NoveLight ™
Chapter 19 - Raphdonia (Part 3)
"Then I'll go."
"Oh, yes... Good bye...
After saying goodbye to Ervena, my next destination was the library.
The soothing smell of paper and ink. A quiet atmosphere that makes you hold back your sneezing. Being among other twig-like people looking for books, I felt like a foreigner here, but...
*Hraaaaap!*
To my surprise, there was another barbarian in the library. I reached out and poked him in the back, as I was glad to see him.
"Bjorn, son of Yandel?!"
So it's you.
— Ainar, Fenelin's 3rd daughter. I'm glad to see you're safe and sound.
"Like me!"
— ... I think we need to lower our voices.
Einar also felt a piercing gaze on her, so she lowered her voice.
"I'm sorry. I was surprised because I didn't expect to see another of us here.
The feeling was mutual.
"Why are you in the library?"
"Last time you said that I should always think before acting, remember?" Exploring the labyrinth this time, I felt the need for knowledge to think.
Hmm, I see.
This was very commendable. If not for the fact that she was snoring over the open book.
"Something must have happened to you in the labyrinth.
"It wasn't easy from start to finish. It wasn't hard to fight, but...
Ainar continued her thought with a grimace.
"It wasn't just monsters that I needed to watch out for.
She was definitely different from the other barbarians. They only boasted about how easily they defeated the monsters. They never admitted how difficult it really was.
"Is that why you decided to go to school?!"
— That's right. But, as expected, it doesn't work for me. It is very difficult to read. 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 my elders again. But now that I'm an adult, I'm going to have to pay a price.
It was a little surprising. I didn't expect anyone to change so much from my half-serious advice.
Immediately after Einar finished speaking, she closed the open book and stood up from her seat.
"Are you going to go right now?"
"I have to do it when I think of it, so I don't forget."
Got it. The more I get to know them, the more I think of the barbarians as a sad people.
"See you then."
Ainar headed for the exit after a brief greeting, but turned around as if she remembered something.
"Oh! Come to think of it, I said I'd repay you for your advice if I came back alive. If you need help, come to the Angry Rhino Inn. Whatever it is, I will help in any way I can.
"I'll come."
I hoped she wouldn't forget that promise in a day or two. I would ask her for help very soon.
***
After Ainar left, I looked around the library for some time.
It wasn't every day that you could see a building the size of the National Assembly that was fully used as a library. Even in the game, the library only showed "Under construction" and did not allow entry.
Hmm, but how do you find a book in a place like this?
I don't think you can find the location with a few taps on the keyboard, as in our time...
I decided to ask for help instead of wasting time trying to figure it out.
"Ahem.
When I coughed, the librarian, who was sleeping at the table, slowly opened her eyes.
"Can I help you?"
"I'm looking for a book. It is connected with the history of...
— [Parsitiev].
Before I could explain what kind of book I was looking for, the librarian muttered something with a sleepy look. At the same time, a faint light penetrated my body.
A what? Is it magic?
"Now you will find the book you are looking for, looking around. You can't take a book out of the hands of another visitor. And after reading, do not forget to put it in its original place.
When the light faded, the librarian hammered out the words like a robot and dozed off again.
... What kind of girl is this?
I didn't want to wake her up again, so I wandered around the library as ordered. At the same time, here and there I stumbled upon books that seemed to attract me to themselves. Slowly, I realized what kind of magic it was.
Demons, history, labyrinths, explorers, essences, and more. As soon as the keywords in my head changed, so did the books that called me.
What is this convenient magic?
With such magic, I could understand why there was only one librarian. Compared to the size of the library, it had almost no visitors. Among the books, I chose only those that attracted me the most, and opened them one by one.
[The Fallen World].
The first book was almost 700 pages long and described the early history of this world. Most of the content coincided with the game.
Thousands of years ago, life on this land became impossible due to a witch's curse, and only one fortress, Raphdonia, was able to escape this disaster. It is said that the royal family has opened a passage to another dimension for residents starving from a lack of resources. This has become today's labyrinths.
[Annotated Edition of A Basic Understanding of Alchemy IV].
The second book described the process of turning mana stones obtained from monsters into bread, water, and iron. I did not understand any of these principles.
I read all the books I could find and hammered the knowledge into my head.
[Holy War III].
From this book, I learned more about why barbarians and elves developed such a relationship, and what evil spirits are.
People believed that evil spirits were creatures that came from another dimension to take over their bodies. Well, that wasn't entirely wrong.
[Demon bezdy].
Unfortunately, this book did not explain why evil spirits appeared in this world. However, the royal family of Raphdonia and the Temple declared evil spirits to be objects of destruction and included in the book the indicators of evil spirits, which are described in relative detail. From the point of view of the evil spirit, this was good advice. According to the book's content, if you don't spit out forbidden words, you're unlikely to ever be suspected of being an evil spirit. For example, "Dungeon & Stone".
... I should also limit shouting the word "Sparta" from now on.
[How did researchers evolve?]
[Royal Twins of Rafdonia]
[About the hero]
[Life in Bifron Camp]
Continuing to read all kinds of books, I was finally able to get the information I needed.
[On the death of the king].
This book dealt with the death of Ravigio III, who was called the First King and the Immortal King. However, the various suspicions associated with it and the changes that occurred as a result of it were all good, of course. But what was important to me was the time.
Let's see, the date was...
— 150 years ago...?
It was at this point that my hypothesis was confirmed. The date of the king's death, indicated in the book, was about 150 years ago. In other words, it's now 150 years since the start of the game, since no matter which character you chose, the game started the day after the death of Ravigion III.
