Vol. 1 Chapter 4 – Part 1
Shin, who left the restaurant, turned around on his foot toward the library. Even though the request was not completed yet, it didn’t have a time limit. So he didn’t need to hurry. From now on, because of his conduct during the last few days, he intended to carefully study the possible sense of an impending crisis.
“Is it here?”
Shin was at the middle point of the commercial and residential districts. Loud voices from energetic merchants could be heard occasionally. It was a quiet place compared to the commercial district.
And in front of Shin, there was a library standing tall before his eyes. The library, which was managed by the Bayreuth kingdom, was named the Royal Magic Library.
It seemed to have plenty of magic category books assembled together, but he was told by Tsugumi that the information about common knowledge that he didn’t understand, could be found here. Though there were books that couldn’t be read without permission inside, there was no problem, since Shin intended to only study within a readable scope at this time.
From the information desk, the chairs, tables, and the large quantity of bookshelves in the library, there was nothing special about it, nor were there features that could distinguish it from other libraries. Just in case, he received an explanation about the usage at the information desk, he summarized the matters that required attention, such as how he could only rent 3 books at a time, how there was a limit in amount of rental days, and how he was free to read inside the library, but how it would cost money if he borrowed one.
As for the rental cost, it was based on what kind of book it was, and how many days it was rented for. Of course, if a book was lost, there would be a fine. The general rule for the books which required permission to be read, was that it was prohibited to rent them, and there were books that couldn’t be read without certain social status and/or trust such as the senior adventurers and the court service officers.
If there was a valuable book, one would think that a thief would break into the library. But there were guards and soldiers who kept watch on the surroundings in the building. In addition, they also had the skill for crime prevention, so no fellow could act violently.
(Is it level Ⅷ 【Barrier】 and 【Wall】? So that’s why they are so full of confidence.)
Although he doubted that the skill barrier used was stronger than the rampart, he still admired that the barriers were never broken since from the very beginning.
After receiving the explanation, he was instructed where the books of which field were located at. Then, he gathered books around the library and sat down on a empty seat.
First, the history. After all, Shin thought that the first thing he had to do was to investigate about the ‘Dusk of the Majesty’, which seemed to be connected to the simultaneous logout from the death game. Because there was a chronology which listed the big events since the country was founded in the book, he opened it at once.
“First of all, from the recent events. Um, it’s the 511th years now from when the country was founded, huh? Because it’s said that the ‘Dusk of the Majesty’ occurred 500 years ago, and it was almost in the same time period as the founding of the country.”
He traced back the chronological table to the past while looking puzzled due to the strange coincidence. There were numerous things related to the national administration that were written, such as the conclusion of the alliance, the kings taking over, funerals, wars, large-scale constructions, and so on. As he looked at the end of the chronology, which was the part about the country’s founding.
“No info about the ‘Dusk of the Majesty’ is written here, not even a little.”
Only the founding of the Bayreuth kingdom was written about in the chronology, anything that happened earlier than that wasn’t written about.
“Well, it’s a chronology after all. I guess that it was written about in other books.”
He opened another history book while pulling himself together. However, most of the content in the opened books did not describe in detail the ‘Dusk of the Majesty’.
Though he read several history books afterward, the conclusion was still the same. Only one of the books seemed to have written about the event.
“The world has changed after that day…”
The king left, the country disappeared, and it was written that the world had changed, but it was not written clearly about what happened to the world afterwards. Apparently, after the ‘Dusk of the Majesty’, there was temporary chaos around the world, but the ‘Dusk of the Majesty’ was not described in detail. It seemed odd that there was so little recorded in the book about the players’ logout, where they were thought to have vanished.
He took out one of the books from the mountain of books while thinking that no book could provide him with the info he wanted.
It seemed to be a book about races, and each feature and characteristic was briefly described.
Human ―― They have the highest number in population, and there were a lot of countries, too. When a kingdom was established, the ruler was called a King.
Dragnil ―― Power and vitality were prominently high, have a long life. It can transform into the shape of a human. When an empire was established, the king was called a Dragnil King.
Beast ―― They have the highest number in population next to humans, they are keen and nimble, and have different characteristics in every tribe. When the tribe was gathered together and formed an alliance, the chief was called a Beast King.
Lord ―― There was a little bias about their ability, also no ability that seemed prominent, but as a whole, their abilities have the tendency to be high. When the empire was established, the king was called a Devil King.
Dwarf ―― They have skillful hands and are good at making armor and tools. They were scattered in every country and formed a guild which had the tendency to share their technique and craft. The best craftsman was called a Cave King.
Pixie ―― They are the longest living race, they excelled at magic handling. The pixies were divided between the ones who lived in this world, and the ones who lived in the fairy village in the other world, which exchange with each other. The king was called a Fairy King.
Elf ―― Their lifespans come 2nd after the pixies, not only magic, but also their crisis perception ability was high. They lived in the woods. Young elves often appeared outside the village. The village was called the garden, and the chief was called the Forest King.
There were no contents that differed from Shin’s knowledge. Although Shin momentarily felt a sense of incongruity for the dwarf’s best craftsman, who was called the Cave King, he remembered that there was a setting where dwarves originally lived in caves.
Because there was a chance that an Elf or Pixie might know about the ‘Dusk of the Majesty’, he made sure to memorized that part.
“Now then, what should I read next?”
He decided to investigate as long as the time permitted, and opened the next book.
◆◆◆◆
While Shin was doing the investigation in the library, executives, such as Barlux and Els, were preparing for a meeting in a room of the adventurers’ guild.
Of course, the agenda was the Skull Face. Even though the situation called for waiting for the appraisal of the jewel, the members that had some free time were gathered for the time being. There was a possibility that the information was accurate, because the one who reported was said to hold a letter of introduction. Since the Skull Face had already been defeated, the sense of urgency was not high, but the Shin’s personality in the report of Barlux and Els was raised to some extent.
Though the man called Shin seemed to be easily trusted, there was never a case where a dangerous person held the letter of introduction, so it gave the report some credibility.
“Well then, let’s start the special meeting.”
All the members in the room directed their attention to Barlux in response to his voice.
“Though there are people who have already heard this, the Jack • Skull Face that appeared in the northern forest was subdued. The one who subdued it only collected a jewel, which is currently under investigation.”
“The Jack class was subdued and neither the sword nor the armor were collected?”
All the members looked puzzled due to the words from Barlux, who reported plainly. The first one to speak was Ardi, who was just dispatched as a liaison from the kingdom. (TL note: Shin first met Ardi at Tsuki no Hokora in chapter 1.) The mage Arad Royl, who was in charge of the appraisal of the jewel, nodded as he had the same kind of doubt. Kylie Ein, who was the sub-master, and Els, who knew about the circumstances, had no reaction. Then Barlux continued.
“The person told me that the sword and armor were not a big deal.”
“Not a big deal?…”
Ardi had the expression of someone who didn’t understand. Arad was laughing “hohoho” while combing down his beard.
“To declare something like that, it seems that this man’s wealth is quite considerable.”
Although Arad’s hair and beard were white-colored because of his old age, due to his well-developed back muscles, which were tightly visible, he didn’t look as old as he was. The way he laughed suited the good-natured old man.
“The fellows who hold the introduction letter are generally thoughtless fellows. They don’t care about losing their life, especially the young ones.”
“Is that so?”
“Wait! Wait! Though I have no obligation to say this, we are not that thoughtless.”
“It’s not convincing when guild master says so.”
Ardi was about to believe Arad’s claim as common sense. But Barlux interfered, and was put down by Els.
“Well, let’s go back to the jewel case. I don’t know the details yet, but apparently there are no mistakes, a