74. Forbidden Archive
74. Forbidden Archive
After the meeting ended, four people came to the reception room: my father, the captain of Nameless, Balamir—who had been introduced as the commander of the Royal Guard—and a stern-looking woman.
Together with those four, I headed to the Forbidden Archive.
Eurasia had to wait in the reception room since she hadn't been granted permission, and the Emperor apparently couldn't join us due to another engagement.
And so, the Forbidden Archive we arrived at was—
"...Huh."
—more ordinary than I'd expected.
It just looked like... a garbage dump that went by the name of a warehouse for storing useless junk.
Of course, I couldn't know what the inside looked like since I hadn't gone in yet, but at least from the outside, it looked like a garbage dump.
This is supposedly the Forbidden Archive—a place that might hold the Empire's secrets... or even the secrets of this world. Is it really okay for it to look this shabby?
The Forbidden Archive might even be more important than the Treasury.
As I stared blankly at the door, the stern-looking woman stepped forward.
"Those entering the Forbidden Archive are the captain of Nameless, Sir Balamir Blakos, and Lady Eliarnes Eustetia, who has been granted reading privileges."
She then pulled out a key from her bosom—transparent, as if made of glass.
Clack.
She inserted it into thin air.
And then.
HUMMMMM—
With a massive wave of energy, an enormous barrier spread out from the point where the key had been inserted.
Behind the barrier, which radiated light so majestic it could blind you if you looked straight at it, another barrier appeared.
And those—clank. Clank. One by one, they interlocked.
"...Whoa."
The scenery changed.
What appeared was a massive door.
The thing that had looked like a garbage dump door vanished, and in its place appeared an enormous door that looked insanely expensive—impossible to even put a price on.
A door studded with every kind of jewel this world has to offer, made of precious metals that even I couldn't help but admire, and warded with barriers that seemed impossible to replicate with any existing magic.
The stern-faced woman standing before it swept her gaze lightly over the majestic door and spoke.
"I will open it."
This time, it was a different key.
If the one before had been a blue transparent key, this one was a platinum-colored transparent key.
The key was inserted into the center of the door.
At the same time, whoosh—light burst forth, and the key vanished.
And then.
THOOM—
The door opened.
"Holy shit..."
The scenery that unfolded beyond was—
Truly... truly staggering.
The interior was so vast that the library I'd visited in the Imperial Capital could be dismissed as the neighbor's doghouse by comparison.
It was so enormous that I wondered if it might be bigger than the Academy—no, bigger than the Imperial Palace itself.
And that vast interior was filled with books, packed in without a single gap.
There were no bookshelves.
They were just floating in midair.
Each one differed in color and size, but even that variety made the scene look like a work of art in its own right.
Gulp. I swallowed the saliva that had pooled on my tongue and looked at the stern-faced woman.
Perhaps sensing how desperately I wanted to rush inside, she nodded and said,
"The time limit is four hours. There are no restrictions on what you may read, so please browse at your leisure."
"Um... there are so many books. How do I find the one I'm looking for?"
"Place your hand on the crystal orb rising in the center over there. If you picture the keyword you desire, Lady Eliarnes, the books will be transported to the pedestal right beside you."
"Whoa..."
"However, all books matching that keyword will be transported at once, so you will need to search through them yourself."
"Oh... yes. Understood."
Admiration escaped me on its own.
Four hundred years ago, there was no such technology to be found anywhere. What kind of genius built something like this?
Honestly, I'd thought four hours would be pretty tight. I'd assumed it would take over three hours just to find the book I wanted.
But now it not only finds the book I want immediately, it even teleports it to me?
Well... it's not that absurd.
There's a magic tower flying through the sky right outside the window, so there's no way something like this would be impossible.
"I will begin counting from the moment the door closes. You may enter whenever you are ready."
I nodded and turned to look at my father standing behind me.
"I'll be back."
"I do hope you find what you're looking for."
