Your Majesty, Dinner Is Ready. – Chapter 58 – D-Rank Dungeon: Library of Sin (1)

Author: Cireng

Chapter 58 – D-Rank Dungeon: Library of Sin (1)

There were an incredible number of books in the Library of Sin.

Just counting the books currently within sight, there had to be well over ten thousand… and that was only an extremely small fraction of the total.

A space made up of nothing but endless bookshelves and books.

It was the sort of place that someone who loved new experiences and stimulation couldn’t help but get excited over.

[The Wise One commands you to hurry and take out any book at all to read. They seem tremendously excited!]

As expected, Lidni was delighted.

They had even enjoyed the shabby library in District 6, so it was only natural that a knowledge hell of this scale would completely captivate them.

[Books, books, books!]

Truth kept displaying messages in front of my eyes, urging me on, but reading for the sake of my religious devotion wasn’t something I could begin so casually.

“Lord Lidni, if I randomly read something, I might end up learning a Mystery that causes serious problems in everyday life. Please bear with it for just a little longer.”

As I walked with the children, I looked over the bookshelves.

Fortunately, Eyes That Perceive the Truth, which possessed learning capabilities, didn’t make the mistake of displaying information on every single book.

[The Wise One urges you to read! It is the first time in the past hundred years that such overwhelming joy has been conveyed!]

“Please calm down. I didn’t enter this dungeon to read books.”

Bzzzt!

“No, Lady Su’eje. You want me to burn every book simply because you don’t like seeing them so happy? If Lord Lidni told you to kill every handsome young man, would that make you happy?”

Bzzzt…?

“You say that actually wouldn’t be such a bad feast for the eyes? …Now that I think about it, you do have a point. Even so, please don’t send me revelations like that. I might end up being condemned as a heretic.”

[The Wise One flies into a rage, declaring that the filthy evil god should disappear from existence for the good of the world!]

Why were the two of them like this today?

Because of our evil gods, I… who only wanted to live a normal, sensible life, had no end of trouble trying to mediate between them.

‘Wriggle… wriggle.’

Meanwhile, the snake tattoo that had crawled onto the back of my hand was looking around the library.

I could feel the Silent One conveying: ‘This place is so cozy. I like it.’

Which, in other words, meant the place was steeped in a gloomy, oppressive atmosphere.

“Please calm down by admiring my refreshing smile. You’re making too much noise.”

First, as an act of devotion for Lord Lidni, I pulled out several books before carefully placing each one back exactly where it belonged.

Creeeak…

With an eerie sound, a hole suddenly opened in midair, and a single sheet of paper fluttered down.

Marlin caught it and tilted her head after reading it.

[Warning x1]

‘If you accumulate five warnings, you will be removed from the dungeon!’

“…What’s this?”

“If you use the library properly like this, you receive a warning.”

It was one of the Library of Sin’s unique mechanics.

Here, crude, ignorant behavior was considered proper etiquette.

Holding the warning slip, Abel asked with a serious expression,

“What happens if we’re removed?”

“You fall into a dark abyss. And then you have to flounder around in the darkness until someone rescues you.”

“…Huh? But didn’t the demon guy say that was just a joke?”

“He was joking about thieves being thrown into the abyss the moment they entered. He never said the abyss itself didn’t exist.”

“…”

The siblings’ expressions stiffened.

To reassure them, I gently patted their heads.

“It’s fine. As long as you behave in an uncivilized manner, you’ll never be expelled. Though, for an upstanding, well-mannered cultist like me, that’s a little difficult.”

“…I feel like it’d be easiest for you.”

“Are you saying I’m rude?”

I was pressing down on Marlin’s head to discipline her when…

“Patron.”

Abel tugged on my sleeve.

Five adventurers were approaching us.

The human warrior who appeared to be their leader, a heavily built man carrying a greatsword across his back, met my eyes briefly before shouting,

“Why are you blocking the way?! Move already!”

BOOM!

