Side Story 11. The Magic School and the Monster in the Basement (10)
Side Story 11. The Magic School and the Monster in the Basement (10)
I followed the bowl cut, who seemed to be possessed by something, and looked around in detail.
A bookshelf, which seemed to be made of expensive wood, had arched downward after enduring the weight of the books for many years. Considering that this was expected to be the secret library of the first emperor, the bookshelf must be very sturdy.
The luxurious marble floor was full of dust. There was a trace of a person having passed by in the direction where the bowl cut was going. It was probably the information agents, Magic School teachers, or students who accidentally came into this place and moved like the bowl cut. There were no signs of resistance in the quite long traces, so it meant that there wasn’t a single person who had properly protected their mind. How pathetic.
"Oh, have we arrived?"
I stopped following the bowl cut and hid behind a bookshelf.
- Lalalala... Lalala... Lalala... Lala....
The source of the song captivating people was a large pile of treasures. No, to be exact, it was a sword stuck in the pile of treasures.
The bowl cut slowly reached out to the sword as if he had zero interest in the pile of treasures around him. Then, strange stripes appeared on the sword and a black shadow popped out and grabbed him as if wrapping around him.
"Oh my, tentacle play."
Just kidding. The sword that wrapped around the bowl cut with a shadow slowly began to suck up his mana. This was totally a magic sword. Well, it didn't matter to me whether he sucked dry and became a mummy or not. Rather, it would be perfect if he stayed still like that. At least while that magic sword was snacking on him, it wouldn’t even care about me, so let's just go and read slowly.
Woong! Woong!
At that time, the Holy Sword, resting on my waist, began to cry.
"It's okay. I won't die. I won't die. They said everyone came back alive. Probably."
It was none of my business whether everyone really came back alive or if some people had their mana sucked out like that and died. If there was a skeleton in between those piles of treasures, then there was someone who probably died.
Woong! Woong! Woong!
The Holy Sword cried out unhappily at my answer.
You have to say it for me to understand, you can't just cry like that. If you're dissatisfied, learn how to speak.
I tapped on the Holy Sword and pulled out a random book from a place I could reach and wiped off the dust.
"Let's see, it's in the ancient language. The title is the wife of the next-door knight captain... What? Is this an erotic novel? My goodness, the first emperor’s tastes."
If it was the secret library of the first emperor, there should also be good magic books. Since there were so many books, there was a limit to the number of books that I could copy.
I had to go to work tomorrow, so the time limit is until the morning? No, but I was bothered about Yuria and Alice.
"Oh well. What can I do? Shall I take a look in one go? Summon chirps."
Summoning magic circles were drawn in the air, and chirps poured out.
"Don't go over there. We'll go through the outskirts first. ‘J-1’, go up to the ceiling and illuminate the whole area, and the rest go east."
The summoned chirps hovered around me once and scattered. As the chirps flew away, I was wary of disturbing the magic sword that was sucking the bowl cut, but fortunately, it was busy sucking him dry.
Relieved, I looked at the information delivered through the chirps.
The chirp that flew to the ceiling illuminated the secret library. Overall, bookcases were packed denser than libraries, and on the outskirts, there were five floor terraces circling the outside. There were no windows, so maybe this place was in the basement.
"From the top terrace section."
The chirps spread widely as they flew high up as I instructed.
"Hmm, the titles here are related to history. Put it in the pocket space and move to the lower section."
I quickly classified the books through the eyes of the chirps and put them in the pocket space. There was nothing useful. It was valuable enough as historical material, but it was not the kind I wanted.
"I don't need this, this is ruined, oh! This looks pretty good."
Still, it wasn't completely full of books that I didn't need. The existence of knights of the round table in the era of the Holy Kingdom and the materials regarding the Giant Tribe and witches were quite interesting. It was quite hard to figure out what I needed with the title alone, but I copied a few usable magic books and put them in my pocket space.
While sweeping books into my pocket space, a book without a title was mixed in.
"Is this book a diary?"
The book I held through my pocket space was written in medieval Imperial, which was the basis of modern Imperial, not the ancient language, which was the political language of the era of the Holy Kingdom.
"Let's see, the seventh lower half-moon in the 17th year of the holy calendar. Sir Modred made fun of Sir Percival for being dumped by his first love. Due to this, the two had a big fight, but fortunately, no one was injured. Of course, Sir Percival, who hung onto his first love at that age seemed silly, but Sir Modred was too much."
How many years ago was the 17th year of the holy calendar?