Bloody hell. I'll have to live in the library.
"*Phew*...
I closed the book and gave my eyes a rest. Even though I had only read the important parts, after watching ten books, I felt like my eyes were about to fall out of their sockets. Still, I decided to read the last two books I got my hands on.
A little more. They can contain valuable information.
[Measurement Instability Record].
Was it the same book that the blonde who saved me after crawling on three legs was reading?
There were cases and statistics in the book that were similar to my case. As the blonde man said, hitting the outer realm was something that only happened once in a hundred years...
"Nonsense.
If we speak as a person who has experienced this firsthand, then there should have been many more such cases. However, they just weren't recorded because they all died.
The rest of the book was just statistics, so I flipped through the pages and settled on the last chapter. At the end, the author's justification was written:
[Entering a portal at the time of its closure may affect the phenomenon of instability.]
If this is true...
Ultimately, it was my fault. No sooner had I been sad than I moved on to the next book.
[Compilation of a rank 9 essence].
It was the last book. In this book, the abilities of the essences dropped by rank 9 monsters were ordered like in an encyclopedia, but unlike the in-game designations, the information did not contain exact numbers.
[Goblin].
Patience (low),
Sense of smell (low),
Poison Resistance (Low),
Agility (low),
Vision (low)
Looking at the information about other monsters, it can be said that if the score was 21 or higher, then it was marked as "average"... But there was no way to know the exact standard of the "highest" indicator. According to the information on page 1, it seems that information about creatures above rank 8 should be purchased from the Explorers Guild.
"*Phew*...
I closed the book and stretched. Before I knew it, it was dark outside. The library was almost closed, and there were almost no visitors left.
I put all the books I had read in their original places and returned to the tavern. After a simple dinner, I went to bed. So the 3rd day in the city passed.
Is it really another 27 days...?
The labyrinth opened at midnight on the 1st day of each month. The month here lasted exactly 30 days, which means that in about 4 weeks I had to enter the labyrinth again.
—…
What can I do in the city for the rest of the time? No, what should I do?
While I was organizing these thoughts in my head, I quickly fell asleep.
When tomorrow comes, let's start by looking for a new ally.
***
— Дядя! Дядя! Давай, вставай!
Ervena came and knocked on my door first thing in the morning.
Her excited voice is one thing, but...
Why the hell did she come here?
Perhaps she did not come to say that she would follow me instead of her sister...
To be honest, I already thought that we would not see each other again.
"What is it?"
"Look!" I managed to get a contract!
As soon as the door opened, Ervena began to spit out the words.
"A contract?" Oh, did you eat the Spirit Stone?
Spirit Stones were items that allowed elves to make contracts with spirits of different attributes.
That is, if they were lucky...
"Yes!" Yesterday, after you left, I successfully signed a contract with a new spirit!
"You're lucky.
Spirit Stones cost about 150,000 Spirit Stones in the game. The success rate was only 10%. It was probably the same as putting all her earnings on the line, but she succeeded.
"Yes!" I used the ones my sister bought me, and after 10 attempts, everything worked out!
... Damn, is she here to laugh at me?
As a barbarian who inherited only this body, I felt deprived. When we first met, I thought she was a pathetic girl to take care of, but it turned out that she was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. Perhaps her sister also gave her a bow and arrows.
"In any case, it looks like you've made a pact with the spirit of the wind.
"Yes!" I was lucky in many ways. After all, fire and wind go well together!
"Okay, let's cancel the call first," I said with a sigh.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't jealous, but for a completely different reason.
"Excuse me?" But I didn't even show it to you properly...
"Are you going to make more of a mess here?"
"Oh! Forgive me!
Only then did the raging wind subside.
Ha... Why did I have to wake up in such a mess?
I frowned, and Ervena, who was overjoyed, began to understand my reaction.
"M-Maybe I should get out?"
I didn't know why it was a question.
Were you going to get me to clean it up?
When I nodded, Ervena quickly cleaned up the room. Surprisingly, it took less than 10 minutes.
She said she was good at washing and cleaning, and that turned out to be true.
There was not a single unnecessary movement, like the master in the martial arts novel.
"Maybe I should clean up some more?"
— …
"I'll clean up again..."
— No, I don't. That will do.
To be honest, I doubted whether it was possible to put the room in order even more. For some reason, it seemed cleaner now than when I first entered the room.
Well done, let me give you a carrot. I also have a request for later.
"I don't think I've said that yet. Congratulations on signing the contract with a new spirit.
"Hehe, thank you!"
"Did you have breakfast?"
— Not yet.
We went down to the 1st floor to eat and talk.
"What can you do with the spirit of the wind?"
"Change the trajectory of an arrow that's already stretched, or send it much faster, and so on!"
Compared to what I expected, it was a very simple and straightforward effect.
"Couldn't you rotate the arrows to increase the penetrating power, or muffle the sound of the shot?"
If it were possible, its combat power would increase even more.
"I didn't think about it... But should it be possible?
What is this tone of voice?
It gets on my nerves.
"Anyway, it's a good thing you're here. When you're done eating, let's go back upstairs.
"Excuse me?" What for?
"We need to do something in the room.
Ervena tilted her head. She looked like she had no idea what I was talking about...
"You didn't think you paid back all your debt last time, did you?"
"Sorry?" Isn't it?
How naïve.
*Rumble!*
I locked the door so that no one could enter, and made Ervena sit on the bed.
"Now use your abilities.
Any difficulty using the ability, how long it took to use it again, what weaknesses were hidden in the invisibility ability, etc.
There was a whole bunch of things I needed to learn.