One of the orc party members punched a bookshelf, sending books raining down everywhere.

The siblings tensed and prepared to fight, but I raised a hand to stop them before speaking.

“So, you dare tell me to move aside? Me, who is cherished by the Pioneer of Twisted Truth, who possesses every wicked scrap of knowledge and every grotesque form of sorcery in existence?”

Slowly shaking my head as though the notion were absurd, I popped out my right eye.

Caw!

My eyeball transformed into a blind crow.

The bizarre spectacle was apparently enough to leave the opposing expedition in complete shock.

Every member of the party flinched.

“Perfect timing. Lord Lidni happened to want a new sacrifice.”

Sweat immediately poured down the expedition leader’s forehead.

Grumbling under his breath, he slashed a bookshelf apart with his greatsword.

“Damn it… Of all people, we had to run into a cultist. Our luck’s awful today. I’m in a bad mood now. Let’s go around!”

Looking strangely flustered, the expedition party disappeared down the newly created path opened by the split bookshelf.

Only then did I calmly turn back toward the siblings.

“That’s settled. Let’s go.”

“…Karr.”

“What was that just now?”

“I already told you. In the Library of Sin, you’re not supposed to be polite. So the expedition leader and I simply agreed to act like enemies.”

If we’d politely made way for one another or quietly whispered, we would have received warnings.

A situation one could never experience in ordinary life.

That was one of the great charms of dungeons.

“…Abel. Didn’t that seem a little too real to be acting?”

“…I know.”

“What are you two talking about? Why would a five-person expedition be frightened of a single cultist? A veteran adventurer naturally has good acting skills.”

If one wished to become a famous adventurer, one had to become versatile.

Otherwise, sooner or later, one would fail to adapt to the countless gimmicks found in dungeons.

“Come on, we need to hurry. We have to gain as much as possible before Sir Bartimir’s expedition catches up.”

Bartimir and his party would be entering three hours later.

In the Library of Sin, that was a very meaningful difference.

I intended to finish everything I needed to do before then.

Caw.

After waiting for the blind crow to return to its place in my eye socket, we resumed our exploration.

We wandered through the maze of bookshelves for quite some time.

Then…

[Warning: Hide behind the bookshelf to your side immediately.]

The moment Eyes That Perceive the Truth displayed the message, I hurriedly pulled the siblings behind a large bookshelf.

Keeping them behind my back, I produced a sharp spider thread from my index finger and set a trap.

Krrrk…

A moment later, a gigantic floating book drifted past nearby.

Its cover bore the image of a lion-like creature, while blood and chunks of flesh clung to its surface.

[Large Grimoire (Level 7)]

[You should be able to tell just by looking at it. Avoiding combat at all costs is the wisest choice.]

As it passed nearby, the giant grimoire suddenly turned toward us.

Krrrraak!

It charged at us in an instant, flinging open pages stained with bones, flesh, and blood.

Slice!

The spider-web trap halted its charge for only the briefest moment.

But that moment was enough.

Fwoooosh!

Blazing flames burst from my left hand.

The foundational Mystery of the Solitary Cultist of Silence…

[Death · Flame · Transformation]

Used normally,

Lord Lriria had become so diminished that its firepower was pitiful, so I borrowed outside assistance.

That helper was none other than Glory’s Ember, the artifact that produced flames.

You could call it a form of synchronization.

[The Wise One applauds you, praising your clever use of connecting [Death · Flame · Transformation] to an artifact that emits flames to amplify its power!]

At the moment, the snake tattoo was biting down on Glory’s Ember, worn on my left hand.

Doing so increased the rank of [Death · Flame · Transformation] by one stage.

Krrraaaak!

The grimoire unable to evolve into an e-book and therefore vulnerable to fire like every other book, became engulfed in flames and began thrashing wildly.

Using that opportunity, the siblings and I ran as fast as we could until we had put a tremendous distance between us.

“…Urgh.”

Perhaps because I’d pushed myself so hard in such a short time, I almost felt sick.