Now, the year used by the temples was universally used, but in the era of the Holy Kingdom, the era was used for the years. If this was the diary of the first emperor, the holy calendar was probably the year name used by Arietta's father, the previous Holy King.
The Holy Kingdom was destroyed shortly after Arietta became the Holy Queen, so the year couldn’t have reached 17.
"I guess he didn't write in the diary every day. Since it’s just random stuff, let’s skip that... The sixth dark moon in the 18th year of the holy calendar. Eventually, the war broke out. And His Majesty the Holy King passed away. Now, we can’t use the holy calendar anymore. My thoughts are complicated. On the tenth full moon, Sir Tristan was killed. He suffered an honorable death at the axe of the chief of the Giant tribe. However, the Golgoda Hill, revered as a holy place, was ruined. Is it only Zaharam in the south left now? Rather, Sir Mordred, who was always playful, showed tears. It was the first time I saw his tears. The young Holy Queen...”
As I kept reading, I clicked my tongue.
"It'd be better to get rid of this."
It was over 500 years old anyway. Of course, considering its historical value, it was a waste to get rid of it, but it was better to bury it since one of the parties involved was still alive. I magically burned the diary of the first emperor.
"I found out something I didn't like.”
I stepped on the ashes of the diary and crushed it. I was about done retrieving the books. I had to quickly recover those treasures and the magic sword and get out of here with the bowl cut.
The core that maintained the magic circle of this secret library and the Magic School was that magic sword, so in order to activate the magic circle to leave, that sword had to be removed or destroyed.
"Hey! Is that bowl cut that tasty?"
The magic sword was eagerly swallowing the bowl cut’s mana and kept drinking, disregarding my shout.
The bowl cut had already begun to grow thin.
"I didn't want to use this method, but it seems I can’t help it."
I liberated my concealed mana. Then that strange striped magic sword threw away the bowl cut and began to point its shadow at me.
"Right, I look much more appetizing than that guy, don’t I?”
It was not my preference to be bait, but I had to release my mana to recover the bowl cut and teleport anyway. I cut down the shadows that shot at me with the Holy Sword.
As the shadows were cut, the sword stretched dozens of shadows out at me. I ran between the bookshelves with acrobatic movements and cut down the shadows. Then, the shadows that were emanating from the strange magic sword gathered and changed into the form of a human body.
"Huh? What? You can move?”
The human shadow form held the magic sword in its left hand and rushed at me.
Clang!
The sword, which struck the Holy Sword with a strange mana, surprisingly showed off its sharp blade, not even receiving a nick. For most swords, if they touched the Holy Sword, not wrapped in the strong aura, then would have been sliced in half like tofu. Nevertheless, since it was fine, it was a treasure beyond the level of a good sword.
The magic sword skillfully used sword techniques and aimed for my wrist.
"Oho? You’re trying to overpower me?”
Well, if it killed me, it wouldn't be able to swallow my mana, so if it wanted my mana, it had no choice but to overpower me.
I twisted my arm to avoid the sword and aimed at its neck from a blind spot. The magic sword used the shield on the shadow of its right arm to block, but the shield along with its neck was sliced off.
"As expected, the main body must be a sword.”
The shadow with its neck cut off regenerated the neck and shield again. However, the use of shields and the shape of the human shadow were familiar.
"Oh... Gwalchavad?"
Woooong-!
When I said the name of Gwalchavad, the magic sword cried out thinly.
Come to think of it, ever since that sword started using shadows, strange stripes appeared on its black body. Then did it mean that sword was the Strange Lines Sword that Gwalchavad used? Well, thinking of the diary of the first emperor, it was not strange that the magic sword was here.
"I'll send you to your original owner, so get rid of that starving ghost-like shadow."
I spoke in ancient language on purpose. If it was an ego sword, it’d know what I was saying.
The Sword of Strange Lines’ shadow trembled as if it were in conflict with my words. However, after much consideration, it pushed the sword towards me as if deciding it wanted my mana more.
"Tch, how annoying." I clicked my tongue and stepped back significantly.
The Sword of Strange Lines’ black sword was a rare sword that was on par with the Holy Sword. Even though it wasn’t maintained for at least 500 years, it had retained its spirit by eating the mana of those who accidentally entered this place. Its power was probably not much different from the days when Gwlachavad used it. If so, it meant that I wouldn’t be able to win with just the Holy Sword. However, to use magic, there was too high of a chance that this place would get buried. If I were alone, I could get out somehow, but the bowl cut was the problem.
Should I use the magic that I was going to use on Old Man Arpen?
It probably wouldn’t be bad to use the Holy Sword as a catalyst.
