Chapter 20
Although it was a rough swing, the blade accurately struck the Bookworm's body. The Bookworm, split in half, tumbled away in the direction Ethan had swung the sword. While Bien checked the surroundings for other dangers, Ethan helped the fallen Maiya back to her feet.
"Do you have something to say?"
"...T-Thank you?"
Ethan shook his head.
"Wrong."
"Wrong?"
"The correct answer is,"
Ethan frowned and poked Maiya's forehead with his index finger.
"'Grades aren't everything.'"
As Maiya frowned and rubbed her forehead, a hoarse voice came from within Maiya's arms.
"You shall be destroyed."
It was Maiya's familiar, Weavre.
Ethan and Weavre stared at each other for a moment.
Maiya stroked Weavre with her gloved hand and soothed him.
"Don't do that. Ethan saved me."
"The end has been postponed yet again...."
Bien, seemingly assured there was no danger in the surroundings, walked towards the two of them.
"We must be careful. There are Bookworms right from the entrance."
"I think it would be better if I took the lead. Anyway, everyone here is probably entering the Great Library Labyrinth for the first time."
"You must be worried about Koshe too. There are three of us, but if she came in here alone..."
Maiya said, picking up Weavre, who had somehow returned to the floor.
"Maybe Koshe will be okay. She's quite skilled in combat."
"Is that so?"
Since both Ethan and Bien had different classes from Koshe, they didn't know much about what kind of student she was or what kind of magic she used.
Ethan swept his gaze around the area.
"Wait, the Bookworm's corpse is gone."
"It seems it was alive. But if it was injured to that extent, it wouldn't be a threat. Bookworms don't travel in groups either."
"Well, that's a relief."
Ethan received the glowing wooden stick from Maiya, held the sword in his right hand, and took the lead. After walking for a few minutes, light was visible from inside the cave. Passing through a not-so-narrow passage, the size of the Book Tomb decreased, and a rather spacious area, large enough for a dragon to lie down, appeared.
And all the walls in that space were packed with bookshelves.
All the bookshelves were the same, each just tall enough for an adult male to barely reach and pull out a book. There was a corridor along the walls within the space, allowing access to each floor on foot. Each floor was connected by marble stairs, and crystal lights illuminated by magic were installed on the railings of the corridor, making it as bright as day.
Ethan counted that this space had a total of six floors, and it would take about 20 seconds to run around one full circle. Upon closer inspection, Ethan realized that even this space was only a small part of the Great Library Labyrinth. There were several doors within the space that connected to other corridors, and the largest door was adjacent to the next space, which appeared to be the same size as the one Ethan was currently in, judging by the gap in the door.
Bien explained.
"It seems to be one of the library stacks in the Great Library Labyrinth. I heard there are at least several hundred or more of these stacks in the Great Library Labyrinth. Each stack has about 80,000 books."
The passage Ethan and his group had exited was on the 4th floor, and it seemed to have been created by breaking through the wall and destroying bookshelves. The other passages had proper doors. As Ethan walked towards the railing, a few books detached from the shelves, flapped their pages, flew up, and moved to another stack. Ethan knew about Book Butterflies as well. Book Butterflies were magical creatures that looked like books, and they didn't cause much harm to humans. In fact, they were beneficial for book preservation and were therefore released and raised in the Great Library.
"Now that we've come this far,"
Ethan leaned his hip against the railing, realized it creaked because it was too old, and cleared his throat to hide his embarrassment.
Then he spoke to Maiya, who was looking at him as if he was pathetic.
"I think you should tell me why Koshe came down here and what she's looking for. It's going to be difficult to find Koshe in such a large place without any clues."
Ethan knew that even just pretending to look for Koshe would cause Koshe to find her way here on her own, but he needed to maintain the pretense.
Koshe Ludirock had dark navy hair with bangs covering her forehead and wore a ponytail. Including her other behaviors, it was generally assumed she wasn't from a good family, which is why other students found it surprising that she was friends with Maiya.
"Actually, this isn't the first time Koshe came down to the Great Library Labyrinth."
Ethan knew about the Ludirock family. The Ludirock family was one of the Charasen family's clients. He had heard his father, Duke Charasen, ridicule Baron Ludirock, saying that even in his grandfather's generation, he was just a rich merchant who bought his title with his inflated wealth, yet was excessively aristocratic. But he didn't know about Baron Ludirock's daughter, Koshe Ludirock.
"Someone from a prestigious family like you might scoff, but Koshe and I learned magic together. We met at a party and discovered that two children from different noble families had talent for magic. However, my mother didn't have enough knowledge to teach magic to someone else, and the Ludirock family had no connection to mages at all. Then, we realized our interests aligned – why not share the cost of hiring a mage tutor? We were both around five years old at the time. I would visit the Ludirock mansion, and Koshe would come to our mansion. The teachers who taught magic would change occasionally, but our partners never did. We grew up like sisters."
Up to this point, there was nothing particularly unusual. Entering magic school without preparation could lead to a situation like Ethan's. Generally, students learn and practice basic magic before entering magic school. In families with a long tradition of magic, parents teach their children magic, or if not, a capable mage within the family is responsible for education. But there are families that aren't like that. For various reasons, if there is no one within the family who can properly teach magic, they hire outside mages to teach it. Ethan knew that about 40% of the students attending magic school learned magic in this way.
