Ch.36The Library Takeover Incident (1)

# Every Library existed for each grade level.

Since it was a storage warehouse for magical materials with vast quantities preserved, it was divided according to the necessary curriculum for each grade level.

So despite being called a library, it had few magical books.

Most magical books were kept in the Academy’s central library. That place had many truly important materials, so professors took turns guarding it—

But the Every Library for each grade level operated entirely on student autonomy.

The librarian was a student, and the security was also handled by students.

Since the highest class, Expert, monopolized the key positions in the library, they were able to commit the outrage of restricting entry for commoners.

Ruide came to Every Library Building 1 for preliminary research. He left Hersy and the fox behind, as he planned to do something rather secretive.

A tall male student who spotted Ruide widened his eyes, hurriedly approached, and greeted him.

“Ah, Young Master Ruide. Pleased to meet you. I’m Karon Maximus.”

‘So he’s the gatekeeper.’

He would be the first hurdle for commoners.

Ruide recalled the original novel, which felt like preparing for a boss raid. It was amusing that they were all just students.

“Nice to meet you, Karon.”

“This seems to be your first visit to the library. Would you like me to guide you?”

Ruide nodded.

“Yes.”

“Of course. This way, please.”

As soon as they entered, Karon told a nearby student, “Please cover for me for about 10 minutes,” before walking ahead.

‘…He seems more suited to be a knight than a mage.’

His build was quite sturdy. His behavior seemed closer to that of a knight than a magic department student.

“You don’t need to be so formal. We’re in the same year.”

“Haha, I appreciate your words, but I can’t speak casually to a high nobleman. The Maximus family is only a baronial house.”

It was an unwritten rule at the Academy. Nobles who weren’t close to each other used formal speech. Even with friendship, some wouldn’t speak casually depending on their personality.

Ruide thought they lived quite troublesomely. But since Karon said it was more comfortable that way, he had no intention of forcing him.

“This is the reading room. While not as extensive as the central library, it has all the essential books.”

The massive hall on the first floor.

In the center was a space arranged for sitting and reading books, while the outer perimeter was densely packed with books.

Near the entrance was a large desk. A woman wearing glasses was busily writing something. Karon guided him there.

“You can register here. Isabella.”

Isabella was so engrossed in something that she didn’t look up. Without stopping her writing, she said:

“Ah, yes, yes. What’s your name?”

“Ruide.”

“Ruide… what a cool name…”

Isabella’s pen stopped. She looked at Ruide with wide eyes.

Karon sighed and said:

“Do your assignments in advance. The library isn’t a place for doing your homework.”

“Th-the Fairy of Dellin…!”

‘I’m glad she didn’t call me Lazy Ruide Dragon.’

While there were various nicknames for him, being called Lazy Ruide made him feel like a named monster.

“Register me.”

“Ah, yes, right away!”

Isabella hurriedly took out a form and wrote down Ruide’s name.

She looked at Ruide nervously.

“Um, may I ask what your purpose for visiting is…?”

“Secret.”

“Ah, yes. Secret…”

Isabella stared at Ruide with a blank face. But Ruide remained confident.

“Since it’s a secret, just write something generic.”

Karon nodded and gave her a stern look. Isabella hurriedly wrote something down.

“Yes…! You’re here for reading and herb collection! How, how intellectual of you!”

“Yes.”

Ruide finished registering without issue and walked toward the center. Karon followed behind and carefully asked:

“Shall I end the tour here?”

He was being considerate of Ruide’s mention of secrecy. Not knowing the layout, Ruide shook his head.

“Guide me to the materials room.”

“Yes, understood.”

‘What’s that smell?’

He couldn’t describe it precisely, but it was like a fishy smell, the distinctive salty scent of the sea.

Ruide’s gaze swept around. Several students reading books were pretending not to look at him.

‘Commoners?’

Ruide’s gaze stopped on a woman. It was Hannah, who had bombarded him with questions before.

“The materials room is that way.”

He pointed to a large staircase straight ahead. Ruide nodded and walked up.

“Wasn’t our class supposed to have taken over this library?”

“Ah, you noticed.”

Karon spoke as if displeased.

“That’s right. It was to restrict commoners’ access… but since they would obviously nitpick about commoner discrimination, we limited entry requirements to ‘Expert class.’ As a result, a very small number of commoners can still come to the library.”

“…Is that okay?”

“Yes. The great First Emperor’s decree was not to discriminate by status in the land of learning, but there was no mention of not discriminating based on ability. It’s borderline, but within allowable limits.”

As Ruide turned the corner of the staircase, he asked in passing:

“Do you dislike commoners?”

Karon answered without hesitation.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

It was pure curiosity. Karon shook his head.

“When I first enrolled, I didn’t think much about it. Rather, I wanted to faithfully follow the First Emperor’s decree… but that thought changed in less than a week.”

Karon narrowed his eyes as he looked down at the lower floor.

“Do you know what happened at the beginning of the semester, Young Master Ruide? When commoners could freely enter and exit the library.”

At that time, Ruide would have been sleeping at Dellin’s Lake. That was still true now.

Ruide shook his head.

“I thought you wouldn’t know. You seem completely uninterested in the Academy.”

They had already reached the materials room, but Ruide stopped walking and looked at Karon. He wanted to hear more.

‘I didn’t know there was another reason.’