Only after we were far away from the grimoire did Marlin finally catch her breath and quietly ask, “What… was that?”

“What else?”

“It was a book.”

“…Can you read it?”

“We’re not the ones reading the book. The book reads us.”

It wasn’t a metaphor.

It literally opened a person’s body and “read” them.

Its level was an astonishing 7.

It was an environmental hazard that adventurers tackling a D-rank dungeon could never defeat.

If you saw one, you avoided it.

“By the way, giant grimoires aren’t the only monsters here. There are others as well. We have to explore while avoiding all of them.”

“Karr… I hate this library…”

“Don’t dislike it so much. Isn’t it nice to have such a unique experience you could never enjoy under normal circumstances?”

“Not at all!”

“Your horizons are still too narrow.”

Whether Marlin liked it or not, the exploration had to continue.

I gently pushed the siblings forward and resumed examining the bookshelves.

The exploration route through the Library of Sin gave my dried-up mind a refreshing soak.

***

“So a cultist’s blocking our path?! Are you insane?!”

“Come at me. I shall offer every last one of you as living sacrifices to Lord Lidni.”

“…Let’s just go. Running into a filthy cultist… our luck’s terrible today!”

The occasional enjoyable theatrical performance with other expedition parties.

Krrraaaak!

The heart-pounding game of hide-and-seek with the giant grimoires that read people.

Grrrraaaah!

And on top of that, the exhilarating chases with the pack-living monsters known as Library Watchdogs, which appeared one after another.

“Ughhh, Kaaaarr!”

“Haha, that’s right, Marlin.”

“You’re having fun too, aren’t you?”

This place was practically an amusement park.

Maybe from now on it ought to be called the Park of Sin instead.

“…Running around this much does make me feel refreshed.”

“I feel the same.”

Beastfolk were a race for whom intense physical activity was actually beneficial, so neither sibling showed any signs of fatigue yet.

As I enjoyed exploring alongside the siblings under my patronage, I carefully checked every message that Eyes That Perceive the Truth occasionally displayed.

[Rank 1 Mystery Tome – Indifferent Calves]

[Learning it slightly strengthens your leg muscles, but your calves become a little slimmer.]

[Rank 3 Mystery Tome – Curious Skin]

[Learning it hardens your skin, but your skin tone becomes slightly darker.]

[Rank 6 Mystery Tome – Fierce Gaze]

[Learning it changes your eye color to red, but grants the ability to project manifested killing intent.]

I found several Mystery Tomes with only minor drawbacks, just as the priest had mentioned before we entered.

I liked every single one.

After repeatedly collecting them and storing them in my subspace, I finally found the book I’d been searching for.

[? Rank Mystery Tome – The Demon King’s Left Leg]

[An unidentified Mystery. Even I don’t really know what this is…]

Even Eye That Sees Through Truth, which could read the information of all things, couldn’t determine its effect.

Naturally, it was one of the dungeon’s Hidden Pieces.

Its location was completely random.

The books were reshuffled every single day, meaning the only way to find it was to search the entire library from top to bottom.

“Truth.”

[By Truth, do you mean me?]

“Who else would I mean? There are four more Mystery Tomes just like this one. Let’s find them all. When we’ve gathered the complete set, something will happen that Lord Lidni will truly enjoy.”

And it would bring us one step closer to victory in our expedition competition as well.

“Kids. Do you need a break?”

“I can still keep going.”

“I’m fine too.”

“Then let’s move.”

We continued exploring without rest, carefully avoiding the patrol routes of the giant grimoires and the Library Watchdogs.

As a result, by the time nearly three hours had passed, we had also discovered more pieces of the Mystery Tome set.

[? Rank Mystery Tome – The Demon King’s Right Arm]

[? Rank Mystery Tome – The Demon King’s Right Leg]

“Only two books left.”

As Marlin quietly followed behind me, she suddenly patted my back.

“Karr, collecting all of those Mystery Tomes is the Hidden Piece of this dungeon, right?”