“Here's where I need you two to keep a secret. And I hope you understand that I'm being somewhat guarded to hide the truth. ...One day, I was cursed. I cannot tell you what kind of curse it is or how I got it, so please don't ask. You shouldn't even talk about the fact that I'm under a curse. Even after entering school, I'm still suffering from that curse, and the only one who knows this fact is Koshe, who grew up like a sister to me. This curse rarely manifests in fits, and it's a painful thing for me. Just before Koshe left, I had such a fit. Koshe found evidence that the cure for my curse was in the Great Library Labyrinth, and that's why she came to the Great Library Labyrinth. I tried to stop her, but due to the nervous exhaustion brought on by the fit, I made a poor judgment and let Koshe go. I regret it.”
A curse refers to harmful magic that cannot be explained.
Bien said.
"That is regrettable, Maiya."
"It's okay."
Ethan said.
"But that alone isn't enough of a clue to find Koshe..."
"Ethan, can't you sympathize with someone else's tragedy for even a moment?"
"I am sympathizing. But that alone isn't enough of a clue to find Koshe."
Maiya seemed to regain some energy thanks to Ethan's attitude.
"...Right. Koshe used the Right-Hand Rule."
"The Right-Hand Rule? Is that the method where you keep one hand on the right wall to make sure you find your way out of a labyrinth? But that would be suitable for a small labyrinth, not a huge one like the Great Library Labyrinth; you'd likely starve to death. Besides, we know the entrance and exit."
"The Right-Hand Rule isn't just a way to find your way in a labyrinth. It's a way to establish some kind of standard in a labyrinth without any rules. At least, that's what Koshe thought."
Ethan understood Koshe's method. Koshe hadn't expected to gain anything from her first exploration. She planned to explore the Great Library Labyrinth as far as she could without overexerting herself, learn its layout, and then use that knowledge to venture deeper into the Great Library Labyrinth. If the labyrinth had no map and was easy to get lost in anyway, a simple rule like the Right-Hand Rule would help with the exploration.
Ethan read Koshe's thoughts.
"More importantly, if we use the Right-Hand Rule, it means we can easily follow Koshe's trail. She probably thought ahead so that if something happened to her, the person behind could easily follow. If this isn't the first time Koshe has come down to the labyrinth, how many times has it been?"
"This is the fourth time."
"Then this would be the fourth passage reachable using the Right-Hand Rule. She must have intended to broaden the scope of her exploration first."
"Indeed... Koshe said something similar."
Bien also judged Ethan's speculation to be plausible, and the three people walked, keeping a hand on the right wall as their standard. Since there were other passages on the same floor, there was no reason to get lost. If there were no passages on the same floor, they took the stairs on the right, which meant going up, and only went down if there were no passages on the floor above. In rare cases where there was only one passage, they exited immediately, and in places with two, they moved without delay. This was possible because they had a clear view of the entire stack.
They fought a Bookworm along the way, but this time they were being cautious, so Ethan attacked the Bookworm first, and no problems occurred. Other than that, the Great Library Labyrinth was silent. There was a rumor that a Librarian would come if you made loud noises, but none of the three intended to confirm it.
After walking for about three hours, the other two were sweating and exhausted except for Ethan, but Ethan suspected they would meet Koshe soon. His memory wasn't exact, but there hadn't been any incident where Koshe didn't return to school and caused problems, so the time Koshe could explore was at most half a day. If half of that time had to be used for returning, she would be about halfway back now, given that about nine hours had passed.
After passing through a narrow passage, they were on the 6th floor. Their sense of space was distorted because they had started on the 1st floor and arrived on the 6th floor, but Ethan was gradually getting used to the labyrinth's sense of space.
Ethan, seeing a red color in his line of sight, pointed reflexively.
"What's that over there?"
The three people looked intently at the red color beyond the railing. The first to turn pale was Maiya.
"No, Koshe. No."
What Ethan pointed to was Koshe Ludirock's corpse.
Maiya rushed to run and Bien followed. Ethan walked quickly, scanning the surroundings. A few Book Butterflies were flying, but there was nothing else that looked dangerous. Whatever attacked Koshe seemed to have left the vicinity or was hiding its body so well that Ethan couldn't perceive it. But the culprit was clearly identifiable.
"Koshe! Can you hear me? Koshe."
Maiya sat down and pulled Koshe into her arms, touching her cheek.
"My heavens. Her body is so cold."
"Let me take a look."
Ethan checked Koshe's life signs using the basic knowledge he knew through 'Skill: CPR (C)'. There was no pupillary reflex to light, breathing had stopped, and her heart wasn't beating. The 'Archive: Human Anatomy (C)' skill provided Ethan with a few more pieces of information. Her body was starting to cool, but rigor mortis hadn't set in at room temperature, suggesting she hadn't been dead for more than three hours. There was a skull depression and lividity on her neck, suggesting a major fracture of the skull and cervical vertebrae, presumed to be the direct cause of death.
Bien lifted his head.
"That's the cause."
One side of the stack was wet and completely rotten. Groundwater that had flowed from the wall ran along the corridor, following a path heavily covered in mushrooms and moss, and was dripping down into a similarly rotten and sunken area on the floor. At the very top of the decayed stack, the remains of a wooden staircase that seemed recently broken were dangling, and some of these remains were scattered around Maiya. From above, it looked like a perfectly fine corridor, so no one could have predicted that spot would collapse. No one attacked Koshe. Fate had killed Koshe.
While feeling regret, Ethan also felt a sense of incongruity.
<Wait. If this is the case, who was the Koshe I saw? Our presence had absolutely nothing to do with Koshe's death. Koshe wouldn't have even known we had entered the Great Library Labyrinth.>
Ethan's question was immediately answered.
Maiya sobbed and hugged Koshe's head.
"No, Koshe. I can't lose you too. Please, live. Please."
"Is that truly your wish?"
All three felt a chill down their spines and looked at the owner of the voice.
It was Maiya's familiar, Weavre.