Father was smiling, but at the same time, he looked worried about me.
I stared at him for a moment.
Then I smiled brightly—and stepped forward.
"Yes, Dad."
*****
Thud. The door closed, and I, the captain of Nameless, and Balamir remained inside the Forbidden Archive.
The captain of Nameless's thoughts were still hidden behind her mask, and Balamir's face showed a subtle wariness.
"Hoo..."
I let out a short breath and placed my hand on the crystal orb.
[Please picture the keyword you are searching for.]
A neutral voice echoed in my head.
Without any hesitation, I pictured a keyword.
The thing I was most curious about right now.
'Ronan Luzarak.'
[Ronan Luzarak. Confirmed.]
The moment the neutral voice finished, swish—
A dozen or so books appeared on the pedestal rising beside the crystal orb.
[If you wish to return them, place your hand on the crystal orb and picture the word "return."]
"...Oh."
I glanced at the books that had been transported in an instant.
Books of varying thicknesses.
The colors of the covers and the titles were all different.
Among them, I recited the most eye-catching titles to myself.
[Calamity Star.]
[The Empire's Weapon Master.]
[The Butcher.]
[The Bane of Demons.]
[Blood Fiend.]
"Heh... heheh, heh."
This is it.
This is it!!
This is me!!
Not that goddamn fucking Martial Artist Ronan!!
These incredible epithets!!!! They're mine!!!!
I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs and vent all the pent-up resentment, but I couldn't.
There were two people watching from behind.
If I pulled some insane stunt in front of those two... things would get very awkward.
At least they couldn't see my face, so I could grin like an idiot—if they'd been right next to me, I'd have been in serious trouble.
I wore a smile so bright it would make a clown jealous.
While I was basking in satisfaction, staring at those titles for a long while—
[A Survey on the Hero Party's Appearance Rankings.]
A book with a... ridiculous title caught my eye.
...I do want to read it.
No, but... well.
Do I really need to read it?
First place is already decided.
Obviously me. Ronan Luzarak.
No objections. If anyone argues, I'll rip their tongue out.
So there's no need to read it.
The other books are the same.
Honestly, I am curious.
But I don't have enough time to read them right now.
Well, among those, there might be a book explaining why I became 'Martial Artist Ronan,' but I don't need to read it now.
Just knowing that my history hasn't completely vanished was enough.
There's some reason behind it.
I don't know what it is, but I've confirmed that Arisa—that little brat—didn't turn me into a Martial Artist out of spite.
'Return.'
Swish. The moment I wished for their return, all the books vanished.
Then I pictured the next keywords.
'Armistice, Hero Party, whereabouts.'
Thud, thump, thump.
Three books were transported.
[The Return of the War God (鬪神).]
For some reason, our real names didn't appear anywhere, but I could still recognize it.
War God was Arisa's epithet.
And the fact that she had returned—I already knew that from Sparkle.
Next.
[The Demon King's Seal.]
And then.
[Legion Commander Resurrection.]
"...Hah."
I'd suspected as much.
Legion Commander Resurrection, huh.
Rubbing my throbbing temple, I picked up the book titled [Legion Commander Resurrection].
There wasn't time to read it slowly and carefully.
I had to flip through it as fast as possible and cram only the necessary information into my head.
Fortunately, Eliarnes Eustetia—my current brain—was exceptionally sharp.
I must not show any reaction while reading.
I couldn't let on that I knew something.
I steeled myself and turned the page.
"What the fuck..."
I couldn't hold back a curse from the very first page.
[The first resurrection was the Legion Commander, Krahal of Greed.]
[However, it was not the resurrection of Krahal's main body.]
[A Demon possessing Krahal's Authority appeared.]
Krahal of Greed was the first Demon Legion Commander we brought down.
Krahal of Greed.
His Authority was the Chalice of Greed.
Its ability was to absorb the souls of any being with a soul—human or Demon—and store them as spare lives.
