The Library

How interesting: a library that contained a secret exit leading to an underground passage. Also, assuming we really were in Three’s castle, then these books might contain some very interesting things…

“This might be a treasure trove of magic!” I intoned, wearing a wide smile.

If my ability to learn any magic worked through sight, there was no reason it shouldn’t work through me reading spell tomes as well. Maybe.

Since this was the castle of the great emperor and master mage Three, there was no way it wouldn’t contain valuable material.

“Pipe down, stupid,” hissed Kai. “There might be people here!”

I hated to admit it, but he was right. The fact the place was being illuminated by torches did suggest it came under some use. Still, we assumed this was around early morning so I doubted many people came here yet.

I listened for a while but couldn’t hear anyone apart from us. At the very least no one appeared to come investigate.

“Let’s see what this place has to offer,” I whispered, grabbing a book from the nearest shelf. Meanwhile, Saga seemed to content herself to sneak ahead, probably scouting the area.

A certain fear of mine—that the books would be unintelligible—was proven to be needless. Upon opening the dusty book, it was clearly written in my own language.

However, the contents were terribly dull. It seemed to regard the history of the kingdom or something like that. I recalled we were told some of the story, about some king named Mauro or something terrorizing the kingdom before getting overthrown… But I wasn’t in the mood for that kind of lore, so I put it back on the shelf and chose another one.

“…Do we really have the time for this?” mumbled Kai.

“Who knows? We might find a book with Three’s weakness or something,” I told him while scanning pages that talked about farming or something.

Was this the wrong section to check? I had no idea how this place was arranged. I walked to a neighboring shelf and checked a new book.

Kai snorted. “As if things will be so convenient.”

“Oh?” I mumbled, stumbling upon something surprising right in the very table of contents. “A book about prophecies throughout the ages? Now that’s interesting.”

Thinking back to my half-joking suggestion, it was possible some part of the prophecy would give us a clue about how to approach this. We never got to hear it in full, after all.

I quickly scanned the pages.

It seemed like the book was relatively recent; I didn’t know the time reckoning of this place, but they wrote about the prophecy of the “three heroes” right at the very end. Other prophecies didn’t interest me as much.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything such as the exact wording of the prophecy or anything like that, which was annoying. Not even the source.

There were only some comments about people being unable to ascertain whether it actually referred to three warriors or if the number meant something else, as well as theories of it being a rehash of earlier prophecies.

Before I could delve any further into this, however, there was a voice from nearby.

“W-wait, who are—eek!”

There was a yelp and a thud that immediately caused my heart to start pumping, so I put down the book and started rushing along with Kai, ready for a fight.

There was no need for it.

Running between the rows of tall shelves that led further into the library, we soon discovered what happened. There was a table laden with books, and next to it a fallen chair.

Next to those there were the figures of Saga and another person.

Saga’s hair that by now was showing even more of its original color curtained over their faces, hiding their expressions as she bent over someone with her sword in hand.

Her opponent was a young woman dressed in blue that was lying on the floor, clearly terrified by the gleaming blade directed right at her throat.

“Don’t say anything,” threatened Saga.

“Ah… hmm… uh,” the woman emitted strange noises, probably because of her captor’s command.

“Saga!” called Kai. “What’s going on?”

“She noticed me, so I had to silence her.”

“P-p-please don’t kill me! Aaah!”

I glanced around—I couldn’t see any other people, but there was another ornate wooden door that I assumed led out of the library.

“Are you the librarian here?” I asked. “Uh, let her answer, Saga.”

Saga did not reply to my words but moved her sword away ever so slightly, yet still ready to strike.

“I-I, yes, I am the o-one in charge of this place…” she said, her voice and entire body shaking. “Please don’t hurt me… I-I’m just a librarian…” It was probably rude of me to think considering she was literally shaking with fear at the moment, but her voice was really cute.

“Saga, can you let her go?” asked Kai. The girl gave him a side-glance. “C’mon, look at her, she’s harmless.”

Ugh. Here Kai went white-knighting again. “Is someone supposed to come here soon?” I added.

“U-um, no! Nobody really comes here anymore, so I d-doubt that…”

Hmm. She could be lying to our faces and simply waiting or hoping for someone to come and rescue her, but I somehow doubted that.

“I agree,” I said. “You can let her go for now.”

Saga retreated and rose to her legs, but her grip on the sword remained firm.

“Sorry for my friends, but we’re in a rough spot here,” said Kai. He approached the girl, which made her flinch—and reached out with a hand.

Still hesitating a bit, she grabbed it and was pulled up to her legs.

What could I even say at this point about Kai so effortlessly working his charms again?

Still shaking all over, the short-haired woman nonetheless looked a bit calmer, her brown eyes darting all over. “W-who are you, anyway…?”

Kai was about to say something but Saga interjected before he had the chance to. “Where’s Three?”

“T-Three?” she yelped. “Why do you…”

“No.” Kai stepped forward as if to protect her from Saga’s glare, which did seem to calm her. “There’s actually something else we need to find out, first. —Do you happen to know where Mana is?”

Oh, I actually almost forgot about her existence. Right, she was supposedly imprisoned somewhere in here. Wouldn’t it be funny if she was actually this librarian? But I doubted that.

More importantly, I realized why Kai was in such a hurry to see her, too. “Wait a minute,” I said. “Are you planning on bailing on us when we’re so close to the goal?”

“Shut up. The only reason I’m here is because I wanted to try your stupid game, remember?” he said, glaring at me. “I never signed up for all of this. You’re free to do whatever you please, but leave me out of it!”

I glared back, but in a sense, I agreed with him. It was better for him to be out of the way.

Where was his earlier talk about being unable to leave these people to their fate, though. Did he forget about it just because he thought the way out was nearby, the hypocrite?

“S-so you’re here for Mana?” the librarian asked, cutting our conversation short. She looked very uncomfortable. “She’s… she’s right next door.”