"Chains of Light, tie up my enemies!"
First, I used a magic chain to prevent the sword and shadow from moving. I couldn't help it since it was a difficult level of magic.
"The sky dominated by the twilight of dusk. Land where the light disappears and ominous sound falls. The guardian of balance. A horizontal libra. Unshakable boundaries."
Up to this point, it was the same as the reverse world incantation. But my magic was a little different from the reverse world.
"Become a sword that divides the axis of darkness and light."
The white body of the Holy Sword turned black.
"Reverse World, Change the Balance of Events."
I cut the Sword of Strange Lines with the blackened Holy Sword.
Actually, I couldn’t say it was cut. The parts that touched the sword were sent to the reverse world, so rather than being cut, it was better to say that it was deleted. Anyway, the Sword of Strange Lines fell to the ground in two pieces; the core was in the handle like the Holy Sword, so it could be used again if a suitable blade was just attached. The question was whether there was a craftsman who could endure that sword's curse and fix it.
"Ugh. I guess I’ll hardly be able to use it in real life.”
The reverse world had a high level of difficulty, but when I tried to compress it, it wasn’t very usable.
If I tried to use it to fight against Old Man Arpen, I probably would have gotten done in instead.
"Okay, shall I collect the treasures and the bowl cut and go back?"
-o-
"Thanks to you, I got rid of two troubles."
Milpia smiled as she drank tea. The troubles meant the bowl cut and the secret library of the first emperor.
In the end, I won last night's bet with the coin in my pocket from the start. The bowl cut, who had his mana sucked out by the Sword of Strange Lines, lost his memory from before entering the secret library and made a tearful face.
Tsk, tsk, how did you end up liking someone like this?
"Your gaze is somehow very unpleasant," Mipia said.
I shrugged. "Should I put all the books out here? Although the space is too small.”
The hideout of Big Mama's Information Agency, where we were now, was not a very big space. It was such a small space that less than a tenth of the books in my pocket space could be placed.
"There's more space underground. But it'll still probably not be enough, so please give it to me in parts," she requested.
I readily nodded. It was not a bad request for me since it gave me time to look through the books from the secret library in detail.
"Then let’s receive the compensation for cooperating in getting rid of Pavlov," I said.
Milpia became nervous and her expression stiffened.
"There's nothing to be so nervous about. It's not such a difficult request," I said.
"Tell me."
She didn't seem to intend to relax. I smiled and took a small bottle of medicine out of my pocket space.
"What's this?" she asked.
"It's an aphrodisiac."
"Aphrodisiac?"
When I saw her unexpected flustered expression, a playful smile formed naturally.
"It's not just an aphrodisiac. It's a nutritional tonic that I made myself and its effects are on a different level from the aphrodisiacs on the market."
"And... so?"
"I'm going to mass-produce this and sell it. Please provide me with a route from the Big Mama Information Agency. With a 10% commission fee," I said.
"Wait! What do you mean 10%?! Isn't that too little? Normally, 50%... No, even if it's sold well, we should be getting 40%!" She protested.
It was natural for her to protest. At first glance, it might sound ridiculous to just sell and take half the profits, but it was not true. It cost a lot of money to simply sell things, such as transportation, advertising, establishing a place for sale, labor costs, and storage costs. It wasn’t for no reason that the price spiked whenever another business was added to a distribution line. In other words, it was difficult to avoid a deficit with the 10% fee I asked for. It was obvious that the more it was sold, the more debt would pile up, if it was normal that is.
"No matter how much it’s for granting your wish, it's less than 30% of normal commerce prices."
"To be exact, it’s 25%."
"Ugh!"
Milpia frowned as I hit the nail on the head. She was 100 years too soon to try to sneakily and deceive me to profit more.
"It's okay. I'm going to raise the price so that you can get enough profit even if you take only 10%."
If the aphrodisiac was at a price of 10 and the cost of distributing was 3, there would be a deficit of 2. However, if the price was 100, then she’d make a profit of 7. Of course, the initial marketing costs may rise a little according to the advanced strategy.
"If it's that expensive, it won't be sold."
"That's something you have to handle on your own. Don't worry too much and just try selling it once somehow. Anyone who uses it once will never be able to stop. Huhuhu."
With my guarantee, Milpia looked suspiciously at the aphrodisiac.
It was a few months later that the aphrodisiac became a cash cow, gave Milpia a hard time, and let me sit on a pile of money.
"Anyway, it seems like I'm going to work without sleeping." I stretched and got up from my seat.
My civil servant life was still in full swing.