Chapter 23: Square 18: Devilish Charm
"This is our chef’s signature tart. You’re eating this too, right?"
Once the fuss in the bathhouse had died down, I was called into Elizabeth’s private room. And the first thing out of her mouth was that.
"...Is this hush money?"
"Well, close enough. ...You will absolutely not breathe a word of that to anyone."
She hid the lower half of her face with her fan, glaring at me sharply. Everyone messes up when they drink, but that had been a genuinely legendary embarrassment.
"What happened to Tender? He seemed like the one most likely to blab about it..."
"He was about to try, so I punched him once and threw him in the dungeon."
She said something terrifying so casually.
"So, aren’t you going to eat?"
"I’d rather not end up in a dungeon myself, so, digging in."
The tart was decorated with plump red berries that looked like strawberries. Thick slices of fruit were arranged neatly on top. Pressing the fork in lightly, soft cream mixed with fruit peeked out from inside. I brought it carefully to my mouth, trying not to spill the biscuit base.
"Oh, this is good... no wait, this is really good."
A gentle sweetness spread the moment it hit my mouth. The crisp texture of the biscuit paired with rich, dense fruit juice. The red berries were less tart than strawberries, closer to cherries maybe. The biscuit seemed freshly baked, kept at just the right warmth to bring out the sweetness even more. Cold cream and bursts of red fruit left a lingering, addictive sweetness on my tongue. Before I knew it, the plate was empty.
"Ah, that was great. A dessert after a bath isn’t a bad thing at all."
"Isn’t it? And since you’ve eaten it, this stays an absolute secret."
"I get it, I get it."
Elizabeth pressed the point home, her face still flushed. Even if she was worried, there wasn’t exactly anyone around for me to gossip with about a noble lady’s embarrassing moments anyway.
"So, you’re really letting me stay the night, right? Where should I sleep? I’d like to go drop off my bag."
"Yes, I’ll have you shown there. Selva."
The moment Elizabeth called out, a knock echoed through the room almost instantly.
"You called, my lady?"
The one who walked in was the old butler. Given his whole look, I’d been absolutely certain his name was going to be something like Sebastian. ...Selva, huh. The near miss made it oddly frustrating.
"Please show him to the guest room on the second floor."
"Understood. This way, please."
"Oh, r-right... thanks."
Feeling a pointless kind of dissatisfaction I couldn’t quite shake, I followed Selva down the hall.
"Here we are."
"Thank you very much, I appreciate it."
I put my hand on the doorknob and opened it to reveal a space far larger than I’d expect for a guest room. Just a rough guess, but maybe around fifteen tatami mats worth of space. Not much furniture in the room, but it was clearly kept spotless. Instead of dust, there was even a faint scent of flowers in the air.
"If there’s anything you’re dissatisfied with, please let me know."
"No, no, thank you for everything, really."
Like some kind of luxury hotel. That’s what I thought, bowing my head to Selva. ...Oh, wait, that reminds me!
"Um, hold on a second!"
"Yes, what is it?"
Before meeting Old Man Beard tomorrow, it’d probably help to learn a bit more about this world first.
"Does this mansion have a library?"
"...It’s huge."
"There are other studies with restricted access as well, but for research purposes, this should serve you well. I’ll take my leave now."
Once Selva had left the room, I found myself struck once again by the sheer scale of the place. At a glance, there had to be somewhere between one hundred thousand and, no, maybe three hundred thousand books lined up. Near the entrance sat a chair and table, making it feel more like a reading room than a mere archive. I picked up a few books at random, and every single one was written in Japanese. Something about seeing an entire wall of Japanese titles felt strangely unsettling. Among them, one book in particular caught my eye.
"History of the Ageless Disease? What’s this about?"
I’d actually heard the term "ageless disease" back in my old world too. Some kind of highlander related condition, I think. But flipping through the pages, it quickly became clear this was something entirely different from any disease on Earth.
The book described it as a condition where a person’s lifespan itself simply vanishes. Cause unknown, and as the name suggested, the defining symptom was the disappearance of a natural lifespan. The body stops aging, letting the afflicted live on for an unnaturally long time, like a tortoise. Cases had also been noted involving symptoms like compulsive lying and auditory hallucinations.
Lifespan just vanishing? This world really was a world apart from the one I knew. I put the book back and turned my attention to another shelf.
"Come to think of it, Nest’s bounty poster did say dark elf. Does that mean there’s a whole bunch of different demi human races running around this world?"
And that meat I’d eaten earlier had been dragon, too. Which meant, if I ever stepped outside the city, there were probably goblins and dwarves and all sorts of game like creatures living out there. If I ever ended up outside, it’d probably be smart to at least know how to handle monsters.
"Alright, decided. First, let’s find some kind of bestiary."
Ten minutes later, I found the book I was looking for.
"...There it is!"
I picked up a book with "Demi Humans of the World" printed on the spine. It listed intelligent demi human races, organized by category. I flipped through the contents briefly before checking the table of contents.
Elf race, Ape people race, Oni race. Undead race, Werewolf race, Slime race. Spirit race, Dwarf race, Giant race.
The demi humans across the world fell broadly into these nine categories.
And then there were the Dragonkin, the Death race, and the Demon race. Those were listed in a special appendix, noted as races that had gone extinct long ago. Checking whether ordinary humans were even listed, it turned out the "Ape people" category covered that. Honestly, aside from the Ape people, most of the other races besides elves weren’t exactly ones I wanted to get close to.
Reading a bit further, I picked up several things. Spirits were sentient beings made of magical energy, requiring special magic to take physical form. Werewolves were born with the ability to speak with and command animals. The Undead had abnormal regenerative abilities and vitality, though they weren’t actually immortal. That was about as much as I got from a quick read.