He only knew from the original novel but had never directly asked why they restricted commoners.

“Tell me. What happened that made you do this?”

“I apologize if I’m presuming, but… earlier, I saw you touch your nose. The smell of those commoners bothered you, right?”

Ruide was inwardly startled.

He slowly nodded.

“Commoners emit a strange odor. It’s varied, but indescribable… a truly disgusting smell.”

That was something he could empathize with.

Not all commoners smelled bad.

But most commoners did have an odor.

Unlike nobles, they don’t bathe.

For commoners, using large amounts of water to wash their bodies is considered highly inefficient.

In extreme cases, there were commoners who never bathed even once in their lifetime.

In contrast, nobles in this world are very clean. They take at least one half-bath every day.

Unlike the ordinary world, they can use magic, and water can be produced by a magician’s hands as needed.

Some perceptive commoners who came to the Academy did bathe regularly, but it was impossible for the smell ingrained over a lifetime to disappear overnight.

“You decided to drive them out because of the smell?”

“No, that’s not it. That’s not the commoners’ fault, is it? They had no choice but to live that way. I can simply leave if books are borrowed, so I can avoid the situation myself.”

“Then?”

Karon frowned as if the mere thought was unpleasant.

“It’s because of their behavior and attitude. They touch books without hesitation with hands that have touched filthy things. Sometimes soot gets on the books, making the text illegible. Bringing snacks, eating them, and not cleaning up, or borrowing books and not returning them are common occurrences. When we point out that they shouldn’t do these things, they take it as discrimination.”

‘That’s severe.’

Commoners don’t learn etiquette. Even the Academy, the only place called an educational institution, sets minimum admission requirements based on ‘amount of mana.’ As a result, he knew there were many unruly commoners, but…

“Once I opened a book on Third Magic, and someone had picked their nose and smeared it on the page. I vomited in the bathroom and made a resolution. Commoners must be banned from entry.”

Hearing it directly, it was more serious than he thought. Ruide looked at Karon with an expression of extreme disgust. Seeing his expression, Karon smiled.

“Truly appalling things happen frequently. I thought working at Every Library was an honor… but I never imagined such unexpected obstacles. Theft occurs too often as well. Now I understand why our seniors also oppressed commoners.”

Karon stopped walking and gestured.

“This is the materials room. Everything is organized alphabetically, so just write your name in the ledger and take what you need. I’ll be going now.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Karon bowed his head and returned to his position.

Ruide looked around at the numerous materials stacked in wooden compartments.

[A~Z]

He walked to where the sign was hanging.

“It should be around here.”

The materials room was like a complex maze. It wasn’t designed to make people get lost, but to maximize space utilization for storing many materials.

He encountered several students looking for materials. They bowed slightly and moved quietly.

Ruide went to an area with as few people as possible. Above his destination was written:

[Nothing Beyond This Point.]

“This must be it.”

It was suspicious-looking text by anyone’s standards.

But the sign wasn’t lying.

The wooden compartments that had been full until now were completely empty.

Ruide stopped at the perfect endpoint. It wasn’t a square compartment, but a shelf filled with unnamed books.

Below were several shabby books tied together with string.

A space that looked like an unused storage area to anyone.

Ruide reached out his hand.

He channeled his mana.

Ku-gu-gu-gu-gu.

There was a sound like machinery turning.

Creeeeak—

He could see the bookshelf that had been blocking the way opening slightly.

“Found it.”

Ruide entered with a bright smile.

[At the end of Every Library’s materials room, there is a secret passage. In the past, Every Library was used as an experimental site for a survival project to train magic knights.]

A vague description from the original novel.

While Ruide didn’t remember everything, he clearly remembered important episodes.

Ruide closed the bookshelf door.

Darkness fell, making it impossible to see even an inch ahead.

Drip—

The sound of a water droplet came from somewhere. It was the sound coming from the holy relic, “The Chalice of Mana.”

Of course, Ruide wasn’t interested in such things. What he was interested in was solely the space itself.

“Illuminate—”

As Ruide’s voice filled with mana spread out.

With a whoosh, the space brightened.

It was a transparent space on all sides. A mysterious space that felt like floating in mid-air.

On both sides, six knight statues were lined up, standing on what appeared to be ancient black floors. Ruide looked at them and said:

“I’ll just be here for a little while.”

“……”

No answer came. They were rather taciturn friends.

Ruide reached into the void and pulled out his personal pillow from subspace.

He tossed it on the floor and immediately lay down.

“Ah, this is it.”

This space was somewhat special.

It was a space designed by the famous archmage ‘Dellin’ to create a useful secret passage.

A space created by a genius of the century.

It was artistic in itself.

To allow people to observe enemies while escaping, the interior of the library was clearly visible.

In fact, beneath where Ruide was lying, the environment of the library’s first floor was clearly visible. If he raised his head, he could see the second floor, and if he looked up, he could see the third floor.

It was a space where one could see the entire Every Library at a glance. When Ruide looked up, he saw someone’s underwear and immediately lowered his gaze.

“…Yikes.”

Anyway, Ruide rested the pillow on his chest and swung his legs back and forth.

This place was where he could clearly see the episode about to unfold—while also being a space that wouldn’t cause him any harm.

In other words, it was the eye of the storm.

Ruide planned to leisurely observe the progress of the episode from here.