And it was also possible to release them all at once to push the main body's abilities to their limit.
It was the exact same method that incomplete Demon had used in the Labyrinth.
It took us a full fifteen days to kill that bastard. For fifteen days straight, we couldn't sleep, drank blood instead of water, and ate dirt instead of food while we fought.
That was how we'd killed him.
We burned the corpse with Luna's Holy Flame, and Kaloso erased the remaining traces from this world entirely with dimensional magic.
And now a Demon possessing Krahal's Authority had appeared.
But that alone couldn't be called a resurrection.
There must be a reason they called it a resurrection.
After organizing my thoughts, I ground my teeth and turned the page.
And I found it.
[As time passed, that Demon's disposition changed.]
[Its manner of speech, behavior, voice, appearance, even its Demonic Energy—all became similar to Krahal's.]
[That nameless Demon had originally been at the mid-grade level, but in just three years, it surpassed high-grade Demons and rose to a Realm worthy of the position of Legion Commander.]
[That nameless Demon, now—]
[—is said to claim the name Krahal of Greed for itself.]
[Based on these findings, it appears that a Demon's identity is determined by its Authority.]
When Krahal died, the Chalice of Greed vanished.
Rather than having vanished, it would have been more accurate to say it crumbled to ash and disappeared.
I saw it. Paulo saw it. Luna, Arisa, Kaloso—we all saw its destruction with our own eyes.
And yet, that chalice had reappeared.
When Krahal died—
Did the Demon King retrieve it?
If so... did Krahal store his own soul inside it at the last moment?
"...No."
That wasn't all.
The storage of souls.
It wasn't just Krahal's soul that was stored.
"Ha..."
The other three Legion Commanders we killed.
Their souls might also be stored in the chalice.
No, that was certain.
I squeezed my eyes shut and suppressed the emotions boiling up inside me.
I was grinding my teeth so hard it felt like my molars would shatter.
Krahal's appearance had been sudden.
At the time, we hadn't gone there to kill Krahal.
We had been preparing to kill the Labyrinth.
We'd tracked the traces of the tail-devouring dragon, torn through that bitch's lair, and gone to find her.
But the one waiting there was Krahal.
And so, with no other choice, we fought an unexpected opponent and killed Krahal.
But now—
I couldn't shake the thought that it might have been a scheme.
That we might simply have walked a predetermined path, following the Demon King's grand design.
It was a fucking infuriating thought.
Was our defeat set in stone from the very beginning?
"...Bullshit."
I bit the tip of my tongue to snap myself out of it.
I roused my sinking mind and opened my closed eyes.
I'd think about it later.
Right then, I needed to extract information.
I let out a deep sigh and flipped through the pages quickly, searching for important information.
[The resurrection of the Legion Commander, Luxrina of Lust.]
[The resurrection of the Legion Commander, Gulaka of Gluttony—thwarted.]
[The resurrection of the Legion Commander, Ankanius of Envy—thwarted.]
[The sacrifices for resurrection are humans with pure Mana.]
[In the end, the Demons found a way to break the Demon King's Seal.]
And so, I took in the sentences on the final page.
[The first element, known as the Fifth Element, which the Sage briefly managed to manifest.]
[Akasha.]
[If they can complete it—]
[—the Demons seem to believe they can achieve everything they desire.]
The Sage was Kaloso Verheigen.
And that bastard never completed Akasha.
He admitted it for the first time.
That it was impossible with his own power.
And so he gave up.
But even now, still—
The Demons were aiming for the Demon King's resurrection.
Or perhaps they intend to sit on the Demon King's throne themselves.
And to do that, they were trying to complete Akasha.
How the hell did they plan to complete what Kaloso—the greatest Wizard I knew and a fucking bastard—couldn't?
Kaloso Verheigen.
Verheigen.
At that moment—
"...Stella Verheigen."
The puzzle with a missing piece in my head snapped completely into place.
It wasn't a Black Wizard.
The Demons were after Stella.