls like vendors; others haggled over prices. It was, truly, a world made of books.
"Woooow—"
Andy marveled with pure, unfiltered awe.
Then a carriage made of books pulled up in front of them. When the book-horses whinnied, scraps of paper drifted down like snow.
"Driver!"
Andy climbed aboard after Evangeline, who was already perched on the seat, as if under a spell, and the carriage rolled slowly forward.
The scenery swept past. They crossed a bridge made of books over a lake made of books, and arrived before an enormous castle made of books.
The carriage stopped in the castle's banquet hall, where book chandeliers glittered and books brushed against one another as if dancing.
At the center of the hall sat a book wearing a crown. When the crowned book rose, the surrounding books crumpled themselves in a bow.
Andy, swept up in the mood, dropped to one knee.
"Ooh~ A king."
But Evangeline stood ramrod straight and simply gawked. Andy belatedly realized his mistake and turned to look at her — too late.
The surrounding books all aimed their covers at her. Their paper edges gleamed sharp as blades. Evangeline's face puckered.
Then the crowned book flapped its covers. The other books retreated a step.
The crowned book opened and closed its covers in Evangeline's direction.
"What? You want me to become your queen? Are you insane?"
Evangeline shrilled. The already-sunken atmosphere turned even frostier.
The retreated books strode closer. A vivid blue light flickered across the paper they held out.
Aura? The books are knights?
It was hard to believe, but then again, this whole place defied reality in the first place.
Sensing the ominous shift, Andy grabbed Evangeline in a panic.
"Let's just play along for now, okay?"
"No. Not my type."
"It's a book!"
Evangeline lecturing a book about type made Andy dizzy. He forced himself to focus.
"Forget type. Just act the part."
"I can't do such a wicked thing. Besides, how do you romance a book? You're kind of weird."
At her tongue-click, Andy thought, for the first time in his life, that he wanted to smack someone.
The crowned book fluttered its pages, giving the impression of saying something.
"Aha, that's not what you meant? Sorry. Misunderstanding on my part. I'm just so popular, you see."
"What's it saying?"
"It's not proposing marriage — it just wants to give me a crown?"
"Then take it."
"Take it from whom? You shouldn't just accept things from strangers."
Andy squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them again at how briskly Evangeline was holding her ground in the strangest of places. He reminded himself: this was Evangeline he was dealing with.
"That's not a person, it's a book."
"Well, true, that's fair."
"Then take it. It'd probably suit you."
"Really?"
"Yeah! A ton! Completely!"
"Heh heh~"
Andy gave a half-hearted thumbs-up, and Evangeline made a pleased little hum through her nose.
"Very well. I accept."
Evangeline received the crown.
It was far too ornate for a mere book to hold. It was the kind of crown suited to an emperor or a pope rather than a king.
Still, Evangeline, passably pretty on the outside, wore it well.
The books on all sides fluttered their covers in applause.
"Wow, Evangeline. The crown really suits you."
Andy praised her with a strained smile.
Evangeline looked at Andy. No — she looked down at him.
"Tut-tut. You shall address me as Queen Evangeline."
She's saying that with her own mouth. Andy marveled all over again.
"Do I seem... different somehow?"
"Hmm..."
Evangeline fondled the crown, lifted her chin, and preened.
"My confidence has soared! I am Queen Evangeline!"
Andy averted his eyes, struggling to keep a straight face.
Then, beside Evangeline, a strange phenomenon began.
It started as a small black-and-white haze. The haze wavered for a moment, then suddenly warped and tore open like a scar gouged by a savage beast.
A scar carved into space itself. At the sight of that impossible phenomenon, Andy remembered the Principal's warning.
"A-a Rift!"
"A Rift? What's that?"
"The thing the Principal warned us about earlier! Seriously, do you ever listen to anything?!"
"Tut-tut. Such insolence before the Queen."
"Just run, now!"
Andy spun around in a panic. That was when something seized him.
The black-and-white haze, stretched longer without his noticing, had coiled around Andy's neck. An invisible force dragged him toward the Rift.
The Principal's warning echoed in his mind: stand near a Rift, and at least one of you will be pulled in.
Why does it have to be me?!
Andy resisted with all his might, but it was hopeless.
Then, suddenly, the pull stopped. He twisted his head around to find Evangeline gripping the haze around his neck with her bare hand.
"Fufu. Queen Evangeline has resolved the situation. You may relax."
Evangeline smiled radiantly. It was a truly magnificent smile.
Unfortunately, it lasted but an instant.
"AAAAAAAAH!"
Evangeline was yanked in, just like that.
"That's the OPPOSITE of resolved!"
Andy desperately thrust out his hand. Evangeline slapped it away.
"I was the one who said we'd go, so I'll take responsibility. After all, I am Queen Evangeline."
Andy bit his lip hard at her — getting dragged away yet striking such a dignified pose for no reason at all.
The Principal had been crystal clear: the moment you spot a Rift, run without exception and report to the Guard Corps. That was the only way to boost your odds of survival even a little.
He knew that perfectly well — and still, his body moved on its own.
Is F-tier-itis contagious?
It certainly seemed to have infected him. Thoroughly.
"We're going together!!"
Andy grabbed hold of Evangeline as the Rift swallowed her.
The two of them were dragged in together.
A bizarre sensation washed over them.
It resembled the feeling of entering the Central Library, only incomparably more intense.
Soon, a clammy dampness crept over his skin. He cracked his eyes open to find a dark, gloomy corridor — and the problem was its color.
The corridor was blackish-red. As if it had been painted over with blood—
No. It IS blood.
And not just any blood — dark, rotten, festering blood. A horrific stench stabbed at his nostrils.
So this was a Rift. Andy's face drained white.
"Hmm, a maze, I wonder?"
Evangeline murmured beside him. He turned — and there she was, surveying the corridor with perfect serenity.
Far from being frightened, her eyes were practically sparkling. Andy shrieked at her.
"We've fallen into a Rift! This is really bad!"
"Please. Haven't you heard? Even in a mole tunnel, all you need is a sharp mind to find your way out."
"What do you mean, mole?! It's a tiger's den!"
"Moles are cuter than tigers!"
"What does cute have to do with ANY of this—"
Andy dragged a hand down his face.
Damn it, I should have refused from the start! No wonder the landlady paid us so generously!
"Don't worry! Just trust me. We can get out of here."
Evangeline declared in a voice brimming with confidence.
Evangeline — the girl usually so gloomy and bedraggled — being THIS self-assured? Was there actually something to her after all?
Come to think of it, she was different from her usual self. Normally she slouched, her gaze darting about in constant unease — but right now her back was straight and her eyes remarkably clear. She wasn't even wearing those ridiculous dragonfly glasses.
She didn't look like an F-tier disaster at all.
"So how do we get out?"
Andy asked, gazing at her with hopeful eyes.
Evangeline answered with magnificent aplomb.
"Fufu! I just have a feeling!"
Her voice was so assured that even Andy wavered for a moment.
"...A feeling?"
"Yeah! Totally! It's POURING in! The feeling! Just trust me!"
Evangeline hollered, bubbling over with excitement.
Andy couldn't take it anymore. He swung his fist.