"That’s probably enough on people for now. More importantly, I want to check if there are any monsters that actually attack people. ...Is this bestiary the one I need?"
I picked up a plain looking book with a modest spine sitting on the same shelf. Brushing off the dust and opening it, it turned out to be information on dangerous creatures living throughout the world.
"This is it! This is exactly what I wanted to see."
Flipping through the pages, there were far more monsters listed than I’d expected.
"Let’s see, here it is, list of monsters living around the Parrot Kingdom. What do we have... Golem, Goblin, Wight, Griffon, Wyvern, Big Worm, Zombie, Rock Bear, Mandrake, Sewer Rat, Minotaur, Dullahan, Cyclops, Mimic, Hornet, Gargoyle, Medusa, Killer Devil, Harpy, Lamia, Alraune..."
I quietly closed the book. I decided, firmly, that I was never leaving the city.
After browsing the shelves for about five more minutes, another book caught my attention.
"This is..."
A book with a cover that shimmered like a jewel. Drawn in by the elaborate design, I picked it up without thinking, a book about legendary treasures passed down in the Parrot Kingdom.
The book explained that the kingdom held many hidden treasures said to lie in wait: an axe that devours magic power, a dragon fang said to consume the continent, a scrap of paper said to bring about the end of the world. But according to the author, all of them were unreliable fakes, nothing more than cheap folk tales sung by amateur bards.
That’s how legendary artifacts always go. Even thinking that, I couldn’t stop turning the pages.
The text went on to claim there were, in fact, two treasures the author could genuinely confirm existed, still resting somewhere within the kingdom, based on his own research.
The writing, styled almost like a personal journal, grew increasingly intense from there.
The first was called the Seven Faced Idol, described as a statue that laughed at the calamity it carried within it. Not a metaphor, apparently, it truly laughed, in a voice unsettling enough to raise the hair on anyone’s neck.
More of the same continued on for another dozen or so pages. Just as I started skimming ahead, figuring there was nothing more worth reading, I reached the next entry.
"Second... the Dragon’s Magic Crystal!?"
That was when it clicked. A fragment of the mysterious item Nest had been searching for.
"Wait, what was it she said again? The big guy muttered something like ’dragon’s ma-’ something. And then Nest tried to throw me off with ’the Dragon King’s gem.’ The wording lines up pretty closely."
It connected. The very thing Nest had been searching for, something I’d never gotten the chance to ask her about directly. Finding the dots connecting right here was an unexpected bit of luck.
"Honestly, this isn’t information I’d ever want to actually make use of again."
But reading further didn’t turn up any more detail than that. The shape, the color, even its location, all completely unknown. Despite spending a full two hours working through the entire book, all I’d really learned was that it existed somewhere in this country, along with its name. Feeling a mix of mild regret and the satisfaction of finishing the book, I went looking for anything else that might turn up more information.
Ten minutes later.
"Hm? ...This is..."
What I found was a beginner’s spellbook. It listed a handful of simple spells, ones even a child could use.
"Should I... try one?"
Deep down, I was split evenly between excitement and dread. Even if I ended up able to cast something incredible, what if it went out of control? That chilling thought crossed my mind for a moment. Still, there’s just something about the word "magic" that stirs up a man’s curiosity, no matter what. I sat myself down in a chair and flipped through the pages eagerly.
"With all these books around, fire magic’s probably a bad idea... Ah, a spell to grow a young sapling might be a good one."
Forgetting my original purpose entirely, I kept reading through the spellbook.
"Let’s see, draw a magic circle... where should I draw it? It’s a pretty intricate design, drawing it in a notebook would be a pain... oh, I know!"
I hurried back to my room. A few minutes later, I came running back and slapped a stack of papers down onto the table with a thud.
"Alright, I’ll use these!"
What I’d brought were copies of some work documents. Since they were basically trash at this point, they were perfect for this. Using the blank side of the paper, I drew out the magic circle with a ballpoint pen.
"...There, is this right?"
A little rough around the edges, but I’d managed to draw it reasonably well. I set it down on the table, and all that was left was channeling magic through my palm. The book described it as imagining water droplets dripping from your palm, so I focused on that image over and over in my head.
"What else... the incantation!?"
The book had the incantation printed in large text, along with a warning to be careful not to stumble over the words.
"Let’s see... looks like there are five beginner practice incantations."
A little embarrassing, but might as well commit to it properly. I took a deep breath and called out from the pit of my stomach.
"Answer to my name, breathe life into mother earth, Parpolada Yggdrasil!!"
The instant I finished, a faint green glow settled over my hand.
"Alright, at this rate..."
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, OOOORAAAAAAH!!!"
"SOOOOOOYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, FUNNURABAAAAA!!!"
"UNTOKOSHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, DOKKOISHOOOOOO!!!"
...Nothing came out. The book said a tiny sprout would gradually grow into a young sapling. A sprout did come out, sure enough. But it just kept stretching out thin and wiry, still just a sprout.
"This is basically a daikon radish sprout!!"
My shout echoed through the library. But it couldn’t be helped. After an hour of effort, the result being one measly radish sprout was enough to make anyone want to scream. Anyway, what should I do with this? A spindly little radish sprout, growing right out of the paper. ...I ate it.
Taste test!
As for the flavor. Yep, the texture was exactly like a daikon sprout. But the taste was maybe closer to a green pepper. A faint bitterness paired with a fresh, crisp crunch, honestly not bad at all... And that’s when it finally hit me.
"...What exactly am I doing with my life right now?"
Selva came to let me know dinner was ready right after that.
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